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[Kristof]

September 11, 2006

Our journey to Orlando begins as we board the SN Brussels Airlines plane for a 55  minutes flight to London.  We got served on flight a small breakfast, but even before we finished our coffee, the plane started its landing at London Gatwick.  
We had to wait 4 hours for our connection to Orlando International Airport with

British Airways.  Once the wait was over, we got suprised while boarding, since we had received an upgrade to World Traveler Plus.  Meaning: more leg space and champagne!
We arrived at MCO around 3.35pm, but got on the Disney Magical Express bus at 5pm; after a lot of hassle with our luggage and the security at the airport.

We safely arrived at Coronado Springs and checked as quickly as possible.  Our hotel room was located on the other side of the lake, meaning we had to drag our suitcases all the way to the other side of the resort.

Our room was located on the third floor of the Casitas 4 building.  From the balcony, we had a great view over the lake with in the distance the Dolphin and Swan hotels.  
The actual room was clean, as expected with lots of warm colours, quite similar to the Santa Fe style at DLRP.  

We didn't stay long at the Resort, since we wanted a ride at Tower of Terror before the park closed at 8pm.  A busstop was located behind our building, so we didn't have to walk all the way back to the reception.

We arrived at the park and immediately strolled over Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd. to the queue line of Tower of Terror.  No wait here, straight into the elevator.  The attraction was still as great as we remembered.  

After Tower of Terror, we got a text message from our friend Francisco to meet up at the hotel.  (So no Fantasmic for Raptor...)
We got a few night shots of the Great Movie Ride and got the bus back to Coronado Springs.  Before Keith and Francisco arrived, we suddenly heared the soundtrack from Fantasmic coming from over the lake and after a few minutes even the fireworks from Mickey's grand finale could be seen in the distance!  Half an hour later, same thing happened with Illuminations.  We got treated every night on a great view for both fireworks shows.  

We had a great catching up with our friends and decided to go straight to bed after they left...

Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/11_sep_06

[Kristof]

September 12, 2006

We got up early today and decided to explore the resort first.  We were excited to see the the Maya temple at the resort pool.  After a long walk we arrived at the pool area, but got disappointed seeing it closed off with construction fences and a guy sitting on its stairs repainting the construction.

Animal Kingdom was on our to do list first, so we got the AK bus for a short drive to the entrance of the park.  We walked immediately to Asia and quickly discovered the signs that Expedition Everest had arrived.  New props, signs and posters where everywhere to complete the ride story.  After getting some great pictures (shame it was a cloudy day) we headed over to the entrance of the ride.  There was only a 5 minute queue line, so we had plenty of time to get pictures and videotape all the details.  The ride itself is, like said many times before, on the short side (but so is Tower of Terror) but its still a great thrill ride filled with lots of great effects and details.  

After a ride on Dinosaur, we went straight to Restaurantosaurus for the vegetarian burder which Raptor is so fond off.
We met Francisco and Keith inside the park and decided to get another ride on Everest but got split up thanks to the "well paying attention" cast member at the loading station.  

Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends was one of the few things we didn't see during our trip last year, so we decided to give that show a try.  
The show features Pocahontas interacting with Grandma Willow and a young tree (forgot his name).  She talks mainly about how the forest gets destroyed and how she and everyone else could stop it.  A bunch of animals is then being send out on the stage which each features a characteristic that could help us.  
It was a cute little show, but was lacking a decent stage and story line.

In the afternoon our friends drove us around the area to get some drinks and food and drinks at the local Wal Mart.  The evening was concluded with dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, an all you can eat salad, soup and pasta bar.  

Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/12_sep_06

[The Butlin Boy]

Sounds like you've had a great time so far. The photos you've taken are amazing. I can't wait for the next part

[Masamune]

:shock: The hotel you stayed in looks gorgeous! And the Pocahontas show looks lovely! *Is a huge animal lover* So jealous, and you haven't even finished the report yet!

:lol: Congrats on meeting Flik though, you guys look veeery pleased with yourselves...

[Maarten]

A nice tripreport so far, I can't wait for the other parts to come. The Coronado Springs hotel seems to have the same style as Santa Fe for some reason, but it looks better to be honest. Great to hear that Tower of Terror was still as great as you remembered.

[Kristof]

September 13, 2006

Magic Kingdom was our first stop today.  As we walked towards Cinderella Castle, we noticed a huge crane next to the casle, towering high above it.  It ruined everyones pictures for sure.  On our way to our friends, we passed by The Enchanted Grove restaurant (sponsored by Minute Maid), clearly the inspiratoin for L'Arbre Enchantée at DLRP.  We decided to see Storytime with Belle, a cute little show for the little ones that we hadn't seen before.  It would also be our last chance, since the show would be replaced that weekend by a Merlin show.  Belle tells her story with the aid of kids from the audience who are dressed up as the characters.  Another show we'd seen today was Cinderellabration, still as bad as last year.  

We got a picture with the best Aladdin ever on our way to Pirates of the Caribbean.  A streetmosphere with Captain Jack Sparrow himself was about to start, so we decided to stick around and check it out.  Jack and a random pirate learn a few kids from the audience how to sword fight.  The show was cute, but mearly because of the little boy fighting with his thumb in his mounth.

