Norhels trip to Disney World 20 sep to 7 okt 2010

loladelorean · October 13, 2010, 04:34:13 PM

Great trip report! Sorry to hear about your mum, I hope that she was still able to enjoy the holiday.
Enjoying your photos and looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

norhel · October 13, 2010, 04:43:02 PM

And here is day 8.

Today was Universal Studios on the plan. Only used a couple of hours there, since it didn't catch us at all.
So I just wondered around and took pictures. So today, you are gonna see a lot of pictures.

So since it didn't catch us, we went back to our hotel to relax a little bit and have some food. After that, we took our rental car and went to Downtown Orlando. Not exactly Downtown Orlando, but we drove to different malls around Disney, since my dad was looking for some pants he don't get here in Norway. Ended up at Wal-Mart where he got the pants he was looking for. Her for a another mall, witch also was great, and with a lot to choose from when you was going to eat.

And after we got back to the hotel again, we got some heavy rain with thunder.
You might get an idea here:

So I used the time to take some photos in the lobby:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_PGjKSqx199A/TLXBG ... 201621.JPG

norhel · October 13, 2010, 04:44:15 PM

Quote from: "loladelorean"Sorry to hear about your mum, I hope that she was still able to enjoy the holiday.

She was, but not so very much, since the heat for her was to high. But she still managed to enjoy it after all. :-)

loladelorean · October 13, 2010, 05:14:12 PM

Quote from: "norhel"
Quote from: "loladelorean"Sorry to hear about your mum, I hope that she was still able to enjoy the holiday.
She was, but not so very much, since the heat for her was to high. But she still managed to enjoy it after all. :-)

Thats good

Thanks for sharing the photos of the hotel! The All Star resort looks much nicer than I have always imagined, did you enjoy your stay there?

norhel · October 13, 2010, 05:23:02 PM

Quote from: "loladelorean"Thanks for sharing the photos of the hotel! The All Star resort looks much nicer than I have always imagined, did you enjoy your stay there?

Absolutely! Even though it's one of the cheaper hotels, it was enough for us. I mean, you had a clean hotel, nice staff, fair enough food choice, and a TV for the mornings and evenings before and after the parks. You got what you need there, as you aren't in the hotel so much.

norhel · October 13, 2010, 07:13:27 PM

DAY 9

So. This day I went alone to check out the park nr 2 at Universal, so I at least had been there.
For me Harry Potter and Jurrasic Park was the most interesting there. Or else, I just wandered around.

Seems that they've done a good job with the Harry Potter part:

And a single Jurassic Park car...

]

Did buy some chocolate from Harry Potter, witch tasted good.
Went back to the hotel to relax a little bit and have some food, and I took some pictures while I was there:

After I've eaten, my mum and dad wanter to go back to WalMart to see if they could get some more there, so we went over there. And on our way back, I took these pictures:

And after this, an even worse rain and thunder came over us. So much that we spent the evening at the hotel.
Had a look at the weather channel, witch said that a storm possibly could come, but I think it never did.
And that's day 9. Now it could take a week or so before the report is continued. Just so you know. So long :-)

norhel · May 15, 2011, 09:05:12 AM

DAY 10

Just thought I should update this thread a little bit with day 10.
At day 10 we first took our rental car and drove around to have a look at some of the other hotels at Disney World.
Started at Pop Century. Fair enough hotel if I don't remember wrong.

The we headed over to Port Orleans. Started at French Quarter. Nice neighborhood. It's one of the hotels I would consider to stay on next time I'm in WDW.

And then Riverside:

The over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to have a look. It's nice, but not one of the hotels I would stay at as a first priority.

After visiting Coronado Springs Hotel, my dad and I wanted to have a round of mini golf, so we headed towards Winter Summerland miniature golf. A great themed mini gold I must say. And since we had an annual pass we got 50% of the price, witch is a great offer. They also had great sound effects around the course.

After a short break at the hotel, we found out that we wanted to try the monorail so we all took the car and parked at Epcot and jumped on the monorail. Kinda fund to try.

Headed to the Transportation and Ticket center and switched to the main line (or what it is called). Drove first a whole round and the jumped off at the Grand Floridian Hotel. Really beautiful hotel.

And this reminds me a lot of the stairs in the Titanic movie:

So we jumped on the monorail, and went of at Contemporary hotel. OK hotel, but to much business hotel/concrete.

