BuenaVistaBound
Planning my next trip...
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2010
- Messages
- 92
Here is my first trip report, from a five-day stay in mid July. We hit each park during our stay, and used the deluxe dining plan (so this report will be heavy on the food). Sorry, I don't have the attention span to roll this out in chapters like some of the more accomplished trip-reporters here on the DIS.
This was our first DVC trip staying at our home property, Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had used the online check-in and arrived about 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Our room wasn't ready yet, but we left my cell number and the front desk said they would text us when the room was ready. We walked around the hotel a bit to take in the atmosphere, and wandered over to the pool to check things out. We were at Sanaa for lunch when they opened, and got a great table right next to a window. DW had a terrific salmon in some exotic vegetable broth, I had the tandoori chicken. One disappointment with the meal plan was the kid menus -- we had a lot of great meals and the kids had a lot of chicken fingers...
After lunch, we went out to the savannah viewing area to get a closer look at the animals. After five minutes or so, we got the text -- our room was ready! We went to the rental car and grabbed our luggage. One thing about Kidani Village -- it is huge! We just happened to be parked next to the nearest elevator to our room, and it still seemed like we walked forever to get there. We soon discovered that there was a stairwell nearby and parked next to the stairs from then on.
Monday afternoon, DW and DD had appointments at the Grand Floridian spa for manicures and pedicures. We parked over by the wedding pavillion and they went to the spa while DS and I hopped on the monorail for Magic Kingdom. I told him that we would have time for one ride, and then we'd head back to meet up for dinner. He chose Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, so we got off the monorail and headed for Tomorrowland. After a modest wait (about 20 minutes) we did Buzz. Something went wrong and we stalled for about five minutes on the ride, so I got my highest score ever, over 600K points! On the way out, we grabbed fast passes for a return trip to Buzz and headed back to the Grand Floridian.
We met in the lobby and headed to our ADR at 1900 Park Fare for dinner. We didn't get a very good table, we were in the small room that leads to the back exit, so we didn't get to see the Cinderella & Prince Charming dance, but Drusilla did come and dance with the kids. I had pre-ordered a chocolate slipper, which was enjoyed by all.
After dinner, we all went back to Magic Kingdom and used our Buzz fastpasses and took a ride on the TTL. Then we walked through Liberty Square and staked out a spot for the Main Street Electric Parade. Even after the sun went down, it was HOT. I think I sweat more standing in the dark before the parade then I had when the sun was out. The parade itself was great, a big hit with the kids.
They're not real fond of the fireworks, so we took advantage of the sparse crowds during the fireworks to ride Pirates of the Carribean and the Magic Carpets. That was enough for one day, so we rode the boat back to the Grand Floridian and then drove home to Kidani Village.
Day Two - Epcot
On Tuesday we had a quick breakfast in our room and then headed over to Epcot. We got there around 9:30, and I pulled my first commando move of the trip: I went straight to The Land to get Soarin fastpasses while DW and the kids went to Nemo. I darted and sprinted through the crowds and met them at the Nemo entrance in about five minutes time. To me, Nemo has one of the best-themed queues in all of Disney World, so it was almost a disappointment when there was no wait! Both kids love fish and marine life, so we spent quite a while in the aquarium viewing areas. After talking some turtle with Crush, we walked over to Ellen's World of Energy.
My DS is a big fan of dinosaurs, but in three previous trips to Epcot, the world of energy has been closed. In fact, on our last visit, we got as far as the Jeopardy! segment in the film before the lights came on and we were told that there had been a malfunction. So, we were all excited to finally see the whole dinosaur ride. It was louder than I remember...
We walked over to Test Track and grabbed some fastpasses, and continued on to the Mexico pavillion. The Three Caballeros was a big hit with the kids, so much so that I took them on it a second time while DW found the restroom. Then it was on to Norway, where we rode the Maelstrom and reported for our ADRs for lunch with the princesses. DD was over the moon to meet all of her favorite characters, especially Aerial and Snow White. The food was excellent, I've read mixed reviews on Akershus, but our meal was very good (I had the venison sausage).
