Walt Disney World Trip Reports
Topic: Epcot @ 25-Number 7-Segways-Donuts near Monorails

#	Author	Message
1	Ursula Mon 10/8/2007 3:15p	Hello. Please look here in the near future for my trip report from WDW 9/27-10/6. I took notes so it should be fun. I knew that if I put in a place-holder, I would be forced to actually write (AND finish) my trip report. Please enjoy it!
2	Ursula Sun 10/14/2007 8:14p	9/27/07 We get up a 4 O'Early to catch the 7:15pm to Phoenix to Orlando out of Burbank. Just my luck, I end up with a Chatty Charlie sitting next to me. The makes me send Dear Husband Pixie Gitter's old skunk eye...he with the glorious window seat and dear me stuck in the bowels of the dreaded middle seat. ALL I WANTED TO DO was to listen to my classical playlist on the iPod and re-read Pride and Prejudice. I talked about this for weeks, too. I really was looking forward to a long plane ride. But no. Charrty Charlie actually TAPPED me as I settled in to read. I had the earphone-bud thngs in, too. He wanted to know where we were from, where we were going, etc. I got to page 20. !!!!!!!(*&%^$$#)%@#$ Alas, that was the worst part so oh, well. We struggled to find Mickey's Mystical Mystery Magic Express. We both swear they moved it from last time. I just LOVE this part. It is the start of a ten day vacation, Mickey is on everything, and Cast Members are happy to see us. If they only knew how happy I was to see them. We wait literally seconds to depart on our A/C bus with the moving footrests. La, la, la, I'm on vacation! We get to the Caribbean Beach Resort at the Customs House. There were some poor folks who were leaving! I knew that would be us sooner than we'd like. We check in, Husband shows his Cast ID, the guy at check-in is very sweet although hard to hear, and we are in. We are told to run to the resort shuttle to go to our town. I was worried. We stayed two years ago at POR, and I feared that another large resort would be like the Bataan Death March again. BUT LUCK!!! Husband paid extra for a water view room and we requested and GOT...JAMAICA!!!! WHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE-HEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are close to the bridge that takes us to the bar...uhm, I mean the shopping....I mean the main pool and the central hub of life at the CBR at Old Port Royal. This was going to be a great vacation. I get to see a lake every day. I get to walk OVER a lake, everyday. Our neighbors are quiet, too! We are in Jaimaica 4526. Don't tell no one, I want to request this room again. As we dropped off carry-ons in the room (Magical Express deals with lifting my heavy bag. I got 42 pounds this time on my large suitcase) we looked out. I'll be darned if Walt hadn't given us a real, full rainbow. (and it was over the bar). CComing from the land of no weather, this was really cool. We jumped a bus to the MK and the first thing we did was ride the new Mansion. O! M! G! I NEVER thought I'd say this, but theirs is now better than ours. Marc Davis must be laughing mysterically at the new changes, well done!!! The sound is what got me, and I wa to learn more about the sound later on....hhhhmmmmmm. Then on to Big Thunder Mountain! Yeee-haw! We caught Spectro Magic and managed to get the best spot ever for Wishes! right in front of the Crystal Palace Pooh place thingie! I don't know how to write this, but there was something in the air. It was a full moon. We shot some awesome photos of the Castle with the full moon above. Something magic was happening...I was starting to relax and just let thngs work for me. There was a long wait for the busses back to CBR, unknown to us, this would be one of the few times we had transportation issues. We realized we were starving. Southwest doesn't feed its patrons and we had been up since 4...add three hours...AY YI YI. I had chicken at Port Royal and was thrilled to slink into bed once we were in the room and unpacked since ME delivered our bags while we were playing. The Next day...Animals!
3	ilvdland Sun 10/14/2007 8:47p	I can't wait for animals.
