"Our TR - Now with 100 % less POFQ!" - Nov 10th-20th(3/5-Last Day & Final Thoughts!)

[Moodyzblu]

We just love Typhoon Lagoon !! We tried Blizzard Beach once and didn't care for it at all .... but we could go to TL everyday !

 

[PrincessInOz]

I love it when you practically get the whole park to yourself. Your day looks fantastic here and DS has already said that we need to check out the water parks next time we're at the World. Definitely going to do that!

 

[FosterA]

Wow!! Pete, your waterpark day look AMAZING!
I've never really looked at photos of the waterparks too much so it was nice to see all of yours. I can't believe how empty it was, how lucky for ya'll!!

oh...and I can use some of those donuts about now Never had them before, but I know I NEED them!

Cute photos of you and DD playing around. Give it another year and you wont be throwing her around anymore since kids grow sooooo fast!
I also like the lazy river photos...that's where I would hang out for sure. Can you munch on mini donuts while floating around?

 

[skier_pete]

awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

Thanks!

We just love Typhoon Lagoon !! We tried Blizzard Beach once and didn't care for it at all .... but we could go to TL everyday !

It's been so long since BB, and I know there are some awesome slides, but TL just gives such a laid-back vibe. It's all that beach music playing on the sound system.

I love it when you practically get the whole park to yourself. Your day looks fantastic here and DS has already said that we need to check out the water parks next time we're at the World. Definitely going to do that!

They are well worth checking out if you've never been!

Wow!! Pete, your waterpark day look AMAZING!
I've never really looked at photos of the waterparks too much so it was nice to see all of yours. I can't believe how empty it was, how lucky for ya'll!!

oh...and I can use some of those donuts about now Never had them before, but I know I NEED them!

Cute photos of you and DD playing around. Give it another year and you wont be throwing her around anymore since kids grow sooooo fast!
I also like the lazy river photos...that's where I would hang out for sure. Can you munch on mini donuts while floating around?

Oh, I already can't throw her around unless it's in the water.

I never thought of eating the mini-donuts in the water. It would be hard to balance the donuts and the dipping sauces on the edge of the tube. Make sure if you ever try them to get them coming right out of the fryer. Warm fresh mini-donuts...yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[khertz]

It looks like y'all picked a perfect day to go to the water park!

Since it seems that y'all do this on all of/most of your Disney trips, maybe I can pick your brain. We tossed around the idea of doing either BB or TL on our next trip just because we have the Premier AP's so we can get into a water park using that (I doubt we would ever do it if we had to pay OOP for a ticket, we are not that big on water parks). Do y'all normally plan your water park day to be the "off" day or do you find it too busy to be considered a relax day? We probably would not want to set aside a day for the water park AND have a day spent away from the major parks since we will only be there for a week. We will be going in October...I can't remember from your Oct TR, did y'all do a water park and if so how were the crowds? Thanks for any wisdom you can impart on a water park newbie!

 

[skier_pete]

It looks like y'all picked a perfect day to go to the water park!

Since it seems that y'all do this on all of/most of your Disney trips, maybe I can pick your brain. We tossed around the idea of doing either BB or TL on our next trip just because we have the Premier AP's so we can get into a water park using that (I doubt we would ever do it if we had to pay OOP for a ticket, we are not that big on water parks). Do y'all normally plan your water park day to be the "off" day or do you find it too busy to be considered a relax day? We probably would not want to set aside a day for the water park AND have a day spent away from the major parks since we will only be there for a week. We will be going in October...I can't remember from your Oct TR, did y'all do a water park and if so how were the crowds? Thanks for any wisdom you can impart on a water park newbie!

Good questions. I would generally consider the water park day to be more of a relaxing day. Now, because we went to the park in the evening, ours wasn't really so much, but I've sort of told myself that next time I want to try and resist the "parks in the evening". But, at least at TL is definitely more relaxing for a number of reasons;

1) Much less walking than a regular park. The size isn't nearly as big as one of the theme parks, plus you can use the "lazy river" form of transportation.

2) Much less "must-dos". You can pretty much ride all the "rides" in very short order, so there isn't the pressure to get it "done". Realistically you could really ride everything in about 2 hours if its not super crowded. (We probably could have done it in an hour that day.)

For you, with the Premeire AP, I would definitely go and check it out on your off day. Bonnet Creek is right next door to TL I think, and it's got a great kids area. Get there early and stake a spot in the shade in the kids area, and then you and DH can switch off watching Paxton while you each check out the slides. Ketchakiddie Creek has a little sandy area near the "spray box" (New England term) area that little ones just love. At 2 years olf, there's not a lot he'd be able to "ride" there - they might let him in the lazy river with a swim diaper and a life vest, but I don't think I would take him in the big wave pool, but you could go for a few hours and then head back to the hotel for nap time.

