Mega trip: 7/19-7/31 (or 8/3)

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 12, 2009

Day 8

7/26:
Alarm goes off at 6:30. This is the latest we've slept in yet. As mentioned earlier, the original plan was to hit Epcot early for EMH entry, but the plan changed a bit. We only have two countries left to do (Norway and Mexico) and the boys are also wanting to do Test Track and Mission Space again. We did the green side last time and despite all efforts, they still don't want to try the orange side.
We get to Epcot around 9:30. The clouds are already rolling in. The weather report on TV this morning said to expect rains early, clearing up in the afternoon. Which is probably why we forgot our classic yellow Mickey ponchos back at the cabin this morning.
Once at Epcot we head towards Test Track and print out passes for 11:55am. Crowds are light despite EMH (they must all be at Soarin'). We walk next door to Mission Space and the green side posts a 10 minute wait. Orange was 30, but we were content with green to begin with. The new plan for today is working out great. While were waiting for mission green in the preshow room, a CM comes in and states that there are technical difficulties (probably CM code speak for a guest protien spill) in our simulator and that we will be moved accross the hallway to the other green mission. We're moved and after watching the preshow again, given the normal top-rate attraction experience.
From Mission Space its onward to the other side of Future World for lunch. Today it's counter service at Sunshine Seasons. The youngest has the chicken; the oldest, along with Grandpa, have the large flatbread sandwich; grandma and I have the Asian offerings along with creme brule for dessert. Comparing the look of my pho-Panda Express type food and my oldest son's sandwich, the sandwich looks sooo good. No worries though as with them ordering what they want and not restricted to kids menus at counter service restaraunts, I'm able to pick off a bit of what they don't eat...and the sandwiches are even better than they look. Wow! This is by far the best counter service meal of the trip. Everything is so fresh and healthy, and I'm proud of my boys for picking healthy meals (despite the big chocolate chip cookies for dessert).
After lunch we walk towards Norway. We only have to see Norway and Mexico to be finished with World Showcase, so we start in Norway with the intention of working back to Mexico and then over to Test Track to use our Fastpasses.
It was in Norway that something Pooh-like happened. Yes, the rain rain rain started to come down down down. Not the light Florida mist that most tourists mistake for rain, but those big Florida downpours that usually indicate that it's 4:00pm. But here it was only noon, and we forgot our classic yellow Mickey ponchos back at the cabin. Sure, they sell the new ones at Norway, but we're so close to Mexico and we decide that if we are going to buy new ponchos, we're doing it in Mexico. At a break in the rain, we start the quick walk over to Mexico.
After going through Mexico, it's onward to Test Track to use our Fastpasses. The rain has let up and is coming down very light, almost mist-like. Test Track is closed however. The walkways are all flooded as CM Managers in their suits, ties, and leather shoes are wading through the water trying to unclog the drains that have been plugged up by leaves. The rain must have really come down while we were inside the World Showcase pavillions.
We decide to head on over to MK to finish up the few things we have there. When we get to the Epcot monorail station, we hear an announcement that the blue monorail is having technical difficulties. We figure that with the amount of rain that came down so quick, it triggered an e-stop on blue and a simple system reboot would be the fix and our wait wouldn't be more than 10 minutes. We can see blue on the track about even with the Universe of Engergy. It has people on it. About 10 minutes pass and there is another announcement that the problem will not be a simple fix and that they need us to use the busses to get to where we need to go. TTC will be at bus stop 15...the furthest from the Epcot entrance. A lot of people are complaining, but not us. We hear complaints about people paying for a monorail resort that have to take busses, to people having to wait for the busses because bus control can't dispatch them fast enough. Our thoughts: "At least we aren't the ones stuck on the blue monorail". On the bus ride over to the TTC, we see something that most people don't get to see. It's the monorail towcar on its way to rescue blue. For those that don't realize, in order for this to get on the Epcot line, the entire monorail system had to be momentarily shut down to make the rail switches. If it was weather related, that really was some downpour.
By the time we're at the TTC, the resort line is running, but we opt for the boat accross to MK instead. MK is great, and we were able to finish up Tomorrowland. We have a few things we'll come back for, but if we miss them this trip it isn't too big a deal.
Dinner is at Ohana tonight. For all of us, it is our first time here. Quite simply, the food was amazing. I did have a couple of under-cooked shrimp, but by and large my favs were the beef, the wings, and the dumplings. The dumplings are so much better than the China pavillion's pot stickers. But the best part of Ohana can be summed up in two words: Lapu Lapu. For those that need a visual reference:

