Hello all...Just wanted to report on our Best Trip Ever. My wife, 7yo Daughter, 3 yo Son and myself. Every Day was around 90 degrees and an afternoon shower to cool things off.
Before the parks - We are from Northern Illinois, but decided to drive a little further and flew out of Milwaukee. Great choice. A lot less hectic and crowded than O'hare(A lot cheaper airfare too). After landing in Orlando, we headed over to Thrifty to get our car(used mousesavers code AU11 and only paid $112 for the week). Luckily we got in there when nobody was at the counter and were in and out pretty quickly. Not sure if it was the real reason, but I was being really nice to the counter lady and were upgraded to a PT Cruiser . Fun car for vacation, but wouldn't want one in real life. Stopped off at the Target by the Florida Mall for water, Gatorade and snacks before heading to the Courtyard at Vista Place. Nice hotel. Did a little more schmoozing and got a free breakfast for the family. Got settled in, took a quick dip in the pool and got everyone to bed for the first day touring.
Day 1(6/12) - Animal Kingdom - Got to the park right around opening and rushed back to the Safari. Got our Fast Pass for an hour down the road and decided to head over toward Dino Land. We started making our way around toward EE and stopped for a quick autograph/photo op(not sure what the characters name was, a monkey from Jungle book). Continued over and stopped at the Drum station for the kids to beat on those for a while. Continued toward EE and we had to stop for a Bio Break. Of course the kids couldn't decide to go at the same time so when DD came out DS decided he had to go in. By the time all of that was over with, it was basically time to head back to the Safari. We saw almost every type of animal out there. Got to see the baby elephants too. The Safari Leader(driver) Greg was AWESOME!!! Really into it and had alot of knowledge. When we got back to our stroller, we found a little YOAMD note that said we were the "Most prepared for a 2 week Safari"...even though that was only the things we brought for 1 day at the park.
From there we headed over to see Nemo. Line was relatively short and we ended up sitting in the 3rd row to the right of the stage. Great show as always. From there headed into Dino Land. Let the kids do their rides multiple times since there weren't really any lines to speak of. A little shopping, bio breaks and headed to FlameTree and Pizzafari for a pre-parade Lunch. Decided to just go and sit on the parade route and get a good spot. Unfortunately the weather turned a little and by about 3:30 we were getting rain. Luckily the parade wasn't canceled and we had a blast. AK is my favorite of all the parades. After that finished, we went to the Lion King show. But since the Mickey line only had 2 people in it, we went over. Got thru that and into Festival of the Lion King. Fantastic show as usual there too. There was plenty of time left, so we headed back to the Safari and got right on afteer a 5 min wait. A lot fewer animals out on this trip. The highlight was having a Giraffe right next to the Safari Vehicle as we drove past. We were going to finish the day in Dinoland so the kids could get on their rides more. I decided to ride EE since the line was only a 5 min wait. I did that while the family headed to Dinoland. Fun as always and met up with them in about 10 mins. We finished off the day with my wife riding Primeval whirl. Temps were right around 90, but with the shade in AK, it seemed alot cooler. Crowd was moderate at most.
Day 2 (6/13) - Epcot - Arrived right around opening and since we were doing 2 days at Epcot, we were going to spend most of our time in Future World. I made the sprint to Soarin' and got our FP's. We had about an hour and a half to kill, so we went to Nemo and Friends which we could walk on to. Did that and came out to see Crush. I was a good boy this time and didn't tell him the bikini top was a "bow tie". The Kids loved the show and we moved on so the kids could get their picture with Bruce. Made the KidCot stop, looked at some fish and headed back to the Land for Soarin. I brought my DS up the the KidCot stop while my DW and DD rode. Even with the Fast Pass it took a while. Then it was my turn to do a swap so my DD rode twice. When we got done we had never been on the Living with the Land boat ride so we waited the 5 - 10 mins and rode that. Very cool to see all of the crops and greenhouses. It was time for lunch, so we ate at Seasons and headed over to Test Track. The stand by line was around 40 minutes, but we grabbed the FP anyways and went into Innoventions for the KidCot and to get in line for our free Picture. Relatively short line for that so the kids played some games while I waited. Got the family pic with Mickey and Pluto and moved on. We did Figment, Honey I shrunk the audience and then went to the new autograph spot. About a 25 min wait there. While we were waiting, a nice family gave us skip the line passes because something broke down while they were there, but they didn't use them. Very nice of them. The little guy was starting to melt down, so we got him some milk, in the stroller and walked him to sleep. While he was down, we went to World Showcase. Started in Canada and went counter clockwise. Didn't do much while he was down except take a stroll and enjoy the relative silence. Usually we are running thru there to get the KidCot stops, so it was nice to relax. The DD saw Princess Aurora in France so we got the autograph/picture for her and some pastries for us in the bakery. He did wake up in Morocco, so we just kept on going and jumped on Maelstrom and the Gran Feista Tour. DW grabbed something from the Mexico Cantina and we headed over to Test Track. DD and I rode while my DW and DS waited for us to finish. Since there really wasn't a long wait, we went back on Nemo. To finish the day we got our free picture and rode SSE. When we got out, the fireworks were going off and we got out to beat the thundering mass of humanity out of the parks. Crowd was moderat and Except for Soarin', the longest line was at TT for 40 mins.
