CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 20, 2016 Report Share Posted June 20, 2016 Darn doughnut-stealing squirrel! Thanks for another great trip report. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 20, 2016 Report Share Posted June 20, 2016 Great Trip Report TCD, sorry I'm just now chiming in. You are making me miss the Fort bad but then I get to the very end and see that your going on a CRUISE! Now I'm really jealous. We've been ready for another one since we got off the ship. Can't wait to read about the cruise! Have a good trip! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CoachClough 12 Posted June 20, 2016 Report Share Posted June 20, 2016 Fantastic trip report, start to finish. 3 things... 1. $20 for 3 breakfast sandwiches, and thats why we stay in the fort and eat almost all of our meals in the camper. 2. Everything is better with bacon 3. That squirrel pic is awesome. Well done sir. And yes, a cruise sounds dreamy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lightbikes 73 Posted June 20, 2016 Report Share Posted June 20, 2016 Great birthday weekend you and all your girls had - that will be one nobody forgets. And don't those blasted squirrels just seize anything that isn't nailed down!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 Great ending! I hope you are heading to Epcot tomorrow. I'm interested to hear about the ride. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 Wow ending with the cliff hanger of a Fisney cruise and possible Frozen ride. Doesn't get much better than that!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 I flnally got a chance to catch up. As usual I enjoyed your report and thank you for taking the time to share it with us. I am glad the girls made you put away your camera for their birthday celebration. That meant you got to be be there with them enjoying the moments rather than seeing it through a lense. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk wendinator 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 Another fantastic report. Thanks for taking the time to snap the pics and share them with us. I do hope you got to go on the new ride, I'm anxious to hear reviews on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CeciliaKy 1 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 On 6/3/2016 at 0:42 PM, Tri-Circle-D said: Yup, all of the things you see there in that display, including the hammock, are promotional gifts that are awarded with different levels of purchase. You need to spend $3000 to get the hammock. That's not a typo. I thought that was outrageous and impossible, but then I saw some of the prices. So, I think you get a free hammock if you buy like 3 dresses. J/K, it's not quite that bad. But, still, it looks like I'll be sticking with the old TCD hammock for a while longer. TCD so .. my 14-year old has the Lilly store first on her list of places to go when we visit Disney Springs .... I'm curious if they carry any sort of Disney-exclusive merch? Or am I shelling out the bucks for her school agenda, simply so we can say we bought something there? LOLOLOLOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dalspot ... Karen 21 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 <sigh> and then they were home. Thanks for the report! Always nice to get a TCD Fort fix :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Momof6....aka Marty 769 Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 I told myself that if I folded the laundry, I could catch up on the TCD TR. Then I remembered this one was done. My family is hoping for bonus content so they don't have to wear wrinkled clothes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 On 6/20/2016 at 1:08 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said: Darn doughnut-stealing squirrel! Thanks for another great trip report. Darn that squirrel is right! I make it a point to not feed the danged things, and to not have food around anywhere where they might get to it. I figured my donut would be save on the picnic table, with me just a few feet away. Nope. On 6/20/2016 at 2:09 PM, WannaBeImagineer said: Great Trip Report TCD, sorry I'm just now chiming in. You are making me miss the Fort bad but then I get to the very end and see that your going on a CRUISE! Now I'm really jealous. We've been ready for another one since we got off the ship. Can't wait to read about the cruise! Have a good trip! WBI Hey Nick! Great to see a post from you. I hope that your gang will be heading to the Fort (or at least the panhandle) sometime soon. It's hard for me to believe, but it's been almost three years since our last DCL cruise. We are all pretty excited. On 6/20/2016 at 4:07 PM, CoachClough said: Fantastic trip report, start to finish. 3 things... 1. $20 for 3 breakfast sandwiches, and thats why we stay in the fort and eat almost all of our meals in the camper. 