Weekend Update: WDW News, Tokyo Signs, Pixie Hollow, NYC, Busch Gardens Tampa
I'm sitting here tonight trying to finish this column for you, giddy with anticipation as we prepare for our Western Caribbean cruise. MickeyMaxx and I are traveling to Miami tomorrow (Saturday) and on Sunday we'll board the Carnival Valor for a seven day cruise. Our stops include Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico. We'll have lots of pictures to show you upon our return.
Internet access on these cruises is notoriously expensive, so the Weekend Update staff has helped me get ready for my trip by sending me a wealth of material in advance. I now have enough fantastic photos in reserve to do two additional Weekend Updates!
This week, we have an up-to-date report from Denise nbodyhome Preskitt from Walt Disney World. Then TDLFAN shares another installment of his series, The Signs of Tokyo Disneyland. That's followed by a report from our new staffer CaptPhoebus who gives us an after dark look at Pixie Hollow in Disneyland.
Mac Daddy took a trip to New York this spring, and you'll be amazed at the beautiful photos he shares with us this week. Finally, Aimster files a report from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
Thanks in advance to Dustysage and the entire Weekend Update crew who worked hard to make it possible for me to cruise away and still bring you a brand new Weekend Update next week. I'll see you all right here in two weeks!
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt documented these recent events at the World.
These photos are among others that I have on my website here:
Photos from July 3rd and 4th at Walt Disney World:
Ben Franklin (and yes, you'd remember him from the Adventurers Club!):
Betsy Ross:
At the end of the night, red, white and blue lights on America:
At the new Pirates League at the Magic Kingdom, a cast member in full makeup:
The Princess Diana exhibit is now open through Mid-November. I saw it in London a few years back and found it quite interesting:
And at the Hall of Presidents, I thought these Easter Eggs from Nancy Reagan were very pretty:
Tokyo Disneyland Resort
Tokyo, Japan
This week, TDLFAN shares Part Two of the "Signs of Tokyo Disneyland Attractions" photo collection!
MORE Signs of TDL coming soon to the Weekend Update.
Pixie Hollow
Disneyland
CaptPhoebus had a chance to explore Pixie Hollow, Late Night Edition recently, long after the pixies had gone wherever pixies go at night. That doesn't mean there won't be some creatures you may see in the beautifully lighted nighttime Pixie Hollow.
Sunset on the Hudson and Central Park In Early Spring
MiceChatter Mac Daddy was gracious enough to share his scenic trip to New York City in the springtime. This collection of images looks like a portfolio of picture post cards!
So way back in April, from the 17th - 20th, I was in New York with one of my groups for a competition. Having stayed in the Embassy Suites, Downtown with my family the previous Summer, I knew that it was a fairly good deal as the rooms were a bit larger than the typical Midtown hotel, and you can't beat that free cooked to order breakfast every morning. As the rates were roughly HALF of what we paid the previous July, I jumped at the chance and made reservations for my group. One of the great things about this hotel is the fact that it is parked right on the Hudson, right behind the Celtic museum:
It's about a 20 minute walk down to the battery, and you can see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from some of the rooms in the hotel. This was taken from just across the street from the hotel:
One of the other draws for this particular Embassy Suites is that the entire front of the hotel is glass, providing some stunning views of the Hudson with New Jersey in the background:
Now might be a good time to mention that I didn't have my Nikon with me, but I did have my Panasonic Lumix lx3, which is turning out to be one of the finer point-and-shoots out there. It shoots RAW, but also features a wider 24 mm lens and stops down to f2.0. It's easily the best point and shoot that I have ever used for low light/night shots without a tripod.
On our first night, I knew the sun was setting, and ran down to get a few shots of the sunset over the Hudson:
I was pretty busy the following day, but due to a happy mistake made by our travel agent, we got stranded an extra day, and I spent most of that afternoon walking the entire distance through Central Park. When you get off of the subway at Columbus Circle, the first thing that strikes you is that the buildings, like much of New York, seem to touch the sky:
This was one of the first 80 degree Summer afternoons that New York had in quite awhile, and it was also the last day of Spring Break for many folks, so the park was PACKED with people...at least the area down toward 59th:
On earlier trips, I think I made it to the reservoire before turning back, but this was my first time to walk the entire length of the park. If you've never visited the park before, I hope you will get the chance at some point as there are so many different amazing views and you walk from 59th down to 110th. Here's just a few of the shots that I took that afternoon...
