Fuzzy Memories of a Noobs First Trip report

Pre Trip: I call myself a noob because it had been 20+ yrs when my last visit took place. I was just a young teen, Universal had just opened and the park wars were in full swing. I was not a coaster nut and Big thunder scared the crap out of me. Space Mountain I absolutely loved. Go figure. Now this trip was about four yrs in the making. Saving, making a DD, reading and planning via this site and books. No amount of planning could prepare for this trip.

Trip Report:

We booked 9 months out at the ASM from Oct 8-15th 2011. After the free dining was announced we switch the POR and got a $200 refund. The magic was starting already. Now this next part does suck but I will not get into that here. If you wish you can read the back story of that ongoing ordeal. All that I want to say is thanks for the prayers and well wishes from the WDW magic family.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=807926

There are two party's involved and we left from the same town in Ohio. The girlfriends family drove to WDW. Three adults and three kids in a minivan, good luck. We decided to fly. Me, the girlfriend and our daughter Allison. We spent the night in Cincinnati with relatives so we would have no trouble making our 10:30am flights without the added 2 hrs drive time.

So the girlfriends family of her mother, sister, sisters husband and their 3 kids leave very early Friday morning. So the great race is official. We had to work Friday giving them a huge head start. But they had to stop for the night and finish their drive on Saturday.

So we board our flight and get belted.



Our daughter, Allie and I.


The girlfriend/ol' lady/babby mamma Katie and Allie


So after a late night, an early morning and hitting a wall in mid flight this is the result.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day one cont..

We left clear skies in Ohio for sunny Florida. We land at Orlando on time and it's pouring the rain. I think it'll pass just a Florida storm. And we try find our way to the DME. Now this is the Noob in me, I remember seeing one sign pointing the way but after that we were lost. All I know is to keep heading down and follow the crowd filled with kids.
So we hit the DME line and boom we were first in line, doing a happy dance. :sohappy: After waiting 20 mins for a bus I realize we just missed the last bus.


When we board the bus we are getting phone calls form our other party, they beat us by driving more then planned and leaving early Saturday. They beat us by 30 min to POR. However we are relaxed and refreshed from our easy 2hr flight.

This is the best pic I could take of us on the bus.


It was raining harder by now...




So we check in and are in building 17. I had requested to be near our other party and Disney did not let down. We had adjoining rooms. Which was a mixed blessing. We watched each other kids, but the kids just ran back and forth between rooms. :zipit:



Now I did spray water repellent on my shoes, but the very breathable Brooks running shoes just let the water in like I was wearing nothing at all.

I should have just taken this to the park and bar of soap. We were drenched all day long. So not to many pics did not want to ruin the cameras. We had come prepared and brought ponchos. But after one day they were ruined trying to fit them over the backpack. Off and on and off and on,, they ripped.

Noob mistake.. we tried the West Depot. Big mistake, we watch bus after bus drive by that were full.. The kids were bouncing off the walls, I was mad about the rain. But we did finally get a bus and off the the Magic Kingdom. We entered the park around 3:00pm and getting soaked. I remember thinking that the trip going to be ruined. Then I remember thinking that a wet day in Disney is better then being at work. So suck it up and off to our first ride was the teacups.
My youngest niece Peyton and Allie.


Oldest niece TJ


Katie's sister Erin and their mother Teresa
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day one cont..

Off to the Carousel.


Their is Chad the nieces father and Peyton


The middle niece Sydney



After that we ride Dumbo and it is still raining. It was an experience not to forget. My butt was dry until this point, not now. So to try something different and indoors we ride Snow White Scary Adventure

 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster



Well, that was a big mistake. All the kids came off in tears. The oldest was even upset and I can see why. It's just the Evil Queen jumping out at you for 2 minutes. We never even asked the kids if they wanted to re ride for the entire trip. It was like that ride did not exist.

We did go on Peter Pan's Flight next and we had to reassure Allie that this dark ride was O.K.. Did not help she cried for the first half of the ride. On a side note, I almost lost the backpack on this ride. Noob mistake... When you fly over London and the ship turns right and swings or dips the backpack started to fall out. I did catch it and was warned to not let it fall, not by a CM by Katie. I was thinking I just about destroyed the scene. This backpack was heavy and would have smashed the sets.

