My (very belated) Trip Report LA,USO, IoA, WDW

[lffam]

Dining continued...

Our other main ADRs were at :

The Garden Grill - Epcot (5) (2)

1900 Park Fare - Grand Floridian (1) (4)

Chef Mickey’s -The Contemporary (3) (1)

Sci Fi Dine-in Theatre - Hollywood Studios (2) (3)

Ohana’s Breakfast -Polynesian Resort (6) (4)

Whispering Canyon (9) (6)

Ohana’s Dinner -Polynesian Resort (4) (5)

Mama Melrose Ristorante -Hollywood Studios (7) (8)

Planet Hollywood (8) (7)

This is my rough order from most liked to least. I asked DW and DS for their order and thats what the two numbers at the end of each line are. For me it was a real toss up between 1 & 2. Food at both were fantastic, then the experience was also great. Garden Grill is a revolving restaurant going around the Living on the Land exhibit . the food was family style buffet. Our server was great really got into talking about our holidays where we had been what we were still to see. He asked a lot about Australia also. He gave us some tips about Hollywood. He really deserved his tip. All the characters came around, Farmer Mickey, Chip and Dale

1900 Park Lane, we really had no idea what to expect. We went for the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast. because we had the PhotoPass Plus we got the photo that was taken when you arrive included. The food was a massive buffet with anything you could want for breakfast. The themeing, 1900 Victorian England, was as your would expect for Disney took you to another world. Mary Poppins and the Mad Hatter would have had to bee our favourite characters. We hadn’t seen the mad hatter before so that was quite novel, a cheeky fellow he is too!

There was one dining experience which was over an above all these, but I didn’t list it as it wasn’t just the meal. it was the entire show. The one i’m talking about is the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. This was certainly our favourite night out, the show was so great, very entertaining with great audience interaction. Really recommend this one for everyone.

 

[lffam]

Something that was really hard for us to comprehend before we went to WDW was the size and traveling between parks and resorts. Our only previous experience was staying at Grand Californian at Disneyland and walking been CA, DL and DTD. We heard about the comparable sizes and the distance between them. The Disney Transport system, the walk from different part of the resorts to the bus stop. how often the buses came, how long took to travel between the parks, it was all a bit overwhelming. I kept a bit of a travel time record thinking it may help someone in the future who was in the same position I was. hopefully it gives some idea of how long it took us to get , mainly from wilderness Lodge, to other parks. You will note that there is no mention of Magic Kingdom. This is because we always caught the boat to MK. Such a great trip across the lake, picturesque and serene in my opinion.

Anyway, here are our timings.

Overall we had no issues with using the buses. They run very frequently. Some of our early ADR we did cab it across just because ti was easier. A great system which takes alot of the worry about getting around completely away.

 

[Aussiefamof5]

Your timing chart is great!! This is the stuff I worry about lol

Thank you so much for your detailed info on the dining it really makes a difference. We just returned from disneyland a few weeks ago and are planning a trip to the world in 2016. We too love everything about disneyland, and I am slightly worried as to how I'm going to tackle disneyworld but your detailed info really does help.

 

[lffam]

Your timing chart is great!! This is the stuff I worry about lol

Thank you so much for your detailed info on the dining it really makes a difference. We just returned from disneyland a few weeks ago and are planning a trip to the world in 2016. We too love everything about disneyland, and I am slightly worried as to how I'm going to tackle disneyworld but your detailed info really does help.

I'm glad you found it useful. We really struggled with getting our head around the whole transport thing. But in the end, like most things Disney they do it very well. Sure there were a few times when we might have waited 10 mins for a bus, but like people say, don't sweat the little things. It is convenient, clean, aircon and door to door basically - oh yeah and free!

We loved DL, but then also loved WDW, they are different that for sure, but both have given us great memories, and have us going back again next year to both!

 

[lffam]

Something I really new nothing about when we went to WDW was the Osborne Family Lights. Not sure why I had never heard of it or looked into it, but when we got there and saw the schedule we saw that it was opening during our stay. On our first visit to Hollywood studios we coudl see the lights displays installed and the Streets of America all ready for illumination. A few days later they were turned on and a few days after that we went to see it.

Well - while short and sweet, all I can really say is - WOW! I had never ever imagined that Christmas lights could be such a spectacle and on such a grand scale but then when you think about it, what else would be expected for for a Disney park.