This consists of a very large pineapple, that has been cored and filled with adult-beverage goodness. The thing is heavy, but sooo good. I really could have enjoyed Lapu Lapu Lapu Lapu, but restrained myself from ordering more than one.
We have a view of the castle in the background and get to watch as it changes color and the sun sets, but are finished by 9pm.

The rains are long gone now, and on our way back to the cabins via connecting at MK, we are treated to the electrical water pagent from the boat launch at MK. We then watch the fireworks from the beach of Fort Wilderness. Good show, although the beach does get crowded.
Two Disney days left, so back to the cabin to rest up. We still got a few things to see and a few places to go.

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 12, 2009

Day 9

7/27:
Alarm goes off at 5:30, but I was up by 5:15 for an unknown reason. Another deer sighting outside, and were heading to Wilderness Lodge this morning. For Fort Wilderness, Roaring Forks at the Lodge is the closest counter service location that serves a hot breakfast. Lucky for us, the first bus we see is the Orange Settlement bus which continues on to Fort Wilderness. Roaring Forks is good, but space is limited there. Luckily we got there early enough for it not to be an issue. The food is good, but nothing special. I will say the ham, egg, and cheese sandwich is a pretty hardy way to start off the morning.
After breakfast we're heading to Blizzard Beach. It's 7:45am, and the Animal Kingdom bus does not display the Blizzard Beach stop as part of its route. I ask the driver, and he states that the dual route normally starts around 8:15 for a 9am opening, but not to worry because he would take us there. It's the first stop, and we're right up front when they open.
Just before opening, a CM comes out to solicit a volunteer to help open the park by braving Summit Plummit. She's looking for a child that meets the height requirement, and specifically asks my oldest if he is interested. He's 9, and had previously stated that there was no way he was going on it. I wasn't going to pressure him, so we kindly passed and allowed the CM to choose someone else.
Blizzard Beach opened slightly late due to an issue with the front gate, but we were still able to go on every slide the boys wanted to do and spend time in the wave pool and the lazy river. The grandparents enjoyed the beach atmosphere and the Christmas music playing at the end of July. We left having spent all of our energy traversing the park and enjoying the attractions we wanted to by 11:30. Back to the cabin.
After changing and resting until the mousekeeper arrived to redress the cabin, we decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom. We finish up everything we want to, except Peter Pan because of the huge wait for both stand-by and Fastpass returns, and then do a few things that the boys want to do agian.
Dinner is a short monorail ride over to the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary. The dinner there is good, although their burgers will never compare to those of the former Concourse Steakhouse in that spot. The menu does have a bit of variety though, and everyone finds something they like. Aside from the burgers, the food also seems a little lighter and healthier than most of the counter service locations in the parks. Dessert comes back to the cabin with us. On our way back, we stop at the Meadow Trading Post to pick up all our resort packages we've sent back from the parks. Tomorrow is our last full Disney day...time to start repacking.

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 12, 2009

Day 10

7/28:
Alarm goes off at 6am. The original plan was to head over to MK for EMH, but we've done everything there that we wanted except Peter Pan. That would have to wait for next trip. We've all been on it countless times before, so it's not a big loss for us. What is important is finishing up at Animal Kingdom. Today is our last day at Disney. We still need to go through Dinoland, and see the Lion King show at AK. The bird show can be skipped. I'm sure it's good, but all of us have seen bird shows at other places and were sure it couldn't be too much different. We get to AK just in time to see the park opening ceremony for the third time on our trip.

