Back from WDW - Review (UPDATED WITH PHOTOS!) HEAVY IMAGERY

[PeterPanfan]

(NOTE - This was taken from a post in my LiveJournal.)

I arrived home last night from my awesome vacation to Florida. It was fun for the most part, although I DID suffer from the lack of a computer. Don't judge me.

We drove to Wilmington, North Carolina and stayed at a hotel there the first night. We brought out marvelous black labrador/retreiver mix, Pooka, who absolutely loved it! I took some pictures, which I will upload later today, of some of the filming spots used for One Tree Hill, Dawson's Creek, etc. The concierge at the hotel informed us that One Tree Hill was filming only FOUR DAYS EARLIER! Yes, I was extremely pissed. Yes, I tried to convince my parents to stop there on the way home, to no avail. It took an extra two hours (although that was partly because of the INTENSE rain on the way) to get there in the first place. My mom and I went to Applebees that night for dinner, while my dad stayed in the hotel room with my dog, who we were scared to leave alone the first night. I'm sure she would have been fine, but whatever. Wilmington was GORGEOUS. Seriously, if you ever get a chance to visit what's been named the "East Coast Hollywood", DO IT! You will not regret it. There were these adorable streets that were cobble-stoned, and a whole part of the town reminded me of Nantucket or Boston. We didn't get a chance to visit Cape Fear, which I really wanted to. Hopefully I'll be back there again soon.

We got up really early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and were on our way to The Sunshine State! I slept most of the way there, because I was exhausted (Much like I am now.) We arrived in Tampa around 5:30-ish, and then got to our house in Sun City Center around 6:00. We brought all of our suitcases into the house, got our dog settled in, and drove to the grocery store! I won't bore you with the next few days, which consisted of me watching eleven movies (GASP! I was bored). In case you're interested I watched (And gave a letter grade):

Havoc - C
Harvard Man - D
Almost Famous - A
Closer - B
Fight Club - B
Romeo + Juliet - C
Our Very Own - A
Freeway - A
Ed Wood - A
Donnie Darko - B
Jawbreaker - A

Anyway, I watched those in a span of six days, along with some TV shows on DVD I brought: Charmed, Smallville, Gossip Girl, Friends, Veronica Mars, and Dawson's Creek. I went to bed very early Wednesday night, because Thursday morning we were on our way to the "Happiest Place on Earth!" Yes, WALT DISNEY WORLD!!

We brought Pooka and got her set up in the Disney Kennel Club, which she seemed to enjoy pretty well. After checking into our hotel, Coronado Springs Resort, we were on a bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios! First, we went on one of my favorites, The Great Movie Ride, which showcases the greatest scenes Hollywood's most remarkable films have ever graced us with. My personal favorites are the Singin' in the Rain, Casablanca, Alien, and Wizard of Oz scenes. Next up was DHS's newest attraction , Toy Story Mania! It was similair to Magic Kingdom's Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, in that you have 3-D glasses and have to "shoot" at targets, racking up points and trying to beat the other "opponents" surrounding you. After that was The American Idol Experience, which I LOVED! There were three singers, two guys and one woman. The woman, Theresa won with her cover of Rihanna's "Please Don't Stop the Music," which was insanely enjoyable. Next up was Rockin' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith! It's definitely my favorite Disney World coaster, and it was enjoyable as ever. You blast from 0 to 62 miles per hour in less than two seconds! It's full of loops, spins, and corkscrews. Who said Disney World was just for kids? After passing Tower of Terror, which I would rather die than go on, we cooled down in Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which is an okay stage show. We then walked throw Walt Disney: One Man's Dream and the Animation Studio, and then go on the bus to Epcot! We visited all of the World Showcase pavilians, Japan, Norway, France, and London being my favorites. After eating a pretzel in Germany, we headed over to Disney's Soarin', and epic ride where your feet "dangle" above the world's most beautiful scenery. After that was The Seas with Nemo and Friends, which honestly was not that well made. Our last ride of the day was Test Track, the fastest ride in WDW! We went back to the hotel, rested, and then came back to Epcot for our dinner reservation at the San Angel Inn Resteraunte, which was decent enough. Definitely not worth the price, though. We stopped at the hotel's cafeteria, got our dessert, and headed back to the hotel for some much needed SLEEP!

