| 2012 Disney
Daily Blog
Click here to
see a sampling of pictures - Week 1
Click
here to see a sampling of pictures - Week 2
Today was such a magical day as we began our vacation in Walt
Disney World! We left dark and early to
head to the airport. We are so excited
that our friends, Kevin, Rosi, Kayleigh, and
Aly, will be joining us this week! We took
Disney's Magical Express transportation service
to our resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani
Village. The moms and girls got to explore
the gorgeous lobby and savannah outlook, while
the dads checked in. Much to our surprise,
both of our rooms were next to each other and
ready immediately! We went up to our
rooms, which have a view of the savannah.
It will be so neat to see the animals outside on
our balcony all week! After getting
settled, we headed to Magic Kingdom! First stop
was, of course, pictures in front of Cinderella
Castle! We ate lunch at Tortuga Tavern, famous
for their taco salads. This meal had been much
awaited by everyone! After an amazing lunch, we
went to ride the Haunted Mansion.
Next, we had to say hello to our two favorite mice, Mickey and
Minnie! We had fastpasses to see them, and had
our own private meet and greet! On our way out,
we saw Mary Poppins waiting for us! We spent
some time in the shops on Main Street as we
headed to Fantasyland. We saw Mickey's
Philharmagic, which was very entertainingng!
We went over to Tomorrowland to use our
fastpasses for Space Mountain and Buzz
Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We also saw
Stitch who was happy to see us! We went to the
new part of Magic Kingdom that just recently
opened, Storybook Circus! There we rode the new
Double Dumbo and revamped Barnstormer. We
checked out the new train station and rode the
train to the front of the park. We went to Main
Street Bakery for their famous ice cream
sandwiches that are made to order! We went to
the Storybook Princess room where we met
Rapunzel, Belle, and Cinderella!
We headed to dinner at the Plaza Restaurant, and the view from our
table was Cinderella Castle! We enjoyed potato
soup, cheesesteak sandwiches, and club
sandwiches, all of which were delicious! Our
waitress brought us cupcakes for the
anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations we
are celebrating! After dinner, we rode Stitch's
Great Escape and the Peoplemover. We finished
off the night with The Magic, the Memories, and
You, and the Wishes fireworks spectacular. Take
a look at pictures from our first day! We are
heading to Animal Kingdom in the morning so
check back tomorrow for another update!
Today
we went to Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours,
which are exclusive to resort guests before the
park opens. We got to ride Expedition
Everest five times in a row within that hour!
After escaping from the yeti, we went to eat
breakfast at Pizzafari where we enjoyed yummy
breakfast platters. After breakfast, we
went to see the 4-D show, It's Tough To Be A
Bug, which is actually located inside the Tree
of Life. We all enjoyed this show that was
filled with special effects and lots of creepy
crawlers! Next, we headed to Dinoland USA
to ride Triceratop Spin. After the ride,
Courtney and Megan had arranged for a special
surprise - VIP seating at Finding Nemo: The
Musical! We were escorted into the theater
before it opened to the public, and led to a
roped off row with the best seats in the house.
We all loved this fun musical filled with
singing, dancing, puppetry, and more!
After the show, we went to Flame Tree Barbeque
to enjoy their famous ribs. Following
lunch, we headed to take some pictures in front
of the Tree of Life, which included magical
shots that we'll get on our Photopass CD.
Courtney and Megan had arranged for some more
special treatment, with VIP seating at Festival
of the Lion King. Here, we got to enter
the theater first as well. We were seated
in the Warthog section, which represented Pumbaa.
We had AMAZING seats, right on the first and
second benches! The show was incredible,
especially with being so close to the
performers. Kevin was even selected to
lead the warthog section and demonstrate the
noise they make! We all enjoyed the music
from the movie, as well as the many dancers,
acrobats, and characters. After the
performance, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris,
where we saw animals such as lions, elephants,
giraffles, hippos, and so much more! We
had a refreshing fruit snack, watched the
afternoon parade, and headed back to the resort.
We
went to dinner at Megan's favorite, Raglan Road,
which is located in Downtown Disney. Raglan Road
is an Irish pub and restaurant, so we were
treated with an Irish band and dancers during
our dinner. We ordered and enjoyed some
great food, including sirloin steak, fish and
chips, chicken breasts, and hamburgers.
Everything was delicious, and we had a great
meal. After dinner, we started exploring
the many shops! We spent some time in
World of Disney, which is HUGE and has
everything you can imagine, and more!