We quickly get through Dinoland and then wait the 30 minutes to do the safari again. From there, it's off to line up for Lion King. The show is great. All of us had seen the Lion King musical that tours the country, and we were pleased that this was noticably different than just a snippit of the broadway production (like the Beauty and the Beast show at the studios). After Lion King, its over to Restarauntasorus for lunch. We were going to do Flame Tree, but air conditioning and the free refill station won out. After lunch, its back to the cabin for some rest and to confirm our transportation and baggage pickup for tomorrow morning.
We leave the cabin around 3:30pm to start our journey to AKL for our dinner ADR at Boma. We want to leave ourselvs ample time to not only get there, but to explore the resort before our ADR time. The plan is to take the FtW Outpost bus and then hop on the first bus to any park. Oddly, the first bus is the Animal Kingdom. From AK, we transfer to the AKL bus and get to explore the resort a bit before checking in early for our ADR at Boma.

To say that Boma was great, is to understate it. I would have gladly paid out of pocket just for the quality of the soups that are served there. I tackled Boma in a way that I normally don't do buffets. Normally, I'll see something like the prime rib and think "hey, I'm having all you can eat prime tonight", but not here at Boma. I had a very little bit of everything there. Grandma had the same plan. Grandpa and the boys found what they liked and stuck to it. I started with a small tasting of the salads, followed by the hummus. The black olive hummus was amazing. I then moved on to the meat stations and their side dishes such as the fufu. Grandma moved on to the soups. Normally I skip soups, they're never unique in my experience. But, after hearing how good they were from Grandma, I had to try them. I went first with the Butternut Squash, making sure I gave a small spoonfull to my youngest to taste. That was enough to get him addicted, so I moved on to the seafood coconut soup. It was a mixture of shrimp, musscles, and a couple other types of seafood mixed in a coconut broth. Amazing. All the food was amazing. When I thought I couldn't eat any more, I went to the dessert stations to find out what the big deal was about zebra domes. No words can describe these, and printing the sounds made when first tasting them would surely call out the moderators to censor this post...they are that good. We all thought so, making sure that each of us had at least a couple. Boma could easily produce its own cookbook for sale aside from the ones already available at the parks (which I forgot to buy when I was there). By the way, does anyone know what the cookbooks are that are available and how much they are so I'm prepared when I call for a merchandise mail order?
After Boma, we needed to do something other than go back to the cabin. We were too full to sleep, but we wanted something air conditioned. So, off for a couple hours of Disney Quest followed by using up all those snack credits on fudge, drinks, and candy at the Marketplace.
Finally, still full and now tired (but still wishing we could go back for some more zebra domes) we head back to the cabin.
That's our Disney vacation, our near perfect vacation and one we won't forget. The towncar service will be here at 9am tomorrow for our trip to Universal's Royal Pacific, so the posts arent' quite done yet. It's our first trip inside the Orlando Universal parks, so we'll see how it compares to Disney starting tomorrow.

mousebymarriage · Aug 12, 2009

Fabulous trip report, you did a great job of making the reader feel as if they were on the vacation too. Trip reports like yours are what makes it a little easier to deal with Disney withdrawls. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us!:sohappy:

DisneyBunny · Aug 13, 2009

Great Pics! That's one big fish!

Thanks for sharing! :wave:

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 14, 2009

Day 11

7/29:
Alarm goes off at 7am. It's the latest we've slept the entire trip, but keep in mind that we've usually made it back to our cabin mid-day for a little air-conditioned rest and relaxation. Our breakfast consists of the leftover desserts and snacks that have slowly been accumulating in the cabin over the past couple of days. The resort van is coming to pick us up at 8:30 for our 9am shuttle over to Universal. We looked at both Quicksilver and Tiffany but ended up going with Tiffany towncar. From what I've read here, either one would've been good. We say goodbye to Disney, and although we'd like to return here soon we here there's these parks in Paris that are kind of similar, so who knows when we'll make it back to central Florida.
So the Disney portion of the report is over, but the trip isn't done yet so my reports continue.
We're staying at Universal's Royal Pacific. It's actually a Loews hotel, but with it actually being part of the Universal resort, I'll always call it a Universal hotel.
We get to the hotel by 10am. It's big and somewhat impressive. The entry walkway into the hotel from the valet stand and drop off area makes me think tropical and trying to be like the Poly. There are differences though. Poly is very lush, while RP is more subtle in decor. The place is massive though and that is a negative in comparison to Poly's small houses that give the grounds more intimacy. RP does feel like a four-star resort though, so we're happy as we walk in. We originally booked a room with two doubles with the request of a rollaway to accomodate our 5th person. Unless you get a large suite this is the only way to accomodate a 5th at any of Universal's hotels. But, after staying in the roomy cabin for so long, we ask about the possibility of two connecting rooms. They are able to do this and match the rate of the first room for the second. We will end up with a king room and a room with two doubles. They aren't ready yet, but will call us on our cell phones when they are and give us the room numbers then.
Our next stop is the concierge to pick up our tickets. We had two tickets from their Super Bowl promotion and purchased three more online. Uni gives discounts over gate prices by buying online. We're only able to print out the online tickets purchased and we'll have to go to the ticket windows at the park to get the two comps.
Ticket window lines are long and there is no air cirulation to escape from the heat under the canopy where the ticket lines are. Lines are also moving slow, but we'll be using our Universal Express feature that comes with our rooms so we aren't worried.
We're starting with the studios. Walking in and getting a map and trying to orientate ourselves, we decide to just start walking straight. It's going on 11am now, and we're able to complete Jimmy Newtron, Shrek, Twister, and the Mummy (twice) before heading back out of the park for lunch.
Lunch is at Citywalk at the new Whopper Bar. Now that we're not on the DDP, we're back to watching the budget. After lunch it's back to the studios and this time we make a right and go to Terminator, Simpsons, MIB, and Jaws. We have no interest seeing the Fear Factor show...especially either before or after a meal. While we were in line for Simpsons (about 20 minutes for Express) we get the call from the hotel that our rooms are ready. So, by the time we're done with Jaws, we decide to head back to the hotel to check out the rooms and have our luggage brought up.
The room for me and the boys was nice and so was the one for the GPs. While going up to the room we realized something about this hotel. Our sense of smell spotted it first...this hotel is pet friendly. We can tell, because there is no way aside from tearing up the carpet and bleaching the concrete underneath to completly rid the smell of various pet accidents from the hallways. Although this smell didn't waft into the rooms, it is the single most reason that I will not stay at a Loew's hotel in the future. Once in the rooms, the GPs spotted that the windows in their room had not been cleaned and had small handprints all over them. Also, there were some towels in both rooms that had colored stains on them and huge dust bunnies between the doors of the connecting rooms. When the luggage came we gave the bell a nice tip and explained the cleanliness issues and asked for him to have housekeeping come back to our rooms. This never happened, but we weren't going to let it ruin our stay. We placed the stained towels aside on the floor and used some more to clean up the dust. While we made sure to give a nice tip to our mousekeeper along with a thank you note, whoever was responsible for the upkeep of our rooms would not be enjoying the same.
Once we got done cleaning our own rooms, we decided to head back to Citywalk for dinner. Dinner is at Hard Rock Cafe. Last time I was at this hard rock cafe, you entered into a different building over a bridge shaped like a guitar neck from the parking lot. The Psycho house could be seen in the distance, and there were not hotels or IA. They make a big deal about this being the largest HRC in the world. Good thing it is, because it made our wait for a table only 15 minutes. While inside the rains started up. Sitting upstairs in the round room that is mostly windows, we could get a deep sense of how powerfull this storm was becoming. There was lightning everywhere and the thunder would shake the glass panes next to us. After dinner, we explored the memorabilia a bit, went through their shop and began heading back to the hotel rooms.
Because of the lightning, the water taxis, and the rides visible from outside the parks were not running. We made it back before it got too bad, but when the rains hit, they hit hard.

Lucky · Aug 14, 2009

Terrific photos and reports.

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 14, 2009

Day 12

7/30:
This morning we wake up at around 8 and head over to IOA. Breakfast consists of the little remaining from the Disney snacks. We know that most people will head to their left to get Hulk and Spiderman out of the way, so we head to the right into Seuss Landing. We're much more impressed with this park over the studios, but even that in comparison to Universal Hollywood seems much nicer.

After Seuss, we head on over to Posidens Fury. The water effect in the tunnel isn't working and there is only a foggy mist. I had seen videos and descriptions of the water tunnel effect and was very much looking forward to it, but oh well. Even Posiden's "yeti" has a b-mode I guess.
After Posiden, we head on over to dueling dragons so Grandpa and I can ride it, while the kids are playing with Grandma in the Jurrasic Park discovery center. From there it's lunch at Mythos.
Mythos is well promoted as the best theme park restaurant for several years running (except this year). We decide to give it a try. It's very good, and we have no complaints, but after having some of the things we had at Disney (even stuff inside the parks, like Germany and Japan) we just have to think that Disney wins this best food competition. Mythos is well themed though. This mountain is entirely dedicated to the restaurant it holds:

After Mythos, it's on to the water rides. We start with Jurassic Park, and then over to Dudley Do-Rights'. It's here when we loose Grandma as a willing participant of water rides. We were all wearing ponchos, but these rides just seem to penatrate right through them. After the log-ride type attraction, it's on to Popeye's raft ride. This is when Grandpa decides to join Grandma in not going on, leaving me the stuck participant to accompany the boys on the ride. I'm tired of getting wet. Sure, we're planning on going back to the room soon to change, but the squishing in my wet sneekers and the fact that I needed to wring out the water from my socks were making me want to skip this. I go on it though, poncho on succumbed to the fact that the worst of getting wet is yet to come.
I have to say though, that if I wasn't so against going on it in the first place, this Popeye raft ride would be hands-down the best water raft ride I've ever been on. It put's AK's raft ride to shame. Even California Adventure's rafts aren't as long or as well themed as this. And, there is no way escaping getting wet. It is by far the longest ride of it's type I've ever been on, and I wish I would've been more in the spirit to enjoy it rather than looking like a cat in a bath after giving up the fight.
After Popeye, I want to dry off. Thankfully, there's only two more rides until we're done and the Express pass is making everything pretty much walk-on as far as wait is concerned.
Spiderman is great and I wish Disney would come up with a way to try to upstage it. I can think either Monsters or something themed to Incredibles would work perfectly in a moving non-interactive 3D environment.
From there, the boys stay with Grandma for the 10 minutes it takes Grandpa and I to complete Hulk. Then, it's back to the rooms.

We dry off and change while it begins to rain again outside. Our next stop is the AMC theatres to see G-Force in 3D, but first we have to get there. It's pouring and we're not sure if the boats are running or not, so we take the shuttle. G-Force is a good film for the boys and they enjoy it. Afterwards, we attempt to grab a quick bite to eat in Citywalk but realize that most quick places are closed. Maybe they open up once the clubs are open, but it's possible that they've shut down. We head back to the studios to go on Mummy again, get snacks and a spot for their 360 show. While getting snacks, we notice that whatever the supplier is for Disney's fudge and cookies (at least at the DTD Marketplace), it's the same here. From the size to the shape and prices, the stuff's the same. Good thing too, because we finished the Disney fudge this morning.
The studios 360 show is good, but it made me miss the old days of Sorcery in the Sky at the Disney MGM Studios. That was such a great show.
On our way out after 360, they were testing their new coaster that was supposed to open last spring. Here's a daytime shot of it from a distance:

Tomorrow afternoon we leave, and the only thing we want to do is a small suspended ride in Jurassic Park and Spiderman again.

MicheleK · Aug 14, 2009

So sorry to hear your room at Royal Pacific wasn't clean, what a bummer. We just got back from RP a few weeks ago and have to say after staying at Portafino Bay and Hard Rock I was hesitant to stay at RP. But to my pleasant surprise I was thrilled with the place. We also got two connecting rooms and have to say they were spotless (and I'm a bit of a neat freak). As for the animal smell, we didn't notice anything. Saw a few dogs every now and again but didn't smell a thing, than goodness.

I absolutely love the Express Passes. We go on and on and on all our favorite rides over and over again... LOVE IT!!

US/IOA is no Disney but I still think it's a great park all and all and love going there as a nice addition to our Disney trip. :wave:

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 14, 2009

MicheleK said:
So sorry to hear your room at Royal Pacific wasn't clean, what a bummer. We just got back from RP a few weeks ago and have to say after staying at Portafino Bay and Hard Rock I was hesitant to stay at RP. But to my pleasant surprise I was thrilled with the place. We also got two connecting rooms and have to say they were spotless (and I'm a bit of a neat freak). As for the animal smell, we didn't notice anything. Saw a few dogs every now and again but didn't smell a thing, than goodness.

