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 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/11_sep_06)
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 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/12_sep_06)
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 :P
:shock: The hotel you stayed in looks gorgeous! :D And the Pocahontas show looks lovely! *Is a huge animal lover* :P So jealous, and you haven't even finished the report yet!
:lol: Congrats on meeting Flik though, you guys look veeery pleased with yourselves...
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.
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 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/13_sep_06)
:D That storytime with Belle thing looks so fun! :lol: Even though they've got some tiny little boy to be Gaston... :o and Cinderellabration looks great, so gosh knows why you guys are saying it's bad...
:P 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! :D 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!
:D Rabbit! O_O With huge red eyes...
:) Another great lot of pics!
So far.....sounds like you had an AMAZING TIME can't wait to see more pictures, im liking them all
Great trip report!!! lt's almost like "being" there!!!
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!
I wonder why our trip report suddenly will sound a lot less interesting... :wink:
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!
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.
Yep, keep the reports coming! I've enjoyed the first three.
Quote from: "Kinou"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... :o :o
Great stuff, guys. Love the pictures.
September 14, 2006
We got up early again today for a visit to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Francisco and Keith drove us to the parks and joined in the non-Disney fun.
Islands of Adventure was the first park we would visit. As we passed the Port of Entry, we headed towards seuss Landing, a collection of kiddie rides, based on the stories by Dr. Seuss. Since the park was empty, without any people queueing, we decided to give "the cat in the hat" attraction a try. It's basically a Disney-style darkride (like Snow White), but with additional movement by the ride vehicle. The achievement made by Universal Creative (their Imagineering) wasn't that bad.
Next was the recenlty opened High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. Now that was the worst ride ever! You board a tram shaped vehicle that drives over a track high above the other attractions. A few decorations and stattic figures were added on top of the roofs of the other show buildings. And that was it. The ride was over even before we realised it started.
We left Seuss Landing into the direction of The Lost Continent. First ride we did was Poseidon's Fury, basically a special effects show with fire and water combined with footage on screens. The actual effects weren't that bad, but the lack of a decent storyline and quality acting kinda ruined the whole thing.
Dueling Dragons was the next best thing, so we passed by the beautiful themed queue to get into our ride vehicle in the most unoriginal loading station ever. First we did Ice, followed by Fire. Both are great coasters, but Raptor prefered Fire.
As we left The Lost Continent, we entered Raptor's favourite place: Jurassic Park (he's a huge Jurassic Park fan). After buying a few cinnamon churros (Flor's favourites) we headed over to the Discovery Center, which is incredably themed and is quite similar to the one in the first movie. The main staircase we had to take to get on the ground level was located right next to the dinosaur skelettons as seen in the movie. There were lots of activities for young and old here, including x-raying dinosaur eggs and Mr. DNA quizes. As we were strolling through the area, a nerdy guy suddenly came on stage with a baby dinosaur animatronic under his arm.
Raptor said goodbye to the baby Triceratops and decided to get a ride on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. Basically a boat ride through Jurassic Park that suddenly goes wrong as your boat drifts away from its normal direction and heads to a Velociraptor contaminated area. Hightlight is a steep drop between the legs of a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex.
While drying in the sun we quickly passed by the Toon Lagoon area in the direction of Marvel Super Hero Island where we rode the Spider-Man attraction first. This attraction can best be described as a combination between Stars Tours, Honey I shrunk the Audience and Armageddon, les Effects Speciaux. It's great ride system that should make its way to Disney parks soon.
Islands of Adventure got concluded with a visit on the Hulk Coaster and a meet 'n' greet with Spider-Man and friends.
[To be continued]
Did ou do SpiderMan the Ride? It was a total blast for me! Best attraction ever of my trip alongside with Indiana JOnes Adventures in California! The technology is amazing and the combination of 3D and real effects is cleverly astonishing!
Quote from: "Kinou"Did ou do SpiderMan the Ride?
Quote from: "raptor1982"where we rode the Spider-Man attraction first.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sounds good there, some good rides and stuff (obv not as good as Disney though :P ), I'd like to do dueling dragons.
