Walt Disney World! January 24th-31st

Okay, so most of you know that my Mom and I had just spent a week in Florida staying at the Walt Disney World. I have gone before about 9 years ago with Lisandra and DeMarco but we only went to 2 out of the 4 parks and I really don't remember a whole lot of it. My Mom has never been so it was going to be an exciting trip!


So, on Saturday morning we boarded a Southwest flight to take us to Orlando. After a quick layover in Albuquerque, we arrived! Disney has their own shuttle service that will pick you up at the airport and transport you directly to your hotel. The best part of this....it's FREE! We actually boarded a bus that was designated for Disney Cruise passengers so the windows were circular like portholes. They showed a small video during the 30 minute ride to get you excited about being there. Then we finally arrived at our hotel.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. WDW has lots of different hotels to stay at and nearly all are themed in some way. The AKL was created to look like an African hunting lodge on the savanna. It was an incredible place. Not only was it beautifully themed but the hotel was surrounded by an actual savanna with native African animals roaming around. Here are some pics of the lobby.










Here's my mom in front of some African art. They had lots of African crafts and etc around the lobby and in the hallways of the hotel. Pretty cool.

There are different kind of views one can get at this hotel and we decided to pay a little extra for the savanna view room. It did not disappoint! These are pics from our private balcony.


There were five of these guys running around as well as Ankole Cattle, Blesbok (antelope), Impala (deer), Kudu (another kind of antelope) , Ruppels Griffen Vultures and other birds.



After settling in for about five minutes, we headed to the hotel's food court area where we scarfed down some dinner and headed to the Magic Kingdom. I was in a hurry to get us there before 7:00 as they have a popular parade and it only plays a couple times a week. It is called the Spectromagic Parade and similar to the Electrical Parade at Disneyland. Very cool music and fun to watch. Here are some lovely pics for your viewing pleasure.


Mickey led the parade. He's so cool.








Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and cruised around the gift shop to get some ideas for souveniers. My mom saw this and wanted me to represent one of my favorite characters.









After cruising around for a few more minutes, we headed up to bed to rest for an early morning.


Sunday-Animal Kingdom
We boarded a shuttle and was there in no time since AK is the closest park to our hotel. This park is different from other theme parks as it not only has rides and shows but also animals like a zoo. The landscaping was beautiful and lush and very exotic.

First order of business? Expedition Everest! The premise of this roller coaster ride is that you are taking a train up Mt. Everest where you eventually meet the dreaded Yeti. This ride was amazing! So many turns and dips and lots of surprises (I'm not going to spoil it) and my mom and I loved it! So much that we went on two more times during the day. Can you tell?

Yes, that's us in the front holding on to dear life.










We went on a couple more rides in the Dinosaur area (yes, Dinosaurs are animals too) and then meandered to the "Africa" area where they have a Safari Ride. Really this is a tram taking you through a zoo-like area where we saw elephants, rhino's, giraffe's and etc. Then we headed to the Lion King show. A major production with singing, dancing, acrobatics, fire twirlers and floats. It was pretty impressive. Then we saw the Nemo Musical. I was not to sure what to expect with show but it was pretty cool. Like the Lion King Broadway show, the actors/singers manuever large puppets to tell the story. The songs were cute and the scenery and costumes were bright and colorful. A definite hit with young children. After one more ride on Expedition Everest, my mom and I went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.


Now, there are lots and lots of restaurants on WDW property and about a dozen of these are considered upscale. Because this was a total splurge vacation, I made reservations at three of these restaurants throughout the week. The first was this night at our own hotel called Jiko. Most of the food offered were of African cuisine or had spices native to Africa. We dressed up and went downstairs and the ambiance was really relaxing. I am not going to mention what I ate everywhere but some of the places we went to were just too good NOT to mention. My mom and I ordered the "Taste of Africa" basket which were four different kinds of breads and various dips. The bread was good and the dips were okay. One was a curry, another a hummus with a strong olive taste and a garlicky thing. I stuck with the hummus. My mom had ordered the Sturgeon which she said was good and I had the filet mignon with macaroni & cheese. SO GOOD! I ordered my steak medium and a little scared about it because I usually order it well done but I ate that thing right up. The macaroni was firm and the cheese a strong flavor which I like. I don't have steak too often so this was a real treat. Dessert? Yes, as full as we were we did not pass up. I had pistachio creme brulee. This was my first time having creme brulee and it was good but just not a fan of the consistency. My mom had some citrus sorbet. After we rolled ourselves back to our room, we got ready for another early morning at Epcot.



Monday-Epcot
Now with this park, I really didn't know what to expect. There are two parts to the park. One is called Future World where they focus on space, the ocean, the Earth and overall technology. The other part is World Showcase where some dozen countries have shops/attractions/restaurants representing their culture. This day we were only focusing on Future World.

