Arrival Day Suggestions?

[Emme61]

I will be arriving at PC around 12:00 pm on 1/28/04. We have a 4 day Park Hopper and I don't want to waste a full day of it on a 1/2 day - any suggestions? I read in a guide book that it can take an hour to get set up for your pass - fingerprints, etc.? Should we do that and then not have to worry about it for the next 4 days?

Also, I've read there is no fresh coffee at PC, if someone lives around there is there a Krispy Creme or Dunkin' Donuts around the area? Maybe I should just get a travel coffee maker.

Thanks, for the help - this is a great site. I'm glad I found it. I can't wait to get there! Of course it is minus 1 degree here in Boston at the moment - that could be adding to my excitement

 

[Pippa]

There aren't any shops like the ones you mention until you are off the disney property (I Drive or the 192) but you could go over to Downtown Disney and have a look around there, lots of good shops and places to get a snack. Try a white chocolate/rasberry cookie from Goofys Candy Store, they're divine!

Have a great trip! :wave:

Welcome to the boards that are the madness of WDWMagic!!!!

 

[Moustronaut]

Well here's a few ideas...

1. Rent a boat! Bus over to MK and monorail back to GF, Contemporaty, or Poly and rent a water mouse, or water mice to go crusing on Bay Lake or the Seven Seas Lagoon. Fun to do that doesn't require a park admission.

2. Disney Quest at Downtown Disney. Depending on how much of a video game junkie you are, you can spend a lot of time here.

3. Mini golf. The two centers are very well themed and fun if you're into that sort of thing. My personal recomendation is Fantasia Gardens but that's only because it's an easy walk to it from Boardwalk.

4. Explore other resorts. Wilderness Lodge is simply beautiful. Animal Kingdom Lodge lets you look at the animals. All of the resorts have some great restaurants.

5. Disney's Boardwalk. Some interesting shops and great food. Rent a surrey bike to ride around Friendship Lake... and at 9pm you get a pretty good view of the Epcot fireworks.

6. MK fireworks. If you're around one of the Magic Kingdom resorts you can watch Wishes with a pretty good view. If you can get a priority seating at one of the resort restaurants, you can ever hear the sounds track piped in.

So there's lots to do without using up a day on your park hopper.

For good coffee, I recommend getting checked in and heading over to the Polynesean Resort. Either drive there or bus to MK and monorail back to Poly. Go to the Kona Cafe in the main building (Great Ceremonial House). It's the best cup of coffee on Disney property and then you can rent water mice to cruise around the lagoon.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

You don't say how long you're stopping for - I assume that its more than 4 days. In that case, sort out your hopper pass ready for your first full day at the parks and then indulge yourself at DownTown Disney

 

[Moustronaut]

Originally posted by Emme61
I read in a guide book that it can take an hour to get set up for your pass - fingerprints, etc.? Should we do that and then not have to worry about it for the next 4 days?

This has been my experience with park passes.

Well first question is where did you get them... if you bought them at a local boston Disney Store, they are already active so you can walk right into the park. Last novemeber my wife got hers at a Disney Store in Atlanta and when we went to the ticket booth at Epcot, the cast member said she was already to go... no finger prints required

But if you got them some other way I'm going to assume your experience might be like mine with my annual pass where they have to register you and everything. I went to the back door of Epcot near the world showcase lagoon... very short walk from Boardwalk and got it all processed at about 7pm the night before we went to the parks. No wait, took about 5 minutes to process. I didn't actually get my finger prints scanned until the first time I went to a turnstyle to get into a park the next day... and that took a few seconds.

I would recommend trying to go to any park about an hour before closing. No or very short lines at the ticket counter and then you don't have to worry about it the next morning.

 

[Emme61]

Great suggestions, I'll run them by the boyfriend - I know he mentioned something about mini golf, I completely forgot about that!

We will be there 5 full days and 1/2, we leave first thing on the last day so it doesn't count. I bought my ticket online from Disney, but the idea of combining the mini golf, the Boardwalk and a short trip to the ticket booth at Epcot after dinner sounds perfect.

I was trying to decide whether I should bring the laptop, I believe it would definately be worth it - just for this site alone

 

[Moustronaut]

Dial up is $.75 local call connect fee. Depending on who your ISP is, local charges may apply. PC does not have high speed access.

If you're going to go the parks Early Entry to Fireworks you won't have the energy to type anything... only thing I've ever brought a lap top for is to have someplace to put digital photos from my camera.

For trip planning you might want to check out www.wdwig.com They had a LOT of great information including tour info, attraction details, schedules, restaurant menus, and resort infor and pictures.

 

[TIGGER-FAN]

If you like shows, check out La Nuba at DTD. THe show is awsome and well worth the price.

 

[cherrynegra]

Originally posted by Emme61
I will be arriving at PC around 12:00 pm on 1/28/04. We have a 4 day Park Hopper and I don't want to waste a full day of it on a 1/2 day - any suggestions? I read in a guide book that it can take an hour to get set up for your pass - fingerprints, etc.? Should we do that and then not have to worry about it for the next 4 days?

