tofubeast
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 10, 2006
Cont'd!
After lunch, we took this lovely little picture on our way toward the entrance of DCA.
We hit up Soarin's single rider line as well. I love this ride, but am ready for a new video to soar too! The single rider line was awesome though as the wait was pretty much non-existent.
With the nature of our Ridemax plans, we had several free hours in the middle of our day. We decided to hop back over to Tomorrowland to get FP's we could use in the evening for Space Mountain. On our way out, we ran into this famous Mouse!
After securing our FP for Space, I thought it might be neat to go to Innovations and see the new Dream House. The line seemed to be short, but looks can be deceiving because you have to wait for the building to go round and round. (I miss America Sings!) I had been really looking forward to seeing this House because it was like my generation's version of the Home of the Future. Granted it was not a house built of plastic, I was curious what it would be like. Sorry to say, we were disappointed. If you envision your home of the future to be only about gadgets and video picture frames, then you might love it. I was hoping to see more environmentally friendly options in my future home.
It just seemed like IKEA meets HP and Best Buy. Boring. 
In fact, walking through IKEA is way more exciting. We quickly went up to the top level to explore the rest of Innovations. DH got to enjoy his first trip on a Segway.
After enjoying some time in this dark a/c space, we were headed back to DCA. But before we started to head down Main Street, a little stand near the Tiki Room was just calling my name. It was saying..."dole whip...dole whip, Danielle!"
And with a few dollars down, and after a few years of reading about it on the Dis and completely forgetting to get one twice at WDW, a beautiful little Dole Whip float was in my hands!
I think I was trying to make the Tiki god jealous with it. I know for a fact I made my DH jealous. Like any good wife, I refused to share my little piece of heaven with him because he had teased me about my obsession over finally trying a Dole Whip. I did relent and let him have one SMALL sip. He was sold after that and got his own! Yum!
As we headed out of DL, I found this ol' broad! She took one look at my sparkly ears and said, "Good girl, darling, scalping Mickey are we?!"
Once in DCA, we decided to use our other set of FP to Tower, so we free fell again for a bit. On our way over to the other side of the park, we got blocked by the Pixar parade. Although my DH is not a big parade person, especially since there were no kids in tow, I got a few sad looks that seemed to say, "Do we really have to watch this?" But I think he was pleasantly surprised and got into it as did I.
It was fun getting hit in the face with the water guns the character have, as it sure was hot out! The acrobat moves were super cool too. If you love Pixar (and who doesn't?!), then this parade will probably make your happy!
After the Parade, we enjoyed a fun ride on Grizzly….which is so much better than Kali Rapids at AK. The only thing that I did not like about the raft, in comparison to Kali, is the little storage space in the middle does not have a cover to protect your items. Fortunately, we had a poncho with us, and to the delight of the other guests on our raft, we wrapped up all our stuff to keep it safe from the H2O. It was great because we all got soaked, which was fine with me because it was quite hot out!
After Grizzly, we squished over to Mulhulland Madness. The ride is similar to Primeval Whirl at AK minus the spinning. Although a completely plain ride, it was still fun. We then buzzed like bees on the Orange Stinger. I did another free fall, but this time on Maliboomer. We both hit up Cali Screamin' again. At this point, it was now approaching 5:15. The line to Toy Story was a bit heavy still. Ridemax has predicted 35 mins for us, but in reality it was about 45 mins. This was the first true long line we had all day. My hubbie started to complain a bit, and I told him he had been spoiled by Ridemax. Although he had previously teased me about my Ridemax plans and all the time I had spent in front of my laptop perfecting my plans till I was blue in the face, I think he started to get how it really was benefiting us!
The queue to Toy Story is so much fun. I was so excited to finally get to experience this ride, and it was WELL worth it. This is one of the best new attractions I have been on in years. It makes Buzz look like a poor ol' carnival ride!
The 3D was amazing, and I loved all the special effects. We were smiling the whole time, and I especially grinned when I saw I nearly had double the final score of my hubby. Haha! I was sad the single rider line was not open because I would have loved to have gone again. Oh well, I will just have to experience it at DHS in the near future.
Toy Story was our last ride at DCA. It was now time to DINE! We had PS at Wine Country Trattoria and were seated right along the wall outside. This place is a nice surprise because the food is good, and the prices are reasonable for Disney standards. The only that suffered was the service. The wait staff was slow, but also did not time things well. We had been brought our salad, and then a minute later, out came our meals. Although slow, I decided not to get to upset by it all because now it was looking like we could just stay at our nice table and watch the Electric Parade from our excellent spot. We decided to get some yummy chocolate dessert and waited for the parade.
Because we had been so busy with our touring plans and hopping between parks, I did not have a real "emotional moment" while at the parks just yet. However, the happy tears hit as soon as I heard the Electric Parade theme song. Suddenly, I was a kid again sitting next to Daddy watching the parade go by on Main Street. It was just like I had remembered….though the sponsor had long since changed, and it no longer had Main Street in its title! Even my parade hating hubby loved it! It is so beautiful and kitschy all at once. Sigh.