Courtney found a cute laptop case for her new
computer, Megan got an awesome new pillow, and
Aly found some pink princess Mickey ears!
We went over to Basin, which is a specialty soap
store. They have every theme and scent of
soap possible! Kayleigh found two cute
bars of soap, watermelon and ducks! We
went to the sports store, Team Mickey, where
Neil found what he was looking for - a
University of Texas / Mickey t-shirt to go with
Bonnie, Courtney, and Megan's shirts! He
was excited to see that they had it, because we
were told on the phone that it wasn't in their
system! After that, we went to the
much-awaited Ghirardelli's. We all ordered
some quite amazing ice cream treats! We
looked around in a few more stores on our way to
the bus stop, and then headed back to Kidani.
Check out our great pictures from today!
Tomorrow morning, we will be going to Hollywood
Studios!
This morning, we got to Hollywood Studios at
park opening! We got fastpasses for Toy Story
Mania and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. The girls
went on Tower of Terror for a thrilling elevator
ride. Afterwards, the girls hopped on Rock 'n'
Roller Coaster for a trip to Hollywood with
Aerosmith. We ate breakfast at Starring Rolls
Café, where we enjoyed giant cinnamon rolls and
other delicious treats! We went to Toy Story
Mania, which is always a fun ride. After riding
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster again, we looked around
in some of the shops and took pictures in front
of the Sorcerer's Hat. We went back to the
hotel, but got off the bus at Jambo House to eat
lunch at the Mara. We enjoyed yummy chicken,
burgers, and pasta. We went back to Kidani to
change clothes before heading back out.
We went over to Animal Kingdom to hang out for a
bit, for what ended up to be an amazing
encounter. We looked around in some of the
shops on Discovery Island. Then, we got a snack
at Pizzafari. Megan really wanted to go to the
Creature Comforts store, not for any specific
reason other than to look around. We had spent
a good 20 minutes in there, before heading for
the door. All of a sudden, Courtney stopped.
She recognized a cast member behind the counter
that had just begun his shift. Last year, we
met him working in a different shop at Animal
Kingdom. His name is Abraham, and he does
amazing impersonation of Donald Duck, and other
characters as well. Megan had videotaped him on
her phone last year, and has since acquired
quite an impressive impersonation herself! We
went over to Abraham, and told him we met him
last year, and Megan showed him the video. He
was so excited because he had heard of cast
members leaving an impression on guests, and we
were his first! He started telling his manager
the story, when 3 other managers came out. They
said that they had a special surprise for
Abraham that they wanted us to be a part of, and
presented him with a banner and cast member pin
in honor of his 1st year at Disney! He has
participated in 3 college programs, but this was
his 1st official year. We were so glad to share
this with Abraham, and can't believe how fate
worked out!
Afterwards, we headed over to Epcot! We went on
Spaceship Earth, and enjoyed our journey through
time. We walked through the countries, and made
our way back to Italy. We had dinner at Via
Napoli, which is an Italian pizzeria and one of
our favorites! We enjoyed white four cheese,
pepperoni, and black olive pizza. The chef even
prepared a special Mickey pizza arrangement for
us! After dinner, we enjoyed funnel cakes in
America and kakigoris (snow cones) in Japan! We
made our way to the United Kingdom, where we
found out that Courtney and Megan had arranged a
VIP viewing of Illuminations. We checked in and
were escorted to a roped off area, with an
amazing view! After a wonderful fireworks show,
we went to the Epcot Character Spot. We got to
say hello to our favorite characters, Mickey,
Pluto, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy! We loved
spending some fun moments with them! We looked
around in Mouse Gears, and then headed back to
Kidani. Tomorrow, we are going to the water
parks!
Today we headed to Disney's Typhoon
Lagoon water park for some fun in the
sun! This morning was Extra Magic Hours
for resort guests. We started out on
the family raft ride, Gangplank Falls.
Afterwards, we went to the water
coaster, Crush N Gusher. This ride has
three different paths, themed to
bananas, pineapples, and coconuts.
Next, we went over to the Shark Reef
where we did the snorkeling experience.
We got to swim across the reef, and see
many sharks and fish! After that, we
went to the park's namesake, Typhoon
Lagoon. We love this wave pool, and the
giant waves that come every 90 seconds!
After catching some waves, we relaxed in
the lazy river. The sky started to get
dark, so we decided to head out and went
to the Polynesian Resort for lunch. We
ate at Captain Cook's, and enjoyed our
meal! We went back to Kidani Village to
get ready for the evening.
