We're Off to See the Wizard...or at least Mickey
So we have arrived at Disney World, in the HUGE campground. It fits 950 RVs and 200 odd cabins. There are three bus lines that run inside the campgrounds, taking people from points in the campground to the ferry, bus depot for buses to the theme parks, or the few shops/pools etc here. We decided to hook up the RV and head to Downtown Disney, a ‘street’ where there is food, shops, a 24-screen movie theater, a place called Disney Quest and more. The street is over a mile long and shuts at 11. We got in just on dusk (around 7pm) and decided to eat. It would be our first meal on our Disney Dining Plan, a meal plan we purchased when we booked back in Australia. We get two meals and two snacks each a day. A meal consists of something like a pizza, a burger, a salad, chicken, ribs etc, a drink and a dessert (cookie, cake etc). A snack is popcorn, hot soft pretzel, drink, ice cream etc. It is great as we can eat when we want and not worry about having to carry money, or the price of food and ordering the cheapest thing on the menu. We started with spaghetti and meatballs, coke and a cookie, which we shared and then walked around the shops. There is a shop dedicated to Disney Christmas stuff, one where you can design your own Disney shirt, an art shop with awesome original paintings and drawing to name a few. We got a bit hungry around 10 so we got a hot sandwich to share (with coke and a cookie). We found Mickey ears (a big thing here) that are a top hat with ears for Kade and white glittery ears with a tiara and veil for me. We saw someone wearing them at Disneyland and wanted to get them. Disney is currently in the year of Celebrations; you can go to guest services and get a badge saying what you are celebrating. We went and got Just Married badges, and decided to head back to the RV as it was close to 11 and we were tired after getting up early and swimming for a few hours.
The next day we woke up, slightly sore from the swimming, and headed into EPCOT early, as we could access the park for an hour before other people, because we are resort guests and Disney has extra park hours for resort guests. We went and fast passed Test Track and headed over to Mission: Space, a flight simulator for a rocket launch to Mars. There are two levels of intenseness for the ride, as they had to create a less scary one, as too many people were getting sick. We went on the less scary version first and handled it well so we decided to go on the scarier version. It is a great ride, amazing how they make you feel like you are actually flying upwards with the pressure on you and then the weightlessness feeling. We survived the trip to Mars again and headed to Test Track. It was a good ride but not the best in terms of it could have been done better. After that we headed across the park and got a fast pass to a ride called Soarin, which is a glider flight simulator, the line to get a fast pass for this ride was almost as long as the ride line, it was about then that we figured out that Soarin’ is a very popular ride.
Once we got our fast pass for Soarin’ and checked out the rest of the pavilion that we were in. It had a lot of different food options and we just had a look around to see what was on offer in case we came back later on. Up stairs at this pavilion was a ride called Living with the land which is a boat ride that teaches people about sustainable living and it was a real eye opener what a normal person can do in there own back yard, for example in a in one year the Disney horticulture team harvests 27000 heads of lettuce in an area of about 12x5 meters. After that we went on a few other attractions and it was about that time that the second section of the park opened up and Kate and I went along there (it surrounds a lake that is central to the park) and followed it around the lake looking at all the shops and its laid out in sections and each section has a country theme, Japan, England, Germany, and a bunch of other countries (no Australia though) taking in the sights and sounds of what each country has to offer. Then it was our fast pass time for Soarin’ which I mentioned earlier, so we made our way to that and waited for about 5 minutes before hopping onto the ride. This ride basically simulates a glider flight (seating about 15 or so people mind you) on a hydraulic system and it moves you into this big half sphere movie screen. The reason it’s a half sphere is so that everywhere you look you are surrounded by movie screen and it looks and feels as though your really gliding through the air, so much so that as you glide over a citrus farm you can smell the oranges and pine trees. It was so good that Kate and I went on it twice. After that we continued where we left off exploring the country themed sections of the park. Then it was time for dinner and to stake out our spot for the nigh time Disney show on the lake with of course, fireworks. We found a good viewing spot and waited around for about an hour (that’s how popular the shows are) We saw the fireworks and the show and it was spectacular, after that is pretty much the parks closing time, so we headed home and got ready for our next day which would be at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
We arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom after some bus troubles, waiting for a bus designated for the animal kingdom so it was nothing major really. As we arrived at the animal park Kate and I had done some reading about the park and it said that the central feature of the park which is the tree of life is absolutely spectacular to see, because it has all these animals carved into and it really intricate and you can stand and look at it for a long time. But what we had read is not to stop and take pictures or study it but to go to certain rides first so you can get to them before the wait time gets to long. As soon as I saw it my jaw dropped and Kate had to drag me away and remind me about what we had read about not stopping to stare at the tree of life. The first ride we went on was the Dinosaur ride which is really cool as you go back in time when dinosaurs roamed the earth and you get to see a variety of dinosaurs. Then we went around visiting the other parts of the park and seeing what they had to offer, like A bugs life which is another 4d movie experience, and a African jungle safari where we got to see all sorts of different animals which were all real (not robots) with no fences so the animals could come up right to the vehicle if they wanted. We also went on a roller coaster called Expedition Everest, which we both really enjoyed, and later that afternoon we rode it three times in a row, which Kate absolutely loved. After seeing a few other things we caught the bus back to fort wilderness (where our RV is parked up and had been referred to as home so sorry if it caused some confusion).