Our last day at the World was spent at Magic Kingdom, my favorite of the four parks. We started the day off in Liberty Square at the newly rennovated Hall of Presidents, which now features President Obama's inagural speech. Next up was my favorite Magic Kingdom ride, The Haunted Mansion! It was better than usual, for some reason, and I took pictures during the ride, which you weren't supposed to. Oops! It was worth it, though, and I didn't get caught. Next we went to Frontierland got our Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree while we waited. CBJ, which I had never been to before, was hilarious. Not the actual show, just the outdated animatronics and poor singing. =D We headed back over to Big Thunder and strapped ourselves into the coaster, which was not at all thrilling. It was a nice way to pass time, but eh. We then went to Adventureland and rode the classic, Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadn't been on it since they added in a Johnny Depp animatronic, but it was as awesome as ever, and Depp actually made it better! After Pirates we went to Tomorrowland, where we rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which was VERY fun! I even won! I was PO'd that Space Mountain and Tomorrowland Transit Authority were shut down for rennovations, but what could we do? Instead, we rode Astro Orbiter, and then went back to the hotel for a nice, relaxing swim in the resort's pool. It was a mellow rest, as there was only us and a British family in the pool area. We went back to the Kindom, rode the Walt Disney World Railroad which took us halfway around the park, and headed to The Crystal Palace for dinner. This American buffet was delicious and well worth the price! We even dined with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet! We made it out just in time to watch the visually amazing fireworks show, Wishes. We then headed over to Fantasyland, where we spent the remainder of our night. First up was Mickey's PhillarMagic, which was awesome! The 3-D show felt so real, and the ending was great as well! After that was the classic "it's a small world", which there was NO line for. And of course the song was stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. We made our way over to Snow White's Scary Adventure, which made me jump once! Then was Peter Pan's Flight. Peter Pan is my favorite Disney film, so I always look forward to this dark ride, although it's very short. After this we went on our last ride, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which I had never been on. It was very cute and well worth it! We walked through Cinderella's Castle and boarded the bus back to our hotel.

We spent the third day at Downtown Disney, and dined at Planet Hollywood for lunch. I absolutely love it there. All the Hollywood memorabilia fascinated me and I snapped a few pics. We shopped around for a bit, and then went home. =[

The rest of the trip was spent at the mall, at the Sarasota Beach, which was ranked the second nicest beach in America, after one in Hawaii!

If you made it through that novel of a post, I thank you and you will be rewarded with pictures later! =D

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[Escapay]

You might wanna downsize the images, Panfan. Unless you have like, a superwidescreen monitor, there's gonna be a lot of scrolling involved...



albert

[Flanger-Hanger]

You might wanna downsize the images, Panfan. Unless you have like, a superwidescreen monitor, there's gonna be a lot of scrolling involved...



albert

WOAH ,WITH THE BIG PICTUREZ AND THE OH GODDZZZ!

A bit smaller might be better, Panfan. Also it's "The Vacation Kingdom of the World" not "The Happiest Place on Earth", that's on the other coast.

[Nala]

PanFan, it's really hard to read as there's too much scrolling to try to read and see the pictures. Could you please downsize the pictures.

[zackisthewalrus]

Holy Frizz, Panfan, downsize!!! NOW! GRR! Haha

[PeterPanfan]

I will downsize tomorrow. Sorry for the trouble.

[Nala]

I will downsize tomorrow. Sorry for the trouble.

Can you please downsize as it's painful trying to read the post with the pictures so huge.

[stewie15]

Hey Panfan perhaps you could downsize those pics? It's hard to read what you wrote and involves lots of scrolling.

I think he gets it now guys!

[Nala]

stewie15
I don't think he gets it. It's still too big. I can't see the pictures properly and being tht big, they're also a little blurry as well.

PeterPanFan, the pictures are too big and it's time to downsize. Have you tried to put them in Picasa as then you only have to post the link and not all the pictures.

[stewie15]

Nala clearly there hasn't been any change to the pictures yet and Panfan has said he would downsize the pictures. This means that he most likely hasn't gotten around to downsizing yet. Most people have better things to do than take commands from forum members. I'm sure Panfan will downsize soon, till then how about some patience.

[CJ]

To keep a mob from forming to go after Panfan, I have converted the images to links. When he gets the time, he can put up smaller pictures in their place.

[PeterPanfan]

To keep a mob from forming to go after Panfan, I have converted the images to links. When he gets the time, he can put up smaller pictures in their place.

Thank you, CJ. I'm sorry, but I've been busy. You can click the link to see them, if you want to. I honestly don't have enough time to downsize each one.