Being a Kid Again in Disney World, Part 2

Tuesday morning we slept in some before heading back to Magic Kingdom mid-morning. Some of the family had arrived before us, so we met them in Fantasyland and took a couple of rides as a group before some of the kids had fashion appointments to convert them to either princesses or knights. The Disney Philharmagic was a 4D film traveling through several Disney movies and was one of the highlights of the morning.  The main princess of the group also had special lunch plans in the castle, so the rest of us grabbed our own lunches and returned to Fantasyland for more Barnstorming and Dumbo rides.

Ready for Magic Kingdom!

Disney Philharmagic

Carousel   &    Dancing with Eva

Bibbity Bobbity Boutique

Knights, a Princess, and a Mouse

Dumbo!

Once everyone was back together, we went to Tomorrowland for a Buzz Lightyear ride.  Susan and I split off to Adventure and Frontier lands to hit a couple rides on our own. The rest of the family was holding off on this part of the park until Friday, but it being our only shot at Magic Kingdom we wanted to take in as much as we could.

Buzz ride

By mid-afternoon, we regrouped for a family photo with the castle, watched a performance and quick parade, then called it a day. We returned to the house for dinner and to relax a bit before some of the adults went out to the piano bar (Jellyrolls) on the Disney Boardwalk. Susan’s sister was friends with one of the managers and he covered our entry and first round of drinks, while also providing some of the entertainment as one of the pianists. Dueling piano bars are always fun and this was no exception, just maybe a little cleaner/classier than most I’ve been to. The boardwalk area is also fairly new and it was evident. The resort and the boardwalk itself were all very nice.

Family Photo

Max Mouse     &     Castle Show

Wednesday morning, Susan and I slept in a little longer before embarking on our own day of amusement at Universal Islands of Adventure. We had schemed to take our own side-trip to check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal beforehand, and with the rest of the family taking the day off from parks Wednesday provided the perfect opportunity.

Since Harry Potter was our focus, we went straight to the Forbidden Journey ride within the castle. It is a mixture of a motion simulator (in from of a big screen), but also has you on a track with some pretty dramatic movements and carries you through rooms with some “live action” scenery as well. The ride was impressive, but did give me a little motion sickness by the end (I blame the dementors). The castle housing the ride was also well put together with plenty of detail to distract you while in line. Luckily, with it being off-season, the lines were very short though.

To relax my stomach, we took it easy by visiting the wand shop for a “wand-matching” demonstration. A child was selected from our small group and had a wand “select” him. This was a fun little show, but I was disappointed they still made the family buy the wand after essentially giving it to the kid…sort of a trap if you ask me. Once wand shopping was complete we relaxed with frozen Butterbeers (a root beer style drink with a butterscotch cream head) in Hogsmeade before I took a ride on the red dragon portion of the Dragon Challenge dueling coasters. We ended our time at the Wizarding world with some light shopping.

 
Jeff & Hogsmeade

Butterbeer and the Hogwarts Express

Jeff about to take on the dragon ride

After getting our HP nerd on, we went to a terrible stunt show (The 8^th Voyage of Sinbad) that was nearby. The acting/dialogue was cheesy and the stunts unimpressive, but at least we got a seat in the shade I guess.  By this point, it was lunch and we happened to be near one of the best theme park restaurants in the world (whatever that means), so dined in style at Mythos. The food was good, particularly for theme park food, and not outrageously priced compared to the convenience foods at the vendor stands.

Toon Town

After lunch our theme park candles were burning low, so we just wandered around the park checking out the different themed areas but didn’t ride any more rides. Completely burnt out, we left the park mid afternoon and returned for a quiet last evening with the family. Our return flight to Utah left early Thursday morning, so it was an early bedtime to conclude our vacation. The trip provided a nice getaway and a chance to spend time with family before the holidays…a good November escape.

Being a Kid Again in Disney World, Part 1

November must mean it’s time for another vacation! Susan and I just returned from a handful of days in the children’s capital of the world, Walt Disney World in Florida. This is a vacation that has been in planning by Susan’s family since before the time of the vacation down under last November as a full family vacation and a chance to take all the nieces and nephews for the first time (there are 7). Since we have no kids, we decided to go along for the ride in a sense and left most of the planning to the rest of Susan’s family. Here’s how the week went…

Saturday marked our arrival in Orlando and was basically an evening of rest at the house we had rented. It was the calm before the storm, so to speak. The travel day had taken its toll, leading to an early bedtime (especially for us considering the time change).