The next day Kate and I had decided to take a day off from the theme parks and go to downtown Disney. So the next morning we headed in to downtown Disney and did some shopping from all the stuff we saw and wanted to buy from our first visit to downtown. After grabbing all the stuff we wanted we went down to the other end and went into Disney Quest and its 5 floors of video games, rides and other things to do and see. It was really fun and all those video games like guitar hero, race car games and all of that are all free, you don’t need money or tokens or anything, just press the start button and off you go.
We kept an eye on the time though because we had tickets booked for Mickey’s backyard BBQ for dinner that night, and apparently it is really popular and the we were told to line up and hour before hand to beat the crowd as it is a first come first serve basis for what seating you get and as it was a bush dance with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and all of their gang, so that’s what we did. And when we were let in Kate and I got good seats and we were very happy as we got a view of the stage and the dance floor. Once everybody was seated the food came out and it was a serve yourself buffet with hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, corn bread, watermelon, tossed salad and macaroni and cheese. As well as a selection of ice creams and ice blocks for dessert. The characters came out after people had had a chance to eat and all the kids were on the dance floor just waiting for the Disney characters to come out, and they got absolutely mobbed by children and parents alike all vying for photo opportunities with their favorite characters. Kate and I sat and watched it all and got a few snapshots of the characters and they danced with the children. After the characters first stint on the dance floor they retired for a rest before they came out again, and then a guy called cowboy Trevor came out. Cowboy Trevor is a trick lasso rope guy and he was really good and could dance and do all these cool lasso tricks that I can’t begin to describe as I wouldn’t do them justice but lets just say he was really good at what he did. After he was finished the characters came out again for another dance and then the band read out all the people celebrating birthday’s and anniversaries and whatnot and I’d put our names down and we got called out as celebrating our honeymoon. The characters went back out for a rest again and the children danced again and about 15 minutes the characters came out for a final dance but it was a farewell one with all the kids sitting just off the dance floor and they did a dance routine with American flags and it was really good. After that everybody cleared out of the pavilion and as Kate and I made our way out we say a photo opportunity with Mickey and Minnie mouse so we did that and it topped off our night just perfectly. Well that’s us almost up to date so far except for today we went to Hollywood studio’s but because we didn’t get to do all of it and are going again tomorrow we will update the blog once that little adventure is finished. Thanks for your patience guys and we will keep as up to date as we can.
We are having trouble updating the blog with pictures, so we will upload them when we can, but most likely not until we leave Disney on the 26th...
Thanks all :)
The next day we woke up, slightly sore from the swimming, and headed into EPCOT early, as we could access the park for an hour before other people, because we are resort guests and Disney has extra park hours for resort guests. We went and fast passed Test Track and headed over to Mission: Space, a flight simulator for a rocket launch to Mars. There are two levels of intenseness for the ride, as they had to create a less scary one, as too many people were getting sick. We went on the less scary version first and handled it well so we decided to go on the scarier version. It is a great ride, amazing how they make you feel like you are actually flying upwards with the pressure on you and then the weightlessness feeling. We survived the trip to Mars again and headed to Test Track. It was a good ride but not the best in terms of it could have been done better. After that we headed across the park and got a fast pass to a ride called Soarin, which is a glider flight simulator, the line to get a fast pass for this ride was almost as long as the ride line, it was about then that we figured out that Soarin’ is a very popular ride.
