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.................
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.................
