Hi everyone--just returned yesterday from WDW (26 hour drive home!) Here's my report...
started on June 9, checked into All Star Movies early (first time on property). Had a little trouble with the reservation, seems they had us under a FL address and our last name misspelled. But it was booked through the Magic Music Days program and apparently what we thought was a gread deal was an even better deal for the FL travel agency (the cast member at checkin even commented on what a great deal we got). Once we got the reservation fixed, we headed to Epcot for the early entry.
We got FP for MS and headed to TT and practically walked on (less than 10 min). Then time was up already for MS and even though my 6 year old son hated TT, he was excited for MS. And he loved it! (I admit I felt queasy for a good 2 hours afterward though). Then we hit JIIwF (my first time, loved it! Was humming that song for hours!) and HISTA both without more than a 5-10 min wait. We also walked on to Ellen's Universe of Energy (had never seen it before. won't bother in the future). SE had quite a long line, so we decided to skip it.
Left by 11:30 and headed to AK. Longest wait was KRR and that was about 35 min. Did Lion King (kids got instruments and got to participate), KRR, PW, TS, ITTBAB, a few character meetings, lunch at the Tusker House (loved it!), and Dinosaur, all before the park closed at 6.
Headed to MGM. Wandered around a little, did GMR, and then waited for Fantasmic, as we didn't have the energy for anything else at that point. Show was delayed due to weather, but we waited (started about 1/2 hour late).
Thurs June 10: My daughters performed at Epcot with their dance team. Enjoyed the experience and they were considered "honorary cast members" for the day. They were able to enter through the cast members entrance but were not allowed to take any pictures. My hus and son went on MS again, and walked through the World Showcase, while I stayed at the hotel and got the girls ready. Rain started and became torrential downpours with reported 90mph winds before the end of the night. We left Epcot after their performance and had a pizza party at the food court at ASMovies and waited for the rain to end. It was raining so hard the ceiling in the food court was leaking. Finally the rain ended around 9:30 and the kids went swimming with their friends from the dance studio. I apologize if any of you were staying near the Herbie area that week. I've heard that is usually the quiet side of the resort...but the kids from our studio were pretty wild. But they had a blast. Stayed at the pool until just before midnight when they got freaked out by some monsterous bug in the pool (about 4-5" long...looked like a roach but we were told it was some type of waterbug. Glad we don't get them that size at home, or the kids would never swim!
Friday June 11. We started a little late, due to our late night at the pool. Headed to Epcot around 11, walked through the World Showcase. Walked onto both boat rides with no wait, but skipped the movies. Left Epcot around 2 and headed to MK. My hus drove the car over and the kids and I rode the Monorail, and got to ride up front with the Pilot. We had ridden the Monorail before but only from the Ticket center to MK so this was a treat! My hus was jealous!
Had E-tickets for Fri night, so we skipped the rides on the E-ride list until later when there would be little wait. Longest wait we saw was around 60 min for Peter Pan and SM, but we skipped those until later anyway. Managed to get through HM (FP), PotC (walked on), Jungle Cruise (walked on), BTMRR (15 min), Splash Mtn (walked on at 9 when the parade started...ended up riding 3 or 4 times before 10!), TTA twice (walked on), Philharmagic (FP) & Country Bears (walked in). Then during the E-ride night, we did Splash Mtn 2 more times, BTMRR 2 more times, Pooh (10 min wait), PP (walked on), Space Mtn (10 min wait), HM (walked on), & Buzz Lightyear (10 min wait). First time doing E-ride, and had to skip PP and Pooh until later because most of the night there were 30 min lines, which surprised me for an E-ride night.
Sat the 12th, we slept in a bit, and had a character breakfast at Ohana. Thought it was good, but not worth the $90 for our family of 5. Ate a lot, but not enough variety of foods for that price. Character interaction was good, although we were there almost 20 min before Goofy came to visit. I didn't like that we couldn't even see most of the restaurant from where we were seated. Overall it was good, but I'm not sure I would do it again.
Went back to the hotel and I took a long nap while my hus took the kids to the pool. (most peaceful 3 hours of my trip!). Later, the rain hit again, and we debated heading to Fort Wilderness for the campfire, but decided to go anyway, in hopes it would clear up.
