Just Back...

[blondemom]

Hi, all. We are just back from the World. We drove home to New Jersey yesterday. We were at WDW 8/22 through 8/30.

8/22, Saturday, we did Typhoon Lagoon all day. It wasn't too crowded. We were able to do everything we wanted to do. It did rain for about 40 minutes which thinned the crowds out. My 11-year old boy, and 6-year old boy give this waterpark a big "YIPPEE"!!

8/23, Sunday, we did Hollywood Studios (always MGM to me). Other than Toy Story Mania, the rides were walk ons. We arrived around 10:15 a.m. and the wait for Toy Story Mania was 75 minutes! We got a fast pass with a return time for 4 p.m.! We were only able to ride it once, the lines never died down. It was fun, but not worth 75 minutes in my opinion. My kids would have waited a day to ride it, though! That night, we hit Magic Kingdom for the late hours. We were able to go on EVERY ride at least twice. What a great time to go. We left by 11:30 having gone on everything we wanted to go on. Also, my husband was picked to be in the Indiana Jones show as an extra! Lol!

8/24, Monday, we did Magic Kingdom. Again, most of the rides were walk ons. However, Peter Pan and Dumbo were insane! We fast passed Peter Pan. Splash Mountain was maybe 20 minute wait at the worst. Thunder Mountain, the same. Fantasyland always seemed to be jam-packed with people. But, the lines weren't terrible. Seems it was my husband's lucky week, as he was "Mike" in the Monster's Inc. show!! Lol!!

8/25, Tuesday, we did Animal Kingdom. We got there relatively early, as we are not rope drop people. I think we got there around 9:30 or 10 a.m. My family went on the Kali River Rapids three times in a row without a wait. We had a fast pass for the Safari, but didn't need it as the wait was ten minutes. We didn't do Everest as we aren't that brave yet. The crowds definitely thin out after lunch. We stayed until about 3:30 when it just became too hot. We LOVED the Nemo show!

8/26 and 8/27, Wednesday and Thursday, we did Epcot. This is our favorite park. My boys ran to Test Track both mornings, waited on the 25 minute stand by line while I got fast passes for later. At 10:30 a.m., we were able to get more fast passes, so we got them for Soarin'. A nice family gave us four of their passes because their kids chickened out. So we were able to fast pass twice. It was great. The only lines were Test Track and Soarin'. We don't do Mission Space, but it was 10 minute wait. Imagination and Nemo were walk-ons. The rides in Mexico and Norway were walk-ons. We spend some time in each country and did two Kim-Possible missions. The boys loved them.

8/28, Friday, we did Magic Kingdom again. We only stayed until lunch and them swam and rented a boat at our resort. After dinner, we all went back to Epcot for a bit (late hours). My little guy (6 years) got tired around 10:30, so we went back. My husband and 11-year old stayed. Lucky for them, because while they were waiting for the monorail back, they saw the space shuttle launch! I was able to see the light from the balcony of the Polynesian.

8/29, Saturday, my 11-year old and I did Epcot in the morning. He wanted to ride Test Track once more before we left. We did Spaceship Earth, he rode Test Track three times in a row as a single rider, and we did Imagination and Nemo. Then we went back were they swam for a while. That night we went to Magic Kingdom, went on a handful of rides, watched SpectroMagic, and left before Wishes. We watched Wishes from the Polynesian beach.

All in all, it wasn't a bad week. There were crowds, but not horrible. Use fast pass wisely. And, something I didn't know until a cast member told me (and obviously a lot of people down there didn't know) - you can use fast pass any time that day as long as it's after the return time. My guys went on Spash Mountain (5 minute wait), and another family was hanging out by the fast pass return waiting their two minutes before it was time to ride. I kept telling them to go on stand by and use it later. They said we have dinner after this. I told them and confirmed with the cast member that they can come back any time before the park closes. They didn't believe me and chose to wait.

Any questions...

[basketlacey]

Sounds like a great trip! I have been twice in the last couple years and on one trip we skipped Epcot altogether and the other, we didn't hit Soarin or Test Track. I am very excited to get back to Epcot. I think my kids will love this park!