October is a good time for the water parks - not that you will have the unreal low crowds we just had, but we went to TL the year before in October, and the crowds were quite managable. the biggest deal for getting they're early is to get the best seats in the shade, if that's what you want. Otherwise from a crowd standpoint, the lines and crowds in the wavepool were totally doable.

At Paxton's age, I would personally pick TL over BB. BB does also have what most describe as a pretty good kiddie area, but I think overall there are more areas to go with a small one @ TL. There are some very shallow pools set back from the main wave pool with sand, and also the run-off pool from Crush-N-Gusher is a very shallow (perhaps 2 feet deep). Plus there's a viewing area for the shark reef where you could bring him to look at the fish. (It's inside the overturned ship if you look at my first underwater picture it shows the view ports.)

(I also agree that I wouldn't PAY for the water parks with a Toddler unless I also had older kids. We first took DD @ 3.5 and that to me was maybe even a little young to really get value out of it. However, as part of an AP I would.)

I hope I didn't ramble too much for you.

 

[pld5]

This is a great picture of you and your wife! Very sweet!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm excited to check out Typhoon Lagoon in April. We have one waterpark day scheduled & I'm pretty sure that's where we'll end up. I'm sure the kids would like Blizzard Beach too but I want to ride Crush n' Gusher & I think Zach would like the shark reef. I've added snorkels & masks to the packing list! Thanks for the tip!

 

[joy13]

Wow, I can't believe how empty it was even after the weather cleared! How perfect! Someday we'll get to a Disney waterpark.

 

[LaDonna]

We did the waterparks for the first time last time we went in Sept. and absolutely LOVED it! We went on a Sunday and it wasn't packed at all, we kept getting on and off the crusher gusher ride.....it was perfect! While the 4 of us kept taking turns my then 3yr old had a blast in the sand and water there in the same pool area ahhhh memories
I was however SHOCKED by how hard the mega wave was in the wave pool, I wasn't even that far in and my 3yr old got knocked out of my hands and my daughter lost her glasses so BEWARE! if I had been prepared it would have been fun

 

[skier_pete]

I'm excited to check out Typhoon Lagoon in April. We have one waterpark day scheduled & I'm pretty sure that's where we'll end up. I'm sure the kids would like Blizzard Beach too but I want to ride Crush n' Gusher & I think Zach would like the shark reef. I've added snorkels & masks to the packing list! Thanks for the tip!

Glad to help! It is definitely a good idea.

Wow, I can't believe how empty it was even after the weather cleared! How perfect! Someday we'll get to a Disney waterpark.

Just gotta do it!

We did the waterparks for the first time last time we went in Sept. and absolutely LOVED it! We went on a Sunday and it wasn't packed at all, we kept getting on and off the crusher gusher ride.....it was perfect! While the 4 of us kept taking turns my then 3yr old had a blast in the sand and water there in the same pool area ahhhh memories
I was however SHOCKED by how hard the mega wave was in the wave pool, I wasn't even that far in and my 3yr old got knocked out of my hands and my daughter lost her glasses so BEWARE! if I had been prepared it would have been fun

Yeah, that wave is nuts, especially closer to shore. I like going out where it's deep, it's more fun to ride that way. The only difficulty is you have to keep swimming out. It's really amazing that it moves you 20-30 feet in an instant.

 

[skier_pete]

For anyone interested, I have started a new PTR for my upcoming trip which encompasses both Disneyland and Australia. I know this might not interest everyone, but if it does - please feel free to join up. The thread is actually in the Australia section of the board, but HERE IS THE LINK.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2870103

 

[skier_pete]

Before I get into the evening, here are some pictures DM took from around CBR while we were at the water park. I didn't really make any comments because I wasn't there.

The next post continues with the rest of our evening.

 

[skier_pete]

Coming back to our evening plans. We wanted to catch the four night-time shows at Magic Kingdom - Castle Lighting, Main Street Electrical Parade (MSEP), Magic, Memories, and You (MMY), and Wishes. MSEP was only running on 3 nights of our trip, and this was honestly the best night for it. The nice part is Wishes was only at 8 PM, so we could run through all the shows in about 2 hours time.

So, we went back to the room, changed, and to the bus. On the way, we had what was clearly one of the worst bus experiences of the trip. First we waited for the bus about 15 minutes, but then once we were on, we seemed to have the slowest bus driver ever. She stopped at all the other stops around CBR. She then drove about 20 miles an hour to Magic Kingdom. Somehow, a trip that had taken <20 minutes in previous travel took 40 minutes. Fortunately, we had left with plenty of time, but we were about 5 minutes late for our reservation even though we went to the bus about an hour before.