After showers and freshening up, we
headed to Downtown Disney! We went to
Disney Quest, which is a virtual theme
park. We went to the Virtual Jungle
Cruise, where we paddled along the river
through various lands. Disney Quest was
quite crowded, so we decided to get
something to eat. We ate at Wolfgang
Puck Cafe, where we had delicious steak,
salmon, pasta, and salad. After our
meal, we listened to some of the live
music performances throughout Downtown
Disney. We looked around in some of the
stores such as Disney's Pin Traders, Art
of Disney, and of course, Goofy's Candy
Company! After getting some yummy
dessert, we headed over to Bay Lake
Tower. Being DVC members, we were able
to watch fireworks from the Top of the
World Lounge on the roof. We enjoyed
the view and loved the show. We decided
to call it a day and head back to the
hotel. Check out the pictures from
today! Tomorrow, we will be heading to
Magic Kingdom!
Today we went to Magic
Kingdom for the resort guest
Extra Magic Hours! We
were there before the park
opened, so we got to watch
the welcome show with all of
the characters and trolley
dancers. We headed
straight to Space Mountain!
After traveling through
space, we went to ride the
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.
We went over to Frontierland,
where Megan got the first
fastpasses of the day for
Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad. We rode
Splash Mountain, and then
big Thunder Mountain
Railroad. This
completed our "triple
mountain whammy!" We
took the Walt Disney World
Railroad around to Main
Street USA. We ate a
late breakfast at Main
Street Bakery, where we
enjoyed cinnamon rolls,
croissant sandwiches,
bagels, and even an ice
cream cookie sandwich!
After our meal, we went to
take some pictures at
Cinderella Castle.
While we were there, a man
proposed to his girlfriend
in front of the castle,
which is definitely a dream
of Courtney and Megan's!
We headed back to Fantasyland
where we took a spin on the
Mad Tea Party. We also
went on Prince Charming's
Regal Carrousel. We
went to lunch at Columbia
Harbour House, where we had
their fried shrimp and fish.
We headed back to the hotel,
because we were being picked
up for a surprise.
Courtney and Megan had
arranged a private VIP tour
of the Animal Kingdom Lodge
savannahs, with Greg, the
resort's Animal
Manager/Curator! We
were escorted out to the
front, where a safari jeep
was waiting for us! We
got in, and were driven to
the Pembe Savannah. We
got to learn about how
Kidani Village is one of the
few places with the okapi.
We went over to the Sunset
Savannah, which is the one
that our room looks out to.
We got to see many animals,
such as giraffes, zebras,
wildebeests, nyalas, cranes,
Egyptian longhorns,
ostriches, and many more!
We also got to learn all
about the training and
caretaking that goes into
keeping the resort's
savannahs in good condition.
We learned about how they
test out putting new animals
into the savannah as well.
Greg has been with the team
since the original Animal
Kingdom Lodge opened in
2001, and helped in the
development and opening of
Kidani Village (the DVC
section), which opened in
2009. We had an
awesome time on the safari,
which gave us some amazing
pictures and memories, as
well as a better
understanding of the immense
amount of work that goes
into this resort!
Afterwards, we freshened up
and headed to Hollywood
Studios. Some of us
did the magic of Animation
drawing class, and learned
to draw Tigger! Some
of us stayed out in the
Animation Courtyard for
Characterpalooza, and we saw
Meeko, Pluto, Stitch, Mary
Poppins, and Chip & Dale.
After that, we went to
dinner at 50's Prime Time
Cafe. This is a
restaurant that takes you
straight back to the 50's,
from the food, to the
decorations, to minding your
manners! Cousin
Kimberly made the kids set
the table. Mama Janice
saw Kevin with his elbows on
the table, and made him
clear the dishes and take
them all the way back to the
kitchen! Megan was
saying "we want dessert!"
and Cousin Kimberly saw that
she hadn't finished her meal
yet. So, she took a
spoonful of Megan's pasta
and had the whole restaurant
make airplane noises while
she fed it to her! We
enjoyed our food, especially
the fried chicken, which has
been voted #1 in Disney by
the Disney Food Blog.
When it was time for
dessert, Cousin Kimberly
brought out the dessert
menus, which were on
viewmasters! We all
enjoyed this entertaining
meal! We went over to
the nighttime spectacular,
Fastasmic. Courtney
and Megan had us in roped
off seats, right in the
center of the amphitheater!
