Here is our trip report for my family of 5: 1/17/04 to 1/24/04, NJ to WDW
I hope it isn’t too boring since it’s my first attempt at a trip report.
Well, we decided to fly this time instead of driving and I have mixed feelings about which I prefer. It was nice to get there in a couple of hours but the cost of about $1200 for 5 plane tickets and a rental car makes me want to drive next time. Anyway, we arrived in Orlando at about 2:00 pm on Saturday, 1/17 and grabbed our luggage and rental car and headed out to the house we rented. We traveled with my brother-in-law and his family and were sharing a 4 bedroom house rental with them. The house cost $850 for the week which we split so it only cost us $425 for 7 nights. Unfortunately, it was too chilly all week to use the pool. Anyway, after settling in, we headed out to MK because Saturday night would be our only chance to catch the Spectromagic parade which was at 8:00 pm. We had purchased annual pass vouchers at the local Disney Store so we had to go to Guest Relations to redeem them. After waiting in line there (and hearing several other people in line complain about how awful the crowds were) we finally got to the window only to have the CM tell us that our vouchers were never activated making them worthless. Of course we momentarily panicked thinking that we were out like $1800 until my wife realized that she did have the receipt from the Disney Store which made all the difference. Without it, we were out of luck they said so we were lucky. After about 45 minutes of talking to several different CM’s (1 was the manager), they gave us our annual passes and I guess they noticed on our faces that some of the excitement of being in WDW had drained from us through this ordeal so they gave us 5 complimentary “fastpasses” for any ride we wanted to use them on (good for 5 guests each, so 25 in all). And these passes were good indefinitely they said, so we saved them until we will really need them in June. By this time, it was too late to ride anything before the parade and we had difficulty even finding a place to watch the parade at all. A wonderful couple whom I thanked like 5 times allowed my two youngest children to squeeze in front of them to see the parade so it was OK. We then caught up with some of our family (there was 12 of us there on this trip altogether) to find a place to watch the 9:00pm Wishes show. My brother-in-law kept saying that he’d been there a couple of years before and had already seen the fireworks but I kept telling him that he’d never seen this show. Needless to say, he understood what I meant when it was over. Wishes was fantastic. We all loved it. That’s it for Day1.
When we awoke on Sunday, it was raining and the forecast was for rain pretty much all day so we got ourselves together, grabbed the ponchos and headed to MK again. It rained lightly for most of the morning and then was off and on several times throughout the day but I guess the rain chased away the crowds because 15 minutes was the most we waited for anything until late in the day when we waited 30 minutes for BTMRR. We didn’t get to do as many attractions as normal though because we were traveling around with 12 people and some were very small. We were unaccustomed and totally unprepared for how difficult it was to decide what to do next all day. Here is the order of things we did ( we were all over the place): met with a dozen or so characters in the building to the right as you enter Main Street then did Pirates, Jungle Cruise, SFR Treehouse, Small World, Peter Pan, Carousel, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Buzz Lightyear, Lunch, Show in front of the Castle, Pirates again, Country Bears, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Wishes. My wife and I decided that we would need to separate from the group from time to time to see everything and this plan worked much better the rest of the week. Before our trip, I was really looking forward to Mission:Space and Mickey’s Philharmagic and so after finally getting my chance to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, it became my favorite attraction. It was so awesome.
Our plan for Monday was to go to EPCOT. Rain was off and on again but didn’t really bother us. Traveling in a large group once again slowed us down but we did go on Mission:Space (twice) and I really liked it but I must admit that after all the hype, I was just a tad disappointed in how short it was and that it wasn’t as intense as I expected. It was cool but just not as intense as I expected. We didn’t get to the Living Seas but hit just about everything else in Future World. The building with Cranium Command and Body Wars was closed however. For dinner, we hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary for our ps at Chef Mickey’s. We had a 5:00pm ps and arrived about 10 minutes early. They seated us right at 5:00pm so didn’t have to wait long but as we were leaving overheard several people complaining that they had ps but still had been waiting for 30 minutes. The characters were great except Goofy skipped our table and the two near it twice and we ended up leaving without meeting him. We loved the food and the atmosphere even though it was a little pricey. When we left Chef Mickey’s, my kids spotted some penny presses and had to add to their collection so we hit all five machines. By this time, my in-laws were into the penny presses also. We then got on the monorail to the transportation station and switched monorails to the one going to EPCOT. Just before arriving at the station, my wife realized that she didn’t have our digital camera anymore and had no idea where she left it except that she knew she had it at Chef Mickey’s. At this point, we didn’t know if she lost it at the Contemporary or on the first monorail so she headed back on the monorail and I got off at EPCOT with the kids and the rest of the family. In the mean time, my brother-in-law realized that he didn’t have his wallet either and got back on the monorail to go back as well. (It must run in their family) Anyway, to make a long story short, they had both left them on top of the penny press machines in the Contemporary and someone found them and turned them in to the front desk. What a lucky break. I was sure that we were out the $200 camera (and all the pictures I’d taken) and the wallet with approx.$500 cash inside but they were found by an honest person and turned in. If you are that person out there reading this, THANK YOU. By the time, this all took place and they got back to EPCOT, we had just enough time to get a good spot for Illuminations. Even though I’ve seen it before, it still is an incredibly moving show. And even though Wishes is awesome, Illumination is still the best!
