An AWESOME Vacation ending today. A mini-review and spreading the magic!

[shdwstrm]

Hey all!

I'm actually sitting in the Orlando Airport at my gate waiting for my flight. I just finished up 7 days of awesomness at Disney World. So here's a mini-report.

Today, being the day right after Labor Day, the crowds were light! We headed over to the Magic Kingdpom for a final few rides and waited no more than 20 mins for anything (we pratically walked onto Space Mountain.) However... Pirates of the Carribean was down.. which sucked as when we were in the Magic Kingdom on Sunday for Extra Magic hours, it was also closed. It was the only ride we didn't do.

People were generally pretty good, but we had a LOT of people from Brazil (tour groups) and elsewhere that either 1. Wwanted to walk right through yo, and didn't mind bashing into you to do so, or 2. standing 2 inched off your back leaving no personal space (My friend had to have words with a few people as it freaks her out when people are that close to her)

When we went to Hollywood Studios on Monday, we both decided to try out for the American Idol experience. My friend went through I didn't (I sounded too Broadway, and that I REALLy should be doing musical theatre.) After getting through and waiting over 20 mins, she did the second round, only to be told that they had all 15 compeditors for the show. This was a bit rude as besides my friend, there was at least 6 other people waiting in the wings for thier second round. If they already had all 15 compeditors, why were they still doing auditions.

Anyways, as a thank you for her time, we got a couple of AWESOME Fastpasses. They allowed us to use 1 pass for up to 5 people at any ride, at any time. We used the first one for Rock n' Rollercoaster. Then we had a DUH moment. There's only 2 of us... why not spread the magic and invite some other to join us. Soooooo for the second FastPass, we headed for Toy Story Mania ( SOOOOOO MUCH FUN.) When we got there, we asked if there was any groups of 3, and a father and his 2 small kids from Los Angeles answered. We told them to come with us and we headed right for the FastPass lane. The father was soooo grateful and the kids were super happy too. The father asked us our names and then told the kids that we were now thier cousins! LOL!! We all ended up sharing cars for the attraction and then we all headed over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid afterwards. Fantastic family, we had a blast with them and the kids were cute to boot! We only wish we took our picture with them.

Other than that, I took over 4000 pictures...man I LOVE my camera. I took some video too of the FantasyLand expansion while on Dumbo. I'll be posting my pics on my Facebook page If you would like to see them, please PM me and I'll give you the information needed to friend me.

We also headed over to Universal and Islands of Adventure for a day. That was super fun too!! Wizarding World of Harry Potter was AMAZING!! I'm comming home with 2 wands!!

Well that's all for now. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask me.

Later!!!

 

[willowsnn3]

Today, being the day right after Labor Day, the crowds were light! We headed over to the Magic Kingdpom for a final few rides and waited no more than 20 mins for anything (we pratically walked onto Space Mountain.) However... Pirates of the Carribean was down.. which sucked as when we were in the Magic Kingdom on Sunday for Extra Magic hours, it was also closed. It was the only ride we didn't do.

Hey!! We left Monday (Labor Day). Not surprised POC was still not running Monday AM. We got stuck on it Sunday evening for a little over an hour. Didn't get rescued til after 12am!! Which was bad for us as we only went to MK late to view the fireworks & electrical parade before EMH til 1 am. So that ate an hour of our EMH They did give us a fastpass for any ride in MK that was good til Sept 15, but that did us no good either as there were no lines for the remaining 45minutes of EMH that night and we were leaving early the next morning

 

[MedicGoofy]

Way to share the magic with anothe family That family must of been so appreciative!!! Too bad about POTC and the hole Idol thing, but that worked out so much better in the end

It sounds like you had an awesome trip. I would love to see pics as I can't wait for my trip in 64 days

 

[famsen]

So what's the REAL scoop on the American Idol Experience? I always wonder if there is one person who is a "plant" in each of the shows. Is this true?
I've had my suspicions. How much of your day does it take to audition? Do they send you to makeup and wardrobe?
Always wanted to know. Thanks!
Oh and awesome in spreading the magic to another family!

 

[TravelGrl]

Thanks for posting. I loved your review and especially the excitement that the other family must have felt of being FP with you. Awesome!

 

[SuperRob]

So what's the REAL scoop on the American Idol Experience? I always wonder if there is one person who is a "plant" in each of the shows. Is this true?
I've had my suspicions. How much of your day does it take to audition? Do they send you to makeup and wardrobe?
Always wanted to know. Thanks!
Oh and awesome in spreading the magic to another family!

