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
Monday July 21st:
Mickey called at 6:30 a.m. today and we drug our exhausted bodies out of the very comfortable Port Orleans Riverside bed and began our morning routine. Buzz showered and dressed while I changed and snacked on some breakfast items. Then, we filled our water bottles, grabbed the pack (my little bag that I carry in the parks) and made it to the bus stop by 7:30 for Animal Kingdom early entry. We waited about 10 minutes for a bus, and I was surprised at how many people were taking advantage of the early entry throughout the week. We made it to the Animal Kingdom right at 8 a.m.
Now, I tend to over plan my vacations and get stressed out about things before we arrive. Once on vacation, I know that everything is taken care of and I dont tend to get stressed out. Well, I was very surprised at how packed the Animal Kingdom was for this Early Entry. I guess I should have realized that this was the middle of July and people like to do this park early in the day, but I still was unprepared for the amount of people. Now, normally I would have gotten over it, but Disney really fell off the boat this morning on their organization skills. The lines at the turnstiles were horrendously long, so Buzz and I headed toward the Rainforest Café to see if it was open so we could use their entrance to the park. It wasnt, so Buzz and I picked a line. Now, there was a line with a large placard over it saying that it was the line for Donalds Breakfastsaraus. We saw this, and picked the line to the left of it. Well, there was one CM in a sea of people directing people out of that line and into our line. We assumed they were normal day guests and were not going to the breakfast. Well, the lady in front of us starts yelling at all of us saying that this line is only for the breakfast people and we need to get in another line. I wasnt moving until someone told me personally. Well, in the meantime, the Rainforest Café opened, so we got out of line to go through that entrance, but of course the gift shop wasnt open so we couldnt go through. So, we go to get back in the line we were just in, and a CM tells us it is only for breakfast guests. Now, wouldnt you think the breakfast guests would use the entrance marked for breakfast guests. We ended up having to get in a line way back and didnt actually get in the park until 8:15.
Well, we were finally in the park and joined the stampede to Kilimanjero Safari. All of a sudden the traffic just came to a standstill on the path right outside the entrance to Camp Minnie Mickey. Some Disney genius decided to station Safari Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto right along the pathway (which is already too narrow to begin with). What a hassle just to get to the Safari. We made it to the Safari and decided to grab a Fast Pass and walk the Pagani Exploration trail before it became too busy.
I really enjoyed this trail and all the animals were pretty active and visible. I especially got a kick out of one of the male gorillas. He was rambling along the path and all of a sudden he saw us all standing there with cameras ready and he stopped and posed. He actually stopped, turned towards us, waited till we snapped our pictures, than continued on his journey. I am sure it was purely coincidental, but it was so funny. The picture turned out really good too! I also liked the Meerkats because they are so cute. The walking trails always make me mad though, because I cant stand how people just rush by and dont really look. I sometimes wonder why these people even bother coming to the Animal Kingdom. After all, I thought the animals were the main attraction!
Anyway, after the trail we did the Safari and saw lots of animals. We didnt get to see the baby elephant, but there was plenty of other wildlife to view. I was especially happy to see the giraffes, since we havent seen them on our last two safaris. Only when we returned home did I hear about the poor giraffe that was killed by a lightning strike. I wonder if it was the giraffe that I took a picture of.
After the safari, we were hungry, so we headed to the Tusker House for a snack. I had the cinnamon roll and Buzz had the sticky bun. We also had a soda to share and our total was $7.75. Everything was very good. We had never done Rafikis Planet Watch before, so we decided to check it out since we were in the area. The station was packed, but we squeezed on a train and had a nice ride. It was amazing how many people were surprised when we got to Conservation Station, because they thought it was just a train ride. Stanley was in the lobby doing a meet and greet. Now, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about childrens literature and television, but I had no idea who Stanley was. I assumed he was on one of the Disney stations, and later in the week I did happen to catch his show, which was cute. We also listened to the sound booth and looked around at some of the exhibits before catching the train back (which was much less crowded).
I wanted to do the 11:30 Flights of Wonder show, so we headed towards that side of the park. We were a little early, so we decided to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I enjoyed this as usual except for the part with the bats. We got to the theater right at 11:30 and sat in the bleachers at the back of the theater. It was full, but not packed. I enjoyed this show again, but I missed seeing the bird that beats a lizard on the rock. I think his name was Sluggo last year. Do they normally change the show around from time to time?
