End of Disney World

9th of November
Hollywood, Florida. Doesn't sound right does it? What about Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney World, Florida? Better!!

This was our final day at Hollywood Studios, we arrived in the afternoon. We went past Mickey's hat and straight to The Great Movie Ride! We had FP+'s for this ride. It was like a carriage ride through some of movies' greatest moments. Then there was our last Star Tours flight. It started off with Darth Vader and some clone troopers. Darth Vader stopped us from taking off by using the force but then R2-D2 beamed us away to Naboo and then to Hoth. We delivered the Rebel Spy safely.

Then we went to Muppet*Vision 3D. There was one bit of this which was the same as DisneyLand.

After this we went to look at the Christmas lights. It was called "The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights". They were really cool. They said here was over 5 million lights in the display. Could you imagine that many on your house!There's a long story behind the name. The Osborne family's (not Ozzy Osbourne) daughter asked her parents to have XMAS lights up. In 2 years they bought the 2 adjacent properties, thus expanding the display. The display would run from sunset to midnight. 6 neighbours filed a lawsuit about this and Osbourne reacted by making the display 3 million lights. After going through the National supreme court the state court shut down the display. This became a national news story. Disney were interested in putting the display up in Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando. The display is made up of over 10 miles (16 kilometers) of rope lighting connected by another 30 miles (48 kilometers) of extension cords. The extension cords and lights are held together using two million ties. It takes 20,000 man-hours to install the display each holiday season, starting in September. The lights are turned on at dusk each night, starting in mid-November and running into the first week of January, and require 800,000 watts of electricity. 

The reason we went in the afternoon was because we had a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre. They showed bits and pieces of sci fi movies. You sat in a (fake) car with a ledge at the front where you put your food.

10th November
"Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind"- Lilo, Lilo and Stitch.
My Ohana and I went to the Polynesian Resort as we had a character breakfast at Ohana. We met Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto!!

Later that day we went to Downtown Disney. Dad and I designed a T-shirt. Dad's said Hakuna Matata and mine said I met Phineas and Ferb on My trip to Walt Disney World.
Then we talked about going to DisneyQuest. It was expensive for all 3 of us to go in so Dad and I went in using our voucher and Mum picked up our T-Shirts. Dad and I spent about 2 hours there. It was a 5 level arcade and simulation ride building. My favourite things were Fix It Felix Jr from Wreck It Ralph and Buzz Lightyear Astro Orbiters which was a ride where there's a pilot (me) and a shooting person (Dad) and you run over balls and they are sucked up into the car and Dad puts them into the gun and you shoot other cars.

That night we watched Meet the Robinsons at the beach.

11th November
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"- Walt Disney. 

So it was time to keep moving forward on our LF USAdventure. We were curious on what LA would bring.

At 5:30am we checked our bags in with Disney. They send the bags to the airport. Our flight was at 9:40am. The bags missed the flight. 2 went to New York and 2 went to Dallas. We got the Dallas bags at 6:30pm at the hotel (they delivered the bags) and the New York ones around 11pm. I was asleep!!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party- 8th November

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.
Dr. Seuss

This time it comes from Magic Kingdom, for the first Christmas Party!!

We came at 6pm. We went to sit down for the 1st parade when we got there as it was very crowded. It started snowing when we walked through Main Street U.S.A. We waited for about 1hr 30mins but it all paid off!!

The parade was well choreographed with the skaters and characters. The floats looked AMAZING!!!

We went on Astro Orbiters which sent you flying high above Tomorrowland in a spaceship Dumbo ride. This ride turned you on one side so Dad didn't like it as he felt like he was going to fall out!!

We also went on Aladdin. It was FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We met a few characters and saw the fireworks.

The Christmas Party was really fun!!

As always; REPORT and have fun on your next holiday!!

DisneyWorld Day 9 - 7th November

Animal Kingdom the home of the animals in Disney. This time I  joined the Wilderness Explorers and became one.
So we had Breakfast in DinoLand USA. We had Ice cream and waffles. Then we got some more badges. We went on one of the rides in DinoLand and looked around. We went on some other rides around. At 2:30 we had another fastpass for Kilimanjaro safaris and this time we saw a lioness awake on the rock. There were a lot of Ostrich's around. After that we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch where I got my badges there.

We also saw Finding Nemo The Musical!! It was really well done and the puppets where very realistic!

Later that night we went to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. We met Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Minnie. It was a delicious buffet!!

DisneyWorld Day 8 - 6th November

Where are we going today, you ask? Oh, you didn't ask. Well I'll answer anyway. We are going up to the roof to raise the flags!!

So we met the ranger in the lobby at 8:15am and I carried the American flag, the state of Florida flag and the wilderness lodge flag. Mum carried the Disney Vacation club flag and Dad carried the Disney company flag.

