Allentown5
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2006
- Messages
- 44
My wife and I jut returned from our 20th ann. trip. We had a wonderful time, and since I have been reading these boards for years and using all the helpful tips and ideas and information, I felt the least I could do would be to give a small report for the trip -
We stayed at ASmu (we are going again n a few weeks with our daughters and wanted to keep this cost down)
Arrived on Thurs 6/24. Used on-line check-in and got everything we requested (1st floor, near transportation) in Calypso 1423. Room was ready when we arrived at 1:00pm and wife got a rose along with our "anniversary badges".
Room - very small compared to the others we stayed at, but very clean and served its purpose. We only slept/showered and dressed there, so no frills was fine. We did have very noisy neighbors and you do hear everything through the walls. Our room did not face the pool and we heard no noise from that. The food court was good for what we used it for (burgers one night, pizza another) and for coffee and OJ in the am.
We knew the first night would be tough at the parks and weren't surprised that by the time we got to DHS the fast passes were gone. We rode ToT and RnR and also recieved a fast pass from a couple leaving for ST so we did that also. Early night since our day had started at 4am.
On Fri we did EPCOT and rode Soarin' and TT multiple times (my wife's first experience with the "rope drop" - usually my middle daughter goes for the fast passes in the morning and my wife stays back and walks at a normal pace with the others. I think she considered the Soarin' race as her first "atraction" of the day. She enjoyed it, though because she also did it at AK and DHS later in the trip! We spent a good 6hrs at EPCOT (and gave a FP to another couople on our way out to keep up the good karma) and went back to rest for EMH at MK that night!
We went to MK for EMH - pm for the first time to see if it would make sense to try it with our daughters in July (we use TGM and had never ventured into the EMH-pm and figured it was a good time to try). For us, it didn't work. The park stayed full up until 2:30am and aside from BTMRR and Pirates, we have had much better times going in the am on reg. days. We will avoid these with the girls in July. Just our experience, I'm sure some days are better than others.
We went back to MK on Sat. am - getting there around 9:30 and rode SM 4 times without any real line. We spent a few hours getting to things we didn't do the night before and headed over to DHS. Great choice! We rode ToT (our favorite of all Disney attractions) 8x. Even RnR was an easy line.
Sunday was Animal Kingdom day and my wife talks more about being the one closest to the rope for the walk towards EE than anything else! We love EE and Dino and spent the am on those attractions. We watched the Bird show for the first time and can't wait to take the girls!
We spent the pm in EPCOT and I got my wife pearls. The girls at PaP were so nice and wonderful! She got earrings with her choices and we shopped the countries for the girls. Great evening in relax mode.
Monday was our last day and we spent the am in DHS (ToT and RnR again 2x each before leaving).
Food wise - the only Table service we did was Rose and Crown. Great service, very good food! We don't eat fancy meals at all - I'm happiest with burgers and my wife eats Salads for her meals usually, so we can't really help anyone much with our dining reviews, but the service itself was very fast. Hostess and Watress were all smiles, informative and efficient.
Last thing - we wore the ann. badges (as a joke at first - we aren't ones to wear those kind of things - it just isn't in our nature to try and draw attention - check my total posts for how long I've been a member and you will know what I mean) but it was great! The best "magic" we received was the cm at the stores calling "Mickey" to have him wish us a Happy Ann. (3x) and the cm - security guard who told my wife she couldn't possibly be married 20 years - (she will be repeating that forever!)
We stayed at ASmu (we are going again n a few weeks with our daughters and wanted to keep this cost down)
Arrived on Thurs 6/24. Used on-line check-in and got everything we requested (1st floor, near transportation) in Calypso 1423. Room was ready when we arrived at 1:00pm and wife got a rose along with our "anniversary badges".
Room - very small compared to the others we stayed at, but very clean and served its purpose. We only slept/showered and dressed there, so no frills was fine. We did have very noisy neighbors and you do hear everything through the walls. Our room did not face the pool and we heard no noise from that. The food court was good for what we used it for (burgers one night, pizza another) and for coffee and OJ in the am.
We knew the first night would be tough at the parks and weren't surprised that by the time we got to DHS the fast passes were gone. We rode ToT and RnR and also recieved a fast pass from a couple leaving for ST so we did that also. Early night since our day had started at 4am.
On Fri we did EPCOT and rode Soarin' and TT multiple times (my wife's first experience with the "rope drop" - usually my middle daughter goes for the fast passes in the morning and my wife stays back and walks at a normal pace with the others. I think she considered the Soarin' race as her first "atraction" of the day. She enjoyed it, though because she also did it at AK and DHS later in the trip! We spent a good 6hrs at EPCOT (and gave a FP to another couople on our way out to keep up the good karma) and went back to rest for EMH at MK that night!
We went to MK for EMH - pm for the first time to see if it would make sense to try it with our daughters in July (we use TGM and had never ventured into the EMH-pm and figured it was a good time to try). For us, it didn't work. The park stayed full up until 2:30am and aside from BTMRR and Pirates, we have had much better times going in the am on reg. days. We will avoid these with the girls in July. Just our experience, I'm sure some days are better than others.
We went back to MK on Sat. am - getting there around 9:30 and rode SM 4 times without any real line. We spent a few hours getting to things we didn't do the night before and headed over to DHS. Great choice! We rode ToT (our favorite of all Disney attractions) 8x. Even RnR was an easy line.
Sunday was Animal Kingdom day and my wife talks more about being the one closest to the rope for the walk towards EE than anything else! We love EE and Dino and spent the am on those attractions. We watched the Bird show for the first time and can't wait to take the girls!
We spent the pm in EPCOT and I got my wife pearls. The girls at PaP were so nice and wonderful! She got earrings with her choices and we shopped the countries for the girls. Great evening in relax mode.
Monday was our last day and we spent the am in DHS (ToT and RnR again 2x each before leaving).
Food wise - the only Table service we did was Rose and Crown. Great service, very good food! We don't eat fancy meals at all - I'm happiest with burgers and my wife eats Salads for her meals usually, so we can't really help anyone much with our dining reviews, but the service itself was very fast. Hostess and Watress were all smiles, informative and efficient.
Last thing - we wore the ann. badges (as a joke at first - we aren't ones to wear those kind of things - it just isn't in our nature to try and draw attention - check my total posts for how long I've been a member and you will know what I mean) but it was great! The best "magic" we received was the cm at the stores calling "Mickey" to have him wish us a Happy Ann. (3x) and the cm - security guard who told my wife she couldn't possibly be married 20 years - (she will be repeating that forever!)