4	Ursula Sun 10/14/2007 11:30p	9/28/07 T-1 day, or the day before my last birthday ever. (See, there is NO WAY I am turning something next year, so this is the last hurrah for me.) I know I've called staying at POR the Bataan Death March. This day is its younger sibling. When we were at POR, it was during the time of Katrina two years ago. It was hot, humid, and each time I stepped out of our room, it was like three miles to the A/C of the bus. (okay, it wasn't that bad, it just seemed that bad at the time.) Humidity is not my friend. The Animal Kingdom is like walking around a sauna. Because of the many gorgeous plants and the awful humidity, and the hot, hot concrete, it is literally like stepping into a spa. But it has Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids, and so many fun things to do, you just HAVE to go! First up, Kilimanjaro Safari! OOOh, we get the right side. Booo, we had the right side. All of the animals are on the left side this day. I was watching video we shot and I'll be darned if we didn't go past a huge pile of hippos. I had no idea. I am short and couldn't see to the left side at the time. We've been on Kilimanjaro many times in the past, so we didn't bother with a second wait to see what we missed. If it is your first time and you end up on whatever side the animals avoid, seriously, you must go back right away. Last year, our jeep was surrounded by giraffes and they come RIGHT up to you. Amazing. And the lions are not to be missed. However, we'd seen them before and the lines were just silly long for us. We didn't see the Festival of the LIon King before and HURRAH! Air Conditioning! It was a cute show. I liked the monkeys the best. Basically, this is a show in the round where talented performers act in the essence of a Lion King Celebration. It isn't a re-telling of the movie, thankfully. (I like the movie and all, I just don't need to see it again.) It was very entertaining and I highly suggest you see this show. The flying bird lady was cool as well as the fire-dancer guy. Now I know where theatre majors end up working. I swear they had some floats from the Lion King parade from Disneyland. I'm sure someone with vast DL Parade knowledge will jump in and let me know about that. Once the Lion King show was over, we noticed it was time for Finding Nemo. I LOVED the concept of this presentation. Talented actors puppeteer and voice the characters from Finding Nemo. Everything about it is great, except the songs were a little drab. We noticed something very strange here for a Disney show...the guests started leaving before it was over. We both really liked it, but wished the songs could be catchier. Although the line for Kilimanjaro was long in the morning, overall, the park wasn't very crowded. We were able to get on Dinosaur with a very little wait. I love that ride. It reminds me very much of Kingdom of the Dinosaurs from Knott's Berry Farm. And I don't mean that in a back-handed way. I thought the latter was charming and the former is very exciting, although they share nearly the same concept. I am also a huge fan of Primeval Whirl. Like Dolly Parton says, it takes a lot of work to look this cheap, honey! If you don't get the concept of Dinoland, I can't help you. I think it nails down exactly what it went for...back area carnival in a parking lot! And it is fun. Expedition Everest is the new crown jewel of AK. As you walk around AK, you can see it in the distance...a large snow-capped mountain. Hey, it's Disney! You should know by now what a mountain means. As you get closer, the themeing sucks you right in. You are no longer in a humid Disney Theme park, you are in the Himalayas! (or is the heralayas?) For our first ride this trip, we decided to do single rider. It would have been better to do FastPass...but you can't tell because you can't see the line from the outside of the ride area. Good thing we got FastPass before...so we rode it again! Awesome, I won't ruin it for anyone, but if you like thrill rides...go do this. Husband says it was on "C" Show, as one element was not working. Not being a WDW memorist myself, I wouldn't have noticed. I did, however notice the second time. If you are dying to know, ask and I will ask Husband to fill you in. Now for the Animal part of the Animal Kingdom. There are these terrific trails you can follow and in each one, you can see animals. Now being a city girl, I can tell you we saw bats, a large cat, several birds, and a gazelle-looking thing and the large rodent. I LOVE seeing them all, especially the aviary. I will never understand why Joe Average tourist walks through the aviary at a fast clip. You can't see anything that way. If you find yourself in the aviary, SLOW DOWN! There is that large red bird that you will NEVER see if you don't stop. Ask questions, too. The nice CM in there was thrilled