Where in WDW? Challenge 214

It's time once again to play our favorite quiz game ... Where in WDW? where you get to test your knowledge of Walt Disney World. Everything shown will be in areas where guests can see them - in other words, no backstage shots. From time to time, however, you may be asked to identify something that was but no longer exists. Have fun ... either post your guess in the comments below or other location on which this was posted.


Last time you were challenged to identify Where in WDW you would find this ...

This is Maurice's Cottage at Enchanted Tales with Belle in the Magic Kingdom.

Didn't get it? Well, here is another one for you - Where in WDW? might you have seen this?

As usual, make your guess in the COMMENTS section below or other location on which this was posted and then stop back next time to see if you were correct.

Where in WDW? Challenge 213

It's time once again to play our favorite quiz game ... Where in WDW? where you get to test your knowledge of Walt Disney World. Everything shown will be in areas where guests can see them - in other words, no backstage shots. From time to time, however, you may be asked to identify something that was but no longer exists. Have fun ... either post your guess in the comments below or other location on which this was posted.


Last time you were challenged to identify Where in WDW you would find this ...

This is Maurice's Cottage at Enchanted Tales with Belle in the Magic Kingdom.

Didn't get it? Well, here is another one for you - Where in WDW? might you have seen this?

As usual, make your guess in the COMMENTS section below or other location on which this was posted and then stop back next time to see if you were correct.

Where in WDW? Challenge 211

It's time once again to play our favorite quiz game ... Where in WDW? where you get to test your knowledge of Walt Disney World. Everything shown will be in areas where guests can see them - in other words, no backstage shots. From time to time, however, you may be asked to identify something that was but no longer exists. Have fun ... either post your guess in the comments below or other location on which this was posted.


Last time you were challenged to identify Where in WDW you would find this ...

This can be seen in Maurice's cottage as part of the queue for Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Didn't get it? Well, here is another one for you - Where in WDW? might you have seen this?

As usual, make your guess in the COMMENTS section below or other location on which this was posted and then stop back next time to see if you were correct.

Disney By Sea and Land - Days 14 & 15

Day 14 - January 30

Today Iris goes back to work, so we will mostly be on our own. We have breakfast early before she picks us up and we drive to EPCOT. Unlike a previous day where we wind up parking at the far end of the row, this morning we are the last car to be parked before a new row is started, so today we are the closest car to the tram. This is convenient, since after Iris gets us in to the park, she will be heading home to prepare for her first day back at work.

Once we are in, and have our park hopper for the day, Iris heads back home and we head to the monorail which we will be taking to the Magic Kingdom. Since Sandy did not accompany us to Enchanted Tales with Belle in New Fantasyland when we were last in the Magic Kingdom, it will be the first order of business today.

Belle's cottage

When we arrive in New Fanstasyland we find that the posted wait time is 30 minutes, and the queue seems just a bit longer than when Iris and I were here a few days ago, so we get on line. We meet a very nice family and chat with them which makes our wait seem very short indeed.

Once inside, Sandy gets drafted into the little play - as the laughing portrait.

In the next room, she is introduced to Belle.

When we are finished in Belle's cottage, we decide to head to the new Little Mermaid ride. We have already ridden it during the soft opening the last time we were here, but there is no wait and we get right on, once again.

After this, we decide that we will once again eat in Be Our Guest, and head to it, passing Gaston's Tavern along the way.

Just before we get to the ordering stations, I get a text message from a member of an online Disney newsgroup (rec.arts.Disney.parks - RADP) who I have known only online for about 20 years, but had never met in person. She is in the area and before I know it has found us in the queue. We have a very pleasant lunch together, and enjoy finally meeting in person.

We next decide to head to It's A Small World, but when we get there we find that the attraction is closed, so we continue on to The Haunted Mansion. From there it's just a short walk to The Country Bear Jamboree.

My favorite - Big Al

We stop next for a short break ... and a Dole Whip before continuing on to the Tiki Room and Pirates of the Caribbean. Then, it's back over to the other side of the park and the Carousel of Progress - which was my favorite attraction at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.

Grandma is still the resident ace!

At this point Sandy wants to look through the Emporium so I find a bench and get to watch the flag retreat ceremony.

Once Sandy is finished, we sit on the porch of the theater (after she buys her Photo Pass photos with Belle from earlier in the day) until it is time for our dinner at Tony's.

Finally, it is time to call it a day and head back to Pop Century.

Day 15 - January 31

Today is our last day here, and we fly home this evening. Our flight is late enough that Iris would be able to drive is to the airport after work, or we would have made arrangements for Disney's Magical Express to pick us up. There are two types of busses that collect guest at the resorts (other than the park busses) - the Cruise Line bus (the happy bus) and the Magical Express bus (the sad bus).

We start our day by packing and then bringing the luggage which we will check on the flight home to the airline check-in counter where we check our luggage onto our flight and receive our boarding passes (after a bit of juggling since one of the suitcases was 3 ounces overweight). We then have breakfast at the food court before we return to our room to pick up our carry-ons before leaving the room for the last time.