I absolutely love the Express Passes. We go on and on and on all our favorite rides over and over again... LOVE IT!!

US/IOA is no Disney but I still think it's a great park all and all and love going there as a nice addition to our Disney trip. :wave:

They really are good parks. Different than Disney, but having something different every now and then is good. They are both sooo much better than Universal Hollywood. I can't say enough great things about Express. It is hands-down better than Fastpass for one simple reason...scarcity. Because there are so fewer people using Express because they are buying into a level of it or because they are staying at a Uni hotel, all the rides are either walk-on or a very minimal wait. I think the longest line we had was 25 minues, and that's only because of a temporary stoppage of the ride. After going to Uni with Express, I would not go back without having it. RP wasn't bad, it was just little things that added up. We weren't going to let that ruin a trip, although something did in the end, and I'll talk about that in our last day's report. I think next time, we'll go with Hard Rock or Portafino though. I do think that the hotels need to separate pet-friendly and non-pets into different floors though much like they would with smokers and non-smokers. Afterall, some people have bad allergies to certain kinds of pets.

blackthidot · Aug 14, 2009

Amazing report...even more amazing Bass!!

Mukta · Aug 14, 2009

I love your trip report. It really made me feel like I was there. I usually take one day out of my WDW trip to visit Universal. I think it is lots of fun. Thanks for the great pictures.

Shere_Khan · Aug 14, 2009

Soundstage'95CP said:
.

Is this photograph sold anywhere? I absolutely love it!

One Lil Spark · Aug 14, 2009

LOVE your shot of the rainbow in Fantasyland! :sohappy:

Can't wait for more...

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 14, 2009

Shere_Khan said:
Is this photograph sold anywhere? I absolutely love it!

Not quite sure. I've seen it on covers of Disney books, on mugs, and other such items before, but never just the picture. If there is a place that sold it, my guess would be at the Disneyland Hotel, as there is a full wall of black and white celebrity photos taken at Disneyland by Renie and a gift shop close to it. If you're ever in Anaheim, it's the middle tower of the Disneyland Hotel closest to the parks and Downtown Disney. I got mine from the photographer, hence the signature on it.

Shere_Khan · Aug 14, 2009

Soundstage'95CP said:
Not quite sure. I've seen it on covers of Disney books, on mugs, and other such items before, but never just the picture. If there is a place that sold it, my guess would be at the Disneyland Hotel, as there is a full wall of black and white celebrity photos taken at Disneyland by Renie and a gift shop close to it. If you're ever in Anaheim, it's the middle tower of the Disneyland Hotel closest to the parks and Downtown Disney. I got mine from the photographer, hence the signature on it.

That is absolutely amazing!
I just did a quick search on him and really found nothing with things for sale. I am assuming if it were sold anywhere in the parks it would be outrageously expensive. Guess I was hoping there were prints made.
Sadly I have never been to DLR - but hope to one day. Maybe I will find it sometime.
Lovin the report!

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 15, 2009

Day 13

7/31 (with extention to 8/3):

