The Vacation of a Lifetime - My 1st Trip Report - 1/2 day at IOA and we've had enough

[shhbam]

After reading so many trip reports and using great advice found here at DIS for our last trip to Disneyworld, I thought I’d give a trip report a try. I hope those of you who are planning a trip can find something in here that will help you.

Staying at Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter
July 16th – July 26th, 2008

Me: Rob – I teach Engineers and Designers how to build parts in computers utilizing 3D software. I’ve been to Disneyworld one other time for family vacation, but have been a few times for conventions (definitely not as fun!)

Maria – Recent Masters in Teaching graduate. :woohoo: Looking for a 3rd grade class to educate. Making her 2nd trip to WDW.

Emily – 11, still loves the Disney Princesses, still afraid of Tower of Terror! Making her 2nd trip to WDW.

Alex – 8, fearless, up to a point. Pokemon and video games rule, but can’t let go of Buzz and Woody. Making his 2nd trip to WDW.


I’d better let you know up front that I am a ferocious planner. This trip has been in the works for almost 3 years.:surfweb:

In Spring of 2007 I thought it would be fun to include our immediate families in this grand vacation. I told everyone about it and asked that those that were interested and could swing it just let me know if they were in. A larger group of people could arrange a Grand Gathering with Disney and the thought of having access to the evening safari at Animal Kingdom was really cool!

When I met up with the family in July of 2007, I had prepared a slide show with what they could expect to fork over in $$ and all of the activities that we’d be able to do together. After this presentation, Maria’s family declined, but we had my entire side of the family (8 adults and 6 children not counting us) all on board. This was going to be huge!!

Fast forward to February and I find a great deal for some Disney shirts and I buy 18 shirts for all of us to wear, Mickey for the boys and Tinkerbell for the girls. Reservations at POFQ had already been made for us, my 2 sisters and their families and my mom and stepdad. My brother said he’d be making his ressies soon. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge 3 years ago and absolutely loved it and we were torn with staying there again or checking out a new place.

I had been watching airfare beginning in January and I was absolutely sure that we wouldn’t have to pay more than $250 round trip from Portland, Oregon to Orlando. That is what I had seen in past years. Well, the increase in fuel prices really struck down those plans!! I had budgeted $420 each for airfare and we were able to stay under that, but not by much. It is also a challenge to find a decent flight from out west to the east coast that gets you in at a decent time. We’ll be leaving from PDX at 7:00 AM and with a stop in Cincinnati, arriving in Orlando at 5:30 PM.

April comes around and there is a change in plans. My brother and one of my sisters opts out. I’ll miss them coming along, but with these tough times right now (my brother and brother-in-law are both in the housing industry) I was proud of them for making the right decision.

So why this trip? There are a couple of reasons. Maria just completed her Masters in Teaching degree and we are celebrating getting Mommy back! :cool1: She’s been in school for 2½ years, mostly on Saturdays. She’s given up 2 years of soccer, baseball and softball for a chance to make a better life for our kids and all the children she will have the pleasure to teach.

The other reason is sort of personal. I see the kids growing up so fast and I want to make sure that we get to have a big blowout vacation before their attention shifts to teenage concerns. We’re a very close family and Dad really wants to enjoy these remaining “kid” years you know?

We’re actually spending 2 weeks in Florida but this trip report will focus on the Disney side. If you want to know about the 2nd week (rental house, Universal, the Atlantic Ocean and KSC) let me know.

I’ll discuss the plan in the next post…

[shhbam]

As I mentioned in the 1st installment, I am a big planner. Maria kids me all the time about all of the charts and presentations I put together.

I’ve developed a very simple Excel chart that tracks our Disney Dining Plan credits. It lists our day’s plans, including ADRs, times and confirmation numbers. If you would like a copy I’d be happy to send it to you.

Our Disney Dining choice is the Basic plan. We’ll get 1 Counter Service, 1 Table Service and 1 snack per person per day. We used this during our last visit and it was a remarkable value. We found some really great restaurants and will be returning to them on this trip. We’re also going to try out some new ones.

This is the tentative plan:

Day 1: Travel day and checking out POFQ, Boardwalk and Downtown Disney. Dinner at either Bongo’s Cuban Café or Earl of Sandwich.

Day 2: Kids choice for parks, Dinner at Whispering Canyon. We had such a great time at the Wilderness Lodge last time, but we didn’t eat at Whispering Canyon!! We’re making up for that this time.:thumbsup2

Day 3: Magic Kingdom. Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern.

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon then Epcot. Dinner at Biergarten.

Day 5: Animal Kingdom. Dinner at Boma.

Day 6: Blizzard Beach then Hollywood Studios. Dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café.

Day 7: Magic Kingdom / Animal Kingdom. Grand Gathering Safari

Day 8: Epcot. Dinner at Le Cellier.

Day 9: Hollywood Studios / Move out day. Dinner at Ohana.


Planning for just 4 of us is tough. Planning for more than that is crazy! I’ve had Disney Dining on speed dial for the last 3 months, adding and deleting people to our existing reservations. I have even kept an extra reservation just in case the Grand Gathering falls through. Emily has a severe peanut allergy that we have made Disney aware of. They have been exceptional handling her situation the last time we were in WDW and we know they’ll be just as good this time around.

We’ve kept a countdown calendar and the kids were so excited with each significant date. I’m tying up all the loose ends at work and making sure we all have enough sunscreen, clothes and comfortable shoes. The kids got some new Crocs and Maria and I have Teva sandals.

The heat and humidity is something that we are just not used to here in SW Washington / Portland area. It has been 90 degrees or so here but low humidity. I’ve been warning everyone about it too but they’ll understand when we get there. I’m also concerned about the crowds during the summer season. These factors did play a part in selecting the date but ultimately this is the best time for us to go so we’ll manage the heat and the crowds as best we can. The longer park hours will help.

In the next report I’ll tell you how Day 1 – Travel day goes. Stay tuned!!

[myladyisatramp]

You have got my attention. Can't wait

[shhbam]

Up at 4 AM, oh come on..I was up already, you know..”too excited to sleep”. Our very cool neighbors took us to the airport at 5 (they both work very early and the airport is on the way.)

We had a small delay getting out of Portland, but in no time we were winging our way to Cincinnati or is it Western Kentucky? Even with our delay we still made it to Orlando on time, love those tailwinds!

We waited a bit for Magical Express, but not too long. We had folks on our bus going to Old Key West, Saratoga Springs as well as Port Orleans Riverside, but how awesome for us the first stop would be Port Orleans French Quarter.

When we arrived, we had to see the pool. The pictures we had seen of “Scales” had the kids so excited to ride the slide at Doubloon Lagoon. Only feet I said! We have to have some dinner. We ate at Sassagoula Float Works and Food Factory. I had the Quesadilla, Maria had the Pot Roast and Emily and Alex had the Burger combos. We weren’t yet on the dining plan so we paid for this one out of pocket. While we were eating the kids got to design their own cookie.

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What to do for tonight? We were just going to take it easy, just go for a swim and bed early to get ready for attacking the parks on Saturday. Unfortunately, someone got sick in the pool and the lifeguards closed it while a cleaning took place. Well, what can we do instead? It just happened to be Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. I went to the concierge at the hotel to see if I could add a day to our Magic Your Way pass and would the cost justify the trip. When I was told it would be a whopping $7.46 to spend the evening and early morning at MK, well let me think about it…..done!:banana:

The first ride for us was to go over to Space Mountain. Alex and I rode it the last time we were here and he was only 6 years old. I think he thought the ride was Astro Orbiter, but there was no changing his mind. So this was to be a sentimental trip. Emily is not much for any ride other than Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, but I was able to get her to go with us. Maria also made the trip even though she also is not a roller coaster fan.

We got to see Wishes from Toontown. This was a very cool location to see as the castle fireworks were on our left side and the big effect rockets were on our right side.

We all rode It’s a Small World and then the kids rode it again. Once per trip is good enough for me on that one!

Next we moved on to Haunted Mansion. In what is a very common event for us, we had to convince Emily to ride. The daring side of her definitely comes from Maria!

Since it was getting later, we made our way back to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. The crowds were really thinning out so we rode Buzz two more times with hardly a wait.

We shut it down just before closing, heading to the bus for the ride back to POFQ. Lights out at 2:30. Yikes, that is late!

A quick side note: Everyone has said that Crocs are the way to go here, so we got Maria and the kids each a pair. Well, they all had blisters by the end of the night. I’m sure the humidity had something to do with that. My Teva sandals also were wearing on me and I’ve had them for years with no problem. We do not have humidity in Vancouver!! A quick trip to the First Aid station to get some Band-Aids remedied the blisters.

Coming up next: Kid’s Choice Day and Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe

[earthfaries]

Hi! I'm subbing ~ now I'm going back to read :)

[shhbam]

Hi myladyisatramp, thanks for reading!

Hello earthfaries! I hope you're caught up now because the next post is coming in just minutes...!

