Subsonic Radio

My Introduction and Planning Phase (sorry for the length and no pictures):

Since I haven't introduced my self yet, I guessed now would be a proper time since I am currently creating my trip report to post here. My actual name is Dan and I am 22 years old. I just graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Industrial Manufacturing and Systems Engineering. I am currently in Dallas, Texas searching for a job in any location in the US. Most of my Disney experiences have occurred before I was 10 years old. I remember staying at the Dolphin hotel my first time, then I stayed at the All-Star Sports hotel the next two times. The last time I was at Disney was during the millennium celebration in July. It would be almost 13 years later to when I would return.

In September of 2012, I wanted to go on a Spring Break trip before I graduated. I never went on a Spring Break trip in my three years prior. My uncle currently does Global Broadcast Content Development with Disney. He has previously given us discounts to hotels and park tickets. I asked some of my friends if they would be interested in a trip to Disney World and they were ecstatic. One of my friends went 4 years prior, another was when she was little, and the other had never been to a Disney park. My friends designated me as the trip planner, and thus my task began. We decided that we were going to spend a full day at each park, expect for the water parks. The All-Star resorts were a no brainer because of their cost. I picked the All-Star movies resort because to me it was the most Disney-esque and I am a movie buff. Since I haven't visited WDW in almost 13 years, I needed to do a lot research on what has been going on. My favorite websites that I visited were easywdw.com and wdwradio.com. These websites helped me plan out what to do with my friends. These websites also started my deep appreciation for everything Disney. I chose what park to attend on each date based on the most-recommended park by easywdw.com. There was one day that we attended a park that wasn't recommended, but all the others were the most-recommended for that day.

My friends and I agreed that we wanted to stay inside the parks to eat. We agreed that we wanted to do two sit down locations, which one would be Crystal Palace, and 2 quick service meals. We didn't go with the Disney Dinning Plan and were planning to pay out of pocket.I really wanted to have a sit-down meal at Epcot, but my friends and I agreed to attempt Drinks Around the World instead. After doing some research and asking my friend who went 4 years ago, we all decided to eat at 50s prime time Cafe. In January, I was able to make reservations for a 2:20pm lunch at Crystal palace and a 2:30pm lunch at 50s prime time cafe. The drive time from University of Missouri to Disney on google maps is projected at almost 17 hours, thus we decided to split the drive into two days and arrive at Disney in the afternoon. We were going to start the drive on March 24th, which was a Saturday. Everything for our trip was now set.

Sorry for the lack of pictures and long text. I did take a ton of pictures inside the parks during the trip. I am debating if I should create a photo bucket profile just for all of my pictures, or post a number of them on the board. I am more inclined with the second option. I have started my report and will start posting as soon as I am done with each segment. I will reveal the order of the parks I attended with each segment posted. I hope all of you enjoy

Welcome to the board Dan. Can't wait to read your entire report.

As for the pictures. The forum doesn't allow you to upload directly to it. You have to host the pictures on something like photobucket or flickr.

Nice ~ always love trip reports! (reading them, not writing them)
Photobucket has been naughty lately, I would recommend flikr or something else.
Looking forward to how your trip went ~ sounds like you had a real mix of people with different Disney backgrounds!

Anything but photobucket!!!
Seriously, welcome and I look forward to the entire report. Pictures and all!!
Nice to meet you Dan.

Henry

Day 1: Arrival to Disney and Downtown Disney

(I decided to skip the first day of driving since not much happened)

We left the hotel from Perry, Georgia at 8:35am. I turned on my 137 song Disney movie playlist I prepared as I drove the rest of the way. I listened to all of it the day before and was going to listen as much as possible before reaching Disney. When we reached Florida, it was raining very hard. I made sure to drive safely on the highway. We stopped at a DQ for lunch. The rain stopped a little before we reached Orlando. My friends and I arrived at Disney property at 2:20pm on March 24th.


We were placed in the Fantasia 2000 building featuring The Tin Soldier on the third floor facing away from the pool. (This pic was taken later on the trip).


Our plans for the day was to go to Downtown Disney for a couple of hours and then drive to my uncle’s house to have dinner with them. As my friends and I were about to leave our hotel room, it started to rain really heavily again. I turned on the TV and watched the news about the weather. As soon as I turned the TV on, the tornado sirens started going off. My friends and I stayed in our room and waited for the storm to pass.
Here is a video not taken by my friends nor I, but it shows how fast the storm arrives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ELRV9j6Y#!

When the storm passed, we left to go to Downtown Disney.



We made it to Downtown Disney and started shopping at the World of Disney.



I bought a Spring Break t-shirt, a beach towel, and an ornament.