The last trip report. Maybe it's an omen that our last day of vacation is the 13th day. We certainly aren't thinking of it though.
The alarm goes off at 7:30a. We're already packed and ready to check out, except for a few last minute things. RP comes up and picks up our bags to store them until our 3:30p airport shuttle arrives.
We're off to IOA today for a couple things the boys wanted to do. First they want to do that suspended ride in Jurassic Park. It's the only thing that doesn't take Express, so we decided to put it off until first thing in the morning. There's a reason for the lack of Express access and the weird requirements that require pairs of riders to include a child between 36" and 53". It's because that the line would be too long to handle if they didn't. The ride is a 90 suspended flight above Jurassic Park. Each car holds two people and there are never more than three cars on the track at a time, including the one at the station. Yesterday when we saw the line, it was 110 minutes. This morning it's 10. The boys are alble to ride twice, allowing each adult to ride at least once. From there it's on to Spiderman for one last ride before we leave.
Saying goodbye to the parks, we head over to Citywalk for lunch at the Whopper Bar (again). We get there right as their breakfast service ends, although you can get a Whopper anytime they are open. After lunch, we walk around to the various shoppes in Citywalk. There's not much as far as shopping. There's the Universal Studios Store, and it looks huge from the outside, but it is very small as the upper floors are taken up by a nightclub or something accessed from the walkway up on the hill on the other side of the building. The stores in the parks are much larger. But, we have enough souveniers from the trip and are already going to be pushing the 50 lb per bag limit set by the airline.
We head back to RP and lounge in the lobby until it gets close to our shuttle time. When the RP staff bring out our bags from storage, we notice that one of the boys' bags has a fresh 8-inch tear in it. By this time the shuttle is here and has to wait as we attempt to resolve this with the RP security. We fill out all the forms, but my main concern is not the bag itself, rather the stuff inside falling out. The RP staff wrapps the bag with packaging tape to keep this from happening and we're off to the airport.
We get to the airport around 4:15p and do curbside check in. It's here that we find out that GPs' flight is listed as on-time, but our flight to DFW has been pushed back to 11:30pm. No worries, MCO has a lot more to look at in the terminals than some other airports and I'd much rather be stuck here than in someplace like Albuequerque (talking about an airport without good food service or stores). We decide to eat dinner at Outback due to the amount of time we have. After dinner we head over to wait at the gate with the GPs and it is here that we learn that their flight is being delayed. They are now worried about making thier connection in ATL to PHX. We are told the delay is weather related, but a quick check of the weather on the iPhone indicates that there is no severe weather in ATL. Apparently it's the culmination of storms from the past two days that is causing the Airtran delays tonight. As the GPs' flight gets pushed back later, we ask what their options are and are told that if they miss the connection to PHX, they will be put on the next available Airtran flight. This unfortunately has to be on Monday night. Keep in mind, tonight is Friday. Because Airtran is using the weather clause in the passenger contract as an excuse, they do not have to put them on a different airline. But, there is a possibility that if their flight is delayed, that the PHX flight will continue to be delayed longer and they'll make it. The issue is getting out of MCO in time to make the connection. But, their flight is announced that it can leave earlier than the expected delayed take-off of 9:02pm, and the GPs board and the plane pushed out around 8:45pm.
Another check on our direct Airtran flight to DFW and it is now delayed until 1:32am. We decide to get a snack or something back in the main part of the terminal, but everything started closing at 8pm and we're out of luck. We wait by the gate.
When the GPs arrive in ATL, they call us and tell us that they did miss their connection to PHX. Apparently, Airtran only has two flights to PHX each day and they are all overbooked until Monday night. If the GPs claim their bags in ATL, Airtran will charge them another bag fee, so they decide to wait in the airport hoping to get on if enough people miss a full flight before then. They are starting to stress about it and make the decision to ask if there's any flight out west that they can put them on. The first thing available is a flight to San Diego on Saturday night.
GPs normally visit San Diego a couple times each year. They stay at the same hotel and usually take advantage of the cheap Southwest fares between there and PHX. They jump on the chance to take the earlier Airtran flight to San Diego and after spending a night in the ATL airport are on their way to decompress on the beach. It takes exactly two calls to make arrangements in San Diego. The first to Southwest to arrange a flight back to PHX on Monday along with a car for the time their and the second to their favorite San Diego hotel to arrange a room.
We finally leave at 1:02am after our delay gets shortened. The damaged bag makes it back without loosing anything inside, although the frame is very bent up. This new bag purchased just two weeks before the trip will not be able to be used again.
The GPs make it to San Diego on Saturday evening, but one of their bags does not. Airtran assures them that they should be able to find it and route it to San Diego by Tuesday, but the GPs need it in PHX where it was tagged to go so ask that if it is in PHX to leave it there and they'd get it when they got back on Monday. A quick stop at a Walmart for the essential swimsuit and other clothes and they are off to their favorite hotel on Mission Beach. Here's a pic from their window:

I guess it's a good thing that the GPs ended up going to one of their favorite vacation spots in the end. They were very stressed by Airtran and needed to decompress from that. A day lounging on the beach was able to do that for them, despite the added expense of two more hotel nights, a car, and a Southwest flight back to PHX.

In the end, we learned some things: Disney just keeps getting better if you don't let little things affect you. Universal is a good, quality place and while the RP is nice, next time I think we'd try Hard Rock Hotel or Portafino if we end up leaving WDW. We'll never fly Airtran again, and will stay with the carriers we're used to that have muliple flights per day between home and our destination. It was a great trip that the boys, the GPs, and I will never forget. Although our next trip will probably be back west to see the new California Adventure once it's rehab is done, I can't wait to go back to WDW and hope it won't be too long before we can do so.

I hope you enjoyed the trip report. I'd be more than happy to answer questions about our experinces if you have any.

mickey's mamu · Aug 15, 2009

Hey there fellow DFW Texan,

Really loved your trip report. So detailed I felt like I was there with you. It's obvious you really know your way around WDW and how to maximize your time.

I was very interested to hear about Universal and your thoughts on Uni vs WDW, as well as the RP Hotel. We have never been to Universal and I have been seriously considering including it in a future trip. Just as I thought, it is a must to stay at one of their hotels for the Express Pass privilege and the transportation options. In hind sight, would you say it would be better to go to Universal first or would you still make it last?

I am so sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Air Tran. Again, we have never used them and I was curious about their service, as I have thought about trying them several times. I never thought about the problem of so few flights to transfer to if something delays or cancels your own flight. Good to know.

Again, loved your trip report and I am so glad you had such a wonderful time with your boys and the GPs. Sounds like you have a couple of really great boys. Treasure these trips with them. They grow up so fast!

Soundstage'95CP · Aug 15, 2009

mickey's mamu said:
Hey there fellow DFW Texan,

Really loved your trip report. So detailed I felt like I was there with you. It's obvious you really know your way around WDW and how to maximize your time.

I was very interested to hear about Universal and your thoughts on Uni vs WDW, as well as the RP Hotel. We have never been to Universal and I have been seriously considering including it in a future trip. Just as I thought, it is a must to stay at one of their hotels for the Express Pass privilege and the transportation options. In hind sight, would you say it would be better to go to Universal first or would you still make it last?

I am so sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Air Tran. Again, we have never used them and I was curious about their service, as I have thought about trying them several times. I never thought about the problem of so few flights to transfer to if something delays or cancels your own flight. Good to know.

Again, loved your trip report and I am so glad you had such a wonderful time with your boys and the GPs. Sounds like you have a couple of really great boys. Treasure these trips with them. They grow up so fast!

As far as Universal, I would suggest doing it first for only one reason. If you are staying at a moderate, deluxe, or DVC resort when you move over to WDW, the groundskeep of WDW will seem nicer. This held true for me at least at the Royal Pacific. We did not visit the Hard Rock or Porafino Bay hotels, but we did find the grounds of the WDW hotels to be nicer than RP. Express is a must at Uni if you are going at anytime when it's not the off season. Especially now, with the opening of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit...without Express, you'll have to wait forever or pay to ride it in the hours between park closing and Citywalk closing. Next time we'll probably skip Uni entirely (unless they have a comp ticket promotion again) and try out Sea World. I'm the only one that's been to Sea World Orlando before and that was way back in '95.

As far as Airtran is concerned, when booking the tickets out of DFW the cost difference was $30 per ticket than AA and we would have arrived an hour later than we did with Airtran. We went for the cheaper and never considered delays purely based on frequency of flights back. We won't be making that mistake again and felt the way their customer service was handling it could have been a little better.

On another note, the boys are great and I am cherishing the memories. But, knowing they do grow up so fast, I'm making sure to show them that it's perfectly okay to travel with grandparents when they start their families.

WishIWasAtWDW · Aug 17, 2009

absolutely love the trip report! you all really know how to do disney! im glad you all had such a wonderful trip.

Mega trip: 7/19-7/31 (or 8/3)

Member

Member

Member

Active Member

Active Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

EPCOT Center Defender

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

New Member

Member

Well-Known Member