:D I loved the Jurassic Park ride in Univeral California... :P and the guy playing SpiderMan had really nice legs, and he was coming on to me... :lol: apparently I'd make Mary Jane (or whatever she's called) very jealous, just by standing next to him while he was hugging all over me...
September 14, 2006 (continued)
We hopped over to the neighbouring park: Universal Studios. As we strolled over the New York streetset, we stopped by the Lucy - A Tribe. A band accompanied by a Lucille Ball character entertained the guests. We were all impressed by her resemblance to the late actress. We continued our stroll on the streetset and decided to give Twister... Ride it out a try. This attraction went down last year while we were queueing so the whole thing was new to us. You start off with a preshow showing some footage with Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt explaining something about tornados. Then we moved into the actual attraction, which was a scene from the movie (with the drive-in). A whole bunch of special effects were then let loose on us, including wind, fire, water, a "tornado" (made of smoke) and cows on a string. We enjoyed the ride, but quickly moved on to Revenge of the Mummy. The coaster element still hurted and the animatronics were still as bad as last year.
When it suddenly started raining we sought shelter at Louie's Italian Restaurant, were we had a huge and delicious cheese pizza!
The sky cleared up so we left the New York area and walked to the San Francisco / Amity. Here was another attraction that was closed last year: Jaws. We had to board a boat that was operated by a skipper who would give us a tour (using Jungle Cruise humour) on the lake where Jaws caused much havoc many years ago. To make it short, the shark snaps a few times to the boat but gets killed by an explosion caused by the skipper. Although over 15 years old, this is still an entertaining ride.
A ride on the ET Adventure was next (read our review for this attraction in our last years trip report (//http://www.photosmagiques.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=18)) and then went to see the Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue. Too bad we wasted our time on this, we could have done a decent attraction, but instead we saw a bunch of old horror movie characters (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, ...) dancing and singing popular songs.
After the show we couldn't get on any other attractions, as they were closed because of a thunderstorm in the area. Keith and Francisco drove us back to the Walt Disney World and dropped us off at Disney-MGM Studios. We went for a stroll around the park and got some pictures, including a whole bunch of Tower of Terror and its queue line.
We concluded the night at Pleasure Island's Mannequins with way too much cocktails...
Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/14_sep_06 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/14_sep_06)
Great TR and fantastic photo's too!!!
September 15, 2006
Today we could finally move the our other resort, Raptor's big dream: Animal Kingdom Lodge with savanah view. We handed over our luggage to the luggage handlers and tok the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge were we hopped over on the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus.
We were both impressed by the huge African entrance hall. So far so good. We checked in and were told that room 2469 was ready for us. Once arrived we got stunned by the beautiful interior (Raptor loved the bathroom tiles) and even more by the incredible savanah view. First animals we noticed were girafes: 3 adult and one baby. We saw how they got feeded, cast members were putting branches on one of the trees.
Raptor enjoyed the real American television programs on the television: television judges, infomercials, hilarious!! But that didn't take long as Francisco and Keith came to pick us up for a visit to a Halloween store in the area. We had to finish up our Halloween costumes for later that evening.
Before we knew it, it was already time to get ready for Mickey's not so scary halloween party. Raptor dressed up as Sorcerer Mickey and Flor was Belle's prince. We got joined at the Magic Kingdom by Francisco as Gaston and Keith as Yen Sid. (To match our costumes).
Main Street USA colourful lit up and decorated with a few temporary decorations. We stopped by the castle for a few photos with the Disney Villains and then decided to wait for the Boo to You parade. First the headless horseman trotted by, bringing along a huge rain shower. The parade just went on, but caused a float to breakdown along the route. We liked the parade and the floats, as they had lots of characters.
When the last float with Goofy drove by, it stopt raining. We followed Gaston and Yen Sid to Adventureland for some real American trick or treating. When we got in the park, a Cast Member gave each of us a small plastic bag that we had to use for the trick or treating. Basically you just go to the designated areas where a cast member will put candy (a few pieces or a handful, depending from cast member to cast member) in your plastic bag. After our first experiences, we headed back to Main Street USA for the Hallowishes performance.
Like the regular Wishes, a huge amount of shells are being launched, even from the side of the park!