By this time we were ready to leave because it was getting hot and very crowded. On our way back to Discovery Island, we saw King Louie and Lilo and Stich signing autographs. We walked through some of the shops, and then grabbed a popcorn before heading to the bus stop. Darkwing Duck, Timon and Rafiki, and Chip and Dale were out front. The worst part of this park is walking on that long stretch of sidewalk to the bus stop with no shade! We waited about 10 minutes for a bus back to POR. Our bus stopped at Blizzard Beach before heading to the resort, and boy did that place look mobbed.
Once back at the resort, we grabbed some lunch in the food court. I had the taco salad and Buzz had a sausage sandwich with fries and a cup of cottage cheese ($14). Buzz wanted to go to the arcade, so we spent $5 there and then headed out to the quiet pool for a swim. Well the pool was anything but quiet, there were tons of kids. Dont parents understand that the reason they make the pool 4 foot deep is to encourage smaller children to use the main pool. If you still want to take your kids to the quiet pool, then make sure you pack swimmies or other floatation devices. It was so annoying to listen to parents complain because the pool was too deep. Anyway, a storm rolled in suddenly around 3 p.m. so we returned to the room. This must have been the same storm that killed that poor giraffe.
After changing and relaxing at the room, we headed back to the bus stop around 4:30 p.m. and waited about 10 minutes for a bus to MGM. As soon as we got there, we headed to Rockn Rollercoaster to grab a fast pass for later in the evening, but they were all gone, as well as the fast passes for Tower of Terror. You have to love the July crowds! Even though we mentally prepared for the crowds, it still started to get to us from time to time. I cant imagine going for the first time with a family in the middle of July and having a good time!
The standby line for Rockn Rollercoaster was posted as 40 minutes, which wasnt too bad, so we decided to wait. Big mistake. It ended up taking an hour and a half. It was so annoying because the attendant that let people go up the ramp into the building would empty the fast pass line and then send a few standby people through. Well, the fast pass line always filled up quickly, so every time he sent people through, he had to clear out the fast pass line first, which meant that there wasnt much room left for standby. It seemed like there were soooooooo many more fast passes being issued than in prior years. Then, the ride broke down for about 15 minutes. We finally got on and had a great ride, but I was am not used to having to wait that long at Disney, so I was irritated.
We were both hungry, so we went to the Backlot Express for dinner. By this time, it was 6:45 p.m. and it was closed! I had a melt down right there. Poor Buzz, he is such a saint to put up with me. I was upset because I think the counter service selection in MGM is pathetic to begin with, and then they close the only decent counter service restaurant at 6:30 p.m. A lot of little things irritated me today and I just had a little melt down. By this time I wasnt hungry so we went and did Sounds Dangerous, which was a new attraction for us. We waited about 4 minutes for the next show. I thought it was kind of cute, but Buzz thought it was dumb. We also did one of the listening booths after the show, but that was really stupid and a waste of time.
The 7:15 Indiana Jones stunt show was just starting when we exited Sounds Dangerous so we headed in since we skipped it last year. It was good, except it seemed as though they cut out some parts, including the airplane. Do they normally cut out some things in the last show of the day? By the time the show was over, Buzz was starving so resigned ourselves to eating at the ABC Commissary. We both think that the menu for this place looks disgusting, and the food isnt very good. Buzz settled on the Cheeseburger and Fries and I had the kids chicken nugget meal ($12).
After dinner, we walked by the Sorcerers Hat and the characters were doing their little show before the meet and greet. We saw Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Max, Tigger, Eeyore, Lilo and Stich, and Timon. We decided to give Tower of Terror a try since Fantasmic would be starting soon. It was posted with a 20 minute wait, but we walked right into a library. We had an excellent ride as usual, and I enjoyed the new drop sequence.
Since they were running two Spectromagic Parades tonight, we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom and catch the 11 p.m. Spectro. The line for the Transportation and Ticket Center bus was pretty long, so we knew that we would probably have to wait for the next bus. So, when a Wilderness Lodge bus pulled up, we decided to go there and take the boat over to the MK.