Walking around post-lunch was very hot at Epcot, and we made the long journey from Norway to Journey Into Imagination. There was no wait next door at Captain EO, but DW had no interest so we skipped it. We went back to The Land and headed for Soarin. This is another ride that I've never done -- 90 minute waits pretty much rule out a ride for me. But we had our fastpasses so off we went. DD was too short, so I took DS while DW took the girl to Living with the Land. DS and I walked through the fastpass entrance area to the spot where they collect your passes. Little did I know, but even the fast pass line queues up after they take your ticket. But just as I handed mine over, a CM came running up yelling "I need a two!" and we were on our way.
We got escorted right up to the front, and stepped right onto the ride. Wow!! I have a new favorite ride.
We switched off and DW took DS for a second ride on Soarin, while I took DD for a return trip to Living with the Land ( the poor girl had to ride it a third time when DS wanted to go). We then took a second trip on Nemo and walked around Innoventions for a while. We had a 6:30 ADR at Le Cellier, so we walked over and checked in at ten after six, knowing that we'd have to wait. And wait we did. Until almost 7:00 p.m. The gardens are nice, but for a place that you need to make reservations six months out, they really should have a better waiting area. Anyway, the food was very good, we all had steaks. It was almost 8:30 by the time we got out of there and the kids were exhausted, so we made for the entrance against the crowds heading back for Illuminations. I stopped a family of four that was heading towards Test Track and gave them our fastpasses.
Day Three - Animal Kingdom
We're not big fans of Animal Kingdom for a number of reasons, but we went over early on Wednesday for an ADR at Tusker House for the Donald's Safari Breakfast. It was an extra magic hours day, so we got in about 8:30 a.m. and headed straight for the safari ride. Most of the animals hadn't had their cup o' joe yet, because there wasn't much action on the savannah.
After the safari, we went straight to Tusker House and checked in. We were about 20 minutes early and expected to wait. We were entertained by wandering around the entrance and hearing the supervisor castigating the girl at the desk for checking in guests too early. Breakfast was very good (love the juice), and there was a great handler who came to our table near the end to ask if we had seen all the characters. We had not -- Mickey came through while we were at the buffet. So he went out and found Mickey and brought him to our table!
Afterwards, we walked over towards the Finding Nemo show. We found a very long line, which miraculously started to break up just as we neared the entrance to the queue! Then we found out why: they were at capacity. So it was on to Dinoland, where we shelled out an extra $20 to play some silly carnival games. One very observant CM noticed my little ones were not very good at carnival games, and gave them prizes anyway. Meanwhile, there was no wait at the Triceratops Spin, so we jumped aboard and had a nice flight. The nearby Dinosaur ride had a loooong wait time and DD didn't meet the height restriction, so we looked at our two sweaty progeny and decided it was time to head back to Kidani Village and enjoy the pool and spray ground.
We had a savannah view room, and we really got to enjoy it on this day. After the heat of Animal Kingdom, everyone was relieved to go back to the room for a break and watch the animals while we did some laundry and made some lunch. DD took a nap, DW caught up on her email... a productive afternoon.
That evening, we had an ADR at Jiko. I had a very rare lamb chop with a nice wine that it was paired with. Everyone enjoyed their meal, it was worth the two table credits to dine at a signature restaurant. Afterwards, we walked around Jambo House a bit and decided that we liked the hotel feel of that resort a little better than the condo feel of Kidani Village. After the kids worked off their dinner at the playground, we headed back home and got our suits on for a nighttime swim. The evening movies at Kidani are right over the pool, so we got to float around and watch "A Bug's Life" before shuffling off to bed to rest up for Magic Kingdom.
Day Four - The Magic Kingdom
We woke up and had a quick breakfast in our room before driving over to the transportation and ticketing center to catch the steamboat to Magic Kingdom. We were pretty determined to keep a leisurely pace, so it was about 10:00 a.m. by the time we got through the gates. Our first stop was the barber shop, where our kids both got the pixie dust treatment. Honestly, I was getting a little edgy as 10:30 drifted towards 11:00 a.m. while we waited for our turns in the barber's chair. It was worth the wait: the kids got compliments on their hair all day long.
From Main Street, we headed straight back to Fantasy land. Commando move #2: I walked briskly ahead to Peter Pan to get fastpasses while DW and kids made their way over. I got us four passes and some pixie dust of my own: four bonus passes to Mickey's Philharmagic! In preparation for our upcoming lunch, we rode Winnie the Pooh. By then, it was time for a ride to Neverland. At the risk of alerting them, I'm so glad not many people get the whole pastpass thing. The FP return was about 35 minutes and the standby was already 50! Why on Earth would you wait on line?? After the ride, I went and got a second fastpass for later. We crossed over to Its a Small World and then walked through Fantasy Land towards Tomorrowland.