Off to It's a Small World. By this time the line was full but moving quickly. Has we get to the turn before loading we see a boat launched empty. Now the entire crowd was wet, cold, squishy feet and we wanted to sit down for a while. So a mutiny was about to form. When the boat came around the corner we saw why it was empty. :hurl: someone must have hit rough seas and the boat was a mess. So you could hear this collective yuck come from the crowd, it was hilarious.

 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now this part gets fuzzy because I do not have any photos of the rest of the day. I can remember riding Haunted Mansion. Just had to act like every ghost was silly and keep laughing and Allie was fine. Splash Mountain I rode with no poncho. What was the point. Had the back seat and did not get hit by the water cannon, but it was close.

After that I can only remember leaving after dark. We were dropped at the West Depot. Another noob mistake.. By this time it had rained all day. The path was dark and poorly marked. The signs led us in circles and the pathways were flooded blocking routes. After 10 minutes of walking in the dark and rain we finally find our way. We could take our cloths and just ring them out. I had take the insoles out of my shoes so they would dry. Yes, the blisters started to form. I sit down to watch the weather and they are calling for a strong chance of rain.

Great, day two sounds promising.

Next update day two.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks^

Those were the cheap ones we brought from home. After about a day they were torn and useless. We did break down and buy Disney ones. Which were selling quite well despite the price.

The reason I was upset about the rain is because of our last vacation. We were in Myrtle Beach and it rained and entire week. With 4 inches in one day.

So here we are in Disney World with it raining and no sign of stopping.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day two:

After the disaster that was the West Depot, we decided to go to the main stop. Which usually worked out fairly well. It always seemed like we saw many more Animal Kingdom buses then any other park. I never could figure that out. They were always half full. We catch our bus and off to Epcot, by this time it is still raining. Glad I pre-purchased my photo pass, was not used at all one day one. Oh well.

By day two I am still resisting using the pack. As you will see I am already in full pack mule mode as it stands. I did not want to add more to my bulk.

What to do in Epcot while it rains? Spaceship Earth sounds good. After that let's hit the character spot. Maybe we can dry out.

While we were walking up to the ride, parking strollers and using the restrooms. I see what many people dread. A flag,... leading about 200 kids of an undetermined foreign tour group. Right onto SSE. I kinda laugh to myself and think this is what everyone warned me about. I am living some sort of cruel dream.

Noob mistake alert. So we enter SSE and by the time I get help get Allison in, get off the backpack and sit. The language selection screen had already passed. I never even had time to see it on the screen! How did I find this out you ask? It started talking in Portuguese! NOOO! The entire ride was in a language I could not understand. I was furious. :mad: No amount of touching the screen made anything happen. Disney can we just make the default language English to help noobs like me. So instead of having a sweet Epcot moment, I left the ride with a bitter taste in my mouth. I had to remember that a bad day in Epcot is better than a good day at work.

Off to meet some characters.

We are waiting with baited breath and autograph books at the ready.


I finally get to use the photopass. This makes me feel better and forget about SSE.





I think this guy is my twin.


So for us the autograph books and the photpass were a good purchase. We used them everywhere for this trip. The little ones were so focused on the characters it would have been cruel not to get them. I had a blast watching and being in the character interactions with my child and the nieces.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One suggestion I did use was take a picure of the back of your photopass card. I did not have to use it but had it just in case.

The character spot was fun and for the kids very first time seeing any characters they did great. Allie was a little unsure as you can see her clinging to mommy but she did fine.

The meet and greet made you feel like herded cattle. Throw your stuff against the wall. Run in and get pics run out. Wait for the person in front get done. Grab your stuff and move down to the next character. Repeat. Many people were asking the photo pass people to use their own cameras. They did not appreciate this at all. We did not do this because of our party is split into two groups we just took pics of each other in addition to the photo pass. When handed a camera they did not put much effort into the picture. But again they are just trying to keep the line moving.

After the pics the rain had started to lighten and no need for ponchos.


Time to hit the rides.