when we started asking what was who. He even pointed out a purple bird we missed that was RIGHT there in front of us. The Tree of Life is not to be missed. I love gazing at it and figuring out all of the animals carved into it. This houses It's a Bug's Life, but since it is the same as ours at DCA, we skip it. There is a lot of details to look at and the flora and fauna is great. You'll just stroll there and to your right is a pair of Hyacinth Macaws! Gorgeous animals. If you have any inch of stress left in your bdy, go find the Flamingo Pool. I feel an affinity with these creatures and I relax just watching a group of them sleeping on one leg. How they don't fall over...I'll never know. AK closed at 5 pm, so we had many, many choices. Three other parks to visit, Downtown Disney...? Nah, we wanted to explore our resort. We had another long wait for the bus, and we were one our way home. Seriously, the busses welcome us home as soon as we pull onto CBR property. Since we managed to get Jamaica, we often were the first stop. A quick shower, and then I was in a swinsuit! ACK! Close your eyes and no flash photography! The amin pool at Old Port Royal is very large. Each town has a smaller pool, so it is not crowded. People kinda just spread out. The Banana Cabana would soon become my home away from home, although at times one bartender was clearly not enough. Anyway, this wait just makes you make conversation with to your fellow guest. People from all of the world come to Orlando, so you never know who you will meet. The main pool has a Caribbean-looking Spanish themed fort thing going on. It has cannons, a water slide, and a section in the back that has water cascading down. Swin under this and you will meet pure bliss. The life guards are very nice, yet have no problems correcting poor behavior. One even encouraged me to go down the slide. (I would have, except there were a LOT of kids around). After more "relief" at the Banana Cabana, we wandered back to our room and crashed. Next: The Keys
5	chickendumpling Sun 10/14/2007 11:33p	<<Please enjoy it!>> Done and done! I am lovin' your reporting. <-- patiently awaiting the next installment.
6	Ursula Sun 10/14/2007 11:42p	AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! I left out two parts. We started seeing ladies with pink Mickey Crocs. In grown-up sizes. Now. I've ben against Crocs because they look like Fred Flintstone feet. Now, being as I already have FF feet, why one earth would I want to RE-EMPHASIZE ths fact?! But, they were really cute, and since everyone was wearing ome form of Croc or another, I really started to think there must be something to this. But alas, no one sold them. And we were looking. At some point, this turned into a quest. And I TOTALLY forgot to add: At the end of the day at AK, we were determined to ride Kali River Rapids. Yes, we know it gets you soaked. Yes, we came prepared and brought a change of water shoes. But, KRR was closed portions of the day...but not at the end! We trekked across the park, got to our locker, left everything of value, changed shoes, trekked back and rode KRR three times in a row. How blooming refreshing!!!! Thank you, Dear female Cast Member who let us through the shortcut in the line ( no one was IN line, but they had rules about letting us stay in the raft). We rode it three times in a row before it was shut down for the day. I was so soaked, it looked like I was dry...not a spot on my was dry to show contrast! We squished our way out back to the lockers. and now next: The Keys
7	Mrs ElderP Mon 10/15/2007 6:43a	Fun fun, you and Tiggirl can combine for a how to write funny trip reports class!!
8	sun-n-fun Mon 10/15/2007 10:16a	I'm glad someone gets soaked on KKR. I've riden it 3 times and have been barely splashed. Only 1 or 2 people in our car seem to get wet. Whoever goes down the hill backwards. :(
9	Buzz Lite-Snack Mon 10/15/2007 1:52p	Here are my notes from the day and order in which we did things (BTW Mrs. you nailed our travel / arrival day perfectly I would just add that we rode Big Thunder that night specifically because we researched and knew it was going down for rehab in a couple of days. The Rainbow when we arrived was amazing - but a clear sky full moon over Cinderella Castle was over the TOP!) Friday 09.28.07 - Animal Kingdom Safari Festival of the Lion King Pizzafari for lunch Expedition Everest Asia walk / aviary Expedition Everest Dinosaur Finding Nemo Musical Kali River Rapids X 3 (I got the SOAKED seat 2 of the 3 rides - ESPECIALLY the last time. The drenching can only be described as "thorough") Caribbean Beach Resort - Pool / Bar Dinner - Old Port Royale food court
10	2BoyzMom Mon 10/15/2007 5:56p	Keep 'em coming Ursula...I'm living vicariously here :) I have another 13 months until my next trip.

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