[shhbam]

Well, after such a long night we decided to sleep in. We got up at 10:30 and decided to head over to Blizzard Beach for some fun in the water. I read the sign as the bus pulled in to BB. It read “Closed due to capacity”! :eek: I thought, oh boy, this isn’t going to be much fun.

I found out that they don’t have towels for you to just use, you need to rent them?! :confused3 For a buck you can rent a very nice towel. I also rented a small locker to store the rented towels as well as some of our other stuff and found that I should have rented the large locker. Two bucks more and we’ve got a locker that fits!

We wanted to join all of the lazy people in the lazy river. (Those of you familiar with the Top 7 Attractions at WDW might recognize some of the phrases I’ll be using along the way. Stacy had a big influence on Emily!)

After the lazy river we made our way over to the Ski Patrol area. The kids scooted across the icebergs. Alex made it all the way and Emily, not so much. She made it to the second one before she fell in.

Alex wanted to ride the zipline and I had a feeling we might run into some difficulties here. Alex is good in the water, but does panic sometimes when he can’t touch the bottom. So, sure enough after he hit the water, he panicked! I was all ready to jump in, but the lifeguard, who has probably seen this a hundred times, recognized the situation immediately. With a blow of the whistle and a quick leap from her tower she was on him in a nanosecond. I have to commend Disney for training their lifeguards so well. They didn’t chastise either him or me, they suggested that he try the slide right next to the zipline first just to get used to the depth and then give it another try. He did the slide many times, but was really embarrassed about having to be saved and did not ride the zipline again.

As a family we all rode Teamboat Springs. We had such a blast doing this that we ran all they way back up Mt. Crushmore to do it again.

We had lunch at Lottawatta Lodge and decided that we’d leave early as we could see a storm moving in. It was getting dark in a hurry. Our bus driver relayed to us almost as soon as we left the park that Disney was closing the water parks due to the lightening and that all free buses should report to BB and Typhoon Lagoon.

Instead of going back to the hotel, we decided to go to the Wilderness Lodge a bit early. We stayed here last time and even though we are from the Northwest, we just love this place. POFQ is nice, but I have to confess, it’s no Wilderness Lodge.

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We had an ADR at Whispering Canyon, but we were an hour early. I inquired if they might be able to squeeze us in, it was only 5:30 and it didn’t look like the dinner crowd had arrived yet. As Disney seems to do every time, they took care of us and got us in. We were seated at the very back of the restaurant, close to Artist Point, so we were away from where all the fun happens. We weren’t left out of the fun completely however. Emily loves ketchup on everything and she wanted to ask the server for some but I knew what would happen if she asked. I quietly mentioned to her to not ask so loud for ketchup. What I didn’t know was that our server was right behind me when I kind of shushed Emily. Our server didn’t say a word but motioned for the kids to follow her into the main dining room. Maria looked at me like “what’s going on?” Next thing we hear both Emily and Alex yelling “WE NEED KETCHUP!!” The kids come back to our table followed by a number of other kids toting ketchup bottles. They fill every available inch of our table with the stuff. Thankfully someone who probably wasn’t paying attention asked for ketchup shortly afterword.

Maria, Emily and I ordered the skillet. Yikes! What a load of food, but wow, it was really good.

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After dinner we took a bus to Downtown Disney to do some shopping. The parks were crowded, but DTD was crazy crowded! It was almost elbow to elbow from the bus drop-off through the McDonalds area.

Once we bought some pins and let Alex drool in the Lego store, we took the boat back to POFQ and hit the sack at 11:00.

:teacher: Tip: I just read a great tip in a magazine. If you use Photopass as much as we did, take a picture of the code on the back of your card. If you lose the card, you can use the photo to get the number and then give it to one of the Photopass locations and they can place all of your photos on another card.

Next up: Disney’s Hollywood Studios and then Magic Kingdom for dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern.

[reyasmommy]

popcorn:: Great TR, can't wait to read more! popcorn::

[OhMari]

I'm a little confused-did anyone else go to WDW with you. I know you said your sister and brother cancelled.

Also, how did you get in the water park if it was at capacity? Do they still let in people that are staying at resorts?

[shhbam]

popcorn:: Great TR, can't wait to read more! popcorn::

Thanks. I'll get the next bit up here this afternoon.

I'm a little confused-did anyone else go to WDW with you. I know you said your sister and brother cancelled.

Also, how did you get in the water park if it was at capacity? Do they still let in people that are staying at resorts?

Hi OhMari. I guess they let folks staying at the resort in, but maybe people coming in cars or other buses are turned away.

My Mom and Step Dad and one of my sisters and her family joined us after 5 days on our own.

[shhbam]

We were up earlier today and the first thing we had to do was to go for a swim. The kids were also dying to go down the slide on Scales.

After the swim we headed over to the Studios. I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you how hot it was, but it really was! We arrived just in time to see the High School Musical parade. Emily was given a job by one of the cast members. She was to hold the rope that kept everyone back while the parade made its way into the area where the main show was to be performed. It was a great show and I’m still really impressed by the effort given by the performers in the heat.

We had lunch over at Toy Story Pizza Planet and it was quite good. After lunch we stopped by to see Muppets 3D. We all love this show.

I was so excited to see Lights, Motors, Action this time around. It was an awesome show, make sure you fit this in.

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That’s hot!

Next we’re off to Star Tours. I’ve always liked this ride and now my son is a Star Wars geek. After Star Wars we take a look at the wait for Toy Story Midway Mania. Yikes, it’s 75 minutes and the Fastpass return time is during our dinner time. Oh well, we’ll have to come back another day to try this one.

I have heard tales of Brazillian tour groups, but have never experienced them before. Well, that all changed today. Wow, during our trip we saw lots of tour groups with around 100 kids in each. It got to the point that I wondered if there was any kids left in Brazil!

It was getting close to the time we needed to get over to Magic Kingdom for our dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. We still wanted to ride Tower of Terror but do we have time? Will we convince Emily? The answer to both is YES! She made it and actually really liked it.

We are now running late for dinner so we take the 1st bus available to us to switch over to the Magic Kingdom. It happened to be the Contemporary. We run upstairs to catch the monorail, but it’s running backward towards the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian! We ride it to the Ticketing and Transportation Center and grab the Express Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Yes, walking would have been faster! We were able to ride with the Monorail pilot and the kids got co-drivers licenses.

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We made it to the Liberty Tree Tavern just in time and found the place crowded. I really didn’t know what to expect with this place. Actually, while I was contemplating our reservations I almost cancelled this one as it just didn’t seem like a good fit for us. Boy, was I wrong! This place was so good. I really have to give thanks to timandlesley from this Trip Report board for convincing me to keep this ressie.

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After a very filling dinner Emily and I rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority while Alex and Maria did some window shopping.

We all did the Swiss Family Treehouse and it was nice looking out into the park at twilight. We also made sure to take a Jungle Cruise in the dark. Those Hippos really come out of nowhere when it’s dark!

I wanted to get a good spot for Wishes so we made our way to the bridge between the Crystal Palace and Adventureland. This was a good place to watch from. This show is just phenomenal. I love taking photos of all the fireworks and castle effects even though most of them don’t turn out, but every once and while I’ll get a keeper.

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I really wanted to video the finale and get everyone’s reaction on video, but of course my memory card filled up just ahead of the finale. I just love the way everyone all oohs and ahhs in sync and then applauds and yells after the last blast.

We’ve been teasing Alex about his crush on Selena Gomez and Emily suggested that when they get married that Alex and Selena would get the Bride and Groom ears!

We thought it was time to go, but it just happened to be EMH at the Magic Kingdom again! In all of my planning how could I have missed this?!.

We made the rounds..Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz and also the Magic Carpets. We were tiring out quickly though. Emily was falling asleep in the queue for Tiki Room.

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Speaking of the Tiki Room, I really miss the old managers! The new management just took over and, I don’t know how they got away with it, really cut back one of my favorite Disney songs …”In the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room.”

Since it was so late we took the bus back to POFQ and went to bed.

Coming up next: Epcot and Biergarten

[Disneyvirg]

Really enjoying your trip report. Keep it coming, please! :)

[Honeymooner04]

Really enjoying your trip report!

[punkin1763]

Sounds like fun! I'm enjoying your trip report.

[shhbam]

Really enjoying your trip report. Keep it coming, please! :)

Really enjoying your trip report!

Sounds like fun! I'm enjoying your trip report.

Thanks to you all. I'm happy to share our trip with you.

The next bit will be up shortly.

~Rob

[shhbam]

Today we’re off to Epcot. We waited for almost 30 minutes for an Epcot bus at the POFQ bus station. We watched 3 Animal Kingdom / Blizzard Beach busses come through.

Just like the last time we were here it was so hot at Epcot, it must be all of the pavement?!

We didn’t know what to go for but we did know we needed to get some food first. We did check the status board and ran over to get a FastPass for Mission Space.