There are lots of walls up and construction going on for the new Fantasyland. You can even see some of the forest going up adjacent to the castle. Once we arrived in Tomorrowland, I immediately got fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear (that's 12 I'm carrying, if you're keeping track). From there, we went into the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor and the redirected the kids away from Stitch's Great Escape
The it was time to walk to the Crystal Palace for lunch with Pooh and friends.
This was our first meal at Crystal Palace and it was very good. A nice buffet and the characters kept a steady pace moving through the room. We all made ice cream concoctions for dessert before venturing back into the sun. Our next stop was Pirates of the Caribbean, but we decided to duck in for some shade at the Enchanted Tiki Room. I haven't been in there for many years, but the kids got a kick out of seeing Iago and my son especially appreciated the details of the singing masks. Then it was on to Pirates and Jack Sparrow's adventures in Tortuga.
As a public service message, please don't be this guy: someone on our boat spent the whole ride snapping flash pictures. Not only did it give all of us a headache and generally ruin the ride, but they're going to LOOK TERRIBLE!! When you hit those plastic dummies with a hard white flash that's all they look like: plastic dummies. For the sake of everything holy: put the camera away for two minutes! Enjoy the ride! If you really need to remember what each scene looked like, buy a damn postcard!!
Okay, I'm done with my screed.
We emerged from Pirates dizzy but determined, and we just happened to come across the beginning of the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade (which was actually the end, since it started on Main Street and wrapped in Frontierland). We got a great spot right up front, on the edge of some trees for shade (did I mention it was hot??). Things were great for about five minutes, and then there came a dreaded camera-person again.
This time it was a woman, with no children in tow, who pushed her way to the front and stood in front of the group of kids at the rope. Another parent and I made astonished faces at one another, but figured she was just getting a shot and would back off. But no. Instead, she starts jockeying for a good angle and steps on some other kid. At that point, three of us parents start yelling at her and she scurried away.
After the parade, we walked towards the Haunted Mansion, but were disappointed to see the line queued up outside the attraction area. I know it moves quick, but the kids were kinda feeling the sun after the parade so we moved on. Back to Peter Pan, where we used our second fastpasses and again marveled at the folks standing on line for 90 minutes. Our next stop was the Barnstormer, but we had to wait out a thunderstorm first. Just as we got there, the skies opened up and there was some serious thunder and lightning. We ducked into the big tent to do some shopping (with about four thousand other wet people) and waited for the skies to clear. It was a little frustrating standing inside for an hour while it rained outside, but we were the first people on line when the Barnstormer reopened. I was glad to get a chance to ride it with my kids before it disappears.
We had an ADR at Tony's Town Square, and after our delay it was drawing closer. So we walked back through Tomorrowland and used our Buzz Lightyear fastpasses. On the way out, Buzz himself was greeting guests. I usually don't like to wait on line for character greets, but we still had a few minutes before dinner and the kids like Buzz. It started to rain again, and I could just see them shutting him down as we got on deck, but we managed to get to him before the skies opened up again. Dinner at Tony's was good -- it doesn't get a lot of love on the DIS Boards, but I've enjoyed it every time we've eaten there. And I'm from New York, so I've had some decent Italian food in my time
By the time we finished dessert, the kids could barely hold their heads up, so it was time to go. We rode the monorail back to the TTC and drove home to Kidani Village. There was still some rumbling in the sky, so we skipped the pool and made for an early bedtime, but not before packing everything up.
Day Five - Hollywood Studios
This was checkout day, so we gathered all of our luggage and goodies. Once all the gear was packed up, we walked over to Jambo house for breakfast at Boma. We had made the mistake of driving over to our dinner at Jiko (and realizing after circling the parking lot that we could hit our room with a rock), but this time we walked. It was morning so the heat wasn't too bad. Again, the food was good but the juice was a highlight -- I must have drank a pitcher all by myself! Then we hopped in our loaded car and drove to Hollywood Studios.