2. Everything is better with bacon 3. That squirrel pic is awesome. Well done sir. And yes, a cruise sounds dreamy. You are right about the cost of that breakfast. The thing is that Disney has me brainwashed about their high prices, and I felt like it was a good deal for me to feed the three of us breakfast for under $20. On 6/20/2016 at 5:26 PM, lightbikes said: Great birthday weekend you and all your girls had - that will be one nobody forgets. And don't those blasted squirrels just seize anything that isn't nailed down!!!!!! I made the mistake of underestimating the boldness of the squirrels. It's because of all the dummies who feed them. On 6/21/2016 at 8:22 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said: Great ending! I hope you are heading to Epcot tomorrow. I'm interested to hear about the ride. Well, I did make it to Epcot. And there will be some bonus photos. But, I don't have time to post them today. I'll post some tomorrow if I can. Spoiler alert: We did get to ride the new Frozen ride. Twice. And, we loved it. On 6/21/2016 at 5:53 AM, Beckers said: Wow ending with the cliff hanger of a Fisney cruise and possible Frozen ride. Doesn't get much better than that!! The Frozen ride happened. Twice. The cruise is coming up soon! 23 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said: I flnally got a chance to catch up. As usual I enjoyed your report and thank you for taking the time to share it with us. I am glad the girls made you put away your camera for their birthday celebration. That meant you got to be be there with them enjoying the moments rather than seeing it through a lense. Glad that you're all caught up now. Good point about the camera, and one that is lost on a lot of people these days. It seems like everyone needs their own photos and videos of everything at WDW. So many people have their heads down looking at their phones that they miss what's happening around them. 22 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said: Another fantastic report. Thanks for taking the time to snap the pics and share them with us. I do hope you got to go on the new ride, I'm anxious to hear reviews on it. I did get to ride the new ride. It's great. They did a really good job. 22 hours ago, CeciliaKy said: so .. my 14-year old has the Lilly store first on her list of places to go when we visit Disney Springs .... I'm curious if they carry any sort of Disney-exclusive merch? Or am I shelling out the bucks for her school agenda, simply so we can say we bought something there? LOLOLOLOL I will find out if they have anything exclusive there. I don't think so, but I'll ask. 20 hours ago, Dalspot ... Karen said: <sigh> and then they were home. Thanks for the report! Always nice to get a TCD Fort fix :) Glad you liked it. I know what you mean about needing a Fort fix. I'm glad that I got a good one this trip. 20 hours ago, Momof6....aka Marty said: I told myself that if I folded the laundry, I could catch up on the TCD TR. Then I remembered this one was done. My family is hoping for bonus content so they don't have to wear wrinkled clothes. It's going to be at least tomorrow before there's going to be bonus content. So it looks like there will be a day of wrinkled clothes. Sorry. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said: Hey Nick! Great to see a post from you. I hope that your gang will be heading to the Fort (or at least the panhandle) sometime soon. It's hard for me to believe, but it's been almost three years since our last DCL cruise. We are all pretty excited. TCD We don't have any Fort trips planned right now so it may be a while, but we will be going to the panhandle in eight days! We're going to be staying at Grayton Beach for 10 days over the Fourth of July and I'm pumped! I'll be sure and post some Seaside pictures for your! Wow three years is a long time, I remember re-reading your trip reports to get ready for our DCL cruise, but I guess that was over a year ago. Enjoy the cruise! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 2 minutes ago, WannaBeImagineer said: We don't have any Fort trips planned right now so it may be a while, but we will be going to the panhandle in eight days! We're going to be staying at Grayton Beach for 10 days over the Fourth of July and I'm pumped! I'll be sure and post some Seaside pictures for your! Wow three years is a long time, I remember re-reading your trip reports to get ready for our DCL cruise, but I guess that was over a year ago. Enjoy the cruise! WBI Yeah- it's been three years. The twins were just 18 on the last cruise- now they're 21. Just in time for me to use them to take advantage of the new carry-on alcohol rules. I love the 4th of July in SoWal. We used to stay in Seaside every 4th of July, but our schedules have been too crazy the past few years to make that happen anymore. If you've never been, the 4th of July parade is worth seeing. We used to get there early and stake out front row spots in front of the Seaside Post Office. The parade judges usually are seated across from there, and the groups that perform will give their best performances there. Modica's opens early, so one of your group can go and fetch breakfast while you're waiting for the parade- or bring a picnic. After the parade, they have activities in the amphitheater- all kinds of kids stuff- and a concert too. I highly recommend all of that! TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 