GaDisneyDad
07-01-2002, 02:47 PM
Cast:
Norm (me) (39); husband, father, trip planner, scribe and photographer
Robin (39); wife and mother with veto power over trip plans, wants a more relaxed Disney trip this time (Ha!)
Kent (14); teenage son, not interested if it’s not fast, loud, or scary (preferably all three)
Whitney (13); teenage daughter, into thrill rides like her brother, but will do the others with less complaining (usually)
Setting:
7 days at Port Orleans Riverside, plus 1 offsite at Islands of Adventure (son’s favorite, of course). This is our second straight year at POR, and third WDW trip in four years. Due to finding a discounted resort rate back in January, we decide to stay longer than our usual 4 or 5 days to have more time to “stop and smell the roses”.
First a clarification. This report is for Day Six. My last trip report was for Day FIVE, not Day Four, as the title indicated. That's what I get for copying and pasting rather than typing. Sorry for any confusion to any of you who may have noticed it.
Scene 7 – Thursday, June 20 – “Swimming in the rain…”
Up at 7:00 as usual to check the weather. Looks like it is going to be bad. This would actually be the worst day yet, of course I didn’t know that at the time. Robin and I go for a quick walk, then we get the kids up at 8:00. Get to bus stop by 8:30 and after a quick bus ride, with very little wait, we’re at the MK. We try once more to get our traditional family picture in front of the castle taken, and then headed for SpcM. Rode it and got FP for later. Then we rode Buzz and also got a FP for later as our SpcM FP was pretty short. Used FP for SpcM and then stood in line for Buzz. Then we used our FP for Buzz again.
Yes, we all love Buzz, but the main reason we rode it so many times in a row this time, is that the first 2 times, I had a bad gun (no, I'm not making excuses - it really wouldn't shoot). I of course still upheld my position as family champ, but my scores were too low. The second time through the ride even stopped for a few seconds and we had to wait for it to start up again. So we rode it again hoping the third time would be the charm. Boy, was it! Once again the track stopped, but this time our guns continued to shoot. I found a target on the back wall of the room we got stuck in that must have been 50,000 points per shot. Finally the track started up again… and our scores didn’t get reset! A new personal record - 880,000 points. Yes!
Content that we (or at least I) had successfully conquered Buzz, we went over to Frontierland and got a FP for SplM. Then we rode the Riverboat (first time) and ate at Columbia Harbour House while waiting. This is one of our favorites. It’s quiet, very rarely crowded, and has good food - fish for Mom and Dad and chicken for the kids. Next we went to check out the FP’s for Peter Pan or Pooh, but both were out to 2:00, so we passed. Standby lines were both 50 minutes. Used our FP for SplM and then did the Hall of Presidents. Very nice, and very relaxing. We came out at 2:00 to… rain. Rode the train back to the main street station, picked up our family picture (not fogged this time), and headed for the exits. It’s raining buckets now.
We got back to the hotel but can’t stand the thought of spending any more time sitting in the room watching the radar on TWC. We get off at the main depot and walk by the pool on the way back to our room. Even though it is pouring rain, the lifeguards are still at the pool, and there are people still swimming. That’s it – we’re going. We go back to the room and change, and then Robin, Whitney and I (Kent thought we were all nuts and stayed in the room) go back to the pool in the pouring rain. We had a blast. The pool water was very warm, even though the rain was chilly. We went down the slide together several times. I think this was the best time Whitney has had yet. A few minutes later, the lifeguards finally close down the pool. They said the rain was coming down so hard they couldn’t see the bottom of the pool and so had to close. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
We went back to the room and checked TWC (again). No end in sight for this rain. I go outside and just watch it. Hardest it’s rained all week – just a constant downpour for hours. At this point, the thought first enters our mind that we may not be able to do Universal on Saturday. The Disney room and passes are a sunk cost – no way out of them, but we may want to hold on to our Universal passes for another (drier) vacation. Just a thought. At 6:00, it’s still raining, but we decide to go out anyway. After a quick bite at the food court, we catch the bus to the MK. Still several people as stupid as us out in the rain. Finally, about 7:30, the rain stops. Yes, that’s about 5 hours of constant downpour.