The Wilderness Lodge looked absolutely beautiful and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will get to stay here for our December trip. Hopefully a good AP rate will come out for our dates. We walked through the lobby and waited at the boat dock for about 25 minutes until an MK boat pulled up. I was surprised at how many people were heading to the MK with us. While we were waiting, the Electrical Water Pageant floated by, which was cute as usual.
We arrived at the MK just as the fireworks were starting. I wanted to ride Peter Pan, so we rushed there, but it had a 35 minute wait, so we decided to pass. Its a Small World had no wait, so we rode that instead. It was about 10:30 by this point, so we decided to grab a spot for Spectromagic and relax. We sat on a stonewall in Liberty Square, but a CM chased us out because we had inadvertently sat in a handicap area. We saw that some of the rockers on the porch of the Liberty Tree Tavern were open, so we sat there instead. The second showing of Spectro did not get crowded at all, and we had a great (and comfortable) view from our seats. I enjoyed this parade very much.
The crowds had really died out by the time Spectro was over, and the bus stops were not too bad. However, we didnt bother to check the signs and headed to the right side for the POR bus, where it was usually located. Well, for some reason they had switched the bus stops since last year and Saturday, and the Port Orleans stop was now on the left. So we had to walk all the way around to the correct stop, which was another little thing that irritated me today.
Well, to cap off the day, we had to stand on the bus back to POR. This wouldnt have been so bad if people wouldnt be so inconsiderate. This one guy had a 3 or 4 year old son who was sleeping. They were sitting in the seats that face towards the sides instead of towards the front and the little guy was sleeping and sprawled across 3 seats with his head in the guys lap. The kid was small enough to be held while he was sleeping, and probably wouldnt have woken up if a small bomb had exploded, but the guy just left him go. He knew everyone was mad, and he wouldnt look up. I am surprised that no one said anything, but I think people were just too tired to be confrontational.
After a busy day, we were back to resort by 12 a.m. I showered and we were in bed by 12:30. Stay tuned for Buzz and Woodys Summer Escape- Day 4.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- The Rockn Rollercoaster take off and Spectromagic
Buzz- Relaxing in the pool
Worst
Woody- Having a melt down
Buzz- Seeing Woody get upset
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
Monday July 21st:
Mickey called at 6:30 a.m. today and we drug our exhausted bodies out of the very comfortable Port Orleans Riverside bed and began our morning routine. Buzz showered and dressed while I changed and snacked on some breakfast items. Then, we filled our water bottles, grabbed the pack (my little bag that I carry in the parks) and made it to the bus stop by 7:30 for Animal Kingdom early entry. We waited about 10 minutes for a bus, and I was surprised at how many people were taking advantage of the early entry throughout the week. We made it to the Animal Kingdom right at 8 a.m.
Now, I tend to over plan my vacations and get stressed out about things before we arrive. Once on vacation, I know that everything is taken care of and I dont tend to get stressed out. Well, I was very surprised at how packed the Animal Kingdom was for this Early Entry. I guess I should have realized that this was the middle of July and people like to do this park early in the day, but I still was unprepared for the amount of people. Now, normally I would have gotten over it, but Disney really fell off the boat this morning on their organization skills. The lines at the turnstiles were horrendously long, so Buzz and I headed toward the Rainforest Café to see if it was open so we could use their entrance to the park. It wasnt, so Buzz and I picked a line. Now, there was a line with a large placard over it saying that it was the line for Donalds Breakfastsaraus. We saw this, and picked the line to the left of it. Well, there was one CM in a sea of people directing people out of that line and into our line. We assumed they were normal day guests and were not going to the breakfast. Well, the lady in front of us starts yelling at all of us saying that this line is only for the breakfast people and we need to get in another line. I wasnt moving until someone told me personally. Well, in the meantime, the Rainforest Café opened, so we got out of line to go through that entrance, but of course the gift shop wasnt open so we couldnt go through. So, we go to get back in the line we were just in, and a CM tells us it is only for breakfast guests. Now, wouldnt you think the breakfast guests would use the entrance marked for breakfast guests. We ended up having to get in a line way back and didnt actually get in the park until 8:15.