A meal at Crystal Palace has become one of our few family “traditions”, though I personally wouldn’t have minded jettisoning it for this trip. However DD - for all her character dislikes - seems to love seeing the Pooh characters and we do enjoy the food so I guess we’ll keep eating here.

So, I’ll keep it short – the food was pretty good, the character interaction was OK – it took quite a while for ANY of the characters to show up, we were pretty well onto dessert, but then they showed up in fairly quick succession. We were there about an hour, which is pretty normal for CP. I though the food was very good as usual. Still our favorite character buffet food-wise. Overall 8 out of 10.

At this point it was about 6 PM. I had been surprised coming into the restaurant that at 5 PM, so many people had already staked out their spots for the parade, so I was a little worried about us finding a good spot. However, we were able to find a pretty good spot where we’ve sat before. Right at the hub with the castle to our left and us facing right down the bridge going towards Liberty Square. We were in the second row behind another family. My DM had a bit of a hard time with it, though. She decided to try sitting on the ground since she didn’t want to be way back (being a bit on the short-side) and she was fine at first but by the time of the parade she didn’t have enough leg room and got some really bad lef cramps during the parade, and had a real hard time getting up. (She said she thought she was gonna die for a minute, so it was pretty bad.) Once she stood, though she was OK. We didn’t have too much trouble with the seats, though early on had some people basically walk on top of us to get through the crowd instead of going around through the corridors. Before the parade, DD had her bubble gun out, as she loves getting younger kids to chase the bubbles around. (She plays much better with younger kids than with kids her own age or older.)

First show: 6:30 PM, Castle Lighting show. We’ve seen it once before, but it was still amazing the way they light up the castle. “Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo!” Though it seems like even Disney forgets their own Myths…it’s not “Cinderella’s Castle” Disney, it’s “Cinderella Castle”! Great show. Here’s a few pix.

Next up at 7:00 PM (or actually about 7:10 by the time it got to us) was the Main Street Electrical Parade. This is also our second time seeing this one. I like Spectromagic slightly better, but there’s a lot of good parts to this one. I like the “Alice” section, as well as Cinderella’s Step Sisters fighting over the Prince. I find the ending kind of boring, as it makes me think of the ending of the “Muppets 3-D” as if it’s “A tribute to all nations – but mostly America”, though face it, it’s just America. I love America, and I love all the America-centric things they have at Disney World, but that ending is just a little too in-your-face for me. After that we stood up and moved back from the castle a bit for the last two shows.

Third, right around quarter to eight – the second “castle show” of the night – the Magic, Memories and you – with the Christmas overlay. This was our first time seeing this show, and I have to say – Holy Cow it was amazing. I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t think any would do it justice, but they use projections to show things on the castle, but it’s more than just showing pictures of people on the castle, it’s decorating it in dozens of different ways (as presents, snowflakes, gingerbread) and it is done so well it actually looks almost real. I gotta say, after the cake abomination of 1997 and the gold-leafing of 7 years ago, they finally figured out how to use the castle right.

Finally was “Wishes” - my favorite nighttime show of all. I just love the fireworks going off behind the castle. I know many like “Christmas Wishes” because of the bigger finale, but I just like the story of “Wishes” so much better, and all those fireworks going up beyond and around the castle are good enough for me. That’s why for me there is one place and only one place to watch this show.

We were back a bit but still near the hub. We agreed DW would take DD by the hand, and I would take DM, and we would make our way out of the park as quickly as possible. We got out, and the bus line wasn’t too terrible, I think they were loading a bus shortly after we got there, and then another showed up and we were able to get on the second bus, so really didn’t wait too long. It wasn’t even a real late night, as we were back at the hotel by 9 PM.

Day 7:
Characters Met: 4
Rides/Attractions seen: 12
(I’m counting Rides/Attractions from TL: 5 water slides we rode (not counting repeats), the shark reef (only counting once even though we did it 6-7 times), the wave pool, and the lazy river. I also am counting the 4 nighttime shows, but am not considering “waits” for those my “wait of > 5 minutes” only applies to rides.
Waits of > 5 minutes: 0

Totals (7 days to date):
Characters Met: 20
Rides/Attractions seen: 65
Waits of > 5 minutes: 2

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glad to see that you enjoyed dinner at Crystal Palace and those pics your mom took of CBR are great.

 

[FosterA]

Hey Pete.
Was wondering when you'd get a new update up. Nice photos and details as usual
I loved loved the Memories and You show on the castle too. Especially the part where it looks like it's crumbling down and the rainbow part and the rocket blasting off part and ..........all of it!

I also really love the Elec. Parade too because there's something about the music that pulls me in.

Cute photos with Pooh Bear!

Gonna head over and check out your PTR about Australia now....

 

[khertz]

Love the pics of your DD with the CP characters! It's nice to see her in at least a few of your character pics!

