Orlando - Disneyworld

4th Sept - 6th Sept 2010


It's every child's dream to visit Disneyland. Well...most child.
And I am one of them! Except that I am all grown up now and visiting Disney World for the first time.

I still remember the time I visited Disneyland in Tokyo. The feeling of being transported into this magical fun land and forget all your worries. The only worry you have is not being able to finish all the rides and see all the attractions before the park closes :p

To add to that, DisneyWorld has 4 theme parks to cover! Coveted the largest Disney park in the world, I cant help but to become a child again.

Disney World Spoiler alert :)

The following section contained delicious looking pictures from Disney World
Read at your own discretion :)

I like the name of this place "Kissimmee". I was thinking how cute it will be if someone from Kissimmee travelled somewhere and someone asked them "So, where are you from?"

We were all excited each time we see the road signs pointing to "Magic Kingdom". As we journeyed closer, the dull lamp posts changed into Mickey ears. The scene got more colourful and Disney signs were all over the place.

We were given a file of colourful notes, brochures and maps as we checked into the hotel. Imagine the resort is so big, it even has its own site map! Disney All Stars Movies has 5 themed resorts: Love Bug, Toy Story, Mighty Duck, Fantasia and 101 Dalmations

This weekend, we are staying at the 101 Dalmations themed resort.

The whole room has 101 Dalmation theme from bedsheets to shower curtains

We get free pop corns which is attached to the wall when the house keeper comes in everyday!

After checking out the quaint little room we have, it's time to check out the outside of the 101 Dalmation resort.

Right in front of my room is this larger than life Pongo & Perdita

We journeyed a little further from our resort and reached the Fantasia swimming pool. Mickey dressed up in his wizard's costume in Fantasia stands on top of the water fountain right in the middle of the pool

We drove to another Disney's All Star Movies themed resort. Guess which one is this?

Yes! The Toy Story Resort!

Can you imagine how gigantic these characters are? Look at the size of the human sitting at the right side of the picture.

Suddenly we looked so tiny among these toys. We probably looked this huge in our toys' eyes (if they can "see" us)

We cruised to the other side towards the Mighty Duck resort

Help! A car just crashed into my room!

The Love Bug Resort boasted a gigantic Herbie stuck on the resort walls, with the other half of the car stuck on the opposite side.




Phew! That's a lot of fun checking out these cute buildings!

But wait, that's only Disney's All Star Movies resort. How about the other 3 ... Disney's All Star Sports resort, Disney's All Star Music resort & Disney's Pop Century resort?

So giddy up horsey! Let's go to the neighbouring Disney's All Star Sports resort. Similar to Disney's All Star Movies, which is like a resort in a resort, All Star Sports is decorated with a featured sports theme.

Here's the Surf Up themed building!

The Basket Ball themed resort

The Tennis themed resort

Thirsty? How about a giant all American drink? :)

All these eye candy and we have not even step into Disney World yet? Phew!

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Day 1: Magic Kingdom

Here I come Magic Kingdom!

The symbol of Magic Kingdom!

Tomorrowland

Frontierland
Oh yeah, we did not miss the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - in short the roller coaster

Toontown

Minnie's pink country house

Pluto's house in Mickey's compound

What's inside Mickey's house?
Why does Mickey always wins and Donald is always the loser? Poor Donald :(

It's near to Halloween and Mickey's garden is filled with giant pumpkins

Look who's here? Woody & Jessie from Toy Story.
Kid: So the toys are real!

The Haunted Mansion. One of the best attraction that test your patience queuing before testing your nerves inside.

Adventureland

The Swiss Family Treehouse is built entirely around a huge tree. It's so whimsical that for awhile I dreamed of living in a tree house.

Peter Pan's flight. Another hit in Magic Kingdom. Beautiful ride but too short compared to the time I queued up even with my Fast Pass. Zzz...

The city of Agrabah. For those who watched Aladdin will catch this name

Our stomach started to rumble. We saw people walked by eating this huge chunk of meat and immediately turned into Turkey-Leg-Famine-Monsters hunting for the stall selling it. Sniffing and following the crowd, we queued in line to get our Turkey leg.

As I was munching away, someone asked me where did I get the Turkey leg. I can see the look in his eyes that he has recently turned into the Turkey-Leg-Famine-Monster!


Mind you the leg is so BIG, we get so bloated halfway through it. The sea gulls or duck gathered among us hoping to get a bite. It feels wrong to feed those birds with one of their own kind.

Cinderella's Castle at night
I am glad my point and shoot camera can still produce a descent image of the castle with minimal light and shaky hands

The night wrapped up with the magical firework display.

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Day 2: EPCOT

(Quite) early in the morning, we prepared for Epcot. The Disney bus (like the one seen above) transported us to our destination. With the dandy music in the bus, it feels like we were journeying to a very "Happy Place"

Epcot is something new to me. I went to Epcot not knowing what to expect but the moment I reached Epcot's gates, this giant ball (Spaceship Earth) greeted us.

Inside this ball is a 16 min ride through time and space

Epcot has many nooks and corners to explore. This piggy playground is so cute!

I have always wanted to ride the Segway...and today is the day!

From far, we saw a robotic machine hauling passengers up and then throwing them down mercilessly. This is The Sum of All Thrills ride. We get a chance to design our own roller coaster track in an interactive screen. Customize the height, the number of spins and speed. Then, climbed into the 4-D robotic simulator to experience our own customized track! Woohoo! Felt so awesome as we went 360 degrees and thrown like a rag doll.