Get to MK about 8:00 and go do Snow White – 10 minutes. Maybe the rain did chase some people off. Next we go to Pooh – 30 minutes, so we decide to FP it and then go stand in line for Peter Pan instead of vice versa, since Pooh should have the longer line. Wrong. Peter Pan was 45 minutes and of course we had just used our FP. This was our longest wait of the week. Pretty close to the posted 45 minutes. Just as a side note here, we were amazed all week at how close the time estimates were; with the exception of Buzz, which tended to be just a bit under the posted time, all were almost right on most of the time. Lesson to be learned: if the wait time says 60 minutes – it probably is.
There were lots of FP’s coming in for Peter Pan – we barely moved for minutes at a time in the standby line. Finally we were in. This is still one of our favorites – a Disney classic. Next, we used our FP’s for Pooh. This is a newer ride, but has every bit as much of the magic as Peter Pan has. Bought Whitney a stuffed Pooh bear (cute one in a light blue nightshirt and cap). She still likes Pooh, since he’s one of her nicknames (WHITNEY the Pooh, get it?).
Next Whitney wanted to ride SplM. We told her that even with the rain, that ride would be packed, but we’d walk over anyway, just to show her. Boy, were we wrong – 10-minute wait. She wanted to ride again, and we probably should have let her, but we still wanted to try to get another round of miniature golf in, so we left. We got caught in the parade traffic, but still got out by 9:30. Took bus to Swan and then walked to Fantasia Gardens. Kent had enjoyed this so much the night before, that he wanted to come back again and try the “Fairways” course. This is not your typical putt-putt golf course. There was sand, and long greens, etc. Horrible – very hard, although Robin (being the golfer in the family) enjoyed it.
Once again we took the boat back to MGM and caught the bus to POR. Robin and I each had a pina colada and we all headed back to the room to start the thing we always hate most about vacation – packing to come home. In bed at 12:30.
Day six:
The best – swimming in the POR in a downpour
The worst – the rain (what else?) and the Fairways course at Fantasia Gardens golf
Norm (me) (39); husband, father, trip planner, scribe and photographer
Robin (39); wife and mother with veto power over trip plans, wants a more relaxed Disney trip this time (Ha!)
Kent (14); teenage son, not interested if it’s not fast, loud, or scary (preferably all three)
Whitney (13); teenage daughter, into thrill rides like her brother, but will do the others with less complaining (usually)
Setting:
7 days at Port Orleans Riverside, plus 1 offsite at Islands of Adventure (son’s favorite, of course). This is our second straight year at POR, and third WDW trip in four years. Due to finding a discounted resort rate back in January, we decide to stay longer than our usual 4 or 5 days to have more time to “stop and smell the roses”.
First a clarification. This report is for Day Six. My last trip report was for Day FIVE, not Day Four, as the title indicated. That's what I get for copying and pasting rather than typing. Sorry for any confusion to any of you who may have noticed it.
Scene 7 – Thursday, June 20 – “Swimming in the rain…”
Up at 7:00 as usual to check the weather. Looks like it is going to be bad. This would actually be the worst day yet, of course I didn’t know that at the time. Robin and I go for a quick walk, then we get the kids up at 8:00. Get to bus stop by 8:30 and after a quick bus ride, with very little wait, we’re at the MK. We try once more to get our traditional family picture in front of the castle taken, and then headed for SpcM. Rode it and got FP for later. Then we rode Buzz and also got a FP for later as our SpcM FP was pretty short. Used FP for SpcM and then stood in line for Buzz. Then we used our FP for Buzz again.
Yes, we all love Buzz, but the main reason we rode it so many times in a row this time, is that the first 2 times, I had a bad gun (no, I'm not making excuses - it really wouldn't shoot). I of course still upheld my position as family champ, but my scores were too low. The second time through the ride even stopped for a few seconds and we had to wait for it to start up again. So we rode it again hoping the third time would be the charm. Boy, was it! Once again the track stopped, but this time our guns continued to shoot. I found a target on the back wall of the room we got stuck in that must have been 50,000 points per shot. Finally the track started up again… and our scores didn’t get reset! A new personal record - 880,000 points. Yes!
