"Somebody -- turn out the lights!"
I'm back! And now I present: the travelog XO
Friday - 5/5
Not much of interest; a driving day.
Saturday - 5/6 Arrival Day
Got to the resort in the mid-afternoon; went to get our tickets for various things; went to Epcot to see the fireworks. Saw a little bit of the World Showcase (primarily China). Fireworks are unexpectedly hard to photo; too much smoke!
Sunday - 5/7 Safari Day
Went to Animal Kingdom and got on the Serengeti safari drive first thing -- twice in a row since it was still early. The "Serengeti" area is a biiiig free-range area, so you see the animals doing natural things, in theory, like hiding in the shade and wandering around (we did have to wait for an ostrich to move out of the roadway at one point). Pretty cool! Wandered around for the rest of the day looking at animals and seeing a couple of shows. Was spooked twice by the hyena/fire dancer guy in the "Festival of the Lion King" show; I was on the outside seat near the stage entrance and he popped out of the dark tunnel at me. (Hmm, he was kinda hot, at least. XD;;) Went to the Magic Kingdom for the light parade and the fireworks, but the crowd was so oppressive that we left after the parade. Luckily, we had a pretty good view from the parking lot, without the stupid narration.
Monday - 5/8 Around the World Day I
Back to Epcot and the World Showcase today; it was generally neat, but it was SO HOT. Ugh. As expected in this park, did more window-and-actual-shopping than touristing, as the informational content was pretty low. Loot included Mexican silver bracelets and an ADORABLE stuffed goat marionette. (I'm sorry, I like puppets and I like goats. XD;; ) Was so freaking tired, we stayed in this evening.
Tuesday - 5/9 Hollywood Day
Today was Disney/MGM Studios... Probably the park I had the least excitement for, but there was still amusement to be found. The stunt car/bike show was interesting, as they had some cool stunts and also explained about some of the technical details. Got to see some interesting props, including a lot of stuff from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Saw the light show, it was pretty cool -- a combo of light/projection effects, water (a spraying mist was used as the screen for the projections, as well as fountains and jets of water for drama), and costume/puppetry (like.. a chain of people carrying a fabric body to represent cobra!Jafar). Better than fireworks, anyway. And Malificent was in it! Yay! Speaking of which, I got a cool Malificent pin and an *adorable* pirate!Eeyore plushie. Pirate!Eeyore! The contradiction is so amusing! But there seemed to be a lack of good pirate gear...
Wednesday - 5/10 Pirate Day
Yarrrr! We went to the Magic Kingdom today. "Small World" is like, mom's favorite ride ever, so we did that twice, and we did the carousel because I love carousel horses, but since it's "Cinderella's carousel", all the horses are white. :P
Disturbingly, "Pirates of the Caribbean" was closed! For renovation! XO Not to be reopened til July. A "cast member" (that's what all the Disney park employees are called..) hinted that it's being updated to reflect the movies... hello animatronic Jack Sparrow XO Fortunately, the pirate shop was still open, and I finally found what I was looking for: a battered "leather" pirate hat! Score! Picked up a piratey bandana on clearance, too. Also got this cool-yet-cheap-and-junky sitar from the Agrabah bazaar. I suppose I'll have to take a pic to show just how junky it is, but it has a nice sound to it. =o
Went to see the Pirates! dinner show (non-disney thing). It was mildly entertaining, and the fact that they have a ship with water and everything inside of the arena is cool, but it was kinda corny in the end. Probably more entertaining for littles (and there was a good deal of audience participation).
Thursday - 5/11 My Favorite Things Day
Decided to make today a free day, which was a good idea because it rained for half the day, haha. First off, went to "A World of Orchids", which is basically an orchid nursery, but they have a big greenhouse/jungle place that you can walk around for free, with the orchids in natural settings, and other tropical flowers/plants, and ponds containing koi who are very good at begging. (As soon as you step on any of the footbridges going over the streams, they swarm to you, it's really very funny.) Seriously pondered buying an orchid to take home, but we figured it would be too hard to try to protect it in the car on the way back. =\
For lunch we wandered into downtown Orlando proper and found a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants and markets. The food was okay, but it seems to be a constant that nothing's as good as what they make in Northern Virginia. I guess having the largest Vietnamese population in the country will do that for you. oo
Time for another dinner show in the evening -- Arabian Nights. The "Arabian" in the title really refers to the horses, as it's a horse/riding-themed show, right up my alley XD It was a hell of a lot of fun, and the horses were fantastic. Before the main show, there were also performances by a belly dancer and a stage magician, both were fairly entertaining. Tons of fun (hmm, literally?), I just wish the pics I took turned out better, but it's hard to photograph running horses, after all.
Friday - 5/12 Around the World Day II
Back to Epcot for our wrap-up day. Putzed around a little in the front of the park, the stuff focused on the future and science and all that, then went back to the World Showcase to finish the other half of the world. Nothing exceedingly special to report here, other than the fact that I heard some classical music in the "Impressions de France" movie that I simply must track down. Rar.
In the evening we went to see "La Nouba", the Cirque du Soleil show in residence at Disney. Just from pictures, I hadn't liked the costume design as much as for "Dralion" and "Varekai" (some of them really made me go "WTF?"), but as usual, the action was top-notch. No contortionists in this show, which is unusual, I think, but we did get trick-bike riders, so fair exchange? Haha. Browsing in the gift shop reminded me that I must pick up the "Fire Within" DVDs at some point... hmm.
Saturday and Sunday were driving days, so voila, that's it. Pictures to come later this week (primarily, after I get caught up with my other journal @_@; I only had to do a skip=60 on this flist to get everything, haha. XD;)
Being back at work this week, the last time I got 8 hours of sleep was the last weekend in April, and that trend will continue until (hopefully) Friday. Yargh. oo;
Friday - 5/5
Not much of interest; a driving day.