We loved this show, which
has lots of water, special
effects, and characters!
We called it a night and
headed back to Kidani!
Tomorrow, we will be hitting
Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and
Magic Kingdom, so stay tuned
for our busy day!
This morning, we went to
Epcot for the Extra
Magic Hours, and headed
straight to Soarin'!
We rode it right away,
and got fastpasses for
later. We went on
the Living with the Land
boat ride, which goes
into the park's
greenhouses. After
that, we had breakfast
at Sunshine Seasons.
Then, it was time for
our second ride on
Soarin'. After our
flight, we went to the
Seas with Nemo and
Friends. After
riding, half of us
stayed for Turtle Talk
with Crush, and half of
us went to the Sum of
All Thrills. We
met back up, and started
heading into the World
Showcase. We saw
Rafiki by the fountains,
and we saw Mulan in
China. We went
over to Italy for lunch
at Via Napoli.
Since our dinner on
Tuesday, we had learned
that the special Mickey
pizza that we had
received from the chef
had not been made since
the restaurant's
opening! That was
pretty cool! We
got to thank both the
Director and Executive
Chef of Via Napoli.
After our wonderful
lunch, we walked over to
the Beach Club for ice
cream at Beaches n
Cream.
We took a bus to Animal
Kingdom, because we had
been invited to be in
the parade! We
were supposed to be in
the parade on Tuesday,
but it was cancelled due
to rain, so we were so
excited to get to
reschedule! We got
on our safari vests and
hats, and headed
backstage. We were
all on the final float,
with none other than
Mickey Mouse! We
had a great time on the
float waving at all of
the guests! We went back
to Animal Kingdom Lodge
to freshen up, and then
headed to the Polynesian
for dinner at Kona Cafe!
We LOVE their pineapple
teriyaki steaks.
At Kona Cafe, they have
all of their desserts
displayed, and the
pastry chef makes them
in front of you.
Megan's dream is to be a
pastry chef at Disney,
and she started talking
to Lauren, the pastry
chef. Megan found
out that she is on the
Culinary track of the
Disney College Program,
and also interned with
Buddy Valastro of Cake
Boss! Megan was
quite in awe that Lauren
has done the two things
she wants to do!!
After dinner, the Smiths
went back to the resort
to pack, and the
Sucharts went to Magic
Kingdom. We
watched Wishes and the
Main Street Electrical
Parade. We went on
many rides with no wait,
such as Many Adventures
of Winnie the Pooh, It's
a Small World, and the
Magic Carpets of
Aladdin. We also
took pictures in front
of the lit up castle.
We headed back to Kidani
for one last night with
the animals.
Tomorrow, we move to Bay
Lake Tower, and it is
Bonnie and Neil's
anniversary!
Today was Bonnie and
Neil's 22nd wedding
anniversary! The
Smiths headed back to
Houston this morning. We slept in
a bit and packed up our
suitcases, because we
moved over to Bay Lake
Tower! This is our
home resort for the
Disney Vacation Club,
and it felt so great to
be back home!! We
checked in, and received
our room keys.
Usually, the room keys
are blue, but ours were
gold! The gold
cards are only used for
celebrities, VIP guests,
and for other special
reasons! While we
waited for our room, we
went to lunch at the Contempo Cafe.
Neil had a cheeseburger,
Bonnie had a cheese
flatbread, Courtney had
a Caesar salad, and
Megan had chicken.
After lunch, we looked
around in the gift
shops, made pressed
pennies, pin traded, and
enjoyed being back at
the Contemporary.
Our room still wasn't
ready, so we decided to
go over to the DVC
preiview center at
Saratoga Springs.
We got to meet with our
DVC guide, Scott.
We got to see the model
room of DVC's newest
resort, Aulani, which is
in Hawaii. We are
so excited that we will
be visiting Aulani in
March after Megan's
dance competition.
It was great to see the
models! We enjoyed
talking with Scott about
Disney Vacation Club,
and always enjoy going
to the preview center
during our trip.
We are so glad that we
joined DVC a few years
ago, and can't imagine
our trips without being
members!
After our visit, we
headed back to Bay Lake
Tower, because our room
was ready! We have
an awesome view of Magic
Kingdom and Bay Lake,
and we will be able to
see the fireworks from
our balcony!
Waiting for Bonnie and
Neil on the table was a
surprise delivery of
delicious chocolate
covered pretzels from
Courtney and Megan!
