BethC1952
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2001
- Messages
- 3,949
The Original Cast:
Me -- BethC1952, age classified (figure it out for yourselves!), AKA Grandma, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)
DH -- Jim, 52, AKA Grandpa, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)
The Kids:
DS -- Jimmy, age 28 AKA as Daddy, experienced WDW visitor, 23+ visits between 1978 and 1984
DDIL -- Lori, age 23, AKA Mommy, absolute WDW newbie and very skeptical--I'll go because it's a family trip, but I'm not going to have a good time.
DGD -- Shannan, age 3 1/2, absolute newbie, has seen my collection of WDW pictures (over 4000), and knows all there is to know about WDW.
Aunt Janet's Gang
Aunt Janet (Grandpa's sister), age 40 something, absolute WDW newbie, another "I'm going because it's for the kids but I'll hate every minute of it" type.
Uncle Nick (Aunt Janet's husband), age 6 years older than Aunt Janet, yet another "I'm going because it's for the kids but I'll hate every minute of it" type, coupled with "how am I ever going to pay for all of this?"
Andrew, 13 1/2, son of Uncle Nick and Aunt Janet, WDW newbie
Megan, 9 1/2, daughter of Uncle Nick and Aunt Janet, WDW newbie, doesn't care about WDW, wants to go on the cruise, will only tolerate WDW if there's a hot tub.
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A Three Park Day!
7 AM seems to come much earlier at WDW than anywhere else on earth! Naturally, we werent quite ready, but we did manage to be at breakfast before 7:30. The Riverside Mill is such a great, convenient food court!
We head out once again from the main bus stop, the time on our way to Disney-MGM Studios. This was the longest wait weve had yetperhaps 10 minutes. We arrived at the gate at 8:40, at which point we discovered that this was Early Entry day for this park! (Perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to all the schedules and information that I was carrying around in my Palm Pilot!) We entered right away, and while Uncle Nick stopped to buy a new camera (it was cheaper to buy a new camera than to continue to buy single-use cameras at the rate he and his family were taking pictures!) Aunt Janet and Lori ran off to the Tower of Terror. There was no line, they got right in. This was one attraction that both of them had included on their dont miss list, and they were very happy with the results. We met them at the exit and headed towards Star Tours for Jim and Lori and Muppetvision 3D for the rest of us. Both were walk-ons (we arrived at Muppetvision 3D just as the doors were opening into the theater so I didnt get to enjoy the pre-show. Oh, well, maybe next week! The show was a bit intense for Shannan, who doesnt like clowns, and Waldo reminded her of a clown. She thought the rest of it was pretty good, though!
Our visit to Disney-MGM was finished, and we headed for the boat to Epcot to see a few of the things we hadnt gotten to see the night before. Megan needed to buy a souvenir for a cousin, and Jim and Lori wanted to have a Guinness at the Rose and Crown. I did too, but someone had to stay with Shannan! So Shannan, Grandpa and I walked around World Showcase and settled in front of China with vanilla ice cream. What more could we want? Well have to go back to Epcot next week and do some more touring, but this was a great overview for all the newbies.
Our next stop would be the Magic Kingdom, and we were going to head there by monorail, since Aunt Janets Gang hadnt ridden it yet. We pulled into the Ticket and Transportation and headed to the Resort Monorail so that they would at least get a quick peak at some of the resort hotels (and also the line was a whole lot shorter)!
There was no wait at all at the gate, and once again we were inside the Magic Kingdom. We headed directly to Adventureland, and waited less than five minutes for the Jungle Cruise, walked right into the Tiki Room, and waited less than 10 minutes for the Pirates of the Caribbean. We were very pleased with our good luck! Our next stop would be the Haunted Mansion. As we passed through the archway that connects Adventureland to Frontierland, the last few floats of the Christmas Parade came right in front of us! Shannan got to see Santa Clausall was right with the world. The wait for the Haunted Mansion was only about 15 minutes. I had been a bit concerned about how Shannan would react to it, but she loved it. I guess clowns and 3D characters are scarier than ghosts and skeletons!