 

[skier_pete]

Glad to see that you enjoyed dinner at Crystal Palace and those pics your mom took of CBR are great.

Thanks, she did a nice job. She got to spend more time there than we did!

Hey Pete.
Was wondering when you'd get a new update up. Nice photos and details as usual
I loved loved the Memories and You show on the castle too. Especially the part where it looks like it's crumbling down and the rainbow part and the rocket blasting off part and ..........all of it!

I also really love the Elec. Parade too because there's something about the music that pulls me in.

Cute photos with Pooh Bear!

Gonna head over and check out your PTR about Australia now....

I know the updates have been slow. Work and home are both busy. I actually have day 8 and 9 written, but I need the time @ home to upload the pix. Hopefully I can keep the updates coming and wrap this up before March.

MM&Y ended up being just amazing. They knocked that one out of the park. I did get some video, but I haven't even uploaded that yet.

Love the pics of your DD with the CP characters! It's nice to see her in at least a few of your character pics!

She loves meeting Pooh and the gang @ CP. In fact she insists on it. We like the food there, so it's not a problem, as long as we are on the DDP. (It occurs to me next trip she will be a "Disney Adult", making Free Dining even more critical.)

 

[skier_pete]

I'm getting real close on this...the TR is actually all written out (in a separate file) now it's just about uploading the pictures.

Man the trip is really going by fast, even in review. Our second Friday of the trip dawned to be ABD (another beautiful day). We had our second Animal Kingdom day today. We’ve said before that we love AK, but one thing we really love about doing it for two days is that you really can do a good portion of the park the first day, and then the second day gets to be a lot mellower of a pace. We arrived at the park shortly after rope drop (probably about 9:15 AM) and took our time walking through the Oasis. We had a few goals on the day. We had lunch at Tusker House, check out the Finding Nemo show, I wanted to get in Expedition Everest, the Maharajah Jungle Trek, and most important to DD, she wanted to get her face painted.

This was a new thing, really. She saw some kids on Tuesday at DHS with it, and was hemming and hawing about it until late in the day she said she wanted to do it. I told her “No” not at the end of the day, so we said if she still wanted to do it on Friday we could. Well she did, so on the way in we asked a CM where this could be done, and it was in Harambe and in Dinoland. Well, the other thing DD wanted to do was go back to the Boneyard, so we headed for Dinoland. On the way, we first stopped for a photopass Op:

Then, we ran into this guy!

And then, we ran into THIS guy!

The face painting sort of surprised me. One was the price wasn’t as bad as I thought – it was like $12 for the whole face. Two was how fast they were able to put it on yet make it look so good. She was in the chair for no more than 5 minutes and they were done. She selected the tiger look, and I think it looks excellent!

After this, she decided she really wanted to do the Boneyard. We explained that it wasn’t going to be open for another 30 minutes, but she wanted to wait. We did get her to ride Tricepatos Spin in the meantime.

A Chester and Hester Snowman:

At that point, my DM said she wanted some time to herself to explore, so we said, let’s meet for the 11 PM bird show (DD loves Flights of Wonder). We walked through the Cretaceous Trail, which I have to say is the least impressive “attraction” in all of Disney World. The excitement of prehistoric plants! How does this even rate being listed on the map? But, we did manage to find a Hidden Mickey.

So, I ditched DW and DD at the boneyard, ran to get FP for Kilimanjaro Safari for later, and then went to ride EE. Twice.

I ended up in the second row, which allowed me to get a couple of shots off looking out at the end of the ripped track.

How cool really is this view!

Couldn’t come up with better ideas for the pictures than “Sleepy” and “scared”. Or is it, where the heck is the Disco Yeti!

I wish they let you scan these all with photopass though, I think an entire album of pictures of us on rides asleep would be priceless!

Headed back over to the Boneyard and apparently DD had already had enough – she wanted a stuffed pretzel. I knew she wouldn’t like them, because the cheese is Jalepeno, so I bought one anyways, let her taste it, and then got her a plain one, with DW and I splitting the one. She really wanted to go over to the bird show. I explained it didn’t start for another 30 minutes, but she insisted! (Do you sense a pattern here – same thing at the boneyard.) So we went over there and say outside the show for 20 minutes waiting for them to open the doors. The reason she wanted to get in there early was she really, really, really wanted to be picked to throw the grape to the hornbill. Well, guess what….

….she was! This of course totally made her day. Once this show was over, we had two things we sort of wanted to squeeze in before lunch, and we had about an hour and a half to do it.

To be continued!

 

[khertz]

How cool that she got chosen to be in the show again!!

Love the facepaint. That's really amazing for just a few minutes time. And not as expensive as I would have guessed, which is always a plus in WDW.