Trip Report 8/28-9/01

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strutter

New Member
Wow! What a blast! It's taken me a while to get my thoughts together to try and give everyone a decent trip report. My wife, our daughter and I left Northern Michigan on Tuesday 8/27 for the long drive to Disney World. It only took us 19 hours to get there. The first night we got there we stayed outside the park at the EconoLodge Maingate Resort. Not a bad place. Huge pool. Only $40 for the night.

On Thursday 8/28 we woke up at 6:00, some of us couldn't sleep because of the anticipation. We got ourselves together and drove over to the All Star Movies Resort to check in. I was expecting to just drop our suitcases, and get our passes and go. But we were told our room was ready and we can go to it now. We stayed in Fantasia #8. Real close to the pool and food court. This was our first time staying on property. We will definitely do it again. The All Star Movies was perfect for us. Great pool. Food was more than adequate. Room was plenty big for just the three of us. After putting our bags into our room, we went back to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

This is when it gets fun. We got to the MK about 30 minutes before opening. After going through security, we staked out a place in the front of the line. Captain Hook came out and my daughter ran up to him and gave him a hug. She got his autograph and a picture. Seeing the excitement in her eyes as she saw her first "live" Disney character is something I will never forget. Little did she know there was so much more yet to come.
When the gates opened, we walked down Main Street. Took many pictures. The cranes that are around the Castle for rehab didn't bother us. If you stood in the right places, they weren't very visible. We wanted to go to the kids rides first. But we were stopped by Minnie. Our daughter just went nuts. Another picture, another autograph. We forgot that Toontown didn't open until 10:00 so we had some time to hit Mad Tea Cups, Dumbo, Peter Pan's Flight and Small World. Our daughters favorite Disney character is Ariel, so we went to see her, and we were first in line. Then we started towards Toontown and stopped by the character greeting area where 20,000 Leagues used to be. More pictures, more autographs.
At Toontown, we rode Goofy's Barnstormer. Great ride, even if it is short. We went to the Judges Tent to see Mickey. And many more Disney characters. Still more pictures and autographs.
By this time we were getting a little hungry. We headed to Tomorrowland and stopped to get something to eat. We went on Buzz Lightyear. CoP was closed. We wanted to try Alien Encounter. We weren't sure what to expect. Read lots of books, read some posts here. Most everyone said "may not be suitable for young kids." Well we tried. WOW! Definitely not suitable for our 5 year old. She screamed and cried and wanted out NOW! We learned our lesson, from now on, if she doesn't want to do anything, then we don't.
We headed off for Liberty Square. I always have to do Hall of Presidents when I go, so we stopped. Much better than I remembered. Very patriotic. We then went to the Hanuted Mansion. Told our daughter that this was "fun" scary as opposed to "scary" scary. She laughed through it.
Off to Adventureland. Splash Mountain was great. It felt so good getting wet in the 90 degree heat. Our daughter wanted to go on it again. So we decided to get a Fast Pass for it and go try something else until it was time to return. We went to Thunder Mountain. Another great ride. Our daughter was just screaming with excitement. Went to Pirates of the Caribbean next. Loved that as well. Went back to use our Fast Pass at Splash Mountain. I must say that the FP is one of the best ideas Disney has come up with. Bypassed the regular line and only waited about 2 minutes. We asked the CM if we could have a seat up front. And he was more than happy to grant us our wish. We got soaked this time. Went to look at the picture, wow, priceless! Our daughter has gotten the hang of putting her arms up on the rides. The first time she asked for anything was when we walked through the gift shop on the way out of Splash Mountain, she wanted a "prayer" rabbit doll. That is what she was calling brer rabbit. It was too cute so of course we bought her one.
Next was Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Nice ride. Just like dumbo. But still fun. By this time it was around 6:00 p.m. and we were getting tired. So we decided to go back to our room and get something to eat.

Stay tuned for day 2 report.................
 
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S

strutter

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Original Poster
Day two....

We went to have breakfast at Chef Mickey's. What an awesome experience. I must say it brought a tear to my eye to see all of the kids there having so much fun with all of the characters, especially our daughter.

After breakfast it was off to Disney/MGM Studios.