Content that we (or at least I) had successfully conquered Buzz, we went over to Frontierland and got a FP for SplM. Then we rode the Riverboat (first time) and ate at Columbia Harbour House while waiting. This is one of our favorites. It’s quiet, very rarely crowded, and has good food - fish for Mom and Dad and chicken for the kids. Next we went to check out the FP’s for Peter Pan or Pooh, but both were out to 2:00, so we passed. Standby lines were both 50 minutes. Used our FP for SplM and then did the Hall of Presidents. Very nice, and very relaxing. We came out at 2:00 to… rain. Rode the train back to the main street station, picked up our family picture (not fogged this time), and headed for the exits. It’s raining buckets now.
We got back to the hotel but can’t stand the thought of spending any more time sitting in the room watching the radar on TWC. We get off at the main depot and walk by the pool on the way back to our room. Even though it is pouring rain, the lifeguards are still at the pool, and there are people still swimming. That’s it – we’re going. We go back to the room and change, and then Robin, Whitney and I (Kent thought we were all nuts and stayed in the room) go back to the pool in the pouring rain. We had a blast. The pool water was very warm, even though the rain was chilly. We went down the slide together several times. I think this was the best time Whitney has had yet. A few minutes later, the lifeguards finally close down the pool. They said the rain was coming down so hard they couldn’t see the bottom of the pool and so had to close. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
We went back to the room and checked TWC (again). No end in sight for this rain. I go outside and just watch it. Hardest it’s rained all week – just a constant downpour for hours. At this point, the thought first enters our mind that we may not be able to do Universal on Saturday. The Disney room and passes are a sunk cost – no way out of them, but we may want to hold on to our Universal passes for another (drier) vacation. Just a thought. At 6:00, it’s still raining, but we decide to go out anyway. After a quick bite at the food court, we catch the bus to the MK. Still several people as stupid as us out in the rain. Finally, about 7:30, the rain stops. Yes, that’s about 5 hours of constant downpour.
Get to MK about 8:00 and go do Snow White – 10 minutes. Maybe the rain did chase some people off. Next we go to Pooh – 30 minutes, so we decide to FP it and then go stand in line for Peter Pan instead of vice versa, since Pooh should have the longer line. Wrong. Peter Pan was 45 minutes and of course we had just used our FP. This was our longest wait of the week. Pretty close to the posted 45 minutes. Just as a side note here, we were amazed all week at how close the time estimates were; with the exception of Buzz, which tended to be just a bit under the posted time, all were almost right on most of the time. Lesson to be learned: if the wait time says 60 minutes – it probably is.
There were lots of FP’s coming in for Peter Pan – we barely moved for minutes at a time in the standby line. Finally we were in. This is still one of our favorites – a Disney classic. Next, we used our FP’s for Pooh. This is a newer ride, but has every bit as much of the magic as Peter Pan has. Bought Whitney a stuffed Pooh bear (cute one in a light blue nightshirt and cap). She still likes Pooh, since he’s one of her nicknames (WHITNEY the Pooh, get it?).
Next Whitney wanted to ride SplM. We told her that even with the rain, that ride would be packed, but we’d walk over anyway, just to show her. Boy, were we wrong – 10-minute wait. She wanted to ride again, and we probably should have let her, but we still wanted to try to get another round of miniature golf in, so we left. We got caught in the parade traffic, but still got out by 9:30. Took bus to Swan and then walked to Fantasia Gardens. Kent had enjoyed this so much the night before, that he wanted to come back again and try the “Fairways” course. This is not your typical putt-putt golf course. There was sand, and long greens, etc. Horrible – very hard, although Robin (being the golfer in the family) enjoyed it.
Once again we took the boat back to MGM and caught the bus to POR. Robin and I each had a pina colada and we all headed back to the room to start the thing we always hate most about vacation – packing to come home. In bed at 12:30.
Day six:
The best – swimming in the POR in a downpour
The worst – the rain (what else?) and the Fairways course at Fantasia Gardens golf