We had dinner at The Columbia Harbor House, and that was the longest wait for anything so far. We took our food upstairs and found some tables, but no chairs. It took a while to get everything settled and eat. The food was good, though, and Im very fond of the clam chowder in the bread bowl.
We headed for Fantasyland (they werent going to get away without seeing Its A Small World), and then separated so that Aunt Janets Gang could see Mickeys Philharmagic. The posted wait time was 80 minutes, and we knew that Shannan wasnt going to wait that long. I also suspected that the show would be much too intense for her at that hour of the night, since she was really tired by then.
We arranged to meet at the hub in front of the castle, completely forgetting that both SpectroMagic and Wishes would be going on. Maybe that wasnt such a great idea! We (Grandpa, The Kids and me), still not considering the impact that those shows make on traffic, decided to spend some time shopping on Main Street. Great plan, right? We got as far as Caseys Corner, and got trapped in traffic, right at the curb line with a full, unobstructed view of SpectroMagic! Shannan was sound asleep, and missed the entire parade, but I was able to tape the whole thing so that she can see it once we get home.
After the parade, we considered all of the ways we could meet up with Aunt Janets Gang, and decided that wed never find them in the crowd. They knew what hotel we were at (I hoped!!), and I was pretty sure they could find their way back without me. We decided to find a place out of the way to watch Wishes, but that didnt work out either.
We ended up in the perfect viewing spotthe bridge between Main Street and the castle hub! Once again, an unobstructed view! We saw Tinkerbell fly down to start the show, and it was the best fireworks display Ive ever seen. Shannan woke up near the end of the show and loved all of it that she saw. Once the show was over, we decided to take a nice, leisurely walk down Main Street after the main crowd went past. As we stepped into the street, I bumped right intoyes, Aunt Janets Gang! They confirmed my guess that Shannan wouldnt have enjoyed Mickeys Philharmagic, and we headed back to the hotel to do laundry and pack for our departure for the cruise in the morning.
-----------------------
The next day begins the cruise portion of our trip, so this report will continue on the Cruise Line Trip Reports board, and will return here after our cruise!
Me -- BethC1952, age classified (figure it out for yourselves!), AKA Grandma, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)
DH -- Jim, 52, AKA Grandpa, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)
The Kids:
DS -- Jimmy, age 28 AKA as Daddy, experienced WDW visitor, 23+ visits between 1978 and 1984
DDIL -- Lori, age 23, AKA Mommy, absolute WDW newbie and very skeptical--I'll go because it's a family trip, but I'm not going to have a good time.
DGD -- Shannan, age 3 1/2, absolute newbie, has seen my collection of WDW pictures (over 4000), and knows all there is to know about WDW.
Aunt Janet's Gang
Aunt Janet (Grandpa's sister), age 40 something, absolute WDW newbie, another "I'm going because it's for the kids but I'll hate every minute of it" type.
Uncle Nick (Aunt Janet's husband), age 6 years older than Aunt Janet, yet another "I'm going because it's for the kids but I'll hate every minute of it" type, coupled with "how am I ever going to pay for all of this?"
Andrew, 13 1/2, son of Uncle Nick and Aunt Janet, WDW newbie
Megan, 9 1/2, daughter of Uncle Nick and Aunt Janet, WDW newbie, doesn't care about WDW, wants to go on the cruise, will only tolerate WDW if there's a hot tub.
-------------------------------------
A Three Park Day!
7 AM seems to come much earlier at WDW than anywhere else on earth! Naturally, we werent quite ready, but we did manage to be at breakfast before 7:30. The Riverside Mill is such a great, convenient food court!
