GoPro'ing around the World: a ten day split stay report - VIDEO ADDED - update 10/20
- Thread starter CaptainCook
- Start date
Viva Las Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2013
Great pictures, can't wait to read and see more.
I love that you went long enough to take it a bit slower, I went for a week and was touring non-stop the whole time. I can't wait to go back.
I love that you went long enough to take it a bit slower, I went for a week and was touring non-stop the whole time. I can't wait to go back.
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
Well now that I have figured out that there is a multi-quote button
(How cool is that?!)
Thanks! They are fun cameras aren't they? I find I'm taking more video and less photos now that I have one.
Thank you!
Nemo is wonderful! Everyone raves about FOTLK but I think Nemo is better.
We were spoiled to be able to take a longer trip and not need to rush. I know if we weren't there for as long, we would have gone at a faster pace.
Thanks! Almost done I had about 7 hours of footage and have weeded it down to 20 minutes or so. It still seems like a lot, but I guess that's only 2 minutes per day not bad right??
(How cool is that?!)Thanks! They are fun cameras aren't they? I find I'm taking more video and less photos now that I have one.
Thank you!
The Nemo show looks so awesome, I can't wait to see it. Good to know that FP+ was worth it there.
Just looking at Expedition Everest scares me, Liam is brave!
Looking forward to seeing you all venture to another park
Nemo is wonderful! Everyone raves about FOTLK but I think Nemo is better.
We were spoiled to be able to take a longer trip and not need to rush. I know if we weren't there for as long, we would have gone at a faster pace.
Thanks! Almost done I had about 7 hours of footage and have weeded it down to 20 minutes or so. It still seems like a lot, but I guess that's only 2 minutes per day not bad right??
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
When I left off, we were hopping on the bus back to AKL to take a much-needed midday break. Our mission today was to go try out the pool at Kidani Village rather than the main pool at Jambo House. But first, we got sidetracked. We had the lanyards we'd just purchased on our way out of the park and we had the pin sets we'd bought off eBay to start with. And as soon as we got back to the room, the kids wanted to very carefully sort their pins, decide which ones to trade versus which ones to keep, and gear up for their pin trading adventures.
I have heard that people have mixed opinions about buying pins off eBay. For us it was a wise move. We traded exclusively with cast members and I'd say 50% of their inventory was the exact same batch of pins that we had ourselves. We found one cast member who had one pin that we later saw in a store; everything else seemed like it was old stock (not that the kids knew or cared, or ourselves either, for that matter). I think our starter bag of pins was something like 40 pins for $20. We split them randomly between the kids and let them trade with each other and then with cast members as much as they wanted to. It was a fun and inexpensive way to get in on the action.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We finally got the pins sorted and convinced the kids to go for a swim. We set off for the Kidani pool, which was maybe a 10 minute walk away. It was well worth it. The Kidani pool is quite a bit smaller than the Jambo House pool, but it has a bigger water slide and a play area/splash pad to boot. A bus driver told me that a lot of the splash pad gear came from River Country when they closed it down. I thought that was kind of cool.
Is it just me, or does Orlando have the best puffy white clouds in the world??
After our swim, we cleaned up in our room and then caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We'd managed to stay away for a couple of days, but let's face it: a Disney vacation doesn't REALLY begin til you're in the MK! Taking that first walk down Main Street is always pretty cool.
However by this time those puffy white clouds were not looking so innocent anymore. They were getting kind of grey and threatening. I held off taking my castle 'money shot', waiting for better conditions.
We did not plan to be in the MK for long; our main purpose for the night was actually to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. As such we didn't have a plan of action and found ourselves kind of aimlessly wandering. We wound up on the teacups as our first ride Mallory loves the teacups and there was no wait. So that was a no brainer. Then we took a wander through the New Fantasyland, which we had never seen before. We were all pretty impressed with it.
But after that, Liam was really itching to ride something BIG. His choice was Big Thunder. On our last trip, he rode Big Thunder with Chad, hated it, and then rode it with me because he wanted me to experience it with him even though he hated it. Awww what a sweetie! I actually have a cute video of him from 2011 where I ask him mid-ride if he likes the ride and he gives a definite NO. Poor guy! I think trying it out on this night was his way of testing the waters for some of the thrill rides to come.
