Diana and Peter's 34th Anniversary Trip

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

Today was our anniversary, and Peter had asked me to make a reservation at Yak and Yeti for lunch again. This is the same man that a year ago wanted nothing to do with ADR's, until I snuck two into our trip in October. I think it's safe to say he's a convert now!

We started out with a bus ride with only us and another couple on. This was great - we got one of the "old time" drivers, who actually wanted to chat a bit and tell us little bits of info we might not know while we rode. For example, he told us they use the Finding Nemo show to train puppeteers for the touring Lion King show. Although Nemo is not my favourite show, it did make me look at it in a whole new light. He also spotted our anniversary buttons, and serenaded us a little, and then dropped us as close to the entrance as he could, so we wouldn't have to walk far in the rain. Yes, rain again. But, it was a misty rain, not a downpour, and it looked like it would blow off soon. We kept our fingers crossed, and headed to the turnstiles. Finally, the weather gods were with us, and just as they opened the gates, the sun came out! And then disappeared again! This "peek a boo" routine went on for about an hour, with intermittent small showers, etc., and then finally the skies cleared, and it was a beautiful day.

We started out as usual with the safari, and then the walk on the trails. The rain didn't seem to be bothering any of the animals - in fact, some of them were just snoozing and enjoying the weather. Peter got to ride Everest 3 times, and we wandered around a bit and then headed for lunch. We ordered exactly what we had last year - boring, I know. It was really good though, and we didn't see the need to mess with perfection. Honey chicken for me, seafood curry for Peter, and fried wontons for dessert - yum!

After lunch, as we were walking towards the Lion King show, I spotted DeVine out. It was hilarious - she startled one guy so much he actually jumped back! She was really good - when she tucked her head back in, even when you knew where to look, you couldn't see her. After watching the "show" for a bit, we headed over to FOTLK, and walked right in. We got great seats in the Lion section, and totally enjoyed it. Then we poked around in the stores for a bit, and decided that since it was actually hot and sunny for a change, we would head back to the resort and have a "pool day".

When we arrived in our room, we found a surprise waiting from Mousekeeping. Peter had left his anniversary button behind, and she had made us swan towel creations, and attached the button. We thought that was really sweet of her. We headed down to the pool, and spent about an hour and a half just taking it easy and floating around before the cheer leading squads descended, which was our cue to leave.

Peter took a short nap, and then it was time to hop over to MK for nutella waffles. The CM making them this time was super generous with the fruit, and after our huge lunch, this was more than enough for dinner. We took some time to wander through the rose garden, rode the PeopleMover twice, and called it a day.

This was May 4th, and over at HS there was a Star Wars special event thing going on. We knew it would probably be a zoo, so had decided not to go. But at 10 p.m., I could hear the theme from Star Wars outside, so we stepped out onto the balcony, and got front row seats for the fireworks show. It was terrific! We could hear the music clearly, and also were able to see all the fireworks. All in all, a great anniversary.

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It's just outside the Festival of the Lion King theater. We walked by it last year, and didn't even see it!

They really are great, and made freshly when you order. It takes a few minutes to make up, but SO worth it!

Day 5 - Back to Hollywood Studios

We were really looking forward to today, since we were finally going to get a chance to try the Sci-Fi Drive-in. In all our trips, we had never been able to get in, since Peter didn't want to make reservations. This time, I was taking no chances, so I booked us in for lunch. I was so glad I had - after we checked in, a couple arrived trying to get a walk-up seating, and they were turned away.

First up though, we did the usual things. The park opened the earliest it ever has while we were there - scheduled for 9, but opened at 8:35. Peter hustled over to Tower of Terror, and I went to get fastpasses for TSM. I knew he would ride at least twice, so I took some time taking photos while I walked over to meet him. I just love the architecture in HS, and for a change the streets were almost deserted, so I could grab a few shots without a hoard of strangers in them. Peter said he was first in line for TT, but had to wait for them to actually open up since we were in so early. He had a lovely chat with the CM's while he waited, and then got to ride 3 times before our fastpass window opened up. Once we had used this one, we promptly got another one for later, and then headed over to Star Tours. For both our trips last year, I had looked for Jessi, but she was never working when we were there. I kept my eyes open for her during our first ride, but nope, no Jessi. We decided to do one more ride, and just as we were coming out of the simulator, a CM went whizzing by. I did a double take, called her name, and yes, it was OUR Jessi!! It was great to chat for a few moments and get a photo - she is such a nice person. Peter had to admit that yes, my "internet friends" actually DO exist!

