SpongeScott
Well-Known Member
DAY ONE: We drove in from Lake City and checked into ASMusic at 10:15. We had a "plan" for the rest of the week, so today was just going to be a whatever-we-wanted-to-do kind of a day. We drove to MK and monorailed over to EPCOT. While there, we rode SE and TT. The wait on TT was about 5 minutes. We also fast-passed it to ride again after lunch at the Electric Umbrella. FastPass was wonderful as usual and we avoided about 1 0-15 minute wait on TT. Next, we walked to the International Gateway and took the ferry to MGM. Now, about an hour before we got to the parks, I had taken a non-drowsy Dramamine because I knew I would be riding some coasters, so I thought I would be ahead of the game. WRONG!! The pill had the reverse effect on me and I could hardly keep my eyes open. I put my head down on a seat on the ferry and missed the sights. When we got to MGM, we walked on RnR twice and ToT. My 10 year old daughter would not ride RnR, so me and the Mrs. swapped out with our son and rode. Great ride! Has to be my favorite ride now at WDW. Next, we jumped on the bus to go back to MK and headed back to our room to take a quick nap since I was so out of it from the pills of Satan. We slept for about 45 minutes and then headed back to MK. We rode Space Mtn twice, TTA, and Buzz once with a FP. For a Saturday afternoon, SP was surprisingly empty. We had about a 3 minute wait and we were wondering if it could have been the FP construction that is taking place right in front of the entrance. The entrance is semi-blocked and people could have thought that the ride was shut down. We met some friends later for Spectromagic and watched the parade in FrontierLand and then headed back to Mickey's Toontown Fair for the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks. That was a good place to watch them and there was no one back there. Granted, we didn't get to see Tinkerbell make her grand entrance and the fireworks weren't backdropped on the castle, but we had unobstructed views and could hear everything (One rumor here: there was an off-duty CM watching the fireworks near us and she said that the wire Tinkerbell flies down on was actually done by a male CM who weighs 350 pounds in order to get down the wire. Anyone confirm or squelch that info?). Obviously, we had to leave at this point and it took us 75 minutes from the time the fireworks ended to the time we were in our car to get out of the park. Mass exoduses from MK are not fun!
DAY TWO: We had some of our best friends at WDW the same time we were there, so we spent most of the day with them at MGM. We hit RnR again and rode it twice with no waiting. I got the front seat this time and that was a fantastic ride there. Best seat in the car, IMO. Next was ToT, then Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D, and lunch at the ABC Commissary. This was actually a pretty good meal across the board for everyone. After lunch we did the Backlot Tour, Sounds Dangerous, and Indiana Jones. We went back and took another nap in the afternoon and got checked in to our new hotel for the week--Riverside. We stayed in Alligator Bayou, Building 15. Very nice, very rustic. Back to MGM after supper in the food court and got our seats for Fantasmic. My wife and I snuck out and left our kids with the other family we were with and rode RnR by ourselves. Could you tell I couldn't get enough of it?? Fantasmic was good, as usual.
