[ADP]

June 8th - Pre Trip Report

The Cast -
Aaron - ADP
Kim
Anna

Hi Everyone -

Anna and I have arrived in Orlando todayand Kim will be joining us later this week. It seems like it has been a while since we've been to the parks. Our last trip was over New Years, and after that trip ended I felt a little burned-out from the parks. We had visited the parks quite a bit in 2009 and I thought I needed a long break. However, around April, I was feeling the need to get back to the theme park capital of the world. Now, I'm crawling up the walls waiting to get back to Central Florida. Finally tomorrow is the day.

Anna and I will be in Orlando for 2 weeks; 10 days at Disney World, possibly 1 day at Kennedy Space Center and 4 days at Universal. We've got quite a bit planned including the Hoop-De-Doo Review, Catching some of the Summer Nightastic events, Star Wars Weekend 4, and the grand opening of Harry Potter.

Anna and I are giving the Disney Dining Plan a whirl again. We are staying at AKLV and during our stay we have 4 nights worth of dining plan. The last time we did the Dining Plan we felt it was too much food, but I figure for 4 nights we should be able to handle it. The ADRs we have planned include Chef Mickey's, Cape May Clam Bake, Mama Melrose, and the Tusker House character breakfast. Once Kim arrives we are going off the Dining Plan and using our Tables in Wonderland 20% discount. Other ADRs we have scheduled are the Hoop De Doo Review, Ohana, Teppan Edo, and Mama Dellas at Portifino Bay. We may make some other reservations along the way.

We're hopeful to see some of our friends during our visit. If anyone wants to meet-up while we're in Orlando please send me a message and we can get together. Our Star Wars Weekends parade meet is this Saturday. Please feel free to join us. Information can be found under the trip planning forum.

I should mention most of what I'll be posting in this trip report will be photos and possibly some video. Through my IPhone I'll be able to post live photos during our day in this thread. In other words, most of the photos you will see in this trip report will be live, up to the second photos with captions and descriptions of what is happening in the parks and resorts. I'll even post what the lines and craziness looks like at the WWoHP grand opening.....It should be every bit of crazy too. :laughing:

We are headed to the Magic Kingdom for MEP and the Summer Nightastic firworks spectacular. So get ready for a lot of photos and info from Orlando. "See you real soon!"

[QuickGold]

Have a great trip Aaron!

[ADP]

Walking into AKV. Always a treat!


Our room view.

[ADP]

Magical! Finally made it.

[ADP]

Time for some grubb! The fixins bar that eats like a buffet
But my back is killing me! Darn chairs.


Partners!


Time for the Laugh Floor. Hey Roz!!!

[ADP]

Tomorrowland Galactic Dance Party starring Goofy and gang!


A beautiful night in Tomorrowland!

[ADP]

Main St. Elecreical Parade!

[ADP]

June 8th Recap -

We've arrived. Although our flight was delayed today 2 plus hours because of mechanical issues we made it to Orlando. Check-in at AKLV was less than 2 minutes long even without resort online check-in.

Anna and I had a great time at the Magic Kingdom tonight. Watching the Main St. Electrical Parade with her for the first time was a real treat. The weather was spectacular. There was a slight breeze and temperatures were very tolerable. Guests were all excited about the parade. Tonight was the first time I heard a loud applause and chanting before the start of a parade. Main St. was truly an electric atmosphere for this parade. As far as I can tell the MSEP floats are better than Spectro, but I still like the Spectro music much better than MSEP.

For those of you on the dining plan I've found a great snack credit. The ice cream sandwich at the Main St. Bakery is awesome. 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream sandwiched by your choice of 2 giant cookies. Cookies to choose from are oatmeal rasin, sugar, or chocolate chip. Awesome! I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but i got to ahead of myself and started eating it before I thought about the picture. I'm sure another one is in our future.

We used our first quick service credit at Pecos Bill. I tried the 1/3lb angus burger. It was okay, but nothing spectacular; however, piling on the mushrooms and pickles made it taste better. The cheddar cheese sauce tasted great with the fries. To me, Pecos Bill and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe are the 2 best quick service restaurants at the Magic Kingdom.

Anna did get her joke we texted in to the Laugh Floor read during the show. Pretty awesome!

Tomorrow we plan on waking up early and going to Hollywood Studios for morning EMH. The park opens at 8:00AM to resort guests. We hope to get a couple spins at Toy Story Mania. Once we've done TSM we'll head over to Starring Rolls for breakfast. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to head over to the Kidani Village fitness center for a workout followed by a swim at the Kidani pool. Tomorrow evening we have an ADR at Chef Mickey's and then it's over to EPCOT.

More photos and info tomorrow.

[ADP]

7:15AM hula hooping at the AKV bus depot.

[ADP]

DHS rope drop. The race is on to TSM.


Cast Member pin trading

[ADP]

Current TSM wait time

[sarahzy]

Looks like a great trip so far! Love the view from your room at AKL. That's such a wonderful resort. Eat some Zebra Domes for me!

[ADP]

TSM scores. Best of the day so far.


Time for some breakfast.


ToT

[ADP]

Streetmosphere!


Tower picture

[QuickGold]

Love the photos on Tower and with Paige Turner!

[ADP]

Double post!

[ADP]

Time for dinner! I hope Mickey is ready to cook tonight because I'm hungry.



Check it out! Donald Duck is wearing a Birthday Button! Today is his 76th Birthday.

[ADP]

Spaceship Earth on a beautiful night!


Spaceship Earth. The future

[ADP]

June 9th Recap -

Another great day of weather. We arrived at DHS before the park opened and I was amazed at the size of the crowd in line waiting to get into the park. I had to check myself to see if today was a Star Wars Weekend day.

TSM was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the new game which replaced Bo Peeps Balloon Pop. The principal of the game is the same; popping balloons, but with different characters.

Getting out of the park early (around Noon) was a good call. The park was getting hot and crowded. The workout was nice and Anna participated quite a bit. It was nice to have her there to keep me company.

We spent some time in the best arcade on property at the Contemporary Resort. Dinner at Chef Mickey's was ok. It seems to me some of the variety on the buffet has been removed. There are not as many choices as there used to be. The characters were great though. Very interactive, upbeat and willing to do anything to make your time with them enjoyable. The food itself wasn't bad, but certainly nothing spectacular.

We didn't spend a lot of time at EPCOT tonight. We rode Spaceship Earth and played a few games of Power City in the post show area. Afterwards we walked through World Showcase and rode Donald. Another night of fantastic weather.

Tomorrow morning we are headed to the Animal Kingdom. We are dining at the Tusker House character breakfast. We'll probably ride Kilamanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. In the afternoon we'll make a trip to Downtown Disney for some shopping. As for tomorrow night we may spend it poolside here at Jambo House.

More to come!

[ADP]

Hey Everyone -

We are headed out the door soon to the Animal Kingdom for a character breakfast at the Tusker House. Afterwards we'll catch a few rides and then head back to our room for some R & R. We may head to Downtown Disney this afternoon. We've discussed our evening plans and because I run a Democracy we've voted to go to the Magic Kingdom. I do have the tie-breaking votes in all situations though. :laughing: We haven't seen the Summer Nightastic fireworks yet so we are going to stay to check them out.

More to come!