The only thing that was familiar in this park is the Soarin' ride which is the exact same ride at California Adventure. We rode on Soarin' first because I read that this is the most popular ride out of all 4 parks and the line gets loooooooong. Next we headed to Test Track. As we approached the attraction, I noticed a very loud thundering sound and realized it was the cars speeding around a banked track circling the building. Nice. Okay so here's the premise of this ride. You are a crash test dummy. You sit in a car and go through various road tests (except collision) then at the end, you speed around on a banked course going REALLY fast. My mom loved it! I think mostly because she just likes to drive fast. After they dump you in the gift shop, they have a showroom. General Motors is the sponsor of Test Track so they had several vehicles out so you can check them out.


Here is my mom trying to look cool in a Hummer...and trying to see anything over the steering wheel.






Next we went on this ride called Mission Space. This ended up being one of my favorites. The premise is that you are an astronaut training to fly a spaceship to Mars. It is a simulator ride and very cool. I had lots of fun.



In the photo to the right is a huge golf-ball like sstructure at Epcot's entrance which actually has a ride inside of it called Spaceship Earth which takes you through a series of scenes which talk about the history of technology. The ride was okay but at the end they incorporate some fun stuff that make it worth it.

After going on a few more educational rides about taking care of our Earth and new developments in growing fruits and vegetables and finding Nemo, we took a shuttle to Hollywood Studios. Here is where they had Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I was not going to go on TofT so we went to go see about RNR. Because of the late arrival, the wait was long and decided to try some other time. We rode this ride called the Great Movie Ride which to me was like a tram ride through a wax museum. Boring! I think my Mom liked it though. Then we went on Star Tours and watched the Muppets 3D show. Very cute. We passed a little time window shopping before going to our dinner reservaton at the Hollywood Brown Derby. A replica of a famous restaurant in Hollywood where the walls are covered in framed sketches of actors. I am really only familiar with this restaurant from a classic I Love Lucy episode where she makes a fool of herself in front of actor William Holden. I know you know which one I'm talking about! Anyway, since I was wanting to try new things, I ordered the tuna steak for the first time. It was wonderful. It had this wasabi/soy sauce on it and tasted very good and spicy. I think my mom had the NY strip steak and was not disappointed either. After shopping around we headed to the Fantasmic show. I liked it better here than at Disneyland because they had their own theater for it instead of trying to find a space along the water. The show had a lot of firewords and special effects and pretty impressive. We then headed back to our hotel.

Tuesday-Downtown Disney
I planned an off day for us to sleep-in, walk around our hotel and shop instead of going to another theme park. There is a buffet restaurant at our hotel so we had a breakfast buffet there with all the traditional breakfast food along with African foods. We spent some time walking around taking pictures and then took a shuttle to Downtown Disney. A long stretch of shops and restaurants along a waterway. We had lunch at a new restaurant there called T-Rex. It is owned by the same company as Rainforest Cafe and all about dinosaurs. The food was mediocre but the atmosphere was fun and very LOUD! They had animatronic dinosaurs around you and every fifteen minutes a "meteor shower" would hit and lights would flash and the dino's would go nuts. Again...very LOUD! Here are some pics. In a couple of them, you can see the tables to give you an idea of how big the rooms were.











We shopped some more and ran into this guy built out of l egos as nearby sat a huge Lego store.









Yes, and then we did more shopping and finally back to the hotel to rest up for an early day tomorrow.

Wednesday-Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is almost like Disneyland. It has nearly all the same rides and "lands" except for a few differences. The major difference is that the castle if HUGE! And that they don't have a New Orleans Square. Instead they have a Liberty Square. Pirates of the Caribbean is actually located in Adventure Land and not New Orleans and same with the Haunted Mansion which resides in Liberty Square. But anyway, it was still cool. We got there before it opened and saw this cute show where some people come out and sing and welcome everyone and then the train pulls up with a bunch of characters on it.









Only in Magic Kingdom will you find Mary Poppins hanging out with Stitch.






After heading inside, we went straight to Space Mountain. Okay, here is where there is another MAJOR difference with these two rides. The SM ride at Disneyland is WAY much better. The one at WDW is like Matterhorn in the dark but more jerkier and a narrower sled. I could barely fit my fat bu** in the narrow seat. It had no music and you can see the track half the time. It's pretty rundown. Disneyland puts this ride to shame! But I heard from an employee that in a couple months they are shutting it down until the end of the year for a major overhaul. Good! It needs it! After doing Buzz Lightyear (which my Mom liked a lot) we headed to Fantasyland and went on a few rides. Disneyland has about six more rides in their Fantasyland so we were out of there pretty quick. Haunted Mansion up next and it was similar with just a couple of changes. Then onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mtn. Okay, I will confess...I am not a fan of Splash at all. It's not because of getting wet, its because of that drop. I hate drops!!! But we went on it anyway and I wished I hadn't. My mom and I got soaked! I felt like I had just taken a shower in my clothes when I got off that ride. After lunch, we did Pirates of the Caribbean (very short ride) and then Jungle Cruise. We headed back to Tomorrowland to do a few more rides and by 3:00, we were pretty much done. We stayed for their afternoon parade then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

So, tonight's dinner I was really excited for. The California Grill restaurant sits on the top floor of the Contemporary Resort which is the closest hotel to the Magic Kingdom. They have a private balcony only for diners to go outside and view the nightly fireworks from the park. I reserved a time specifically so we can see the fireworks. The restaurant was nice but loud...almost all were. We were brought bread and then the server explained that he wasn't going to put in our entrees until after the fireworks so our food wouldn't get cold. We headed outside and they piped in the music so we could hear the actual show. It was very nice. Now, because I wanted to try new things, I ordered sushi. I'm not a big seafood eater but was willing. The sushi was very good and it had a spicy sauce to it which I liked but I couldn't finish my meal...just too much seafood. My mom had cod...yeah she's adventurous! After yummy desserts, we left back to the hotel.