DAY THREE: What a day this was. My parents live in the Tampa Bay area, so they came up and spent the day with us. My kids really wanted their grandmother to ride TT with them (we're at EPCOT now), so I described the ride to my Mom and she said she could do it. While in line, I showed my Dad (79 years old) the chicken exit and he said he would ride it too. Cool!.....I thought. He did pretty good on the ride until the banked loops and he started feeling bad. My wife and kids wanted to ride again and we waited and he started feeling worse. His breathing got labored and I could tell that he wasn't going to be able to walk around the park, so I ran back to the front of EPCOT and got a wheelchair for him. We took him over towards LwtL for a gentle ride and he was getting worse. He asked to go back to the hotel to lay down, so off he and I went while the rest of the family stayed in the park. By the time we got to the car, he was so sick he could hardly get out of the chair and into the car. I helped him in and we started to exit when he told me he was going to be sick. Now, I have a brand new car and I can see my father tossing his cookies all over the interior of it, so I pulled in the grass as fast as I could, opened the door and kinda pushed him out right before he got sick. Car was saved, Dad was okay too after doing his business (Disney security passed us twice without slowing down--can't say that I blame them!). We got back to the room and I had to get him upstairs (steps only) and the steps wore him out. By the time he got in the room, he was too weak to get back out of bed, labored breathing, and right hand uncontrollably shaking. I was thisclose to calling 9-1-1 and told him I was going to when he smacked his arm on the bed and his shaking stopped. I had to meet the others shortly, so I left him there after getting him settled and we checked on him when I got back to the park and he was fine, just wanted to sleep. We had PS for lunch at Teppenyaki at 12:00 and made that just on time. The meal was very enjoyable and the kids loved it. They ordered off of the child's menu and their portions were just as big as the adults. My son ordered iced green tea for a drink--he made it through one glass until the Coke had to be brought out! Earlier in the day, I had bought them passports, so for the next few hours, we spent time getting their passports stamped. This was a pretty cool thing with CM's from the different countries writing in their own language simple greeting messages to the children. Our kids really got a charge out of this. After the passports, we rode Living with the Land and this was our longest wait of the trip--about 15 minutes. Late in the afternoon, Mom and I went back for my Dad and brought him back--feeling much, much better. A quick meal at Electric Umbrella and we were on our way again, doing a few of the countries and the kids finishing up their passports. We claimed our spots for Tapestry of Dreams and Illuminations and settled in for the evening. This was my parents first time to see Illuminations and they were quite impressed.
DAY FOUR: We went to MK today and began with two quick trips on Space Mountain with no waiting. Over to Buzz and we never broke stride getting on the ride. We cut through FantasyLand (did Pooh) on our way to the Haunted Mansion on our way to Splash Mountain. We did Splash twice with absolutely no wait and did BTMR once with a minimal wait and FP'd it while we ate lunch at Pecos Bill's. Back to BTMR after lunch and had a longer wait with FP than we did without--go figure. Headed over to AdventureLand and did POTC, back to FantasyLand for IASW. I have been to MK over 25 times and have never done Snow White and thought I would take it in this time. Not a big deal, but I guess I can see where small children could be scared on that ride. We finally did our first shopping of the trip and dropped a couple hundred dollars on Main Street before heading back to do Space Mtn two more times (daughter's favorite ride) and then headed back to the room for a quick nap again. After nap and dinner, we went back to EPCOT and I got to do Living with the Seas since I missed it when my Dad was sick. Before we headed to the back for ToD and Illuminations, we did TT one more time--no wait.
DAY FIVE--Spent this day at Sea World. Had a good time, but found a major drawback here. I'm not trying to spark a smoking/non-smoking argument, but I have to give WDW credit for its non-smoking policy. My wife is allergic to cigarette smoke and Sea World's non-smoking policy is inside its stadiums only. We had a horrible time fighting smoke all day long, but acknowledge the right of the smoker when the policy allows them to smoke freely. I wimped out and "volunteered" to sit with my daughter while my son and wife rode Kraken. They both loved it. We all liked Journey to Atlantis, though I did get absolutely soaked on it. Thought the ending was pretty cool--kinda took us by surprise. My daughter, veterinarian-to-be, really enjoyed the dolphins and getting to pet them for a piece of fish. After Sea World, we went back to the room for another quick nap and then ferried from Riverside to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. We ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express and the meal was wonderful. We then shopped for about 3 hours before heading back. Once Upon a Toy Store is a place that is not to be missed. It was a blast just walking through the place!