5 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said: Yeah- it's been three years. The twins were just 18 on the last cruise- now they're 21. Just in time for me to use them to take advantage of the new carry-on alcohol rules. I love the 4th of July in SoWal. We used to stay in Seaside every 4th of July, but our schedules have been too crazy the past few years to make that happen anymore. If you've never been, the 4th of July parade is worth seeing. We used to get there early and stake out front row spots in front of the Seaside Post Office. The parade judges usually are seated across from there, and the groups that perform will give their best performances there. Modica's opens early, so one of your group can go and fetch breakfast while you're waiting for the parade- or bring a picnic. After the parade, they have activities in the amphitheater- all kinds of kids stuff- and a concert too. I highly recommend all of that! TCD That's right I forgot about the new carry on rules, good luck! Thanks for the tips on Seaside, we are planning to go the parade so I'll be sure and get there early and setup camp. A chicken biscuit from Modica's sounds like a great idea too! We are super excited to do all of our favorite things there and some new ones, like the Grayton Brewery tap room, paddle boards, Fourth of July activities, we can't wait! Thanks again! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 19 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said: That's right I forgot about the new carry on rules, good luck! Thanks for the tips on Seaside, we are planning to go the parade so I'll be sure and get there early and setup camp. A chicken biscuit from Modica's sounds like a great idea too! We are super excited to do all of our favorite things there and some new ones, like the Grayton Brewery tap room, paddle boards, Fourth of July activities, we can't wait! Thanks again! WBI I know that you will have a great time- enjoy. Just remember that everything is going to be super, super crowded. So plan accordingly. A few years when we were there on the 4th, they tried closing Seaside's streets to the public and charging for parking. People went ape over that, and they may not be doing that anymore. But check that out before the 4th. You might want to park in that public parking lot just to the west of Seaside and walking over. It's just past Natchez street, so it's not a far walk to the Post Office from there. The parade ends right after it passes the Amphitheater in Seaside, so you'll need to get at least to the Airstream trailers. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 Time for some bonus content. Twin #1 popped over to WDW this previous weekend and met up with Twin #2 and other friends, and they checked out the new MK stage show, the new Soarin' film, and the new Star Wars Fireworks at DHS. I was invited, but I bowed out because I knew that I was going to try to make it over for a day trip on June 21 to try and ride the new Frozen ride in Norway at Epcot. When Tuesday, June 21 rolled around, it was a go. Since this was a day trip, and the main purpose was to attempt to ride Frozen Ever After, we left in late morning, and met up with Twin #2 for lunch at a resort. Twin #2 had to work, so she headed there, and Twin #1 and I decided that we had time to catch the MK parade and the new stage show there. I had to look up the name of the new stage show at the MK, because the twins kept on calling it "Merf." The actual name is Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, or MRFF, or you can just call it Merf, like the cool kids. It was almost 3 pm when we arrived at the MK. We were too late to claim a spot on the shady side of Main Street, so that meant we would have to roast in the hot sun like common animals. Since we had to be out in the sun anyway, we headed up Main Street to the Hub. It's fun to watch the parades there, because you can see the floats coming around in front of the castle before they get to you, and it's nice to get photos with the castle in the background- like this: Also, since we had to be in the sun, we got to be on the Flynn side of the Tangled float. That's a plus: I like how these photos turned out with the castle in the background: Look across the Hub in this photo and you can see I caught the dragon breathing fire: Another fire breathing dragon shot: Also, please note the lady waving her arms on the very far left of the photo above. I will have more on her in just a bit. It would have been really cool if the dragon let out a blast of fire right here-and it looked like the Dragon Pilot was about to do just that: Sadly, there was a fire blast right there. But, I was late pulling the trigger. And I missed it. Fail. Oh, remember that arm-waving lady I told you to remember? She was mauling one of the dwarfs. The poor dwarf stopped to say hello, and lady grabbed him and wouldn't let go. I also missed that photo op, and only got one of her being reprimanded by a CM: The end: The parade ended at 3:28, and the next Merf show was at 4:15. Twin #1 wanted to head to the castle and get a front row place to watch. I told