Anyway, Mallory was not going to ride Big Thunder, no way, no how. We happened to pass by Merida and saw that she was greeting her last group of guests for the night, and the wait was only something like 20 minutes. Merida was a princess we had not met before, so we hopped in line to say hello. After Merida we had time to run over to Mallory's very favourite ride, the one she went on *7* times on our last trip: It's a Small World. (I was secretly hoping not to see so much of it this time around!)
By the time we finished that, the boys were done on Big Thunder, and we were all hungry. We headed directly for Sleepy Hollow to make an early attempt to cross one of our Disney dining must-dos off our list. We had hoped to get the waffle chicken sandwich but they stop serving those at 5, and it was decidedly later than that. We went with the Nutella waffle instead and it did not disappoint!
By then it was dark. We went to use the new Tangled washrooms and when we came out it was pouring rain. We made a quick decision to run back to the new Ariel ride, since it was indoors. The posted wait time was something like 30 minutes and we just walked right on. The sign of good things to come!!
As luck would have it, by the time we got off that ride, the rain had stopped. We started wandering around looking for a place to watch the parade from, but the parade had been cancelled, which was really too bad because the rain was gone. The kids were getting tired but Liam wanted to do one more ride before we went back to our room. He chose Haunted Mansion (which he had done before but Mallory had not) and we talked Mallory into trying it.
She hated it, of course. Parenting fail.
I don't think it gave her any lasting nightmares, though. It was a good reminder of what to push her on and what not to push her on. Things not to push her on: fast rides, loud rides, scary rides, and fireworks. Seriously - Mallory does not like fireworks. Which kind of sucks when you are at Disney.
But we had a workaround. We were now hustling to get out of the park before Wishes started, because fireworks scare Mallory (the noise more than anything) and we didn't want to end the day like that. I had wanted to take some fireworks photos though, and had heard that the TTC was a great place to do it from. We hopped on the monorail over to the TTC, thinking that Chad and the kids could take a bus to AKL from there while I took photos, and then I would take a later bus home.
Um, wrong. No buses to the resorts from the TTC. Who'da thunk it?
And so, Chad had to take the kids on the monorail back to the MK, and get off the monorail pretty much right in time for Wishes to start. So they heard the entire show while waiting for a bus to AKL, though they couldn't see it. They waited quite a while for a bus and then got back to the room at something like 11 p.m. The fatigue from the early start on our first day had kicked in in full force and I take it that it was not a fun way to end the night.
On the bright side though, I found that the TTC was a great spot to watch the fireworks. You can see the whole show beautifully over the castle with the reflection from the fireworks on the water. They pipe in the music. And there were maybe half a dozen people there, tops. Much better than elbowing people for room on Main Street!
Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake when it was time to go back to the hotel myself. I took the monorail back to the MK - and by this time there were throngs of people leaving the park - and I mistakenly got in line to go to the AK rather than the AKL. There were others in line ahead of me who told me we'd all just missed a bus, so we waited nearly half an hour for the next one. It pulled up, and the driver let us on and started pulling away, and then asked why we'd want to go to the AK at 10:30 at night when it had closed more than two hours ago. WHAAAAT?? Thank goodness he said something. He stopped to let us all off and we all filed over to the proper line, which of course was a mile long. Finally that bus came and it was standing room only, but at least I got on. It was nearly midnight by the time I collapsed into bed.
I have heard that people have mixed opinions about buying pins off eBay. For us it was a wise move. We traded exclusively with cast members and I'd say 50% of their inventory was the exact same batch of pins that we had ourselves. We found one cast member who had one pin that we later saw in a store; everything else seemed like it was old stock (not that the kids knew or cared, or ourselves either, for that matter). I think our starter bag of pins was something like 40 pins for $20. We split them randomly between the kids and let them trade with each other and then with cast members as much as they wanted to. It was a fun and inexpensive way to get in on the action.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We finally got the pins sorted and convinced the kids to go for a swim. We set off for the Kidani pool, which was maybe a 10 minute walk away. It was well worth it. The Kidani pool is quite a bit smaller than the Jambo House pool, but it has a bigger water slide and a play area/splash pad to boot. A bus driver told me that a lot of the splash pad gear came from River Country when they closed it down. I thought that was kind of cool.
Is it just me, or does Orlando have the best puffy white clouds in the world??
After our swim, we cleaned up in our room and then caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We'd managed to stay away for a couple of days, but let's face it: a Disney vacation doesn't REALLY begin til you're in the MK! Taking that first walk down Main Street is always pretty cool.