Got to Ft Wilderness. It was our first time there, so I was glad we had allowed enough time to find the place, as we had to wait for a bus and get to the right place. Still pouring down rain but we waited in the shop by the campfire area and finally around 7:30 it cleared up. We watched Beauty and the Beast and made smores and got pictures with Chip and Dale. It was perfect for the rest of the night...just a light sprinkling here and there but it was not at all hot.
Sunday June 13, we started at MGM and did RnR (about 45 min wait) while waiting for FP time for ToT. Loved RnR! ToT was more scary than I remembered from our last trip 4 years ago...but my hus didn't think so (we did baby swap with my 6 year old who was terrified, so maybe I had a scarier drop than he did...) Anyway, it was a Star Wars Weekend, so maybe it was busier than usual. Was disappointed they were sold out of the Jedi Mickey plush. Couldn't even find Jedi Mickey for pictures. But we got pictures with Toy Story and Monsters Inc characters, saw Muppets (10 min wait), ate at Pizza Planet, & rode Star Tours (30 min wait), then had lunch at 50's Primetime Cafe. Headed to MK for the remainder of the day. Got there just in time to snag a great spot for the afternoon parade (at the very end of the route, where they enter backstage). Then we went to Toontown, got our picture with Mickey, kids rode Barnstormer, saw Philharmagic again (FP), rode the teacups (10 min wait), spent more time in the shops, watched Cinderella's Surprise show at the castle, ate dinner, watched Spectromagic and Wishes.
Monday June 14 we went to Blizzard Beach, which was a disappointing day, only because we started pretty late (got there around 11) and only got to spend about 3 hours of the day in the water, as rain kept it closed most of the day. My husband was just about at the top for Summit Plummet and they closed it. We spent a little time in the Creek, and at Ski Patrol, but that was it before the rain closed the park for the 2nd time that day. Spent about 2 hours at Lottawatta Lodge, and then finally around 5:15 with only 45 min left, they reopened. My hus bolted to the top of the mtn and was 4th in line for Summit Plummet so he was happy he got to go, and has the bruises to prove it. Kids stayed in Ski Patrol area, except we made one trip on the family raft ride and my oldest 2 kids did 2 other slides. We didn't even see half of the park.
We had a ton of meal certificates as part of our package deal, and even after eating lunch during the rain storm, we still had 3 left, but no more park tickets and we had checked out of Disney property on Sunday. We weren't sure if we'd be able to use them anywhere but headed back to AllStar Movies and were surprised they waived us right in, even though our parking pass had expired the day before. So we had dinner at the food court there and used up the rest of our certificates.
Tuesday June 15: headed to Universal Studios for a disappointing day. I guess the park wasn't that bad, but it was such a let down after being at Disney for so long. Rode Earthquake, Jaws, MIB (anyone else hate the whole locker process for MIB and Mummy?), ET, Shrek 4D, Jimmy Neutron, Nick Studios, Twister and my hus rode Mummy as a single rider. It was a very HOT day and we kept hoping for rain to cool things off, but that didn't come until much later in the day. Park closed at 8 and we had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.
Wednesday June 16: realized we had 2 of our 4 day park hopper tickets that were not used (since my daughters entered Epcot on the day they performed as cast members). So we decided to split up. My hus took the 2 older kids to IoA and they enjoyed themselves. I took my 6 year old son back to MK. We had a wonderful day together. It was very crowded, but with utilizing FP and the fact that we didn't do any of the mountain rides, we were able to ride Buzz (2x), HM (3x), Jungle Cruise, PP, Pooh, and PotC (all once), Alladin's carpet ride (3x), Carousel (2x), Snow White (once), TTA (4x), CoP (my first time--loved the classic feel of it, and my son and I were humming "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow for hours!), saw Hall of Presidents for my first time also, and the Tiki Room. Also spent a few minutes entertained by a talking trash can in Tomorrowland. I thought we did pretty well for one day, and we stopped twice to eat too. We skipped the parades and fireworks and headed out early to try and miss the crowds, but ended up getting out too early and had to wait about 20 min for my hus. It was a wonderful day ending our trip. We left Orlando on Thursday morning after drove straight home (no hotel, but we stopped a few times at rest stops to sleep).
We had a wonderful time, although something seemed different than our last visit. I can't quite pinpoint it. Maybe just that we had been there before, and knew what to expect. It was still a wonderful trip and I can't wait for trip number 3...just not sure when that will happen.
