Princess Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World; Part: 2

By Nick

Part 2 : Friday, February 19th

I woke up early and hopped a bus for Disney's Animal Kingdom for opening and headed right to Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Well, technically, the first thing I did was stop for photos at every PhotoPass Cast Member I came across. As an Annual Passholder, this service is now included in the price, and well, if you are a fan of this blog, you already know I love getting my picture taken, so I will be taking advantage of this for sure! As an extra awesome bonus, the photos are available on the My Disney Experience App pretty quickly!

After my safari, I contacted my friends and family, who told me they were on their way. I headed to the front of the park to meet them, stopping for coffee and chocolate pastry at Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery. I have found that my old favorite, the chocolate croissants, are not as readily available as they used to be, this, it turns out, is better!

After meeting up with my gang, and getting a group photo, they all used their FastPasses for Expedition Everest and I went over to The Boneyard in Dinoland to meet long time friend and one of the earliest readers of this very blog, The Disney Freak herself, Molly!

Amber, Ryan, Jill, Zach and me.

We all met back up to have lunch at Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafe and then back Dinoland to ride Dinosaur followed by a walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek before getting a frosty adult beverage at the Wanjohi Refreshment stand located in Harambe Market.

After riding Kilimanjaro Safaris, I left for the Animal Kingdom Lodge to hop a bus over to the Health and Fitness Expo at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to meet up with my Disney Exchange Podcast co-hosts Lisa and Dave, as well as their spouses and to pick up my Enchanted 10K race packet and shirt.

                                                                              Raymond, me, Lisa, Dave and Anne

A little while later I met up with Jill, Zach, Amber and Ryan and we went into downtown Orlando to try the newly opened Wahlburgers. This will forever be know as The Wahlburgers Incident to me, and a full account of it can be found here.

I got back to the room around 9:45pm, and luckily fell asleep very quickly as the following day's activities would be getting underway at 3am!


Princess Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World; Part: 1

Lady and the Tramp. And Lady and the Tramp : Story Behind the Photo

Back in October of 2009, while at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, we were looking around Exposition Hall, which is now the Town Square Theater.

 

We asked a Cast Member (I wish I could remember his name!) to take our picture. Another Cast Member (and I can't remember her name either!) came over holding the stuffed Lady and the Tramp pictured above. She then told my wife to close her eyes, and motioned for me to get on my knees in front of her.
We asked yet another Cast Member to photograph us all together.
I honestly can't remember how we all wound up hamming it up like this, but it's yet another wonderful Disney moment captured in a photo.

Disney Memory Maker (previously known as Photopass Plus) Tips

By: Shendl

When I traveled to WDW with my husband in September 2013, I debated the idea of adding what was then known as Photopass Plus. I was concerned that I would not get my money’s worth of photographs to warrant the pre- purchase price of $149. Normal price was $199.

Boy was I wrong!! It is a fantastic program and if you do the pre-purchase you can get a whopping $50 discount of the normal price of $199 which brings it to $149!

This program allows you to add all your ride photos, your character meal photos and any Official Photographer Photos that you have taken in the parks.

You can find Photopass Photographers at many places throughout the parks and all the main icons and character spots. A few Character meal restaurants also have photographers.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/photo-pass-service/

There is a map with a list of places where you can have your photos taken on the above official site.

1900 Park Fare – you have your picture taken in front of the Cinderella Castle Mural.

At 1900 Park Fare, we didn’t get the printed out pictures as it seemed it was an extra purchase at this restaurant.

Tusker House – you get your picture taken with Donald Duck.

At Tusker House we got the printed out pictures at no extra charge as well as the pictures loaded onto our account.

My Tips for making the most of Memory Maker Program!

If you have the time
    •    Stop at every Photographer you have time for

    •    Ask if they can do Magic Shots ie: Tink on your hand, Holding baby Simba

    •    Make sure to load all your ride photo’s onto your Card or Magic Band depending on what they ask you for
    •    If you are having a character meal and there is a photographer before you enter the restaurant, you can have these pictures added as well.
    •    The photographers will also take a picture with your camera if you request it
    •    Have fun with the pics

When you get home, you have 45 days to edit your pictures and then you can order your CD or download them. The CD is included in the price.
My Opinion is that it is definitely worth the money for trips longer than 3 days and you get your whole group in the picture!

Expedition Everest – Experience of a Life Time!

By: Shendl

On my last trip in 2004, a mountain was rising out of Asia in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I made a vow then and there, that I would ride Everest on my next trip!

Fast Forward to Sept 2013…

Our first day in Walt Disney World was in Animal Kingdom. I had preselected my FastPass Plus’s(we had Magic Bands), our chosen ones were Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur and Expedition Everest!

We started out with Breakfast at Tusker House, followed by a wet ride on Kali River Rapids and then we made our way towards Everest.

The walk up to the ride is very well themed (it is Disney, after all) and there is a lot to look at on the walk to the Entry to Everest. We touched our Magic Bands to gain entry at our chosen FastPass + Window.  Being September, the crowds were very low so there were not a lot of people in the queues and the standby lines were moving very quickly. With the FastPass we basically walked right on. We were loaded into our vehicles, stowed away our belongings and off we went.

The beginning of the ride is quite slow and you get to see lots of Animal Kingdom on the way up to Everest itself.

When you enter Everest is where the FUN begins.

I won’t reveal too much in case some of the readers haven’t ridden this yet.

I can tell you that there is a part in the dark where you are going backwards and you also go forwards down a curved track very fast!!

I enjoyed this ride but I must admit when I got off it, my heart was beating so fast!!

It is worth riding Expedition Everest, even if you only ever do it once. You can at least tick it off your Disney Bucket List!

Some TIPs for riding Everest:

    •    If you are a Pin Trader and are wearing your Lanyard, either take in off before the ride or tuck it into your clothes. The speed’s you are going can cause pins to come loose and you could possibly loose some.
    •    The hold compartments in the ride are not very large, only big enough for small items such as Caps, Sunglasses etc. Make sure you have your backpacks and handbags securely between your feet.
    •    The PhotoPass (now Memory Maker) Screens are right at the exit of the ride before you walk into the shop. Make sure to write down the number of photo before you head to the counter to have it added to your package or to purchase the print.
    •    You may experience Motion Sickness on this ride so make sure to take some motion sickness medicine before you ride.

AWESOME Ride – WORTH every second!!

Avoiding the Multi Camera Shoot Trap on Your Disney Vacation

You're with family or friends. You are lined up to get a photo with your favorite character while members of your group are off on the sideline waiting to photograph the moment.
One person is standing over here with a camera phone, the other over there with a DSLR. Throw in the Disney PhotoPass photographer into the mix, and you have a multi-photoshoot mess!
This happened to us on a trip back in November of 2011 when were getting our pictures taken with Beauty and the Beast at Epcot.

My wife, Barbie, handed her Nikon to our friend, and proceeded to look in that direction. The rest of us didn't get the memo.

Sadly, this is NOT the only time this has happened on a vacation.
How to avoid this?
Make sure everyone in your group with a camera is in one spot, ideally, around the PhotoPass photographer.
Or have Belle point out to your wife which way to look.

Finally you may come up with a picture where everyone is looking in one direction.
Of course, if you don't buy the PhotoPass photo, you may not get the shot you are happy with at all!

Soooo, having your party stand around the PhotoPass photographer is a good bet.
You can also ask the photographer or accompanying Cast Member to use your camera.
Because sometimes there is no way to wrangle a Beast into looking the right way!