DAY SIX: This was our final day and we had our plan laid out for all four parks in this one day. We got to AK at 8:45 and stood in the longest line to get in. We headed to Dinosaur and rode it, to the other side of the park to see Festival of the Lion King. Next was It's Tough To Be a Bug, Primeval Whirl (kids only--too spinny for me), lunch at Flame Tree BBQ (yum!) and Kali River Rapids--on which I got soaked! Back to the car and to MGM and a couple of final trips on RnR and Star Tours. We then headed to MK and did Swiss Family Treehouse, Splash Mtn twice--no waiting--and BTMR with a FP. We wanted to take in Hall of Presidents for a quick nap, but couldn't coordinate the times, so we headed to Haunted Mansion, Cinderella's Golden Carousel for the kids and then to Cosmic Ray's for dinner. Took in Buzz again and did the TTA thing. While on TTA, I remembered wanting to do Alien Encounter. No one else in the family would do it with me, so they headed to Space Mtn one more time while I did AE. I must say that this was the stupidest attraction I have ever done. It was pointless and not scary at all. Having people on the attraction mock it probably didn't help either. We rode Buzz one more time to get the bad taste of AE out of my mouth. We monorailed over to EPCOT and caught the parade one more time and Illuminations. Our trip was done!
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: The weather was hot the entire trip. We went last year at the same time and we must have gotten lucky then. It was very warm and humid this time, but manageable once you knew what the forecast was calling for. For the second year in a row, we avoided any rain. It did rain while we were there, but we were either eating or sleeping and stayed dry all three times.
I'm still amazed at the people who don't know/don't do FP. We would walk by in the FP line and people would want to know why we were getting to go to the front of the line or how they could get in our line. I don't know if they think it's for resort guests only or if they think you have to pay extra for it. I know that I'm grateful for it!
It's the little things that count. A few Disney Magic moments for us--small, but still meaningful. 1) My daughter was trying to find something to buy for a friend and we were talking about it. She went to the register to make her purchase and the guy said he overheard that this was supposed to be a gift for a friend. She said yes and he put her purchase into a gift box for her. 2) We went swimming one night and called the front desk about towels for the pool. She said that that late at night we would have to use our own towels from the room. Not a problem for us and when we got back to our room 30 minutes later, there were four fresh towels on our bed for us! 3) A security guard took our picture outside of MK and purposefully waited to take it so that she could get the train in the background of our picture as it went by.
CM's were very courteous and friendly to us. Not that you would expect otherwise, but some seemed to really bend over backwards for us--making sure items we purchased were in good shape, asking about where we were from, etc. I made sure that I called CM's by their name and asked how they were. I know it's a tough job working with the public like they do and a little bit of courtesy toward them can also go a long way.
The food was very good, no matter where we ate. We learned a quick money-saving lesson of splitting meals. We would order combos and split them up because my wife/daughter could never eat one of them by themselves. This cut down tremendously on our meal costs. The hamburgers at Pecos Bill's are to die for. The chicken wrap is also very good. We found Electric Umbrella the best place for us a family to eat since the kids can be kinda picky. Flame Tree BBQ was fantastic--worth the wait since it was closed last year. The food court was okay at the hotel and we were able to split breakfast platters between all of us. Refillable mugs are a must!
This was a great trip and we had a wonderful time, better than last year. Due to some things happening next year, I had already resigned myself to the fact that it would be two years before we came back, but now my wife is already "badgering" me about making a quick three-day trip next fall. I'm sure she won't have to twist my arm too hard!
DAY TWO: We had some of our best friends at WDW the same time we were there, so we spent most of the day with them at MGM. We hit RnR again and rode it twice with no waiting. I got the front seat this time and that was a fantastic ride there. Best seat in the car, IMO. Next was ToT, then Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D, and lunch at the ABC Commissary. This was actually a pretty good meal across the board for everyone. After lunch we did the Backlot Tour, Sounds Dangerous, and Indiana Jones. We went back and took another nap in the afternoon and got checked in to our new hotel for the week--Riverside. We stayed in Alligator Bayou, Building 15. Very nice, very rustic. Back to MGM after supper in the food court and got our seats for Fantasmic. My wife and I snuck out and left our kids with the other family we were with and rode RnR by ourselves. Could you tell I couldn't get enough of it?? Fantasmic was good, as usual.
