EPCOT Future World

Today, we decide that we're only going to do EPCOT Future World today.  I wake up at 10:00 am and Laurie wakes up at noon.  We really needed the extra sleep to recover the Halloween the night before. My back and legs were killing me so we didn't want to do anything too strenuous.

 

12:30 pm - we arrive at EPCOT. I pay the parking attendant $10 for parking.  He hands me a parking receipt and $10 back.  I mention that I already gave him $10 so I don't need any change.  He takes my $10.  I could really use the $10 but honesty being a virtue and all.  Oh well, you're welcome Walt Disney Corporation. The parking attendant is really nice and he tells me that EPCOT

 

12:40 pm - we enter the gates of EPCOT and get our picture taken at the golf ball.  At this point I just found out I forgot the battery to my camera.  It's back in the room getting recharged.  All of my pictures are now coming from the video camera.  Our plan it to start with the Universe of Energy.

 

12:50 pm - we're looking for some Minnie Ears for Laurie.  She wants a specific kind, it's sequined and is a head band.  We're directed to Mouse Gears, the main souvenir shop at EPCOT.  No luck.  It's very cold in this store.  The air conditioning is way to high.

 

1:10 pm - We arrive at Ellen's Energy Adventure.  This is a really great place to cool down if you're hot. I'm a little tired still trying to wake up from the night before, so I sleep through about half this ride.  The weather in Florida is half nice.  It's humid as hell, but there is a breeze.  Half the time I'm dying from humidity and then other half is really nice.

 

2:00 pm - That's a long ride.  We pass by the Wonders of Life and it's still close.  Now we're off to Mission Space.  We see some Photopass photographers and we find out that they are actually in training.  Their supervisor tells them the best way to frame their shots at each location and then then do some test shots.  It's pretty cool that the WDW photographers are actually trained.

 

2:20 pm - We just got off Mission Space.  How can you not love a ride that features Gary Sinise. I'm not as sick getting off the ride and I did the first time I rode is two years ago.  I think they slowed it down so it doesn't kill people anymore.  By the way, there's a non-spinning version.  Go with the Orange team.

 

2:30 pm - We're now riding Test Track.  No lines.  Sweet.  This is a great ride and as we get off we see the Coke station.  Laurie and I get coke Icees.  Now we have to find shade to drink our slushies.  I go back to Mouse Gears, but it's too cold, so we go to Innoventions.

 

2:40 pm - I tour Innoventions East, not much to look at and I meet up with Laurie again.  As we leave, we see that there is a character pavilion. We pull out our Photopass and get our pictures taken with Goofy, Mickey, Minnie and Pluto.  I wish Donald was there.  We move toward the exit and see that there is a wine seminar going on.  We get some information about the Food and Wine festival.  Now we can plan tomorrow.

 

3:00 pm - Journey Into Imagination.  Lame ride, great playground at the end of the ride.

 

3:30 pm - The Land.  We're pretty hungry at this point.  Here's a great thing to do.  Get a Fastpass for Soarin' then go eat.  Ride Living with the Land and then Ride Soarin'.

 

The Land Pavilion is a great place to eat, until today.  Apparently when they redesigned the Land, the food options immediately went down.  We used to order chili, salad and sub sandwiches.  Now it's all fru fru foods.  Ciabatta this, panini that.  I just want a normal meal.  I pay $9 for Salmon and Mashed potatoes, Laurie spends the same on beef and flat bread. What a waste of time and money.

 

Living with the Land is a ride that I like to do.  It's just interesting to me the different ways you can grow crops.  The boat ride is pretty much the same, but instead of having a live person give narration, we have a recording.  I'm not missing the live person.

 

My only problem with this ride and Ellen's Energy Adventure is that they always try to make you feel back because you're a evil human trying to destroy the earth.

 

Soarin' is a great ride.  Just as great as Disneyland. (It's the exact same ride).

 

4:30 pm - Nemo and Friends.  We went on this ride on Sunday.  What a great ride.  I starting to see how this is going to be incorporated at Disneyland's submarine ride.

 

4:50 pm - Laurie wants a button.  She found out that if you go to Guest relations, you can get a button to commemorate your time at EPCOT.  We go to the counter and this nice person from Japan helps us.  He asks if this is our first time...No.  Then if we were having an anniversary...no.  He looks puzzled.  Then says I have one for you and gives us a Magical Gatherings button.  Cool.  Now when is my Million Dreams going to be fulfilled.

 

5:10 pm - We leave to go back to the resort.  That night I go to Pleasure Island for some improv fund.  Don't forget you can see me live at the National Comedy Theater - www.nationalcomedy.com.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Halloween at WDW

It's going to be a late dat today.

