Hi everyone - I thought I would share as much as I could remember about our trip to WDW last week.
It's been a long seven years since our last trip and it was worth every dollar we spent!
First, let me begin by saying that Disney is not hurting for tourism (which is great)! We arrived the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend and it was packed! We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and arrived very early in the morning. Needless to say, the room wasn't ready. So we headed to the Magic Kingdom - it was quite crowded. In fact, all attractions had steady wait times ( if you didn't have a FastPass). I was happy to see the CBJ had a full house during our showing!
The Wilderness Lodge is beautiful. We have never stayed there before and it takes your breath away when you enter the lobby. We were there for our 1 year anniversary, and the CM's made our stay so special. They even sent us a food basket to the room with a card saying, "Happy Anniversary Mouseketeers".
During the week, the parks were slightly less crowded. But no matter what day we went to EPCOT, there was always a ridiculous line for Test Track. One day we headed over there in the afternoon, and all of the Fastpasses were distributed for the day. Another time, we arrived before the park opened. As soon as the CM lifted the rope, it was a marathon to the Test Tarck. I have never seen something as crazy as hundreds of people running through Innoventions and the Electric Umbrella restaurant just to get on line or get a Fast Pass for this ride! It was unbelievable.
We did the VIP seating for Fantasmic (ate at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which was excellent), and only had to wait 30 minutes for the show instead of 90 minutes. I've never seen the show before and I was in awe. We also did the Keys to the Kingdom tour, which I highly recommend. We had a great tour guide (her name was Robin), and she has been doing the tour for 5 1/2 years. She gave us so many little trivia tidbits about WDW, the MK, and Walt Disney himself. She eluded to the fact that CoP is not doing well and it doesn't look promising for the ride's future. It was not open when we were there, and I was hoping to ride it
. Second, I have so much more respect for the CM's at Disney. She shared several stories with us about the park and the Disney workers after 9/11. She actually got emotional during the tour and welled up, causing me to start tearing up! These folks love what they do, and I can't imagine all the emotions that they were experiencing within themselves, and trying to entertain guests in a magical place when all of that was going on in the "outside world".
The other highlight of my trip was that i was in the hot seat at "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" at the Studios. I couldn't believe when I saw my seat number up on the screen. It was extremely nerve-racking to have your face plastered on those 4 huge screens and have 500 people staring down at you. The people who worked there were extremely nice to my husband and I (as I had to stick around for the next show since I didn't finish during my show). I got so nervous that i bombed on the 32,000 question. But I won a hat, a lanyard, and some pins! I was the joke of the show since the 1M prize is a trip for 2 to New York (and we are from NY).
Wow - I feel like I'm re-living our magical moments! I could probably go on forever, but I won't bore you guys. All I can say was that i waited for this trip for a very long time and we had an incredible time! If you have any questions, I'll try and do my best to answer them!
It's been a long seven years since our last trip and it was worth every dollar we spent!
First, let me begin by saying that Disney is not hurting for tourism (which is great)! We arrived the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend and it was packed! We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and arrived very early in the morning. Needless to say, the room wasn't ready. So we headed to the Magic Kingdom - it was quite crowded. In fact, all attractions had steady wait times ( if you didn't have a FastPass). I was happy to see the CBJ had a full house during our showing!
The Wilderness Lodge is beautiful. We have never stayed there before and it takes your breath away when you enter the lobby. We were there for our 1 year anniversary, and the CM's made our stay so special. They even sent us a food basket to the room with a card saying, "Happy Anniversary Mouseketeers".
During the week, the parks were slightly less crowded. But no matter what day we went to EPCOT, there was always a ridiculous line for Test Track. One day we headed over there in the afternoon, and all of the Fastpasses were distributed for the day. Another time, we arrived before the park opened. As soon as the CM lifted the rope, it was a marathon to the Test Tarck. I have never seen something as crazy as hundreds of people running through Innoventions and the Electric Umbrella restaurant just to get on line or get a Fast Pass for this ride! It was unbelievable.
We did the VIP seating for Fantasmic (ate at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which was excellent), and only had to wait 30 minutes for the show instead of 90 minutes. I've never seen the show before and I was in awe. We also did the Keys to the Kingdom tour, which I highly recommend. We had a great tour guide (her name was Robin), and she has been doing the tour for 5 1/2 years. She gave us so many little trivia tidbits about WDW, the MK, and Walt Disney himself. She eluded to the fact that CoP is not doing well and it doesn't look promising for the ride's future. It was not open when we were there, and I was hoping to ride it
. Second, I have so much more respect for the CM's at Disney. She shared several stories with us about the park and the Disney workers after 9/11. She actually got emotional during the tour and welled up, causing me to start tearing up! These folks love what they do, and I can't imagine all the emotions that they were experiencing within themselves, and trying to entertain guests in a magical place when all of that was going on in the "outside world".The other highlight of my trip was that i was in the hot seat at "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" at the Studios. I couldn't believe when I saw my seat number up on the screen. It was extremely nerve-racking to have your face plastered on those 4 huge screens and have 500 people staring down at you. The people who worked there were extremely nice to my husband and I (as I had to stick around for the next show since I didn't finish during my show). I got so nervous that i bombed on the 32,000 question. But I won a hat, a lanyard, and some pins! I was the joke of the show since the 1M prize is a trip for 2 to New York (and we are from NY).
Wow - I feel like I'm re-living our magical moments! I could probably go on forever, but I won't bore you guys. All I can say was that i waited for this trip for a very long time and we had an incredible time! If you have any questions, I'll try and do my best to answer them!
:animwink:
