kollegekreed
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2014
Hi all! Will just be doing a short trip report on my first time in Disney in about 10 years. I tend to do these after my cruises (vacation of choice) so figured I might as well here as well.
I am a 29 year old male named Chris from New Hampshire. A friend got married in Tampa over the weekend, so Day 1 of Disney was actually Day 4 in Florida.
I arrived at the All Star Music Resort at 12:45 Monday 3/3. There were only 3 or 4 people in line to check in. The (very confusable) cast member got my magic band all set up and had me on my way with the promise of a text message when my room was ready.
I jumped back in the rental car and made a beeline for Epcot. I parked with no wait and was on the tram into the park within 5 minutes. I could tell it was going to be quiet right away when the Spaceship Earth wait said 15 minutes yet I was on in less than 5. This was the theme for most of the day.
I had a passable lunch at Electric Umbrella and headed out to explore everything in Future world. Im not going to go through everything...the only thing I DIDNT do was Ellen's 45 minute energy spiel and Turtle Talk. My FPs were for Soarin, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. I was on Mission Space in less than 10 minutes. In fact, the only thing I actually waited for was Soarin, and it was the only fast pass I used! It was about 15 minutes with Fast Pass. Even at this totally off peak point, the wait for standby on soarin's was 90-100 minutes. Test Track I went as a single rider and made it on in around 10 minutes. I can't complain about a single wait...it was great! Im not a "good" rider...Mission Space EASY still made me a little queasy and claustrophobic
But, I hadnt done Test Track before and was a little worried but I enjoyed that one 
For dinner I figured I would try to find something in Italy. Ended up at Tutto Italia and while the maitre D was clearly bothered by having to find a table for one, I only waited about 10 minutes. The lasagna and tiramisu were to die for - that said, not worth $50. Oh well, when in Rome...
Illuminations was great as expected. I read all the tips here and made sure to be near the France Bridge with plenty of time to spare. Once the show was done I walked with the masses out to the parking lots and after a great tour of the Discover lot, "discovered" my car.
Came back to All Star Music and found a parking spot by building 2...unfortunately I am in Rock 4, but it wasnt an awful walk.
The room is OK...I only paid $88 a night and its worth that. I can't for the life of me understand paying $200,$300, $400, $700 a night for Disney hotel rooms...I literally got back at 10, got a snack (cookie ice cream sandwich), and now about to sleep. Tomorrow will be 12+ hours at Magic Kingdom so won't be in the room much then either!
To be continued...
I am a 29 year old male named Chris from New Hampshire. A friend got married in Tampa over the weekend, so Day 1 of Disney was actually Day 4 in Florida.
I arrived at the All Star Music Resort at 12:45 Monday 3/3. There were only 3 or 4 people in line to check in. The (very confusable) cast member got my magic band all set up and had me on my way with the promise of a text message when my room was ready.
I jumped back in the rental car and made a beeline for Epcot. I parked with no wait and was on the tram into the park within 5 minutes. I could tell it was going to be quiet right away when the Spaceship Earth wait said 15 minutes yet I was on in less than 5. This was the theme for most of the day.
I had a passable lunch at Electric Umbrella and headed out to explore everything in Future world. Im not going to go through everything...the only thing I DIDNT do was Ellen's 45 minute energy spiel and Turtle Talk. My FPs were for Soarin, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. I was on Mission Space in less than 10 minutes. In fact, the only thing I actually waited for was Soarin, and it was the only fast pass I used! It was about 15 minutes with Fast Pass. Even at this totally off peak point, the wait for standby on soarin's was 90-100 minutes. Test Track I went as a single rider and made it on in around 10 minutes. I can't complain about a single wait...it was great! Im not a "good" rider...Mission Space EASY still made me a little queasy and claustrophobic
But, I hadnt done Test Track before and was a little worried but I enjoyed that one For dinner I figured I would try to find something in Italy. Ended up at Tutto Italia and while the maitre D was clearly bothered by having to find a table for one, I only waited about 10 minutes. The lasagna and tiramisu were to die for - that said, not worth $50. Oh well, when in Rome...
Illuminations was great as expected. I read all the tips here and made sure to be near the France Bridge with plenty of time to spare. Once the show was done I walked with the masses out to the parking lots and after a great tour of the Discover lot, "discovered" my car.
Came back to All Star Music and found a parking spot by building 2...unfortunately I am in Rock 4, but it wasnt an awful walk.
The room is OK...I only paid $88 a night and its worth that. I can't for the life of me understand paying $200,$300, $400, $700 a night for Disney hotel rooms...I literally got back at 10, got a snack (cookie ice cream sandwich), and now about to sleep. Tomorrow will be 12+ hours at Magic Kingdom so won't be in the room much then either!
To be continued...