The view from the roof was spectacular. We could see all 4 theme parks' icon!!! The first flag I raised was the American flag followed by the state of Florida flag then the Disney vacation club flag and lastly the Wilderness lodge flag. 

That day seemed hot so we went to Blizzard Beach. They had this thing where you were in a tube and you go down a slide. Next was this iceberg thing, you grab onto the ropes and move across the floating (fake) icebergs. Then there was this flying fox where you let go and you're dropped into water! Then there was the wave pool. The wave pool had lots of big waves. Mum and I went on this floating thing where you float around the whole water park

 

DisneyWorld Day 7 - 5th November

Today we went to Hollywood Studios. We saw the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. In this show they had Harrison Ford's stunt guy and some girl's stunt guy!! In this show they had a set behind a set behind another set. The first two sets could be moved so they can film with the audience seeing all of the action! The 3rd set was a sand set so it had to stay there.

I thought this show  was awesome and I liked all of the stunts. They asked people over 16 to volunteer to be apart of the show. One of the people was a set-up so he actually worked for Disney!! 

After this we went to Star Tours (again). This time the beginning was the same but towards the end you went into Jar Jar Binks' home!! So we are planning on going on this again!!

After that we had a lunch reservation for Mama Melroses. This restaurant was Italian so I got a pizza!! Matthew can we please have a Mario "Wahuu!!".

Then we went to see Phineas and Ferb nextdoor!!

I'm sure that you agree with me (I'm talking to the boys) that stunts with cars, flames, explosion and destruction is AWESOME!!!
So we went to the Lights Motors Action Stunt Show!!!
Picture
In this show the Disney crew reveals the secrets that make your favourite stunts possible!!
Pictures
All up I thought this was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

After that we went into "The Magic of Disney Animation" building where we took part in Animation Academy. We drew Carl Fredrickson from UP!
I thought mine was a bit small so I need to draw larger next time. Other than that everybody's turned out fine!!

We went into the 5pm session of the American idol experience. The set looks a lot like the one on TV.
People audition earlier in the day and then face it off in a designated show (not displayed outside) time. The judges are a bunch of nobodies!! But it was still cool!

Then we headed to Pixar Place for Toy Story Midway Mania!! Unfortunately I can't remember the scores but I remember that Dad was 1st, I was 2nd and Mum was 3rd.

We also walked around and had a look at the buildings from the movies.

As always; REPORT and have fun on your next holiday!!

 
  

DisneyWorld Day 6- 4th November

Today we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We had FP+'s for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids and Festival of the Lion King.

The first FP+ we had to go to was Kilimanjaro Safaris. On this tour you got to go through the Savannahs of "Africa"in a Safari type vehicle. They had real animals throughout the park. But the African animals are put on the savannah which is part of Animal Kingdom. The roads that you go on in the Safari vehicle are very rugged and bumpy and sometimes you go through water.  On this trip we saw the endangered White Rhinoceros, some hippos, Giraffes with a baby so our guide said all the giraffes were very protective of this baby giraffe, an Addax which is a deer type animal, elephants, glimpse of a lion, Okapi which looks like a Zebra but is actually a relative of the Giraffe which to me looks like a giraffe without a long neck, Ankole cattle which looked like to me to be relatives of the male deer, Nile Crocodile which did not look anywhere near as big as Monte from Australia Zoo, a Yellow billed Stork which seems to me like a relative of the pelican and a pink backed pelican. Lots more animals too.

I thought the Safari was very cool because we got to see all the animals and learn some things about them and I like our tour guide because she was funny.

Then after the safari we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Here's a little trivia question for you.  Tell me who is Rafiki?  You can comment without having an account. I will respond on next post!  We had to go the Haramba Station and caught a train to Conservation Station which takes you to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  The only way to get there was by train and when on the train you got to see a little bit of back stage of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  On the train ride we learnt that the animals that are in the savannahs are taken into enclosures at night time so that no harm comes to the animals as poaching is a very big threat to certain animals.  I thought this was really well done but our time was limited so I want to go back.

At Rafiki's Planet Watch you get to learn about how to help the animals in the environment and to help the environment.  There were a few Wilderness Explorer badges but at this stage I wasn't a Wilderness Explorer. (I did that later!).   It had a Vet clinic there and some Tamarin Monkeys and a petting zoo.
We had to leave Rafiki Planet Watch as we had a FP+ for Lion King so we caught the train back from Harambe Island and had to walk to Camp Minnie Micky.