Not yet


Our first big ride at the World.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Teresa watched the two smallest ones, Allie and Peyton while we rode.

Now, haters gonna hate but I loved Test Track. I had many slot car tracks as a kid and always wondered what it would be like to be in one. Well now I can find out. I had watched this on YouTube so many times in the last four years there were no surprises. But the speed of the at ride was incredible. Maybe more the acceleration. Blows the Sebring out of the water.

It was still a blast. As we went into the crash test scene I acted and screamed for all I was worth to try to scare the neices. I don't think it worked.

Me as a pack mule, and Disney uses the line time card I think just to tag noobs.





Don't crash yet.



Yeah I'm a dork


Why did we get this photo? Cause it was already paid for, I see future is now.

 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is where the fuzzy memories kick in gear. After riding Mission Space I grabbed fastpasses. Now it was a walk-on and did not need them but why not.

So off to help Nemo at the Living Seas. Sorry The Seas with Nemo and Fiends. We find Nemo and watch the manatees feed. After that it's time to talk to Crush, dude. This was fun for the kids and adults.

It was getting close to leaving time so TJ and I run over to use my fastpass for M:S. They were not needed, it was still a walk-on, we used them anyway. After the second ride we go right back on for a third.

By this time it was time to leave and try to meet my mother at DTD. She was suppose to be there Saturday but could not make it until Sunday. I talked her into POR on the cell phone, and told her to hop a bus for DTD.



Hooray! Grandma made it here.


After some light shopping it time to get Grandma settled.




At this point Allie had been throwing a fit to ride a boat because I had mentioned it earlier so we split up. We took the boat back to POR, me, Katie, Allie and Grandma. The rest took a bus. Another race was had begun.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The boat was such a good choice. Very relaxing, open and not smelly like the buses.







We are using a simple 6mp point and shoot. These were the best pictures I could get at night on a moving boat. Next time I'll use the flash. :lol:






After reaching the hotel we find out that we beat the bus back. Now we did catch the boat right before it launched or this might not have happened. After grabbing some dinner Erin informs us that it's EMH at the Magic Kingdom.



The kids are ready to go.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day two:

Only not everybody was up for a 3am EMH. Allison and my mother stayed behind to rest. Everybody else went along for the ride. The funny part was that Sydney fell asleep on the bus. Sid is a very hard child to wake up. While walking up Main Street she looked like a Muppet. She was walking with her eyes closed and holding her dads hand. With her head bobbing randomly. So what do you do during a 3am EMH? Ride the magic carpets or course.

On Pirates of the Caribbean we discover that the water cannons were working very well. The CM out front noticed the First Visit button and asked "What my favorite ride has been?" I replied Test Track, and she looked very surprised. I said, "I know a lot of people hate it but whatever."
Splash was not running and Big Thunder was shut down for the night.
So off to Tomorrow land. Now Chad is not a coaster fan at all. He says that if it's in the dark then it's fine. I tell him Space Mountain is a dark coaster but the drops are just a little worse than Pirates and is fairly slow. :lol:

While in the line at Space Mountain I was approached by a man whose wife is paralyzed and needed help transferring her to the car. So he asks for help because the CM are not allowed to help. He says do you have a good back? I say sure and I have help. Chad was volunteered by me. She was not overweight just dead weight. They said they had a hard time finding people to help at other rides. So after some CM confusion they let us follow them to the ride and help her load. We put her in and loaded the train. Now this put two extra people in the party and we had to split up. So we had me, Chad, Katie, and the two others in one train. I was in the very back of the train. Off we go. I remember riding this 20 years ago but forgot how fast it seemed. Being in the back and a train full of adults got that thing cooking.

Erin and TJ go on the next train with other people.

Now during the ride I find that wallet might fall out. I thought I lost it while on the lift hill, I could not feel it in my pocket and being so tall I was squished in this car. Luck was on my side the T bar had sandwiched it between my thigh and the bar. But I still kept my hand on it the entire time.

I screamed and said somethings that cannot be written here. I don't remember it being this fast! So much fun. When we get to unload we helped the lady transfer back to her chair. She was in tears from being so happy and her husband was very thankful. Never saw them again. But it felt very good to help even if we had to split our party for our first rides.

