Day 13: Final Disney Day

Posted on May 20, 2014May 27, 2014 by Y2Neil

Up early to race to Epcot and be one of the first people on Soarin’. When we got there, it was still showing as a 20 minute wait, crazy. The ride was a bit of an anti-climax after all the build up, the fact we could see the edge of the screen and people’s feet above us took away from the immersion but it was still kinda fun.

We then bought some more souvenirs and another t-shirt for Neil (hope they all fit in the luggage!) before heading around the World Showcase only to find it closed. We managed to get to France however and enjoy a pain aux chocolate in the boulangerie. What is good about the World Showcase is they employ people from each of those countries, however Debora wasn’t impressed by my constant French accent impersonations.

After this we headed to the Magic Kingdom to try and get on Space Mountain but once again, it was heaving. We spent 35 minutes queuing for Buzz Lightyear’s Star Command and whilst waiting for it to be fixed after a breakdown, I googled for the fast pass tickets at Disney. It turns out every park ticket comes with 3 free daily fast passes. Typical.

Once we’d saved the galaxy with Buzz we enquired about the Fast Pass, but as we had to leave at 6 (which later turned out to be 6:45) we couldn’t get Fast Pass tickets until after this time. They managed to get us onto Space Mountain at 4pm so whilst we had lunch we browsed other attractions we could visit on the rather spiffy Disney App. We were able to get Fast Pass access to the Haunted Mansion which was lots of fun…but it broke down whilst we were on it!

Then it was Space Mountain but Debora and I were split on the two cars so our ride photo doesn’t show us together. Space Mountain also broke down whilst we were queuing for it and when riding it, it really doesn’t feel safe. Everything looks so incredibly close to you that it could take off your limbs or head if you’re a little big too big for the car.

Finally it was back to Epcot for our pickup, but we were too early! So we went back into Epcot for another go on Spaceship Earth and a quick walk around a bit of the World Showcase. Once we got back to the hotel, hungry, we decided to order a Chili’s to go…when we picked it up the bag was huge! Nice little feast of a Margarita flatbread and veggie fajitas, topped off with a brownie with ice cream. Giving us a nice early night ready for our last day tomorrow. 🙁

Day 10: Hollywood Studios & Epcot

Posted on May 17, 2014May 27, 2014 by Y2Neil

It’s Star Wars Day! No, not May 4th, but the start of Disney’s Star War Weekends at Hollywood Studios. This is the day we had been waiting for as it was the day that we’d get our faces scanned and digitally printed onto a Star Wars collectible figurine. The elation cannot be described.

But before we could get to that, after readying ourselves this morning we opened our hotel room door to find the strangest of feelings. It was cold. Where was this wall of heat we’d been used to? It was now 18 degrees outside, were we back home? Debora had to go back for a cardigan!

It was another terrible journey to Disney. The shuttle bus was over capacity, we were lucky to get on when we did, then, once arriving at the Magic Kingdom (the default drop off location), the crowds were heaving. Literally, there were queues for the monorail stretching back to the parking lot. So we stumped up the cash and got a taxi over to Hollywood Studios. This was less busy but still full of people, all lined up along the streets in preparation for the parade.

We went straight to Muppet Vision 3D which was great, but there was hardly any merchandise, really disappointing. There could have been a Muppet Whatnot workstation at least! Then it was The Great Movie Ride and after that time for our face scanning. Because we booked a time slot many months ago we were able to get straight into ‘Darths Mall’, skipping the huge line outside. We got our faced scanned and then were able to do some shopping.

We had lunch at Pizza Planet, simple cheese pizza was a welcomed refreshment after we had missed breakfast on account of the diner not being open over the road. We then spent the rest of the afternoon queuing for photo’s with Darth Vader and then got on the Studio Backlot tour and Star Tours before headed over to Epcot.

It was now quite late in the day so we got ourselves some chips from the Chippy in the British part of the World Showcase and settled in for the fireworks. These were much better than the Magic Kingdom fireworks although the central section featured a globe circling the lagoon with images projected on it which reminded me a lot of the old BBC One Title Cards.