:sohappy:
started on June 9, checked into All Star Movies early (first time on property). Had a little trouble with the reservation, seems they had us under a FL address and our last name misspelled. But it was booked through the Magic Music Days program and apparently what we thought was a gread deal was an even better deal for the FL travel agency (the cast member at checkin even commented on what a great deal we got). Once we got the reservation fixed, we headed to Epcot for the early entry.
We got FP for MS and headed to TT and practically walked on (less than 10 min). Then time was up already for MS and even though my 6 year old son hated TT, he was excited for MS. And he loved it! (I admit I felt queasy for a good 2 hours afterward though). Then we hit JIIwF (my first time, loved it! Was humming that song for hours!) and HISTA both without more than a 5-10 min wait. We also walked on to Ellen's Universe of Energy (had never seen it before. won't bother in the future). SE had quite a long line, so we decided to skip it.
Left by 11:30 and headed to AK. Longest wait was KRR and that was about 35 min. Did Lion King (kids got instruments and got to participate), KRR, PW, TS, ITTBAB, a few character meetings, lunch at the Tusker House (loved it!), and Dinosaur, all before the park closed at 6.
Headed to MGM. Wandered around a little, did GMR, and then waited for Fantasmic, as we didn't have the energy for anything else at that point. Show was delayed due to weather, but we waited (started about 1/2 hour late).
Thurs June 10: My daughters performed at Epcot with their dance team. Enjoyed the experience and they were considered "honorary cast members" for the day. They were able to enter through the cast members entrance but were not allowed to take any pictures. My hus and son went on MS again, and walked through the World Showcase, while I stayed at the hotel and got the girls ready. Rain started and became torrential downpours with reported 90mph winds before the end of the night. We left Epcot after their performance and had a pizza party at the food court at ASMovies and waited for the rain to end. It was raining so hard the ceiling in the food court was leaking. Finally the rain ended around 9:30 and the kids went swimming with their friends from the dance studio. I apologize if any of you were staying near the Herbie area that week. I've heard that is usually the quiet side of the resort...but the kids from our studio were pretty wild. But they had a blast. Stayed at the pool until just before midnight when they got freaked out by some monsterous bug in the pool (about 4-5" long...looked like a roach but we were told it was some type of waterbug. Glad we don't get them that size at home, or the kids would never swim!
Friday June 11. We started a little late, due to our late night at the pool. Headed to Epcot around 11, walked through the World Showcase. Walked onto both boat rides with no wait, but skipped the movies. Left Epcot around 2 and headed to MK. My hus drove the car over and the kids and I rode the Monorail, and got to ride up front with the Pilot. We had ridden the Monorail before but only from the Ticket center to MK so this was a treat! My hus was jealous!
Had E-tickets for Fri night, so we skipped the rides on the E-ride list until later when there would be little wait. Longest wait we saw was around 60 min for Peter Pan and SM, but we skipped those until later anyway. Managed to get through HM (FP), PotC (walked on), Jungle Cruise (walked on), BTMRR (15 min), Splash Mtn (walked on at 9 when the parade started...ended up riding 3 or 4 times before 10!), TTA twice (walked on), Philharmagic (FP) & Country Bears (walked in). Then during the E-ride night, we did Splash Mtn 2 more times, BTMRR 2 more times, Pooh (10 min wait), PP (walked on), Space Mtn (10 min wait), HM (walked on), & Buzz Lightyear (10 min wait). First time doing E-ride, and had to skip PP and Pooh until later because most of the night there were 30 min lines, which surprised me for an E-ride night.
Sat the 12th, we slept in a bit, and had a character breakfast at Ohana. Thought it was good, but not worth the $90 for our family of 5. Ate a lot, but not enough variety of foods for that price. Character interaction was good, although we were there almost 20 min before Goofy came to visit. I didn't like that we couldn't even see most of the restaurant from where we were seated. Overall it was good, but I'm not sure I would do it again.
Went back to the hotel and I took a long nap while my hus took the kids to the pool. (most peaceful 3 hours of my trip!). Later, the rain hit again, and we debated heading to Fort Wilderness for the campfire, but decided to go anyway, in hopes it would clear up.