Lousy shot..but I am throwing it in anyway!
Before exiting DCA, I wanted to see the Midway area from across the lake all lit up at night. Not knowing if my camera was working, I still tried to get a pic.
DCA is just a gorgeous park at night. If only it were open later. We walked out and as approaching DL, we saw the fireworks. Lots of people hang out in the esplanade area between the parks to catch the fireworks. I sure cannot blame them! We entered DL and promptly took the train out of Main Street. We got to use our extra set of FP to Indy and then headed over to Tomorrowland. Finally, it was time to ride the ride of rides… SPACE MOUNTAIN!
I had not experienced the refurb…rebuild….re-everything of this ride. This was my first time. Even still, I always thought the DL version was better than the one at MK. Soon, I would be able to say it was light years better. Using our FP, we promptly boarded our "rocket." I can say from the time we boarded to the time we disembarked, our faces were frozen in odd "oh my gawd" smiles. It was so smooth! It was so dark! It was… well, WOW. There are no words! Hubby and I were gloating as we exited the ride. This was beyond our imagination! I told the CM, tell them to immediately TEAR down the WDW version and re-build it NOW! (rumor is 2009...yeah!)
On a Space Mtn high, we floated over to FL. This area was pretty empty at this point. We decided to hit up some of the rides we had not planned to do, so we enjoyed a whirl on Dumbo and Casey Jr. More memories coming back of mom and I locked in the animal cage on Casey. Sigh.
At this point, it was time to head back. After all, we had another long day of DL ahead of us. I like this night time shot we got by the castle:
We headed down Main Street, all lit up at night. Once I saw this place,
I knew I had to go stop by and see an old friend. She even told me a nice fortune!
Before we got to exit the park, DH gave me a nice good night kiss!
The CCI shuttle almost appeared to be waiting for us as we boarded the bus. Soon we were home, in our pjs, and enjoying our separate beds once again! It sure was nice to stretch out the ol' legs and rest those tired feet. Too bad the Dream Team does not offer spa visits for foot massages.
Coming up Next…… More DL, a magical moment, and some extra time with Indy!
After lunch, we took this lovely little picture on our way toward the entrance of DCA.
We hit up Soarin's single rider line as well. I love this ride, but am ready for a new video to soar too! The single rider line was awesome though as the wait was pretty much non-existent.
With the nature of our Ridemax plans, we had several free hours in the middle of our day. We decided to hop back over to Tomorrowland to get FP's we could use in the evening for Space Mountain. On our way out, we ran into this famous Mouse!
After securing our FP for Space, I thought it might be neat to go to Innovations and see the new Dream House. The line seemed to be short, but looks can be deceiving because you have to wait for the building to go round and round. (I miss America Sings!) I had been really looking forward to seeing this House because it was like my generation's version of the Home of the Future. Granted it was not a house built of plastic, I was curious what it would be like. Sorry to say, we were disappointed. If you envision your home of the future to be only about gadgets and video picture frames, then you might love it. I was hoping to see more environmentally friendly options in my future home.
It just seemed like IKEA meets HP and Best Buy. Boring. In fact, walking through IKEA is way more exciting. We quickly went up to the top level to explore the rest of Innovations. DH got to enjoy his first trip on a Segway.
After enjoying some time in this dark a/c space, we were headed back to DCA. But before we started to head down Main Street, a little stand near the Tiki Room was just calling my name. It was saying..."dole whip...dole whip, Danielle!"
And with a few dollars down, and after a few years of reading about it on the Dis and completely forgetting to get one twice at WDW, a beautiful little Dole Whip float was in my hands!
I think I was trying to make the Tiki god jealous with it. I know for a fact I made my DH jealous. Like any good wife, I refused to share my little piece of heaven with him because he had teased me about my obsession over finally trying a Dole Whip. I did relent and let him have one SMALL sip. He was sold after that and got his own! Yum!
As we headed out of DL, I found this ol' broad! She took one look at my sparkly ears and said, "Good girl, darling, scalping Mickey are we?!"
Once in DCA, we decided to use our other set of FP to Tower, so we free fell again for a bit. On our way over to the other side of the park, we got blocked by the Pixar parade. Although my DH is not a big parade person, especially since there were no kids in tow, I got a few sad looks that seemed to say, "Do we really have to watch this?" But I think he was pleasantly surprised and got into it as did I.
It was fun getting hit in the face with the water guns the character have, as it sure was hot out! The acrobat moves were super cool too. If you love Pixar (and who doesn't?!), then this parade will probably make your happy!
After the Parade, we enjoyed a fun ride on Grizzly….which is so much better than Kali Rapids at AK. The only thing that I did not like about the raft, in comparison to Kali, is the little storage space in the middle does not have a cover to protect your items. Fortunately, we had a poncho with us, and to the delight of the other guests on our raft, we wrapped up all our stuff to keep it safe from the H2O. It was great because we all got soaked, which was fine with me because it was quite hot out!
