Next time, take the stairs…

Normally, Monday mornings are nothing to look forward to, but we are in Disney World! Of course we are starting to feel the strain of a Disney vacation, but that’s nothing a little pixie dust (aka coffee) couldn’t fix.

It’s day 4 and we are off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  The excitement builds as our bus approaches the park and the Hollywood themed music starts playing.  I will also mention how awesome Joe Hursh is.  His voice immediately puts you back on a Disney bus on your way to or from your favorite parks!  We could listen to him read the phone book and enjoy it.

Anyway…we stepped off the bus and through the gates at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

First on the list was Sunset Blvd to grab Fast Passes for either Tower of Terror or Rock’n Roller Coaster.  Because we (and everyone else in the world) love the queue for Tower of Terror, we decided to go with Rock’n Roller Coaster for the Fast Passes.

Thanks to my handy, dandy Lines app that I have on my phone, I was able to check out the wait time for Star Tours 2.0.  Seeing that it was only about 15 or so minutes, we decided to try that out until our Fast Passes rolled around.

I love all things Disney…and I’m a huge Star Wars fan…so this refreshed attraction was near the top of my list this trip.  It was fantastic!  Being a 3-D attraction makes it that much better.  There are supposedly over 50 combinations/outcomes each time you ride, so you have a good chance getting something different every time.  I loved it, and Abbie got queasy, so riding again anytime soon was out of the question.

After this we walked around Echo Lake, taking in all of the Disney details.

A trip to Disney World is never complete until you’ve eaten a giant turkey leg.  So we went ahead and checked that one off our list.  And boy was it good!

After our “savage” lunch, we walked around the corner to use our Fast Passes for Rock’n Roller Coaster.  Thank God we had those because prior to the sound studio, this has to be the worst queue in the Studios.  Anyway…we got to see the band, who were running late for a concert, but were cool enough to get us a stretch…make that a SUPER stretch…limo so we could get there in time.  I love this roller coaster, but that second corkscrew always gets me nervous because I always feel my backpack move around as we go upside down.  We made it to the concert…and I snapped this good picture of our 0-to-60 moment.

It all started with a mouse.  But, before the mouse, there was the man, Walt Disney.  We left Sunset Blvd and hopped over to see One Man’s Dream.  Being a history buff, and a Disney buff, I absolutely love stuff like this.  It’s so much fun seeing how Walt grew up, got started, and achieved his dreams.  I was also excited about seeing the changes that had taken place since our last trip (Honeymoon in August 2010) because it was closed back then for the refurb.  Anyway…loved it!

Next we decided to go over to New York City, just a short walk away.  Lucky for us, we were only a block away from San Francisco too!  One of these days we hope to come back around Christmas so we can see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.  By the time we made it back towards New York we got to see and hear the cover band, Mulch, Sweat, and Shears.  They were fantastic and very entertaining.  I should have gotten some video of them, but the picture will have to suffice.

Anyone here scared of elevators?  I suggest you take the stairs then.  One of our favorite attractions in Disney World has to be the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  It has one of the most detailed and eerily beautiful queues ever, and the suspense starts the moment you see it at the end of Sunset Blvd.  You see the scarred exterior first, and the closer you get, you start to hear the screams.  Once you make it to the queue you hear the old big band music that takes you out of Florida and puts you in the Hollywood hills.  I could go on and on and on, but all of you that have been here know what I am talking about (sorry Kristen).  We loved it…I tried to take a picture of our picture and it didn’t turn out. 

We’re in the “dead” center of the picture…me in my red shirt.

Of course we rode it again right after!  We’re in the bottom left corner.  I’m pretending to be dead/asleep in this one.

After this we left Hollywood Studios and went back to our resort to go over to Downtown Disney.

The Piggy Bank? The Ding Dang?

We got an early start this morning with a fun day ahead of us. We were up by 6:30 and headed out the door for church at 7:30. I wish I hadn’t left my phone in the car when we went to church, because that church is just so beautiful and a few pictures of it would have been nice to post. After Mass, we headed back over to our resort to change and get ready for a day at Epcot.