The crowds were crazy, probably I'd not seen crowds like this since World of Colour at Disneyland in 2010. But it truly was a fantastic display. When I read more about the origins and how it became to be at a Hollywood Studios that just added to the overall impressiveness of it.

Anyway , its really something where a picture does tell 1000 words so here they are...

 

[PrincessInOz]

Don't forget to look for the Black Cat when you go see the Osbourne lights.

 

[lffam]

Don't forget to look for the Black Cat when you go see the Osbourne lights.

I must have missed that

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Ahh making me "homesick". I would love to see the Osbourne lights again!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Now having read the full TR to date, wanted to say thanks for all the great pics of Wilderness Lodge. That was our first experience of WDW when we stayed for a week to celebrate our DD's graduation (surprise gift for her) back in 2008. I was as awestruck as you were and you were so lucky to be the Flag family (and to have done your homework and known to ask!) The photos from up there are amazing. This most recent trip we saved some $ staying at POFQ which was really nice too but I still hope to go back to WL one day. I also loved your Halloween Parade pics. Happy planning for 15/16!

 

[lffam]

Now having read the full TR to date, wanted to say thanks for all the great pics of Wilderness Lodge. That was our first experience of WDW when we stayed for a week to celebrate our DD's graduation (surprise gift for her) back in 2008. I was as awestruck as you were and you were so lucky to be the Flag family (and to have done your homework and known to ask!) The photos from up there are amazing. This most recent trip we saved some $ staying at POFQ which was really nice too but I still hope to go back to WL one day. I also loved your Halloween Parade pics. Happy planning for 15/16!

WL will always have a soft spot in my heart . I actually got a tear in my eye when we were sitting being checked in looking around and seeing my son in such a state of wonderment and bliss. The same thing happened in 2010 when we went to Grand Cal.

Flag Family was certainly very special. We were very lucky ui are right, there was only one spot available when we checked in and thankfully it didn't clash with any of our breakfast ADRs.

hope to have the WDW resort part of the next trip squared in the next few days. We got a sneak peak of WDW at Christmas time last time, but this time I think it will be in full swing.

 

[ColinA]

There is a story about the black cat. Do a search and you will find the story.

 

[ColinA]

Read about the history and the cat.

http://www.visitorlando.com/blog/in...-Osborne-Lights-at-Disneys-Hollywood-Studios/

 

[lffam]

Read about the history and the cat.

http://www.visitorlando.com/blog/in...-Osborne-Lights-at-Disneys-Hollywood-Studios/

Thanks ColinA that was a great read. I had heard about some of that but not more than half so it was really enlightening - pun intended!

 

[lffam]

Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party

Now I acknowledge that I really should have got this post up BEFORE Christmas just gone, so sorry about that!

All the photos that Aussie Wendy has been posting on her trip report has made me reminisce even more and also realise how much of a slacker I have been with mine!

This was the second party we would experience after our Halloween party earlier in our trip. We were lucky that this trip we were able to experience both Halloween decorated parks and then the early Christmas decorations. The Christmas party we went to was the first party of the year. Main street was decorated so well and the first few steps really just took our breath away with the christmas feel. I soon forgot that it was early November! We strolled down main street and it was very busy, busier that we had seem Magic Kingdom this trip. We got the lay of the land took a stroll through and soon saw that many were lining up for the parade. We wandered back towards main street and got ourselves a position just after the main stretch. It would have been nice to be in Main street proper but we left our run a little to late. We did think about going to the later parade, but we thought we were here now and the position was quite good. I’d say we probably had 30-45min before the parade started. The spots filled up around us quite quickly. Cast members were walking back and forwards trying to get you to move forward and fill in any space, which was a little annoying when all we were trying to do was leaving some reasonable breathing space around us. One thing that was done a lot at the Christmas party compared to the Halloween party was the checking of wrist bands. The CMs were just walking up and down the parade route checking for bands. No quams from me on that. they did find a few people who had either not known they had to buy separate tickets or just tried to get in on the sly.

As I have mentioned before, I’m a bit of a Disney parade fan and the Christmas parade didn’t disappoint. Something about the parade just appeals to me for some reason. Looking at the photos again just makes me smile!