After Grizzly, we squished over to Mulhulland Madness. The ride is similar to Primeval Whirl at AK minus the spinning. Although a completely plain ride, it was still fun. We then buzzed like bees on the Orange Stinger. I did another free fall, but this time on Maliboomer. We both hit up Cali Screamin' again. At this point, it was now approaching 5:15. The line to Toy Story was a bit heavy still. Ridemax has predicted 35 mins for us, but in reality it was about 45 mins. This was the first true long line we had all day. My hubbie started to complain a bit, and I told him he had been spoiled by Ridemax. Although he had previously teased me about my Ridemax plans and all the time I had spent in front of my laptop perfecting my plans till I was blue in the face, I think he started to get how it really was benefiting us!
The queue to Toy Story is so much fun. I was so excited to finally get to experience this ride, and it was WELL worth it. This is one of the best new attractions I have been on in years. It makes Buzz look like a poor ol' carnival ride!
The 3D was amazing, and I loved all the special effects. We were smiling the whole time, and I especially grinned when I saw I nearly had double the final score of my hubby. Haha! I was sad the single rider line was not open because I would have loved to have gone again. Oh well, I will just have to experience it at DHS in the near future.Toy Story was our last ride at DCA. It was now time to DINE! We had PS at Wine Country Trattoria and were seated right along the wall outside. This place is a nice surprise because the food is good, and the prices are reasonable for Disney standards. The only that suffered was the service. The wait staff was slow, but also did not time things well. We had been brought our salad, and then a minute later, out came our meals. Although slow, I decided not to get to upset by it all because now it was looking like we could just stay at our nice table and watch the Electric Parade from our excellent spot. We decided to get some yummy chocolate dessert and waited for the parade.
Because we had been so busy with our touring plans and hopping between parks, I did not have a real "emotional moment" while at the parks just yet. However, the happy tears hit as soon as I heard the Electric Parade theme song. Suddenly, I was a kid again sitting next to Daddy watching the parade go by on Main Street. It was just like I had remembered….though the sponsor had long since changed, and it no longer had Main Street in its title! Even my parade hating hubby loved it! It is so beautiful and kitschy all at once. Sigh.
Lousy shot..but I am throwing it in anyway!
Before exiting DCA, I wanted to see the Midway area from across the lake all lit up at night. Not knowing if my camera was working, I still tried to get a pic.
DCA is just a gorgeous park at night. If only it were open later. We walked out and as approaching DL, we saw the fireworks. Lots of people hang out in the esplanade area between the parks to catch the fireworks. I sure cannot blame them! We entered DL and promptly took the train out of Main Street. We got to use our extra set of FP to Indy and then headed over to Tomorrowland. Finally, it was time to ride the ride of rides… SPACE MOUNTAIN!
I had not experienced the refurb…rebuild….re-everything of this ride. This was my first time. Even still, I always thought the DL version was better than the one at MK. Soon, I would be able to say it was light years better. Using our FP, we promptly boarded our "rocket." I can say from the time we boarded to the time we disembarked, our faces were frozen in odd "oh my gawd" smiles. It was so smooth! It was so dark! It was… well, WOW. There are no words! Hubby and I were gloating as we exited the ride. This was beyond our imagination! I told the CM, tell them to immediately TEAR down the WDW version and re-build it NOW! (rumor is 2009...yeah!)
On a Space Mtn high, we floated over to FL. This area was pretty empty at this point. We decided to hit up some of the rides we had not planned to do, so we enjoyed a whirl on Dumbo and Casey Jr. More memories coming back of mom and I locked in the animal cage on Casey. Sigh.
At this point, it was time to head back. After all, we had another long day of DL ahead of us. I like this night time shot we got by the castle:
We headed down Main Street, all lit up at night. Once I saw this place,
I knew I had to go stop by and see an old friend. She even told me a nice fortune!
Before we got to exit the park, DH gave me a nice good night kiss!
The CCI shuttle almost appeared to be waiting for us as we boarded the bus. Soon we were home, in our pjs, and enjoying our separate beds once again! It sure was nice to stretch out the ol' legs and rest those tired feet. Too bad the Dream Team does not offer spa visits for foot massages.
Coming up Next…… More DL, a magical moment, and some extra time with Indy!
As a true Jedi should, he used his force and won!
It sure was nice already having two sets of FP for Space Mtn to enjoy later in the day, plus we already had one ride under our belts that morning. We headed up the Main Street train station. 
I decided to be brave, and I casually asked an older CM about the Lilly Belle. "Is it running today?" The man responded, "Why, yes it is. Do you know about that little historic train car?" Here was my chance! I started talking about how I had recently read a biography on Walt, and all about Walt and his love of trains etc... I then went for it, "Is there any chance we might be able to PLEASE ride her today?" The CM smiled and called another CM over. He asked us to sit down on the bench inside the station why he phoned another CM to see if he could sit with us in the train car. I was so excited, but I tried to not count my chickens before they were hatched. I kept muttering under my breath to my husband, "Honey, do you understand how special this is..if it happens?" 
lol
- big Chewie fan, myself) The closest we have been is:
(lol)
I love going back in time like that. It's so powerful. 
). 