We freshened up before
going over to the Yacht
Club and taking some
pictures around the
gorgeous hotel. We
were excited to be
having an anniversary
dinner at one of our
absolute favorite
restaurants, Yachtsman
Steakhouse. We
were seated, and found
out we had the same
waitress from last year,
who actually remembered
us! We also talked
to the manager, who used
to be at the
Contemporary, and
remembered us as well.
She brought out special
appetizers on the house
for Bonnie and Neil's
anniversary. We
also started out with
the steakhouse caesar.
We all had the red wine
filet mignons, which are
always absolutely
wonderful!! We
really enjoyed our meal,
and were too stuffed for
dessert!! Neil's
brother's family has
been here for the past
few days, and we invited
them up to the Top of
the World Lounge to
watch fireworks with us.
Eddie and Tyler were
already in the room, but
Lisa and Ashley came to
join us. It was
good to see them and
hear all about their
trip! We all
enjoyed the show, and
then called it a night!
Check out the pictures
from today!
Today we
set out
for some
fun at
Hollywood
Studios!
We went
straight
to Rock
'n'
Roller
Coaster,
and got
fastpasses
before
riding
it.
We also
got
fastpasses
for
Tower of
Terror.
We had
breakfast
at
Starring
Rolls
Cafe,
which is
a place
we
always
enjoy.
Then, it
was time
to use
our
fastpasses,
so we
went to
ride two
of our
favorites.
We went
over to
Toy
Story
Mania,
where we
enjoyed
trying
to rack
up the
most
points.
When we
exited,
the
Green
Army Men
were
waiting
to see
us!
We also
went to
see
Lightening
McQueen
and Tow
Mater
from the
movie
Cars.
After
that, we
saw
Muppet
Vision
3-D,
which is
always
funny.
We went
to get
fastpasses
for Star
Tours,
and then
ate
lunch at
Backlot
Express
while we
waited.
We LOVE
their
multigrain
ciabatta
turkey
sandwiches.
After
lunch,
we went
to use
our Star
Tours
fastpasses.
This
ride was
recently
refurbished,
and is
neat
because
it is
different
every
single
time you
ride it.
After
that, we
went to
see one
of the
preliminary
shows of
the
American
Idol
Experience.
Then, we
went
back to
the
Animation
Courtyard,
where we
saw one
of
Neil's
favorites,
Handy
Manny.
In the
Magic of
Disney
Animation,
Courtney
and
Megan
learned
how to
draw
Tigger.
We
decided
to head
out, but
instead
of going
back to
our
resort,
we went
to spend
some
time at
other
resorts.
We took
the
Friendship
Boat
over to
the
Beach
Club,
where we
were
able to
get a
table at
Beaches
N Cream
with no
wait!
This
restaurant
can get
waits up
to 2
hours!
This
restaurant's
hamburgers
have
been
voted
the best
in
Disney
World,
so we
had to
get one
to try!
They are
also
famous
for
their
ice
cream,
so we
enjoyed
some
treats!
We
looked
around
the
Beach
Club,
and then
headed
across
to the
Boardwalk.
They
have a
huge
selection
of DVC
merchandise,
so we
did some
shopping,
then
headed
back to
Bay Lake
Tower.
We
freshened
up and
then met
up with
Eddie
(Neil's
brother),
Lisa,
Ashley,
and
Tyler at
the
Contemporary.
We took
the
monorail
around
for some
family
time at
Magic
Kingdom!
We took
some
pictures
in front
of the
castle,
and then
headed
back to
the
Monster's
Inc.
Laugh
Floor.
This
show is
always
enjoyable,
and
everyone
loved
it!
Then, we
headed
to Town
Square
Theater,
where we
took
lots of
pictures
with
Mickey &
Minnie,
Aurora,
Belle,
and
Cinderella.
After
that, we
all went
to ride
Buzz
Lightyear's
Space
Ranger
Spin.
We ate
dinner
at
Cosmic
Ray's
Starlight
Cafe,
and then
walked
right
outside
to see
the
fireworks.
We got
on the
Mad Tea
Party
with no
wait,
then
rode
Stitch's
Great
Escape!
We went
on the
Tomorrowland
Indy
Speedway,
and
Ashley
and
Tyler
loved
being
driven
by their
big
cousins!
Then, we
went
over to
the new
Storybook
Circus,
where we
rode
double
Dumbo.