While we waited for our time at MS we dined at the Electric Umbrella. After lunch Alex and I did the Green side. I thought it would be better for Alex to start with Green. He loved it!

After MS we walked over to Club Cool for a couple of quick refreshments. I also planned to have Maria and the kids try Beverly. Of course I suggested that it will really cool you off if you drink the entire cup without stopping!! As expected, their faces indicated how much they liked the Beverly. Not so much. We liked the Vitablend from Japan and the Apple from Mexico. Emily came up with a great plan to introduce the family to Beverly when they arrive.

We really wanted to ride Soarin’ so we took a walk over there. At 2:00 the FPs were gone for Soarin. :eek:. Bummer.

We decided to go to the Seas with Nemo and then Turtle Talk with Crush. Alex asked Crush how he likes swimming in the EAC.

We also took a walk through the aquarium. Emily found a Hidden Mickey in the dolphin tank.

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We went back to Soarin’ to find out how long the standby line was. We said no thanks when we saw it was at 90 minutes.

We went to go on Living with the Land because we had seen the pictures of pumpkins being turned into Mickey Ear pumpkins. As we were leaving the start of the ride, a lady in front of us on the boat got a phone call and was on her cell phone the whole ride. Didn’t even have a consideration for the rest of the boat. We couldn’t even hear the narration over her dialogue.:mad:

As we were leaving LWTL we heard thunder outside. We started off towards the World Showcase. Across the lagoon we could see that a storm was rapidly approaching. You could barely see France! We thought we’d be able to over to Mexico before we got wet, but the storm was moving too fast. We got to one of the gift stores and hid while the storm blew through. The store got packed with others seeking shelter. The storm really brewed itself into a mini hurricane. The plants outside the store were all blown over and people were scattering everywhere. I’ve included a small video to show you the intensity. It’s funny how the sun is shining bright throughout!

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During a lull in the storm, we got out in time to get to Mexico pavilion and ride with the 3 Cabelleros. We also were able to say hi to Donald Duck over there.

We continued our trip around the lake: Over to China to see the acrobats, a quick stop in Germany and Italy too. We stopped in at the American Adventure to see all of the American relics from the Henry Ford collection. We even stopped off to hear a Billy Joel tribute band, their name was 52nd St. I’m a huge Billy Joel fan.

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Dinner at Biergarten was up next. I really didn’t expect much from a buffet, but as I’ve come to find out many times eating at Disney, the food was terrific. They seat you with other groups at the same table, just the way it’s done in Germany at the real biergartens (I'm very familiar with biergartens. I was lucky enough to get to spend 5 weeks in Stuttgart, Germany for work)

We met some real nice folks from Ontario, Canada. After our dinner the band struck up and the kids were invited down to the dance floor.

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We finished dinner just as Illuminations was going to start. We wanted to make a run to Soarin’ while Illuminations was going. Well, I messed up here too. The World Showcase and Future World have different closing times and I had them backward. So, no Soarin’ tonight, but we did get to the bus station before the masses.

We did have a crowded bus back but it was a quick ride.

I called to check in with family back home to see how excited everyone was. My 4 year old niece was so excited. She has a planned breakfast with the princesses in the castle when they arrive. Emily and Alex were very happy to have other kids with them to share the magic.

Next up: Animal Kingdom and probably our favorite restaurant..Boma.

Please feel free to ask me any questions that you might have. Plus it's nice from you all.

[letstalkboutdisney]

Great trip report. We leave in 4 days. We are going to boma, so I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to day about it.

[LuvindisCruiser]

:goodvibes Subscribing !:goodvibes
I love to read trip reports that have kids around the same
age as mine (they are 8 yrs. old) Just to get some good ideas
for our next trip !!!:thumbsup2
Thanks for the info. about the crocs. We have worn them
@ disneyland, and thought they were great.
But, I will keep in mind the humidity at WDW while wearing crocs.
:) Can't wait for the next update !:)

[shhbam]

Great trip report. We leave in 4 days. We are going to boma, so I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to day about it.

Thank you. You're going to like the next installment. My son Alex takes you through a narrated trip through the Boma buffet!! I've been working on slimming the video down. I'll hopefully have it up this afternoon.

:goodvibes Subscribing !:goodvibes
I love to read trip reports that have kids around the same
age as mine (they are 8 yrs. old) Just to get some good ideas
for our next trip !!!:thumbsup2
Thanks for the info. about the crocs. We have worn them
@ disneyland, and thought they were great.
But, I will keep in mind the humidity at WDW while wearing crocs.
:) Can't wait for the next update !:)

Hi LuvindisCruiser, glad you stopped by.
I hope you find some good ideas in the report.
Once the kids had the Band-Aids, they really had no more problems with the Crocs. Maria just wore a pair of good wicking socks with hers and she was good too.

[shhbam]

We were up early today and we wanted to get an earlier start. We knew we’d have a better chance of riding Expedition Everest with a little wait.

I thought AK was opening at 8 this morning but MK had the EMH. We got there at a little after 9 and they had just opened. We took off to Asia and EE. Maria and Emily decided not to ride this morning. Right, they decided! So it was only Alex and me. The standby line was at 10 minutes but I think we made it on in less time than that. We were in the last row for our first ride. Wow, we totally loved this ride. It is so well done and really fun.

We then rode again with a 25 minute wait and grabbed FPs for later. This time we asked for the front. It is even better from the front! Great view from the spot with the broken track.

Throughout the morning I had noticed a smell. With all the heat and humidity in Florida there were a number of people who really didn’t smell the best, you know?! Except now the smell seemed to be wherever I was. It turns out that the shirt I was wearing somehow made its way out of the dirty pile of laundry into what I was packing for our trip. It is one of my workout shirts and the bright sun really brought out its aroma. I was totally embarrassed. After our 2nd ride on EE I had to get rid of it. I didn’t care what kind of shirts were available in the store, I was buying one to replace the smelly shirt I was wearing. I got a nice shirt and the humiliation was over!

Alex got himself a “I conquered Everest” shirt. He was so proud to have tackled EE.

One of the best quotes of the trip came when I asked Alex what he wanted for lunch and he said “I eat adventure for lunch”

We had lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ and as we ate we watched a cool thunderstorm blow through AK. With lightening in the area we could see that they stopped people from riding EE. We saw an unmanned train climbing the peak. The color of the sky contrasted well with the Mt. Everest.

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We caught Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade and then took off to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We are really conscious about how we can reduce waste and conserve so this was a very cool place for us. We even got to see and hear the talking trash can while at Conservation Station. The kids and parents were having a great time interacting with the trash can.

We took a walk on the Pangini Trail. Apparently there was a warning given to all of us, but I totally missed it. While on the trail someone said “those gorillas are so cool I really want to just wave to him.” Well not knowing why they wouldn’t, I did. I waved to a Gorilla. Maria quickly got on me and told me to stop. I missed the part that we are not supposed to wave as it is a sign of challenge! Everyone couldn’t believe I waved! Again, I was embarrassed.

Because it was so hot today we had some ice cream trouble. As soon as Alex opened his Mickey bar bag and pulled out the bar, whoops! The ice cream separated from the stick and fell to the ground. Alex was so disheartened but the cast member who sold us the ice cream quickly replaced it. We may not have run into the Dream Squad and got a Dream Fastpass or Dream Ears, but we did have some Magic on this trip. Disney’s cast members are simply the best.

Maria, Alex and I rode Dinosaur and enjoyed it. Alex and I waited in a very long line to ride Primeval Whirl. This one is not one of my favorites. It’s very jerky and really throws you around. While we rode PW Emily and Maria were on Triceratops Spin. Emily even had time to go to the area where you can uncover dinosaur bones in the sand.

We were able to walk in to Finding Nemo the musical just as it was about to start. We had seen a huge line for it earlier in the day and we really wanted to see this, but didn’t want to stand in line. I’m glad we saw the show. It was really well done and the performers are such great singers.

We went to have our pictures taken with Pooh and the gang. Eeyore is Maria’s most favorite character of all. It was so cool that we were the last family for the session. After taking pictures with each, the characters had to go for a break. Eeyore spent extra time with Maria, even getting on his knees, proposing like!

Maria even got to escort Tigger back up the walk! She was so happy!

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5379.jpg
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The foot blisters were really bugging us all today so a quick trip to first aid for a few Band-Aids took care of that.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5506.jpg

We watched It’s Tough to be a Bug. We all really like this one..except Emily, too creepy she says. After this we decided to go catch a bus for our dinner at Boma.

The food at Boma is absolutely phenomenal. The soups cannot be missed. Take little bits of each because if you miss one of them, you’ll be sorry. I can’t believe the tastes. The African spices and creative dishes are so impressive. This is by far our favorite place to eat at WDW.

The chef came out to take Emily and me through the buffet line to tell us what she can and can’t eat. He said that she’ll have to stay away from all of the desserts because of cross-contamination concerns. He told her he would make her a special dessert. He brought out a cookie that states that it is peanut-free. We couldn’t believe it! He surrounded the cookie with vanilla ice cream that they had to call room service for! She was in heaven! As we were leaving, our waiter brought Emily a to-go bag with some more cookies in it!!! If you are interested, the name of the company that makes the cookies is Divvies.

