Friday, August 12, 2011
A Walk Around The World With Ridge--Trip Report part II--- finally.
Well hello there, it has been a long break in between these two parts of my telling of my May trip to Disney but the Editor thought it a nice idea if we all took a little break to recharge our batteries, usher new additions of the family into the world and enjoy a little break in general.
When last I left off I was going to talk about Star Tours and how fantastic it was. See here for an article I wrote for the Magical Blogorail on this topic. It was fantastic and I can’t wait till my October trip to ride it again. So much so that on several occasions I have thought about just getting in the car and making a mad dash for the weekend and seeing some of my wonderful Disney friends. If there is a couch to sleep on I’ll be on my way right now! If not I’ll be waiting a little while longer.
To the rest of my trip: Return of the Merchandise Tent, Jabba’s Hut. A day or two after the main ceremonies to get everything kicked off I found myself once again in the tent and waiting in line to help a friend pick up a DVC limited edition pin. While there I lost my mind for a second and bought myself a writing pen, limited edition to 1000 and didn’t question the price till I was at the register and it was 50 bucks… I wish I had upgraded my annual pass to premium before that day. But I bought it anyway and we moved on. I moved back and forth between groups of Disney friends. At this point I do have to say that I am far enough removed from the trip that some of it has run together. Good thing I have pictures. Check out my flicker account for all of the pictures from my trips!
In the couple days that followed I was on the go like nobody’s business, I spent time in all of the parks with tons of people but the main group for the bulk of my trip was Christa, Ashley and Jeb. Jeb is a Disney newbie so there was lots of explaining from us nerds about everything. I am pretty sure a good time was had by all. We all seem to be pretty alike so it was easy to hang out. However, Jeb and the Country Bears… priceless moments in time. I did break away for a few minutes at Magic Kingdom so not to completely bore my friends and took pictures with my 35mm film camera. Photography has become quite the hobby of mine and I never want to call myself a photographer; I just want to be an avid hobbyist. The Hall of Presidents is perhaps my favorite area to shoot because I love the architecture and have already posted about it before so I won’t go into that here.
I drove everywhere on my last trip and stayed off property again on the second half of my adventure to save a little money. Now I have brought up the fact many a time that I use an iPhone and one of the best things I do with it is drop a pin on my map when I get out of my car in the lot and I will be taken right back to it at the end of the day. I tell this little factoid, I forgot to do this at the Studios, being so excited to get inside and see my friends. So at the end of the day when I was ready to leave I walked all the way to the back of the parking lot, forgetting that I was there at rope drop and had parked one row over from cast member parking. Good job me.
Things that were highlights: Having a churro and sitting in a rocking chair watching the crowd walk by in Frontierland. I’ll never forget standing in line for 30 minutes for Pirates, wow lots of laughing. Giving a guided tour of Liberty Square, look for the musket in the window next time and the symbol of a tax payer over a back gate. Seeing the new queue at Haunted Mansion, it really is very nice and I am so glad the old turnstile is gone. Having a Dole Whip…. Just hanging out with great people at a fantastic place.
I’ll be returning to WDW soon for the 40th anniversary on 10/01/2011. It should be a blast getting to see old friends again and maybe one day I can become one of the faithful and get moved down there.
Till next time friends, see ya real soon!
Read more about:
Disney's Hollywood Studios,
Dole Whip,
EPCOT,
Hall of Presidents,
Magic Kingdom,
Ridge,
Star Tours,
Walt Disney World,
WDW
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oh good memories..... "if you look in the window, you'll see the colonial table cleaner. that signified the house was germ free!"
ReplyDeletethanks for the smile this friday morning!