Once we got our fast pass for Soarin’ and checked out the rest of the pavilion that we were in. It had a lot of different food options and we just had a look around to see what was on offer in case we came back later on. Up stairs at this pavilion was a ride called Living with the land which is a boat ride that teaches people about sustainable living and it was a real eye opener what a normal person can do in there own back yard, for example in a in one year the Disney horticulture team harvests 27000 heads of lettuce in an area of about 12x5 meters. After that we went on a few other attractions and it was about that time that the second section of the park opened up and Kate and I went along there (it surrounds a lake that is central to the park) and followed it around the lake looking at all the shops and its laid out in sections and each section has a country theme, Japan, England, Germany, and a bunch of other countries (no Australia though) taking in the sights and sounds of what each country has to offer. Then it was our fast pass time for Soarin’ which I mentioned earlier, so we made our way to that and waited for about 5 minutes before hopping onto the ride. This ride basically simulates a glider flight (seating about 15 or so people mind you) on a hydraulic system and it moves you into this big half sphere movie screen. The reason it’s a half sphere is so that everywhere you look you are surrounded by movie screen and it looks and feels as though your really gliding through the air, so much so that as you glide over a citrus farm you can smell the oranges and pine trees. It was so good that Kate and I went on it twice. After that we continued where we left off exploring the country themed sections of the park. Then it was time for dinner and to stake out our spot for the nigh time Disney show on the lake with of course, fireworks. We found a good viewing spot and waited around for about an hour (that’s how popular the shows are) We saw the fireworks and the show and it was spectacular, after that is pretty much the parks closing time, so we headed home and got ready for our next day which would be at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
We arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom after some bus troubles, waiting for a bus designated for the animal kingdom so it was nothing major really. As we arrived at the animal park Kate and I had done some reading about the park and it said that the central feature of the park which is the tree of life is absolutely spectacular to see, because it has all these animals carved into and it really intricate and you can stand and look at it for a long time. But what we had read is not to stop and take pictures or study it but to go to certain rides first so you can get to them before the wait time gets to long. As soon as I saw it my jaw dropped and Kate had to drag me away and remind me about what we had read about not stopping to stare at the tree of life. The first ride we went on was the Dinosaur ride which is really cool as you go back in time when dinosaurs roamed the earth and you get to see a variety of dinosaurs. Then we went around visiting the other parts of the park and seeing what they had to offer, like A bugs life which is another 4d movie experience, and a African jungle safari where we got to see all sorts of different animals which were all real (not robots) with no fences so the animals could come up right to the vehicle if they wanted. We also went on a roller coaster called Expedition Everest, which we both really enjoyed, and later that afternoon we rode it three times in a row, which Kate absolutely loved. After seeing a few other things we caught the bus back to fort wilderness (where our RV is parked up and had been referred to as home so sorry if it caused some confusion).
The next day Kate and I had decided to take a day off from the theme parks and go to downtown Disney. So the next morning we headed in to downtown Disney and did some shopping from all the stuff we saw and wanted to buy from our first visit to downtown. After grabbing all the stuff we wanted we went down to the other end and went into Disney Quest and its 5 floors of video games, rides and other things to do and see. It was really fun and all those video games like guitar hero, race car games and all of that are all free, you don’t need money or tokens or anything, just press the start button and off you go.
We kept an eye on the time though because we had tickets booked for Mickey’s backyard BBQ for dinner that night, and apparently it is really popular and the we were told to line up and hour before hand to beat the crowd as it is a first come first serve basis for what seating you get and as it was a bush dance with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and all of their gang, so that’s what we did. And when we were let in Kate and I got good seats and we were very happy as we got a view of the stage and the dance floor. Once everybody was seated the food came out and it was a serve yourself buffet with hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, corn bread, watermelon, tossed salad and macaroni and cheese. As well as a selection of ice creams and ice blocks for dessert. The characters came out after people had had a chance to eat and all the kids were on the dance floor just waiting for the Disney characters to come out, and they got absolutely mobbed by children and parents alike all vying for photo opportunities with their favorite characters. Kate and I sat and watched it all and got a few snapshots of the characters and they danced with the children. After the characters first stint on the dance floor they retired for a rest before they came out again, and then a guy called cowboy Trevor came out. Cowboy Trevor is a trick lasso rope guy and he was really good and could dance and do all these cool lasso tricks that I can’t begin to describe as I wouldn’t do them justice but lets just say he was really good at what he did. After he was finished the characters came out again for another dance and then the band read out all the people celebrating birthday’s and anniversaries and whatnot and I’d put our names down and we got called out as celebrating our honeymoon. The characters went back out for a rest again and the children danced again and about 15 minutes the characters came out for a final dance but it was a farewell one with all the kids sitting just off the dance floor and they did a dance routine with American flags and it was really good. After that everybody cleared out of the pavilion and as Kate and I made our way out we say a photo opportunity with Mickey and Minnie mouse so we did that and it topped off our night just perfectly. Well that’s us almost up to date so far except for today we went to Hollywood studio’s but because we didn’t get to do all of it and are going again tomorrow we will update the blog once that little adventure is finished. Thanks for your patience guys and we will keep as up to date as we can.
We are having trouble updating the blog with pictures, so we will upload them when we can, but most likely not until we leave Disney on the 26th...
Thanks all :)
I am really enjoying your blogs guys - you are doing a great job - fantastic reading.
Don't forget to see Motors action - the stunt driving show there at Disneyworld. Not as good as Mattie's show of course (I've seen the Motors Action show in Disneyland Paris) but interesting just the same.
I really look forward to catching up on your news - but could we have some photos of your Disneyworld ventures?
As usual I answered too soon. You have 2 weeks to see everything not 2days You really seem to pack as much as you can into each day. food seems to be at the forefront of each blog, thankfully it seems to also be followed by walking. Really hoping to hear from you soon...lola mum
Now I don't know what I'm more jealous of - that you got up close to a Delorean, or that you have access to a FREE, 5 storey Timezone. But anyways, it sounds like you're having a blast. That Mickey dancing thing sounds soooo cool! So how many animals did you find in the Tree of Life? And is the fireworks and night show similar to Disneyland's?
Hope to hear from you soon! :)