her that if I had to stand in the sun for 45 minutes, I wouldn't make it. So we went and rode the Peoplemover instead. Good move. We got to the castle just a bit before 4:15, and it wasn't too crowded. Of course, arriving just before the show meant we had to be behind the iPad photographers. At least this one wasn't right in front of us: There weren't too many KOS's (Kids on Shoulders), but this feller over here got that poor lady in the wheelchair good- I'll bet he was proud of himself: The new show is much better than the one it replaced- check this out-Goofy dancing with Tiana and Naveen: Louis the alligator is supposed to appear in this show, but he has been temporarily mothballed. At least I think it's temporary. After the Princess and the Frog number, we get a song from Tangled, which was also good: And then the show goes off the rails when that stupid snowman shows up: It's not enough that this crew has taken over a whole land in Epcot, we have to hear that song again and see this multiple times a day in the MK: After some bad lip-synching and too much snowman dialog, the big finish arrived- TMO (Too Much Olaf) : The show finishes with some nice daytime pyrotechnics: So, that's Merf. I hope you like it. Because you'll be seeing it for years. It was now time for us to hop over to Epcot for the main event. I'll pick it up from there in the next update. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Travisma 1,317 Posted June 23, 2016 Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 Olaf just wants to give you warm hugs.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mommy rainbo.....Bo 41 Posted June 23, 2016 Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 can't wait to see your review of the Frozen ride. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 1 hour ago, mommy rainbo.....Bo said: can't wait to see your review of the Frozen ride. I shared my thoughts on this thread. The thread has some videos showing complete rides through the attraction: I have some more thoughts to share (and photos) in the next update. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 23, 2016 Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said: I know that you will have a great time- enjoy. Just remember that everything is going to be super, super crowded. So plan accordingly. A few years when we were there on the 4th, they tried closing Seaside's streets to the public and charging for parking. People went ape over that, and they may not be doing that anymore. But check that out before the 4th. You might want to park in that public parking lot just to the west of Seaside and walking over. It's just past Natchez street, so it's not a far walk to the Post Office from there. The parade ends right after it passes the Amphitheater in Seaside, so you'll need to get at least to the Airstream trailers. TCD Thanks for the tip. Yeah this will be the most crowded time of the year we've ever been there so we'll have to adjust to it but we'll be alright. I'm sure people did go crazy about that. I've been seeing lots of controversy online lately about beach access and beach chair vendors, locals are not happy about it. Our plan is to bike into town so we'll be good no matter what. You said to get there early, how early are we talking? Parade starts at 8am, Modica opens at 7am. Thanks for the help. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 Now, let's get to that Frozen ride. As I recall, they shut down the Maelstrom ride in October, 2014, and told us we would have a new Frozen ride to enjoy in 2016. I figured 2016 meant that we might be enjoying the new ride by the 2015 holiday season. I mean, the building and ride track was already built- they just needed to throw in some animatronics and lighting, and we would be good to go. As we now know, the 2015 holiday season came and went. And so did spring 2016. Nothing. Not only that, they went ahead and shut down Soarin' for a long refurbishment. I thought for sure they wouldn't do that until the Frozen ride was up and running. But I was wrong. Finally, just about a month ago, they announced that the new ride would open on June 21. Which I thought was odd. That's a Tuesday. I figured they were giving themselves the extra time they needed to do some soft openings and iron out any wrinkles before the official opening date. They made FP+'s available, and one of the twins' friends who is a FP+ expert made reservations for all of us. By the time he booked, we had to go for a return time of 5:50 pm to 6:50 pm, but at least we had FP+'s. We knew it would be a crazy day. It's been a long time since we've had a new attraction at WDW. In the past, whenever there was a new attraction, there would be soft openings. And maybe even Passholder previews. I expected something like that to happen with this Frozen ride, and that I would have ridden it long before the official opening date. But, I was wrong. There was nothing. Which made me wonder if they were going to open on time. I don't think they were ready. But, they had to do it. There's no way they could afford to announce another fail to guests that have been suffering through all