Then it was on to the Great Movie Ride, and lunch. We had a great time at Sci-Fi. The theming is so much fun, and our server was great. We both ordered milkshakes, and they were the best I've had in a long time. We each ordered a reuban sandwich, but if we had known how huge they were, we probably would have shared just one. They were too good to waste though, so we managed to finish them. Even though the restaurant was busy, we never felt we were being hurried along or pushed out. We would definitely go back again.

Then it was back to TSM, where as usual, Peter beat my score without even trying. I have fun, but I'm really bad at this stuff! Then we hopped the boat to Epcot, and wandered around the WS, just enjoying the weather and the low crowds. Then back to the resort to kick back and more pool time. Peter was complaining his feet were hurting a bit, but I felt fine, so after the pool, I went on my own and wandered the grounds of Pop, and then crossed the bridge over to A of A and wandered there for a while. If we had little ones, I would love staying in the Cars section. They've done a great job with the theming and decor! When I returned, we decided that neither of us was hungry, so we skipped dinner altogether and called it a day.

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Day 6 - Epcot. We finally ride Test Track!

Yes, we finally got to ride Test Track. We thought it might be a bust again though - we headed straight there at rope drop, only to hear the CM's telling everyone it was down, and they didn't know when it would be back up. This was getting a little annoying, but we shrugged it off and managed to ride Soarin' standby, and then got fastpasses to ride it again later. We thought we would try TT again, and yay! it was finally running. The standby time was 20 minutes, so we were glad we didn't waste a fastpass on this, and finally got to actually ride it. After all that, we were kind of "so/so" about it. We liked the outside track part, but the rest was a bit of a disappointment. It's a fun ride, but if we miss it in future trips, I wouldn't be very upset.

By now we had been at Epcot several times, so we just rode our favourites, and spent some time walking in the sun, enjoying the topiaries and the sights. I bought Murano glass earrings for myself (blue) and my best friend (copper colour) in Italy, and then Peter told me he was ready for lunch. He wanted fish and chips again, and that was fine with me. We had an uninvited guest while we ate - a very bold duck who was determined to share our lunch. He kept pecking at my leg, and grabbing my socks, but he was destined to be disappointed. I know people feed them all the time - that's why they beg. Disney does its best to ask you not to, and we agree with them. It's not a good thing to turn wild creatures into beggars.

After lunch, we meandered a bit more, and then stopped and had a dole whip and some pineapple upside-down cake. I had plans to try the dole whip with spiced rum, but really didn't feel like that today, so we settled for sharing just the plain one. I'm so glad you all introduced us to dole whips!

We left Epcot in mid-afternoon, and went back to the resort. Peter wanted a nap, I caught up with some email from home, and then we had dinner in the food court. We had another towel creature waiting for us - our fourth! Then on to HS - we had never seen Fantasmic, and there was a 10:30 show this evening. We had heard that the later shows are easy to get into, and not crowded. We rode Star Tours twice first, Peter got a ride on TT, and then it was time to enter the theater. An hour after the first show, and people were still coming out! They said it was totally full, and I believe it! The advice to go to the second show was spot on - we got great seats in the center section, about 2/3 of the way up. We also got an extra show - 3 rows in front of us, we watched a proposal (and acceptance!). It was so much fun -everyone around applauded and cheered for them, and then the real show started. This is the second proposal we have been lucky to witness - last year we saw one during Wishes in MK. Anyway, Fantasmic was great - I can't believe we had never taken the time to do this before. After the show, we headed for the buses, and walked right on, no waiting. A perfect end to a perfect day.