We also
rode
Goofy's
Barnstormer,
and
stayed
on it
for a
second
time
because
there
was no
wait.
We
decided
to call
it a
night,
and all
rode the
monorail
home.
We're so
glad we
got to
spend
some
time
with
them
tonight
and glad
that
Ashley
and
Tyler
enjoyed
their
first
trip to
Disney
World!
Take a
look at
the
pictures
(please
note
that
they are
now on
the week
2 page)!
This morning, we slept in before heading to Blizzard Beach water park. We took the ski lift up to the top of Mount Gushmore, where we rode the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs, to the bottom. At the end of the ride, a cute Mickey raft was waiting! We hopped in the lazy river, Cross Country Creek, and rode it around to the other side of the park. We went up to the purple slope, where we rode the Snow Stormers down to the bottom. We saw Swimmer Goofy, who even did a Hook 'em for Courtney! After that we ate lunch, where we enjoyed nachos, chicken, and meatball sandwiches. We went into Meltaway Bay which has bobbing waves. Megan enjoyed building a sandcastle on the shore. After having fun in the sun, we headed back to Bay Lake Tower.
We took showers and got ready for Downtown Disney. While we were on the bus, it started pouring, so we made a mad dash for the closest store, Art of Disney! After a while, it started to let up, so we went over to Mickey's Pantry to look around. Then, we went to Disney's pin traders. They have a huge pin trading board that is opened up randomly, and the lady opened it for us! We each got to trade 2 pins, and added to sets we needed! We went over to World of Disney to shop, and then went to dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. We enjoyed bruschetta, pasta, pizza, and chicken. After dinner, we went to Create-A-Tee, where we designed our own t-shirts! We each made one with the Bay Lake Tower logo! They will be printed and delivered to our hotel on Wednesday. After that, we went to Disney Quest, where Courtney and Megan did CyberSpace Mountain. They created their own roller coaster, at a scare level of 5 (out of 5), that went upside down 7 times! Afterwards, we had hot fudge brownie sundaes at Ghirardelli's. We called it a night and headed back to Bay Lake Tower. Tomorrow, we are going to Animal Kingdom!
This morning, we went to Animal Kingdom and were there at park opening. We headed back to Asia and rode Expedition Everest right away. We texted and met up with our friends, Don, Bonnie, and DJ. They were the first people to ever recognize us from our website, years ago at Hollywood Studios. We have kept in touch with them on Facebook and met up in Disney many times since. We all rode Expedition Everest again together. Then, we headed over to Dinoland USA, where we rode Dinosaur. After capturing the iguanodon, we rode Primeval Whirl. After the ride, we went our separate ways, but hope to meet up with Don, Bonnie, and DJ later in the week! We took a few pictures on our way out and looked around in some stores, and decided to go back to the Contemporary for lunch. We enjoyed caesar salads and hamburgers at the Contempo Cafe.
After lunch, we waited in the Contemporary for a huge storm to pass. We did some pin trading and shopping, and Neil finally got the DVC jacket he had been eyeing! It started to clear up, so we headed to the Magic Kingdom and rode Space Mountain twice. After that, we rode Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. We went over to Frontierland and got a cute new snack, Mickey soft pretzels! We had our favorite taco salads for dinner. Afterwards, we used our fastpasses for Jungle Cruise, which was quite funny. We went over to use our fastpasses for Peter Pan's Flight. We went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and rode that twice. After riding the runaway mine train, we grabbed some ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor on our way back to our hotel. We watched fireworks from our balcony, which we love doing! It is so nice to be in our beds right after the show ends, instead of fighting crowds to get out of the park. Take a look at the pictures! Tomorrow, we're going to Hollywood Studios!
This morning, we went to Hollywood Studios! We got fastpasses for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania, before eating breakfast at Starring Rolls Cafe. We eat here every time we come to Hollywood Studios, because it's just that good! We love their cinnamon rolls and danishes. After breakfast, we said hello to Minnie Mouse, who was in the courtyard. After breakfast, Courtney and Megan rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster twice in a row. This is by far their favorite roller coaster! Afterwards, we went to One Man's Dream, which is a walk-through exhibit and movie displaying Walt Disney's extraordinary life. After the movie, we went to ride Toy Story Mania. We headed out, saying good-bye to Hollywood Studios for this trip. We took the Friendship boat over to the Boardwalk Resort. We walked around some of the shops and restaurants, before having lunch at the ESPN Club. Neil just happened to be wearing his new Disney / ESPN shirt! The ESPN Club is quite the sport's lovers dream, with over 100 TV's set up around the restaurant! And yes, there are multiple TV's over the bathroom stalls and sinks too! We also enjoyed seeing all of the sports memorabilia around the restaurant. We had a nice lunch, of sandwiches, nachos, chicken dippers, and burgers.