Our first stop was the Indiana Jones stunt show. The kids have been very into Indiana Jones since getting the LEGO game for the Wii, so they were excited to see scenes from the movie performed live. After the show we bought DS an Indy hat and whip. From there it was onto Star Tours, but a tour group or something must have gone in front of us, because as we neared the entrance the standby time went from 10 minutes to 45! On our last trip the place was empty, and we rode it three times in a row, so I didn't feel bad about missing one last trip before it gets decommissioned. Instead, we went into the gift shop where the kids built their own light sabers.
After that, it was time to report for our final ADR of the trip: lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive-In. Not only is this my favorite restaurant at Disneyworld, it's one of my favorites anywhere. The theme is so complete, I loved drive-ins as a kid and I still love cheesy 50's monster movies, so I can't think of a better place. Plus, a hamburger and chocolate shake are my idea of high cuisine, so nothing pulls all of those elements together like the Sci-Fi Drive-In.
While there, we had the worst service of our visit -- the waitress was just terrible. She never brought my wife's drink, delivered the wrong plates to our table, brought ketchup after three requests... bad. The only upside was that she took so long to bring the check, we got to see the trailer reel nearly a full two times. "Is this still you favorite place?," my wife chided me after we got the check. Yeah, even The Must Gruesomely Bad Waitress You've Ever Seen! couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the place.
After our Monster Marathon of a lunch, we didn't have much time before it was time to leave. We stopped for a spin on the Great Movie Ride and then went to see The Little Mermaid show, a favorite of DD. Our last attraction was catching the end of the parade.
As we walked out, we made an attempt to use up the dozen or so snack credits remaining on our meal plan. We got four Coke slushies, apples and potato chips for the trip out, but something happened to the computers handling the card transactions where we were. After waiting around for ten minutes, the exasperated CM told us we could leave -- they were on the house! We couldn't use all of our snack credits despite our best efforts.
A few more highlights that I didn't mention: we started collecting pins on this trip. We didn't get into trading them yet, and the kids are still a bit small and found them cumbersome. But they still liked to find ones from their favorite rides. We also made liberal use of the refillable mugs while at the resort, so even if you don't get the meal plan, I would recommend them highly. I mentioned it a few times, but it bears repeating: use the fastpass! It made a big difference in our experience. I remember reading that Disney was experimenting with an all-day fastpass type thing where they give you an itinerary, they should totally do that! I could see going one day on schedule where you get to ride everything and then a second day where you can just explore. That would be cool.
Anyway until the next trip, when I'll be...
Buena Vista Bound
This was our first DVC trip staying at our home property, Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had used the online check-in and arrived about 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Our room wasn't ready yet, but we left my cell number and the front desk said they would text us when the room was ready. We walked around the hotel a bit to take in the atmosphere, and wandered over to the pool to check things out. We were at Sanaa for lunch when they opened, and got a great table right next to a window. DW had a terrific salmon in some exotic vegetable broth, I had the tandoori chicken. One disappointment with the meal plan was the kid menus -- we had a lot of great meals and the kids had a lot of chicken fingers...
After lunch, we went out to the savannah viewing area to get a closer look at the animals. After five minutes or so, we got the text -- our room was ready! We went to the rental car and grabbed our luggage. One thing about Kidani Village -- it is huge! We just happened to be parked next to the nearest elevator to our room, and it still seemed like we walked forever to get there. We soon discovered that there was a stairwell nearby and parked next to the stairs from then on.
Monday afternoon, DW and DD had appointments at the Grand Floridian spa for manicures and pedicures. We parked over by the wedding pavillion and they went to the spa while DS and I hopped on the monorail for Magic Kingdom. I told him that we would have time for one ride, and then we'd head back to meet up for dinner. He chose Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, so we got off the monorail and headed for Tomorrowland. After a modest wait (about 20 minutes) we did Buzz. Something went wrong and we stalled for about five minutes on the ride, so I got my highest score ever, over 600K points! On the way out, we grabbed fast passes for a return trip to Buzz and headed back to the Grand Floridian.
We met in the lobby and headed to our ADR at 1900 Park Fare for dinner. We didn't get a very good table, we were in the small room that leads to the back exit, so we didn't get to see the Cinderella & Prince Charming dance, but Drusilla did come and dance with the kids. I had pre-ordered a chocolate slipper, which was enjoyed by all.
After dinner, we all went back to Magic Kingdom and used our Buzz fastpasses and took a ride on the TTL. Then we walked through Liberty Square and staked out a spot for the Main Street Electric Parade. Even after the sun went down, it was HOT. I think I sweat more standing in the dark before the parade then I had when the sun was out. The parade itself was great, a big hit with the kids.