Alex put together a narration of the entire buffet. I’ll include links to his videos below. They were broken up into smaller pieces.

Part 1:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Updated_Alex_Boma_1.flv
Part 2:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Updated_Alex_Boma_2.flv
Part 3:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Alex_Boma_3.flv
Part 4:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Alex_Boma_4.flv
Part 5:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Updated_Alex_Boma_5.flv
Part 6:http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/?action=view&current=Updated_Alex_Boma_6.flv
We did eat too much and Maria was feeling sick on the way home. It was because we stuffed ourselves!

On they way back our little boy fell asleep on the bus. He was out cold by the time we reached POFQ.

The family is coming tomorrow. Our plan is to meet them at POFQ and then all have dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

I’ll have that update posted tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

[2xcited2sleep]

A trip with 3 years of planning behind it?!?! Wow... you must have the patience of a saint! :worship: :worship: :worship: Obviously that planning is paying off as your TR is terrific so far. Coupla random thoughts:

Can't believe it was only ~$7.50 to add a day onto your tickets! :thumbsup2

Emily sleeping in the queue for Tiki Room is priceless :goodvibes

That storm does look ferocious!

Alex eats adventure for lunch -- too cute!

You got quite a keeper of a photo of the fireworks. Any tips?

Looking forward to more!! popcorn::

[sherabby]

We were at POFQ with you from the 16th to the 19th (we arrived on the 14th). We wish we were back again!

[letstalkboutdisney]

[QUOTE=shhbam;26824452]Thank you. You're going to like the next installment. My son Alex takes you through a narrated trip through the Boma buffet!! I've been working on slimming the video down. I'll hopefully have it up this afternoon.



I did love the video. What a great idea to tape the buffet line. Can't wait to hear more!

[earthfaries]

You guys are having a great time ~ you had such long busy days filled with fun:goodvibes We :lovestruc Boma ~ it's our favorite place to eat in the World!

Great videos ~ the storm at Epcot was amazing, the water was sloshing around, it did look like a little hurricane!!!

Can't wait for more ~ and I WOULD LOVE to hear about your non-Disney part of vacation. We're doing a lot of non disney next month and need good ideas, and the other stuff is really fun and great:goodvibes

[shhbam]

A trip with 3 years of planning behind it?!?! Wow... you must have the patience of a saint! :worship: :worship: :worship: Obviously that planning is paying off as your TR is terrific so far. Coupla random thoughts:

Can't believe it was only ~$7.50 to add a day onto your tickets! :thumbsup2

Emily sleeping in the queue for Tiki Room is priceless :goodvibes

That storm does look ferocious!

Alex eats adventure for lunch -- too cute!

You got quite a keeper of a photo of the fireworks. Any tips?

Looking forward to more!! popcorn::

Thanks! Not a saint, but patient. Until 6 months before and then I was a major clock watcher!

It was only ~7.5 because we had already paid for the 8 day PH. Once you get over a threshold, it only costs that little bit to go more!

The only tip I have for those night shots..Use a steady surface. I used Maria's head! It's also great to have a digital camera because you can experiment and take as many as you need to get the right one. We took probably more than 100 photos per day. I had to bring the laptop to download them all each night. It made for a fun nightly routine. I'd put them into a slideshow we could all watch before going to sleep.

The next part will be up sometime on Tuesday, probably around 8:00 PM Pacific time.

We were at POFQ with you from the 16th to the 19th (we arrived on the 14th). We wish we were back again!

I did see that there was a DIS'r at POFQ, they had bookmarks on their door for kids to take. We never got around to actually going over to pick one up though.

Have you been to POFQ before? Have you stayed anywhere else? I'd like to hear what Pop Century is like. I'd like to know about the Poly too.

[QUOTE=shhbam;26824452]Thank you. You're going to like the next installment. My son Alex takes you through a narrated trip through the Boma buffet!! I've been working on slimming the video down. I'll hopefully have it up this afternoon.



I did love the video. What a great idea to tape the buffet line. Can't wait to hear more!

Alex is a big ham and had a blast doing it. I know you are going to love Boma. Make sure you try all of the soups, but the Butternut Squash soup is amazing.

You guys are having a great time ~ you had such long busy days filled with fun:goodvibes We :lovestruc Boma ~ it's our favorite place to eat in the World!

Great videos ~ the storm at Epcot was amazing, the water was sloshing around, it did look like a little hurricane!!!

Can't wait for more ~ and I WOULD LOVE to hear about your non-Disney part of vacation. We're doing a lot of non disney next month and need good ideas, and the other stuff is really fun and great:goodvibes



Yeah, Boma is just awesome. It's really so different than anything you can eat at WDW. Man I miss those soups!

It was really amazing to see that minicane. I have another video that shows the rain coming not down, but sideways!

If it's ok to post stuff about the other parks around Orlando than I'll post the info here. I can always PM you if not. I can give you a hint though..Universal has nothing..absolutely nothing on Disney. KSC is a favorite of mine as my background is in Aerospace Engineering. We had a blast when we took a non-park day at Cocoa Beach.

[Me&3]

I'm in popcorn::

[heaven2dc]

Hello Neighbor! (I'm from Portland but now live in Virginia)

Great report so far - and awesome pics! Loved the video of the storm at Epcot - how scary watching the trees bend :scared1: I treated my family to a grand gathering back in 1997 as a huge thank you - I was living then in West Virginia and I flew out 2 of my oldest son's friends and a sister-in-law to join me, my oldest 3 kids and my other DBIL, DSIL and 2 kids for 10 days. It was wonderful having everyone together but of course, as families are, there were some rough spots lol. (My late DH, myself & 5 kids originally drove across country in 1994 to go to WDW but at the motel in Kissimmee my DH suffered a heart attack & died so his family brought me up to WV to bury him there & we stayed there til 2002 where we now live in VA). Anyway, sorry for the long saga, here I am today having gone back only once this January w/DBFF and again with her in December 2008. My youngest two still haven't gone but want to soon so that will be my plan for March 2009!

Can't wait to read all about when your family arrives! Should be tons of fun! :grouphug:

[Me&3]

Hello Neighbor! (I'm from Portland but now live in Virginia)

Great report so far - and awesome pics! Loved the video of the storm at Epcot - how scary watching the trees bend :scared1: I treated my family to a grand gathering back in 1997 as a huge thank you - I was living then in West Virginia and I flew out 2 of my oldest son's friends and a sister-in-law to join me, my oldest 3 kids and my other DBIL, DSIL and 2 kids for 10 days. It was wonderful having everyone together but of course, as families are, there were some rough spots lol. (My late DH, myself & 5 kids originally drove across country in 1994 to go to WDW but at the motel in Kissimmee my DH suffered a heart attack & died so his family brought me up to WV to bury him there & we stayed there til 2002 where we now live in VA). Anyway, sorry for the long saga, here I am today having gone back only once this January w/DBFF and again with her in December 2008. My youngest two still haven't gone but want to soon so that will be my plan for March 2009!

Can't wait to read all about when your family arrives! Should be tons of fun! :grouphug:

I'm so sorry :sad1: :flower3: :grouphug:

[LuvindisCruiser]

I am considering a Universal day just for the roller coasters,
my children will be ten when we go, what do you think?:confused3
And, we want to do a beach day, also !!:)
So, how long of a drive to the beach, and what else is in the
area once your are there ? For maybe a dinner after our beach day ?
We have driven to Cape Canaveral, is the beach you went to
close to that area ?:goodvibes

[shhbam]

I'm in popcorn::
Hi Me&3, good to have you here.:wave2:

Hello Neighbor! (I'm from Portland but now live in Virginia)

Great report so far - and awesome pics! Loved the video of the storm at Epcot - how scary watching the trees bend :scared1: I treated my family to a grand gathering back in 1997 as a huge thank you - I was living then in West Virginia and I flew out 2 of my oldest son's friends and a sister-in-law to join me, my oldest 3 kids and my other DBIL, DSIL and 2 kids for 10 days. It was wonderful having everyone together but of course, as families are, there were some rough spots lol. (My late DH, myself & 5 kids originally drove across country in 1994 to go to WDW but at the motel in Kissimmee my DH suffered a heart attack & died so his family brought me up to WV to bury him there & we stayed there til 2002 where we now live in VA). Anyway, sorry for the long saga, here I am today having gone back only once this January w/DBFF and again with her in December 2008. My youngest two still haven't gone but want to soon so that will be my plan for March 2009!

