Disney World PF Gathering and Tips for Disney Mania!

[ZapperZ]

Looks like Ernesto is finally out of the area, although the Orlando area still has periods of heavy showers today, but nothing unusual.

For those who braved the rain on Wed., they were rewarded with an almost empty theme park - a GREAT day to be at Walt Disney World! Just look at these two pictures taken by an Orlando Sentinel photographer.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_weather_hurricane/2006/08/room_for_more_t.html#more

Zz. <2 more days!>

 

[ZapperZ]

Hum... it looks like Disney's high-tech biometric entrance system had at least one very interested party - the US Government!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/news21/20060831/ts_news21/walt_disney_world_the_governments_1

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

With Labor Day coming up in a few days, Disney has released several pins for this occassion.

These two pins have been released at Disneyland Resort.

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10904556.jpg

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10904303.jpg

And the sole pin that has been released for this occasion at WDW

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/LaborDay.jpg

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Welp, I'm all packed and ready to go (I actually could sleep last night - amazing!). A car will pick us up to the airport in less than a couple of hours.

There are two special items on this trip. First, on Tuesday morning, we will be doing the 2-hour Segway tour at Epcot. We did a brief intro to using the Segway last June, where I got on it for about a couple of minutes. Since I didn't fall off it, unlike George Bush, I thought it might be fun to do the full tour on it. So this time, we will be doing an hour of it indoors (supposedly climbing up hills and going around obstacles) and then, if it doesn't rain, we will go around the World Showcase at Epcot.

Then starting on the 8th and running through till the 10th, it's the annual, largest pin event at WDW, to be held at the World Showplace in Epcot. This year's theme is "http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/event?id=13544"" This will be the 2nd pin event that we are attending, so this time, we won't be so "ga ga" over the whole thing, and won't make the same mistakes that we did last year. We are already ensured of receiving several Random Selection pins when we get there, and can't wait to see all the goodies that we will get as part of attending this event. BTW, the event will be open to the public on Sunday the 10th at 11:00 am.

I'll try to post daily reports and pictures whenever I can. And oh, Moonbie, we will be having Breakfast at Cape May on Monday. Hopefully we'll get to see the characters that you had breakfast with last time. :)

See you at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

Have a Safe and Happy trip.

Pin event, eh? You wild and crazy guy!

 

[ZapperZ]

Pin event, eh? You wild and crazy guy!

Yup! That's me! :)

Greetings from the Happiest Place on Earth!

We made it safely, and are now at our "home" at Disney's Old Key West. This is the first time we're staying here, and we made a couple of wrong turns trying to find our building. It is the oldest Disney Vacation Club resort, and it certainly looks like it is well "grown" in.

After we unpack, we're heading straight to the Animal Kingdom to meet up with friends who are already here. I'm starving like mad, though. I'm ready to eat a dinosaur!

Will report more with pictures later.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Sounds like you're already having a great time! Wish I was there instead of sitting here writing this grant. At least it's appropriately gloomy outside so I don't miss being stuck inside, but that only leaves me more sleepy and in need of sunshine.

Say hi to the characters at Cape May for me.

 

[ZapperZ]

Sounds like you're already having a great time! Wish I was there instead of sitting here writing this grant. At least it's appropriately gloomy outside so I don't miss being stuck inside, but that only leaves me more sleepy and in need of sunshine.

Say hi to the characters at Cape May for me.

We will. I'm sure, like us, they'll miss you.

BTW, I have your "birthday pin".

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/10945561.jpg

You'll have to wait a bit longer in getting it, because we intend to have everything shipped home with all of the pins we will be getting from the pin event. If not, we'll have overweight luggage like what we had last year, and we're not paying the airlines another $50 for it.

We spent a lovely evening exploring the resort. Here's a picture just outside of our room.

They have a lovely, Key West-themed restaurant called Olivia. The food was quite good. Next to the restaurant is the main pool area (they have a total of 3). Next to the pool, there's this dolphin sculpture display area.
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n320/zapperz/IMG_4643.jpg

It's a very nice resort, but somehow, I think I miss Saratoga Springs. There's a boat loading area for people who want to go Downtown Disney, but you can't walk to there from here.

I'm off to bed to rest up for tomorrow.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Started the day by having breakfast at our resort. It was a perfect outdoor breakfast, right by the boat launch area from OKW to Downtown Disney.

Spent the morning and a bit of early afternoon at Disney/MGM Studios. They were busy, but not too busy. So we were able to get on practically everything we wanted without too much of a wait.