(Couldn't find a picture of the ornament)

My uncle called me after my friends and I left the World of Disney. He said that he lost electricity and my Aunt wasn't able to cook the food she made for dinner. He also had some roof damage from the winds and couldn't have us over. I told him that it was fine. Now, my friends and I decided to eat at Downtown Disney for Dinner. We made a reservation for the Rain forest Café and continued to keep walking around Downtown Disney.






We walked into Splittsville just to check it out and thought it was pretty cool. It seems pretty pricey, but hey its Disney and they can get away with it. The view from the balcony was neat

My bad attempt at an artistic photo.

After checking out Downtown Disney for a bit, our reservation was ready. I don’t remember the last time I was ever at a Rainforest café. I honestly think the last time was at least 9 years ago.

I was thinking about getting BBQ, but I remembered that I was going to get some later in my trip, so I decided to just get the rainforest burger. One of my friends got the Mojo Bones, another I believed got the pastalaya, and I don’t know what my other friend got. I can’t tell by the picture.



After dinner, I drove back to our hotel with my friends and went to bed to get some sleep for our first day at the parks.

Wow ~ you are making me look bad by getting your trip report underway so fast
Sounds like an uneventful ride down and then a bit of excitement once you got there. Too bad you couldn't visit your family, although it looks like you had fun at the Rainforest Cafe with your friends. How was the food. The last time we ate there it was pretty awful food and horribly expensive, plus they took away the awesome key lime pie dessert

Amy wrote:Wow ~ you are making me look bad by getting your trip report underway so fast
Sounds like an uneventful ride down and then a bit of excitement once you got there. Too bad you couldn't visit your family, although it looks like you had fun at the Rainforest Cafe with your friends. How was the food. The last time we ate there it was pretty awful food and horribly expensive, plus they took away the awesome key lime pie dessert

Our food experience overall was pretty good. We had no issues. Some of the items are expensive. I got the 1/2 pound Rainforest burger and chips for 13. The funny thing was that we were seated by the kitchen entrance, so all of the volcano deserts were passing right by me. I was able to resist the temptation.

Excellent start, Dan!
That view from the balcony of Splitsville is awesome---I havent been to DTD since that place opened, I need to get down there and check it out.
Keep it coming!

I'm already enjoying your trip report and you haven't gone to any parks yet!

Too bad you couldn't see your uncle. Sounds like he was looking forward to seeing you but had his hands full.

I live in South Florida, and remember when those storms came through here! Our storms can be quick and brutal! Great report so far!!! and Welcome to Sub!

March 25th: Epcot

(I may have gone overboard with the length)

On the first day of my trip, I chose to go to Epcot. This date was between the previous morning Extra Magic Hours and the next day’s evening Extra Magic Hours. Hollywood Studios had morning Extra Magic Hours and Magic Kingdom is usually more crowded in the beginning of the week since it is the first park most people go to at WDW. The high for the day was at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, which wasn't bad. I still brought a light jacket for the evening.



My friends and I took a shuttle from the All-Star Movies Hotel to Epcot. We arrived at Epcot at 8:30am, a half an hour before the park opening. The park opened ten minutes early at 8:50am, which is normal. The Flower and Garden Festival was present inside the park and had a nice topiary at the front.



Since the week before Easter is always considered to be one of the busiest weeks of the year, I had a morning plan for each park. The first thing my friends and I went to was Soarin’. We arrived at the entrance of Soarin’ at 9:00am and get into the stand by line.



We were able to get on the ride at 9:17am. I enjoyed the ride. I was seated in the middle row, so we had feet dangling from above which was a bummer.



After Soarin’ my friends and I trekked to the opposite side of the park for Test Track.





We arrived at the entrance to Test Track at 9:30am. The stand by wait was already over 60 minutes, but I had planned to get Fast passes for the attraction. The return time for our Fastpasses was at 11am. After acquiring the Fastpasses, I planned to go to Sum of All Thrills. We got in line at 9:40am.



This ride has very limited capacity due to each robotic arm simulator having two seats. The robotic arm technology is the same used for the Harry Potter ride at Universal Orlando. The girls went each other and it was me and my other friend. We made sure to customize the ride to make it as intense as possible. A CM was watching my friend and I design the ride, and recommended the hammerhead as the final part of the ride. It was a great choice.



We were done with Sum of All Thrills at 10:24am. Our next stop in my plan was Mission: Space. The red planet was being refurbished, so there was a black tarp over it.



I saved Mission: Space for after Sum of All Thrills because it holds a higher capacity and is the last of the “major 3” at Epcot to experience longer wait times. The orange team stand-by line had a wait time of 25 minutes, thus was the reason why we did Sum of All Thrills first. I believe the green team was a little longer at 30 minutes, but we planned to do orange beforehand anyway. We got in line at 10:30am.