One of the gals in my church was the runner-up in her group when she tried out for it, and only because she was technically a year too old. So if there's a plant, it would be news to her.

 

[209Disney]

How was US/IoA? Was it crowded, and were you able to see everything you wanted in 1 day!? We will be leaving a week from today and will be trying out Universal for the first time!

 

[kappyfamily]

Great review, love how positive you are! Any good places you ate at?

 

[shdwstrm]

Hey all! Thanks for the comments and questions. After getting delayed on our second flight from Washington to Buffali, I'm FINALLY Home!!! I'm pretty whooped so I'm heading off to bed. I'll answer any questions you have tomorrow while I'm sorting through my pictures. Nite!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this to our trip report board.

 

[hotmailop963]

Great review. Good thread,Thanks for posting.

 

[shdwstrm]

How was US/IoA? Was it crowded, and were you able to see everything you wanted in 1 day!? We will be leaving a week from today and will be trying out Universal for the first time!

US/IoA was great for lines. The longest we waited was 30 mins for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (I only saw about the first 30 secs of th3e ride before my motion sickness kicked in and I had to close my eyes and hide my head in the corner )

Everything else was 20 mins and under. We didn't do all of the rides at both places but we did manage to hit quite a bit. Lemme see if I can remeber all of them

US- Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (SOOOOO GOOD!! I listened to Kickstart my heart), Jaws, Shrek 4D, Revenge of the Mummy

IoA - Hulk, Jurrasic Park, Cat in the Hat, The Caro-suess-al (my friend LOVES Carosels) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Dragon Challenge (Both Sides), and we also did Olivander's Wand Shop show

We did all of this with TONS of time to spare.
I think we spent a good 4 hours just in Potter Land. The food at the 3 Broomsticks is yummy!!!!

Hope you have fun!!!!

 

[shdwstrm]

So what's the REAL scoop on the American Idol Experience? I always wonder if there is one person who is a "plant" in each of the shows. Is this true?
I've had my suspicions. How much of your day does it take to audition? Do they send you to makeup and wardrobe?
Always wanted to know. Thanks!
Oh and awesome in spreading the magic to another family!

Here's the scoop for the American Idol Experience.

They choose 15 people a day to be in the actual show. To get to that stage you have to pass 2 rounds. The first round is with a casting director. You sing anything you want (nothing original tho) for about 30 seconds. They ask you a bunch of questions and stuff. If they feel you're good enough, or have a different sound than other auditionees, you move on (I was told my voice was very broadway sounding.) After the first round, you are given a list of songs in a variety of different genres. You pick 2 of those songs to sing before a producer (it's 90 second versions of the songs and it's karaoke style) and then if you are deemed good enough, you move on to the actual show.

Before the show, they film some mini video segments to air, like you running down a hallway screaming that you got in. You also get a yellow "Vote for me" card on a lanyard to wear.

If you earn enough votes and are the winner for the night, you win a chance to go to the TV finale. However... you can only go if you are American. Canadaians, and others from around the world, you can transfer this prize to someone else, but you can't actually use it. Kind of a bummer.

The process is kind of similar to the actual show. I tried out for Canadian Idol a few years back. We were put into groups of 4 to sing in front of three people (they were assistant directors and other people that work on the show.) If you passed that, which I did, you go onto singing 1 on 1 with one of the 2 producers. Only if you pass that do you get to actually be on TV and meet the celebrity judges. I didn't make it past round 2 (I was told I didn't quite have enough power in my voice,) but it was a cool experience.

Hope that helps!

 

[shdwstrm]

Great review, love how positive you are! Any good places you ate at?

We had the free quickservice meal plan so it was mostly burgers, chicken, fries, etc. But we did have a nice sit down dinner at The 50`s Prime Time Cafe. We split the Moms Favorites platter that had pulled pork, meatloaf, and fried chicken. That was super yummy!! Good comfort food.

At Universal`s Islands of Adventure, we had dinner at the 3 Broomsticks. My friend had the fish and chips and I had an excelent chicken salad. Really good food. Oh and I recomend that if you`ve already had a few butterbeers and want something a little lighter, try the cider! I had apple cider which was really good, but the girl asked me if I had tried the pear cider. I replied no, but I`d try it with a refil in my butterbeer mug (you still pay but MUCH less.) She went away for a second, and brought me back a free cup of the pear cider. SOOOOO yummy!!!!! I could drink that stuff like water!!!

Other than that, always reccomend Le Cellier. Not just because Im Canadian, but when I went in 2006, it was by far the BEST resturant we ate at.

Take Care!