Can't wait to read all about when your family arrives! Should be tons of fun! :grouphug:
Hello to you too heaven2dc. I hope you have a great time in December. We're thinking that the next time we go it'll be in late November - Early December.
Good luck in March too!:tink:

I am considering a Universal day just for the roller coasters,
my children will be ten when we go, what do you think?:confused3
And, we want to do a beach day, also !!:)
So, how long of a drive to the beach, and what else is in the
area once your are there ? For maybe a dinner after our beach day ?
We have driven to Cape Canaveral, is the beach you went to
close to that area ?:goodvibes

Hello again LuvindisCruiser. The only coasters I know of at US/IOA are Hulk, Dueling Dragons and Dr. Suesses. The ride height for Hulk is 54 inches. My kids wouldn't do Hulk if they met the height! Too scary. If you want coasters, the place to go is Busch Gardens in Tampa.:thumbsup2 We went to Cocoa Beach and it was only 1 hour away. Busch Gardens is also about 80 miles away and just over an hour. :drive: We didn't stay in Cocoa Beach for dinner, but we did buy out a beach supply store!

[shhbam]

We started the day at Hollywood Studios to get a FP for Toy Story. As you know this ride is very new and is still a remarkable draw, especially with Brazil tour groups. We got them and were able to ride in a manageable time. We were also able to ride Tower of Terror.

We really didn’t stay too long because we wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon. We left DHS at 11:30 and rode a bus going to the Caribbean Beach resort and then on to Typhoon Lagoon.

We got over to TL around 12:10 or so and decided to go to Crush n’ Gusher first. This was a very fun ride! We really had a good time. Emily decided to sit it out – it looked too much like a roller coaster! Alex, Maria and I all rode in a 3 person raft.

We took a couple of laps around the lazy river. The water effects were nowhere near as cold as the waterfalls at Blizzard Beach. And that is a good thing! We got out and decided lunch was in order. We had cheeseburgers at Leaning Palms and as part of the Dining Plan we ordered ice cream but asked them to hold it for later. After lunch I went back to pick it up. Emily and I got Itzakadoozies, Maria the Mickey Sandwich and Alex got the Crunch Bar. As soon as Alex opened his up it was a puddle of chocolate and ice cream. Not even close to being frozen! I brought it back to the counter and asked for a replacement. It was very busy and it took awhile to get the new bar. When I did, the kid behind the counter handed me the bar and it was actually bending as he handed it to me! Well, I admit I got a litty ugly. I was ticked off that after waiting again in line that the kid actually had the guts to hand me an obviously melted ice cream bar. I made a comment to other people in line indicating that if they were ordering ice cream to remember to also ask for a straw. I don’t usually complain, but this was just a bit rediculous. My griping caught the attention of one of the cast members running a cash register. He stopped what he was doing and came over to the counter and basically told the kid to go and get another one and make sure that it is not melted. He also told him to make sure to close the freezer door. Well it turns out that all of the Crunch Bars were melted. Alex chose the Mickey Ears instead and we were on our way.

We walked around the park to Keelhaul and Mayday Falls and went up and down on those a couple times. We really wanted to do Gang Plank Falls (the family ride) but it was packed. We could see that a storm was rapidly approaching. It started raining pretty hard but no lightening yet so everything continued as normal and we actually had a blast getting dumped on while waiting in line! As we got to the top of Keehaul Falls, the lightening started. Only 2 bolts and the announcement came over the PA..”Due to the approaching storm, all water attractions are closed until further notice”. The lifegaurds packed it up right away and advised everyone to not just leave, but to seek shelter. We waited around for awhile, but decided to go back to the hotel and swim and then wait for my mom and step-dad to arrive.

We got back to POFQ in time for a quick swim and slide for the kids, but before we could get in, it too was closed due to lightening warnings.

Now what?! We went back to our room. I took the time to write some notes, do some accounting and everyone else took naps.

We ended up waiting longer as Mom and Gregg were delayed 3 hours in Denver!!

My sister was arriving shorty but we had ressies for 6 of us at the 50’s Prime Time Café at 9:00 PM and now we were running late. Mom and Gregg arrived and wanted to change and just relax for a second before rushing out. I told them that they didn’t have time for that!! This was the most challenging part of vacationing with extended family. I love them dearly but they don’t share my enthusiasm for arriving to reservations on time. This would be a trend for the 3 dinners that we had scheduled together.

Alex and I left to go secure our time and Emily, Maria, Mom and Gregg would follow as quickly as they could. We got to the restaurant exactly at 9:00. It was very busy and I told them to not rush for us but we were still seated at about 9:15. I called Maria to find out where they were and they weren’t too far behind, just arriving at the park. Our “Aunt” was needing to move on so she kept our “cousins” at the other tables entertained while we waited for them. I felt bad for her and was embarrased about interrupting her presentation. The good part is she really let them have it when they finally arrived! She told them that they would be lucky to get dessert tonight!

I had to try the pot roast because I’ve read that so many people loved it. It was very good. I think everyone liked their meals too. Our “Aunt” was so awesome. She did such a great job and we all had lots of fun. I was excited to have the kids look for their dessert through the View Finders, but apparently they don’t do it that way anymore. I asked and was told that too many of the View Finders “walk away”.

After dinner we met up with my sister (Jennie), her husband (Jerry) and their 2 kids, (my nieces Kaitie, age 14 and Kassidy, age 4.) We wanted to go over to TOT and maybe Rock N’ Roller Coaster. The lines for both were absurd. It was EMH here tonight and that was probably the reason. I forgot to mention that earlier in the morning just before we left we snagged FPs for Toy Story Mania for tonight.

We did Star Wars as we made our way over to Pixar Place. We almost walked on to that one. We were told by other vacationers that Cast Members at the rides would take the earliest FP and apply it to everyone in your group, as long as they have FPs. Well, of course they were out of FPs at this time, but again the very cool Cast Members came through for us. We had 4 valid FPs and we had 6 of us without, but they let us all in via the FP return line! Finally we were able to experience TSM. It was so cool, a great new addition.

My Mom and Gregg left at 11:00, but we stayed until 1:00. My sister and her family had been going since very early this morning and were wiped out.

I’ll talk to you later when we discuss our Grand Gathering Safari at Animal Kingdom.

[LuvindisCruiser]

WOW, your kids lasted till 1:00 !!!!
I think my 8 yr. old son would have passed out in the
nearest stroller by 11:00 !!!!!! (even if it wasn't ours):rotfl:
How fun.
Keep 'em coming........................:goodvibes

[shhbam]

We were up earlier today and Gregg, Jerry and I met and discussed the plans for our day. Mom was pretty tired and wanted to sleep in so they would meet us later in the day.

So the 8 of us rode over to Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast at the Main St Bakery, I had the cinnamon roll (too big), Maria had the turnover and the kids had bagels with cream cheese.

Our first spot this morning was Toontown, where visited the Mouse Houses and then took pictures with them. Then we moved over to the tent for pictures with Princesses. Although the line was long, I very much recommended this for a nice peaceful, one-on-one environment between your kids and the princesses. The interaction you can get is worth the wait.

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That's my niece Kassidy. She was just enchanted by Belle.

We went over to watch the Laugh Floor and I’m so glad we did. This show is just so funny. Great improvisation by the cast members playing the monsters in the show. After each show one member from the audience (who has been picked on the whole show) is given a pin. Yup, the kids were in to the pin trading and really wanted to get their hands on that one! We did come back to the Laugh Floor a few more times, but I never got that pin.

Mom and Gregg met us around 2:00 and we went to lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. Lunch there was underwhelming, (it had to happen eventually.)

After lunch we got FPs for Philharmagic. My sister had taken her kids to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and when they got their FPs for that, they were given bonus fastpass for Philharmagic. We were all able to watch Mickey’s Phiharmagic together and we really loved it. Make sure you take the time to look away from the screen at all the kids (and some adults!) and how they are just mesmorized or how they try to grab at everything floating their way.

We got FPs for Space Mtn and the time to return was between 5:00 and 6:00. That was going to be cutting it close as our Grand Gathering event starts at 6:00.

We all rode Haunted Mansion and the kids all loved it. There have been some changes to this ride since the last time we were here and some I liked, but I think too much focus was placed on the lady who was married often, if you know what I mean.

Well, it was now 5:00. We’ve got to be at AK at 6:00, is there time for our FP to SM? I think no, so Mom, Gregg, Maria, Emily and I head to AK via Coronado Springs Resort. Wouldn’t you know it, we hit all stops at CSR! We get there on time and then we wait to see if everyone else will get there on time. They arrive late with some stress for all but we’re there finally.

For the Magical Gathering, all of the guests are broken up into groups. We were with the Antelope group. The lady who led the show surprised all of us with an exclusive pin. She cautioned us not to put it on Ebay as it is a very special pin.

Off went for our very own safari on the plains of Kilamonjaro. The safari was done without the poacher aspect, which I found to be quite nice. We got some great photos. The baby giraffe was out and about and we really had a close encounter with a larger giraffe as well as one of the white rhinos. What was nice is that we were able to take our time a bit more so than during the regular safari. I remember being told that we couldn’t stop to get a better picture, but this time our driver did stop a couple of times.