However by this time those puffy white clouds were not looking so innocent anymore. They were getting kind of grey and threatening. I held off taking my castle 'money shot', waiting for better conditions.
We did not plan to be in the MK for long; our main purpose for the night was actually to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. As such we didn't have a plan of action and found ourselves kind of aimlessly wandering. We wound up on the teacups as our first ride Mallory loves the teacups and there was no wait. So that was a no brainer. Then we took a wander through the New Fantasyland, which we had never seen before. We were all pretty impressed with it.
But after that, Liam was really itching to ride something BIG. His choice was Big Thunder. On our last trip, he rode Big Thunder with Chad, hated it, and then rode it with me because he wanted me to experience it with him even though he hated it. Awww what a sweetie! I actually have a cute video of him from 2011 where I ask him mid-ride if he likes the ride and he gives a definite NO. Poor guy! I think trying it out on this night was his way of testing the waters for some of the thrill rides to come.
Anyway, Mallory was not going to ride Big Thunder, no way, no how. We happened to pass by Merida and saw that she was greeting her last group of guests for the night, and the wait was only something like 20 minutes. Merida was a princess we had not met before, so we hopped in line to say hello. After Merida we had time to run over to Mallory's very favourite ride, the one she went on *7* times on our last trip: It's a Small World. (I was secretly hoping not to see so much of it this time around!)
By the time we finished that, the boys were done on Big Thunder, and we were all hungry. We headed directly for Sleepy Hollow to make an early attempt to cross one of our Disney dining must-dos off our list. We had hoped to get the waffle chicken sandwich but they stop serving those at 5, and it was decidedly later than that. We went with the Nutella waffle instead and it did not disappoint!
By then it was dark. We went to use the new Tangled washrooms and when we came out it was pouring rain. We made a quick decision to run back to the new Ariel ride, since it was indoors. The posted wait time was something like 30 minutes and we just walked right on. The sign of good things to come!!
As luck would have it, by the time we got off that ride, the rain had stopped. We started wandering around looking for a place to watch the parade from, but the parade had been cancelled, which was really too bad because the rain was gone. The kids were getting tired but Liam wanted to do one more ride before we went back to our room. He chose Haunted Mansion (which he had done before but Mallory had not) and we talked Mallory into trying it.
She hated it, of course. Parenting fail.
I don't think it gave her any lasting nightmares, though. It was a good reminder of what to push her on and what not to push her on. Things not to push her on: fast rides, loud rides, scary rides, and fireworks. Seriously - Mallory does not like fireworks. Which kind of sucks when you are at Disney.But we had a workaround. We were now hustling to get out of the park before Wishes started, because fireworks scare Mallory (the noise more than anything) and we didn't want to end the day like that. I had wanted to take some fireworks photos though, and had heard that the TTC was a great place to do it from. We hopped on the monorail over to the TTC, thinking that Chad and the kids could take a bus to AKL from there while I took photos, and then I would take a later bus home.
Um, wrong. No buses to the resorts from the TTC. Who'da thunk it?
And so, Chad had to take the kids on the monorail back to the MK, and get off the monorail pretty much right in time for Wishes to start. So they heard the entire show while waiting for a bus to AKL, though they couldn't see it. They waited quite a while for a bus and then got back to the room at something like 11 p.m. The fatigue from the early start on our first day had kicked in in full force and I take it that it was not a fun way to end the night.
On the bright side though, I found that the TTC was a great spot to watch the fireworks. You can see the whole show beautifully over the castle with the reflection from the fireworks on the water. They pipe in the music. And there were maybe half a dozen people there, tops. Much better than elbowing people for room on Main Street!
Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake when it was time to go back to the hotel myself. I took the monorail back to the MK - and by this time there were throngs of people leaving the park - and I mistakenly got in line to go to the AK rather than the AKL. There were others in line ahead of me who told me we'd all just missed a bus, so we waited nearly half an hour for the next one. It pulled up, and the driver let us on and started pulling away, and then asked why we'd want to go to the AK at 10:30 at night when it had closed more than two hours ago. WHAAAAT?? Thank goodness he said something. He stopped to let us all off and we all filed over to the proper line, which of course was a mile long. Finally that bus came and it was standing room only, but at least I got on. It was nearly midnight by the time I collapsed into bed.
Viva Las Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2013
Is the view from TTC really that good or is that zoomed in? Those look great!
