Our Exciting Vacation in the World

[MadEye]

We wandered back over to Big Thunder Mountain, which is a ride I hadn't been on since I was a teenager (I don't think we did it on our honeymoon). K had a great time, although I would have to remember to put his ear plugs in before the ride next time (I spent a lot of the ride with my hands over his ears...The chain noise on the hill climbs is really loud...artificially so, I would guess).

Nope. It really is that loud. At least on the first and last one since they are (technically) inside.

[Amy]

We wandered back over to Big Thunder Mountain, which is a ride I hadn't been on since I was a teenager (I don't think we did it on our honeymoon). K had a great time, although I would have to remember to put his ear plugs in before the ride next time (I spent a lot of the ride with my hands over his ears...The chain noise on the hill climbs is really loud...artificially so, I would guess).

Nope. It really is that loud. At least on the first and last one since they are (technically) inside.

Wow ~ I would have guessed that wasn't all the roller coaster lift-hill noise either!

[mindflipper]

I was able to get a few pictures of the Fantasyland expansion while we were airborne, but nothing is really exciting yet (lots of structural steel and foam board still).

That was a great shot of the construction! Could you PM your photobucket link? I would like to see the rest of them...

[MmeLeota]

We wandered back over to Big Thunder Mountain, which is a ride I hadn't been on since I was a teenager (I don't think we did it on our honeymoon). K had a great time, although I would have to remember to put his ear plugs in before the ride next time (I spent a lot of the ride with my hands over his ears...The chain noise on the hill climbs is really loud...artificially so, I would guess).

Nope. It really is that loud. At least on the first and last one since they are (technically) inside.

Wow ~ I would have guessed that wasn't all the roller coaster lift-hill noise either!

Even I sometimes have to hold my ears because of the sound I can't imagine what it might be like to a child...let alone a child with special needs.
Sounds like you were able to get some quality time with the kids! Before you know it, they will be all grown up Time flies...

[Brian845]

When we last saw our intrepid Disney family, they were back at the Wilderness Lodge Resort, taking a quick break before heading over to Epcot for dinner. Let's join them now...

We met up with my wife and younger son back at the resort around 4PM. It had started to rain a little bit, so we did not do any swimming this afternoon (not that we had time for it). We hopped on a bus for Epcot, and got there shortly after 5PM (or thereabouts). Our first scheduled stop (yes, I still had a schedule that we were loosely following) was SpacesShip Earth. We weren't doing anything else in Futureworld this evening, but since this was our first visit to Epcot this trip, I figured we should visit this iconic ride straight away. T sat with me, and K sat with my wife. This is another one of those rides where short kids can't see very much. In fact when they took our head shot pictures for the ride, the camera only captured half of T's head (it was kind of funny seeing the "Choose your own adventure" video at the end, with one of the characters only having half a head). So T fell asleep on this ride about halfway into it, leaning on me for support. K enjoyed it well enough, but what he really enjoyed doing was playing some of the video games after the ride. I stood in line for a car racing/spy adventure, with T asleep on my shoulder. By the time it was our turn, I managed to wake him up so he could play, and he had fun doing so.

After SSE, we journeyed into the World Showcase. Our dinner reservations were for 6:45 at the Rose and Crown Pub, so we headed right towards England. I had rather grand plans for touring the different countries initially, but having learned that my children's tolerance for late night adventures was limited, we scrapped most of them. With the exception of a couple of pavilions, the countries don't have enough for young children to entertain themselves, at least for the amount of walking involved. It was sprinkling on and off, so we headed straight to England rather than touring Canada. I had hoped to find some Newcastle United related items at the sports shop, but it was pretty limited in what teams they had (mostly Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool). That was disppointing, but not surprising. What was really disappointing was how small the toy shop had gotten (or at least the area devoted to toys), I remember it being bigger. Whatever hopes I had of amusing the children here were forgotten, so we went over to the Rose and Crown Pub to see if we could get seated a little early (it was around 6:30). No such luck, since everyone was holed up under cover because of the rain and in no rush to head back out into it. We managed to get a table in the patio area (under cover) and sat and waited. The kids bided their time by doing the coloring activities in the children's menu. Time passed and we were eventually seated shortly after our reservation time.

When I made the reservations at the Rose and Crown 6 months ago, I had thought we might hang out here and watch Illuminations. But I knew the kids would not want to stay up that late, so we ate dinner as quickly as possible, so we could try to get to bed early (we even skipped dessert!). We left England and headed over to Mexico, since I really loved the atmosphere in the pavilion, and thought the kids might enjoy the ride (my wife did not remember the ride at all). I'm really glad we did, 'cos it turned out to be T's favorite ride! He was singing and dancing along to the music in the boat, and was really amused by Donald's various antics. Say what you like about the retheming of this ride, but I'm pretty happy with it!

We left Mexico and went as quickly as we could towards the exit, taking this picture on the way:

\

It was a little after 8:30PM I think, and we were back at the resort by 9. An early evening at last (and a late morning the next day)!

[Brian845]

We wandered back over to Big Thunder Mountain, which is a ride I hadn't been on since I was a teenager (I don't think we did it on our honeymoon). K had a great time, although I would have to remember to put his ear plugs in before the ride next time (I spent a lot of the ride with my hands over his ears...The chain noise on the hill climbs is really loud...artificially so, I would guess).

Nope. It really is that loud. At least on the first and last one since they are (technically) inside.