Day 3 (6/14) Magic Kingdom. Got in and made our sprint to Dumbo. Then over to Pooh and the Tea Cups. Minimal waits for all. Then over to Buzz. Basically walked on and rode it twice in a row. We saw Buzz, so picture/Autograph. Next was TTA. Do they have infra red cameras in the dark parts? Hmmm... Then we headed over to Adventure land to ride Aladdin and Jungle Cruise. We did see Aladdin and Jasmine, so waited the 10 mins for the picture/autograph. POC was closed for refurbishment, so we stopped to eat at Pecos Bills. Got to see the Woody show and over to HM. Did that and continued to Fantasy Land. Small World, Dumbo again, Carousel, Philhar Magic, Pooh and back over to Buzz since the Tea Cups had a bit of a line. Did TTA again and back to Adventure Land for a Dole float. Got Timon and Rafiki Pictures/Autograph. Parade time, so we lined up for that. Since there wasn't a big crowd, we were able to get a good spot. Aladdin one last time and then back to Small World. Finally we decided to call it a day since we were going back the next day anyways.
Day 4 (6/15) Magic Kingdom. Got to the parks a little later and noticed the much larger crowd on hand. Dumbo, Pooh and Tea Cups were all packed, so we decided to head over to Toon Town. The majority of the crowd wasn't there yet, so we jumped on Barnstormer and got right on that. Then over to the Princess Autograph line which was only 15 minutes. We got to see Cindy, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. On our way out, the Princess line was an hour. We did the walk thru Mickey and Minnie' Houses, but avoided the Mickey Auto line because it was huge. We headed up to Tomorrow land and got our FP's for Buzz. Rode TTA and went to Carousel of Progress. On the way to Fantasy Land, I saw a credit card laying on the ground. I didn't want to leave it, so I picked it up and found a Guest Services Rep and handed it to them. I can just imagine the poor people who lost their card. Hopefully they did get it back. Made the trek to Fantasy Land and made a stop for a Mickey cookie sandwich. So I jokingly said "This is free, right?" The CM looked at her counter part(she must have been in training) she nodded and I got the ice cream for free!! High 5 to the CM. We made our way over to Adventure land and the rain started falling and lasted for quite a while. The little guy needed his nap, so I covered the stroller with a a poncho and walked him around in the rain since everthing inside was loud and crowded now. The bumpy path over by POC was perfect to put him to sleep. So we weren't going to waste time inside so we donned the ponchos and umbrella's and moved on. We ended up at the tent between Dumbo and Ariel's grotto for a while since there was lightning and they closed all of the attractions that were outside. We waited and noticed that they were opening Dumbo, so we jumped on that without a wait and then got in line for Ariel. We asked Ariel if she wished King Triton a Happy Father's Day and she told us "I sure did and I also made him a sponge cake". She played the role perfectly. Parade Time...Then, I was in the mood for another Dole Whip, so we headed over there. Did Jungle Cruise and Aladdin again. Went into the Tiki Room and then decided to go back over to Tomorrowland. Did Buzz again, TTA and Buzz again. We were getting hungry, so headed to Main Street and people were already lining up for Spectro Magic and Wishes. So we found a great spot in front of Casey's and chowed down. DW and DD did a little shopping until Parade time. We ended the day with Wishes.