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
It was shot at 55mm on a crop sensor as a landscape shot (my tripod is too wonky to have shot it vertically) and then cropped from landscape to vertical... Does that help? It really is a great place to watch from. The scale of the fireworks over the castle is so impressive.
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
I'm going to give you proof that I am not such a good photographer after all
Here is one of those shots straight out of camera tilt and all! (If this is the best my tripod can do then I think I am in the market for a new one!!)
Here is one of those shots straight out of camera tilt and all! (If this is the best my tripod can do then I think I am in the market for a new one!!)
JoeyEmmaMomma
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
Following!
ThePin Princess
Grace
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Hi there! I'm just joining in! We were there during some of your trip (the 21st-25th) and holy moly it was so hot! I totally agree with the pools being too warm to be refreshing, one day I went for a run then jumped in the pool and it was so warm and not refreshing I almost felt worse! Great pictures! Can't wait to read more!
shaunthemaun
I'm always planning my next trip!
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2014
It sounds like that is a great trip. We went in May and had a ton of fun. We took lots of video also, but we just used a little point and shoot. If anyone is interested my videos are at youtube.com/bolenbrothers they are in the disney world playlist. I can't wait to see your video!
Sheaboys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2005
I've never written a Disney trip report before, but I have certainly read my fair share of them. We are back from a recent trip (8/19-8/29) so I think it's only fair that I dive in and give back to the board!
This was a family trip consisting of me (Carrie), my DH Chad, and our two kids, Liam (9) and Mallory (7). This was our third family trip to Disney. We went when the kids were 2 and 4, and again when they were 4 and 6. This time we managed to stay away for 3 whole years before coming back at the ages of 7 and 9. We say this is it for a while, but well we'll see.
Here we are, on my favourite night of the trip:
On our first family trip, in 2009, we stayed at All Stars Movies. Last time we went (2011) we decided to live it up, stay at deluxe resorts for the first time, and do a split stay between WL/BC/Poly. That was so much fun that we decided to do another split stay on this trip, but at three different resorts. We did 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge, 4 nights at the Boardwalk, and then 3 nights at the Contemporary. We love doing the split stays for a few different reasons. Number one, we get to check out all the fun resorts! Number two, it really cuts down on travel time. We bussed from AKL over to Animal Kingdom on this trip, but at Boardwalk we walked to Epcot and HS and at the Contemporary, well, you can't beat being just steps from the MK!
We had ten day park hopper tickets, and this time around we tried out the water parks, too.
I am a bit of a photo nut and have a loooot of pictures from this trip. Most of them I took, and we also purchased Memory Maker for the first time. Additionally, we always put together a trip video any time we go on vacation, and this time is no exception. I brought a GoPro camera to the parks and am working away at editing a video. The kids keep harassing me to finish it. Patience, young grasshoppers!! We have only been home for two weeks!
Anyway, enough pre-trip report chatter. It's time to get my photos in order and get things started.
Awesome start. See my trip report, we were there the same time, very close to it!
Can't wait to read more!
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
Day 4. We slept in a little after our late night the night before, then packed up and dropped our bags off with bell services as it was time to leave AKL.
We ate at the food court and then caught a bus to our destination for the first part of the day: Blizzard Beach.
Our first order of business, after we found a place to drop our stuff (sidebar: we dropped all of our stuff, including my good camera, which we tucked under the lounge chair and tried to 'hide' to some extent, but were counting on the good will of our fellow Disney guests not to snatch while we were not looking; and thankfully this turned out well for us), was to ride some of the rides that develop long lines as the day progresses. None of us were interested in trying Summit Plummet, so that was not a big deal, but we immediately went up to Teamboat Springs and rode that several times in a row since it's a family ride that we could all do together. We got there before the park opened and it was relatively empty at this time.
I found out that while you're allowed to have a GoPro on the rides at the Disney water parks, you are not allowed to have them on any sort of pole or mount. I was using the Bobber at this point, a short floaty stick meant for use around water. Off it came and I used it hand-held for the day.
I hadn't realized that the Memory Maker/Photopass photographers are stationed around the water parks. This family shot was taken at the exit point of Teamboat Springs.
The food at the water parks truly is mediocre, especially compared to the good stuff that can be found at the main Disney parks. But I was super glad that we tried the mini doughnuts - they were fantastic. Highly recommended!