After the fireworks we returned to Adventureland for a photo with Tarzan and Jane. After some more trick or treating we continued our stroll around the park and headed over to Toon Town, but suddenly stopped when we heared It's Halloween -Lo -Ween coming from the Castle Stage. We didn't bother to stay and watch it, so we continued our stroll towards Toon Town.
At the Judge's Tent we found Aurora & Philip and Cinderella & Prince Charming. The character host loved our costumes and even asked if she could get a picture of our group. We posed for her and got pictures for our own with the royalties. Raptor went looking for Mickey Mouse, but discovered that he just missed his last meet 'n' greet for that night. Disappointed we left Toon Town and passed by some cheap wooden 2D decorations in Fantasyland. More trick or treating here were we got lots of candy from a nice Cast Member, causing his collegues to get mad at him for giving away too much.
It was nearly midnight, so we left the park and got "topped off by a Snickers" (as the sign said at the exit). The Snickers was actually 2cm by 2cm tall! :lol: We took the ferry to T&T and returned to our resort where we finally got to take off our soaked costumes. It was a fun night, but nothing can beat our Halloween party at DLRP!!!
Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/15_sep_06 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/15_sep_06)
Another great report. I really liked the look of the halloween parade, they've used some great ideas. And as always, great photos! :)
Really good report - again! Loved all the Halloween stuff (though isn't it a bit early) and thought your costumes were really good.
WOW really cool report yet again!! and like butlin boy i love the halloween parade pics!
Great costumes!! :lol: Raptor is scarily convincing as Sorcerer Mickey... :-k
September 16, 2006
We slept in today and went in the afternoon to Epcot. We did Spaceship Earth and Club Cool before meeting Francisco and Keith at the United Kingdom pavilion. As we were hungry, we went to Marocco for a quick meal. Flor got the chicken Shoarma and Raptor enjoyed a delicious vegetarian dish, not even the piece of plastic in the olives got ruin it!
A ride on Ellen's Universe of Energy (she's so hilarious) finished of our visit to Epcot. We hopped over to Disney-MGM Studios next where we did the Journey into Narnia. The whole thing is basically a long trailer, topped of by a visit by the White Witch character saying a few words and disappearing again. While exiting we passed by a few props from the movie.
Later that night we finally went to see Fantasmic, but unfortunately the Steamboat Willie float was in 101 so all the characters come on the stage, performing their routine. And when Sorcerer Mickey finally appeared, his hat fell forward in his face. A hilarious performance of a great show.
The night got concluded with a visit to Downtown Disney for some souvenire hunting and a relaxing swim in the resort pool.
Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/16_sep_06 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/16_sep_06)
September 17, 2006
We confirmed our return flight to Mears for the Disney's Magical Express. A call of 15 minutes with Raptor's Belgian cellphone... After that we headed over to Animal Kingdom for yet another ride on Expedition Everest and again lunch at Restaurantosaurus.
We decided to go back to Disney-MGM to watch the parade. We took place on Hollywood Blvd. and watched all the stars and motor cars drive by. The parade is still as boring as last year...
At the Streets of America we went looking for the Cars characters, but they were unfortunately surrounded by a group of kids. No queue lines here... While waiting for the Power Rangers near the Motors Action Stunt Show Spectacular (closed for refurb) we met Francisco and Keith who helped us out with getting a photo with the Jetix heroes.
When we walked back in the direction of Hollywood Blvd., we saw Snow White, Dopey and Belle walk by so Raptor got a few snapshots from them... The Great Movie Ride was next and followed by a visit to the Beauty and the Beast show.
We ended the day at Muppet Vision 3D where we were very fortunate of having the opportunity of getting a photo with Sweetums, the show's live star!
Keith and Francisco asked us along for diner at the Rainforest Café where we had a delicious meal and a great entertaining waiter.
Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/17_sep_06 (http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/17_sep_06)
Quote from: "raptor1982"As we were hungry, we went to Marocco for a quick meal.
That sounds so much cooler than it actually is! :lol:
Another great report Raptor.
It's quite funny. I was at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure the same day you were and went to MNSSHP the same night too. But I didn't see you. I didn't dress up.
:shock: The woman playing the Evil Queen is beautiful... :D it looks like you guys had a wonderful time!