So we went back to Epcot and my parents took the bus back to the hotel while I stayed at Epcot to watch the fireworks.
Thats one of the best fireworks I've ever seen in my life! :-)

After the fireworks was finished, it was time to go to the car, and on my way out I took some evening photos:

And here they was taking some of the gears from the fireworks to backstage. I know it's not the best photos. And one of the castmember that blocked the way was telling me that one of the prams that the gear was on was getting so hot during the show that they couldn't put a motor on the float. Instead they had to push it to backstage.

And from one of my favorite country:

That's it for day 10.

norhel · May 15, 2011, 11:57:10 AM

At day 11 I started with returning the rental car at Dolphin hotel, and went on the boat to the back entrance at Epcot.
To some pictures on my way:

On my way to the main entrance I shot these:

So I meet up with my parents and we headed to The Land. Kinda interesting to see how they presented the way the food was coming to our table.

When we was finished here, we took a walk around World Showcase. Started at Canada.

And continued on to UK

This entertainment group was fun to watch:

France was also a nice area:

The American Pavilion was one of the better I think.

This entertainment group seemed very proud to be an American:

These was a great singing group and was funny at the same time. They singed songs like Oh Susanna! and Old McDonald had a farm.

Here you can see some of the equipment to the fireworks:

Of course we had to visit Norway:

Good taste of this one at the bakery:

During the day we also visited Ellens Energy Adventure. Good enough attraction.
And that's it for this day.

dagobert · May 15, 2011, 05:46:27 PM

Thanks for your update. I love your EPCOT pictures. EPCOT is one of the best Disney Parks and the best one in Florida. While we were so disappointed by the Magic Kingdom, we enjoyed spending out time at EPCOT.

ulak · May 15, 2011, 10:48:41 PM

Very nice pictures and report! Thank you!

davewasbaloo · May 16, 2011, 03:51:42 PM

thanks for your updates, I do not know how I missed this thread (I am sorry to hear about your mom).

I too love Sea World and Epcot (as well as DAK). Hate the MK though, it is so poor compared to DLP and DL. But I agree, the Port Orleans resorts are great value, and we were quite disappointed when we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I am sorry to hear you did not like Universal Studios - did you do Men In Black? The Simpsons? Jaws? Twister? The Mummy? They are great IMHO. And at IOA, what did you think of Spiderman? I think that is one of the best attractions in all of Florida.

norhel · May 17, 2011, 09:00:12 AM

Quote from: "davewasbaloo"But I agree, the Port Orleans resorts are great value, and we were quite disappointed when we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Port Orleans is probably one of the hotels I'm going to consider next time I'm going to WDW.

Quote from: "davewasbaloo"I am sorry to hear you did not like Universal Studios - did you do Men In Black? The Simpsons? Jaws? Twister? The Mummy? They are great IMHO. And at IOA, what did you think of Spiderman? I think that is one of the best attractions in all of Florida.

To be honest, since not very much of the attractions at Universal didn't appeal to me, I didn't go on any rides there.
At IOA the best part was the Harry Potter part and Jurassic Park. Don't get me wrong - it's great parks and it seems that it's well done, but it just didn't interest me. I know I'm weird some times regarding some things.

davewasbaloo · May 17, 2011, 10:02:15 AM

I really do not understand what you mean by they do not appeal to you, so you did not ride? There are some amazing attractions at Universal that rival Disney that you missed out on. I am curious? What did not appeal? And what is it that you like at DLP?

norhel · May 17, 2011, 10:55:57 AM

At the first day at Universal my mum wanted to go back to our hotel due to that the weather was to hot for her, and since I had to drive her to the hotel I didn't bother go back to Universal that day. I didn't do much attractions at Universal, and maybe I do next time I'm there. Time will show. There and then I follow my gut feeling saying that I didn't want to spent much time there. At the second day I also followed my gut feeling saying that I didn't feel to do anything so I didn't. That's it. Maybe I do something different next time, but time will show. Been there. Done that, and that's it.

davewasbaloo · May 17, 2011, 11:26:06 AM

I just find it a little odd. Different strokes for different folks. It is just that Terminator is one of the very best 4D shows on the planet, Men in Black is the very best lazer blasting ride (Buzz is a joke in comparison), Jaws is increadibly well done, Twister has a real toronado, The Mummy is a really fun special effects laden coaster, Disaster is much more impressive than Catastrophy Canyon IMHO.

And at IOA, Cat in the Hat is a fine dark ride, Spiderman is one of the finest attractions created anywhere.

I just hope you do try them some time. But of course I appreciate with you mom's condition, things would be a little different.