puffkin
DVC Owner- SSR & AKV
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2001
- Messages
- 9,848
Cast:
Woody- planner, 23-year Accountant/Disney nut- 4th trip
Buzz- 25 year old fiancé and Billing Coordinator/night college student- 3rd trip
Dates: July 19th July 26th, 2003
Sunday July 20th:
Our strategy on this trip was to try and get to the parks by opening and then take a long afternoon break. We knew that the parks would be crowded and of course everyone knows what the weather is like in Florida during July, so we sacrificed sleeping in to get to the parks early. Today we were heading to Epcot, so our call from Mickey came at 7:30 a.m. To expedite getting ready in the morning, I shower at night and Buzz showers in the morning. We have our routine down pretty good and we were at the bus stop by 8:20 a.m. An Epcot bus was just pulling away, but the driver stopped for us and we squeezed on.
We got through security and waited in the park for rope drop. Right before the official opening time, the character bus drove by with a bunch of characters. It stopped near the fountain and the characters got off for a meet and greet. We joined the stampede to Test Track, but I got sidetracked by the characters. I know that they are just people with furry costumes on, but I still get a kick out of them. Unfortunately, Buzz does not share my enthusiasm. I did manage to get him to take my picture with one of the penguins from Mary Poppins. I noticed Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Gepetto, Baloo, and Meeko were also there.
We grabbed Fast Passes for Test Track and then decided to ride using the single riders line because there was no wait. Buzz and I ended up being in the same car with a family of four. After the ride, I decided to try the Dream Chasers show in the post-ride area. It is one of those virtual rides where you sit in a chair that moves while you watch a movie. I had to wait for one ride before I got on. The attraction was ok, but the movie was geared towards kids, it really didnt show anything. What I found to be ironic was that kids couldnt even do this, since you had to be at least 52 to get the chair to work. Buzz passed on this attraction, but he did find the exhibit on the fuel cell car to be interesting.
We had skipped the Wonders of Life pavilion on our last trip, so we headed over there next. We decided not to ride Test Track again, so we gave our passes to a father and son who had just entered the standby line. The Wonders of Life pavilion was not crowded, so we rode the life cycles and looked at some of the exhibits. We also rode Body Wars and saw Cranium Command (I think this attraction is really cute!) with no wait. The Making of Me film was just letting in when we exited Cranium Command so we tried this attraction out for the first time. I thought the movie was very well done and did a good job of handling a very difficult subject.
We decided to skip Universe of Energy since we both had hated this attraction from the prior year, so we headed over to the Land pavilion. Buzz likes Living with the Land, so we grabbed Fast Passes for 45 minutes later. This ride is all right, but I dont understand why it always has such a long line. We also had never seen the Circle of Life film, so we walked right in for the next showing. This film was cute and it had a good message. Buzz was hungry so we decided to grab lunch at the food stands. I thought that these stands had a good selection. Buzz had Chicken fingers, fries a soda. I had a Baked potato with cheese and bacon, garden salad, cookie and soda combination meal. Our total came to $17.
We rode Living with the Land with no wait and noticed some changes in the green house area from our trip last year. By this point we were both tired so we decided to leave. Spaceship Earth had a long line, so we skipped it. On our way out, we found our Leave a Legacy tile, as well as the tiles of some of our friends. We waited about 2 minutes for a bus back to Port Orleans.
Buzz wanted to swim, so we changed into our suits and headed to the quiet pool (which was anything but quiet!). We swam for about 30 minutes until a thunderstorm rolled through around 2 p.m. It stormed about an hour, so we headed back to the room to relax. We left around 3:15 p.m. and decided to head to Downtown Disney and look through some of the shops. We walked right on to a Downtown Disney bus, and walked through some of the shops, taking notes on what we wanted to purchase.
We left Downtown Disney, and waited about 5 minutes for a bus to one of the Epcot area resorts. We got off at the Beach Club and walked through the International Gateway into Epcot. We stopped and watched the street performers in France, who were very funny. We then walked through Italy, Germany, America, Japan and the Outpost. I snacked on a Mickey Ice Cream Bar, and then we headed to China to see the Circlevision movie. We waited about 5 minutes for the movie, which I thought was very interesting and well done. We then headed over to Mexico for the El Rio De Tiempo, but the wait was 20 minutes! We skipped that one.
We then headed over to the Rose and Crown and checked in for our 7:30 p.m. priority seating. We were told it would be a 20 minute wait, which was fine with me since I wanted to stay for Illuminations. We walked through the shops, and our buzzer went off 10 minutes later. We ended up being seated on the patio on the lower level. We both ordered pints of the Harp Lager and shared the fruit and cheese appetizer. The table next to us was dilly-dallying, and the waitress told them they needed the tables for other guests so they left. I think they were hoping to hold out for Illuminations. The waitress did a good job of spacing out our courses so that we could stay for the show. Buzz had the Rose and Crown Steak and I had fish and chips. Both were excellent. The waitress brought our check right before Illuminations started so that we could leave as soon as it was over. Our seats were excellent and we had a great view of the show. I think that this is my favorite nighttime show at Walt Disney World. Our total bill came to $69.
