WDW - What haven't we done? Let's do it!

I am going to try and finish up the Disney World posts, so that I can move on to the rest of the summer.  As I said earlier, this trip to Disney World was awesome.  The thing that I love about Disney is that you can go once a year and still have a completely different trip each time.  The "whole world" is so big, that there is no way you can do it all in one vacation and therefore there are always lots of things to do next time.  Also, Disney is constantly refurbishing rides and attractions and adding new ones.

So what did we do this trip that we hadn't done before?


1. Katie auditioned for American Idol.

Katie still has a dream of being a singer, and is not shy about it. She has sung in our school talent show twice. Not just singing, but singing a solo on stage in front of 500 people. She also does not hesitate to reach out and talk to people....she's definitely not shy in that area.  So...when we found out that the American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios allows anyone to complete the audition process, regardless of age, guess where she and I went?

It was fun, you get 30 seconds of song time with a AI casting agent, and then if you are 14 years or older, you may be asked to go on to the next level, and maybe eventually be chosen to be part of the AI show at Disney.  The final winner each day gets a "Golden Ticket" to go to the front of any American Idol Audition anywhere in the US.

Katie did a fantastic job and was told by the casting agent that we met with that she is a great "performer," and that she doesn't just sing her song, but does a nice job of performing them.



2. We did see Phineas and Ferb.  The meet n greet started ata 10:00 and we were in line at 9:40 - the 4th family in line.  It is a really cute experience.  Because we were their for the first set of the day - we saw the opening which was a lot of fun if you are Phineas and Ferb fans.  They play their music and the characters enter, but also there is a little show going on in front of the meet-n-greet.  The "movie director" is holding auditions and asking for volunteers to be in the new P and F movie that he is going to be filming.  After we got our pics taken with P and F, the girls hung out and were chosen to be part of the show.  They played air guitars to Gitchy, Gitchy, Goo.  So much fun!

3. We rode the new star wars ride, Star Tours - 6 times! Actually, I rode it 4, but Car, Don and Katie rode it 6.  The ride is very cool - it is 3D, so you need the glasses and it has an intro, beginning, middle and end segment.  The fun part is that they switch the segments, so it is basically a different ride each time.  You will randomly get one of the 4 intros, 4 beginnings, 4 middles and 4 endings.  Don did research and by riding 6 times, he and the girls were able to see all of the different segments.

4. The girls completed 3 Kim Possible Missions!
We discovered the Kim Possible missions the last time we were there and the girls wanted to do it again.  This attraction is a lot of fun and the girls loved it this time.  In Epcot, you find the Kim Possible Kiosks and sign up to get a Kimmunicator. :)

The Kimmunicator is a little cell phone type of thing that talks to you and gives you clues as to where to go and then you push buttons on the cell phone and if you are in the right place, then things happen (statues talk to you, pictures move, fountains start flowing, volcanoes explode).  Your goal is to help Kim Possible and her friends save the world from the bad guys.  The missions focus around one country in the World Showcase in Epcot and take about 20 minutes.  When you are done with your mission, you can turn in your communicator to a KP kiosk or ask for another mission and go to another country.  We had extra time, so the girls got to do 3 missions - Japan, China, and Mexico.  The cast members know about sibling issues and have their standard line of "every time the Kimmunicator makes this sound, you have to give it to your sister and she gets to hold it."  It worked out very well and the girls loved it.  This attraction also "forces" you to explore the World Showcase, which we are guilty of not doing.  We saw some really neat things in Japan, China and Mexico this time thanks to Kim Possible.

They worked together and actually didn't argue about who got to be in charge, so cute!! :)

5. At Animal Kingdom, we rode the Dinosaur ride as a family.

Katie was TERRIFIED and I admit, I wasn't too excited about it either.  It turned out to not be that bad, but Katie basically rode with her eyes closed and ears plugged the whole time.  The ride is a "time travel" ride back to the time of the dinosaurs, but the dinosaurs got loose and are roaming free, so it is VERY DANGEROUS! :)

Here is our ride pic:

Notice the back row......:)

The thing about the ride pics is that they are very expensive, but thanks to the Disboards (where I do a lot of my disney research) I discovered that Disney doesn't really care if you take photos of your ride picture on the big board, that way you don't have to pay big bucks for a picture.  Only once or twice was there a cast member there that frowned upon it.

Here are some other ride pics that I captured:

Buzz Lightyear:

Splash Mountain:

6. We saw the new Fantasyland expansion area.
We had to ride Dumbo to get a good view of the construction, but here it is, so far.  I can't wait to go back in 2013 and have another totally new experience at WDW!!

7. We got to the Magic Kingdom before rope drop and were one of the first families into the park.  Carleigh and I were the first people of the day on the Snow White Ride.   This happened again in Hollywood Studios - we were in the right place at the right time and were the first family of the day on the Star Tours ride.  That is part of the reason that we had no lines, because we woke early and avoided all the people that were up late and sleeping in.  By noon the parks were CRAZY!!

 The girls in the empty Magic Kingdom!

No lines for the teacups so they rode them 2 times in a row!

I could talk about Disney forever, but I think I am done now and ready to move on. (Can you believe it?) It was a great vacation and lots of fun. I would go back during 4th of July week again and have no regrets about planning another summer trip - not to mention that we all forgot that the reason we decided to go this year was because we got a code for free dining.  It wasn't until we were at the beach that we remembered that all the food that we had was FREE!  That made it a lot more memorable.

Lots left to do this summer and many more memories to make....not to mention I will be back with Disney in 19 days. :)

So...up next - highlights of our annual beach trip and then off to Seattle in 9 days and Vancouver and Alaska with Disney in 19! :)

Stay Tuned.....