Started with Tower of Terror. Even with Everest, I still consider Tower of Terror to be my most favorite attraction. So we did it twice in the morning. There was hardly any wait.

We then did Rock 'n Rollercoaster and we got to sit right in the very front car. It was certainly a screamer. We didn't get to do this last June, so we're glad we got to do it this time. Might go back and ride this again later in the week.
After that, we went into the Disney Animation academy, and I got to learn how to draw Mickey again! It came out better than last January. I'll post a picture of what I drew later. This is a picture of the studio where you sit down and learn how to draw different Disney character.

We then had lunch at Sci Fi Dine-In theater, even though we didn't make any researvation. We only had to wait about 10 mins for our "car".

We then walk around the streets of America, and they're well along in putting up lights for the Osborne Spectacle of Lights.

We then did the Backlot Tour, something we haven't done since they removed those houses. So this is the so-called special effects show they have at the beginning. Here, one of the audience volunteer is being drenched with tons of water.

This next one, of course, is the familiar scene where you got your water, fire, and earthquack.

We're resting for the afternoon, and will take the boat to Downtown Disney tonight. It will be an early evening for us since tomorrow will start rather early with a very early breakfast at Cape May with the characters.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The late afternoon and evening were wet and drizzly at WDW. So we didn't do much other than walk around Downtown Disney. Did quite a bit of pin trading and managed to trade a few cast lanyard pins that we were looking for. It was a good haul. We also scoured through World of Disney looking at things that they had that we might want. We'll get them later in the week once we have decided a large enough quantity to ship home - we get 10% off on most purchases at World of Disney with our annual passes.

We had dinner at Portobello, again with no advance reservation. I would not recommend the minnestrone. However, their red snapper special was delicious. I would have preferred to eat at Fulton's, but they looked very full even from the outside.

Tomorrow will be Epcot day. We will start off with character breakfast at Cape May, and then continue the rest of the day at Epcot. We plan on doing Soarin' and Test Track a few times during this trip, so this will commence tomorrow.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

It's just not fair, I would give anything to be there!

At least I can live vicariously through you.

 

[ZapperZ]

It's just not fair, I would give anything to be there!

At least I can live vicariously through you.

You should have come with us this time, Evo. Other than meeting up with a few friends here, we have no one else to play "tour guide" with. And we would have kept you occupied for as long as you wanted.

:)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

A very long day today. We started at Disney's Beach Club with our breakfast with the characters at Cape May. Moonbie should find something familiar here.

The food was OK, but the characters were a lot of fun! Here, Minnie decided to join us at our table.

When she heard that two of our friends are late, she then scribbled a message for the two of them.

After breakfast, we went to Epcot. As expected, throughout the whole day Epcot was not busy at all! We did Soarin' twice.

Obviously, we spent quite a bit of time at The Land.

The 4-year old that's in our party joined the Jr. Chefs to learn how to bake cookies.

[cont. in next post]

 

[ZapperZ]

[cont. from previous post]

We then hopped on over to Test Track and did the single-rider line. While we were in line, they had a technical glitch, and that added about 10 minutes to our wait time.

After that, we went to get out Disney Visa charater greetings at Innoventions West. Mickey and Pluto were there to greet us. We took LOTS of pictures.

On the way to World Showcase, we stopped by the Coke's cool club and tried the different Coke products that they had.

As we were passing by Canada, Off Kilter was in mid performance and sounding as terrific as ever.

We stopped over at the UK pavilion and had pictures with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. While we were waiting for our picture, Mary Poppins showed up and had pictures with her too!

Just our luck, Belle and the Beast were also there. More picture opportunities.

Needless to say, a very satisfying day. We're going to be resting at OKW this evening and hang around the pool (it's a wet, drizzly evening, it would appear). We have to get up early tomorrow for an early tour of Epcot on the Segway.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

So nice! Thanks for the pictures Zz!

 

[Pythagorean]

The only thing that I remember from Disney World was a tone emitter that changes its tone depending on how far you held your hand from the device. It was soooo awesome!

 

[ZapperZ]

The only thing that I remember from Disney World was a tone emitter that changes its tone depending on how far you held your hand from the device. It was soooo awesome!

I have no idea what that is. Was that something you did at Epcot? Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom? It may not even be around anymore today since they've change plenty of exhibits around here.

Zz.

 

[Pythagorean]

I have no idea what that is. Was that something you did at Epcot? Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom? It may not even be around anymore today since they've change plenty of exhibits around here.

Zz.