They're not real fond of the fireworks, so we took advantage of the sparse crowds during the fireworks to ride Pirates of the Carribean and the Magic Carpets. That was enough for one day, so we rode the boat back to the Grand Floridian and then drove home to Kidani Village.
Day Two - Epcot
On Tuesday we had a quick breakfast in our room and then headed over to Epcot. We got there around 9:30, and I pulled my first commando move of the trip: I went straight to The Land to get Soarin fastpasses while DW and the kids went to Nemo. I darted and sprinted through the crowds and met them at the Nemo entrance in about five minutes time. To me, Nemo has one of the best-themed queues in all of Disney World, so it was almost a disappointment when there was no wait! Both kids love fish and marine life, so we spent quite a while in the aquarium viewing areas. After talking some turtle with Crush, we walked over to Ellen's World of Energy.
My DS is a big fan of dinosaurs, but in three previous trips to Epcot, the world of energy has been closed. In fact, on our last visit, we got as far as the Jeopardy! segment in the film before the lights came on and we were told that there had been a malfunction. So, we were all excited to finally see the whole dinosaur ride. It was louder than I remember...
We walked over to Test Track and grabbed some fastpasses, and continued on to the Mexico pavillion. The Three Caballeros was a big hit with the kids, so much so that I took them on it a second time while DW found the restroom. Then it was on to Norway, where we rode the Maelstrom and reported for our ADRs for lunch with the princesses. DD was over the moon to meet all of her favorite characters, especially Aerial and Snow White. The food was excellent, I've read mixed reviews on Akershus, but our meal was very good (I had the venison sausage).
Walking around post-lunch was very hot at Epcot, and we made the long journey from Norway to Journey Into Imagination. There was no wait next door at Captain EO, but DW had no interest so we skipped it. We went back to The Land and headed for Soarin. This is another ride that I've never done -- 90 minute waits pretty much rule out a ride for me. But we had our fastpasses so off we went. DD was too short, so I took DS while DW took the girl to Living with the Land. DS and I walked through the fastpass entrance area to the spot where they collect your passes. Little did I know, but even the fast pass line queues up after they take your ticket. But just as I handed mine over, a CM came running up yelling "I need a two!" and we were on our way.
We got escorted right up to the front, and stepped right onto the ride. Wow!! I have a new favorite ride.We switched off and DW took DS for a second ride on Soarin, while I took DD for a return trip to Living with the Land ( the poor girl had to ride it a third time when DS wanted to go). We then took a second trip on Nemo and walked around Innoventions for a while. We had a 6:30 ADR at Le Cellier, so we walked over and checked in at ten after six, knowing that we'd have to wait. And wait we did. Until almost 7:00 p.m. The gardens are nice, but for a place that you need to make reservations six months out, they really should have a better waiting area. Anyway, the food was very good, we all had steaks. It was almost 8:30 by the time we got out of there and the kids were exhausted, so we made for the entrance against the crowds heading back for Illuminations. I stopped a family of four that was heading towards Test Track and gave them our fastpasses.
Day Three - Animal Kingdom
We're not big fans of Animal Kingdom for a number of reasons, but we went over early on Wednesday for an ADR at Tusker House for the Donald's Safari Breakfast. It was an extra magic hours day, so we got in about 8:30 a.m. and headed straight for the safari ride. Most of the animals hadn't had their cup o' joe yet, because there wasn't much action on the savannah.
After the safari, we went straight to Tusker House and checked in. We were about 20 minutes early and expected to wait. We were entertained by wandering around the entrance and hearing the supervisor castigating the girl at the desk for checking in guests too early. Breakfast was very good (love the juice), and there was a great handler who came to our table near the end to ask if we had seen all the characters. We had not -- Mickey came through while we were at the buffet. So he went out and found Mickey and brought him to our table!
Afterwards, we walked over towards the Finding Nemo show. We found a very long line, which miraculously started to break up just as we neared the entrance to the queue! Then we found out why: they were at capacity. So it was on to Dinoland, where we shelled out an extra $20 to play some silly carnival games. One very observant CM noticed my little ones were not very good at carnival games, and gave them prizes anyway. Meanwhile, there was no wait at the Triceratops Spin, so we jumped aboard and had a nice flight. The nearby Dinosaur ride had a loooong wait time and DD didn't meet the height restriction, so we looked at our two sweaty progeny and decided it was time to head back to Kidani Village and enjoy the pool and spray ground.