After lunch, we went down to the Atlantic Dance Hall for a DVC Member event, Welcome Home Wednesday! We had never been before, so we were excited to attend. We got snacks on the way in, and front row seats. The event consisted of a number of member games, led by the host and hostess. Megan was picked for the first game themed to the new Hawaii resort, in which she had to balance with a surfboard! In the next game themed to Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village, Bonnie was selected to play! She had to guess which animal belonged to certain sounds. Courtney and Megan were picked for a know your partner game, where they had to answer questions about what each other would order at different Disney restaurants! After each game, we won special DVC trading pins! The host and hostess were quite funny, and explained different member perks and tips throughout the event. At the end, everyone received DVC tote bags. We really enjoyed this event, and absolutely LOVE our DVC membership! We are SO glad we joined! We grabbed some ice cream from Seashore Sweets before heading back to Bay Lake Tower. We freshened up before heading to Epcot for one of our all-time favorite dinners, Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion. We started off with our favorite bread, pretzel bread. We all had the filet mignons, which are to die for!! Bonnie and Neil also got a special anniversary dessert. We have been to Le Cellier every year since 2005, and always look forward to our next meal! We had a great dinner with our waitress, Lacey, who is from Ontario. Something neat about the World Showcase is that all of the cast members are from that country, which makes for an authentic experience. After dinner, we went back to Bay Lake Tower, so we could watch the fireworks from our balcony again! This is just one of the many perks about Bay Lake Tower, and something we love to do! Tomorrow, we're going to Magic Kingdom!
We walked over to Magic Kingdom this morning and got there before rope drop! We love being at Bay Lake Tower because we are close enough to walk over to Magic Kingdom in the mornings!! Megan rushed over to Space Mountain and got the first fastpasses of the day! We hopped in the standby line, and rode it once. Then, we went on Astro Orbiter. This ride always has a long line, but we walked right on and each got our own rocket ships. After the ride, we saw Chip & Dale and Stitch, both with no lines! After saying good morning to them, we used our fastpasses to ride Space mountain again. We went over to Adventureland, and got in line at Tinkerbell's Magical Nook. We said hi to her, and also took a magic shot with the Photopass photographer, who put fairy wings on us. We took some pictures in front of the castle, in our cute Mickey / University of Texas shirts! We ate breakfast at our favorite, Main Street Bakery. Afterwards, we did some shopping at the best store at the Magic Kingdom, the Emporium. After shopping, we saw Mickey and Minnie at the Town Square Theater. We love that this meet and greet has fastpasses! We went over to see the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, which is always enjoyable. We ate lunch at Tony's Town Square Restaurant on Main Street. This restaurant is themed to Lady and the Tramp, and we haven't eaten here in years! We really enjoyed our meatball sliders and pasta!
After lunch, we took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower. When we got to our room, there was a note on our door! The resort changed over the entrances to each room, to upgraded technology. Instead of inserting your key into a slot like a regular hotel, you now simply hold your key up to a pad on your door. The light turns green, and your door is unlocked! Disney is in the process of switching over all of their resorts to this system, and Bay Lake Tower is one of the first! We were excited that this happened while we were still here! We decided to head down to the Bay Cove pool for some fun in the sun! We swam, went down the Mickey slide, and relaxed in the hot tub. We went back up to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. We went to Epcot, for dinner at Nine Dragons in China. We have had MANY reservations for this restaurant over the years. However, we have always cancelled, whether it be due to another restaurant, the weather, or another reason. We were so excited to finally dine here, and see what we have been missing out on! We ordered sweet and sour chicken, honey sesame chicken, canton pepper beef, and chicken fried rice, and shared all of the entrees. We really loved the food, and can't believe it took us so long to eat here! On the way out, Bonnie and Megan got a candy treat, and Neil and Courtney had ice cream. We took the monorail to Bay Lake Tower, and watched the fireworks from our balcony! We never get tired of watching Wishes, especially in our pajamas!! Tomorrow is unfortunately our last day, and we're going back to Epcot and Magic Kingdom!
