🦙Live from Utopia 🦙- Sailing with Daryl 🦙8/2-8/5 🏰with bonus feature of a week at Disney Parks post cruise🏰

[h20skibum]

They had some nice shareable apps

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

Lots of choices for mains, but prime rib sounded good. 

 

 

 

Shared desserts
 

 

They brought one with a Happy Birthday since we were celebrating an early birthday for our grandson. 
 

 

And finally, special potion mints. 
 

 

 

[h20skibum]

Artist Point is also known as Storybook Dining, so we were visited by these characters. 

 

 

 

 

 

[#55worktoplay]

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

What did you think of the Expedition Everest ride? 

 

It’s got a really cool theming.  Supposedly, the Disney design team traveled to the Himalayas to have a feel of the area to recreate the village at the pre-ride area when they were designing the ride.

 

We went to AK twice during our trip and we rode the Expedition Everest on each visit.  Well, my wife did it once and that was enough for her.  I went with the boys the second time and I will say that’s it for me going forward as well.

 

Next time we go back to AK, I will be sitting outside with my wife. Too old for these upside-down fast rollercoasters. 

 

Especially this one goes backward and upside down.  My back wasn’t feeling the best afterward as I probably pulled a muscle I didn’t know I possessed…🤪

That’s how I felt about the new ride at Epcot, one and done for me. Glad I did it but…. It was a ride that you had to reserve at 7:00AM (had no clue we were winging it) so I saw the sign that said sold out and innocently asked if the ride was not open to just anybody. The gal said “is it just the two of you?” I said yes. She the said are you both okay going real fast and upside down, as though we were really old. We both said oh ya. Well apparently we are REAL old 😀😀

[perfect match]

18 hours ago, h20skibum said:

We found there were even lines at stores in Disney Springs yesterday. 

 

That is to get into Gideon’s for cookies. 
 

 

 

Although we are locals, we don’t often get to Disney Springs. Recently we were treated to a box of cookies from Gideons. We thought they definitely lived up to all the hype! 
 

I’d love to get down there to see the drone show while it is still on.

We haven’t been to Ohana for a while, so that’s on my must do again soon list. We’ve certainly had some memorable dinner there. 
 

Great pictures of Animal Kingdom! That uncooperative elephant 🐘 may have been the reason for your delay in boarding the Safari ride. If an animal is on the safari trail or are somewhere they shouldn’t be the safari vehicles are not allowed to pass through until the coast is clear and the animals are settled down where they’re supposed to be.

 

I think we’re overdue for a Disney day! 

[Norwich Cruiser]

1 hour ago, perfect match said:

 

Although we are locals, we don’t often get to Disney Springs. Recently we were treated to a box of cookies from Gideons. We thought they definitely lived up to all the hype! 
 

I’d love to get down there to see the drone show while it is still on.

We haven’t been to Ohana for a while, so that’s on my must do again soon list. We’ve certainly had some memorable dinner there. 
 

Great pictures of Animal Kingdom! That uncooperative elephant 🐘 may have been the reason for your delay in boarding the Safari ride. If an animal is on the safari trail or are somewhere they shouldn’t be the safari vehicles are not allowed to pass through until the coast is clear and the animals are settled down where they’re supposed to be.

 

I think we’re overdue for a Disney day! 

We did the drone show at 21.00 the other night it’s on again atm at 22.30 also which is a lot less packed.

 

Its good but wouldn’t bother again especially the 21.00 show it’s an absolute pain trying to leave afterwards.

 

Definitely the best rides we’ve been on so far are the new Tron ride in Magic Kingdom absolutely fantastic especially if you can grab the front two seats closely followed by Guardians of the Galaxy over at Epcot plus Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at Disney Hollywood Studios.

 

Children will love Slinky Dog Dash also at Disney Hollywood Studios.

 

Thats when they’ve not broken down which seems to be happening quite a lot  on a number of rides.

 

The 07.00 booking is an absolute nightmare.

[h20skibum]

2 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Definitely the best rides we’ve been on so far are the new Tron ride in Magic Kingdom absolutely fantastic especially if you can grab the front two seats closely followed by Guardians of the Galaxy over at Epcot plus Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at Disney Hollywood Studios.

 

Children will love Slinky Dog Dash also at Disney Hollywood Studios.

 

Thats when they’ve not broken down which seems to be happening quite a lot  on a number of rides.

 

The 07.00 booking is an absolute nightmare.

We have all of those rides booked, with the exception of Tron.  It was one ride we didn’t think our grandson would like just yet.  

[LuCruise]

Love following along.  Cruising and then Disney parks are my two favorite vacations. So wonderful you are doing two in one. Both seem amazing. It's nice to see the dining plans back at Disney. When we went in Aug of 2022 it hadn't returned yet. Hope the changed fast pass/lightning lane system is ok (or whatever it's called now). 

[h20skibum]

I mentioned before that we bought individual lightning lane passes for the popular rides, and multi-lightning lanes at each park to maximize our rides.  Disney does still have Virtual Q for Tron, Guardians, and Tiana’s rides if you want to take your chances with the 7am madness.  We didn’t want to come all this way and miss out on those rides.