I hope it isn’t too boring since it’s my first attempt at a trip report.
Well, we decided to fly this time instead of driving and I have mixed feelings about which I prefer. It was nice to get there in a couple of hours but the cost of about $1200 for 5 plane tickets and a rental car makes me want to drive next time. Anyway, we arrived in Orlando at about 2:00 pm on Saturday, 1/17 and grabbed our luggage and rental car and headed out to the house we rented. We traveled with my brother-in-law and his family and were sharing a 4 bedroom house rental with them. The house cost $850 for the week which we split so it only cost us $425 for 7 nights. Unfortunately, it was too chilly all week to use the pool. Anyway, after settling in, we headed out to MK because Saturday night would be our only chance to catch the Spectromagic parade which was at 8:00 pm. We had purchased annual pass vouchers at the local Disney Store so we had to go to Guest Relations to redeem them. After waiting in line there (and hearing several other people in line complain about how awful the crowds were) we finally got to the window only to have the CM tell us that our vouchers were never activated making them worthless. Of course we momentarily panicked thinking that we were out like $1800 until my wife realized that she did have the receipt from the Disney Store which made all the difference. Without it, we were out of luck they said so we were lucky. After about 45 minutes of talking to several different CM’s (1 was the manager), they gave us our annual passes and I guess they noticed on our faces that some of the excitement of being in WDW had drained from us through this ordeal so they gave us 5 complimentary “fastpasses” for any ride we wanted to use them on (good for 5 guests each, so 25 in all). And these passes were good indefinitely they said, so we saved them until we will really need them in June. By this time, it was too late to ride anything before the parade and we had difficulty even finding a place to watch the parade at all. A wonderful couple whom I thanked like 5 times allowed my two youngest children to squeeze in front of them to see the parade so it was OK. We then caught up with some of our family (there was 12 of us there on this trip altogether) to find a place to watch the 9:00pm Wishes show. My brother-in-law kept saying that he’d been there a couple of years before and had already seen the fireworks but I kept telling him that he’d never seen this show. Needless to say, he understood what I meant when it was over. Wishes was fantastic. We all loved it. That’s it for Day1.
When we awoke on Sunday, it was raining and the forecast was for rain pretty much all day so we got ourselves together, grabbed the ponchos and headed to MK again. It rained lightly for most of the morning and then was off and on several times throughout the day but I guess the rain chased away the crowds because 15 minutes was the most we waited for anything until late in the day when we waited 30 minutes for BTMRR. We didn’t get to do as many attractions as normal though because we were traveling around with 12 people and some were very small. We were unaccustomed and totally unprepared for how difficult it was to decide what to do next all day. Here is the order of things we did ( we were all over the place): met with a dozen or so characters in the building to the right as you enter Main Street then did Pirates, Jungle Cruise, SFR Treehouse, Small World, Peter Pan, Carousel, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Buzz Lightyear, Lunch, Show in front of the Castle, Pirates again, Country Bears, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Wishes. My wife and I decided that we would need to separate from the group from time to time to see everything and this plan worked much better the rest of the week. Before our trip, I was really looking forward to Mission:Space and Mickey’s Philharmagic and so after finally getting my chance to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, it became my favorite attraction. It was so awesome.
Our plan for Monday was to go to EPCOT. Rain was off and on again but didn’t really bother us. Traveling in a large group once again slowed us down but we did go on Mission:Space (twice) and I really liked it but I must admit that after all the hype, I was just a tad disappointed in how short it was and that it wasn’t as intense as I expected. It was cool but just not as intense as I expected. We didn’t get to the Living Seas but hit just about everything else in Future World. The building with Cranium Command and Body Wars was closed however. For dinner, we hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary for our ps at Chef Mickey’s. We had a 5:00pm ps and arrived about 10 minutes early. They seated us right at 5:00pm so didn’t have to wait long but as we were leaving overheard several people complaining that they had ps but still had been waiting for 30 minutes. The characters were great except Goofy skipped our table and the two near it twice and we ended up leaving without meeting him. We loved the food and the atmosphere even though it was a little pricey. When we left Chef Mickey’s, my kids spotted some penny presses and had to add to their collection so we hit all five machines. By this time, my in-laws were into the penny presses also. We then got on the monorail to the transportation station and switched monorails to the one going to EPCOT. Just before arriving at the station, my wife realized that she didn’t have our digital camera anymore and had no idea where she left it except that she knew she had it at Chef Mickey’s. At this point, we didn’t know if she lost it at the Contemporary or on the first monorail so she headed back on the monorail and I got off at EPCOT with the kids and the rest of the family. In the mean time, my brother-in-law realized that he didn’t have his wallet either and got back on the monorail to go back as well. (It must run in their family) Anyway, to make a long story short, they had both left them on top of the penny press machines in the Contemporary and someone found them and turned them in to the front desk. What a lucky break. I was sure that we were out the $200 camera (and all the pictures I’d taken) and the wallet with approx.$500 cash inside but they were found by an honest person and turned in. If you are that person out there reading this, THANK YOU. By the time, this all took place and they got back to EPCOT, we had just enough time to get a good spot for Illuminations. Even though I’ve seen it before, it still is an incredibly moving show. And even though Wishes is awesome, Illumination is still the best!