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Isn't he cute?
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This guy just popped out and surprised us. Very animatronic like! Kind of what you see on Dinosaur.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5688.jpg
This is the 1st time we've seen the cheetahs out.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5676.jpg
Can you see me?
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5679.jpg


After the safari, we made our way over to the Tusker House for a great African dinner and music performed by 3 wonderful musicians. We celebrated birthdays, anniversarys and my family asked them to publicly thank me for pulling us all together for such a special time. It’s always nice to hear good things from your family.

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http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5694.jpg
For the most part we were all in matching shirts!

The park was closed when we were done with dinner and they had folks all through the route out to guide us and answer any questions. It was really cool to be walking through AK almost all by yourselves. I noticed a couple of things that you normally just pass over in the daylight. The street lights in one area are actually ladybugs.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5712.jpg

We arrived back at POFQ and everyone went for a swim and we also started planning for tomorrow. It’s EMH at the Studios tomorrow and I wanted to get there for rope drop. It was hard to convince everyone to get up way early for that, but I was pretty successful.

Talk to you soon, Jambo everyone.

[2xcited2sleep]

Still loving your trip report! Looks like you all are having a fantastic time. And how special to get to spend it with extended family (even if they don't entirely cooperate with the ADR schedule ;). The grand gathering safari sounds like such fun. I didn't even realize they offered that. You got some great pictures!!

More, please! popcorn::

[Me&3]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.popcorn::

[shhbam]

Still loving your trip report! Looks like you all are having a fantastic time. And how special to get to spend it with extended family (even if they don't entirely cooperate with the ADR schedule ;). The grand gathering safari sounds like such fun. I didn't even realize they offered that. You got some great pictures!!

More, please! popcorn::
Thank you! We did have a great time. The Grand Gathering Safari costs 2 table service dinners for each person. It was worth it though.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.popcorn::

Here comes some more:

[shhbam]

Ok, so we got up way too early today…6:00 for EMH at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’re there for the rope drop and it was actually civilized as we made our way to TOT and RNR. I honestly believed that there would be some pushing and shoving to get there first, but it didn’t happen. Some doof did run Alex over though and then look back at him like how dare he walk under him? Jerk!

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5725.jpg
Here is my niece Kassidy - also known as Minnie
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5728.jpg
A view from above
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5730.jpg
Hollywood Blvd at opening
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5729.jpg
Mickey in the morning

We started off on Tower of Terror. Alex and I went first as Maria didn’t feel up to it and volunteered to watch Kassidy while Jen and Jerry rode. Emily..right. Not this time.

We walked right on and went back up the queue to do it again. This time Jerry and Maria switched and we even got Emily to join us. She loved it.

Emily really didn’t want to go on Rock N’ Rollercoaster, in fact she started sobbing a bit, but her cousin convinced her to try and by the time we were through the donut, she was loving it. Maria isn’t much at all for rollercoasters, but even she liked this one and said she’ll do it again.

Alex is so proud of his achievements on the scary rides this trip that he likes to trash talk now!

We had to get some food so we hit Starring Rolls. A better method is needed here. We heard complaints about the process to get something to eat. There was a bit of a rush and some of the items were not replenished in time for some folks.

While the family was eating, I went to check on Toy Story Midway Mania. At 9:30, The FP return times were already at 5:00 – 6:00 pm!!! I knew we weren’t going to be at HS so I didn’t get them.

We instead went to see the Cars characters and along the way the kids got to meet Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, but Ron was having trouble with his hair so Kim sent him away.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5754.jpg

We also stopped in to see Mike and Sulley but Mike had to step away for awhile, so we just took photos with Sulley.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5746.jpg
Kassidy was absolutely mesmorized with the characters. This is why I wanted to bring my whole family. Magic and wonder.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f212/shhbam_rob/IMG_5756.jpg

We did have to meet up with Mom and Gregg over at Epcot, so our last ride of the day at DHS was Muppets 3D. I’m glad the kids like this ride. The Muppets are some of my favorites.

While at Epcot, Mom and Gregg had pulled a couple of FPs for Soarin’. We ran over and got some too, but for a later time, but now we know the trick.

We went over to Mission Space and we thought we’d ride the Green side for Alex just to see how he liked it. He loved it. In fact, he would ride it again – on the Orange side. While Mom, Gregg, Alex and I waited in line in the Orange queue, Emily and Kaitie rode the Green side 3 times! Emily loved it! Can you believe it?!

Next up was Test Track. Standby was posted at 40 minutes, but turned out to be more like 15.

Our FPs were ready for Soarin’ so off we went. Of course everyone loved it. We had 10 in our group so they sat us in Row 1 which turned out to be the top. This is the best spot to ride, no feet hanging down in front of you! My Mom has a bad neck so she really looks for rides like these, low stress. So this was her favorite ride and she said that she would ride it all day! For the more intense rides she brought a neck brace with her.

Lunch at Sunshine Seasons. This was a great place to eat and just let the kids pick out whatever they wanted. Emily came back with Broccoli and Beef with rice and Alex had a big sandwich.

After lunch we rode Living with the Land. Gregg is a big gardener and was really excited to see the hydroponic displays. It was nice for me, because since I had just seen it a couple of days earlier, I took a little snoozie!

Maria really wanted to get out to the countries, so we did, starting on the Canada side. We were eating at Le Cellier so we skipped over Canada for now. The kids got to meet Alice in England and Mom and Gregg stopped to watch the Beatles tribute band. We moved over to France and the kids met again with Princess Aurora.

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Alex didn’t want to stick around with a Princess, he was itching to go to Japan and see what kinds of Pokemon gear they had. When he saw the display, his jaw dropped and he was lost in a world of Pokemon.

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The last time we were here, Maria found a mango drink she really loved. I wanted to surprise he with it, but I couldn’t remember where it came from. I thought it was a smoothie and I was sure it was from Morroco. Well, Morocco didn’t have Mango, but they did have other flavors. Maria had caught up to us now and I told her about the surprise, but that they were out of mango. She settled for sharing a watermelon smoothie with Emily. Almost as soon as she finished her share, a lady walked by with the very drink Maria was looking for. It was sold in Japan. Whoopsie. She was too full now and dinner was very close, so she passed.

We got to Japan and I knew of Miyuki and how she makes candy animals for kids, so I told Emily and Kaitie to wait around her station as she would be out in 10 minutes. The area filled up quick and I thought that she wouldn’t be selected, but she was! Miyuki made Emily an awesome blue monkey. I didn’t take a picture of the monkey, but I do have video of it. She was thrilled. Boy is Miyuki talented. She starts with a ball of sugar and a clip here, a clip there and we’ve got a monkey, or an octopuss or an alligator. She really is amazing. I've got some video, but it is very sizable. I'm going to have to find a way to shrink it down. You'll really love to see Miyuki create her art. For now, here is Emily's blue monkey.

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We made our way back around to Le Cellier. Their computer was broken and they were running a bit behind, but we didn’t mind. I’ve got to give you some history here. After our dinner at Boma, it was so good I thought about switching this Le Cellier dinner to Boma. I discussed what type of openings that had available. They told me that with some splitting up of our group we could be seated around 9:45. They did question me though. They almost asked “do you really know what you are doing?!” They said that Le Cellier is the model restaurant at WDW that all others are striving to be. That is a pretty big complement. I told them I was well aware of their reputation, but we enjoyed our Boma meal so much that we wanted our families to taste it too. Well after we had such a nice meal at Tusker House, I decided to keep Le Cellier. I did really want to try Le Cellier after so much hubbub.

Dinner was good, but was it knock my socks off? No. I’m glad we ate here though. I had some of the cheese soup and the Filet Mignon and risotto as my entrée. Maria chose the Filet too. If you like mushrooms, this is the dish for you. Desserts were good too.

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Tinkerbelle lights for the girls!:tink:
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Kaitie's smores
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My chocolate whiskey cake
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Emily's special creation from the chef: Mango sorbet.

After dinner we took the bus back to POFQ as we had to pack. Our last night at the resort before we move into the rental house. Boo!!

Our Day 9 will include some real cool things for us, so I hope you come back.

[LuvindisCruiser]

popcorn::

[Me&3]

More More :yay: popcorn::

[shhbam]

Up around 9 and we finished our packing. We checked out and left our bags with bell services and went for a walk to the Riverside part of Port Orleans.

I called National Car Rental over at Disney’s Car Care Center and arranged for them to come and get me and take me over to pick up the van I had reserved. I had reserved a minivan just in case we were going to partner with anyone as we moved around central Florida. When I got to the center, I was asked if I wouldn’t mind taking a different vehicle. Apparently minivans are in big demand and even though the guy didn’t admit it, I think they gave mine away to someone who paid more. I asked about why it was so much to rent a car for the week we were there. I was expecting to see a compact type car for around $15 per day. Well, that never happened. In fact, the van I reserved cost just as much as a compact car! I said no problem to switching out. I got a Dodge Journey which to me was just like a minivan anyway. To thank me for switching, he gave me a free tank of gas! That was probably $70!! :thumbsup2

After we climed into our Journey, we drove back to POFQ, parked and decided to go to Hollywood Studios for Alex to see the Block Party Bash. We really rushed, but we got there just in time.