As we hopped from one attraction to another, we met the Chipmunks!

We edged ourselves to the other part of Epcot - The World Showcase

This is where you get to "visit" different parts of the world in a day, as Disney made it more distant friendly by placing the countries within walking distance.

While entering Epcot, these birds were giving me the eye...

Including this larger than life eye...

Welcome to the first country - Canada

We enjoyed the O Canada show! Unlike the cinema where the screen is right in front of you, the circular theatre is fully surrounded with screens. This is how we enjoyed the 360 show twisting our head and turning our bodies as if we are really witnessing Canada's sights and scenes in person

Our stomach started to grumble and we were pretty pleased to have a Fish and Chip meal in the United Kingdom :)

Hey! Alice is just around the corner

Living in this whimsical cottage

Behold the regal sights of the UK

And here's Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins: Little Girl, stop stepping on my dress!

Other countries in just a lake away

Finally, we arrived in France. What a beautiful sight

This French restaurant looks so quaint. It'll be lovely to have some escargot & wine here.

And there's a show by the waiter and chef outside

I don't think I can hold myself up like that and this guy just did that on stacked chairs

Holy moly! Steady...steady...

After falling in love with the performance and the cute-balancing-on-the-chair guy, it's time to move on. Mmm...France is really a place to fall in love, don't you think?

The classical and elegant architecture of France was replaced with buildings in red as we entered Morocco

The buildings here are equally intricate boasting its tiling works

It's strange that even we are actually not in Morocco but the atmosphere and buildings made us feel we are really there. Take this this Moroccan bazaar for a start.

We finally reached Asia. Hehe...

With no further introduction required, I present to you J_ _ _ _N
Yeah, I really mean it when I said no introduction is required :p

Right next to Japan is the United States of A. It's kind of weird to see America when we are literally in ... America!


The medieval scenes crept up as soon as we left America. Once again weird as we are literally still in ... America!

So, I am back in Europe. This time, I am in Italy
I just love the architecture of the Europe region. So beautiful & full of stories behind them

A hint of the next country

Still can't guess? How about this?

Still don't know? Last hint!

If you still can't guess the country that celebrates Oktoberfest, then you are a true saint!
And I'll have to tell you, Welcome to Germany!

Oh no, the sky got darker by the minute and drops of rain started to fall. Quick, run and hide!

Finally, it's China that saved us (2012). Back to the cradle of our great great great ancestors.

Together with some of the stone warriors. Quite creepy

The rain subsided and we quickly crept into Norway. Argh...we gotta hurry up. Precious time is ticking




It's almost the end of our "Round The World in 6 hours". Our final stop is at Mexico
The Mexican Pavilion is so magnificent. The restaurant inside has a grand backdrop with volcano spewing magma in the distance. We were hungry and wanted to dine in this restaurant badly but the tables were all full and there was a long waiting line.



Lots of activities here with a bazaar going on, surrounded by the silhouette of typical Mexican buildings.


We decided to find food somewhere else. We were pretty dazed and stumbled upon someone familiar. It's Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Earlier on, I spotted Beast in France and tried to chase after him. Too bad, the Beast was too fast for me :(

Doesn't she look like a Barbie Doll? and no, she's not a mannequin

Finally some food. I am not sure why I am still not accustomed to the portion in US and decided to have the good old salad.


The sun started to set and we made some quick decisions on which attractions to go. Too bad we missed Soarin' and hopefully, we can make it up with the other rides.

Some of the rides started to close and we quickly made our way to Mission: Space.
Not sure what it was, we'll just let it surprise us.


Lo and Behold! Mission:Space was so much fun. Wait, let me spell it again. FUN!
The moment we were inside, we were quickly recruited to join an important mission - The Mars Expedition.

We had to go for a crash course and briefing. Divided into groups to enter our respective rocket chamber. Warning messages were sent several times to abort the flight for those who has motion sickness or other illness that could be triggered with this flight. Well, it helps to start the adrenalin rush.

We entered a claustrophobic machine (our rocket). In a few seconds, we were shut inside the rocket. More Warning messages were given asking us to only look at the screen in front and do not deviate elsewhere. Otherwise, we will get a bad case of nausea. Well, there's no escaping now, is there?

The countdown started and we were blasted off to space. The pressure in the cabin almost made my head burst (exaggerated a little bit) and it's like we were busting out from the pressure cabin as soon as our rocket enters space. We swerved among asteroids and craters. Suddenly our rocket started to malfunction.

"Houston, we have a problem"

We battled the bumpy ride and landed at the edge of Mars. Woohoo! Mission accomplished.
That was the most awesome ride, EVER!

Next, we searched for the next big action. Guess what we stumbled upon?
Malaysia's concept car by Proton with the Petronas Twin Tower as its backdrop. Wow!

What a pleasant surprise that we have Proton cars in the middle of the Epcot center?

We took another ride - Test Track before retiring. It's like a roller coaster ride where we become the crash test dummies - seriously, going through super bumpy road, swerving at a sharp corner at top speed, speed test. Phew, I am glad I am still in 1 piece after that.

Once again, we ended our amazing Epcot adventure with another magnificent display of fireworks.

So what can I say about Disney World?
Well, dreams really do come true!

For those who actually paid attention here, I'll let you in on a little secret. Nah, we don't get free pop corn in the room. That is merely a light fixture. Hee....