 In this show it was a lot like the Lion King Musical show that we had previously seen 3 years ago.  To start off the show 4 people came out and they divided us into sections one being lion section, warthog section, giraffe section and elephant section.  We were in the lion section.  The guy who was directing us told us to make a roar and we had to do this when told to.  The other sections had to make their animal noises.  The giraffe noise is like a low baa - like a sheep sound and the warthog was a snorting sound.  Elephants got to make a screech sound.  The show was where they bought in floats of Simba, Pumbaa, a giraffe and an elephant. Timon was hitching a ride with the giraffe. The show was a live action shortened version of the Lion King Movie.  I thought it was very well done with the special effects, the dancing and the wires for trapeze performers.

We then had lunch at Pizzsafari and we had pizzas for lunch, in case you couldn't guess.

Then next we went to Kali River Rapids ride which is a ride where you travel through the turbulent waters of a jungle landscape on this wet raft ride.  It's similar to Popeye & Bluto's Barge ride in Universal.  We all went on it and we got wet except mum wore a poncho.  I have been calling her the Poncho Lover.  She still got wet even with it on and got more wet than Dad and I who only had a jacket and shorts on!  I thought this ride was a bit freaky with the drop but other than that it was fun but it was very very short.  It could have been a bit longer!!

Then after that we headed back to the hotel to dry off!.

That night we headed over to the Polynesia Resort as we had a reservation at Ohana Restaurant.  The Disney Polynesian resort was one of the three first resorts opened.  One of the other is the Disney Fort Wilderness Resort and Campgrounds.  Can you tell me what the name of the other one is?  You can leave your guess as a comment.  HINT - It's a modern hotel!!

This restaurant was Hawaiian themed along with the resort.  Dinner was very big.  They kept bringing us out food.  Meat on skewers - they had shrimp (we call them prawns) but the prawns weren't very nice.  There was a lot of food.  They had really nice chicken and they also had beef.  I enjoyed this meal but there was too much food for us to eat.

As always; REPORT and have fun on your next holiday!!

DisneyWorld Day 5- 3rd November

Today we went back to Epcot after a sleep in as we have later dinner reservations tonight at Epcot.

To get to Epcot we have to catch a bus from our resort to the park.  The trip takes about 25 minutes one way and this is with a stop at Fort Wilderness Camp Ground & Resort.

Today we had Fast Pass+ for Spaceship Earth which was a ride where you go inside the enormous golf ball in the centre of Epcot park.  It was about technology and how it has evolved over time starting Ancient times.  We were seated in a circular carriage type vehicle which moved around the exhibit on tracks.  I thought this ride was ok even though it may have been a little educational at times but thought it was still good as it showed you how technology has come to be what it is today.

After that we had lunch at the Australian food stall at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.  I had two lamb chops without the mint pesto but with potato crisps which is what they were served with. The chips were crumbled up on top of the lamb chop and the chips were Salt & Vinegar chips.  I thought the lamb chop was very nice, one of the nicest I have tasted but I thought it was odd that it was serviced with chips.  The other item on the menu was Garlic Shrimp.  In case you don't know shrimp is what Americans call prawns.  I thought they should have called it prawns as that is what we call it and they could have put a note down the bottom explaining that Australians call shrimp prawns.

The next Fast Pass we had to go to was Mission Space.  This is simulator ride that you choose a difficulty Green or Orange which we had been on previously.  This time Dad wanted to go on the more intense version of the ride but Mum & I didn't go on it as we didn't want to.  Dad said in the more intense version you felt more of the Gforce or the downward pressure when you were in the simulator and it was bumpier.

The last Fast Pass we had to go to was Test Track presented by Chevrolet.  On this ride you got to design your own car and test it against the elements on the sim track.  The elements your car is tested against are mainly weather elements and there was also crash avoidance. You actually get to sit in a real car which is your actual design as that would not be physically be able to be done in the time that you wait for your turn.  So it is just simulated that you are in your design car. On this ride in one part you look like you are just going straight down a road at 100km per hour (not the real speed just felt like 100) when suddenly you make a sharp and quick turn. After you have tested against all weather elements and other systems featured in the car, you head outside and zoom around the outside of the attraction on something like an elevated race track.  The track is tilted as if you are turning a steep curve.  We were going at over 60 miles per hour.  I thought this ride was really cool as it was all driving and you went really fast.
Thanks to Cooper for the tip to go on this ride.

Later that night we went to Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast Dinner at the Garden Grill which was in The Land part of Epcot.  This restaurant is the only restaurant in Walt Disney World that revolves and it revolves around the ride Living with the Land.  (I thought that ride was boring anyway!)  The characters we got to meet at this restaurant were Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale.  I had photos taken with each of these.  I like this restaurant as it was cool as it was moving and I have never been to a moving restaurant before.  The waiter spilt a drink on Dad right at the end of the evening.

Just me, chillin' in my Chev!! (short for Chevrolet)