As Maria and Emily followed us, she was handed some Toy Story Midway Mania FPs by someone who was leaving the park. Apparently it had been broken down for quite some time and people were handing away their fastpasses to people coming through the gate. As far as we know, it was down all day. This is the only ride during our time (10 days) that broke down. As we would see, other venues in the Orlando area couldn’t match that.

One of the biggest highlights of not only the day, but also the entire trip was Alex’s selection to attend Jedi Academy training. We got there early and he and Emily sat along the line and waited patiently for the show, and selection process to begin. What a bummer to see other parents pushing their kids over other kids to get on that line as the show is starting. One lady actually stepped on a small boy and didn’t say a word to him. So sad.:confused3

The Jedi Master came out and asked “Who here wants to be a Jedi?” Alex must have jumped up 10 feet in the air. “Me, I do”, he said. The Jedi Master looked at him and was impressed by his enthusiasm and invited him up on stage!! Emily didn’t get selected, but she really cheered for her brother. She is such a good kid, she really loves him. He was in heaven. When he fought Darth Vader, he was the only trainee to remember all of his moves. He was so proud when he was handed his diploma!

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We decided to go see the Indiana Jones show next. The casting director came around looking for extras for the show and stood right in front of me when she asked for the loudest people. I caught her attention and was selected to be one of the “screamers”. My wife was so proud of me. I was to be in her favorite movie! Now, she looks at me like I’ve met Harrison Ford, the reason for her liking the movie! I had a blast, but boy was I hot in the costume they put me in.

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That's me in the middle.

After Indy it was time for us to leave and meet everyone over at MK. We took a bus to the TTC and figured we would just transer to the MK Express monorail. Turns out it would have been faster to walk from TTC to MK. Alright that is exaggerting a bit, but we did see the ferry make 2 trips! We got a couple of excuses on why we would go 10 feet and stop, 10 feet and stop again.:sick:

The kids wanted to get ear hats, so we let them customize their own in the hat shop. You start with the base and attach different kinds of ears to them. You can add patches to them too. Then you can have your name stitched in.

We were going to the Laugh Floor because everyone wanted to see that one again, but the time was again too close for me, so off to ‘Ohana I went. I got over there and was able to enjoy an adult beverage after checking in. The group wasn’t too far behind me and we were all seated in no time.

The food was good, different again from our last time. We did get some raw pork though. I was excited for everyone to see Wishes from the restaurant. I had told them how ‘Ohana dims the lights and the servers all back off and just let the diners enjoy the show. For some reason, that didn’t happen. The lights dimmed, but busboys were attending to tables and getting in the way during the show. It just wasn’t as intimate as it was our last time here.

We monorailed it back to MK to switch to bus and back to POFQ to pick up our car and luggage and it was goodbye to Port Orleans French Quarter and we thought, Disneyworld. The good news is that it wasn’t goodbye quite yet.

Off to the house we went. We were staying in a nice house that was only 4 or 5 miles away from Disneyworld just off Irlo Bronson Hwy. Wow, does that road get busy! Our house was real nice and it had a private pool too.

Tomorrow we’re going to Cocoa Beach to swim and then over to Ron Jon Surf Shop.

[heaven2dc]

Wow - I love living vicariously through your trip report! Your family has had some great moments - your son being picked to fight Darth was priceless (I especially loved his video at Pokemon - you should enter that in the contest Disney is having for the most memorable Disney moment!)

Am anxious to read about your adventures outside of WDW (if you have any, that is)!

[Me&3]

MORE MORE!!!!!popcorn::

[shhbam]

Today we’re off to Cocoa Beach. My mom fixed us a big breakfast at home and then we took off to the coast.

Don’t forget to bring a roll of quarters when you go around Central Florida. The tolls to and from Cocoa Beach are .75 before the airport, .75 after the airport and then a little bit later down the road $1.25. That’s $2.75 to get to the beach! It’s a total of just around 80 miles to get from Kissimmee to Cocoa Beach and should only take a little more than an hour – if you do the speed limit! It is very easy to get there too.

We stopped off to grap some Subway for lunch and we took it to the beach. We also stopped off at a gift shop right over by Ron Jon to pick up some fun beach stuff. We got some towels (3 for 10 bucks), a football, 2 boogie boards (4 bucks each), some beach mats and a couple of other things. The total was $28 or something like that, for all kinds of stuff that we can’t take back with us – no room!

We found a metered parking lot right on the beach, another good thing I brought a roll of quarters.

For the next 3 hours we had a blast. It was the hottest day of our trip, but being in the ocean, you couldn’t tell. I wouldn’t say the water was like a bathtub, but still warm enough for me. On our side of the country, you wouldn’t even think of swimming. In 30 seconds you usually turn blue! We did gulp a lot of salt water and sand got everywhere, but it was so worth it! Even with sunscreen, waterproof sunscreen mind you, we all still burned a bit.

After the beach, we drove over to Ron Jon Surf Shop and picked up some souvenirs. We love this place, especially the kids, who are now full fledged body surfers. I had fun doing that too, but I did scuff my knees on the sand.

It was getting late when we arrived back in Kissimmee, around 8:00. We were faced with the dinner question. Go out or get some food at the store and have a bbq. We decided on a nice chicken dinner at home so we made a stop at Publix on 192. Good grief, what a zoo! This place was crowded! It took a while to make it through the store and we got home, prepared dinner and we finally enjoying it – at 11:00 PM!!

Tomorrow it’s back to the coast. We’re off to the Kennedy Space Center.

[LuvindisCruiser]

;) Great Report on Cocoa Beach, I have been curious about how far
it is. Thanks for the heads up on the toll booths !:thumbsup2
We definately want to do a beach day !!
Is there other food places close to the beach for lunch ?
Or, is it just better to pick something up on the way ?
:woohoo: Can't wait for the next installment !:woohoo:

[shhbam]

Again we had breakfast at home. My Mom and Gregg had to leave today. My Mom got a call from a friend of hers who was watching her dog and the friend told her that the dog was not doing well and she was afraid that he wouldn’t make it much longer. My Mom had a feeling this would happen so they were prepared for it. Her Bijon Friese is like 16 years old and is very dependant on my Mom. The dog freaks out when she’s not around. He can’t hear and really can’t see anymore, but always is with her. She was torn as to what to do and was very sad. We all told her she should go and be with him. They were able to get a flight back to Seattle (that is where they live) for noon today.

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It was almost the same drive to Cocoa Beach as to KSC and we arrived there in just over an hour. Wow, have things changed here, lots of places to eat and new exhibits. I was very excited to go on the new attraction, The Launch Experience. We took the tour to the Viewing Gantry and the Apollo exhibit, but didn’t make it to the International Space Station. We got a couple of pretzels and a drink out at the Gantry and took some really cool pictures of the launchpads. The Apollo movie, I swear used to be narrated by Walter Cronkite, but was different this time. It wasn’t as moving as I remembered it to be.

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We arrived back at the Visitor Center and went on The Launch Experience. I think I was expecting something that would outdo Mission Space. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. Just a lot of shaking. Even this ride is not exempt from shutting down due to lightening strikes as it failed for us just before launch. Almost like when the computers shut down the real launch just before the booster rockets ignite! It only took a second to reboot the ride and go again, not so in the real world! Do you think all of us rode? Nope, Emily wouldn’t go on.

There were a bunch of these future astronauts all around the Visitor Center:

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We wanted to get home a bit earlier, so we took off back to Kissimmee. We did stop by the McDonalds in Disneyworld, the big one over by Blizzard Beach – we could always see this when we passed by in a Disney bus, but now we could stop. Alex is a McDonalds junkie, not so much for the food, we’ve come to learn. He just likes to get the toys!

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Tonight we had dinner at CiCi’s Pizza Buffet. We don’t have these out by us, but we always see the commercials on TV. I was “lucky” enough to have tried CiCi’s on one of my last business trips to Charlotte just a month before. I knew the kids would like it, especially the mac n’ cheese pizza. Actually, it was the best one there! We’re going to try to make this at home. This place is really nothing special, but it’s only $5.99 or something so it’s very economical and the kids really do like it. I’m originally from New York and I have to say, I’m a bit of a pizza snob. It is really hard for me to find good pizza, but I knew I wouldn’t get “real” pizza here. It was good enough though.

Tomorrow we are going to Universal Studios.