12:00 pm - arrive at Disney Quest. Laurie likes the interactive stuff like building a roller coaster, jungle cruise and alien encounter. I like the video game. I played a lot of the old stuff, Dragon's Lair, Tron, missle command.

3:00 pm - return to resort to prepare for the Halloween party.

5:00 pm - we leave to the Magic Kingdom and we arrive about 2 hours before the event begin. I'm not feeling well. My nose is running like water. Since we're early we decide to make use of the photo pass they gave us for the event. There's about 5 photographers stationed around the castle for the event. We get our pictures taken at each one.

Laurie is dressed as Cinderella. She's really playing her role. She being nice to children and telling them they look cute in their costumes. She meeting a lot of parent. I'm taking pictures. I'm just not that sociable.

We decide to take afew attractions while we wait and while I feel miserable. We do Philharmagic. What a great 3D movie. I wish this was at Disneyland. It's a way to debute Disney Characters in their computer animated form.

Next it's off to the carousel. I take pictures while Laurie looks cute. I shoot and video.

7:00 pm - an announce is made by a creepy Spirit letting us know the party has begun. Our priorities for this party is to get pictures, get candy, see shows.

As we walk toward the haunted mansion, we spot Cinderella's carriage. Picture moment. These photopass photographers are very good. They know how to pose.

It takes about 15 minutes but we get our picture. We arrive at the Haunted mansion and there's no line. There I also a picture moment at the mansion in front of the hearse. Pretty cool shot.

We get on the ride and now we're about 25 minutes from the parade. We then take our spot in Frontierland. Laurie then goes off to get some candy. Leaving me to wallow in my runny nose.

8:10 pm - the headless horseman gallops down the parade route. Super awesome. The horseman was one our tourguides from our horseback ride.

8:15 pm - the not-so-scary-Halloween parade begins. All of the characters were out and all of the villians. We are very impressed with parades at WDW.

9:15pm - we waiting in front of the castle for the fireworks show. We meet a family with a small girl also dressed as Cinderella. Laurie and the little girl hit it off even though she was shy to start.

Again WDW has a really good fireworks show. We were treated to Hallowishes.

I start to think that this is a school night. Can all of these kids be on vacation?

I also notice that for a sold out event this one is a lot of fun, not too crowded and well organized. I'll leave this blog here and let you see the rest of our fun in the photo gallery. I can't put anything up right now because I have a really bad internet connection at the resort.

1:00 am - I'm sick and tired and I'm getting some sleep.

Resort Day-10/30

8:00 am - It's too darn early, but we have a time share thing this morning.

8:35 am - getting Laurie up. Very difficult. Anyways it's worth free breakfast at Celebration and $80.

9:05 am - we arrive at the sales center.

11:15 am - finished presentation. Not too bad. We got a cheap breakfast. Pretty interesting. Be sure to read my article on time share presentations before ever going into one of these.

11:55 pm - rest.

2:00 pm - horseback riding. We were checking online and found out that they offer horseback riding at Fort Wilderness. It's about $40 each. Looks like our timeshare presentation is paying off.

We show up at the Fort Wilderness kennels to pay for our adventure.

2:30 pm - last trail ride of the day. We're all over it and we're joined by a mother and son. Just four of us. Super awesome. My horse is named Jumbo and Laurie us riding Romeo. We learn a lot about the life of horse riders and trail lines. Laurie, the outgoing one is talking with the mother. One of our guides dressed her horse as Peter Pan. The guides are going to be in the Beginning of the Halloween parade tomorrow.

3:30 pm - back in the car. What an awesome time. Definitely a hidden treasure of WDW so far. Off to Animal Kingdom. We want to ride Everest today.

4:00 pm - arrive at the security gate. They inform us that the park closes at 5 today. We have only 60 minutes for fun.

first we get our picture taken using the photopass. Take a look. We arrive at Expedition Everest. I'm woozy cuz I haven't had any food. We both get a frozen banana. Just what the doctor ordered.

We hop on Everest. Laurie and I ride it 3 times. There is no line. The second time I video tape the ride. The third time I video tape us. I hope I can publish this when we get back. I'm conerned about bandwidth.

4:25 pm - we head over to Dinosaur. The elevator broke so we can't go on it becaue of Laurie's knees. Oh well Indy is better. We ride the spinny ride at Dinoland. I'm feeling sick at the moment.

5:00 pm - I take a nap and Laurie is sleeps.

7:45 pm - I head over to Pleasure Island on my own. Laurie's not getting up. Pleasure Island is going through a lot of changes. The clubs on the left are boarded up. The stores are longer there. the west end stage is gone and the Bridge to the West Side shop has taken it's place.

8:15 pm - I'm sitting at the Comedy Warehouse. I love improv, especially by people who are better than me. Anyways you can see me most Saturday nights on www.nationalcomedy.com.