That's true but I think they could do something to make them quieter if they wanted to...The other roller coasters that I was forced into riding were *not* that loud (Space Mountain and Rock n Roller Coaster are indoors too). But having a loud clanking noise fits better with the theme.

[mindflipper]

Rock n' Roller Coaster has very loud rock music playing all the way, so even if there was some loud coaster noise the music would drown it out. And to be honest, I do find Space Mountain to be a bit loud too (not as bad as BTMRR)...

[MadEye]

We wandered back over to Big Thunder Mountain, which is a ride I hadn't been on since I was a teenager (I don't think we did it on our honeymoon). K had a great time, although I would have to remember to put his ear plugs in before the ride next time (I spent a lot of the ride with my hands over his ears...The chain noise on the hill climbs is really loud...artificially so, I would guess).

Nope. It really is that loud. At least on the first and last one since they are (technically) inside.

That's true but I think they could do something to make them quieter if they wanted to...The other roller coasters that I was forced into riding were *not* that loud (Space Mountain and Rock n Roller Coaster are indoors too). But having a loud clanking noise fits better with the theme.

You'd be surprised how loud the lift for Space is when there is no background music. You can hear it from the queue. As for RnRC, it is extremely loud. But what are you hearing instead? That's right, Aerosmith. When the audio for each vehicle is not on, you can hear the launch from outside the building on the opposite side.

Anyway, there are rumors for BTM to be getting a major refurb (both the ride and queue from what I'm hearing). Hopefully it happens. Wouldn't mind a quieter first lift...

[Brian845]

Rock n' Roller Coaster has very loud rock music playing all the way, so even if there was some loud coaster noise the music would drown it out. And to be honest, I do find Space Mountain to be a bit loud too (not as bad as BTMRR)...

Yep, we were prepared for it when we rode Rock n Roller Coaster, and my son wore earplugs...Actually, he lost one of them during the ride somewhere. But that's later in the story, and I don't want to give too much away:).

[mindflipper]

You'd be surprised how loud the lift for Space is when there is no background music. You can hear it from the queue. As for RnRC, it is extremely loud. But what are you hearing instead? That's right, Aerosmith. When the audio for each vehicle is not on, you can hear the launch from outside the building on the opposite side.

Anyway, there are rumors for BTM to be getting a major refurb (both the ride and queue from what I'm hearing). Hopefully it happens. Wouldn't mind a quieter first lift...

It also reminds me of the old "If You Had Wings". Yes, it was NOT a coaster, but the same principle applied there too. The film projectors were so loud that they had to play the music even louder to drown out that sound.

[laurie5658]

Oh..."If You Had Wings". ...that is a blast from the past! Way past! I feel so old now LOL.

[Brian845]

Wednesday, August 24th - The middle of the trip!

It was the middle of the trip, which can only mean one thing...laundry day! We had a "late" morning scheduled, since we were returning to Epcot and it didn't open until 9AM, but I woke up at 5am and shuffled off to the laundry room at the Wilderness Lodge. I had come prepared, having purchased some Tide at the Mercantile the previous evening (here's a pro tip...The box of Tide at the gift shop costs $4.50 and is good for 4 loads. The Tide dispensed at the laundry room is good for 1 load, and only costs $1.00...If I had only known, I would have waited!). I started 2 loads of laundry, then grabbed a chair from the nearby Roaring Forks cafe, and settled in to write in my journal and watch Stacy on the TV. My wife hates Stacy, having been forced to watch the whole "7 Must Sees" a few times already (on previous trips too!). I love it tho (and the previous versions of this), since when you're watching it you *know* you're in Disneyworld. After the wash was done, I loaded it into 2 dryers and went back upstairs to shower and get ready (it was about 6AM).

I returned downstairs around 6:45 and...Quel desastre! One of the dryers didn't dry the clothes at all! There was not much I could do about it, but pay another $2.00 to dry the clothes again (in another dryer of course). Here's another Pro-Tip...the dryers don't always work at the laundry room in the Wilderness Lodge. I returned to the room around 7:30, with freshly laundered clothing in tow, and started to rouse my family for the daily adventure (they were completely oblivious to my laundry escapades).

See, this is where a journal comes in handy, because I only have a general idea of what we did this morning, and I've forgotten some of the fun details. I'll have to go read my journal before I continue this...It's funny how I have such a vivid memory of doing laundry tho!:). Sorry to disappoint, bbl!:)

A couple of picture from the day:

[mindflipper]

Get up early and sneak off for your own little adventure in...laundry. Hmmmm, not the kind of excitement and wild escapades one would usually expect to happen in WDW...

[Amy]

I figured the pro-tip on laundry soap would have been, put some in your luggage from home
That is nice that you got up so early to get the family clean clothes ~ your wife is lucky! Even luckier that she didn't have to watch Stacy Ugh!
Looking forward to the rest....great teaser photos of Hoop-Dee-Doo...

[Brian845]

I figured the pro-tip on laundry soap would have been, put some in your luggage from home
That is nice that you got up so early to get the family clean clothes ~ your wife is lucky! Even luckier that she didn't have to watch Stacy Ugh!
Looking forward to the rest....great teaser photos of Hoop-Dee-Doo...

She was already starting to protest about watching Stacy on TV in the room constantly, and it was having a negative effect on the kids...Even they were starting to dislike Stacy! Why does everyone hate Stacy? Is there no end to the conspiracy of irrational prejudice against Stacy and her helpful top 7 must sees?