And finally, one more shot of the Jersey City skyline as I got back that night...
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Tampa, Florida
MiceChatter Aimster sent us this report on her solo trip to one of my new favorite parks. Sadly, we didn't get to see any of the shows during our recent trip. Maybe next time!
Aimster gets WILD at Busch Gardens
Recently, I braved the heat and headed to Busch Gardens. Was supposed to meet up with a group of friends, but they all wimped out or couldn't make it. Wasn't about to let them ruin my fun, so I went by myself.
First stop, KaTonga!
I had been wanting to see this show and I was not disappointed. It was very good. Was hoping to catch another performance later in the day, but never made it back to that area of the park again until later.
KaTonga consists of stories from African animal folklore. The first story is about a monkey, the second about a catepillar, the thid about a frog and the final story is about a crane. A nice mix of live actors, puppets and some special effects.
I loved the frog story the best. It was really cute and just fun.
The park was open from 9am-10pm. I got there around 10am and the temp was over 90. So I just took my time strolling around. I have a FL resident Fun Card (pay for a day, come back all year), so I can come back as many times as I want the rest of the year.
Over by the Montu coaster:
The Edge of Africa is a self-guided walking tour where you can see various animals, like...
Meerkats
Giraffes
Lions (passed out asleep)
Hippo
The Desert Grill is a cafeteria-line style restaurant and features sandwiches, salads & pasta. A new stage show began there within the last month called, "Dance to the Music". It's a celebration of... disco. Total cheese-fest but a lot of fun.
The Bee Gees (this had me seriously laughing... all I could think of was "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" sketch from SNL)
Over at Jungala (the new area that opened last year), this tiger had the right idea of beating the heat:
This girl was a total ham. She kept pacing back and forth and would come right up to the windows. She looked like she wanted someone to play with, as she sometimes went up to the tiger tunnel to see if any of the tigers in the other area (tigers live in distinct social groups) were around.
The later she cooled off in the water.
Lorikeets!
Flamingos are weird.
Decided to ride the train around the park. It was cool because it goes way out to the back of the Strengeti area and you can see more animals.
Baby zebra!
My camera died after this pic:
Only coasters I rode were Kumba and Montu. After my ride on Montu, we were waiting to go back to the load station and apparently they ran into a mechnical problem because they had to manually release the restraints and since it's a suspended coaster, they brought out a platform for us to stop onto because we were around 2 feet off the ground. The guy next to me was freaking out and I was in near hysterics over the situation.
As night fell, the park began it's "Summer Nights" events & activities. They had some DJ's around the park spinning tunes and some shows. One was this magician named Darren Romeo. He's called "The Voice of Magic". Why? He sings! It was kind of bizarre. I'm not a big magic fan, but I saw the show and it wasn't bad. One trick/illusion he did was the balnce/impale on the sword one, but when he "comes back to life" after he was impaled with the sword, he started singing. It was so absurb that I just about lost it laughing. Apparently this guy had a cameo in "High School Musical 2" too.
Other nighttime shows they had were a juggler/comic that included audience participation and a doo-wop show (which is also offered during the day).
After nearly 12 hours in the park, I was a sweaty mess and decided to head for home. I'll be at the park again in a couple weeks... David Cassidy is performing there on July 3rd!
Visit these MiceChat columns each week:
Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland
David DarkBeer Michael's In the Parks
And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt (mousesteps.com)
SummerInFl (wdwfanpics.com)
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
darkfairycthulu
Fishbulb
PhotoMatt
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
CaptPhoebus
A very special thank you to to Aimster for sharing her vision with us.
Your Editor - Rixter
It is readers like you who make MiceChat such a special place.
Internet access on these cruises is notoriously expensive, so the Weekend Update staff has helped me get ready for my trip by sending me a wealth of material in advance. I now have enough fantastic photos in reserve to do two additional Weekend Updates!
This week, we have an up-to-date report from Denise nbodyhome Preskitt from Walt Disney World. Then TDLFAN shares another installment of his series, The Signs of Tokyo Disneyland. That's followed by a report from our new staffer CaptPhoebus who gives us an after dark look at Pixie Hollow in Disneyland.