[seals]

But we only overlapped parks with you on Thurs and Fri. My boys did 2 Kim Possible missions too and loved them (although they fought over who got to hold the communicator). We also confirmed that you can use FP well beyond the ending time. On Thur. we got a FP for Soarin' that was for 11:30-12:30. I wanted to do the countries starting when they opened at 11 and didn't want to walk back to Soarin'. We ended up riding at 4:30 and it was no problem. My DH was convinced that we were going to be turned away so he was glad to see we weren't.

The other thing we noticed was that toward closing time they don't change the wait times. We'd look at a line and think " no way is that 40 min." At DHS on Monday evening we went by Toy Story Mania at 9:30 (the park closed at 10) and the wait said 60 min. I asked the CM if that was true and he said "that's what it says. but if it's not then Merry Christmas." We went in and waited exactly 21 min. !

Sue

Originally Posted by blondemom

Hi, all. We are just back from the World. We drove home to New Jersey yesterday. We were at WDW 8/22 through 8/30.

8/22, Saturday, we did Typhoon Lagoon all day. It wasn't too crowded. We were able to do everything we wanted to do. It did rain for about 40 minutes which thinned the crowds out. My 11-year old boy, and 6-year old boy give this waterpark a big "YIPPEE"!!

8/23, Sunday, we did Hollywood Studios (always MGM to me). Other than Toy Story Mania, the rides were walk ons. We arrived around 10:15 a.m. and the wait for Toy Story Mania was 75 minutes! We got a fast pass with a return time for 4 p.m.! We were only able to ride it once, the lines never died down. It was fun, but not worth 75 minutes in my opinion. My kids would have waited a day to ride it, though! That night, we hit Magic Kingdom for the late hours. We were able to go on EVERY ride at least twice. What a great time to go. We left by 11:30 having gone on everything we wanted to go on. Also, my husband was picked to be in the Indiana Jones show as an extra! Lol!

8/24, Monday, we did Magic Kingdom. Again, most of the rides were walk ons. However, Peter Pan and Dumbo were insane! We fast passed Peter Pan. Splash Mountain was maybe 20 minute wait at the worst. Thunder Mountain, the same. Fantasyland always seemed to be jam-packed with people. But, the lines weren't terrible. Seems it was my husband's lucky week, as he was "Mike" in the Monster's Inc. show!! Lol!!

8/25, Tuesday, we did Animal Kingdom. We got there relatively early, as we are not rope drop people. I think we got there around 9:30 or 10 a.m. My family went on the Kali River Rapids three times in a row without a wait. We had a fast pass for the Safari, but didn't need it as the wait was ten minutes. We didn't do Everest as we aren't that brave yet. The crowds definitely thin out after lunch. We stayed until about 3:30 when it just became too hot. We LOVED the Nemo show!

8/26 and 8/27, Wednesday and Thursday, we did Epcot. This is our favorite park. My boys ran to Test Track both mornings, waited on the 25 minute stand by line while I got fast passes for later. At 10:30 a.m., we were able to get more fast passes, so we got them for Soarin'. A nice family gave us four of their passes because their kids chickened out. So we were able to fast pass twice. It was great. The only lines were Test Track and Soarin'. We don't do Mission Space, but it was 10 minute wait. Imagination and Nemo were walk-ons. The rides in Mexico and Norway were walk-ons. We spend some time in each country and did two Kim-Possible missions. The boys loved them.

8/28, Friday, we did Magic Kingdom again. We only stayed until lunch and them swam and rented a boat at our resort. After dinner, we all went back to Epcot for a bit (late hours). My little guy (6 years) got tired around 10:30, so we went back. My husband and 11-year old stayed. Lucky for them, because while they were waiting for the monorail back, they saw the space shuttle launch! I was able to see the light from the balcony of the Polynesian.