8:30 pm - Laurie pages me during the show telling me to pick her up. I tell her I'm going to see the 9:00 show.

10:15 pm - pick up Laurie at the resort.

10:45 pm - we arrive at the Adventurer's Club. Our 2nd favorite club. We notice a lot of return guests. Because they feel they have the right to be part of the show. The actors just ignore them. Good job.

11:00 pm - Samantha's cabaret. Fun show. They pick on married folks in this one.

11:45 pm - last comedy warehouse show. It has all of our favorites are in this show. We laughed a lot.

12:30 am - return to resort.

Animal Kingdom Trip Report 10/29

i'm on my own for this one. Laurie's super tired. I'm manning the digital camera and video camera.

12:30 pm - l'm on the road and enter the park. My plan is to use the video camera mostly. First stop Expedition Everest.

12:50 pm - enter line. All fastpasses have been distributed for the day. My wait is quoted at 60 minutes. I'll video and shoot pictures. I can't wait but I have to wait. I have my iPod running tune.

1:10 pm - bored. I'll watch last week's Office, the Initiation. Ha Ha.

1:30 pm - I pack every thing safely. Cause I'm getting on this ride.

1:40 pm - what an awesome ride. It's a great Disney coaster with steep banks. The yeti effect was cool and disappointing because I couldn't see it clearly.

1:45 pm - back in line. I just found the single rider's line. doh!

2:10 pm - I'm here to see animals. I go on the Jungle Trek. I got nice video of a tiger 'marking' her territory.

2:30 pm - in line for Kilamanjaro safari. 50 minute wait. IPod comes back on and I have a woman constantly running into me with her stroller. I'm such a patient person.

3:00 pm - I'm on the ride. Let me warn you. Visit Animal Kingdom in the morning. There are no animals out in the afternoon. The best time to arrive is as the parks open. The animals are frisky.

The safari ride was a bust. No animals except some sleeping lion and a lost giraffe.

I'm done. Back to the resort.

4:45 pm - we head out to EPCOT.

5:05 pm - we discover that Future World closes at 7:00. That doesn't give us much time.

We go to Nemo and Friends. Absolutely no lines. We get on the Clamulators. What a fantastic ride! They say that Disneyland submarine ride is going to be better than this. I don't know how this is possible. You've got to ride this ride. The rest of the Nemo & Friends is a little sparse but there are some good spots.

6:20 pm - we ride the Communicore. This is one of favs.

6:35 pm - we leave EPCOT. We are going to Cape Cos Cafe for their Clambake. I love shell fish.

6:55 pm - we arrive at the beach club. We're told that the wait is 1 hour. NO PROBLEM!

8:00 pm - DINNER!!! I head immediately for the clams and mussels. And there's no stopping me.

8:50 pm - back to the resort for Desparate Housewives.

Magic Kingdom Travel Report 10/27

It's a Friday afternoon and we're heading over the Magic Kingdom.  We've got about 3 hours because the park is closing early for Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween, which we'll be attending on Halloween.

 

We show up and park in the disabled area.  I'm used to this but it is a long walk to get to the Monorail.  We see the ferry pulling in and we decide to take the fairy to the Magic Kingdom.

 

If you're not in a rush, this is a great way to go if you love boats and lakes like we do.  Very relaxing.

 

We enter the gate with our tickets and they have a new biometric system.  You just place one finger on the sensor and you're in.  The park is tricked out in autumn and Halloween overlay.  The tones are orange, red and yellows.

 

We know we're not going to be here long, so we hit some attractions that we normallly wouldn't do.

 

First, Stitch's Great Escape, which took over for Alien Encounter.  Let me say that I was a huge fan of Alien Encounter and was sad to see it go.  Yes, it was not kid friendly, but it was scary.  Stitch's great escape uses many of the same effects and concepts and tries to make it fun and kid friendly.  Quite frankly I was bored.  There were cute moments, but the story dragged on and there was no drama or stakes in the story.  The best part was seeing a lifesize animatronic Stitch.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Next, we go on the Indy Speedway.  Laurie drove and I video taped.  Definitely not Disneyland's Autopia.  The car was difficult to control.  It would not go straight.  I trust that it was a fluke with our car, but very disappointing.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Now we go on Peter Pan.  The entry system is better than Disneyland's because they use the conveyor belt system. The basics of the ride are the same as Disneyland, but again Disneyland is better.  There are more minature elements from the story, but when you fly over London and Neverland, your looking at a cartoon representation of these locations.  3 out of 5 stars.

 

It's a Small World. Not as good as Disneyland.  Each continent is a little small, also at Disneyland the path takes a lot of turns.  WDW is very straight. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Haunted Mansion again not as good as Disneyland. The sound system is so outdated. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Disneyland is so much better than this place.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com