Our daughter actually wanted to go on Tower of Terror. Well, ok then. Here we go. The line was kind of long. Should have used Fast Pass on this one. By the time we were ready to get into the ride to go to the top, our daughter didn't want to go. We told her that it was all pretend and that they are trying to make the story spooky and we wanted to see if she could be brave. Another guest, a woman in her mid twenties told her that she just got down riding it and was going again for her second time that day. This seemed to help. Thank you, whoever you are. We were in the back row for this one. Our daughter was still a little apprehensive. Half way up when the doors opened up and you could see the ghostly images of the prior guests, our daughter screamed. Then the doors closed again and we continued our climb. When we finally got to the top and were ready to drop, our daugheter was nearly as white as a ghost. We dropped 5 times. By the third drop our daughter was laughing hysterically. She was having the time of her life. Not so for me. By the fourth drop I thought I was going to lose my breakfast. I can handle roller coasters and such. Just something about the repeated up and down and the weightless feeling got to me. Well, our daughter wanted to immediately ride it again. We said we will wait because there was so much more to see. we exited in time to catch the next showing of the Beauty and the Beast. Very great production. When it was over, our daughter asked to go back on ToT. So her and my wife went while I went to Rock and Roller coaster.
What an awesome ride. Immediately from the take off I knew that this was the ride for me. When the ride stopped, everyone was cheering. I immediately went back on for another ride. And again for 2 more times.

When I met up with my wife and daughter again, it was time to try Great Movie Ride. Just how I remembered from last time. Fun, but kind of long. More characters outside, more pictures and autographs.

We then went to Star Tours. What a blast. Our daughter could not stop laughing as she was being tossed around. We had to do that one again.

We also went to Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. Great area for kids to blow off some of that energy. We then wanted to go to Pizza Planet for some lunch. We got our pictures taken with Buzz and Woody and Jessie. So cool.

After lunch we went to Indiana Jones. I loved it. Our daughter was a little bored with it though.

We then went to go see the Little Mermaid show. That is just spectacular. The way the special effects make you feel like you are under the sea. We all loved it.

We went back to Tot and RnR coaster for a couple of more times before going back to the ASMoR for a swim.

Stay tuned for Day 3 report.............
 
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S

strutter

New Member
Original Poster
Day 3 Animal Kingdom.........

My wife's family lives a couple of hours South of Orlando, so they drove up to go to the Animal Kingdom to spend the day with us. My father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law made this day that much more special for our daughter.

Upon meeting up with everyone we immediately set off for Africa to go on the Kiliminjaro Safari. What a great time. We saw many animals, and took many great pictures.

Afterwards we went on the Jungle trek. Then off to Asia for Kali River Rapids.

WOW! Talk about getting wet. I have never been on a water ride before that gets every rider that wet. It felt so good as the temperature was in the mid 90's. When we exited and were walking out the exit line, there is a place where there is a little break in the chain. There is a spot there I think for stoller parking. We immediately turned around and went on it again. We did this a total of 3 times. We were soaked to the bone and loving it.

Next, off to Dinoland.
Well our daughter was a little too short to go on Primeval Whirl, so I took her to go on Triceratop Spin while everyone else went for the Whirl. Good thing. My mother-in-law turned green. My wife loved the ride. While waiting in line for TS, it broke down, so we weren't able to go on it.
So next we went to Dinosaur the Ride. Our daughter loves dinosaurs, so we figured she wouldn't mind this. Wrong. We won't be doing that again soon.

Next off to Camp Minnie/Mickey.
We saw the Lion King show, which our daughter really enjoyed and then went and saw Pocahontas. Another great show.

When we were getting ready to leave we decided to watch the 4:00 parade. Very entertaining.

It was time to leave and say our brief goodbyes to my in-laws. But we would be seeing them again the next night.

Back to the hotel for dinner and swimming.

Stay tuned for day 4 report.................
 
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S

strutter

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Day 4 miscellaneous........

Well, it was quite sad knowing that this was going to be our last day in the happiest place on earth. We checked out, and decided to head over to Typhoon Lagoon.

What a great idea to hit the water park on our last day there. As fate would have it, it was 98 degrees and about 90% humidity. What a great day to spend getting wet. We went on many of the slides. We were kind of fearful of one. I don't remember the name. But each of us had our own tube to go down. It was kind of bumpy and quite fast with many turns. I went first. Half way down I was thinking, oh no, I'm going to have to scoop up our daughter. But to my surprise, while I was waiting for her at the bottom, she came down still gripping her tube, grinning ear to ear. Needless to say, she wanted to do that one again.

We stayed at TL until about 1:30. Then we decided to go to the MK to do a couple of things we missed.
Big mistake. This was on Sunday the day Before Labor Day. It was just packed. Stand by line for Splash Mountain was nearly an hour. Fast Pass was for 2 and one half hours later. We decided to go drive the Indy Cars because our daughter was really looking forward to that.
After the Indy Cars, we decided to go to Downtown Disney and do some shopping.

Now, I'm not one that gets into shopping much. But I could have spent an entire day at Downtown Disney. Of course it isn't very much fun for a 5 year old so we rushed through the essentials for us: Once upon a Toy, Virgin Megastore: House of Blues and a couple of others.

Next it was off to meet up with my in-laws again. We drove about an hour north to Ocala. My wife's grandparents live there. We spent the night there before our long drive home the next day.

Stay tuned for some final thoughts...........
 
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S

strutter

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Original Poster
Final thoughts....

