| 2008 Disney
Daily
Blog
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see a sampling of pictures.
7/11/08
Today was our first day in Disney World! We woke
up bright and early this morning to catch our flight and arrived
at our hotel by 11 am. The Coronado Springs resort is great!
The decor is very bright and festive. We had the hotel hold our
carry on bags, and went straight to Magic Kingdom. As we were on
Main Street, we met many new characters, including the mayor of
Magic Kingdom - Mayor Weaver, the firefighter - Chief Smokey,
and three other characters who 'live' on Main Street. We headed
over to Space Mountain where a lady who was leaving gave us 3
fast passes to ride it right then. We ate lunch at Cosmic Ray's,
went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club, and then
headed back to the hotel. We were planning on swimming - but it
started lightning. The girls chilled in a hammock near our
room, and decided they want palm trees, sand, and a hammock in
our backyard when we get home. We came back to the room and had
short naps and showers.
Tonight we went to Epcot - in the
rain!! We rode the refurbished ride of Spaceship Earth. They
have some neat new features, including screens on the cars, and
a part where they took your picture on the ride and used it
later on. We had a delicious dinner at Le Cellier - filet
mignons for the 4 of us! Megan is especially excited this trip
- because she is now an "adult" in the eyes of Disney, and can
order off the adult menu!!! We're at the hotel now - for a good
night's sleep!!! We had SUCH an early morning - but an easy
flight!! Another update tomorrow, and pictures to come soon!
7/12/08
Today was day 2 of our Disney
trip! We headed to the Blizzard Beach water park for
some fun in the sun! The last time we went to Blizzard
Beach was in 2003 so we were excited to check it out again.
We went in the wave pool, on the Downhill Double Dipper
racing slides, and down the Runoff Rapids. We went in
the Ski Patrol Training Camp where the girls went across
icebergs and went down a slide. We were in line to do
the Ski Lift, but they had to close it down because of
seeing lightning. It was only sprinkling, so we went
in the Lazy River. It started pouring while we were in
it, and we decided to head back to our hotel when they
closed all the rides temporarily.
We ate lunch at our hotel,
chilled, and then headed to Magic Kingdom. We were
shopping for camera cases in Exposition Hall when we saw
Pooh, Tigger, and Darby (a new Pooh character) in the back
of the store doing autographs. We took pictures with
them, and also took some fun shots with cutouts of movie
scenes. We headed over to Adventureland and picked up
fastpasses for Splash Mountain. We saw Aladdin and
Jasmine, and then rode Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride.
Then we decided to watch a show we'd never seen before, the
Enchanted Tiki Room show with Iago and Zazu. By then, it was
time to ride Splash Mountain, so we headed over there where
we got soaked! We ate a quick dinner at Columbia
Harbour House, and there was a short wait for the Haunted
Mansion, so we rode that. Then we came back to the
hotel for the night - so that we can get an early start
tomorrow morning, when we head to Epcot for the morning
extra magic hours. Look at the new pictures and check
back tomorrow for another update!
7/13/08
Today was day 3! We had
planned on heading out early, but forgot to call for a wake
up call. At 7:20 - Bonnie woke up and woke everyone
else up. We were all dressed and ready in 20 minutes
and headed to Epcot for the early entry. We rode
Soarin' and made a quick breakfast stop at Sunshine Seasons.
We headed over to Mission Space and played around in the
Advanced Training Lab. At the Imagination pavillion,
we saw Honey I shrunk the audience, rode Journey into
Imagination with Figment, and had fun in ImageWorks.
Then we went over to the World Showcase, where we walked
around the world. We saw many characters, including
Donald Duck in a sombrero, Mulan, Belle, Aurora, Snow White,
Aladdin and Jasmine, and Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. We ate in
many of the countries and took lots of pictures for the web
site. We were at Epcot for 7 1/2 hours! Then, we
came back to the hotel for a quick rest and we went to
Downtown Disney tonight. We took some pictures of
places we needed for the web site and then ate dinner at
Wolfgang Puck. Neil, Bonnie, and Megan had salmon, and
Courtney had steak. The meals and desserts were delicious.
Afterwards, we headed to Disney
Quest for some indoor fun. We went on a ride that
Megan had been too short for on our last visit to Disney
Quest a couple of years ago, called Buzz Lightyear's
Astroblasters. We played some arcade games, and then did an
animation class where we learned how to draw Donald Duck. We
were there for about 2 hours, and then left. We were
surprised to see it was raining and we got a little wet as
we headed to the bus. Once we got to our hotel room
and were wet and ready to change clothes, we had a nice
surprise in our room. A bouquet of 7 helium balloons,
and a personalized autographed note from Cinderella and one
from Snow White were on our table! One said "The
Suchart Family - May all your dreams come true! Have a
magical stay! Cinderella". The other one said "Suchart
Family - With a smile and a song. Have a magical day.
Snow White!" It was a really nice surprise!
Off to sleep for a full day
tomorrow. Hey - tomorrow is almost here! Isn't
it someone's anniversary tomorrow?? #18??? Happy
Anniversary to Bonnie & Neil!!! We'll be going to
Animal Kingdom and Epcot for dinner at Teppan Edu - one of
our favorite restaurants! Check out the pictures!!!
7/14/08
Day 4 - Happy Anniversary to
Bonnie & Neil! What a great place to celebrate our
anniversary - Disney World! We started our day at
Animal Kingdom. As the girls entered the park, they
were each given a special Disney trading pin by a cast
member to trade with anyone they wish. Bonnie went to
Guest Relations to get special "Happy Anniversary" buttons
and LOTS of anniversary wishes were recieved by Disney
guests and cast members! Neil, Courtney & Megan rode
Expedition Everest 2 times in a row. It's their favorite
ride at Animal Kingdom! The first ride they rode in
the very back of the roller coaster, and the second time
they were in the first and second cars! We saw It's Tough To
Be A Bug - a 3D show featuring the characters from Bug's
Life. As we were walking in the park, we saw DeVine, a neat
atmosphere character who is camouflaged in the greenery.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch and a little swim, and
found towel animals waiting for us on the bed.
This afternoon we headed to
Epcot. We went on the Maelstrom boat ride in Norway,
and watched a 360 Circlevision show in Canada.
We enjoyed a stroll through some countries, and ate dinner
at one of our favorite restaurants - Teppan Edo in Japan!
The chefs cook at your table, and you sit at a table with
other guests. The family we sat with just happened to be
from Odessa, Texas. Small world. When we came back to our
hotel - we had a VERY nice basket of snacks and soft drinks
waiting for us with an anniversary wish from some special
friends of ours. THANK YOU TO THEM! What a great
way to end a special day!!!! Perfect for some
"morning, afternoon, and late night snacks!!!" Thanks for
thinking of us!
Tomorrow, we're heading to
Typhoon Lagoon in the morning! We're also very excited
about our dinner tomorrow at Yachstman's Steakhouse!
7/15/08
Day 5 - WOW! What a day!!!
We decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon this morning, before the
rain came. It was SUCH a fun water park. We had
never been there before and loved it! First, we went
on Gangplank Falls, a family raft ride that was fun for all
of us!We went in the lazy river, the big wave pool, Keelhaul
Falls, and Mayday Falls. Neil took lots of pictures,
we ate lunch out there, and had more fun in the water!
We left around 1:00 when the sky was starting to get dark.
We made it to the hotel just in time for the rain to let
loose!
After we got back from the water
park - there was a knock on the door. A hotel employee
had two large stuffed animals - a lion and a tiger - and a
letter. WOW!!! Bonnie's 3 sisters are just the
best friends, and sisters anyone could have!!! They
arranged a special amazing treat for us - at Animal Kingdom
later this week. You will have wait and see later this
week and read the blog to see what the surprise is!!!
This afternoon we went to
Downtown Disney for a little shopping, and then headed to
Yacht Club resort for one of our favorite meals!! We
love to eat at Yachtsman's Steakhouse - and order a 24 ounce
Porterhouse steak. Not one - but FOUR!! They are
so amazing, with the filet mignon and the strip. YUM!!
Check out the pictures!! After dinner, we went back to
Downtown Disney for a little more shopping. We had to
walk off our delicious dinner!! Megan is already
asleep, and we've only been back for 10 minutes!
Tomorrow - we're headed to Hollywood Studios.
7/16/08
Day 6 - This morning, we headed
off to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as Disney-MGM
Studios). The girls went straight to Tower of Terror
while Neil got them fast passes to Rock N Roller Coaster.
After they rode Rock N Roller Coaster, we headed to Toy
Story Pizza Planet for a little pizza snack. Next we
saw Muppet Vision 3-D, and went on the Backlot Tour.
We got a little snack of pretzels and ice cream, and
afterwards staked out spots for the parade. Everyone
loved the new parade, Block Party Bash. After that, we rode
a cool new ride - Toy Story Mania. We wore 4-D glasses on
the ride, which was really neat because it was interactive.
We saw many characters throughout the day, including Kim
Possible and Ron Stoppable, Mike Wazowski, Green Army Man,
and characters who are 'from Hollywood.'