DAY THREE: What a day this was. My parents live in the Tampa Bay area, so they came up and spent the day with us. My kids really wanted their grandmother to ride TT with them (we're at EPCOT now), so I described the ride to my Mom and she said she could do it. While in line, I showed my Dad (79 years old) the chicken exit and he said he would ride it too. Cool!.....I thought. He did pretty good on the ride until the banked loops and he started feeling bad. My wife and kids wanted to ride again and we waited and he started feeling worse. His breathing got labored and I could tell that he wasn't going to be able to walk around the park, so I ran back to the front of EPCOT and got a wheelchair for him. We took him over towards LwtL for a gentle ride and he was getting worse. He asked to go back to the hotel to lay down, so off he and I went while the rest of the family stayed in the park. By the time we got to the car, he was so sick he could hardly get out of the chair and into the car. I helped him in and we started to exit when he told me he was going to be sick. Now, I have a brand new car and I can see my father tossing his cookies all over the interior of it, so I pulled in the grass as fast as I could, opened the door and kinda pushed him out right before he got sick. Car was saved, Dad was okay too after doing his business (Disney security passed us twice without slowing down--can't say that I blame them!). We got back to the room and I had to get him upstairs (steps only) and the steps wore him out. By the time he got in the room, he was too weak to get back out of bed, labored breathing, and right hand uncontrollably shaking. I was thisclose to calling 9-1-1 and told him I was going to when he smacked his arm on the bed and his shaking stopped. I had to meet the others shortly, so I left him there after getting him settled and we checked on him when I got back to the park and he was fine, just wanted to sleep. We had PS for lunch at Teppenyaki at 12:00 and made that just on time. The meal was very enjoyable and the kids loved it. They ordered off of the child's menu and their portions were just as big as the adults. My son ordered iced green tea for a drink--he made it through one glass until the Coke had to be brought out! Earlier in the day, I had bought them passports, so for the next few hours, we spent time getting their passports stamped. This was a pretty cool thing with CM's from the different countries writing in their own language simple greeting messages to the children. Our kids really got a charge out of this. After the passports, we rode Living with the Land and this was our longest wait of the trip--about 15 minutes. Late in the afternoon, Mom and I went back for my Dad and brought him back--feeling much, much better. A quick meal at Electric Umbrella and we were on our way again, doing a few of the countries and the kids finishing up their passports. We claimed our spots for Tapestry of Dreams and Illuminations and settled in for the evening. This was my parents first time to see Illuminations and they were quite impressed.
DAY FOUR: We went to MK today and began with two quick trips on Space Mountain with no waiting. Over to Buzz and we never broke stride getting on the ride. We cut through FantasyLand (did Pooh) on our way to the Haunted Mansion on our way to Splash Mountain. We did Splash twice with absolutely no wait and did BTMR once with a minimal wait and FP'd it while we ate lunch at Pecos Bill's. Back to BTMR after lunch and had a longer wait with FP than we did without--go figure. Headed over to AdventureLand and did POTC, back to FantasyLand for IASW. I have been to MK over 25 times and have never done Snow White and thought I would take it in this time. Not a big deal, but I guess I can see where small children could be scared on that ride. We finally did our first shopping of the trip and dropped a couple hundred dollars on Main Street before heading back to do Space Mtn two more times (daughter's favorite ride) and then headed back to the room for a quick nap again. After nap and dinner, we went back to EPCOT and I got to do Living with the Seas since I missed it when my Dad was sick. Before we headed to the back for ToD and Illuminations, we did TT one more time--no wait.
DAY FIVE--Spent this day at Sea World. Had a good time, but found a major drawback here. I'm not trying to spark a smoking/non-smoking argument, but I have to give WDW credit for its non-smoking policy. My wife is allergic to cigarette smoke and Sea World's non-smoking policy is inside its stadiums only. We had a horrible time fighting smoke all day long, but acknowledge the right of the smoker when the policy allows them to smoke freely. I wimped out and "volunteered" to sit with my daughter while my son and wife rode Kraken. They both loved it. We all liked Journey to Atlantis, though I did get absolutely soaked on it. Thought the ending was pretty cool--kinda took us by surprise. My daughter, veterinarian-to-be, really enjoyed the dolphins and getting to pet them for a piece of fish. After Sea World, we went back to the room for another quick nap and then ferried from Riverside to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. We ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express and the meal was wonderful. We then shopped for about 3 hours before heading back. Once Upon a Toy Store is a place that is not to be missed. It was a blast just walking through the place!