Blizzard Beach has a great play area for older kids - the Ski Patrol Training Camp. Liam has been watching American Ninja Warrior and Wipeout lately, and he took the Thin Ice Training Course very seriously. It was his personal mission to cross the whole thing without falling off the icebergs (if you do, your run is cut short). The lines built here pretty quickly but he had the patience of a saint to wait in line and attempt it over and over and over. And I'm pleased to say that he did eventually master it!
Mallory loved it, too. This was by far where we spent most of our time. We did a few more rides and the kids also rode the zip lines and smaller water slides in this area, but the icebergs were the big draw. We also tried out the wave pool nice gentle waves that were a great introduction to wave pools, but - spoiler alert - would be seriously trumped by Typhoon Lagoon's waves in a few days' time.
We lasted at the water park til sometime between 2 and 3 p.m. Having had enough sun and water by that time, we hopped on a bus and rode over to our new hotel to check in.
To be continued...
ProudMommyof2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2007
We love the waterparks! Truly feels like we can relax a bit while at Disney. I enjoyed the lazy river at both parks.
cmstpierre
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2012
Your photos are fantastic!!
Can you tell me a little more about using your GoPro on rides? We are GoPro newbies and we want to use ours to get POV video and video of our kids' reactions on Big Thunder, etc.
What is the mount you were using on Everest? Is it strapped to your arm also or are you just holding it?
Thanks in advance for any insights!!!
Can you tell me a little more about using your GoPro on rides? We are GoPro newbies and we want to use ours to get POV video and video of our kids' reactions on Big Thunder, etc.
What is the mount you were using on Everest? Is it strapped to your arm also or are you just holding it?
Thanks in advance for any insights!!!
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
The mount I used virtually the entire trip was this one:
Platinum camera pole
It telescoped from 9" to 28", which was really handy. The pole was kind of flimsy, so I'm sure it won't last long, but it was great for this trip because I could extend it out when I needed to and then fold it down pretty small for generally walking around. I would get onto a ride with it folded down and then extend it out far enough that it would rest on the part of the ride car that was in front of me. That provided a bit of stabilization to keep things somewhat smooth. (I say 'somewhat' because on some rides e.g. Big Thunder there is no way your footage is going to be smooth!) Because the field of view of the camera is quite wide I was pretty much assured that I would capture everything I wanted to in the frame. Note that I shot everything in the Gopro's 'wide' mode (the default) but I did not use the Superview (ultra wide) setting.
The pole came with a wrist strap and I always made sure to tighten that around my wrist so that in the event I lost my grip on it, it did not go flying off somewhere!
Here are a couple more shots of it and how I used it if it helps
I hope to have our movie completed this weekend I am literally *thisclose*. I will post a link to it here when it's done. Then you can see what sort of views I was able to capture.
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
I maaaaaaay have snuck away from the family at one point to do a bit of floating in the lazy river myself.
Sisa
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2013
Awe, Mallory and Merida, very cute!
Love the firework pictures and may have to consider viewing them from there as well.
I love how determined Liam is, very neat he conquered the floating ice burgs.
Great family shot too!
Really looking forward to seeing your video!
Love the firework pictures and may have to consider viewing them from there as well.
I love how determined Liam is, very neat he conquered the floating ice burgs.
Great family shot too!
Really looking forward to seeing your video!
CaptainCook
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2009
We took the bus from Blizzard Beach to our new digs:
The Boardwalk!
And this is where we got the best surprise of the whole trip. Chad took care of check in and as we were waiting for bell services to confirm that our luggage had arrived, he kind of murmured under his breath to me that at check in, the CM had said to him that they had us in a one-bedroom villa, don't get too excited yet but he thinks we just got upgraded again. We had booked a studio villa with no view and no special features. So imagine our delight when we went up to our room full kitchen, sitting area, two balconies with a beautiful view of the Swan and Dolphin and Tower of Terror, and best of all in-room laundry! We pack light and do laundry halfway through our trip, and I was thrilled that we would be able to do that in our room rather than going down to the communal laundry room. In fact I think we did about four loads total, just because we could. Best upgrade ever!
We didn't linger long though. We had some FP+s to get to, so we cleaned up and headed over to Epcot. First up was Imagination, Mallory's top pick in the park but a huge waste of a FP+. It took us longer to get through the queue, on account of having to scan our bands multiple times, than it did for the people in the standby line to pass us.