We head out once again from the main bus stop, the time on our way to Disney-MGM Studios. This was the longest wait weve had yetperhaps 10 minutes. We arrived at the gate at 8:40, at which point we discovered that this was Early Entry day for this park! (Perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to all the schedules and information that I was carrying around in my Palm Pilot!) We entered right away, and while Uncle Nick stopped to buy a new camera (it was cheaper to buy a new camera than to continue to buy single-use cameras at the rate he and his family were taking pictures!) Aunt Janet and Lori ran off to the Tower of Terror. There was no line, they got right in. This was one attraction that both of them had included on their dont miss list, and they were very happy with the results. We met them at the exit and headed towards Star Tours for Jim and Lori and Muppetvision 3D for the rest of us. Both were walk-ons (we arrived at Muppetvision 3D just as the doors were opening into the theater so I didnt get to enjoy the pre-show. Oh, well, maybe next week! The show was a bit intense for Shannan, who doesnt like clowns, and Waldo reminded her of a clown. She thought the rest of it was pretty good, though!
Our visit to Disney-MGM was finished, and we headed for the boat to Epcot to see a few of the things we hadnt gotten to see the night before. Megan needed to buy a souvenir for a cousin, and Jim and Lori wanted to have a Guinness at the Rose and Crown. I did too, but someone had to stay with Shannan! So Shannan, Grandpa and I walked around World Showcase and settled in front of China with vanilla ice cream. What more could we want? Well have to go back to Epcot next week and do some more touring, but this was a great overview for all the newbies.
Our next stop would be the Magic Kingdom, and we were going to head there by monorail, since Aunt Janets Gang hadnt ridden it yet. We pulled into the Ticket and Transportation and headed to the Resort Monorail so that they would at least get a quick peak at some of the resort hotels (and also the line was a whole lot shorter)!
There was no wait at all at the gate, and once again we were inside the Magic Kingdom. We headed directly to Adventureland, and waited less than five minutes for the Jungle Cruise, walked right into the Tiki Room, and waited less than 10 minutes for the Pirates of the Caribbean. We were very pleased with our good luck! Our next stop would be the Haunted Mansion. As we passed through the archway that connects Adventureland to Frontierland, the last few floats of the Christmas Parade came right in front of us! Shannan got to see Santa Clausall was right with the world. The wait for the Haunted Mansion was only about 15 minutes. I had been a bit concerned about how Shannan would react to it, but she loved it. I guess clowns and 3D characters are scarier than ghosts and skeletons!
We had dinner at The Columbia Harbor House, and that was the longest wait for anything so far. We took our food upstairs and found some tables, but no chairs. It took a while to get everything settled and eat. The food was good, though, and Im very fond of the clam chowder in the bread bowl.
We headed for Fantasyland (they werent going to get away without seeing Its A Small World), and then separated so that Aunt Janets Gang could see Mickeys Philharmagic. The posted wait time was 80 minutes, and we knew that Shannan wasnt going to wait that long. I also suspected that the show would be much too intense for her at that hour of the night, since she was really tired by then.
We arranged to meet at the hub in front of the castle, completely forgetting that both SpectroMagic and Wishes would be going on. Maybe that wasnt such a great idea! We (Grandpa, The Kids and me), still not considering the impact that those shows make on traffic, decided to spend some time shopping on Main Street. Great plan, right? We got as far as Caseys Corner, and got trapped in traffic, right at the curb line with a full, unobstructed view of SpectroMagic! Shannan was sound asleep, and missed the entire parade, but I was able to tape the whole thing so that she can see it once we get home.
After the parade, we considered all of the ways we could meet up with Aunt Janets Gang, and decided that wed never find them in the crowd. They knew what hotel we were at (I hoped!!), and I was pretty sure they could find their way back without me. We decided to find a place out of the way to watch Wishes, but that didnt work out either.
We ended up in the perfect viewing spotthe bridge between Main Street and the castle hub! Once again, an unobstructed view! We saw Tinkerbell fly down to start the show, and it was the best fireworks display Ive ever seen. Shannan woke up near the end of the show and loved all of it that she saw. Once the show was over, we decided to take a nice, leisurely walk down Main Street after the main crowd went past. As we stepped into the street, I bumped right intoyes, Aunt Janets Gang! They confirmed my guess that Shannan wouldnt have enjoyed Mickeys Philharmagic, and we headed back to the hotel to do laundry and pack for our departure for the cruise in the morning.
-----------------------
The next day begins the cruise portion of our trip, so this report will continue on the Cruise Line Trip Reports board, and will return here after our cruise!