of the closed attractions at Epcot and DHS, and the long construction period at DAK. Then needed this attraction to open on time. And they went ahead and opened, as announced on June 21. Of course, we now all know what happened that morning. A mess. The ride kept breaking down. And they had to keep evacuating guests. There were photos showing wait times of 300 minutes. I'll save you from doing the math- that's 5 hours. Eventually, we heard that they just shut down the standby line and told everyone that only guests with FP+ reservations would be allowed to ride. Stinks to be them. Even though we had our FP+'s, we still didn't know if we'd be able to ride. If they had to shut the ride down completely, those FP+'s wouldn't do us any good. But, we think positive in the TCD gang, and we headed over to Epcot anyway. We met up with some of Twin #1's friends, and headed to Norway. The MDE app said that the ride was down. And, it was right. We arrived right at 5:50 and found a wall of CM's lined up right along the World Showcase pathway. They were all saying the standard thing that CM's say when rides are down- that the ride is down and they couldn't say when or if it would resume operations. The pattern from earlier in the day seemed to be that the ride would shut down for about an hour and then re-open. If that was going to happen again, then that meant we shouldn't wander too far off. One of the young folks in the group mentioned that there was a new exhibit in the China pavilion with informative displays about the new Shanghai Disneyland. That was right next door, so we headed over. It was in a big room next to the pavilion entrance- I don't think I've ever been in that room: I loved the whole exhibit- there were displays giving details of the on-property hotels, each of the lands, the attractions, CM costumes, and more. They have some lands in their park that we don't. Like Camp Discovery. This sounds like something I'd like: In the center of the room, there's a huge map of the park that you can walk all the way around: Do you see that part called Disney Town? That's their Downtown Disney- it's right next to the park. That open area above it is for a future land. The rumor I heard is a Pixar themed land- maybe even a copy of the new Toy Story Land that is being built in DHS. You know how Disney likes to copy stuff in their parks- so that rumor sound very plausible to me. I should have mentioned that while we were doing it, the young folks were constantly checking their social media on their phones. One of them saw a tweet that said that the boats at Norway were running again and it looked like the ride was about to reopen. The App still said it was down, but we trusted the tweet and headed back to Norway. When we arrived, the wall of CM's had broken up. They were still telling guests that the ride was down, but they told us if we wanted to line up, we were welcome to. We figured that they wouldn't do that if they knew the ride wasn't going to be reopening- we lined up where they told us to, right against the rocks along the World Showcase- I took this photo at 6:13 pm, which is when I would say we officially got in line: They broke out the big guns to help with guest relations here at the ride- Twin #1 even spotted one of the Disney Ambassadors- her friend Nathaniel- soothing some irate guests: The CM's had us wait by the rocks because there were already guests in line in front of us, and they wanted to keep a space open for Akerhus guests to be able to get in. Because of that gap, guests kept on trying to sneak into the line ahead of us instead of going to the end of the line behind us. That mom with the white phone just snuck her family in: But nobody was getting away with that stuff today. A CM quickly swooped in and sent them to the back of the line. At 6:48 pm, the line started to move!: We moved steadily up to the new entrance: I wondered if that opening above the waterfall would still be there. It wasn't- it's all solid rocks now: Everything looks new and fresh in this area. I think the gift shop is smaller now- but not as small as I thought it might end up: All day, we had heard rumors that guests in the line for the ride were being given snacks- anything from Mickey Bars to Rice Crispy Treats. We weren't sure if that was true or not, but shortly after we got inside, there were CM's passing out granola bars: It's not a Mickey bar, but it was free. And that was a first for me. I've endured way worse situations than this at WDW and no one gave me anything. So, this small gesture was appreciated. The queue is completely redone, and a huge improvement over the very plain entry queue from Maelstrom. There are props around, like this bulletin board. I will have to stop and read it next time: Most of the inside queue appears to be in the space that used to be occupied by the theater that guests were sent into at the end of the ride- now it appears to be the village of Arendale: Both the FP and standby lines appear to be set-up in this room. There were guests in the standby line, and they were not moving. I don't know how or when they got in that line. One of them told someone in the FP