Labor Day weekend trip report

First let me give you a little background info as I write this over my lunch break. My DGF and I both just graduated from graduate school in May, she got a job in Baltimore, I in Houston. Not so convienient.

I started looking into going to WDW again (we were there for a week in March) when I saw big discounts on rooms in the area around Labor Day. I looked into flights, and it is basically only about $40-50 more for BOTH of us to fly into MCO than it is for her to come to Houston or me to Baltimore, so we took advantage of the Labor Day 3 Day weekend.

Friday August 29.
Get into the airport, get our Mears shuttle, and head to the Master's Inn Maingate West. Our drvier gets a little lost and brings us to Maingate East... oh well, it's late, we have no plans, and we get to where we are going. Hotel isn't great. Beds and a Shower, which I guess is all we were looking for plus it had a shuttle, so what more do we want for $35 a night right??

Saturday August 30
The one thing we didn't do in March that Julie (DGF) really wanted to was a full day at MK. We had been with a WDW newbie, but a DL lifer, so we were trying to show him the rest of the World. So we hop a shuttle at 10:10 over to MK, get there at about 11 after a stop at another hotel and at the Studios and Epcot. It's ok though, the park is open until 11pm tonight.
:sohappy:
Anyway, we just want to take our time and not rush, and just enjoy it. We head in toward Adventureland and get a Dole Whip and a water, and imbibe those on our way through the SFR Treehouse. From there, we go and grab a FP for Splash Mountain and take pictures of Julie pouting by the sign telling us BTMR is closed for rehab. Head back, hop right on PoC and Jungle Cruise. We had I think Jim from Syracuse NY as a CM for Jungle Cruise, and he was especially good. If anyone knows him, send him our compliments.
We head back and ride Splash Mtn, then head toward the Castle as we're going to try and get a PS for a late lunch, but no go, as we expected, but no big deal. We head into Tomorrowland, and get a FP for Space Mtn, rode TTA, and go into AE. I don't care what y'all say, I still like that show, but there was basically no wait time for it at all. We grabbed some food then went over to HM. On the way we stopped to watch some of the Cinderella's Surprise Celebration, and right next to us a couple got engaged, no pressure or anything though.... :lookaroun
Waited for HM for 30 minutes in the "line", longest wait all weekend, which is nice. They really need to do something there though. It was completely congested with people trying to get FP, trying to use FP, and people waiting for their FP times (why FP if you're going to stand to wait to use it :hammer: ?) Anyway, rode it, enjoyed it and headed back to TL. Got a FP for Buzz and hopped Space Mtn. Went over to Toontown, rode Goofy's barnstormer, then took the MK RR around the park and back to Toontown so we could walk to Buzz.
(Somewhere in here we rode IASW and got a FP for Pooh, but how it all worked out, I can't remember right now )
Rode Buzz, and headed back through the park to see Hall of Presidents. In 10+ trips, I don't think I ever saw this, and it is a great show, how I always skipped it I'll never know. Headed from there to Country Bear Jamboree, went and got food, and rode Pooh. Watched the Night parade (name escapes me) and then quick got a FP for Pan, then rode Snow White Scary Adventure. Fireworks time, first time seeing Tink Fly, and then rode Pan and Splash Mountain. Had to fight the 11pm parade getting back to our bus stop, but we made it, and crashed when we hit the bed.....

More to come (up next Epcot with a journey to the Studios)

 

[RnRCJohn]

Great report!


John

 

[CSOM]

cont...

Sunday, August 31.

Got up earlier today, and caught the 8:30 shuttle to MK and boarded the Monorail to Epcot (no direct Epcot transportation from our cheap hotel before 10:10). Get there and there is no one at the park really. The initial plan was to grab a FP for M:S then go get some breakfast. Well, like I said, no one there at opening, so we just went right on M:S (but grabbed a FP for good measure). Good ride, pretty intense, still got a little disorientated though, and I kept my headback the whole time. Not nauseus really, just more my eyes weren't keeping up with the screen and a little motion sickness headache, but not bad at all.

Went to get some breakfast and was sooo looking forward to a Mickey Waffle, but didn't see any so I had to settle for french toast sticks instead. After that, went and grabbed a FP for Test Track and then hopped on M:S again. 1 ride in Gold 1 in Green, and came out thinking that it is a good ride, probably the most intense in WDW, but definately not the most thrilling, and I question it's re-ridability (unless your name is Kyle or Patrick). I would rather have Horizons back.

Anyway, went and rode SSE, then TT. TT was operating, but wasn't right. We kept getting too close to the car in front of us, so the audio didn't mix with the ride sensation. The non-ABS brake test didn't work right, and we sat too long and then rode slowly past the semi and heard it "coming toward" us while we were stopped right next to it. Other than that it was fine, but still a little disappointing. Someone in the car in front of us was telling a CM and we stopped to let them know too, and all they said is that "that happens if you get to close to the car in front of you".... oh well I guess

Went and rode Imagination, and it's amazing how one of the best rides at the park became one of the worst.... Went to Land, don't think I've ever been in here either, and took it all it. Circle of Life was pretty good, and so were the Food Rocks and Living with the Land. Might not be an every trip stop, but entertaining. Checked out the Living Seas, was cool, but needs more fish...

From there we headed out toward the International Gateway and hopped on a Friendship boat to the Studios (Julie didn't know you could take a boat) It was about 3:30 and we grabbed a FP for RnRC and walked on ToT with about a 20 minute wait. Still one of my favorite 2 rides in the World (with Splash Mtn). Went and rode GMR while waiting for our FP time (missed it in March from rehab). Went back and rode RnRC, then fought the Parade crowds trying to get out of the park.... madness I tell you. But we did purchase our picture of us taken in front of the hat, Julie was sooo excited.

We just missed a friendship boat for Epcot and the bus line was long, so we walked back, and beat the boat actually. Took the time to walk around WS, went in some shops, and then sat outside of Mexico enjoying Strawberry Margarita's and people watching. Went back and watched the American Adventure, which was pretty good, and I had never done that before either.

Made our way back around and went to Le Cellier for our 8:30 PS. We didn't actually get seated until about 8:50 or so. The food was ok, but I wouldn't jump at the chance to go back, but if I did, I wouldn't get the NY Strip Steak.... wasn't too impressed, my cut was pretty fatty. My Molson Draft was pretty good though :animwink:

Walking out of the park was cool because the park had been closed for about 45 minutes, so it felt kinda like we were the only ones in Epcot. Caught the bus back and crashed right away again.

Monday, September 1

The original plan was to get up early to go do some shopping at Downtown Disney. Only problem was transportation. We would have had to get up real early, pack, check out, and have the hotel desk hold our bags, then hop the 8:30 bus to MK then get Disney transportation to DtD. We would've also had to take a cab back to the hotel before Mears picked us up. So we decided to skip it, sleep in, extend our stay by 1 day (so we could check out at 3pm) and laid by the pool all day. Much more relaxing!

Tuesday, September 2
I don't want to be back at work


But, I'll see y'all in March (and hopefully see Philharmagic and Fantasmic)