Disney's newest thrill ride "Charley" #1

[kparc]

We had a great time on our vacation to Disney inspite of the little storm that interrupted it mid way! We arrived in Orlando by trian on 8/8. The driver from Quicksilver was waiting for us to arrive in Kissimmee and took us straight to the grocery store. We stayed one night (compliments of my husbands priority club points) at the Holiday Inn Family suites. Very nice. We had two king sized beds( for us and my sister and her husband) and the kids had bunk beds. Lots to do there! Kids ate free and breakfast was free for all! Marcello , our driver was wainting for us at nine the next morning to take us to the Fort Wilderness Cabins. It was a very short drive. Arrives there by 9:15 and checked in immediately. Our cabin was ready for us so we dropped of the bags and headed to the magic kingdom. We did most of frontier land and adventure land ( except splash Mountain & thunder mountain) before heading back to the cabin after the 3:00 parade. We swam,Picked up golf cart, ate dinner at trail's end, and headed back to MK. It was raining by the time we arrived but we put on our ponches and headed for the Haunted mansion and then fantasy land. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes for any ride and walked right into Mickey's Philharmagic ( my favorite). Closed the evening at Mickey's toon town fair. (great place to meet characters at closing time!!!) Watched tinkerbell fly across the sky on our way out to fthe park! Had a long wait for boat back to campgrounds - They weren't running while the fireworks were going off that night. We did alot more than we expected that first day.

 

[kparc]

We retruned to the MK the next day before opeing and saw the opening ceremony. Afterwards we waited for the train to take us to Fronteir land. Rode splash Mountain with no wait. Fast passed it for later and rode Thundermountain Railrode with little wait! Rode Splash Mountain agian. Saw the rest of the sights of fronteir land and adventure land, including re-riding our favorites. Had lunch at a very quiet Columbia Harbor house. Went back to campgrounds. We had dinner at Chef Mickey's that evning. It was lots of fun. Headed back to MK after for spectromagic. Very crowded!!!! Left after parade and headed back to campgrounds. Boat back slowed to watch fireworks!! ( and didn't even have to pay $120 for specialty cruise ) By this time we had seen most of the MK and we still had two more days to visit there.

 

[kparc]

Wednesday we were scheduled to head back to the MK but opted for a full day at Blizzard Beach instead. By this time "Charley" was on our minds so that eveing instead of hang out at the camp grounds we headed to MGM. The place was desserted except for TTOT. Had dinner while waiting to ride Star tours. Then did the animation tour, and Muppets 3-d. Stayed until closing. Thursday was a none park day but still full of plans. The kids went on the pirate cruise while the adults had a late breakfast at the Kona cafe. Afterwards my sister and her husband headed back to cabin for some rest. While the rest of us went to MK( trying to get in as much park time as possible in preparation for "CHarley". WE hit the rides in tommorrowland. Still not many long waits except fot race track. ( 35 minutes- it was one of our longest lines)The girls surprised me- they loved the carousel of progress. I didn't think they would. FAst passed Buzz and rode it a couple of times before heading back to cabin. Freshened up and headed for Luau that evening. It poured on our way there but cleared up for the show. Luck was on our side!! By this time we knew we might have to evacuate the cabin. Packed as much as possible in preparation. The message came at 5:30 Friday morning -- the campgrounds were closing. We were ready to leave by 7:00. The bus picked us up to take us to Port Orleans about 7:15. We checked into Port Orleans sans overnight bags which were being shipped over and headed to epcot. Rode Universe of energy, Mission space and spaceship earth before leaving park before 1:00pm closing time. Saw the CM shrink wrapping the ticket booths in preparation for the storm. The food court at PO was a mad house!!!! Watched storm and Disney Movies that evening!!! Had PB&J for dinner in room.

 

[kparc]

We woke up the next morning and took in the sites of fallen trees and broken lamp post. We headed to MGM & spent most of day there. We did everything we wanted to do but TTOT and Fantasmic. Had luch at pizza planet-- Hard to find a place to sit. Some people were saving tables and they still hadn't gotten their food by the time we finished eating. We could have eaten our lunch and been gone before their food arrived. In the afternoon we headed for the Baordwalk. We had an illuminations cruise scheduled and had recieved mixed messages about its fate. WE had a great dinner at Spoodles! The family we were sharing the cruise with was sitting two tables away. It was a rainy afternoon so we wandered around the boardwalk in the rain until at 8:15 our boat showed up to pick us up with lots of towels on the seats!!!! We enjoyed the illuminaitons cruise --- loved the globe with the pictures!! By this time I was running out of clean clothes so the rest of our luggage was being packed up by CM's to be sent over to PO. Sunday was an early entry day at the MK and we had PS for Cindy's at 10:20. We were able to repeat rides at tommorrow land and ride all the rides we had yet to do at fantasyland before breakfast.
After breakfast we headed to epcot to make up for lost time on Friday. We toured the rest of future world with the exception of Test Track. When we returned to Po we got word the campgrounds would reopen on Monday. We packed up to return fisrt thing in the morning!

 

[kparc]

Monday Moring we had our luggage shipped back to the cabin and headed for the AK. WE fast passed the safari and went to see its Tough To Be A Bug. We then rode KAli twice with no wait before heading back to the safari. It took my sister 7 hours to dry after Kali!!! We then toured the rest of the animal Kingdom until late in the afternoon. We ate dinner at the cabin that evening.Then we roasted marshmallows and watched the Lion KIng at the campfire program. ( this was the only time we had problems with mosquitoes biting) Tuesday we hit another bump-- tired , cranky, sick child. So we split up that day. My husband and oldest daughter headed to AK again. My sister and her husband went to downtown Disney. The youngest(8) and I rested at the cabin and hit the petting farm and trading post. It was a much needed rest for her!!! That evening we headed back to MGM were we ate at the Prime time cafe, finally rode TTOT ( I felt like a human yo yo!! ) and saw FAntasmic!!!
OUr last day we slept in and them went to epcot at around 10:00. we fast passed Test track and headed to world showcase as soon as it opened! We toured half of world showcase, had lunch and took the freindship boat across the lake to do test track( we still had quite a wait even with fast pass- about 30 min). Afterwards we finished world showcase and headed to the MK for dinner at the crystal Palace. After dinner my daughter and I took one more spin on Space mountain before heading back to the cabin. The next moring we packed up and headed for the airport at 11:00. Marcelllo was once again there to pick us up!!! We saw everything we wanted to see and then some!! The highlight for my daughters were meeting Mike and SAlly from "Mike's super short show" in a shop in Morrocco where they were filming and later seeing them again on Test Track. All in all a GREAT VACATION!! Now I need about a week to recooperate.

 

[jennymouse]

Sounds like a great trip even though you had to move a lot. Thanks for sharing!

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Thanks for the first hand account of the happenings during Charley. You seemed to take it all in stride, way to go. Sounds like your vacation was wonderful, Charley or no Charley.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[wishuponastarforever]

Great report - Thank you.
One question - was there any damage to the campground that you could see? We love Fort Wilderness and we were concerned about damage.
Thanks again.