First we needed to drop off the rental car back at the Dolphin. After that we walked over to the Boardwalk and got a delicious ham, egg, and cheese croissant at the Boardwalk Bakery. It was soooo good! The Boardwalk is so beautiful in the morning…and so peaceful.

After our light breakfast and stroll around the Boardwalk, we made our way to the International Gateway to enter Epcot. I love this entrance…it’s always so quiet and peaceful.

We made our way to Soarin’ to pickup a few Fast Passes and then went over to the Living Seas. Yes, I still call it the Living Seas. We found Nemo in the big blue world and then enjoyed watching the fish swim around. It was this attraction’s queue that inspired me to paint Abbie’s classroom to look like it was under the sea. I always wanted to be an imagineer. Speaking of imagineering, our next stop was the Imagination Pavilion to ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

This was my favorite ride when I was 4 years old, and I knew it had changed a few times since then, but man was it a letdown. It just never really got me using my imagination…and I do miss the Dream Finder. Anyhow…after that I snapped a few pictures of Space Ship Earth (SSE) from that different angle. SSE has to be the best photo subject in all of Disney World!

We walked from there over to Future World East to ride Mission: Space. We’re big kids, so we rode the Orange side…and then I got queasy. We figured a nice, serene attraction would be best, so we scooted over to Space Ship Earth. This is definitely my favorite Epcot attraction, and might even be my favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World! The animatronics are fantastic and the smell of Rome burning always brings me back.

After sailing through the universe of time, we stopped by Test Track (or Fast Track ) to pickup some Fast Passes for later. Then we made our way over to San Angel Inn for lunch.

Eating lunch at San Angel Inn is a tradition of mine going back years and years and is now a tradition with our family. The food is wonderful and the atmosphere is second to none. We had heard about how good the new Jalapeno Margaritas were, so Abbie decided to try one out. The rumors are true! It was one of the best margaritas either of us have ever had. I got the classic lime (left) and Abbie got the Jalapeno (right).

I ordered a steak and Abbie got enchiladas I believe. Both meals were amazing. After our meal we rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. Before we left Mexico, we made sure to get another Jalapeno Margarita to go.

We needed to walk off that wonderful meal, so we strolled around World Showcase, hitting the countries we didn’t see the day before.

Remember me mentioning how important it is to get good seats for Soarin’? Well, somehow we ended up getting sent down at the last minute to fill in the boarding group on Soarin’. Because we got pulled out of line, the CM wouldn’t let us wait on the next group, which forced us to sit on the very outside of the bottom row. The seats were horrible and it almost ruined the experience. We were pretty upset. But, we decided to shake it off and we headed over to Ellen’s Energy Adventure, one of my nerdy favorites in Future World. A lot of people don’t like this ride, or they think it is a snoozer, but I disagree. It is funny, educational, it moves, and it has dinosaur animatronics! How could you not love it?

I guess some kid on the ride got a little restless because we had a few announcements made during the ride for people to stay in their seats and rows. Right before the Final Jeopardy scene, the ride stopped, the CM revealed the outcome of the last scene (Brain Power, Alex) and told everyone that because that restless kid could not follow directions, the ride automatically shut down and we had to leave through a side door. It was very awkward, and actually my first time ever having to evacuate during a ride.

On our way towards Test Track to use our Fast Passes, we walked by the Wonders of Life Pavilion (so sad) and I snapped this depressing picture of what used to be.

Test Track was awesome (as always) and that jolt of energy helped us get back to the park entrance to head back to our resort. We waited FOREVER for our bus to arrive, but it eventually did and we got back to our room for some needed rest.

Day 3 was in the books, now onto our “dream sequence” as we rested up for Day 4…Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Hello, and Welcome to Soarin

A tired start to a fun day, we headed to Animal Kingdom to enjoy the Early Extra Magic hours.

An 8:20 start, and already the parks were packed. After gaining a Fast Pass for Expedition Everest, we headed over to Kilimanjaro Safari to venture through a glimpse of all the animals in their natural setting. We saw so many animals from antelopes to giraffes to elephants. It was about as close to an African safari that you can get to on this side of the world. Some of the animals even came right up to our safari vehicle! Unfortunately, our two week safari had to be cut short because of poachers, but we still had a blast.