Today, we set off for a busy last day at the parks! We went to Epcot for the Extra Magic Hours, and headed straight to Soarin’ to get fastpasses and then went to ride it! After our flight, we went to have breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, which is also in the Land pavilion. Afterwards, we rode Journey into your Imagination with Figment, and by then it was time to use our Soarin’ fastpasses. After another great flight to California, we did some shopping and pin trading. We went over to the World Showcase, and stopped to look around in Mexico. We continued on to Norway, and we were at Maelstrom when it opened. After the ride, we spent some time in the Norway shops, before moving on to China. We enjoyed playing with the marionette puppets and exploring the country. We made our way over to Germany, before going to Italy for lunch at Via Napoli. We absolutely love this restaurant, and highly recommend it! The girls had their usual Quattro formaggi pizza, and Neil had pepperoni pizza. All of us were surprised to learn that our meal was on the house! After a wonderful lunch, we continued our journey around the world, and went to America! We made our way over to Japan, where Courtney had a kaki gori (snowcone) and Megan had a new fruit ice pop. They were both great, especially in the Florida heat! We went over to France, where we met Marie from the Aristocats! In the United Kingdom, we said hello to Alice, before heading over to Canada. We saw Ariel on our way out, and then took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower. On the monorail, we happened to run into our friends Don, Bonnie, and DJ, who had spent the morning at Magic Kingdom. We chatted with them, and wished them a fun last night of their trip. We headed back to our room to get ready for our last evening!
We put on our new Bay Lake Tower t-shirts that we had created at Downtown Disney! After a quick photoshoot at BLT, we walked over to Magic Kingdom. We LOVE that Bay Lake Tower is close enough to walk to our favorite park! We went over to Tomorrowland and got fastpasses for Space Mountain, before seeing a showing of the Laugh Floor Comedy Club. We took some great pictures in front of Cinderella Castle, including a cute one using hula hoops to make the shape of Mickey Mouse! We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, before eating dinner at Columbia Harbour House. After dinner, we rode the Peoplemover and then used our Space Mountain fastpasses. We went to the Hub on Main Street, where we watched The Magic, the Memories, and You, and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular for one last time. This combination is by far our favorite nighttime entertainment! We went over to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and defeated the evil Zurg twice in a row. After that, Evening Extra Magic Hours had begun, so we went back to Fantasyland where we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic. We hopped on It’s a Small World, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel. Bonnie headed back to the room, and Neil stayed at Magic Kingdom with the girls. We rode the Mad Tea Party, and it was so empty that we each got our own teacup! We went over to ride the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. We stopped at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor for one last treat, before walking down Main Street USA for the last time this trip. We headed back to Bay Lake Tower, exhausted from attending both the morning and evening extra magic hours! Tomorrow, we’re having brunch at the Grand Floridian and going to Downtown Disney
This morning, we woke up a bit sad as it was our last day in Disney. We finished packing, and brought the luggage down to do airline check-in. It is so nice that Disney offers this service, so that we can check our bags in at our hotel, instead of at the airport. We went over to the Grand Floridian for brunch at 1900 Park Fare. This is a character meal, so Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice, and the Mad Hatter joined us! We enjoyed our meal, and loved the huge buffet with lots of options! After a great meal, we did some pin trading in the stores at the Grand Floridian. Courtney and Megan got soap at Basin embedded with cute Mickey’s! We went over to Downtown Disney to hang out for a few hours. We went to the Disney Pin Traders, and we made some great trades when they opened up the huge pin trading board! We looked around in some other stores, before going to World of Disney. We still had lots of pins to trade, so we each grabbed a handful and split up throughout the huge store! We met up, each with different pins than we started with! We happened to be there when they brought out a pin trading book, so we got some great trades from there too.
We went over to Ghirardelli’s for the last dessert of the trip! We really enjoyed our hot fudge brownie sundaes, knowing that we would have to wait a whole year for the next one! We took the bus back to the Contemporary, where we did some more pin trading. One of the gift shops even pulled out their pin trading board for us, since we wouldn’t be here at 7:00 when they usually pull it out. We got some drinks at the Contempo Café, before getting on the Magical Express. We had an uneventful flight back to Houston. Thank you to everyone who has followed along with us on our trip! We hope you enjoyed reading about our days and seeing a sneak peek of the pictures. All of the individual pages on our website will be updated soon with the thousands of pictures we took! If you have any comments about our blog or questions about our trip, please email us! We would love to hear from you!
Until next time,
The Sucharts
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