[Me&3]

Sorry about your mom's dog I hope he will be alright. You should try the worlds largest Mcdonalds while you are still up there or even one of the McDonalds Bistro they are really good. Can't wait to hear morepopcorn::

[myladyisatramp]

So sorry about your mom's dog, that happened to me last year I took a trip to disney with a few friends I knew that my beloved Ginger (a lhasa, yorkie blend) of 15 years was failing but I never thought it was that close. I could tell when I spoke with my daughter that something was wrong they took her to the vet and he thought it wouldn't be long I made them wait till I got home
was only 2 more days I needed to see her one last time. I took her the day after I returned home and had to put her down. It was the worst thing I have ever had to do. I had her cremated and she is still with me every day.I couldn't bear the thought of her being buried somewhere. That may be weird but thats howI felt. I hope your mom is doing ok. I know how she feels

[BPCooper]

The Apollo movie, I swear used to be narrated by Walter Cronkite, but was different this time. It wasn’t as moving as I remembered it to be.

The IMAX movie you are thinking of is the Dream is Alive. After many many years is has been retired from the screen. It was about the early shuttle program, and narrated by Cronkite.

[shhbam]

Sorry about your mom's dog I hope he will be alright. You should try the worlds largest Mcdonalds while you are still up there or even one of the McDonalds Bistro they are really good. Can't wait to hear morepopcorn::

He is still hanging in there.

I actually try to stay away from McDonalds, all fast food really.

More is on the way...!!

So sorry about your mom's dog, that happened to me last year I took a trip to disney with a few friends I knew that my beloved Ginger (a lhasa, yorkie blend) of 15 years was failing but I never thought it was that close. I could tell when I spoke with my daughter that something was wrong they took her to the vet and he thought it wouldn't be long I made them wait till I got home
was only 2 more days I needed to see her one last time. I took her the day after I returned home and had to put her down. It was the worst thing I have ever had to do. I had her cremated and she is still with me every day.I couldn't bear the thought of her being buried somewhere. That may be weird but thats howI felt. I hope your mom is doing ok. I know how she feels

Thanks myladyisatramp.

The IMAX movie you are thinking of is the Dream is Alive. After many many years is has been retired from the screen. It was about the early shuttle program, and narrated by Cronkite.


Thanks BPCooper!

[shhbam]

I’m going to start off with this: I had no preconceived notions that Universal is no Disney, you know. I was giving them a chance. I was excited to experience this place. I got a great deal on park passes and I thought, a great deal on dining. Arriving at Universal, my first impressions were not very good. The first thing I noticed was, wow; look at the lines of cars trying to get to the parking garage. Then, a long walk to get to the park, not all that bad, but still a very long way to go and along the way, I was hit up for a Univeral Visa card.

Traffic in:
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I had bought our passes online and all I needed to do was get in line at an automated kiosk to retrieve the tickets. 3 of them were down so it took a little bit longer than I expected.

Outside the Hard Rock Café:
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Once in the park, we were going to go right on to Shrek 4D since it was right there. The wait time was posted at 70 minutes, so we decided to keep going to see what was available. Jimmy Neutron? Keep moving, also 70 minutes. Ok, Twister, more manageable, not too bad at 20 minutes. What was bad was the queue. It took you outside into the bright and very hot sun. No relief in this line, no misters, umbrellas, you name it. We did enjoy the show though, it was well done, a little dated, but still good enough.

We passed by Shrek again and saw that Shrek and Fiona were available for photos. Donkey was greeting all of the kids too. He is voiced by someone out of sight and he was hilarious. I was laughing so hard at some of his quick witted comments, I had tears in my eyes. There were a couple of souvenirs for sale and one in particular caught my attention:

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As the day progressed, the lines were horrendous. Does Universal have a Fastpass? We were looking for it. There are ads all over the park prompting you to convert your pass to an Express Pass. I found that this is the Universal version of Fastpass, but it costs $38 per person!!! I’m not kidding, and I was beginning to get not so happy thoughts.

We went over to ET and it had broken down, so we decided to go over to the Simpsons. Wait time on that one? 90 minutes, and I think it’s redlined at 90. It can’t go more. I heard from a number of people that 90 minutes usually means, 2 and a half hours!

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Over to Men in Black. We rode this one in only 30 minutes going the single rider way. This was also a good ride. Over to Jaws next; 70 minutes. The Mummy was down too. Back over to ET. Maria and Alex got in line, while I waited for Emily to hit the bathroom. Maria and Alex made into the 2nd queue, where you give your name before the ride was shut down again. We had to wait to find out where they were and then hook up with them again. I asked information from some of the folks working out in front of ET and they didn’t seem to have the same attitude as Disney cast members. They didn’t seem to care so much.

We did finally ride ET and it was a fun ride and very clever with using your names.
We complained to a very nice employee and she was very responsive and asked which ride we wanted to ride the most. So she escorted us up the exit to the Simpsons and we rode without having to wait in the stated 90 minute line.

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We decided to head over to Islands of America because we found the Studios not so exciting – all the lines and rides out of commission, etc.

I had heard that the ride not be missed was Spiderman. I was so overexcited for this ride I thought for sure it would be a downer, you know how things usually are when they are overhyped? Well, we tried it. It was by far the best ride at Universal. By far. I mean this ride was awesome. If there is any reason to come to Universal, this is it.

The queue wasn’t too bad, 20 minutes it said. After 10 minutes in line, Maria and Alex left for a potty break. Terrible timing on Alex’s part, but he had to go. They decided to try the single rider line when they returned so as not to wait in the whole queue again. I was looking for them the entire time, waiting for them to come back through the line to where we were. Emily and I got on the ride when we thought that maybe they decided not to ride. It turns out that they had already been on the ride and thought that maybe we went through again. After this we all used the single rider line and we were through in no time. We did this a few times and for the most part, we were on the same ride, but we did get split up eventually.

Alex and I continued through the park, it was nearing closing and the lines were all but empty now. We rode Jurassic Park twice and he loved it. The Pteryandon Flyers had a posted wait of 60 minutes, even as the park was about to close! Alex really wanted to ride this one, but it was not to be.

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I really didn’t mention the food situation, but we had bought the all you can eat deal from the web site. The problem for us was that we just couldn’t eat that much of the park food. The burgers, fries and so on were just adequate. It was just really filling somehow. In the end it was not a very good deal for us, none of us were able to eat the value of the plan. If you can eat 4 meals – not including soft drinks (separate plan for drinks) at $7 each, then you would pay for the plan.

We left just as the park closed – 10:00 and got stuck in the garage traffic jam. It didn’t take that long to get out and in no time we were on the highway back home. We would come back tomorrow, if only for a little while.

Traffic out:
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[shhbam]

The only reason we came back was to check out the Dr. Seuss area and to ride Spiderman again. We arrived at 11:00 or so and went right to the Dr. Suess area. Frankly, we were done at the park by 1:00. The lines were back and I just didn’t have the patience for another day of the same.

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The meal deal wasn’t such a deal for us, even their own employees concede this! Just before leaving, Maria and Alex were able to slip off their meal deal wristbands and ask two guys in front of us if they wanted them. One of them happened to be a Universal employee. Bad enough right? He worked in the accounting area! He calmed Maria down after she thought we were going to arrested!! He agreed that the plan wasn’t the best. He even gave some advice, I call it cheating. Even through all the headaches that Universal gave me, I don’t agree with cheating (also known as stealing). I didn’t consider Maria and Alex giving the remainder of their bracelets (we had only 1 meal at that point) away, cheating. He told us that many people will buy only 1 bracelet and just go back over and over to the counter to order for others in their party. Disney Management wouldn’t let that happen, that’s for sure.

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Service, presentation, and ride reliability are areas where Universal is nowhere close to Disney. They seem to want to take your money at every turn. Examples: The meal deal, their Express ticket, meeting you at the gate with credit card applications, etc. I know that Disney wants more of your $$ too, but they seem to disquise it better. Other than the merchandise stores every 10 feet, you don’t even notice the Disney attempt at extracting more money from you. At least I don’t.

We’ll not be coming back to Universal, that much is for sure. A day and a half was all we spent there.

I had paid for the pass that was good for up to 7 days, I had planned to use it for only 3 days, but we just weren’t interested in coming back again. So – that left us a day open. We decided that we’ll go back to Disneyworld for another day!! It only cost us $7 and some change to add another day! We’ll talk about that fun soon.

See you then.

[Muisjes]

[QUOTE=shhbam;27710597]The only reason we came back was to check out the Dr. Seuss area and to ride Spiderman again. We arrived at 11:00 or so and went right to the Dr. Suess area. /QUOTE]

We love both Disney and Universal.

Arriving at 11:00 was your mistake. I can't imagine getting to Disney mid morning and expecting any fast passes and no lines.

We were going on a cruise last year (not Disney) and only had a couple of days, so we picked Universal.

After doing a lot of research, I found out that the lines are pretty non-existent before 11:00. That is when all the crowds hit.

We got there at 8:30 each morning and just like the helpful people told us, there wasn't a line over 15 minutes, most of them less than 5 minutes. We were able to ride everything we wanted to without a wait. And it was a busy time of the season.

We LOVE Spiderman too and can't wait for the new Harry Potter land to open up.

We are doing Disney for Christmas this year and then are planning a Universal only trip for Harry Potter when it opens in 2010.

Thanks for the rest of your trip report. It was great and making us more excited to go.