Yeah, it was in epcot center in Florida I believe (I've gone to both the California and the Florida one, but I was really young).

 

[ZapperZ]

Yeah, it was in epcot center in Florida I believe (I've gone to both the California and the Florida one, but I was really young).

Yeah, you must have not been there in a while, because they no longer call it "Epcot Center", just Epcot.

:)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Today was a FANTASTIC, MAGICAL day at WDW.

First, we started the morning by doing the Segway tour. The first hour started off with an intense lesson on using the Segway, including moving forward and backward, turning, going up and down a ramp, going in between cones without hitting them, etc. The 2nd hour was a lot of fun, we went around World Showcase, hitting every country and going in an out of various tricky path. The one in Japan was rather difficult, but all of us made it through. The instructor also gave us several trivia about each country. We got to take pictures by Italy.

We ended back where we started, in Innoventions. A special pin was given to everyone who completed the tour. Let me tell ya, it was one of the most fun activities we have ever done. Highly recommended!

We then had time to do Soarin' twice, before hopping over to the Magic Kingdom. On the way there, we got to sit in the monorail front car with the driver! It was very cool since I've never done that before. We took pictures from the very front, and the picture of the terrific cast member. As it so happens, I was wearing my "Please Stand Clear of the Door" t-shirt! The monorail driver's comment to me was "Well, that's the first time I saw that t-shirt!" :) It was a hoot! He then handed us a special "Monorail co-pilot" card, "authorized by Mickey Mouse". I was in heaven!

This is the view from the front as we were approaching the Contemporary.

This was our monorail driver

As expected, MK wasn't busy at all! We went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean, which we missed last June (both at Disneyland and MK) since it was still under rehab. There was practically no wait. We walked right up to the boat! The beginning was impressive, with the image of Davy Jones on the "mist", and there were a lot of inference to Captain Jack, and Jack did appear at 3 different locations. However, I think I was expecting a lot more (and from all news reports, the one at Disneyland seems to be a lot more extensive). So it was a slight letdown.

We then did Splash Mountain, my most favorite attraction at MK. Again, the wait wasn't very long at all, barely 10 minutes.

Here was my first, foolish attempt at getting a picture during the final plunge. It's a big shaky, as you can understand, because I was also hurrying trying to slip the camera under my shirt before the big splash.

[continue in next post.]

 

[ZapperZ]

[cont. from previous post]

We staked a place to view Disney Dreams Come True parade. The parade content is certainly better than the old parade, but the music isn't as memorable, certainly not to me. Here are a few pictures of the parade.

We then had dinner at Crystal Palace, which we made a reservation that day when we walked into MK. So again, there was not any problems in getting dining reservations. Crytal Palace may have, outside of Boma, the best buffet anywhere (I haven't tried Cape May's buffet yet, so that may change). Their baked salmon was out of this world! Of course, Pooh and friends were there to help us enjoy the dinner even more. Here are Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore when they stopped by our table.

We then did a lot of other attractions while Cinderelabration was going on. We did Snow White, Pooh, Teacups, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and finallly, Jungle Cruise. A big tip of the hat to Luisa, our Jungle Cruise skipper. She was wonderful. Not only did she do the standard spiel, but she ad libbed enough to make it interesting. It was one of the most enjoyable Jungle Cruise in a while (after having 2 bad ones the last two times given by the SAME cast member who had as much enthusiasm for it as a pet rock).

We then stayed for Wishes (no spectromagic that night). Since we had already videotaped Wishes (you may check my video collection in my Signature), I used the tripod to take a few pictures (OK, so it wasn't a few). Here are a few snap shots of Wishes.

We had a wonderful day, one of the most memorable ones in recent memories. Just when you think things can't get any better, a day like this happens. This is what makes this place so magical, that even "jaded" frequent visitors like us can still be surprised by new, unexpected events that made it new and exciting again.

Tomorrow, we will go back to Animal Kingdom.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Is the Buzz Lightyear ride reopened? Remember, that was closed for renovations when I was there with you last year. I don't know if they were just renovating, or replacing it with something different. I hope it was just renovations, because I liked that ride and was disappointed it was closed the last time I was there.

Edit: Nevermind, I was too busy looking at pictures and missed the part where you said you went on Buzz Lightyear, so that means it's open again. Did they change anything, or just do repairs?

 

[Pythagorean]

Yeah, you must have not been there in a while, because they no longer call it "Epcot Center", just Epcot.

:)

Zz.

Hrm, sounds like it's time to start replacing my girlfriend's birth control with candies so I have an excuse to go to disneyland in six years.