We had the greatest vacation of our lives. All Star Movies is just perfect for a family of three. The Cast Members everywhere were just awesome. I know some cast members frequently come to wdwmagic. I want to say Thank You to all of you. If we didn't meet you this time, perhaps next. There were a couple of cast members I would like to thank in particular. John, a castmember in the arcade in Tomorrowland. Our daughter was trading a goofy pin with him for his Minnie pin. John said, well you can't have Minnie without taking Mickey too. This may seem trivial to some. But going that extra step to make a guest happy is what makes WDW so special. Thank you John.
Also, I didn't get her name, but there was a CM at a shop in Animal Kingdom. Our daughter forget her pins in the car and made a remark to this cast member that she liked her pins. Well, the CM asked our daughter, "who is your favorite" our daughter answered Ariel, and Jasmine. The CM said, "oh you like the princesses. Well, I dont' have any princesses, but how about you take Snow White." I wish I would have gotten her name. But thank you for making our 5 year olds smile even wider.

We will be returning some time next year. Instead of driving we will fly, and save a couple of days so we can spend more time at the parks.

Thanks for taking the time for reading. Hope you all enjoyed.
 
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wishiwere@wdw

wishiwere@wdw

Well-Known Member
Great trip report :) You spent a LOT of time putting that together! Sounds like you had a really good time and it was nice to only hear about the positives. (for once!)
 
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Nut4Disney

Nut4Disney

New Member
Fantastic report! I'm so happy that you had a great time, and a memorable experience. Nothing like Disney Magic. I can't wait to experience with a child in a couple of years, it will be like going for the first time again.
 
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M

Mag1575

New Member
Hi Strutter,

Thanks for that wonderful report. It sound like you had a wonderful time! I hope that the next time you visit you'll be able to stop at Epcot. I'm from Michigan as well, so it's great to see other people from Michigan posting on the board.


Mark
 
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S

strutter

New Member
Original Poster
No Epcot this time. We would like to next time. We only had 4 days because it took one day to drive down and one day to drive back. Also, we weren't sure if our daughter would enjoy much at Epcot. Next time we will fly so we can have more time and definitely experience Epcot.
 
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DisJosh

DisJosh

Well-Known Member
I loved reading your report! Sounds like you had a blast. I was a little disapointed you missed Epcot though. :( I would have passed up AK for it any day but thats just a personal preference hehe. :)
 
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Mag1575

New Member
Hi Strutter,


I wanted to tell you that they have a program at each of the countries called Kid Cot. I believe a CM from each country does arts and crafts with the kids. Epcot is probably more educational than the other three, but it is definitely worth seeing.


Mark



P.S. I believe there is an age restriction with Kid Cot, but I don't know what it is.
 
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Disneynutcase

New Member
Yahoo! I love long trip reports. Thanks for all the details.

Re Epcot 4 kids issue: I went to Epcot with four kids ages 2-8. They loved it as much as any park. Nothing scary there--not if your kid likes Haunted Mansion and ToT! Then again my four year old wigged out over Spaceship Earth--she thought once we were inside that it was going to roll around the park! Got over it as soon as she saw all the animatronics and got sucked into the actual ride.

The KidCot stations were a hit, but what made them better was that cast members from all the countries were autographing the kid's books and adding rather lengthy messages in their native tongues.

Overall, I think you did your touring right. Don't let anyone knock AK. It's perfect for a 5 year old and does have quite a bit of Disney magic despite some people's complaints. Your trip report showed how much fun is to be had there. Glad you saw the Jammin' Jungle Parade. We found it and the Lion King Show to be the unsung unexpected hits of our last trip.

Thanks again, and great reporting!
 
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S

strutter

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the info about kidcot. It does sound interesting. We will be doing Epcot next time. It was just that this time, with only 4 days at the parks, we had to try and cram in as much as possible. Something had to give and we all decided it would be Epcot this time. Can you believe we are already planning our return for next August? Going to fly and stay for 5 or 6 days, haven't quite gotten all the details figured out yet.

My wife just put together our photo album with all of our pictures. We took 15 rolls of film. This includes 2 of the underwater disposable cameras that we used at Typhoon Lagoon and on Kali River Rapids in AK. I must say, the pictures are pretty decent quality for a disposable camera.

I also wanted to add a list of all the characters our daughter got autographs from. I think she did pretty good for her first time.
Captain Hook, The Mad Hatter, Ariel, Pooh, Minnie Mouse, Tigger, Chip and Dale, Governor Ratcliffe, Queen of Hearts, Prince John, Jafar, Eeyore, Cinderella, Perla and Suzy, Mickey Mouse, Baloo, Mr. Smee, Goofy, Pluto, Dopey, Meeko, Timon, Friar Tuck, Foul Fellow, Gepetto, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Green Army Man, and Terk.

I miss it so much already and we have only been home for a week. I think I might go crazy waiting for our next trip.
 
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