Pics and trip report from my 1st-ever trip to Walt Disney World! (Nov. 12-19, 2005)

[KentB3]

In case any of you haven't heard already, I finally made it to Walt Disney World! Here is my trip report, complete with pictures!


Day One: Magic Kingdom (11/12/05)

I arrived Saturday afternoon, November 12, 2005, after spending one night in Savannah, GA on the way. This was also my 1st trip inside Georgia as well as Florida, and Savannah is a beautiful city! Didn't have time to do much in Savannah, except for some sightseeing and dinner at Lady & Sons restaurant. http://www.ladyandsons.com This restaurant is run by Paula Deen from Food Network. Though hard to believe, getting PS for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table was a piece of cake compared to getting a dinner reservation at Lady & Sons!!!!! There, you have to get in line (that spans the entire block!) outside the restaurant about 4 hours in advance, then come back about 20 minutes before your dinner reservation to get seated.

We arrived at WDW about 3:30pm Saturday (my parents and myself), but my room at Coronado Springs wasn't avaliable until a little after 5pm (running over an hour late). Since we were running late, we went to the Magic Kingdom for a little while, to eat at Pinocchio's Village Haus and watch Spectromagic; which is INCREDIBLE, with all the lights and floats!

Here are several pics I took from the parade:




SpectroMagic opening float



Spectro Mickey



the Three Little Pigs



the carousel SpectroMagic float


After the parade, we went back to the hotel room for a good night's rest.


Next up, breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table

[KentB3]

Day two, part one: Breakfast in the castle! (11/13/05)

Sunday morning, we had PS at Cinderella's Royal Table (the restaurant inside the Magic Kingdom castle) at 8:50am. Cinderella was in the lobby greeting guests, who were in line for a meet & greet session and a picture. I had a great time with Cindy, and she pointed out the Christmas tree in the lobby, which she said she helped decorate with Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother. After that, we went upstairs to the dining hall.



The breakfast was absolutely delicious, perhaps the best tasting breakfast we had at WDW! The downside was the extremely limited menu, as all guests get the same pre-plated meal. Nevertheless, this breakfast is fit for any prince or princess!



Inside the dining hall were Belle, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, and Mary Poppins. Of the princesses at this meal, Snow White was the most adorable! There were lots of little girls in princess dresses there, and even noticed 3 boys dressed as princes; 2 as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty and 1 as Prince Charming from Cinderella.




Belle at CRT



Snow White at CRT



Mary Poppins at CRT



Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and me, at CRT




Here is Main Street, already dressed up for the Christmas holidays!



the statues of Roy Disney and Minnie Mouse, sitting on a bench


Next up, Disney-MGM and La Lucci in all her glory!

[KentB3]

Day two, part two: Disney-MGM and ABC Super Soap Weekend (11/13/05)

After breakfast we went to Disney-MGM, where ABC Soap Weekend was being held. Disney-MGM was horribly crowded, and the layout is almost like a maze!



This is me with the Walt Disney head bust at Disney-MGM

Unfortunately, all the Fastpasses for autograph/greet sessions with the soap stars were gone by then (sold out in about 20 minutes after the park opened!), but we did get to see an entire interview with Susan Lucci in the park's hub behind the Fantasia hat. She rode in and out of the interview stage in a convertable with Minnie; just a little over an armslength from where we were standing!



Susan Lucci, known to soap fans as Erica Kane, arrives with Minnie as part of the ABC Super Soap Weekend festivities!

We then went to MuppetVision 3-D, The Great Movie Ride, and Star Tours before out 5:35pm PS at Sci-Fi Theatre. This is one of the coolest places to eat there, especially with the 1950's movie clips on the movie screen! After dinner, there was a grand finale for ABC soap weekend, with the stars arriving in cars with characters to the stage. Heather Tom (Kelly on One Life to Life, and former Victoria on The Young and the Restless) was absolutely beautiful in person (as she rode by), and rode with Chip. After the grand finale for ABC Soap Weekend, we watched Fantasmic (which was absolutely mind-blowing!), and went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and The Magic of Disney Animation afterward.





Here are a couple of pics from the finale to the Fantasmic! show.


Next up, breakfast at 1900 Park Faire in the Grand Floridian!

[KentB3]

Day three, part one: breakfast at 1900 Park Faire (11/14/05)


My third day started with breakfast at 1900 Park Faire, in the Grand Floridian. Let's start with a couple of pics of the Grand Floridian's impressive lobby:






Mary Poppins was in 1900 Park Faire's lobby greeting guests (in her red outfit instead of the white outfit she wore at CRT), but we stopped by her on the way out since we were running late. Inside the dining hall were
Alice, the Mad Hatter, Pooh, and Tigger.






Alice was so sweet, and we had a nice conversation with Alice about going to EPCOT after breakfast!



The Mad Hatter was nearly as wild as he was in the movie, and noticed that I had tea with my breakfast (his favorite beverage!), but after noticing I was driking iced tea he suggested that someday I try hot tea, which was "much better" in his opinion!



me with Tigger

Tigger even gave my mom a kiss when he showed up! Pooh was adorable, and Mary Poppins was outstanding, though VERY talkative!



She even asked if I could say Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious backwards. I answered I wasn't quite sure and she resposnded, "It's Suoicodalaipxecitsiligarfalacrepus, but isn't that going to far?" I responded with "WAY too far!"



Here are a couple of carousel animal inside 1900 Park Faire's dining hall



This is the horse carriage that sits outside the Grand Floridian


Next up, EPCOT's Future World

[Stinkler26]

Great photos.

Mary Poppins in DLR is much more perfect.