 

[ZapperZ]

Is the Buzz Lightyear ride reopened? Remember, that was closed for renovations when I was there with you last year. I don't know if they were just renovating, or replacing it with something different. I hope it was just renovations, because I liked that ride and was disappointed it was closed the last time I was there.

Edit: Nevermind, I was too busy looking at pictures and missed the part where you said you went on Buzz Lightyear, so that means it's open again. Did they change anything, or just do repairs?

I'm not exactly sure what they did because I can't come up with what's new there. In any case, the one at Disneyland is a lot more exciting since you can actually lift the gun off its socket. So you have a larger range of motion and angle.

And oh, Chuck beat me on Buzz for the first time ever yesterday! Lucky stiff!

:)

BTW, Moonbie, you went with us early this year. Does it feel as if it has been that long ago?

Zz.

 

[hypatia]

Looks like your haveing a great time!

 

[ZapperZ]

A fun morning at Animal Kingdom. Again, it wasn't busy at all, and Expedition Everest only had barely a 5-minute wait, which is almost unthinkable. So we rode it twice! :)

We then went on the Safari ride. Our guide, again, was terrific and he was really enthusiastic about it. Wish I remembered his name.

We then did Primeval Whirl (again), and the Dinosaur ride. We did a little bit of shopping, and a lot of pin trading (of course). I also want to make a correction. Expedition Everest ride pictures are NOT available on PhotoPass. For some reason, I thought it was EE that had this. Oh well. In any case, we got our 2nd free 5x7 pictures from a second voucher we got for playing the Yeti Vision game. Again, love those freebies!

Anyway, we didn't take a lot of pictures today (we did videotape EE again, and the safari). So here are more pictures from yesterday.

When we walked into the Magic Kingdom, the Dapper Dans were serenading us. They sound as wonderful as ever.

This was the neatest part of Pirates of the Caribbean ride - the projection of Davy Jones onto a screen of mist that you ride through.

Haven't done Snow White in quite a while, so we did it this time while the lines was almost non-existent.

Of course, we did It's A Small World. It's a must on every trip.

While we were waiting for Wishes, I took this shot. I am very fond of this. Never took it from this location before.

And of course, another shot of Wishes.

We're back at Old Key West, resting for the afternoon. We're meeting up with a few friends this evening in Downtown Disney for dinner. So today will be just a relaxing day at our resort and hanging around the pool.

Zz.

 

[Mattara]

How often do you visit Disneyland?

:)

Those are some truly amazing images

 

[ZapperZ]

How often do you visit Disneyland?

I think you meant to ask me about "Disney World". :) I have been to Disneyland in California only once, and it was this past May/June "Mini Grand Tour" trip.

I go to Disney World in Orlando about 2 times a year. However, this year has been unusual because, including this trip, we will have been there 4 times. We don't think this will happen again anytime soon. We will probably go back to twice a year next year.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

As expected, we had a very relaxing afternoon at OKW. At around 5:00 pm, we made our way to Downtown Disney's West Side on the water shuttle. It was a very pleasent, slow ride, with a lovely view. This first one is the view of the water way leaving the loading dock area at OKW.

This is the view from the water way of one of the buildings/villas of OKW.

This is the water shuttle and our captain.

The water shuttle made a stop at Saratoga Springs before heading out to the West Side, and finally to the loading area right next to Cap'n Jack's at Marketplace. This was where we took the shuttle back after a lovely evening in Downtown Disney. This is the front of Disney Quest, which, if rumor about its fate is correct, will soon be gone and be replaced with ESPN Zone.

And just for the heck of it, here's another picture from last night of the castle, taken at the top of the Hub.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I mentioned earlier that when we were at Disney/MGM Studios, we did the Animation Studios and got to learn how to draw Mickey Mouse. This is the second time we did this, and both times we got to draw Mickey. So I think I'm getting a bit better and doing it. Here is my sketch of Mickey that I did in that Animation Studio class.

When we sat in the pilot's cabin of the Monorail going towards the Magic Kingdom, the pilot gave us these co-pilot cards. So these things come with a wonderful memory of riding in the front of the monorail for the very first time for us.

I usually don't ask to do this since we usually do not travel with any kids. But since it wasn't that busy, and no one was asking to ride it up front, I decided to ask. I'm glad I did!

Today, we're going back to the Magic Kingdom. Meeting up with a few friends there, and then see how it goes. Our pin event starts tomorrow afternoon, with registration starting around 2:00 pm at the Contemporary.

Zz.