DAY SIX: This was our final day and we had our plan laid out for all four parks in this one day. We got to AK at 8:45 and stood in the longest line to get in. We headed to Dinosaur and rode it, to the other side of the park to see Festival of the Lion King. Next was It's Tough To Be a Bug, Primeval Whirl (kids only--too spinny for me), lunch at Flame Tree BBQ (yum!) and Kali River Rapids--on which I got soaked! Back to the car and to MGM and a couple of final trips on RnR and Star Tours. We then headed to MK and did Swiss Family Treehouse, Splash Mtn twice--no waiting--and BTMR with a FP. We wanted to take in Hall of Presidents for a quick nap, but couldn't coordinate the times, so we headed to Haunted Mansion, Cinderella's Golden Carousel for the kids and then to Cosmic Ray's for dinner. Took in Buzz again and did the TTA thing. While on TTA, I remembered wanting to do Alien Encounter. No one else in the family would do it with me, so they headed to Space Mtn one more time while I did AE. I must say that this was the stupidest attraction I have ever done. It was pointless and not scary at all. Having people on the attraction mock it probably didn't help either. We rode Buzz one more time to get the bad taste of AE out of my mouth. We monorailed over to EPCOT and caught the parade one more time and Illuminations. Our trip was done!
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: The weather was hot the entire trip. We went last year at the same time and we must have gotten lucky then. It was very warm and humid this time, but manageable once you knew what the forecast was calling for. For the second year in a row, we avoided any rain. It did rain while we were there, but we were either eating or sleeping and stayed dry all three times.
I'm still amazed at the people who don't know/don't do FP. We would walk by in the FP line and people would want to know why we were getting to go to the front of the line or how they could get in our line. I don't know if they think it's for resort guests only or if they think you have to pay extra for it. I know that I'm grateful for it!
It's the little things that count. A few Disney Magic moments for us--small, but still meaningful. 1) My daughter was trying to find something to buy for a friend and we were talking about it. She went to the register to make her purchase and the guy said he overheard that this was supposed to be a gift for a friend. She said yes and he put her purchase into a gift box for her. 2) We went swimming one night and called the front desk about towels for the pool. She said that that late at night we would have to use our own towels from the room. Not a problem for us and when we got back to our room 30 minutes later, there were four fresh towels on our bed for us! 3) A security guard took our picture outside of MK and purposefully waited to take it so that she could get the train in the background of our picture as it went by.
CM's were very courteous and friendly to us. Not that you would expect otherwise, but some seemed to really bend over backwards for us--making sure items we purchased were in good shape, asking about where we were from, etc. I made sure that I called CM's by their name and asked how they were. I know it's a tough job working with the public like they do and a little bit of courtesy toward them can also go a long way.
The food was very good, no matter where we ate. We learned a quick money-saving lesson of splitting meals. We would order combos and split them up because my wife/daughter could never eat one of them by themselves. This cut down tremendously on our meal costs. The hamburgers at Pecos Bill's are to die for. The chicken wrap is also very good. We found Electric Umbrella the best place for us a family to eat since the kids can be kinda picky. Flame Tree BBQ was fantastic--worth the wait since it was closed last year. The food court was okay at the hotel and we were able to split breakfast platters between all of us. Refillable mugs are a must!
This was a great trip and we had a wonderful time, better than last year. Due to some things happening next year, I had already resigned myself to the fact that it would be two years before we came back, but now my wife is already "badgering" me about making a quick three-day trip next fall. I'm sure she won't have to twist my arm too hard!