line ahead of us that they had been waiting there for an hour. That's not too bad. The standby line takes guests through Wandering Oaken's Trading Post: There are fake trees and real lampposts in the queue to give the feeling like we are visiting at night: The line moved steadily, and at 7:02 pm we reached the loading area: That means we waited 49 minutes with a FP+ to get here. It didn't seem like it took that long. Plus we got a free granola bar. I'm sure you've heard that the animatronics in this ride are great. They are: We all loved the ride. It was worth the wait. After we were done, we admired some of the touch-ups they did outside: They had nice ice water dispensers set up outside: Because we had booked FP+'s for everyone in our Friends and Family list, and not everyone could make it, we had enough leftover FP's to ride again. But, the line was really long now. I'm sure you've heard reports of the line stretching all the way to China. Those reports were true. The end of the line is somewhere down there by China: Here's where the end of the line was when we found it: As we stood there, a manager type came up to the young man and told him to tell everyone that the line to get into the building from this point would take 2 hours and there would be about a 45 minute wait once you got inside. We all knew that wasn't true. But, that misinformation made a lot of people leave. Which I think was the intent. It was 7:23 pm when we got back in line. We didn't have any solid plans for the rest of the day, except that I was hoping to catch the Star Wars fireworks at 9:45. So, why not. The line was moving when we joined it, and kept on moving. It wasn't going to take us two hours to get inside. Along the way, we were entertained by some Vikings in costume: Does that Viking look familiar to you? Think- where have you seen him before? That, my friends, is Morris Mulch. You know from my favorite defunct band, Mulch, Sweat and Shears? The dude is a Viking at Norway now. Hey, the guy has to eat. I also heard that he can sometimes be found working as a Royal Historian at the Frozen sing-a-long in DHS, and doing the new Summer games at Blizzard Beach. We were here just about to go inside by 7:38 pm. That two hours ended up being more like 20 minutes. And this time, we got free Twix bars: Awesome. I didn't take a photo when we got to the load zone, but I took this one while we were on the ride at 8:03 pm: That means our wait for the second ride was around 30 minutes. So, we got to ride Frozen Ever After twice. On opening day. Double bragging rights. Next up, Twin #1 wanted to visit a friend who was working right next door. We will head there in the next and last bonus update. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parrothead7368 aka Norm 101 Posted June 23, 2016 Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 I keep forgetting to post these since you like timely photos, these were taken in November. If you notice in the first pic there was a bird, but I guess the dragon got him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 1 hour ago, WannaBeImagineer said: Thanks for the tip. Yeah this will be the most crowded time of the year we've ever been there so we'll have to adjust to it but we'll be alright. I'm sure people did go crazy about that. I've been seeing lots of controversy online lately about beach access and beach chair vendors, locals are not happy about it. Our plan is to bike into town so we'll be good no matter what. You said to get there early, how early are we talking? Parade starts at 8am, Modica opens at 7am. Thanks for the help. WBI I would plan on getting there at 7 or so. One of you stake out your spot, the other can go to Modica's for provisions. Or bring your own and have a picnic there. When I did this, I'd ride my bike over with a beach blanket and a few beach chairs. I'd use the blanket to stake out a space and sit right behind it in one of the beach chairs and have a cup of coffee and watch the places fill up around me. The rest of my gang would start to show up around 7:30. Past that, it will be hard to hold your ground as people start crowding in. If you're early enough, you can get a spot that has some shade, at least until the sun gets higher in the sky. The time passes quickly, and you and CP can take turns watching the prince run around until the parade starts. One more thing- bring a bag to load your candy into- everyone throws candy and beads, and your boy is probably going to get thrown a bunch. 14 minutes ago, parrothead7368 aka Norm said: I keep forgetting to post these since you like timely photos, these were taken in November. If you notice in the first pic there was a bird, but I guess the dragon got him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Very nice work! LOL. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 I need to post this last batch of photos so I can be done with this TR, as I'll have another one to start next week. And, I still need to take that trip. Heck, I still need to pack for that trip. We left off at Frozen Ever After. It's a hit. I'm not sure when we will ever ride it again, though, as it requires quite an investment of time. And patience. I had hoped to possible hit up the new Soarin' while we were here. But there was no way that was going to happen today. Where do you think all those guests who didn't want to wait 5 hours to ride FEA went? Soarin's standby time had hovered at over an hour all day. But there was something else new I could try. Right next door to FEA is the new Royal Sommerhus. aka the new Anna and Elsa meet and greet. Twin #1 has a close personal friend who is a close personal friend of Anna's. And she was working there on what was supposed to be their opening day too. But, they opened a few days early. The twins had already visited the sisters. But, Twin #1' s friend wasn't working then. She was tonight, though. I can't tell too many secrets, but there are ways that family and friends of the friends of the princesses can meet them. It's hard to do because you need to know which when they have a shift and which room they will be in. None of that has been figured out yet at the Sommerhus, so it was a roll of the dice as to whether or not we would be meeting the right Anna if we went in there. But, we like to roll the dice. We only had a 67% chance of failure. I personally didn't care, as we were good on time, and I wanted to see the building. Before heading in to the Sommerhus, I visited the new and improved Norway restrooms. New and improved is right. They are on par with Gaston's restrooms at the MK. Nice. Wow, they did a nice job with all of this: I haven't seen many birch trees in Florida, but they've got some here: It is unbelievable how fast the line moves here compared to how slowly it moved at the MK. We barely had any wait at all. And then we were let in to one of the rooms. And it was our Anna. First she had to meet this creepy solo traveler who was more of an Elsa fan: Then Twin #1 got to say hi to her friend-she was truly surprised that we found her: I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this, but here is another photo of those two: I don't think I can say too much, but that young lady is a good friend of Twin #1's and she is a delight to meet in real life too. This might be a good place for me to share how impressed I am with the young people who work at Disney. I know there are a few duds in the bunch, and I've run into some of them, but I can't tell you how many, many wonderful, awesome young folks I have met through the twins. It truly gives me a lot of hope for our future. And please, when you interact with these young people, remember that most of them are college kids who are earnestly trying to do the best job that they can. If you have a problem, I would bet that 99.9% of the time, it isn't something that young person is to blame for. They work the front lines while the managers who make the unpopular decisions that may negatively impact your vacation are hiding in their offices. That meet and greet was fun. It was about 8:50 pm when we were done, and Twin #1 and I were hoping to get to DHS to see the Star Wars fireworks at 9:45. We started our long hike to the International Gateway. It was right at 9 pm when we finally got there, and heard Illuminations beginning. We needed to catch the boat right then. If we missed it, we might not get a good spot for the Star Wars fireworks. The boat was just finishing loading as we walked up. We were the last guests to board. As soon as we sat down, we took off. And we made it to DHS with time to spare. This being a Tuesday night, it really wasn't too busy at DHS. We headed right up to the area in front of the Great Movie Ride and found an empty spot of pavement: Twin #1 told me we needed to be this close, so we could see all the new projections and special effects. I snapped this photo at 9:31- you can see that there were empty spots around. This might be helpful information for you to know, because we had passed a lot of people who stopped further back on Hollywood Blvd- you really don't want to be back there: You want to be in front of these new towers they built, if possible: Even if you feel crowded, once guests stand up, space opens up: When the do the projections, there are a lot on the Chinese Theater building, but there are others that they show on the old American Idol theater to the left: You'll miss these if you're further back. The major fireworks shoot off to the right of the stage, which seems kind of odd: This show was excellent. Any Star Wars fan would love it. And there's enough to see that even non fans would like it too. The fireworks were done right at 10, and the park closed. One bad thing about being close to the stage is that there are then a lot of guests between you and the exit. But, that happens at all the parks. We made our way out, and headed home. In one day, we got to see FOF, then the new Merf show, ride the new Frozen ride twice, meet Anna and Elsa in their new digs, and see the new Star Wars fireworks. That was three parks in one afternoon/evening. Fun times. That's all I have for you. Thanks for reading. TCD Beckers, Travisma and Avatab.... Steve 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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