We had a savannah view room, and we really got to enjoy it on this day. After the heat of Animal Kingdom, everyone was relieved to go back to the room for a break and watch the animals while we did some laundry and made some lunch. DD took a nap, DW caught up on her email... a productive afternoon.
That evening, we had an ADR at Jiko. I had a very rare lamb chop with a nice wine that it was paired with. Everyone enjoyed their meal, it was worth the two table credits to dine at a signature restaurant. Afterwards, we walked around Jambo House a bit and decided that we liked the hotel feel of that resort a little better than the condo feel of Kidani Village. After the kids worked off their dinner at the playground, we headed back home and got our suits on for a nighttime swim. The evening movies at Kidani are right over the pool, so we got to float around and watch "A Bug's Life" before shuffling off to bed to rest up for Magic Kingdom.
Day Four - The Magic Kingdom
We woke up and had a quick breakfast in our room before driving over to the transportation and ticketing center to catch the steamboat to Magic Kingdom. We were pretty determined to keep a leisurely pace, so it was about 10:00 a.m. by the time we got through the gates. Our first stop was the barber shop, where our kids both got the pixie dust treatment. Honestly, I was getting a little edgy as 10:30 drifted towards 11:00 a.m. while we waited for our turns in the barber's chair. It was worth the wait: the kids got compliments on their hair all day long.
From Main Street, we headed straight back to Fantasy land. Commando move #2: I walked briskly ahead to Peter Pan to get fastpasses while DW and kids made their way over. I got us four passes and some pixie dust of my own: four bonus passes to Mickey's Philharmagic! In preparation for our upcoming lunch, we rode Winnie the Pooh. By then, it was time for a ride to Neverland. At the risk of alerting them, I'm so glad not many people get the whole pastpass thing. The FP return was about 35 minutes and the standby was already 50! Why on Earth would you wait on line?? After the ride, I went and got a second fastpass for later. We crossed over to Its a Small World and then walked through Fantasy Land towards Tomorrowland.
There are lots of walls up and construction going on for the new Fantasyland. You can even see some of the forest going up adjacent to the castle. Once we arrived in Tomorrowland, I immediately got fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear (that's 12 I'm carrying, if you're keeping track). From there, we went into the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor and the redirected the kids away from Stitch's Great Escape
The it was time to walk to the Crystal Palace for lunch with Pooh and friends.This was our first meal at Crystal Palace and it was very good. A nice buffet and the characters kept a steady pace moving through the room. We all made ice cream concoctions for dessert before venturing back into the sun. Our next stop was Pirates of the Caribbean, but we decided to duck in for some shade at the Enchanted Tiki Room. I haven't been in there for many years, but the kids got a kick out of seeing Iago and my son especially appreciated the details of the singing masks. Then it was on to Pirates and Jack Sparrow's adventures in Tortuga.
As a public service message, please don't be this guy: someone on our boat spent the whole ride snapping flash pictures. Not only did it give all of us a headache and generally ruin the ride, but they're going to LOOK TERRIBLE!! When you hit those plastic dummies with a hard white flash that's all they look like: plastic dummies. For the sake of everything holy: put the camera away for two minutes! Enjoy the ride! If you really need to remember what each scene looked like, buy a damn postcard!!
Okay, I'm done with my screed.We emerged from Pirates dizzy but determined, and we just happened to come across the beginning of the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade (which was actually the end, since it started on Main Street and wrapped in Frontierland). We got a great spot right up front, on the edge of some trees for shade (did I mention it was hot??). Things were great for about five minutes, and then there came a dreaded camera-person again.
This time it was a woman, with no children in tow, who pushed her way to the front and stood in front of the group of kids at the rope. Another parent and I made astonished faces at one another, but figured she was just getting a shot and would back off. But no. Instead, she starts jockeying for a good angle and steps on some other kid. At that point, three of us parents start yelling at her and she scurried away. After the parade, we walked towards the Haunted Mansion, but were disappointed to see the line queued up outside the attraction area. I know it moves quick, but the kids were kinda feeling the sun after the parade so we moved on. Back to Peter Pan, where we used our second fastpasses and again marveled at the folks standing on line for 90 minutes. Our next stop was the Barnstormer, but we had to wait out a thunderstorm first. Just as we got there, the skies opened up and there was some serious thunder and lightning. We ducked into the big tent to do some shopping (with about four thousand other wet people) and waited for the skies to clear. It was a little frustrating standing inside for an hour while it rained outside, but we were the first people on line when the Barnstormer reopened. I was glad to get a chance to ride it with my kids before it disappears.