After we got done on the safari, we stayed in Harambe for a cinnamon roll. Authentic African cuisine at its finest.

With full bellies and a sugar high, we headed over to Dino USA to go back to the Cretaceous period and see some dinosaurs on...Dinosaur. We obviously made it back alive, hence you reading this, but trust me when I say it was a close call.

As if we hadn't been traumatized enough already by scary dinosaurs, we walked over to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. I guess the Yeti was more scared of us than we were of him because he appeared to be scared stiff when he saw us.

We passed on getting a Jalapeno- Cheddar pretzel and decided to leave early. We took the bus over to the Swan/Dolphin. We needed to pick up our rental car and being able to do that at a Disney resort was awesome. Neither one of us had ever been inside the Swan or Dolphin, so we took advantage of the situation. Both resorts were gorgeous and the theming was very well done.

We took our car (Chevy Malibu) and departed for a grocery run to Wally World. Why would we leave Disney to go to Walmart, you ask? Because we got 24 bottles of water for only $15...compared to $3.50 per bottle for the same thing on Disney property. Well worth the money spent on a rental car if you ask me.

After unpacking groceries and snacks in our room, we hopped on the Disney bus to EPCOT.

Our good friends, Jeremy and Jennifer Behling, were going to meet us at Space Ship Earth, something we had been looking forward to since we planned the trip. Right after walking through the entrance we made our way to the giant "golf ball" to wait for them. A nice gentleman approached us for a Disney survey and we said yes. Just our luck, Jeremy and Jennifer walked up shortly after we started the survey. So it was a little awkward watching them stand there waiting on us to be done.

Finally, survey done, we got our hugs in and trekked over to the Land to get some Fast Passes for Soarin'. Most days this would be unheard of, but the crowds were light, thus allowing us to get early evening Fast Passes. Next, over to Living with the Land to get a brief view of the amazing greenhouses at Disney World. Neither Jeremy nor Jennifer had ever been on this attraction before, so it was a treat for them. After our relaxing and educational boat ride, we decided to walk through the countries starting with Canada and going counter-clockwise.

You've got to love EPCOT, something for the right side of the brain as well as the left side. Each country is perfectly themed and so inviting. We walked through jolly old England and toured a side street in Paris, where we also caught a performance. Then past Morocco and Japan and we were at the grand center of World Showcase. I think a blind person would be able to make their way to The American Adventure if for nothing else other than the smell of funnel cakes. Lucky us, we walked up just in time to catch the last song or two by the Voices of Liberty, who always give us chills. It was also good enough to remind Jeremy and I how long it has been since we were in choir together.

Melodies and harmonies done, we headed into the giant theater to watch the greatest audio-animatronic show ever created, The American Adventure. It gives some people chills and puts others to sleep, I'll let you guess who in our family falls in which category. Seriously though, it doesn't get much better than the Golden Dreams montage at the end, even if it still has Tiger Woods in it. What better way to follow up a fantastic show about America than to eat authentic pizza in Italy...right? Via Napoli is one of our favorite restaurants in Disney World and it's easily our favorite pizza place anywhere. Trust me, eat pizza there one time and it will ruin every other pizza you will ever eat. Jeremy and Jennifer got the Piccante (tasted like authentic Italian spaghetti on a pizza) and we got the Prosciutto and Cantaloupe pizza. Don't turn your nose, it is actually really good. It has the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the fantastic Sangria they have there. That stuff is so good, I believe it could bring about world peace if everyone had a glass.

After stuffing ourselves with Italian fare, we walked back over to the Land to use our Soarin' Fast Passes. I've ridden it before using the standby line, but that was a long time ago. Only Fast Passes for us. When we got to the front of the line, the CM let us wait to the side so we could ride on the front row of the middle section. Trust me, you want to do this if at all possible, because the experience is a million times better than on a lower row or a side section.

Once our flight over California was done, we walked back to the front of the park and Jeremy and Jennifer drove us back to our resort. It was sad parting ways with them, but we really enjoyed our time together. We'll definitely have to come back down to visit them again.

Tired after our first full day at Disney World, we cleaned up and headed to bed to recharge for the next day.