Thursday-Epcot
This morning I had planned for us to wake up a little late, have breakfast at another resort and then tour World Showcase at Epcot until late. Well, instead we decided to grab some quick breakfast and have fun in Future World before going through the World Showcase. So, we went on Test Track and Mission Space again. Fabulous. The countries were cool and some had rides and some had films to watch about the country. Here are some random photo's of various countries.










From top to bottom: China, America, Germany, Italy and Norway. Not pictured is Morocco, Japan, France, England and Canada. I also wanted to mention that a drum and fife corp were performing in America. It sounded great and they wore cool powdered wigs.

Okay, so while in Japan, it began to rain....A LOT! We had brought ponchos with us as the weather did say it was going to rain the afternoon but my feet were soaked! I was not a happy camper! I think we meandered around France and England for a little while and completely passed by Canada because at this point, I was DONE! We headed back to Future World and looked around a bit there before our dinner reservations at Garden Grill. This restaurant is circular and actually slowly rotates around while you eat. All the vegetables are grown there in the greenhouses and it's also a character dinner! We got to meet Chip and Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey. Chip was hilarious! Of course they don't talk but communicate really well.










We went back to the hotel to get ready for our last full day at the parks.

Friday-Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom
The original plan was to do AK in the morning, head to MK in the afternoon and from there go to our dinner reservation at one of the nearby resorts. Well, since we didn't have enough time to do a couple things at the Hollywood Studios, we decided to put that in our schedule. We woke up early and it was COLD and cloudy. It drizzled a little but not too bad. We went to AK and rode Expedition Everest one more time! Yes, we only went to this park for that one ride, then boarded a shuttle to Hollywood Studios. First thing on the list was the Rock and Roller Coaster. Okay, I was really nervous about this one.....I mean REALLY nervous. One of the main reasons why I like Disneyland so much is that nearly all the rides are pretty tame. I don't like loops or corkscrews. I think I did California Screamin' at California Adventure once and that was it. RNR Coaster has a loop and a corkscrew AND it shoots you off right in the beginning. I know most of you are thinking that's baby stuff but I'm a scaredy cat. Well, we went on it and I LOVED it. My mom did too. We got right back in line and did it again. The premise of the ride is that you are being whisked away to an Aerosmith concert in a limo on the LA freeways. It's an inside attraction so there were lots of glow-in-the-dark stuff. During the ride, you are listening to Aerosmith music. Very cool. I have to add this one thing...while waiting in line, the song "Don't want to miss a thing" came on and I swear every girl in that line was busting out in song! It reminded me of the Barba girls!

After the 2nd ride, my Mom wanted to go on Tower of Terror. Thanks...but no thanks. I don't like drops! I know... big baby. So, instead we went to a fairly new ride called Toy Story Mania. We wanted to get a fastpass for this since I heard the lines get long but at 2pm, the fastpasses were gone for the rest of the day. That's how popular it was. So we got in line and this was actually the longest wait we ever had during our trip. It was a whopping...45 minutes. The line area is really neat though so we weren't bored while waiting. This ride is kind of like Buzz Lightyear ride in the sense that it's interactive. You have a type of "cannon" mounted before you and you are rotated around to different carnivalal games and shoot at things where a different Toy Story character is at It's all in 3-D and at the end they display your score and accuracy and which stuffed animal you won. It's so much fun. If we had more time, we probably would have gone on it again.

Then we went to an Indiana Jones stunt show. After choosing random people from the audience to play the "extras", they announced that there were technical difficulties and the show had to be canceled. Bummer!! So, we boarded a shuttle and headed to Magic Kingdom. Our reservations were close but we had enough time to do some shopping on Main Street and ride the train that circles the park. Then we boarded a small boat to take us across the lake to the Grand Floridian hotel to a restaurant called 1900 Park Fare. This is also buffet where the characters of Cinderella were. We didn't get to meet Cinderella or Prince Charming (they rotate around while you eat) but we did get to meet the more interesting ones.

Here is Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. They were so perfect at their parts, just like in the movie. Anastasia had this really loud voice...kind of reminded me of Solana (love you girl!).









After dinner, we went back to the hotel to pack up for our trip back home.

Saturday- HOME
Nothing exciting to say about this day. We packed up our gear and stuffed the souvenirs in a duffel we bought and rode the Disney shuttle back to the airport.

We had an amazing time. I'm looking forward to going back and taking my Dad and DeMarco.

Have a Magical Day!