I hope you enjoy the read from a trip for my wife and I without or kids...it was fun!!
It all Started on Sunday June 23rd around 11:30pm. This is the time that while in our Dallas one night stay, we were notified that our next morning 6:15am flight was cancelled. Only seats left to Orlando at that point in any airline was a 7:45pm flight out that Monday the 24th. This meant an MCO arrivial at 11:30 pm, and 1:00am All Star Music arrival. Even though I feel very capible of booking on my own, this was the 1st trip in the last 4 that i didn't use a TA to help. I wish I had, it would have been a great help at this point.
We had missed our Monday HS ADR and Fast passes. We were very disappointed. BUT the WDW cast members I talked to on the late morning phone calls helped, at least not to get a charge for the missing ADR and helped find a new time for Friday at the same place.
Tuesday morning we were up bright and early for a quick service breakfast in our resort...the food and service was great. Then off to rope drop at EPCOT.
This was a fairly great day. Road every ride we wanted Including Soar'n 3 times. We had a Garden Grill ADR. I am a big Chip and Dale fan (is it strange that a 52 year old man still loves character meets?). This was the 1st time for some reason that i found out that now you get 1 adult beverage with the dinning plan. My wife doesn't drink and i don't alot but this allowed me for 2 already paid for adult beverages. food was great, service was great, and characters were great. We ended up leaving earlier that night than expected because of a very windy strong storm rolled through. it didn't last long and we could have stayed, we just chose to have an early night that night.
Wednesday morning was our disappointment morning. This was our AK day. we could not get FOP fast passes. Last year, we could not get fast passes, so we got to the park that opened at 9am at 8:30 and walked to FOP at rope drop and only had a 15 min wait. So, the plan this year was the same. We were in the security bag check line at 8:15am and i looked ahead and saw that people we being let into the park. I was a little disturbed...there were not early morning magic hours so i was confused. we got to FOP by 8:35am (park doesn't even open till 9) and there was a cast member holding a sign saying 75 min wait. we asked him what was going on with the park being open already. he said that sometimes they open the gates at 8:15 to 8:30 to allow FOP to start, but the rest of the park is not open yet. if i'd had know this i would have been there even earlier. so i was a little upset. we had a great day other than that little SNAFU. Our ADR was a Tusker house/ROL deal. did i mention i love the character ADRs?
Thursday was our MK day. We had ADR breakfast at 8 at the Plaza. It was very good and got us into the park for some great castle pics. My family always do ADRs at O'Hana's on MK day too. it was a great dinner, we just love it. this day we did everything we wanted to do some even more than once. we also did the tangled lantern pic which was a 1st for me and my wife, i really wanted to do. we had late night magic hours too. TRON is coming along, i can wait to ride it.
Friday was originally scheduled as our flight out day. because we had the cancellation on monday we changed our flight to saturday morning and did HS friday. we got our Sci-fi drive in ADRs fixed by the WDW customer service earlier in the week so we were very happy about that but didn't have any fast passes. so we rope dropped right to RR and rode it 2 times in less than 12 minutes, because of the referb on part of ToT the wait times were incredible for it that we didn't go. we did get in everything else though including all we wanted in our first visit to toy story land. it was a great day finished off with Fantasmic. it is a family favorite and the crowd was a very energetic before the show which made for a great time, too. there was a paid ticketed event that night we did not join in on. the crazy thing was that we had changed our flight but did not change our check out time. so, after fantasmic we had to scurry back to the all start music to pick uop our stored bags, get on the magic express and head to the airport at midnight. our flight was not until 6:00 am so we had to chill at the MCO for about 5 hours.
overall for a last minute trip decision to even go, it was a great experience for our 1st real trip without our kids. i enjoyed seeing the gondolas moving for the 1st time, and star wars land from slinky dog, and cant wait for tron. i am always sad this week after our trip, but am already thinking of our next trip, which will be with ALL the extended family.
It all Started on Sunday June 23rd around 11:30pm. This is the time that while in our Dallas one night stay, we were notified that our next morning 6:15am flight was cancelled. Only seats left to Orlando at that point in any airline was a 7:45pm flight out that Monday the 24th. This meant an MCO arrivial at 11:30 pm, and 1:00am All Star Music arrival. Even though I feel very capible of booking on my own, this was the 1st trip in the last 4 that i didn't use a TA to help. I wish I had, it would have been a great help at this point.
We had missed our Monday HS ADR and Fast passes. We were very disappointed. BUT the WDW cast members I talked to on the late morning phone calls helped, at least not to get a charge for the missing ADR and helped find a new time for Friday at the same place.
Tuesday morning we were up bright and early for a quick service breakfast in our resort...the food and service was great. Then off to rope drop at EPCOT.
This was a fairly great day. Road every ride we wanted Including Soar'n 3 times. We had a Garden Grill ADR. I am a big Chip and Dale fan (is it strange that a 52 year old man still loves character meets?). This was the 1st time for some reason that i found out that now you get 1 adult beverage with the dinning plan. My wife doesn't drink and i don't alot but this allowed me for 2 already paid for adult beverages. food was great, service was great, and characters were great. We ended up leaving earlier that night than expected because of a very windy strong storm rolled through. it didn't last long and we could have stayed, we just chose to have an early night that night.
Wednesday morning was our disappointment morning. This was our AK day. we could not get FOP fast passes. Last year, we could not get fast passes, so we got to the park that opened at 9am at 8:30 and walked to FOP at rope drop and only had a 15 min wait. So, the plan this year was the same. We were in the security bag check line at 8:15am and i looked ahead and saw that people we being let into the park. I was a little disturbed...there were not early morning magic hours so i was confused. we got to FOP by 8:35am (park doesn't even open till 9) and there was a cast member holding a sign saying 75 min wait. we asked him what was going on with the park being open already. he said that sometimes they open the gates at 8:15 to 8:30 to allow FOP to start, but the rest of the park is not open yet. if i'd had know this i would have been there even earlier. so i was a little upset. we had a great day other than that little SNAFU. Our ADR was a Tusker house/ROL deal. did i mention i love the character ADRs?
Thursday was our MK day. We had ADR breakfast at 8 at the Plaza. It was very good and got us into the park for some great castle pics. My family always do ADRs at O'Hana's on MK day too. it was a great dinner, we just love it. this day we did everything we wanted to do some even more than once. we also did the tangled lantern pic which was a 1st for me and my wife, i really wanted to do. we had late night magic hours too. TRON is coming along, i can wait to ride it.
Friday was originally scheduled as our flight out day. because we had the cancellation on monday we changed our flight to saturday morning and did HS friday. we got our Sci-fi drive in ADRs fixed by the WDW customer service earlier in the week so we were very happy about that but didn't have any fast passes. so we rope dropped right to RR and rode it 2 times in less than 12 minutes, because of the referb on part of ToT the wait times were incredible for it that we didn't go. we did get in everything else though including all we wanted in our first visit to toy story land. it was a great day finished off with Fantasmic. it is a family favorite and the crowd was a very energetic before the show which made for a great time, too. there was a paid ticketed event that night we did not join in on. the crazy thing was that we had changed our flight but did not change our check out time. so, after fantasmic we had to scurry back to the all start music to pick uop our stored bags, get on the magic express and head to the airport at midnight. our flight was not until 6:00 am so we had to chill at the MCO for about 5 hours.
overall for a last minute trip decision to even go, it was a great experience for our 1st real trip without our kids. i enjoyed seeing the gondolas moving for the 1st time, and star wars land from slinky dog, and cant wait for tron. i am always sad this week after our trip, but am already thinking of our next trip, which will be with ALL the extended family.