Got to Ft Wilderness. It was our first time there, so I was glad we had allowed enough time to find the place, as we had to wait for a bus and get to the right place. Still pouring down rain but we waited in the shop by the campfire area and finally around 7:30 it cleared up. We watched Beauty and the Beast and made smores and got pictures with Chip and Dale. It was perfect for the rest of the night...just a light sprinkling here and there but it was not at all hot.
Sunday June 13, we started at MGM and did RnR (about 45 min wait) while waiting for FP time for ToT. Loved RnR! ToT was more scary than I remembered from our last trip 4 years ago...but my hus didn't think so (we did baby swap with my 6 year old who was terrified, so maybe I had a scarier drop than he did...) Anyway, it was a Star Wars Weekend, so maybe it was busier than usual. Was disappointed they were sold out of the Jedi Mickey plush. Couldn't even find Jedi Mickey for pictures. But we got pictures with Toy Story and Monsters Inc characters, saw Muppets (10 min wait), ate at Pizza Planet, & rode Star Tours (30 min wait), then had lunch at 50's Primetime Cafe. Headed to MK for the remainder of the day. Got there just in time to snag a great spot for the afternoon parade (at the very end of the route, where they enter backstage). Then we went to Toontown, got our picture with Mickey, kids rode Barnstormer, saw Philharmagic again (FP), rode the teacups (10 min wait), spent more time in the shops, watched Cinderella's Surprise show at the castle, ate dinner, watched Spectromagic and Wishes.
Monday June 14 we went to Blizzard Beach, which was a disappointing day, only because we started pretty late (got there around 11) and only got to spend about 3 hours of the day in the water, as rain kept it closed most of the day. My husband was just about at the top for Summit Plummet and they closed it. We spent a little time in the Creek, and at Ski Patrol, but that was it before the rain closed the park for the 2nd time that day. Spent about 2 hours at Lottawatta Lodge, and then finally around 5:15 with only 45 min left, they reopened. My hus bolted to the top of the mtn and was 4th in line for Summit Plummet so he was happy he got to go, and has the bruises to prove it. Kids stayed in Ski Patrol area, except we made one trip on the family raft ride and my oldest 2 kids did 2 other slides. We didn't even see half of the park.
We had a ton of meal certificates as part of our package deal, and even after eating lunch during the rain storm, we still had 3 left, but no more park tickets and we had checked out of Disney property on Sunday. We weren't sure if we'd be able to use them anywhere but headed back to AllStar Movies and were surprised they waived us right in, even though our parking pass had expired the day before. So we had dinner at the food court there and used up the rest of our certificates.
Tuesday June 15: headed to Universal Studios for a disappointing day. I guess the park wasn't that bad, but it was such a let down after being at Disney for so long. Rode Earthquake, Jaws, MIB (anyone else hate the whole locker process for MIB and Mummy?), ET, Shrek 4D, Jimmy Neutron, Nick Studios, Twister and my hus rode Mummy as a single rider. It was a very HOT day and we kept hoping for rain to cool things off, but that didn't come until much later in the day. Park closed at 8 and we had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.
Wednesday June 16: realized we had 2 of our 4 day park hopper tickets that were not used (since my daughters entered Epcot on the day they performed as cast members). So we decided to split up. My hus took the 2 older kids to IoA and they enjoyed themselves. I took my 6 year old son back to MK. We had a wonderful day together. It was very crowded, but with utilizing FP and the fact that we didn't do any of the mountain rides, we were able to ride Buzz (2x), HM (3x), Jungle Cruise, PP, Pooh, and PotC (all once), Alladin's carpet ride (3x), Carousel (2x), Snow White (once), TTA (4x), CoP (my first time--loved the classic feel of it, and my son and I were humming "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow for hours!), saw Hall of Presidents for my first time also, and the Tiki Room. Also spent a few minutes entertained by a talking trash can in Tomorrowland. I thought we did pretty well for one day, and we stopped twice to eat too. We skipped the parades and fireworks and headed out early to try and miss the crowds, but ended up getting out too early and had to wait about 20 min for my hus. It was a wonderful day ending our trip. We left Orlando on Thursday morning after drove straight home (no hotel, but we stopped a few times at rest stops to sleep).
We had a wonderful time, although something seemed different than our last visit. I can't quite pinpoint it. Maybe just that we had been there before, and knew what to expect. It was still a wonderful trip and I can't wait for trip number 3...just not sure when that will happen.
:sohappy:
