Mike & Dad vs. Wimps, n00bs, and Angry Guy

Few can forget the frantic fervor of my first father-son trip, chronicled in Tom & Dad Go Commando! or the manic mirth of my misadventures with my middle son, Jack & Dad Conquer the World! This year, it was ten year old son Mike’s turn to tirelessly tour WDW with Dad.

Due to budget cuts, Mike and I were forced to fly Airtran ("O'Hare? Doesn't ring a bell.") out of Midway. And for my Chicago friends out there, we live in McHenry County. We had an 8:00am flight, so we pretty much had to leave the night before.

To get the trip started out right, I gave Mike a Nintendo DS game “Pokemon Silver”, which included a Pokewalker (aka, a pedometer).

"I heard that if you put it on a washing machine, it goes CRAZY!"

 

[GenerationX]

Mike decided to keep the Pokewalker in his pocket the entire trip, and no joke, he racked up about 33,000 steps per day. No washing machine trickery, either. And that does NOT include the time we spent at the water parks. Based on his two-foot stride, we walked north of 12 miles each day, easy.

We checked into the All-Star Sports resort and were treated to a towel Mickey on one of the beds:

"Look, Dad, it’s a Hidden Mickey!"
Explaining the rules for a Hidden Mickey are equivalent to explaining the Infield Fly Rule, so I just responded, "Sure, that's a Hidden Mickey."

 

[GenerationX]

All sarcasm aside, I like these little touches. We bolted straight to the TTC and took the parking lot tram:

"Ah, everything's perfect. Yessirree, nothing bad could happen mid-day in Orlando in the summer ..."

 

[GenerationX]

Rain? Did someone allude to rain? Buckets. Would this interfere with the plans of a 10 year old. Hah! I think not. Particularly when said 10 year old is accompanied by super-obsessive planaholic 44 year old. We unfolded the disposable ponchos from my pocket and proceeded with Mike’s itinerary.

Space Mountain was, of course, the first stop. And while the wimps watched from inside stores and under awnings, we swam right up to the 15 minute Standby, thank you very much. The rehab definitely made it darker (a HUGE) plus, and we both loved the ride. I had to hear the changes in the TTA narration, so that was our next stop. All I'll say is that the ride is still worth the wait.

"Not only do these ponchos offer rain protection, but they make quite a fashion statement, too."
“Yeah, and that statement is: one man’s garbage bag is another man’s hideous rain jacket. Ha ha ha.” [/statler and waldorf]

 

[Katherine]

Love the report! Father trips to disney are the best... I took two trips with just my Dad (granted they were "business" trips for him) and I had a blast.

 

[foreverbelle]

Sounds like a fabulous trip thus far. I would like to think one of these days, my husband will take my son just the two of them to enjoy such magic...thanks for sharing!

 

[Rach&Eric]

Another great trip report!!!!

 

[Erika]

Love it! :sohappy: Great title :lol:

 

[SAV]

Due to budget cuts, Mike and I were forced to fly Airtran ("O'Hare? Doesn't ring a bell.") out of Midway. And for my Chicago friends out there, we live in McHenry County. We had an 8:00am flight, so we pretty much had to leave the night before.

I too live in McHenry County, 15 mins from the Wisco border. We now fly out of Mitchell in Milwaukee. The drive is only about 1:15 for us and their Satellite lot is only $5 per day. Their in terminal covered parking is around $14 per day. The airfare to MCO seems to be cheaper than either of the Chicago Airports.

We had a 7:20am departure and I got up around 4am. I am going to look into one of those park & stay hotels up there next time...but for only $5 per day to park, I can get up at 4am.

Take a look for your next trip down. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[corey154]

I can't wait for the rest, I enjoyed following your other trip reports in the past!! When was this trip?

 

[Tazer19]

I just read your past two reports and loved them. Can't wait for more!

 

[jhoff3405]

Newbie here and just happened upon your post and read thru your previous two trips. Love the reports!
As a mom of 3 boys myself and a Will (not McHenry) county resident, I envy the time you were able to individually give your boys!

 

[GenerationX]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone! This trip was just as great as the previous ones, and I'll try to keep this report as fast-paced as those. The trip was over the Memorial Day weekend, but due to a busy month of baseball and soccer games and tournaments, I haven't had a chance to put this together.

Hey, SAV, thanks for the tip. I'll investigate Mitchell next trip.

I'll try to get the next installment up soon.

 

[GenerationX]

The Splash Mountain line was shorter than the Big Thunder line just after the rain, so we decided to hit Splash, but first grabbed FPs for Big Thunder. As I was getting the FPs, some guy leaned over and (angrily) yelled “Hey, you don’t need those!” and glared at me. I shook my head and kept going. Unsurprisingly, after riding Splash, the queues for both rides had ballooned to 45 minutes each. Hey, Angry Guy, enjoying your 45 minutes in the Big Thunder queue? Too bad you don't have any FPs.

Mike was willing to ride Haunted Mansion, which made me happy, because I love that ride. It dazzled him. We ended up riding three times, soaking up as many of the little details as we could each time. And we enjoyed watching the n00bs get freaked out by the hitchhiking ghosts.

Ah, wimps, n00bs, and Angry Guys, your touring ineptitude delights me as much as WDW baffles you.

 

[GenerationX]

We got up early the next day to hit the Epcot morning EMH, because as non-n00bs, we knew the morning EMHs have the shortest lines. First stop: Test Track.

It may LOOK like Mike’s having fun on the ride, but he is actually lamenting the fact that some of the ride’s original effects weren’t working.

 

[GenerationX]

After a couple of laps around the Test Track, we left Epcot with FPs for Test Track and Soarin’ in our pockets for that evening (Angry Guy would've been PEEVED!) and headed for Typhoon Lagoon. Is there a better waterpark anywhere in the world? I think not.

Mike was insistent that we ride the waves from their origin, so we swam out to the rope. It’s 7 or 8 feet of water out there. I’m in reasonable shape, but Mike is on the swim team so I was hoping to hold onto the rope (not happening) or the side wall (again, not happening). We were out there for quite a while, so let’s just say this worked off a few Mickey bars for me. We would turn our backs to the big wall and wait for the boom signaling the next wave. Then, we would swim frantically toward shore – fast enough that we could get a couple of seconds of real body surfing in before sinking. This was really really cool.

After several hours of being wallopped by waves, tossed in tubes, and shocked by sharks, we headed out.

”Yeah, I surfed the waves.”

 

[GenerationX]

So, after speed touring Epcot and swimming through the entire Lagoon, we (well, actually just me) were really in need of an activity involving sitting. So, of course, we headed to Fantasia Gardens to play the long course.

"Only the second hole? … Hmmm, I wonder if we can still rent a cart."

 

[happymom52003]

Great report so far! We were there at the same time. I have not had time to start my trip report yet either!

 

[harveyt0206]

Loving the report. Funny stuff. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[maggiegrace1]

YAY!..SO awesome!..Looking forward to more!...