After, we began to head back but would you believe it, the monorail wasn’t working so everyone was crammed into buses. We made it back to the Ticket Center with minutes to spare and were able to get onto our ride back – although again, squashed in. Ridiculous.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom & Epcot

Posted on May 11, 2014August 26, 2014 by Y2Neil

Having booked transport tickets to the Magic Kingdom for an 8am pickup, we were up early again and left the hotel without breakfast. It was only halfway to Disney’s main park that we realised we had also left without our reservation information! Fortunately, thanks to months of entering the Virgin reference into the website and having my passport to hand, the staff were able to find us in the system so we didn’t have to turn around.

This was our first weekend day. Wow! The park was absolutely jam packed. After a “quick” pop-in to a bakery (which was cunningly disguised as a Starbucks) for breakfast we headed to Adventureland where we were greeted with tribal design and an Aladdin theme, including a giant camel. As we neared the camel, I heard some water splashing, I then saw a puddle on the ground. Just as I put two and two together, the camel spat water, all over Debora. I couldn’t stop laughing.

It was then onto the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, a tame water ride that’s been updated to feature Barbosa and Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. Then the fifteen minute queue for Splash Mountain turned into thirty, the fifty foot plunge weighing on Debora’s mind, but it wasn’t as scary as she thought. Fun little ride that one.

But the heat of the sun was proving too much and Debora had burnt her head! She needed a hat, pronto! To the circus tent where we picked up a floppy Minne Mouse sun hat for her and a nice iced drink.

As we wandered around the park – getting our picture taken at any opportunity – we realised that the Magic Kingdom was really geared towards the young park attendee. Again, it was hot and not a lot of shade to take cover in. We went on the Stich ride – really don’t understand what that was about. After two video chats it’s into a circular room where an anamatronic Stich (of Lilo and Stich) is shown messing around. It then plunges into darkness and the ride jolts as Stich “runs” around you before letting out an awful stench. This proved too much for some of the little ones who had to leave early.

But not all little ones were upset – as after Stich we went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory. This is an odd but strangely excellent live stand up comedy routine where the digital Mike Wakowski and friends interact with the audience. I assume there are actually actors in mo-cap suits behind the screens. They tell jokes and the story of Monsters Inc. and keep cutting to live shots of the crowd for ample laughter opportunites. Thankfully, when they described Sully as a hairy beast, they cut to someone else in the crowd with a massive beard. The star of the show was the tiny girl who they cut to for Boo, who kept playing peek-a-boo to audience and actor delight.

The park was so busy and our pick up not until 6. So we headed over to Epcot, thinking that people wouldn’t spend their time learning. We were wrong. Another 20 minute wait for the Spaceship Earth and a trek in the wrong direction in the heat saw us turn back and hang about in the air conditioned Coca-Cola shop. I tried a Japanese Cola, it was like flat Fanta.

The queue for Soarin’ was over an hour so we went on the Underwater Adventure with Nemo. Another ride I didn’t see the point of. You’re in a clam that moves along a track watching the abridged version of Finding Nemo. The scene in the current was alright, but the best part were the seagulls at the ride entrance who moved and declared “mine”!

Mission to Mars was next, we went on the timid Green version as the queue time was a tenth of the more intense Orange line. Don’t go on this if you’re claustrophobic or get sick in simulators. Otherwise, fun. Then one more trip to a shop where we bought Debora some Mickey Mouse shoes.

Another long queue – this time for the bus back to the hotel which wasn’t as air conditioned as it could have been. We had settled on an early night so went for a little walk down to Sweet Tomatos – the only place we can find that isn’t a steakhouse and offers vegetarian dishes!! On the way back we stopped at Walgreens for some supplies, a 24 pack of water so we don’t have to drink this awful rubber-water any more. By the time we got back, it was 21:20. So much for our early night.