I liked Mission: Space. It is a fun simulator ride. We got off of Mission: Space at around 11:15am. Thus we headed for Test Track to use our FastPasses. When we got to the gate, a CM said that the ride was shut down and were not letting anyone in. Thus we decided to head over to World Showcase. We were able to take in some of the festivities of The Flower and Garden Festival.





We entered World Showcase at 11:40am. I bought myself an epcot passport at the shop right on the lake. With this passport, you can have it stamped and signed in the native language of the country you are visiting.I did use this passport as well for Drink Around the World for the CM’s that either poured or created my drink to sign.



For anyone that hasn’t heard of Drink Around the World, it is a task of having an alcoholic drink at each country. Two of my friends and I planned to attempt this feat. The other person in our group was under 21, so he couldn’t participate. Most World showcase bars open at 11am and close at the start of the fireworks at 9pm. Since there are 11 countries not including the Africa outpost, your pace would be a little more than one drink an hour. This is possible if you don’t have any issues and have Drink that are considered one drink. The first stop in our quest was Norway. The place I wanted to get a drink in Mexico didn’t open till noon. Thus we started at Norway.
(My friend photo bombing my own picture)




I got the Carlsberg Beer while the girls got Linie Aquavit shots at the drink cart outside. The beer was ok, but nothing special. Carlsberg can only be found in specialty stores, so it is not a bad pick. The Linie Aquavit Shot is “Produced from potatoes and flavored with caraway and herbs. Then the tastes are mellowed by rolling oak casks that travel through various conditions during a five month voyage at sea.” The girls didn’t mind it. The time we got these drinks was at 11:50am. After I was finished with my beer, we decided to ride Malestrom. We got in line at 12:07pm and got into our boat at 12:21pm.




After Malestrom, my friend checked her phone to see if Test Track was open again. Sadly, it was still shut-down. Our next stop was Mexico.





We decided to ride Grand Fiesta Tour before we got our drinks. We got in line at 12:36pm and were on our boat by 12:41pm, a five minute wait. I thought the ride was fun. I am a big fan of the three caballeros song. After the ride we made our way to La Cava del Tequila.



One of my friends and I got the Blood Orange Margarita while the other got the Wild Passion Fruit Margarita at 12:56pm. The Blood Orange Margarita is El Mayor premium silver Tequila, orange liqueur, sweet-tart mix of blood orange juice, hibiscus syrup, topped with wild berry foam served on the rocks with a cactus-lemongrass Himalayan salt rim. My friend and I got the drink frozen instead of on the rocks. I would say that it was the best drink I got at Epcot. It is expensive, but I thought it was worth it. The Wild Passion Fruit Margarita is 100% Agave Tequila Reposado, ginger liqueur, passion fruit, mango nectar and fresh lime juice, topped with mango foam. I tried the drink, but I preferred the Blood Orange.



After we got our drinks, we learned that Test Track was back open and decided to head over there.



The line for FastPass was long because of the earlier closing. We got in line at 1:35pm. For designing your car, the girls and guys competed against each other. Once we got on the ride, we expected to see our cars compared on the ride. The cars showing on the comparison screens on the ride weren’t ours; they were other creations people made. These were probably people who got on a little before us. After the ride, we compared the designs, the girls had an overall score of 200 and ours was 207. Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the new Test Track. The new design I thought was boring. The ride is now just full of lights for the so called “simulation”. It’s a shame that GM couldn’t sponsor the attraction anymore.

Our next stop was China



Right when we entered China, we went to the Joy of Tea Stand



I was planning to get the Canto Loopy, until the CMs working at the stand said that they have a drink called Tipsy Ducks in Love that wasn’t on the menu. All three of us decided to get the drink. It is creamy cold tea and coffee combo blended with bourbon whiskey and chocolate. I have talked about this drink on a topic about drinks in WDW on this website which goes into more detail about my thoughts on this drink. The CMs poured a lot of bourbon into the drink, thus making this drink actually considered more than one drink. I still only counted it as one in Drink Around the World. It is a very good drink, but it is one of the strongest at Epcot. We started to have the drink at 2:25pm.

We waited in China to watch the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats perform at 3:00pm




After the show, we headed to Germany.




At Germany, my friend who isn’t 21 knows how to speak a good amount of German. I was able to order my Altenmunster Oktoberfest and pretzel in German, which made the CM at the stand impressed. The girls got the Berentzen Apfel Shot. The Altenmunster is a nice example of the marzen variety of beers and this is probably the only place in the country you’re going to find it. The girls really enjoyed the Apfel and said that it tasted like apple juice. I don’t know what the proof the drink was. The time was 3:42pm.