Mac Daddy took a trip to New York this spring, and you'll be amazed at the beautiful photos he shares with us this week. Finally, Aimster files a report from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
Thanks in advance to Dustysage and the entire Weekend Update crew who worked hard to make it possible for me to cruise away and still bring you a brand new Weekend Update next week. I'll see you all right here in two weeks!
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt documented these recent events at the World.
These photos are among others that I have on my website here:
Photos from July 3rd and 4th at Walt Disney World:
Ben Franklin (and yes, you'd remember him from the Adventurers Club!):
Betsy Ross:
At the end of the night, red, white and blue lights on America:
At the new Pirates League at the Magic Kingdom, a cast member in full makeup:
The Princess Diana exhibit is now open through Mid-November. I saw it in London a few years back and found it quite interesting:
And at the Hall of Presidents, I thought these Easter Eggs from Nancy Reagan were very pretty:
Tokyo Disneyland Resort
Tokyo, Japan
This week, TDLFAN shares Part Two of the "Signs of Tokyo Disneyland Attractions" photo collection!
MORE Signs of TDL coming soon to the Weekend Update.
Pixie Hollow
Disneyland
CaptPhoebus had a chance to explore Pixie Hollow, Late Night Edition recently, long after the pixies had gone wherever pixies go at night. That doesn't mean there won't be some creatures you may see in the beautifully lighted nighttime Pixie Hollow.
Sunset on the Hudson and Central Park In Early Spring
MiceChatter Mac Daddy was gracious enough to share his scenic trip to New York City in the springtime. This collection of images looks like a portfolio of picture post cards!
So way back in April, from the 17th - 20th, I was in New York with one of my groups for a competition. Having stayed in the Embassy Suites, Downtown with my family the previous Summer, I knew that it was a fairly good deal as the rooms were a bit larger than the typical Midtown hotel, and you can't beat that free cooked to order breakfast every morning. As the rates were roughly HALF of what we paid the previous July, I jumped at the chance and made reservations for my group. One of the great things about this hotel is the fact that it is parked right on the Hudson, right behind the Celtic museum:
It's about a 20 minute walk down to the battery, and you can see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from some of the rooms in the hotel. This was taken from just across the street from the hotel:
One of the other draws for this particular Embassy Suites is that the entire front of the hotel is glass, providing some stunning views of the Hudson with New Jersey in the background:
Now might be a good time to mention that I didn't have my Nikon with me, but I did have my Panasonic Lumix lx3, which is turning out to be one of the finer point-and-shoots out there. It shoots RAW, but also features a wider 24 mm lens and stops down to f2.0. It's easily the best point and shoot that I have ever used for low light/night shots without a tripod.
On our first night, I knew the sun was setting, and ran down to get a few shots of the sunset over the Hudson:
I was pretty busy the following day, but due to a happy mistake made by our travel agent, we got stranded an extra day, and I spent most of that afternoon walking the entire distance through Central Park. When you get off of the subway at Columbus Circle, the first thing that strikes you is that the buildings, like much of New York, seem to touch the sky:
This was one of the first 80 degree Summer afternoons that New York had in quite awhile, and it was also the last day of Spring Break for many folks, so the park was PACKED with people...at least the area down toward 59th:
On earlier trips, I think I made it to the reservoire before turning back, but this was my first time to walk the entire length of the park. If you've never visited the park before, I hope you will get the chance at some point as there are so many different amazing views and you walk from 59th down to 110th. Here's just a few of the shots that I took that afternoon...
And finally, one more shot of the Jersey City skyline as I got back that night...
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Tampa, Florida
MiceChatter Aimster sent us this report on her solo trip to one of my new favorite parks. Sadly, we didn't get to see any of the shows during our recent trip. Maybe next time!
Aimster gets WILD at Busch Gardens
Recently, I braved the heat and headed to Busch Gardens. Was supposed to meet up with a group of friends, but they all wimped out or couldn't make it. Wasn't about to let them ruin my fun, so I went by myself.
First stop, KaTonga!
I had been wanting to see this show and I was not disappointed. It was very good. Was hoping to catch another performance later in the day, but never made it back to that area of the park again until later.