Also, I've read there is no fresh coffee at PC, if someone lives around there is there a Krispy Creme or Dunkin' Donuts around the area? Maybe I should just get a travel coffee maker.

Thanks, for the help - this is a great site. I'm glad I found it. I can't wait to get there! Of course it is minus 1 degree here in Boston at the moment - that could be adding to my excitement

When I was there last month, I knew our flight would be arriving at 5:00 p.m. So I planned that Friday night as a settling in nite. You might even want to take that time to check out Downtown Disney as I did. I remember a Dunkin Donuts and Walgreens as well as a Winn Dixie grocery mart on South Apopka Vineland Rd. I would definitely load up on water and soda pop there.

As for an hour for fingerprinting, I got an annual pass and we didn't have to head to guest services for fingerprinting. The first we did it was at the Epcot entrance the following day. Very different from the last time I was at DW in '95 when I had to go through a vigorous processing.

 

[DisneyGrandma]

A number of the ideas I would have are listed above - here are a couple of more.

If you like a nice dinner - make Priority Seatings now for one of the hotels or Boardwalk now. (The Boardwalk does have some quick food stations and a couple of places for pizza and sandwiches if you don't want a large meal. Another fun place is Beaches and Cream at the Beach club.) If you choose to mini-golf. -- Someone mentioned that they like Fantasia Gardens. If you choose to eat or hang out at or near the Boardwalk then you can just walk across the street by the Swan/Dolphin hotels. If you go in the evening during the Fantasmic show - you can see the fireworks and hear most of the music while you play golf. Then afterwards walk back to the Boardwalk and head over towards EPCOT and you should be able to watch the Illuminations show on the bridge between the Boardwalk and the EPCOT back entrance. You can't see the globe opening, but you can see all of the fireworks as well as hear all the music.

Transportation back to the PC may be kind of tricky. They are cutting down on the bus services and you would probably have to go to the bus stop at the Yacht & Beach club or Boardwalk and take the bus back to Downtown Disney and then catch a bus to PC.

Another idea is to go to Winter-Summerland mini golf, especially if you chose to go during the afternoon. Take the bus to Blizzard Beach and just walk the pathway to the mini-golf.

I don't understand why you think you will need fingerprints. As far as I understand only Annual passholders need to use fingerprints. If you have park hopper passes they should be valid right now. I think they are valid when you purchase them. If you go to guest services at PC or even ask at the check- in counter at PC, they should tell you what you need to do to activate them - if anything.

One suggestion - make any priority seating reservations now. We found that it was real difficult to change any or make any new ones when we were down there. The phone systems are changing and you wait on hold forever and ever.

 

[Emme61]

Thank you for all your suggestions, it has been a great help. We are going to look at the restaurant menus and try and pick a few restaurants for priority seating during our stay.
Even colder today than yesterday. The 28th can't get here fast enough for us!

 

[WDWhumanmap]

don't be nuts and waste the day at all my family and i go through the same thing your not alone. what we do is go to the pool or considering the fact the trip was long we unpack hang out then go out for something to eat like at the espn club if at boardwalk or marketplace and then at night PI is always a good suggestion. if not the shopping at the marketplace can occupy a person but is shopping on the first day good??? what i usual do is veg out and say yes i am home i can relax now and then get up refreshed for a full day at the park tommorrow.

 

[cm1988]

Okay, only been here 15 years, so I dunno

What is PC?

 

[DisneyDugger]

Re: Okay, only been here 15 years, so I dunno

Originally posted by cm1988
What is PC?

Pop Century??

 

[MagicalMonorail]

This is what I usually do when I arrive. We usually arrive in early afternoon so we spend the evening around the resort. When we first get to our hotel, we check in and get our tickets. Then we go to our room and unpack. Next we go to the Polynesian and get on the monorail. We do the MK loop and then go to Epcot. We don't get off, we just ride through. It's a great way to relax after a long trip. We then go to a hotel somewhere and grab a quick dinner. Then we go back to The Polynesian and watch the MK firework show. It works for us so it just might work for you!

 

[SlideOperatorCP]

We brought our laptop with us last may and it came in handy like you wouldn't believe! We got really sick so it was great to have in the room to watch DVD's and we had our music on when we were getting ready. We had it with us for our 30 hour (each way) train ride too and it came in handy!!! We are driving down this March and I am sure one of us will be in the back watching DVD's!



Our first night is going to be spent setting up the campsite and THEN going to the Poly to watch the fireworks! I don't know how we are going to manage being SO CLOSE to the Magic Kingdom, but we will get through it!


Golfing is also a great idea as well as the boardwalk.... maybe check out Beaches and Cream for dessert!

 

[Raven66]

We always get a hotel room out of the park for the first night and rest up. The next morning is when we start are actual first day in the park and go to our on site hotel. That way we don't waste any part of a day.

 

[stingrock23]

Here's some more suggestions:

1. Explore Pop Century. It's brand new, and it would help to know the layout.

2. Go to the boardwalk. Lots of fun stuff to do there.

3. Take a bus to either MK or Epcot, and ride the monorail for a while.