After Illuminations, we joined the crowd and headed out to the busses. Our bus stop did not have a long line, and a bus pulled up right away. We were back to the resort, showered, and in bed by 10:45. Both of us had very sore feet. I was also having body temperature problems. I was either extremely hot (outside) or absolutely freezing (inside). I couldnt seem to find a happy medium. All in all, though, we had a great day in our favorite park.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Viewing Illuminations from great seats at the Rose and Crown
Buzz- Perusing Epcot
Worst
Woody- Aching feet and legs
Buzz- Sore feet
Woody- planner, 23-year Accountant/Disney nut- 4th trip
Buzz- 25 year old fiancé and Billing Coordinator/night college student- 3rd trip
Dates: July 19th July 26th, 2003
Sunday July 20th:
Our strategy on this trip was to try and get to the parks by opening and then take a long afternoon break. We knew that the parks would be crowded and of course everyone knows what the weather is like in Florida during July, so we sacrificed sleeping in to get to the parks early. Today we were heading to Epcot, so our call from Mickey came at 7:30 a.m. To expedite getting ready in the morning, I shower at night and Buzz showers in the morning. We have our routine down pretty good and we were at the bus stop by 8:20 a.m. An Epcot bus was just pulling away, but the driver stopped for us and we squeezed on.
We got through security and waited in the park for rope drop. Right before the official opening time, the character bus drove by with a bunch of characters. It stopped near the fountain and the characters got off for a meet and greet. We joined the stampede to Test Track, but I got sidetracked by the characters. I know that they are just people with furry costumes on, but I still get a kick out of them. Unfortunately, Buzz does not share my enthusiasm. I did manage to get him to take my picture with one of the penguins from Mary Poppins. I noticed Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Gepetto, Baloo, and Meeko were also there.
We grabbed Fast Passes for Test Track and then decided to ride using the single riders line because there was no wait. Buzz and I ended up being in the same car with a family of four. After the ride, I decided to try the Dream Chasers show in the post-ride area. It is one of those virtual rides where you sit in a chair that moves while you watch a movie. I had to wait for one ride before I got on. The attraction was ok, but the movie was geared towards kids, it really didnt show anything. What I found to be ironic was that kids couldnt even do this, since you had to be at least 52 to get the chair to work. Buzz passed on this attraction, but he did find the exhibit on the fuel cell car to be interesting.
We had skipped the Wonders of Life pavilion on our last trip, so we headed over there next. We decided not to ride Test Track again, so we gave our passes to a father and son who had just entered the standby line. The Wonders of Life pavilion was not crowded, so we rode the life cycles and looked at some of the exhibits. We also rode Body Wars and saw Cranium Command (I think this attraction is really cute!) with no wait. The Making of Me film was just letting in when we exited Cranium Command so we tried this attraction out for the first time. I thought the movie was very well done and did a good job of handling a very difficult subject.
We decided to skip Universe of Energy since we both had hated this attraction from the prior year, so we headed over to the Land pavilion. Buzz likes Living with the Land, so we grabbed Fast Passes for 45 minutes later. This ride is all right, but I dont understand why it always has such a long line. We also had never seen the Circle of Life film, so we walked right in for the next showing. This film was cute and it had a good message. Buzz was hungry so we decided to grab lunch at the food stands. I thought that these stands had a good selection. Buzz had Chicken fingers, fries a soda. I had a Baked potato with cheese and bacon, garden salad, cookie and soda combination meal. Our total came to $17.
We rode Living with the Land with no wait and noticed some changes in the green house area from our trip last year. By this point we were both tired so we decided to leave. Spaceship Earth had a long line, so we skipped it. On our way out, we found our Leave a Legacy tile, as well as the tiles of some of our friends. We waited about 2 minutes for a bus back to Port Orleans.
Buzz wanted to swim, so we changed into our suits and headed to the quiet pool (which was anything but quiet!). We swam for about 30 minutes until a thunderstorm rolled through around 2 p.m. It stormed about an hour, so we headed back to the room to relax. We left around 3:15 p.m. and decided to head to Downtown Disney and look through some of the shops. We walked right on to a Downtown Disney bus, and walked through some of the shops, taking notes on what we wanted to purchase.
We left Downtown Disney, and waited about 5 minutes for a bus to one of the Epcot area resorts. We got off at the Beach Club and walked through the International Gateway into Epcot. We stopped and watched the street performers in France, who were very funny. We then walked through Italy, Germany, America, Japan and the Outpost. I snacked on a Mickey Ice Cream Bar, and then we headed to China to see the Circlevision movie. We waited about 5 minutes for the movie, which I thought was very interesting and well done. We then headed over to Mexico for the El Rio De Tiempo, but the wait was 20 minutes! We skipped that one.
We then headed over to the Rose and Crown and checked in for our 7:30 p.m. priority seating. We were told it would be a 20 minute wait, which was fine with me since I wanted to stay for Illuminations. We walked through the shops, and our buzzer went off 10 minutes later. We ended up being seated on the patio on the lower level. We both ordered pints of the Harp Lager and shared the fruit and cheese appetizer. The table next to us was dilly-dallying, and the waitress told them they needed the tables for other guests so they left. I think they were hoping to hold out for Illuminations. The waitress did a good job of spacing out our courses so that we could stay for the show. Buzz had the Rose and Crown Steak and I had fish and chips. Both were excellent. The waitress brought our check right before Illuminations started so that we could leave as soon as it was over. Our seats were excellent and we had a great view of the show. I think that this is my favorite nighttime show at Walt Disney World. Our total bill came to $69.
After Illuminations, we joined the crowd and headed out to the busses. Our bus stop did not have a long line, and a bus pulled up right away. We were back to the resort, showered, and in bed by 10:45. Both of us had very sore feet. I was also having body temperature problems. I was either extremely hot (outside) or absolutely freezing (inside). I couldnt seem to find a happy medium. All in all, though, we had a great day in our favorite park.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Viewing Illuminations from great seats at the Rose and Crown
Buzz- Perusing Epcot
Worst
Woody- Aching feet and legs
Buzz- Sore feet