We had an ADR at Tony's Town Square, and after our delay it was drawing closer. So we walked back through Tomorrowland and used our Buzz Lightyear fastpasses. On the way out, Buzz himself was greeting guests. I usually don't like to wait on line for character greets, but we still had a few minutes before dinner and the kids like Buzz. It started to rain again, and I could just see them shutting him down as we got on deck, but we managed to get to him before the skies opened up again. Dinner at Tony's was good -- it doesn't get a lot of love on the DIS Boards, but I've enjoyed it every time we've eaten there. And I'm from New York, so I've had some decent Italian food in my time
By the time we finished dessert, the kids could barely hold their heads up, so it was time to go. We rode the monorail back to the TTC and drove home to Kidani Village. There was still some rumbling in the sky, so we skipped the pool and made for an early bedtime, but not before packing everything up.
Day Five - Hollywood Studios
This was checkout day, so we gathered all of our luggage and goodies. Once all the gear was packed up, we walked over to Jambo house for breakfast at Boma. We had made the mistake of driving over to our dinner at Jiko (and realizing after circling the parking lot that we could hit our room with a rock), but this time we walked. It was morning so the heat wasn't too bad. Again, the food was good but the juice was a highlight -- I must have drank a pitcher all by myself! Then we hopped in our loaded car and drove to Hollywood Studios.
Our first stop was the Indiana Jones stunt show. The kids have been very into Indiana Jones since getting the LEGO game for the Wii, so they were excited to see scenes from the movie performed live. After the show we bought DS an Indy hat and whip. From there it was onto Star Tours, but a tour group or something must have gone in front of us, because as we neared the entrance the standby time went from 10 minutes to 45! On our last trip the place was empty, and we rode it three times in a row, so I didn't feel bad about missing one last trip before it gets decommissioned. Instead, we went into the gift shop where the kids built their own light sabers.
After that, it was time to report for our final ADR of the trip: lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive-In. Not only is this my favorite restaurant at Disneyworld, it's one of my favorites anywhere. The theme is so complete, I loved drive-ins as a kid and I still love cheesy 50's monster movies, so I can't think of a better place. Plus, a hamburger and chocolate shake are my idea of high cuisine, so nothing pulls all of those elements together like the Sci-Fi Drive-In.
While there, we had the worst service of our visit -- the waitress was just terrible. She never brought my wife's drink, delivered the wrong plates to our table, brought ketchup after three requests... bad. The only upside was that she took so long to bring the check, we got to see the trailer reel nearly a full two times. "Is this still you favorite place?," my wife chided me after we got the check. Yeah, even The Must Gruesomely Bad Waitress You've Ever Seen! couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the place.
After our Monster Marathon of a lunch, we didn't have much time before it was time to leave. We stopped for a spin on the Great Movie Ride and then went to see The Little Mermaid show, a favorite of DD. Our last attraction was catching the end of the parade.
As we walked out, we made an attempt to use up the dozen or so snack credits remaining on our meal plan. We got four Coke slushies, apples and potato chips for the trip out, but something happened to the computers handling the card transactions where we were. After waiting around for ten minutes, the exasperated CM told us we could leave -- they were on the house! We couldn't use all of our snack credits despite our best efforts.
A few more highlights that I didn't mention: we started collecting pins on this trip. We didn't get into trading them yet, and the kids are still a bit small and found them cumbersome. But they still liked to find ones from their favorite rides. We also made liberal use of the refillable mugs while at the resort, so even if you don't get the meal plan, I would recommend them highly. I mentioned it a few times, but it bears repeating: use the fastpass! It made a big difference in our experience. I remember reading that Disney was experimenting with an all-day fastpass type thing where they give you an itinerary, they should totally do that! I could see going one day on schedule where you get to ride everything and then a second day where you can just explore. That would be cool.
Anyway until the next trip, when I'll be...
Buena Vista Bound
