Disney: Day 2 & 3

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had some issues to deal with yesterday morning. As many of you know, I have Great Danes. Well, my 12 year old dane Delilah passed away yesterday morning around 5 am. So I had to get everything taken care of while being 12 hours away. Fortunately for me, my mom used to work for a vet and was able to arrange everything for me. It is a very tough loss for the family, which I am sure will become more real once we are back home. All I can say is that she was a great dog and had a wonderful life.

Enough of that, let's get on with Disney.

Day 2 found us at Animal Kingdom. We arrived right after they opened. From there we headed to Expedition Everest where we grabbed a fast pass and then jumped in line. After riding we headed to Dinosaur, which is one of my daughter's favorite rides, even though she keeps her eyes closed on parts of it. We spent our time moving back and forth between these two rides until my brother and his family showed up around noon. We then hit some of the things that my niece would enjoy before they headed to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. I will say that she did not like It's a Bugs Life. She totally lost it and had to be taken out by her mom.

After they met back up with us we headed to the Safari. There were quite a few animals out in spite of the heat. We got to see the baby elephant and baby rhino along the way. We then headed to the petting zoo for a bit where my son and niece got to pet a baby alligator.

After that my niece had had enough and was ready to go back to the hotel. We hung out for a while longer. We spent the remainder of our afternoon riding everest, which only had a 5 minute wait. We were pretty much just walking on. They actually shut down the normal line and just used the fast pass line. Amazing.

Here are a few pics.

Yesterday, day 3, found us at the Magic Kingdom. We started off our day heading to grab fast passes for the Peter Pan ride. When I got the fast passes, we were given bonus fast passes for the Philharmagic. Awesome! We were joined by my wifes cousin and her family, which includes their 6 year old son. So it was a blast for them since it was his first trip.

We hit all of the big rides which included all of the mountains, Splash, Space, and Big Thunder. It was awesome.

As we were riding the Transit Authority we went into Space Mountain and the lights were on! So, I took a few pics.

All in all, it was a good day in spite of how it started. So here are a few pics.

That's it for now. I'll post more later.

Yeti Out!!

Disney: Day 1

I am going to try something a little bit different this time since I have a laptop and wifi on this trip. Instead of waiting until I get home and trying to remember all of the fun I had, I am going to attempt to do this as I go. Wish me luck.

So here goes.

We arrived in Orlando on Friday morning and checked into the Hilton Bonnet Creek. It is a very nice upscale hotel. Truth be told, it is a bit fancy for my taste. We were fortunate enough to stay there for free, due to the fact that my brother travels for his job and earns plenty of points for his hotel stays. He is also extremely generous with them.

Once we arrived I took a much needed nap after driving all night and the wife and kids hit the pool. They said it was nice. I will take their word for it.

Saturday we made our way to Hollywood Studios. We were able to make it there just in time for the opening ceremonies. Then it was the mad dash for Toy Story Mania! We headed over and grabbed fast passes and then moved on to Rockin' Rollercoaster followed by Tower of Terror, The Great Movie Ride, some food, and then Toy Story Mania. I ended up with the high score of the hour for TSM, which was kind of cool!

The park was surprisingly dead. Not sure if it was the heat or the fact that they closed at 7 pm, but I will take it.

Here are a few pics:

Pool at Bonnet Creek

Today we are headed to Animal Kingdom. I will attempt to keep this up to date as I can, but I am on vacation.

Yeti Out!

Disney in December 2009

Don't give up on the trip report. The holidays have gotten in the way a bit. I will get this thing finished up as soon as I can.

Yeti Out!

Christmas Trip to Disney 2009 Part 2

And away we go!

Tuesday December 8, 2009

We headed to Animal Kingdom to meet up with the Gibby's on their last day at Disney. We arrived just as the opening ceremony was finishing up and headed straight to the Expedition Everest fastpass, where we met up with the Gibby's. We then grabbed our fast passes and jumped into the standby line. Within 10 minutes we were riding. We were able to put in 2 more rides after the first one before my empty stomach had enough. We bid the Gibby's farewell and headed to find something to eat.

After a quick bite to eat we headed to the Safari ride. Since it was a little later in the morning there weren't a ton of animals roaming around. We did see the normal players though.

After that we caught the Lion King show and just took in the sites of all of the Christmas decorations before departing for our turn at the Magic Kingdom Christmas Party.

If I had to fault Disney on one thing, it would be that you can not travel from park to park by bus. You have to either head to a resort, Downtown Disney, or the Ticket and Transportation Center. This meant that we had to leave Animal Kingdom a little earlier than we would have liked so that we could get to the Magic Kingdom around 4:00 pm.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just before 4:00 pm and were allowed into the park after getting wristbands to show that we were supposed to be there. We then headed to the Haunted Mansion for a quick ride. After that we realized that if we wanted a good spot to view the evening fireworks, we had better get it now. I thought that it kind of sucked that you pretty much had to find your spot at least an hour before anything going on that night. The fireworks were awesome though. We then made our way to Main Street and found a good spot to watch the parade. The parade was awesome as well.

After the parade we walked around a while checking out the decorations. When else can you see snow on Main Street in Disney? After that we headed back to the resort for some much needed rest. It had been a long day.