We came back to the hotel just
as it was starting to rain. We rested and did a load
of laundry. We ate dinner at Maya Grill, which is at our
hotel. After dinner, we headed to Downtown Disney to
go to Disney Quest again. We rode a few Virtual
Reality rides that we hadn't done before. The girls
did a Comix book activity where they wore virtual reality
helmets and used a 'sword'. We did two rides as
a family. On the Virtual Jungle Cruise, we sat in an
inflatable raft where we used oars to go down a river. On
the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, we went onto a virtual
boat where Megan was the captain and drove the ship. Bonnie,
Neil, and Courtney pulled the cannons to fire bullets at
other ships. Disney Quest is a fun place!!!
Tomorrow we plan to go to Magic
Kingdom and then Epcot for dinner. We'll be eating at
Le Cellier again - one of our favorite Disney restaurants!!!
Be sure to click on the link to see pictures of the fun we
are having!!!!
7/17/08
Day 7 - We
headed out to Magic Kingdom this morning. As we entered
Town Square, Courtney let out a little scream. Jiminy
Cricket was out and signing autographs. He is a VERY rare
character, and we have never seen him out! We also got Bert
and Mary Poppins. We headed over to Tomorrowland and rode
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. As we got off the ride,
Megan was excited to see her favorite character at the exit
- Stitch! We went over to Toontown next and went into the
Hall of Fame where we saw Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. We
stopped for a snack at the fruit market and then visited
Mickey's house, where we saw Mickey and Minnie at the end!
Next, we saw Mickey's Philharmagic 3-d show in Fantasyland.
After the show, we ate lunch at one of our favorite places -
El Pirate y El Perico. We saw Wendy and Peter Pan, and then
walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse. It started to
sprinkle, so we went and saw The Hall of Presidents. The
rain had picked up by the time the show was over, so we went
over to the Emporium right before the HUGE rainstorm
started. Luckily we were inside and able to do some
shopping. Once the rain let up, we headed back to the hotel
to chill, and change for dinner.
Tonight we went to Epcot. We rode Test Track, and walked
around in Innoventions. We enjoyed dinner at Le Cellier in
Canada again. That is where we ate our first night, and as
you can imagine, is one of our favorite restaurants!!! We
watched part of the Illuminations fireworks, and since it
was Extra Magic Hours, we headed to the Epcot Character Spot
for autographs and pictures! After that, we looked around
in the Epcot's 25th Anniversary exhibit, which we were happy
to see was still there. The 25th anniversary was last
October, so we hadn't seen the exhibit yet and were glad we
got the chance to. We were all tired, so we decided to head
back to our hotel for the night. Check back tomorrow -
we're heading to Hollywood Studios in the morning, Grand
Floridian for dinner, and Magic Kingdom at night! Make sure
to take a look at the pictures each day as well!
7/18/08
Day 8 - This
morning, we went to Hollywood Studios, where it was early
entry for guests staying on property. We were able to
ride the new Toy Story Mania ride twice, and get a fast pass
for later in the day. The girls also rode Rock N
Roller Coaster. After they got off, we got fast passes
for later. We watched the High School Musical 2 show,
and got a snack, then headed to Disney's Wide World of
Sports. It's something we've been wanting to check
out, but never took the time to go before. It's a HUGE
sports complex, and the Atlanta Braves even have their
spring training there. Today, we saw kids playing
baseball, soccer, and basketball. We ate lunch there,
and then headed back to Hollywood Studios. Courtney
and Megan rode Rock N Roller Coaster one more time, and the
4 of us rode Toy Story Mania. We got caught (again) -
in a major downpour - as we headed out of the park and went
back to our hotel.
Tonight, we
had dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel, at the 1900 Fare
Restaurant. It is a character buffet meal with
Cinderella, Prince Charming, the stepmother - Lady Tremaine,
and the two stepsisters - Anastasia and Drizella.
After dinner, we took the monorail back to Magic Kingdom
where we saw fireworks (FINALLY!). It's hard to
believe we've been here for a week, and tonight was our
first time to see the fireworks this trip, which we all
enjoyed! Then we rode Tomorrow Transit Authority - and
called it a night! Check out today's pictures, and be
sure to check back tomorrow. We are very excited about
our adventure at Animal Kingdom tomorrow!
7/19/08
Day 9 – When we headed out this morning, we knew we were in
for a treat, but had no idea what!! Thank you to Bonnie’s
sisters, Jill, Lara, and Suzy, for arranging an amazing
“behind the scenes” tour at Animal Kingdom. We had such a
neat experience!! We were driven in a Disney van, to the
Animal Programs building at Animal Kingdom. We went to see
the elephants first, where we met Ike, the elephant
manager. We saw the newest addition, Tzabo, a 3 week old
elephant who only weighs 327 pounds!! (His mom weighs 8000
pounds!!!). In addition to Tzabo, we saw two other
elephants, the mom and her friend. We toured the elephant
barn and saw where the elephants sleep and take a bath.