Sunday morning I was able to catch a quick and early run, and then it was off to open the gates at EPCOT. Our pre-planning had us make a bee-line for the newest attraction, Soarin’, which is a hang-glider simulator with scenery from the state of California.  It was a very cool experience and a new twist on the motion simulation ride.

EPCOT icon pic

After getting our glide on, we checked out a couple other rides in the Land and the Sea sections of the park with a highlight being the “Turtle-talk with Crush (from Finding Nemo)” interactive show. The way they seamlessly had the on-screen turtle interact with audience members was impressive.

The early rides took time (and their toll on the kids) so after a stop for character autographs, the family returned to the house for lunch and rest. Susan and I hung around EPCOT and made our way to my favorite section, the World Showcase, where they were having an international food and wine festival. This provided ample grazing opportunity for a light lunch, which we took advantage of while wandering through some of the country displays. Before the family returned, we also rode the classic Spaceship Earth (the golf ball) where we were given a glimpse into our future and played around in Innoventions for a bit.

World Showcase

Us in Morocco

Our future according to Spaceship Earth

The return of the family meant (early) character dinner with Chip n’ Dale, Mickey, and Pluto. Much of the food at the Garden Grill was grown on site and sustainable adding a nice touch to the way too much food provided. In the evening after dinner, we took a Journey through Imagination (with Figment), rode the cheesy throwback 3D Michael Jackson film Captain EO, and then rode the theme rides in Mexico (3 Caballeros) and Norway (Viking ship Maelstrom) before calling it a day. With no break, Susan and I were beat after a long day 1.

Character Dinner

Journey into Imagination

Waiting for Captain EO

Monday brought another early start as we tackled the Animal Kingdom. The early focus was getting fast passes for the Everest rollercoaster (for the old kids like us) and riding the African Safari. Both of these rides were worth the effort, the safari is a fun family ride offering lots of animal photo ops and Expedition Everest had some unique twists on a standard rollercoaster that made it fun. The kids passed time in the dinosaur playground during the rollercoaster riding, and before long we were making our way to another character meal for lunch.

The wait for this lunch was a little longer than expected, but finally we were seated for our buffet meal. This restaurant offered a ton of variety, particularly in vegetarian options. I took ample opportunity to stuff myself and left lunch ready for a long nap. First though, we split into groups and Susan and I tagged along to the Lion King musical show. The show was live in the center of a circular theatre and had crowd interaction, well sung renditions of Lion King music, acrobatics and other stunts, and character effects…it was much more than I anticipated. A short ice-cream break took place after the show, and then it was back to the house for rest (Yay!).

Safari Character Lunch

Lion King performance

Happy Eva Mouse

Susan and her dad at Animal Kingdom

A refreshing nap and run later, and it was time to return to WDW for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas at Magic Kingdom for the evening. Going in, I wasn’t terribly enthused about this thinking it would be mainly a parade and lots of crowd. There was a parade, which we had to wait for soon after we entered the park and it was pleasant, although a little long. Then we made our way up Main Street USA which was fully decked out in Christmas lights with fake snow (shaved soap) falling. We enjoyed complimentary cookies and hot cocoa as we attempted to move toward the Castle for a light show. After getting hung up in the crowd, we decided we’d moved far enough and setup camp for the next show (only about 15 minutes after the parade).

Christmas Parade

Main Street USA

The castle show was spectacular! It was amazing how clearly they are able to project images and facades on the castle and everything was timed to the theme music being piped through the entire park. The castle transformed through a variety of décor and also showed movie clips featuring some of the favorite Disney stars (with plenty of Tinkerbell magic thrown in). As we sat in awe for a moment after the show, we realized it was only 5 minutes to the firework show, so we remained in our spots and watched that as well.  For a snippet of the show, see the bottom of this post.  It was also well done and used the castle throughout, though the castle display stole the evening for me. Once the major shows were complete, we checked out a couple other areas of the park (including a character dance party) before calling it a late night.

Castle Show

Fireworks Show

Us with the castle     &     Santa Max

Character dance party

Quick view of the fireworks show