Day 5 (6/16) Epcot.
The plan was to spend most of the time in World Showcase since we had already spent alot of time up front. It didn't work out as planned. We got the Soarin FP's, Nemo again, but skipped Crush because it was already extremely crowded. Honestly, I don't remember us getting much done that day. We did do Mission:Space and walked our way around World Showcase. The highlight of the day for me was getting to watch Miyuki "perform" her magic. She is just amazing. We were lucky enough to be right next to her and have her make us a Penguin.
Day 6 (6/17) Hollywood Studios
We started the day out getting to DHS just at opening and I made a bee line back to TSM to get our FP's. While I waited there, the family got in the stand by line. It worked out perfectly. I found them and we were on the ride in 15 minutes. As we walked out, we were met by the Dream Squad and were given Dream Fast Passes!! That was AWESOME!!! To top it off, it was time for us to use our FP's so we got back on TSM. With the Dream Fast Passes in hand, I got another set of FP's for TSM and went to watch the High School Musical show. Got thru that got a few photos/auto fromt he Playhouse Disney guys and did the Playhouse Disney show. After that we made our way over to Pizza Planet for Lunch. Finally found a table. There was one group that were just camped out at the table. They were done eating, but weren't moving. Pretty rude if you ask me. But I digress. Then we were off to find the DW her lunch. She ended up eating at the restaurant by Star Tours. While she ate, I got the DS to sleep again on the bumpy path by TSM. Went back and the DD and I went on Star Tours with our Dream Fast Passes. They guy didn't take our tab so we still had them to use later. It was close to Parade time, so we staked out a place by the Hat. While waiting with the sleeping DS, my DW and DD went to use the TSM fast passes from earlier. They got back just in time for the parade and he woke up. I actually liked the Stars and Motor Cars parade much better, but what can you do. After the parade I took the DD back to TSM fo use the remaining FP and swap pass. From there we went to Little Mermaid. Since I wanted to do TT and RRC, I used the Dream FP's for that while the rest of the family went into the shops. We wanted to do Star Tours again, so we went back there. There was no wait in the stand by, so the DD got on once with me and once with the DW. From there back to TSM to use the Dream FP's. All those times and the highest score I could get was 179,990.
Before the parks - We are from Northern Illinois, but decided to drive a little further and flew out of Milwaukee. Great choice. A lot less hectic and crowded than O'hare(A lot cheaper airfare too). After landing in Orlando, we headed over to Thrifty to get our car(used mousesavers code AU11 and only paid $112 for the week). Luckily we got in there when nobody was at the counter and were in and out pretty quickly. Not sure if it was the real reason, but I was being really nice to the counter lady and were upgraded to a PT Cruiser . Fun car for vacation, but wouldn't want one in real life. Stopped off at the Target by the Florida Mall for water, Gatorade and snacks before heading to the Courtyard at Vista Place. Nice hotel. Did a little more schmoozing and got a free breakfast for the family. Got settled in, took a quick dip in the pool and got everyone to bed for the first day touring.
Day 1(6/12) - Animal Kingdom - Got to the park right around opening and rushed back to the Safari. Got our Fast Pass for an hour down the road and decided to head over toward Dino Land. We started making our way around toward EE and stopped for a quick autograph/photo op(not sure what the characters name was, a monkey from Jungle book). Continued over and stopped at the Drum station for the kids to beat on those for a while. Continued toward EE and we had to stop for a Bio Break. Of course the kids couldn't decide to go at the same time so when DD came out DS decided he had to go in. By the time all of that was over with, it was basically time to head back to the Safari. We saw almost every type of animal out there. Got to see the baby elephants too. The Safari Leader(driver) Greg was AWESOME!!! Really into it and had alot of knowledge. When we got back to our stroller, we found a little YOAMD note that said we were the "Most prepared for a 2 week Safari"...even though that was only the things we brought for 1 day at the park.