We learned from the Halloween party and decided to eat before we came to the park. There was hot cocoa - which was made on water which I'm not a big fan of and cookie stations set up at various positions throughout the park. We did get to ride a few rides multiple times as crowds were low for the rides. We went over to Astro Orbiter, which looks like a rather harmless ride but it totally freaked me out! I really felt like I was going to be flung out. DS thought it was hilarious.

I needed to collect myself after my near experience, we found a spot for the fireworks near the castle and we got to see the end of a show that was going on.

All in all I'm glad Ive done the parties but Im not sure I would do them again in a hurry.

now for some photos....

A favourite

who doesn't love the duck!

He gets around...

 

[lffam]

I uploaded some short videos to an Animal Kingdom Playlist on youtube :

Kilimanjaro Safari
some great footage of some Gorillas including a spectacular Silverback.

 

[lffam]

I just realised I posted my videos to Animal Kingdom but I didn't actually post my report!

Animal Kingdom

This post is about Animal kingdom. This park I think would be my favourite of them all by a slim margin. I just found it so different to anything else we had experienced in Disney parks. Stand out winner attraction/ride for me was the Kilimanjaro Safari. We did that three times over our days to AK, each time we saw something a little different. It terms of rides proper, well Kali River rapids was my favourite. Not quite brave enough to do Expedition Everest, maybe next time! Our first time to AK apart from our FP+ we didn't have too much planned we really just wanted to wander around and see everything. I'm really glad that’s how we did it. DS had told me a bit about the Wilderness Explorer Adventure and he wanted to do it of course. We decided not to do it this time, but we returned a few days later and he did it. He thoroughly enjoyed it. I think he may have been at the tope age range for it a lot of it did seem a targeted to a couple of years longer (he was 10).

We were able to take in the Mickeys Jammin' Jungle (Christmas) Parade, which like all the Disney parades I thought was great. But our position didn't really let me get any nice photos unfortunately.

But as you can see from the photos, its the Animals on Safari that really made this park my favourite.

I saw a tv show on Foxtel that showed what went into constructing The Tree of Life, quite interesting.

Wildlife Express Train.

The Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch is a short railroad that takes guests at Disney's Animal Kingdom from Harambe, Africa to Rafiki's Planet Watch. On the ride, guests get the chance to see a little of the Animal Kingdom backlot, including animal holding buildings for rhinos and elephants, among other animals. It takes about seven minutes to go from Harambe railway station, Africa to Rafiki's Planet Watch and an additional five to return. The full journey is a 1.2 miles (1.9 km) round-trip.

The railway is part of the fictional Eastern Star Railway, running from Lusaka to Nairobi and Kisangani. <wiki>

The Hippos didnt surface

Ankole Cattle

The Ankole-Watusi, also known as Ankole longhorn,[1] is a breed of cattle originally native to Africa. Its large, distinctive horns, that can reach up to 8 feet (2.4 m) from tip to tip, are used for defense and cooling by blood vesseled honeycombs.[2] Ankole-Watusis weigh from 900 to 1,600 pounds (410 to 730 kg). <wiki>

Baobab Tree

Mum and Infant (not baby)Gorilla - there is a video of them also in the post above.

Silverback

What you looking at!

Massive creature the White Rino

Wasnt able to capture a shot of the Meerkat standing up!

Majestic

Pumba's cousin - not a great shot

continued next post due to photo limit.....

 

[lffam]

Animal Kingdom continued.....


Full stretch

Cheetah laying around

The Safari was was just fantastic we did it a number of times. Each is different as different animals can come out and be doing different things.

We saw both the Lion King show andFinding Nemo. Both were good. I am a massive Lion king fan, but to be honest I preferred the Nemo show for some reason.

When we came out of Lion King we got to see a couple of characters that were childhood favourites of mine.

 

[ColinA]

Good photos. Thanks for posting.

 

[Boneill]

*sigh* It's only been a couple of months since I was last at WDW, and all your pics are making me anxious for my next trip already. (Can you be nostalgic after only two months? Is there a rule that nostalgia can only happen after years have passed? LOL!) Thanks for posting such excellent photos!

 

[lffam]

*sigh* It's only been a couple of months since I was last at WDW, and all your pics are making me anxious for my next trip already. (Can you be nostalgic after only two months? Is there a rule that nostalgia can only happen after years have passed? LOL!) Thanks for posting such excellent photos!

Thanks Boneill. It's certainly been nostalgic for me writing and posting about the trip bring back all great memories and getting me even more excited for our next one later this year.