Saturday - 5/6 Arrival Day
Got to the resort in the mid-afternoon; went to get our tickets for various things; went to Epcot to see the fireworks. Saw a little bit of the World Showcase (primarily China). Fireworks are unexpectedly hard to photo; too much smoke!
Sunday - 5/7 Safari Day
Went to Animal Kingdom and got on the Serengeti safari drive first thing -- twice in a row since it was still early. The "Serengeti" area is a biiiig free-range area, so you see the animals doing natural things, in theory, like hiding in the shade and wandering around (we did have to wait for an ostrich to move out of the roadway at one point). Pretty cool! Wandered around for the rest of the day looking at animals and seeing a couple of shows. Was spooked twice by the hyena/fire dancer guy in the "Festival of the Lion King" show; I was on the outside seat near the stage entrance and he popped out of the dark tunnel at me. (Hmm, he was kinda hot, at least. XD;;) Went to the Magic Kingdom for the light parade and the fireworks, but the crowd was so oppressive that we left after the parade. Luckily, we had a pretty good view from the parking lot, without the stupid narration.
Monday - 5/8 Around the World Day I
Back to Epcot and the World Showcase today; it was generally neat, but it was SO HOT. Ugh. As expected in this park, did more window-and-actual-shopping than touristing, as the informational content was pretty low. Loot included Mexican silver bracelets and an ADORABLE stuffed goat marionette. (I'm sorry, I like puppets and I like goats. XD;; ) Was so freaking tired, we stayed in this evening.
Tuesday - 5/9 Hollywood Day
Today was Disney/MGM Studios... Probably the park I had the least excitement for, but there was still amusement to be found. The stunt car/bike show was interesting, as they had some cool stunts and also explained about some of the technical details. Got to see some interesting props, including a lot of stuff from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Saw the light show, it was pretty cool -- a combo of light/projection effects, water (a spraying mist was used as the screen for the projections, as well as fountains and jets of water for drama), and costume/puppetry (like.. a chain of people carrying a fabric body to represent cobra!Jafar). Better than fireworks, anyway. And Malificent was in it! Yay! Speaking of which, I got a cool Malificent pin and an *adorable* pirate!Eeyore plushie. Pirate!Eeyore! The contradiction is so amusing! But there seemed to be a lack of good pirate gear...
Wednesday - 5/10 Pirate Day
Yarrrr! We went to the Magic Kingdom today. "Small World" is like, mom's favorite ride ever, so we did that twice, and we did the carousel because I love carousel horses, but since it's "Cinderella's carousel", all the horses are white. :P
Disturbingly, "Pirates of the Caribbean" was closed! For renovation! XO Not to be reopened til July. A "cast member" (that's what all the Disney park employees are called..) hinted that it's being updated to reflect the movies... hello animatronic Jack Sparrow XO Fortunately, the pirate shop was still open, and I finally found what I was looking for: a battered "leather" pirate hat! Score! Picked up a piratey bandana on clearance, too. Also got this cool-yet-cheap-and-junky sitar from the Agrabah bazaar. I suppose I'll have to take a pic to show just how junky it is, but it has a nice sound to it. =o
Went to see the Pirates! dinner show (non-disney thing). It was mildly entertaining, and the fact that they have a ship with water and everything inside of the arena is cool, but it was kinda corny in the end. Probably more entertaining for littles (and there was a good deal of audience participation).
Thursday - 5/11 My Favorite Things Day
Decided to make today a free day, which was a good idea because it rained for half the day, haha. First off, went to "A World of Orchids", which is basically an orchid nursery, but they have a big greenhouse/jungle place that you can walk around for free, with the orchids in natural settings, and other tropical flowers/plants, and ponds containing koi who are very good at begging. (As soon as you step on any of the footbridges going over the streams, they swarm to you, it's really very funny.) Seriously pondered buying an orchid to take home, but we figured it would be too hard to try to protect it in the car on the way back. =\
For lunch we wandered into downtown Orlando proper and found a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants and markets. The food was okay, but it seems to be a constant that nothing's as good as what they make in Northern Virginia. I guess having the largest Vietnamese population in the country will do that for you. oo
Time for another dinner show in the evening -- Arabian Nights. The "Arabian" in the title really refers to the horses, as it's a horse/riding-themed show, right up my alley XD It was a hell of a lot of fun, and the horses were fantastic. Before the main show, there were also performances by a belly dancer and a stage magician, both were fairly entertaining. Tons of fun (hmm, literally?), I just wish the pics I took turned out better, but it's hard to photograph running horses, after all.
Friday - 5/12 Around the World Day II
Back to Epcot for our wrap-up day. Putzed around a little in the front of the park, the stuff focused on the future and science and all that, then went back to the World Showcase to finish the other half of the world. Nothing exceedingly special to report here, other than the fact that I heard some classical music in the "Impressions de France" movie that I simply must track down. Rar.
In the evening we went to see "La Nouba", the Cirque du Soleil show in residence at Disney. Just from pictures, I hadn't liked the costume design as much as for "Dralion" and "Varekai" (some of them really made me go "WTF?"), but as usual, the action was top-notch. No contortionists in this show, which is unusual, I think, but we did get trick-bike riders, so fair exchange? Haha. Browsing in the gift shop reminded me that I must pick up the "Fire Within" DVDs at some point... hmm.
Saturday and Sunday were driving days, so voila, that's it. Pictures to come later this week (primarily, after I get caught up with my other journal @_@; I only had to do a skip=60 on this flist to get everything, haha. XD;)
Being back at work this week, the last time I got 8 hours of sleep was the last weekend in April, and that trend will continue until (hopefully) Friday. Yargh. oo;