Then, we went to the Rhino barn and met Steve and Jaqueline,
who showed us around. There, we met Sammy, a 40 year old
Rhino. We were able to pet him – he has tough skin!! The
girls got to help brush his skin, and we watched him eat
alfalfa. Then we went to the Animal Tracking station, where
we met Carol and Pammy. We got to hear some elephant sounds
on the computer (we heard them trumpeting and talking). We
also saw some neat ways that they have tracked animals,
including projects on cotton-tip tamarinds and sea turtles.
From there, we had our driver drop us off at the front of
Animal Kingdom, where we stayed for the day.
We did some shopping, ate lunch at Pizzafari, and were
walking around after getting a few autographs at Camp
Mickey-Minnie. We had bought matching blue Disney World tye
dye shirts a few days ago at Disney’s Hollywood Studios,
especially for our “behind the scenes” adventure – and as we
were wearing them, a Disney cast member walked up to us, and
said to us “I see that you’re wearing matching shirts. Did
you wear them hoping that you would win something?” We said
no, and then she asked us if we planned on still being at
the park at 4:00 – we said yes. She said “How would you
like to be in our Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, and ride
on a float?” Can you guess what we said?? YES!!! We were
told to be at a certain gate at 3:30 to have 30 minutes of
prep time, and then the parade would start at 4:00. We got
our costumes backstage (hats and vests), met the other
families that were selected, and then got on our float. It
was SUCH a neat experience and we had a great time!! We
were on the hippo float, which was right in front of
Minnie’s float. We’ll have more pictures once we view our
Photo Pass pictures that the park photographers took as we
were in the parade. Be sure to check out what we did – with
our digital camera.
We rode several rides during the day, and Bonnie surprised
us all! She said she would ride Expedition Everest! The
girls and Neil LOVE this ride, and were pleasantly shocked,
that Bonnie actually said she’d ride it. Well, after riding
it once, she decided NOT to ride it again, and leave all of
the fast passes for Neil, Courtney, and Megan!! After
that, the girls and Neil rode it a second time, and then we
went to eat at Yak and Yeti. It’s a new restaurant that
recently opened up. It was delicious!! We enjoyed the
dinner AND dessert! Check out the pictures.
Tonight, we had a special treat, seeing fireworks from our
hotel. The girls are going out for a little swim now. They
have enjoyed having a pool very close to our room.
Check out the pictures!!! Tomorrow we’re heading to Epcot
for early entry, and we have a Princess dinner in Norway!
7/20/08
Day 10 – We woke up early, since the early entry park
for hotel guests was Epcot, and it opened an hour
earlier at 8:00. We rode Soarin' and got a fast pass to
ride it later tonight, since we were going back to Epcot
for dinner. Then we boarded a bus for Hollywood
Studios. They opened at 9:00, and we were there at
9:05! We went straight to Toy Story Mania, the new
attraction, and went in the single rider lane. That
means that they use the people in the single rider lane
to fill in parties with an odd number. We could have
gone in the stand-by line, but it was 20 or 30 minutes,
so we chose to do it this way. If you choose this line,
you might sit next to someone you don't know, or you
might get to sit by someone in your party. We rode it
FOUR times in a row - getting off at the end and getting
back in the single rider line. This line was so short!
We got a snack of a frozen lemonade and soft pretzel,
and then did a little shopping. Courtney and Megan went
to go ride Rock N Roller Coaster, since they had a
re-entry pass from the other day, when it temporarily
had to shut down while they were in line.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch, and a swim at
the main pool. We all chilled - either on the computer
or taking a nap, and got ready for dinner. We headed
over to Epcot, and went to Spaceship Earth. After
riding, it was time for our dinner reservations at
Akershus, so we walked over to Norway. Before we got
seated, we took a picture with Belle in her corner. We
were happily surprised to find out that we got 5 copies
of the picture included in our meal. The food was
great. It was half buffet and half table service. The
buffet had appetizers including shrimp, deli, fruit, and
salad, and then we ordered our entree from a menu. In
addition to Belle, we had visits at our table from
Cinderella, Aurora, Jasmine and Ariel (in her ball
gown). After dinner, we went over to the Land
pavilion. We used our fastpass for Soarin' from earlier
and enjoyed our ride. We made a quick stop in a gift
shop, and then headed out for the night. We started
packing tonight to get ready for our flight on Tuesday.
Tomorrow we are heading to Magic Kingdom. Take a look
at the pictures from today and check back tomorrow for
another update!
7/21/08
Day 11 - Thirteen and a half hours straight at
Magic Kingdom! We did lots of attractions and saw some
characters. We saw the afternoon and night time
parades. We're exhausted. Heading home tomorrow.
Email us with questions or
comments.
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