Well, we were finally in the park and joined the stampede to Kilimanjero Safari. All of a sudden the traffic just came to a standstill on the path right outside the entrance to Camp Minnie Mickey. Some Disney genius decided to station Safari Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto right along the pathway (which is already too narrow to begin with). What a hassle just to get to the Safari. We made it to the Safari and decided to grab a Fast Pass and walk the Pagani Exploration trail before it became too busy.
I really enjoyed this trail and all the animals were pretty active and visible. I especially got a kick out of one of the male gorillas. He was rambling along the path and all of a sudden he saw us all standing there with cameras ready and he stopped and posed. He actually stopped, turned towards us, waited till we snapped our pictures, than continued on his journey. I am sure it was purely coincidental, but it was so funny. The picture turned out really good too! I also liked the Meerkats because they are so cute. The walking trails always make me mad though, because I cant stand how people just rush by and dont really look. I sometimes wonder why these people even bother coming to the Animal Kingdom. After all, I thought the animals were the main attraction!
Anyway, after the trail we did the Safari and saw lots of animals. We didnt get to see the baby elephant, but there was plenty of other wildlife to view. I was especially happy to see the giraffes, since we havent seen them on our last two safaris. Only when we returned home did I hear about the poor giraffe that was killed by a lightning strike. I wonder if it was the giraffe that I took a picture of.
After the safari, we were hungry, so we headed to the Tusker House for a snack. I had the cinnamon roll and Buzz had the sticky bun. We also had a soda to share and our total was $7.75. Everything was very good. We had never done Rafikis Planet Watch before, so we decided to check it out since we were in the area. The station was packed, but we squeezed on a train and had a nice ride. It was amazing how many people were surprised when we got to Conservation Station, because they thought it was just a train ride. Stanley was in the lobby doing a meet and greet. Now, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about childrens literature and television, but I had no idea who Stanley was. I assumed he was on one of the Disney stations, and later in the week I did happen to catch his show, which was cute. We also listened to the sound booth and looked around at some of the exhibits before catching the train back (which was much less crowded).
I wanted to do the 11:30 Flights of Wonder show, so we headed towards that side of the park. We were a little early, so we decided to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I enjoyed this as usual except for the part with the bats. We got to the theater right at 11:30 and sat in the bleachers at the back of the theater. It was full, but not packed. I enjoyed this show again, but I missed seeing the bird that beats a lizard on the rock. I think his name was Sluggo last year. Do they normally change the show around from time to time?
By this time we were ready to leave because it was getting hot and very crowded. On our way back to Discovery Island, we saw King Louie and Lilo and Stich signing autographs. We walked through some of the shops, and then grabbed a popcorn before heading to the bus stop. Darkwing Duck, Timon and Rafiki, and Chip and Dale were out front. The worst part of this park is walking on that long stretch of sidewalk to the bus stop with no shade! We waited about 10 minutes for a bus back to POR. Our bus stopped at Blizzard Beach before heading to the resort, and boy did that place look mobbed.
Once back at the resort, we grabbed some lunch in the food court. I had the taco salad and Buzz had a sausage sandwich with fries and a cup of cottage cheese ($14). Buzz wanted to go to the arcade, so we spent $5 there and then headed out to the quiet pool for a swim. Well the pool was anything but quiet, there were tons of kids. Dont parents understand that the reason they make the pool 4 foot deep is to encourage smaller children to use the main pool. If you still want to take your kids to the quiet pool, then make sure you pack swimmies or other floatation devices. It was so annoying to listen to parents complain because the pool was too deep. Anyway, a storm rolled in suddenly around 3 p.m. so we returned to the room. This must have been the same storm that killed that poor giraffe.
After changing and relaxing at the room, we headed back to the bus stop around 4:30 p.m. and waited about 10 minutes for a bus to MGM. As soon as we got there, we headed to Rockn Rollercoaster to grab a fast pass for later in the evening, but they were all gone, as well as the fast passes for Tower of Terror. You have to love the July crowds! Even though we mentally prepared for the crowds, it still started to get to us from time to time. I cant imagine going for the first time with a family in the middle of July and having a good time!
The standby line for Rockn Rollercoaster was posted as 40 minutes, which wasnt too bad, so we decided to wait. Big mistake. It ended up taking an hour and a half. It was so annoying because the attendant that let people go up the ramp into the building would empty the fast pass line and then send a few standby people through. Well, the fast pass line always filled up quickly, so every time he sent people through, he had to clear out the fast pass line first, which meant that there wasnt much room left for standby. It seemed like there were soooooooo many more fast passes being issued than in prior years. Then, the ride broke down for about 15 minutes. We finally got on and had a great ride, but I was am not used to having to wait that long at Disney, so I was irritated.