KaTonga consists of stories from African animal folklore. The first story is about a monkey, the second about a catepillar, the thid about a frog and the final story is about a crane. A nice mix of live actors, puppets and some special effects.
I loved the frog story the best. It was really cute and just fun.
The park was open from 9am-10pm. I got there around 10am and the temp was over 90. So I just took my time strolling around. I have a FL resident Fun Card (pay for a day, come back all year), so I can come back as many times as I want the rest of the year.
Over by the Montu coaster:
The Edge of Africa is a self-guided walking tour where you can see various animals, like...
Meerkats
Giraffes
Lions (passed out asleep)
Hippo
The Desert Grill is a cafeteria-line style restaurant and features sandwiches, salads & pasta. A new stage show began there within the last month called, "Dance to the Music". It's a celebration of... disco. Total cheese-fest but a lot of fun.
The Bee Gees (this had me seriously laughing... all I could think of was "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" sketch from SNL)
Over at Jungala (the new area that opened last year), this tiger had the right idea of beating the heat:
This girl was a total ham. She kept pacing back and forth and would come right up to the windows. She looked like she wanted someone to play with, as she sometimes went up to the tiger tunnel to see if any of the tigers in the other area (tigers live in distinct social groups) were around.
The later she cooled off in the water.
Lorikeets!
Flamingos are weird.
Decided to ride the train around the park. It was cool because it goes way out to the back of the Strengeti area and you can see more animals.
Baby zebra!
My camera died after this pic:
Only coasters I rode were Kumba and Montu. After my ride on Montu, we were waiting to go back to the load station and apparently they ran into a mechnical problem because they had to manually release the restraints and since it's a suspended coaster, they brought out a platform for us to stop onto because we were around 2 feet off the ground. The guy next to me was freaking out and I was in near hysterics over the situation.
As night fell, the park began it's "Summer Nights" events & activities. They had some DJ's around the park spinning tunes and some shows. One was this magician named Darren Romeo. He's called "The Voice of Magic". Why? He sings! It was kind of bizarre. I'm not a big magic fan, but I saw the show and it wasn't bad. One trick/illusion he did was the balnce/impale on the sword one, but when he "comes back to life" after he was impaled with the sword, he started singing. It was so absurb that I just about lost it laughing. Apparently this guy had a cameo in "High School Musical 2" too.
Other nighttime shows they had were a juggler/comic that included audience participation and a doo-wop show (which is also offered during the day).
After nearly 12 hours in the park, I was a sweaty mess and decided to head for home. I'll be at the park again in a couple weeks... David Cassidy is performing there on July 3rd!
Looking for up-to-date reports from Disneyland
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
Visit these MiceChat columns each week:
Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland
David DarkBeer Michael's In the Parks
And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt (mousesteps.com)
SummerInFl (wdwfanpics.com)
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
darkfairycthulu
Fishbulb
PhotoMatt
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
CaptPhoebus
A very special thank you to to Aimster for sharing her vision with us.
Your Editor - Rixter
Where have YOU been recently? We invite you to share your photos of theme parks or any other destination that may be of interest to our readers. Please feel free to contact me via MiceChat Private Message (screen name Rixter)
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
It is readers like you who make MiceChat such a special place.
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Total Comments 8
Comments
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Great Update! Great Photos!Posted 07-11-2009 at 09:21 AM by Emmanuel_4
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Very Nice! Thank You......
For one who do not want to go to N Y C I though the
pictures was Interesting and very pretty.... It was area's
of N Y C you do not see alot! >>GOOD JOB<<!Posted 07-11-2009 at 02:28 PM by Eagleman 
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Have fun on the cruise, Rixter and MickeyMaxx!
And thanks as always to everyone that helps bring us the Weekend Update!Posted 07-11-2009 at 07:25 PM by pirate_tim -
Wonderful, wonderful! Lots of interesting new things this week!Posted 07-11-2009 at 08:44 PM by Dustysage -
Love the pics from Busch Gardens!! Such a nice park!!Posted 07-12-2009 at 04:45 AM by TDLFAN - great update!Posted 07-12-2009 at 01:03 PM by lighttragic
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flamingos are not weird!! >_<Posted 07-12-2009 at 06:02 PM by Goover -
That made me miss central park.
Great work.Posted 07-14-2009 at 09:29 AM by Disney1978