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Oh - these are the earrings I picked up in Italy.

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He (she?) was actually quite funny. It didn't hurt when he poked at me, and his quacks of disappointment were very loud. We see people feeding the animals fries, popcorn, etc., all the time, and it's really annoying. If that stuff isn't good for people, what makes them think it's good for the animals? Usually they are doing it right beside a sign that asks you not to!

Day 7 - Magic Kingdom again

This was kind of a sad day for us - our last day in the parks. Our flight left in mid-afternoon the following day, so our pick-up time was 10 a.m. No last minute park hopping after today.

We decided we would just do whatever struck our fancy, so of course I had to take a last ride on Peter Pan, and we had to do two rides in the Haunted Mansion. Then Pirates, and since it was warm, I told Peter he really should go do Splash Mountain. He always says he feels bad that I have to sit and wait for him, but I really don't mind. I don't think he should have to miss rides he likes just because I'm a sissy. After Splash, he decided he would do BTMR too. We had last done this 15 years ago, with our son. None of us liked it at the time, but I thought Peter at least should give it another chance. He still didn't care for it, which is totally puzzling to me. This is the man who loves Everest, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, etc., but he doesn't like a tame roller coaster?

We were really lucky - we didn't wait longer than 10 minutes for anything. Even Jungle Cruise was a mere 5 minutes just before noon. By then we had worked up an appetite, and decided that we would stop at Columbia Harbour House. Peter loves their shrimp basket (are you noticing a theme here? This man loves seafood!), and I had the tuna sandwich. Tuna salad is the one seafood Peter doesn't like, otherwise I would have been content to share this one. It's huge! We were walking VERY slowly after lunch - we were just stuffed.

Finally, we made it over to Buzz and Tomorrowland. The wait times were starting to get longer, so we hopped on the PeopleMover first, and hoped the lines would be shorter when we got off. I was disappointed this trip to notice that they aren't paging "Mr. Morrow. Mr. Tom Morrow" anymore. What's up with that? Our delaying tactics worked perfectly, and we were able to ride Buzz Lightyear twice in a row. One of my scores was a measly 5500 - I swear my shooter wasn't working. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Peter of course scored something like 190,000, so he came off the ride with a definite swagger.

We were lucky and caught "Push" just by the Speedway. It's so much fun to watch the kids interact with him - the "handler?" does a great job. (I don't know what you would call the voice and brain of Push). It seemed a good time to start heading out of the park, but I wasn't ready to go back to the resort yet. We saw the resort monorail arriving as we exited, and since one of our new things to do was see other resorts, we hopped on and spent some time at the Grand Floridian. We will never get a chance to stay here, so it was fun to walk around the hotel and grounds and experience it a little bit anyway. It was fun to ride the monorail again too - there's something about that "monorail smell". I don't know how to describe it - Peter insists it smells like old band-aids, and I swear it smells like my first car. After pretending we were rich and famous, we hopped the bus back to reality and Pop.

Around 7 p.m., we decided to return to MK for one last spin. We didn't do much, just a few rides and wandering through the stores, etc. It was great to not worry about lines or rushing from here to there, and we stopped for one last nutella waffle. We didn't stay to watch Wishes, which I regret, but we were both tired and I had packing to do. It was a bit of a wait for the bus this time, but we met a lovely lady from Boston and had a great chat. You know you are when people start offering you their seat on the bus. I kept insisting that I was fine, and perfectly capable of standing, and was secretly asking myself "do you really look THAT old?". Oh my! Peter, on the other hand, was just miffed no one offered him a seat!

We had a great trip. Reading everyone's tips and recommendations made it even better, so thank you everyone. For the 2 people still reading, thanks for that too.

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Thanks everyone. This is only the second real report I've ever done, so I'm an amateur at this. I always enjoy reading everyone else's reports, especially if I don't have a trip planned. Unfortunately, the saddest thing is to take your ticker down, and not have a new one to put up! I'm hoping for a fall 2014 trip, but we will have to wait and see how things work out.