Chad was a little white, and said "Just a little worse than pirates." "I think you understated that one." :lol:

Katie is worried about TJ, "She's not going to like that, we have to get her off." I say "Well it's to late now, she either will be smiling or in tears we'll see." She loved it, such a huge smile it was great. Now this was a moment for TJ and I. I had told her for the last four years that you are riding Space Mountain with your Uncle Lupe and she did, it was great. Take that off the bucket list. First ride on Space Mountain with TJ.

After we get off and tell Teresa who was watching Sydney(now sleeping in the stroller) and Peyton our experience. We go back on for another ride. This time we are on the opposite track as before. We are calling seats and Chad takes the back and I get the front. So much more room in the front. Thats a tip for the tall guys. Take the front seat. You can also see where you are going better and the ride is not as fast.

Noob mistake.. that extra 10 feet of track after the reentry tunnel took us off guard. We had started to turn talk to each other and aahhh, screaming and laughter at our mistake. Next time wait until the ride is completely over to talk.



After this we headed back to POR at 2:30am. That was full day.
 

disneyny

Member
We were "noobs" again in 2003 after now having not been since I was an early teenager. My sister and I arrived the night before my mom and set off to explore and guess what came? The rain on that first night. Massive amounts of it that swamped my sneakers and ruined them for the trip so I totally feel your pain about the shoes and blisters. That is not the best way to start a trip for sure but we didn't let it bother us too much. Since I am not a noob anymore I crack out the ugly crocs for my feet now while always remembering the water pouring from my sneakers. Enjoying your report!!
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were "noobs" again in 2003 after now having not been since I was an early teenager. My sister and I arrived the night before my mom and set off to explore and guess what came? The rain on that first night. Massive amounts of it that swamped my sneakers and ruined them for the trip so I totally feel your pain about the shoes and blisters. That is not the best way to start a trip for sure but we didn't let it bother us too much. Since I am not a noob anymore I crack out the ugly crocs for my feet now while always remembering the water pouring from my sneakers. Enjoying your report!!

I spent the entire week with moleskin covering large patches of my feet. And using a needle to drain new blisters as they formed. If it had not rained my feet would have been fine. The 40 lbs on my back did not help.
 

Uncle Lupe

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day Three: Animal Kingdom



Not to many pics of day three. I did not want to see the parks via a 3" screen.

So we get a late start after being out so late the night before. I decide after Space Mountain it's time to use the Pack. So now I am in full blown tourist mode. It also makes bag check even worse.

We reach Animal Kingdom about mid morning, and it was already humid. We head straight to the back of the park to get FP's for Kilimanjaro Safari's. Our return time was a few hours away. So we had time to kill and Erin wants to go on Kali. Everybody wants to go but not the grandmothers and not me. This was the first day of being dry and I did not want to get wet on purpose. So I stay and help with the little ones while they go ride. Katie was not the happiest with my decision but she wanted to ride.

While waiting for 45 minutes and my slushie running dry it was time to find something to do. I called Katie and she said they were not even close to loading. So Teresa and I take the girls on the Jungle Trek to keep them moving and happy. We take the trek saw some different animals. Skipped the bird cage and find our way out.
By this time the other were getting of the rapids. So it was Erin that said, " I don't care if I get a little wet, I'll dry." Well the river gods made her eat her words for she was the one who got drenched. It was a good choice not to wear white that day. :D

After that we grabbed some snacks and headed on safari. We use our FP's but still waited 20 min to ride. That is a very boring line. After waiting we are seated in the last two rows of the bus. I was in the very last row trying to video the kids, animals and holding my camera with both hands. So I do not have pics of the ride but I do have video which I will post soon.

So we were having fun and off on our way to the poachers. When we went down a gully our driver hit a huge bump and gunned it. I came up out of my seat enough to get air. When I came down I landed awkward and "pinched or squished" myself. You guys know what I mean, that dull lingering pain. I injured my groin on Kilimanjaro Safaris. This pain was not severe but enough to know it happened. That slushie would have come in handy now.
 

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