 

For Magic Kingdom, prices have been running

 

Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train (Individual Lightning Lane) $11/pp

Tron (Individual Lightning Lane) $20/pp

Multi-lightning lanes $27/pp

 

 Epcot

 

Guardians of the Galaxy (Individual Lightning Lane) $15/pp

Multi-lightning lanes $19 /pp

 

Hollywood Studios

 

Rise of the Resistance (Individual Lightning Lane) $22/pp

Multi-lightning lanes $24/pp

 

Animal Kingdom

 

Avatar (Individual Lightning Lane) $14/pp

Multi-lightning lanes $17/pp

Those prices are all in addition to your park passes, so you can have a pretty big cost to spend a day at a park.  You can find more information than you want to know about prices, sell out times, lane availability, and more at

 

https://www.thrill-data.com/

 

 

[BecciBoo]

16 hours ago, h20skibum said:

$400 

WOWSA  and which part was the most expensive?  Dis or RCCL

Edited August 7 by BecciBoo

[firefly333]

3 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

WOWSA  and which part was the most expensive?  Dis or RCCL

I'd bet disney, it's a longer part. More days. 

[BecciBoo]

Oh didn't know that...but I'd still say cruise is better value.  To each their own.  Last Time I went was in 1985 and we stayed off premises.  Practically starved ourselves to afford it.  I think the park price was $69 which we thought was highway robbery!  HA

[h20skibum]

14 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

WOWSA  and which part was the most expensive?  Dis or RCCL

It is about a toss up, because we did three cabins for seven people for the three night cruise.  Disney is just the three of us for the week.  

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

We have all of those rides booked, with the exception of Tron.  It was one ride we didn’t think our grandson would like just yet.  

Our grandchildren are 9 and 7 if that helps you make a decision both thought it was the best ride ever.

[h20skibum]

10 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Oh didn't know that...but I'd still say cruise is better value.  To each their own.  Last Time I went was in 1985 and we stayed off premises.  Practically starved ourselves to afford it.  I think the park price was $69 which we thought was highway robbery!  HA

Then you don’t want to look now.  I read somewhere that something like 80% of families are going into debt to do a Disney vacation.  They don’t seem to mind, because they want to have that memorable experience with their kids. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

21 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

WOWSA  and which part was the most expensive?  Dis or RCCL

We paid about $500 for a 14 day pass.

 

Then you have lightning passes on top of that if you wish to purchase them about $20 a head which we have done three times so about another $140 per day.

 

A one day park hopper is $222 crazy.

 

Cruising is better value but Disney is Disney.

[h20skibum]

4 minutes ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Our grandchildren are 9 and 7 if that helps you make a decision both thought it was the best ride ever.

Yeah, each kid is different in what they are comfortable trying.  We want to make it a fun experience at the parks. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Then you don’t want to look now.  I read somewhere that something like 80% of families are going into debt to do a Disney vacation.  They don’t seem to mind, because they want to have that memorable experience with their kids. 

I certainly wouldn’t go into debt to visit Disney.

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Yeah, each kid is different in what they are comfortable trying.  We want to make it a fun experience at the parks. 

I’m sure they’ll have fun hope the thunderstorms stay away.

 

 

[h20skibum]

33 minutes ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

I’m sure they’ll have fun hope the thunderstorms stay away.

 

 

Been lucky so far with no rain.  Plus, it isn’t quite as humid

[h20skibum]

So, just for fun, I thought I would try one of the virtual Q this morning. It showed you could book some. 
 

 

 

I switched my watch to show seconds. (Didn’t take the picture of the watch till later.)

 

 

 

As you can see, by 7:03 they were gone. I did get a VQ for Guardians, but this boarding group was clicking as soon as it turned 7:00:00

 

 

[Momof3gurlz]

19 hours ago, h20skibum said:

The boat to Poly stopped at the Grand Floridian.  We took the monorail back to MK and then the water taxi back to our hotel. 
 

We watched fireworks from our hotel balcony. 
 

 

 

IMO fireworks, at least the Magic Kingdom ones, are best viewed from a distance.  You still see the show but without the crazy crowds leaving the park afterwards and massive lines for buses or monorails.  

[Momof3gurlz]

All this information about the new Genie and LL is very timely as we just booked a 5 night trip with our middle daughter and her family for late October. 

[h20skibum]

Today is essentially being treated as a free day for us.  We plan to try out park hopping and use of standby lanes.  
 

Took our time getting to MK today. The park is packed


 

I read that many brought home Covid from the cruise, but we are all fine. I just thought if you don’t have it, this would be a good way to get something. 
 

 

[BecciBoo]

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Then you don’t want to look now.  I read somewhere that something like 80% of families are going into debt to do a Disney vacation.  They don’t seem to mind, because they want to have that memorable experience with their kids. 

Well, we did back in the day, but it wasn't stellar, we had to leave right in the middle of the Epcot Center Ocean tour (It's not even there anymore) because my 6 yrs old son (48 now! LOL) got ear ache, whining etc. so we had to go to a clinic for drugs, so that's what I remember.  Of course we all loved it, just not enough of it.