[Iframedroger R]

i agree, great photos! glad you had fun!!!

[MoonRakerSCM]

I still think that their Fantasmic! steamboat is termites holdin' hands lol. So uninspiring when compared to our ending with the Mark Twain...

Great pix, thanks!

[KentB3]

Day three, part two: EPCOT's Future World (11/14/05)


Our day at EPCOT started with Spaceship Earth, which is one of the coolest rides in all of WDW!



After riding Spaceship Earth, we went to Innoventions. Most of what they had here (in both buildings) appeared more like a trade show than a theme park attraction, so we skipped over half of what they had here. They did have a neat game where a large group of guests build their own spaceship and race it against each others, and I came in 3rd place! Also, there were a couple of people that showed guests how paper was made, which I found quite interesting. Next up was lunch at Coral Reef, which was great, though I was quite disappointed that The Living Seas was closed. Next up was The Land; where we watched Circle of Life, road the Land's ride (the boat ride with the greenhouses in the back). We tried to get on Soarin' after that (and even again on Thursday, our 2nd day at EPCOT), but had a long wait (60+ minutes on standby) and all FastPasses were out for the ride (both this day and Thursday). We then had lunch at Coral Reef, with a seat by huge aquarium tank! The food there was out of this world, the scenery even better, and we had a great waiter named Alejandro.



This is the Finding Nemo topiary, found outside The Living Seas


We then went to ride Journey Into Imagination, and then headed for ImageWorks. The Journey Into Imagination ride was something else, and Figment was especially memorable! However, it did seem watered down since Dreamfinder is no longer on the ride. Also, the current group of ImageWorks attractions/exhibits pales considerably in comparison to the original ImageWorks offerings (I have read about the old JII in books and on the Internet), but still a lot of fun! It would be great if the would reopen the old ImageWorks upstairs, complete with the Rainbow Corridor!

After JII, we went to ride Universe of Energy. The Jeopardy! parody at the beginning and end of the ride was hilarious! After that, we decided to retire for the evening and heade back to the hotel room to relax and recharge our batteries after a long day of walking around EPCOT's Future World.and all of the Earth's attractions except for Soarin'; which we didn't get to see due to the insanely long lines (60 minutes or more), and Soarin' had run out of FastPasses both days we were at EPCOT!



Here's a great shot of the fountain outside the Journey Into Imagination pavillion!


Next up, Animal Kingdom

[KentB3]

Day four, part one: Animal Kingdom (11/15/05)

Tuesday was our Animal Kingdom day. This day started off with Donald's Breakfastosarus in the park. This was a great breakfast, with good service, good variety of food on the buffet, and the characters were great! Donald was there of course, joined by Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto. Pluto was the 1st character at our table, followed by Donald, then Goofy, and finally Mickey!



Here's me with Donald at Donald's Breakfastosarus



the Tree of Life



the small statuettes of Daisy, with Huey, Dewey, and Louie



Here's a HILARIOUS pic of me with Pluto!


Festival of the Lion King is, without a doubt, the best attraction of any kind in Animal Kingdom, and would tie with Fantasmic! in first place of the shows I attended at WDW! The show is presensted in a "theater in the round" (guests sit in a circle surrounding the main stage), and participate greatly in the action of the show.

These are our pics from Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, taken in Africa near the queue for Kilamanjaro Safaris, where the parade route actually starts! This was perhaps the best spot anywhere in Animal Kingdom for watching this parade.



This is opening float to Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, which was in fact the opening performance of the Christmas edition of Jammin' Jungle Parade!



Mickey Mouse



King Louie from The Jungle Book



one of the "puppets", for lack of a better term (not sure what these are actually called) from the parade



Here's Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear. Brer Rabbit even shook hands with me as he passed by!

Kilamanjaro Safaris was really something as well, but taking pics can be a bit tricky due to animal behavior and how fast the vehicles are going by.



Here a a couple of alligators, as seen from the Kilamanjaro Safari ride



a flock of flamingos, also from Kilamanjaro Safari



The world's laziest lion! Seen from Kilamanjaro Safari


Next up, more from Animal Kingdom!

[KentB3]

Day four, part two: Animal Kingdom (11/15/05)

Right after the Kilamanjaro Safari, we took the train ride to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where we stopped by Conservation Station. Here, we met Rafiki from The Lion King, Pocahontas, and even Stanley from the Playhouse Disney cartoon (who I am just about sure was a random character there!).





While greeting with Pocahontas, I mentioned that in the Circle of Life film at EPCOT's The Land, it was mentioned that more and more people are learning the lessons presented in her stage show (Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends); such as protecting wildlife, working to preserve forests, and caring more for the environment. Her eyes lit up and widened, and she said "I know, that's WONDERFUL!" with a huge smile!

Dinner was at Rainforest Cafe by the Animal Kingdom entrance. This is one of the coolest restaurants in all of WDW, with the entire restaurant designed as a tropical rainforest! The food was great too.



This is the dining hall at Rainforest Cafe, with a great shot of the aquarium!


After dinner, we went to see It's Tough to Be a Bug (a really cute show, IMHO), and then headed to DinoLand USA. DinoLand was a nice standout from the rest of the Animal Kingdom theme park, designed much like a boardwalk amusement park or a county pair, complete with Midway-type games seen at such places. Primeval Whirl was a fun ride, as were TriceroTop Spin and Dinosaur, though the Dinosaur ride itself was a bit on the jerky side for me.



Here I am with the ever-michievious Stitch, in Animal Kingdom near Rainforest Cafe and the park entrance.


Next up, my first full day inside the Magic Kingdom!