From there we headed over to see Nemo. Line was relatively short and we ended up sitting in the 3rd row to the right of the stage. Great show as always. From there headed into Dino Land. Let the kids do their rides multiple times since there weren't really any lines to speak of. A little shopping, bio breaks and headed to FlameTree and Pizzafari for a pre-parade Lunch. Decided to just go and sit on the parade route and get a good spot. Unfortunately the weather turned a little and by about 3:30 we were getting rain. Luckily the parade wasn't canceled and we had a blast. AK is my favorite of all the parades. After that finished, we went to the Lion King show. But since the Mickey line only had 2 people in it, we went over. Got thru that and into Festival of the Lion King. Fantastic show as usual there too. There was plenty of time left, so we headed back to the Safari and got right on afteer a 5 min wait. A lot fewer animals out on this trip. The highlight was having a Giraffe right next to the Safari Vehicle as we drove past. We were going to finish the day in Dinoland so the kids could get on their rides more. I decided to ride EE since the line was only a 5 min wait. I did that while the family headed to Dinoland. Fun as always and met up with them in about 10 mins. We finished off the day with my wife riding Primeval whirl. Temps were right around 90, but with the shade in AK, it seemed alot cooler. Crowd was moderate at most. Day 2 (6/13) - Epcot - Arrived right around opening and since we were doing 2 days at Epcot, we were going to spend most of our time in Future World. I made the sprint to Soarin' and got our FP's. We had about an hour and a half to kill, so we went to Nemo and Friends which we could walk on to. Did that and came out to see Crush. I was a good boy this time and didn't tell him the bikini top was a "bow tie". The Kids loved the show and we moved on so the kids could get their picture with Bruce. Made the KidCot stop, looked at some fish and headed back to the Land for Soarin. I brought my DS up the the KidCot stop while my DW and DD rode. Even with the Fast Pass it took a while. Then it was my turn to do a swap so my DD rode twice. When we got done we had never been on the Living with the Land boat ride so we waited the 5 - 10 mins and rode that. Very cool to see all of the crops and greenhouses. It was time for lunch, so we ate at Seasons and headed over to Test Track. The stand by line was around 40 minutes, but we grabbed the FP anyways and went into Innoventions for the KidCot and to get in line for our free Picture. Relatively short line for that so the kids played some games while I waited. Got the family pic with Mickey and Pluto and moved on. We did Figment, Honey I shrunk the audience and then went to the new autograph spot. About a 25 min wait there. While we were waiting, a nice family gave us skip the line passes because something broke down while they were there, but they didn't use them. Very nice of them. The little guy was starting to melt down, so we got him some milk, in the stroller and walked him to sleep. While he was down, we went to World Showcase. Started in Canada and went counter clockwise. Didn't do much while he was down except take a stroll and enjoy the relative silence. Usually we are running thru there to get the KidCot stops, so it was nice to relax. The DD saw Princess Aurora in France so we got the autograph/picture for her and some pastries for us in the bakery. He did wake up in Morocco, so we just kept on going and jumped on Maelstrom and the Gran Feista Tour. DW grabbed something from the Mexico Cantina and we headed over to Test Track. DD and I rode while my DW and DS waited for us to finish. Since there really wasn't a long wait, we went back on Nemo. To finish the day we got our free picture and rode SSE. When we got out, the fireworks were going off and we got out to beat the thundering mass of humanity out of the parks. Crowd was moderat and Except for Soarin', the longest line was at TT for 40 mins.
Day 3 (6/14) Magic Kingdom. Got in and made our sprint to Dumbo. Then over to Pooh and the Tea Cups. Minimal waits for all. Then over to Buzz. Basically walked on and rode it twice in a row. We saw Buzz, so picture/Autograph. Next was TTA. Do they have infra red cameras in the dark parts? Hmmm... Then we headed over to Adventure land to ride Aladdin and Jungle Cruise. We did see Aladdin and Jasmine, so waited the 10 mins for the picture/autograph. POC was closed for refurbishment, so we stopped to eat at Pecos Bills. Got to see the Woody show and over to HM. Did that and continued to Fantasy Land. Small World, Dumbo again, Carousel, Philhar Magic, Pooh and back over to Buzz since the Tea Cups had a bit of a line. Did TTA again and back to Adventure Land for a Dole float. Got Timon and Rafiki Pictures/Autograph. Parade time, so we lined up for that. Since there wasn't a big crowd, we were able to get a good spot. Aladdin one last time and then back to Small World. Finally we decided to call it a day since we were going back the next day anyways.