We proceed to leave our carry-ons with luggage services and then head to Downtown Disney. My original thought was that since Iris works right across from the West Side, it would be the most convenient place for her to meet us after work, but I had forgotten that her first day was an on-call day, and she was working from home. Not that it matters, since she sends me a text that her work day would end about lunch time and that she could meet us Downtown Disney and have lunch with us - which we do at Earl of Sandwich.

Finally the time comes to leave Downtown Disney, pick up our carry-ons at Pop Century and head to the airport.

However, once at the airport and at the gate (very early I will admit), the flight to Newark before ours comes back to the gate and discharges its passengers. It seems that there is bad weather in the NY area, and flights to Newark airport are not being allowed to take off. This affects our flight as well. As it turns out, the flight which left its passengers back into the Orlando terminal is delayed 5 hours before it is allowed to continue. Our flight - which has now had its gate changed - is only delayed 90 minutes.

Once aboard our flight, things go smoothly, and all too soon we are home - another trip behind us. Time now to plan the next one.

   

Disney by Sea and Land - Day 12

Day 12 - January 28

Today is the day we go to the Magic Kingdom. Traditionally Monday has been the least crowded day there, so we are hoping that holds true today. After breakfast we meet Iris and make our way to the Magic Kingdom.

As we enter a relatively uncrowded town square, we find the Dapper Dans about to perform.

Our goal today was to have lunch at the new Be Our Guest restaurant in the New Fantasyland. We would have liked to have dinner there - still do - but due to the popularity of a newly opened restaurant, no reservations have become available, so lunch is the next best thing. While Be Our Guest is a sit down restaurant during dinner service, for lunch it is quick service. The line to get in appears to be about a half hour (so we have been told) and we decide to wait on it. 

In a little less time than expected, as the line moves quickly - we find ourself within the castle and making our way down the corridor with suits of armor. Enchanted, of course ... just listen.

Soon we are selecting our meals from a self-service kiosk ... or at least we attempt to as the touch screen is a bit unresponsive. We give our order to a Cast Member and then we find a table in one of the three dining rooms here and place our rose on the table so the server can find us.

When we were here last time, in October, New Fantasyland was having a soft opening, and we got to experience the Little Mermaid attraction and have Le Feu's brews at Gaston's Tavern. Be Our Guest was not open that day, and we bypassed Enchanted Tales with Belle. Today, however, we would like to see what that attraction is all about, but as we pass Belle's father's cottage we find the line is listed at 70 minutes, and decide that we will try again tonight.

Instead we head over to the Storybook Circus section of New Fantasyland where my wife wants to spend some time in the souvenir tent. While she and my daughter do that, I watch a performance of the Giggle Gang.

When they return, my wife wants to get fastpasses for the Barnstormer. I decide to pass, but once they have their fastpasses, we decide to take a round-trip around the Magic Kingdom aboard the train. When we return it is almost time for them to ride the Barnstormer.

When they are done we head over to the Haunted Mansion. When in Liberty Square, we are able to see Rapunzel's tower which is taking shape from the old skyway station. In the early days of the Magic Kingdom, great care was taken not to allow out of character structures to be seen in the park. The theater in Town Square was built at full scale for the sole purpose of hiding the Contemporary Hotel from turn of the 20th Century Main Street. Yet here we have a medieval castle tower in a New England setting. Bad show!

After the Haunted Mansion, my wife is regretting her choice of footware for today, and informs my daughter and me that she is calling it a day and will meet us on the porch of the theater in town square where she intends to spend the next 3 hours rocking in a rocking chair. My daughter and I decide to head towards Adventureland where we first get fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise and then visit the Enchanted Tiki Room.

There is still time before we need to return to the Jungle Cruise, so a cruise of a different type is in order.

We wants the redhead! We wants the redhead! 

As night approaches, my daughter and I decide to get a Le Feu's brew at Gaston's Tavern. It's a beautiful night so we get our drinks and sit at one of the tables outside of the tavern. Before long Gaston stops by and spends some time visiting with us - and informing us just how good it is to be him.

It's not too long before Wishes, and once again I had planned on photographing the fireworks, but as we pass Belle's cottage, we notice that the wait is now listed at only 20 minutes, so we decide that we would forego the fireworks tonight and experience Enchanted Tales with Belle.

It turned out to be worth it, as we enjoyed ourself thoroughly while our fellow guests took part in re-enacting the night that Belle and the Beast fell in love.

As we leave the cottage, Wishes is just beginning so we sit down right there and watch from this very unusual vantage point. The fireworks are both in front and behind us and seem even more impressive from here.

We then meet my wife where she has been relaxing for the past 3 hours, and head out into the now crowded ferry terminal (the monorail is even more crowded) to make our way back to the car.

Tomorrow we visit EPCOT.