Then we headed over to Soarin, which up until this trip (spoiler alert) had been my favourite Disney attraction. Mallory had been on Soarin before but was convinced that she didn't like it.
Yep, she's not buying it. I enjoyed it though.
And then we had an ADR at the Garden Grill. Before we left on our trip there was a major thread going on the Disboards about whether or not the restaurant was rotating. Well, it rotated for us, which I suppose is nice, but we were seated in the upper tier and really couldn't see the scenery anyway. We actually took this trip with some friends from home, and this was one of the nights when we hooked up with them for the evening. Not sure if large parties always get seated in the upper tier, but we were. Now having said that I really couldn't care less if the restaurant rotates or not, because I am there for the food. I love the meal they serve there. But the characters are fun, too.
After we ate, we went to catch Off Kilter's show. Because we can't see this kind of thing at home I guess?
We all did the Mexico boat ride together. By now, it was dark, and getting close to Illuminations showtime. Mallory was tired and wanted to get out of the park before the fireworks started going off, so Chad started to head back to the room with her. Liam and I stuck around with our friends to do Maelstrom and then took our time wandering home slowly, watching Illuminations as we went. As much as I like fireworks, I've never liked Illuminations all that much, so it wasn't a priority for us.
By this time, Liam was pretty wiped, too, but when we got back to the Boardwalk, we found it hard to resist the lure of... the Boardwalk. The entertainers were out in full force, so we stopped to watch a show. In the distance, we could hear the Frozen fireworks starting up at Hollywood Studios as soon as Illuminations ended. (Stay tuned for more on those!)
And with that, we headed up to the room to do a load of laundry
and go to bed. We had an extra long day planned for the following day, so we needed all the sleep we could get.
The Boardwalk!
And this is where we got the best surprise of the whole trip. Chad took care of check in and as we were waiting for bell services to confirm that our luggage had arrived, he kind of murmured under his breath to me that at check in, the CM had said to him that they had us in a one-bedroom villa, don't get too excited yet but he thinks we just got upgraded again. We had booked a studio villa with no view and no special features. So imagine our delight when we went up to our room full kitchen, sitting area, two balconies with a beautiful view of the Swan and Dolphin and Tower of Terror, and best of all in-room laundry! We pack light and do laundry halfway through our trip, and I was thrilled that we would be able to do that in our room rather than going down to the communal laundry room. In fact I think we did about four loads total, just because we could.
Best upgrade ever!We didn't linger long though. We had some FP+s to get to, so we cleaned up and headed over to Epcot. First up was Imagination, Mallory's top pick in the park but a huge waste of a FP+. It took us longer to get through the queue, on account of having to scan our bands multiple times, than it did for the people in the standby line to pass us.
Then we headed over to Soarin, which up until this trip (spoiler alert) had been my favourite Disney attraction. Mallory had been on Soarin before but was convinced that she didn't like it.
Yep, she's not buying it. I enjoyed it though.
And then we had an ADR at the Garden Grill. Before we left on our trip there was a major thread going on the Disboards about whether or not the restaurant was rotating. Well, it rotated for us, which I suppose is nice, but we were seated in the upper tier and really couldn't see the scenery anyway. We actually took this trip with some friends from home, and this was one of the nights when we hooked up with them for the evening. Not sure if large parties always get seated in the upper tier, but we were. Now having said that I really couldn't care less if the restaurant rotates or not, because I am there for the food. I love the meal they serve there. But the characters are fun, too.
After we ate, we went to catch Off Kilter's show. Because we can't see this kind of thing at home I guess?
We all did the Mexico boat ride together. By now, it was dark, and getting close to Illuminations showtime. Mallory was tired and wanted to get out of the park before the fireworks started going off, so Chad started to head back to the room with her. Liam and I stuck around with our friends to do Maelstrom and then took our time wandering home slowly, watching Illuminations as we went. As much as I like fireworks, I've never liked Illuminations all that much, so it wasn't a priority for us.
By this time, Liam was pretty wiped, too, but when we got back to the Boardwalk, we found it hard to resist the lure of... the Boardwalk. The entertainers were out in full force, so we stopped to watch a show. In the distance, we could hear the Frozen fireworks starting up at Hollywood Studios as soon as Illuminations ended. (Stay tuned for more on those!)
And with that, we headed up to the room to do a load of laundry
and go to bed. We had an extra long day planned for the following day, so we needed all the sleep we could get.Share this page
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Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