Day 4 (6/15) Magic Kingdom. Got to the parks a little later and noticed the much larger crowd on hand. Dumbo, Pooh and Tea Cups were all packed, so we decided to head over to Toon Town. The majority of the crowd wasn't there yet, so we jumped on Barnstormer and got right on that. Then over to the Princess Autograph line which was only 15 minutes. We got to see Cindy, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. On our way out, the Princess line was an hour. We did the walk thru Mickey and Minnie' Houses, but avoided the Mickey Auto line because it was huge. We headed up to Tomorrow land and got our FP's for Buzz. Rode TTA and went to Carousel of Progress. On the way to Fantasy Land, I saw a credit card laying on the ground. I didn't want to leave it, so I picked it up and found a Guest Services Rep and handed it to them. I can just imagine the poor people who lost their card. Hopefully they did get it back. Made the trek to Fantasy Land and made a stop for a Mickey cookie sandwich. So I jokingly said "This is free, right?" The CM looked at her counter part(she must have been in training) she nodded and I got the ice cream for free!! High 5 to the CM. We made our way over to Adventure land and the rain started falling and lasted for quite a while. The little guy needed his nap, so I covered the stroller with a a poncho and walked him around in the rain since everthing inside was loud and crowded now. The bumpy path over by POC was perfect to put him to sleep. So we weren't going to waste time inside so we donned the ponchos and umbrella's and moved on. We ended up at the tent between Dumbo and Ariel's grotto for a while since there was lightning and they closed all of the attractions that were outside. We waited and noticed that they were opening Dumbo, so we jumped on that without a wait and then got in line for Ariel. We asked Ariel if she wished King Triton a Happy Father's Day and she told us "I sure did and I also made him a sponge cake". She played the role perfectly. Parade Time...Then, I was in the mood for another Dole Whip, so we headed over there. Did Jungle Cruise and Aladdin again. Went into the Tiki Room and then decided to go back over to Tomorrowland. Did Buzz again, TTA and Buzz again. We were getting hungry, so headed to Main Street and people were already lining up for Spectro Magic and Wishes. So we found a great spot in front of Casey's and chowed down. DW and DD did a little shopping until Parade time. We ended the day with Wishes.
Day 5 (6/16) Epcot.
The plan was to spend most of the time in World Showcase since we had already spent alot of time up front. It didn't work out as planned. We got the Soarin FP's, Nemo again, but skipped Crush because it was already extremely crowded. Honestly, I don't remember us getting much done that day. We did do Mission:Space and walked our way around World Showcase. The highlight of the day for me was getting to watch Miyuki "perform" her magic. She is just amazing. We were lucky enough to be right next to her and have her make us a Penguin.
Day 6 (6/17) Hollywood Studios
We started the day out getting to DHS just at opening and I made a bee line back to TSM to get our FP's. While I waited there, the family got in the stand by line. It worked out perfectly. I found them and we were on the ride in 15 minutes. As we walked out, we were met by the Dream Squad and were given Dream Fast Passes!! That was AWESOME!!! To top it off, it was time for us to use our FP's so we got back on TSM. With the Dream Fast Passes in hand, I got another set of FP's for TSM and went to watch the High School Musical show. Got thru that got a few photos/auto fromt he Playhouse Disney guys and did the Playhouse Disney show. After that we made our way over to Pizza Planet for Lunch. Finally found a table. There was one group that were just camped out at the table. They were done eating, but weren't moving. Pretty rude if you ask me. But I digress. Then we were off to find the DW her lunch. She ended up eating at the restaurant by Star Tours. While she ate, I got the DS to sleep again on the bumpy path by TSM. Went back and the DD and I went on Star Tours with our Dream Fast Passes. They guy didn't take our tab so we still had them to use later. It was close to Parade time, so we staked out a place by the Hat. While waiting with the sleeping DS, my DW and DD went to use the TSM fast passes from earlier. They got back just in time for the parade and he woke up. I actually liked the Stars and Motor Cars parade much better, but what can you do. After the parade I took the DD back to TSM fo use the remaining FP and swap pass. From there we went to Little Mermaid. Since I wanted to do TT and RRC, I used the Dream FP's for that while the rest of the family went into the shops. We wanted to do Star Tours again, so we went back there. There was no wait in the stand by, so the DD got on once with me and once with the DW. From there back to TSM to use the Dream FP's. All those times and the highest score I could get was 179,990.