The POTC ride was a big improvement compared to last year.  The lightning was a lot better, as well as the audiosystem.  The first major change we encountered was the impressive Davy Jones waterfall.  It appeared to be a real waterfall with a projection of the movie character on it, but it appeared to be "just" a fog curtain.  The next new addition was the Barbossa character on the Wicked Wench.  As Experiment627 told before, the music choice was quite odd, just a slow version of He's a Pirate, nothing exciting.  And the famous cannonball effect didn't even work.

From here nothing much had changed, except for the addition of the Jack Sparrow Animatronics ofcourse.  The finale scene with the Captain sitting in his treasure room was clearly an improvement story wise, compared to the old version.

We left Splash Mountain soaked next, before heading to the Noodle Station at Tomorrowland for lunch... But that turned out to be closed (tnx WDW), so we went to Cosmic Ray's instead. The vegiwrap was aweful, so with an empty stomach we went to see the Dreams Come True parade.  Except for the music and the removal of the globes, most of the parade was the same.  

Keith and Francisco took us outside the resort once again for some shopping at the Florida Shopping Mall and a few other stores.  They dropped us off at the hotel in the evening, but since there were Extra Magical Hours at Epcot, we got on the Epcot bus for a few attractions over there.

Firs stop was at Turtle Talk with Crush.  Really funny and amazing to look at.  After Crush we strolled around the Living Seas pavilion, which was closed last year.  Raptor got some pictures from the seatanks before going to the Land Pavilion.  At the entrance we got asked by a Cast Member to step back from the flower bedding because there was a snake hiding in the grass.  We quickly went inside only to discover a 40 minute queue at Soarin'.  

As we were hungry we went to the France Pavilion to get some food.  On our way we saw another snake sliding into the grass.  A cheese dish was on the menu for us tonight, which we enjoyed a lot last year.  We got a chance to speak French again and had fun listening to the CM's gossiping.  The cheese dish was bad this time.  The bread was old and the cheese was hard, just aweful.  

After "dinner" we quickly headed back to the Land for Soarin'. Having some food seemed to be a good idea, since there was no queue anymore!  Only 6 people were riding the attraction, so we could sit at the front row.  The experience in the front is a lot different compared to the other seats.  Raptor even starts to enjoy this attraction!  

Since we only had half an hour left before closure we walked straight to Test Track to conclude our evening at Epcot.

Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/13_sep_06

[Masamune]

That storytime with Belle thing looks so fun! :lol: Even though they've got some tiny little boy to be Gaston... and Cinderellabration looks great, so gosh knows why you guys are saying it's bad...

The girl playing Jasmine in that great pic of you guys, Aladdin and Genie is lovely! And the guy playing Jack Sparrow is hot...

:shock: ZOMG! BROOMS! I love the Brooms from Fantasia! The Chernabog float kicks ass... ;o; but WTF were they thinking casting that ugly person (I'm not even sure if it's a man or a woman) as Maleficent? Maleficent is supposed to be beautiful!

Rabbit! O_O With huge red eyes...

Another great lot of pics!

[DisneyBud]

So far.....sounds like you had an AMAZING TIME can't wait to see more pictures, im liking them all

[Miss Tinkerbell]

Great trip report!!!   lt's almost like "being" there!!!

[Kinou]

It was fun to see you guys near the Animal Kingdom Lodge's pool! I didn't recognize you at firts because i didn't wear my glasses ! I had a magical trip too! First in California we had the opportunity to visit Walt's appartment on Main street, a magical moment, I rode the bus of Main Street with Mickey and Minnie (the kind of moment i'll never experience at Paris), trade my nametage with a disneyland castmember (had a gold nametage from the 50th aniversary!), went to Los Angeles in a convertible to see El Capitan and the Soda Fountain&Studio Store on Hollywood Bldv.... Then in WDW, i could visit the backstage of Everest and confront the Yeti face to face, very impressive!

Can't wait to see the rest of yout TR!

[Kristof]

I wonder why our trip report suddenly will sound a lot less interesting...  :wink:

[Kinou]

No it won't! I'm curious of what you'd done over there! My regret is to have miss little shows like the storytime with Belle or Pocahontas in Animal Kingdom and stuff like this. Had'nt the time to do everything i wanted, so i'm lookign forward for your reports!

[Kristof]

I was just kidding Kinou! :lol:  It's good to hear you had a great time.  

I will try to typ out the next day, our visit to Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure.

[Anthony]

Yep, keep the reports coming!  I've enjoyed the first three.

I had a magical trip too! First in California we had the opportunity to visit Walt's appartment on Main street, a magical moment, I rode the bus of Main Street with Mickey and Minnie (the kind of moment i'll never experience at Paris), trade my nametage with a disneyland castmember (had a gold nametage from the 50th aniversary!), went to Los Angeles in a convertible to see El Capitan and the Soda Fountain&Studio Store on Hollywood Bldv.... Then in WDW, i could visit the backstage of Everest and confront the Yeti face to face, very impressive!

Whoa! I think you described pretty much my most perfect holiday ever...  

[Sam]

Great stuff, guys. Love the pictures.