8/29, Saturday, my 11-year old and I did Epcot in the morning. He wanted to ride Test Track once more before we left. We did Spaceship Earth, he rode Test Track three times in a row as a single rider, and we did Imagination and Nemo. Then we went back were they swam for a while. That night we went to Magic Kingdom, went on a handful of rides, watched SpectroMagic, and left before Wishes. We watched Wishes from the Polynesian beach.

All in all, it wasn't a bad week. There were crowds, but not horrible. Use fast pass wisely. And, something I didn't know until a cast member told me (and obviously a lot of people down there didn't know) - you can use fast pass any time that day as long as it's after the return time. My guys went on Spash Mountain (5 minute wait), and another family was hanging out by the fast pass return waiting their two minutes before it was time to ride. I kept telling them to go on stand by and use it later. They said we have dinner after this. I told them and confirmed with the cast member that they can come back any time before the park closes. They didn't believe me and chose to wait.

Any questions...

[laceemouse]

Originally Posted by seals

But we only overlapped parks with you on Thurs and Fri. My boys did 2 Kim Possible missions too and loved them (although they fought over who got to hold the communicator). We also confirmed that you can use FP well beyond the ending time. On Thur. we got a FP for Soarin' that was for 11:30-12:30. I wanted to do the countries starting when they opened at 11 and didn't want to walk back to Soarin'. We ended up riding at 4:30 and it was no problem. My DH was convinced that we were going to be turned away so he was glad to see we weren't.

The other thing we noticed was that toward closing time they don't change the wait times. We'd look at a line and think " no way is that 40 min." At DHS on Monday evening we went by Toy Story Mania at 9:30 (the park closed at 10) and the wait said 60 min. I asked the CM if that was true and he said "that's what it says. but if it's not then Merry Christmas." We went in and waited exactly 21 min. !

Sue

Agree with you about the wait time signs. I think people need to us common sense, if it says a long time that may not be true!

[Disney_Dawg]

Sounds like you had a great trip! Thanks for sharing

What are the Kim-Possible missions?!

[dkbnyc]

how long is the drive to NJ? we are in NYC- but we are flying down

[blondemom]

Kim Possible missions are fun! You are given what looks like a cell phone (a Kimmunicator) and you work with Kim Possible and have to search for clues. For example, you are sent to France and have to find clues, scan them into the phone, and solve the mystery. It's a fun way of getting the kids to see the countries!

Driving from NJ - we spend one night on the road, but the drive time is 16 hours from where we are in Bergen County. Manageable. Gas isn't too expensive now. We have a DVD player and two screens so the kids could watch movies. We stop at Cracker Barrels for meals because food is good, not expensive, and bathrooms are clean.

[blondemom]

I agree about wait times. The only one that was accurate was Soarin' for us. The rest weren't that long. It was amazing to see so many people on the fast pass line at Thunder Mountain with a wait time of 5 minutes. We ended up on the ride before them.

Also, it's amazing how many people flock to one side of a ride entrance like Pirates for example. My son and I went on one night. About 40 people ran for the left side. We went on the right and walked right onto the boat!

I want to go back...

[bobbie68]

Hi I am glad you had a great trip. We are leaving 9-9-. I was wondering where do you go to sign up for the Kim Possible missions?

Thanks

[Sherry76]

Glad you had such a great trip. Did it really only rain on the first day that you were there?

[purplebelle]

How wonderful that so many of the rides didn't have long waits! That's the perfect way to do Disney. I assume it'll be crowded around Labor Day but hope it quiets down for when I go on the 19th.

[karney]

We were there for the exact same time period! (8/22-8/30)

We drove as well, but from Massachusetts. 1 day for recovery and I'm back to work tomorrow

[karney]

Originally Posted by Sherry76

Glad you had such a great trip. Did it really only rain on the first day that you were there?

There were a few days where the rain started and did not stop. I think 8/25 was the other day where it rained from 7PM through park close (Epcot). Light rain on the other days, with quick heavy rain on 8/23 and 8/24 (about 30 min to 45 min each, typical FL weather). I think 8/29 was the only day with zero rain.

[Don Disney]

Sweet!!! Sounds like you guy's had a great time!!! Thanks for sharing!