Our next stop was Italy. We watched a little bit of The Ziti Sisters.




We then walked to the back of the pavilion to Tutto Gusto to get our drinks.



All three of us got Limoncello shots. It was pretty good. Limoncello is made from the zest of Sorrento lemons that are steeped in grain alcohol and mixed with simple syrup. We took the shots at 4:24pm

We then started to head over to the American pavilion






The girls were disappointed since there was no hard alcohol offered at the pavilion. The red stag lemonade wasn’t available. Thus, all three of us had a Sam Adams Alpine Spring. With an ABV of 5.5%, it’s a light, crisp beer with citrus and floral notes. I thought it was good, the girls didn’t like it. We got the Drink at 4:42pm. (Quite a turnaround from the shots) After we were done with the Drink, a showing of the American Adventure was going to start in the next 10 minutes. I was the only one that voted to go see it. That was saddening.

Our next stop was Japan.




We were able to catch some of the Matsuriza drummers performance



After the performance, we went to the Sake Bar located on the left side of the pavilion.



All three of us got Sake from the bar at 5:30pm. I didn’t enjoy this drink. I probably should have went with the pineapple sake cocktail or the green tea amasake mist. After finishing the sake, we were all hungry. We went to see if there were any walk-ins available at Chefs de France.



Unfortunately, there weren’t any walk-ins available. We walked past the Canada pavilion and found the Refreshment Port at Showcase Plaza. I didn’t mind eating here since we had been spending money on drinks all day. I got the chicken strips and fries which were fine. A duck and another bird came by and wanted our food.



After eating, it was 7:30pm. I knew it then that I wasn’t going to complete Drink Around the World with four countries remaining. Thus, I decided that I was going to get one more drink and call it quits. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of me with my drink. It was Moosehead Light at the Canada Pavilion. It is similar to Budweiser, but with more flavor. It was an average drink to end my run at Drink Around the World. I probably should have gotten my last drink in France which would have been the grey goose citron lemonade slush. The girls got the Torontopolitan that had Iceberg vodka, crème de cassis, triple sec, and cranberry juice. They enjoyed their drink, they also ended their journey of drinks.



After we finished our drinks, we decided to walk around the Canada, France, and Morocco pavilions since we kind of missed them when we were going to get dinner.





After touring through the pavilions, we decided to pick a spot for Illuminations. We got a spot right by the boat dock near the Canada pavilion since the wind was blowing towards the Norway pavilion. I did take some photos of some of the pavilions lit up at night





IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is by far my favorite fireworks show. I remember seeing it back in 2000 and being amazed. I was amazed again when I saw it again. The fireworks and pyrotechnics go perfectly together in the three act story.







After the show, we get onto the Disney shuttle bus and headed back for the All-Star Movies resort to rest up for the next day. We weren’t able to do The Land and Spaceship Earth. I remember enjoying The Land back in 2000 and I heard that Spaceship Earth has been dramatically changed since 2000. If we had another day at Disney World, I would easily have chosen to go to Epcot again.

Cardinals314 wrote:March 25th: Epcot

(I may have gone overboard with the length)

Dude, did you see my trip report from Oct 2012? I had posts before, during, and after our trip.

There's no such thing as a trip report that's too long.

fantastic so far!!! And I now know how to make plenty of drinks found at Epcot!

"I want to party with you cowboy..."
I agree with Cy: a TR that is too long? No such thing...

This is an awesome report dude. Keep it coming!
I am very impressed with your drinking around the world attempt. So close.

I love the Sum of All Thrills ~ we usually take a peek in when passing by Innovations and if the line isn't too long, I hop in ~ F1gment doesn't mind waiting while I go and one time she went in and helped me design the ride
I love all the little floating planters during the Flower and Garden festival ~ I really hope to get there during that time one of these years!
Neat idea for the world passport...Cute photo with your friend's photo bomb. I think we would get along well as I like to do those sorts of things as well The Linie Aquavit doesn't sound very tasty The frozen blood orange margarita on the other hand sounds delicious! The Tipsy Duck in Love sounds good too, if they would take out the coffee
So you guys didn't go see the American Adventure?! Oh that is sad...that is an awesome show!! And you missed Spaceship Earth?? Oh well, I suppose that is why we keep going back to WDW ~ to see things we missed
Bravo for having the horizon line straight in all your photos ~ even after your Drink Around the World challenge
I echo all the other thoughts about TR's ~ but you can always break your day into an extra post or two if you think it is getting too long...