We were both hungry, so we went to the Backlot Express for dinner. By this time, it was 6:45 p.m. and it was closed! I had a melt down right there. Poor Buzz, he is such a saint to put up with me. I was upset because I think the counter service selection in MGM is pathetic to begin with, and then they close the only decent counter service restaurant at 6:30 p.m. A lot of little things irritated me today and I just had a little melt down. By this time I wasnt hungry so we went and did Sounds Dangerous, which was a new attraction for us. We waited about 4 minutes for the next show. I thought it was kind of cute, but Buzz thought it was dumb. We also did one of the listening booths after the show, but that was really stupid and a waste of time.
The 7:15 Indiana Jones stunt show was just starting when we exited Sounds Dangerous so we headed in since we skipped it last year. It was good, except it seemed as though they cut out some parts, including the airplane. Do they normally cut out some things in the last show of the day? By the time the show was over, Buzz was starving so resigned ourselves to eating at the ABC Commissary. We both think that the menu for this place looks disgusting, and the food isnt very good. Buzz settled on the Cheeseburger and Fries and I had the kids chicken nugget meal ($12).
After dinner, we walked by the Sorcerers Hat and the characters were doing their little show before the meet and greet. We saw Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Max, Tigger, Eeyore, Lilo and Stich, and Timon. We decided to give Tower of Terror a try since Fantasmic would be starting soon. It was posted with a 20 minute wait, but we walked right into a library. We had an excellent ride as usual, and I enjoyed the new drop sequence.
Since they were running two Spectromagic Parades tonight, we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom and catch the 11 p.m. Spectro. The line for the Transportation and Ticket Center bus was pretty long, so we knew that we would probably have to wait for the next bus. So, when a Wilderness Lodge bus pulled up, we decided to go there and take the boat over to the MK.
The Wilderness Lodge looked absolutely beautiful and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will get to stay here for our December trip. Hopefully a good AP rate will come out for our dates. We walked through the lobby and waited at the boat dock for about 25 minutes until an MK boat pulled up. I was surprised at how many people were heading to the MK with us. While we were waiting, the Electrical Water Pageant floated by, which was cute as usual.
We arrived at the MK just as the fireworks were starting. I wanted to ride Peter Pan, so we rushed there, but it had a 35 minute wait, so we decided to pass. Its a Small World had no wait, so we rode that instead. It was about 10:30 by this point, so we decided to grab a spot for Spectromagic and relax. We sat on a stonewall in Liberty Square, but a CM chased us out because we had inadvertently sat in a handicap area. We saw that some of the rockers on the porch of the Liberty Tree Tavern were open, so we sat there instead. The second showing of Spectro did not get crowded at all, and we had a great (and comfortable) view from our seats. I enjoyed this parade very much.
The crowds had really died out by the time Spectro was over, and the bus stops were not too bad. However, we didnt bother to check the signs and headed to the right side for the POR bus, where it was usually located. Well, for some reason they had switched the bus stops since last year and Saturday, and the Port Orleans stop was now on the left. So we had to walk all the way around to the correct stop, which was another little thing that irritated me today.
Well, to cap off the day, we had to stand on the bus back to POR. This wouldnt have been so bad if people wouldnt be so inconsiderate. This one guy had a 3 or 4 year old son who was sleeping. They were sitting in the seats that face towards the sides instead of towards the front and the little guy was sleeping and sprawled across 3 seats with his head in the guys lap. The kid was small enough to be held while he was sleeping, and probably wouldnt have woken up if a small bomb had exploded, but the guy just left him go. He knew everyone was mad, and he wouldnt look up. I am surprised that no one said anything, but I think people were just too tired to be confrontational.
After a busy day, we were back to resort by 12 a.m. I showered and we were in bed by 12:30. Stay tuned for Buzz and Woodys Summer Escape- Day 4.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- The Rockn Rollercoaster take off and Spectromagic
Buzz- Relaxing in the pool
Worst
Woody- Having a melt down
Buzz- Seeing Woody get upset