Wednesday December 9, 2009

We headed to Epcot for a second time. Upon arrival we headed to Soarin' and grabbed fast passes. Which were for later in the day. After that we headed over to Mission Space and Test Track.

After riding both of those it was off to the World Showcase to see some of the countries that we missed the first time around. The decorations are amazing. Both Canada and China have a movie about there country. The cool thing about this is that it is shot in what is called Circle Vision. What that means is that there are screens that completely encircle the room near the ceiling. The way that it is shot you have a 360 degree view of what the camera sees. Very neat.

We then decided to head to the Yacht Club to see the Gingerbread Carousel. It is amazing the detail that they put into things.

After roaming around the Yacht Club for a while it was time to head to the California Grill for dinner. The great thing about this restaurant is that it is on the 15th floor of the Contemporary, which offers a birds eye view of the Magic Kingdom. The food was amazing. After dinner we headed out onto their observation deck to watch Wishes from above the Magic Kingdom. The meal was pricey, $144, but I would highly recommend dining there just for the view.

After Wishes we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

That wraps up those two day.

So, until next time....

Yeti Out!

Christmas Trip to Disney 2009 Part 1

All I can say is that Disney knows how to do the holidays. We had been wanting to head to Disney during the Christmas season for some time now. The Christmas party was one of the things on our Disney list that we had not crossed off just yet. So when they ran the free dining deal, it made it impossible for us to pass up the opportunity to take one last trip to Disney in '09. This trip was just Autumn and myself. We were joined for a few days by Gibby and Mrs. Gibby, who had flown down a few days ahead of us. So without further adieu, here is part 1 of my trip report.

Sunday December 6, 2009

We started off our day at about 4:30 am, since we had a 6:15 am flight. We knew from talking to friends that we did not need to be at the airport the cu

stomary 2 hours before our flight, since the Louisville airport does not have any overnight flights. This meant that there would be no one there that early. I had already done our online check in the night before, so that was out of the way. We were dropped off at the airport and made our way through security rather quickly. Our flight was on time, which was nice. So after a 45 minute layover in DC, we arrived in Orlando at about 10:45 am. We then headed to the Magical Express transportation and were on our way to Disney.

We arrived at the Pop Century Resort, which is a value, just before noon. Our room was ready, which was nice, so we headed there and dropped

off our carry on items. It was then time to catch a bus and head to the Magic Kingdom.

We had debated on not going to the Magic Kingdom that day, due to the fact that they were taping the Christmas Parade for Christmas Day, and we knew that it may be overly crowded. We decided what the hell and went there anyway. As we walked into the Magic Kingdom were greeted by the sounds of the show being taped. We saw Kelly Rippa standing on a stage right in front of the train station. So we hung out there for a few before heading into the park.

After watching a small parade we were on our way to Space Mountain, which had been recently refurbished. As we started to walk, we were lead into a back stage area. I quickly started taking pictures, since this is not an area that you are normally allowed into. I bet I only took about 5 pictures before I was approached by a guy with his badge out telling me that there was no photography back there. So I stopped.

We then rode Space Mountain, the Transit Authority, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. We then met up with Gibby and Mrs. Gibby for a few and chatted before it was time for us to make an exit, and them to enjoy the Christmas Party.

We called it an early night and headed back to the resort.

Monday December 7, 2009

We headed to Epcot bright and early on Monday. Upon arrival we headed straight for the Soarin' fastpass line. We grabbed a couple of fast passes and then decided since the wait was not that bad to go ahead and ride it.

After we riding, we decided to grab a bite to eat in the Sunshine Cafe located near the ride. Pretty good food. After that we rode the Living with the Land ride, which shows you different ways that they are growing food at Disney. After that we were able to get another fastpass for Test Track. While waiting for our fastpass times we rode a couple of other small rides and just walked around checking out the decorations.

We rode Test Track just before heading to Les Chefs de France for lunch, which was a sit down meal and somewhere we had never eaten. The food was pretty good. I would say that the highlight was Remmy from Rat Tat Tooie being brought to the table.

After lunch we made our way back to Soarin' and used our fast passes. After that we made our way around the world showcase and checked out some of the decorations. Each land had it's own version of how Christmas was celebrated in that country.

After walking around for awhile we headed towards the front of the park and rode Space Ship Earth. Which is a very cool journey through history Disney style.

We then headed out of the park and over the the Contemporary to check out the decorations. One of which was a house made entirely of Gingerbread. Very cool. Then it was back to the room for the night.

That wraps up the first two days of my trip. In order to keep this from being the length of a Stephen King novel, I am going to break it up into 3 post.

So, until next time....

Yeti Out!

Disney in December 2009

Well faithful reader(s), I am home. It will take me a couple of days to go through the 1700 pics I took and weed out the bad from the good. So give me a couple of days and I will post an in depth trip report.

So, until then...

Yeti Out!!

Not long now!

Well it is almost here. This Sunday at 6:14 am my ass will be on a plane headed for Orlando. I can't believe it is almost here. My buddy Gibby leaves in the morning to head down. Our paths will cross on Sunday. I think we may be heading to check out some of the decorations at the resorts, but I am not sure since I don't make the plans when I go to Disney. I just go where I am told and it always pays off.

I will be sure and take lots of pics so that I can do justice to the upcoming trip report, since the last one sucked.

So check back soon to see how it went.

Yeti Out!!!!!