E
erikthewise
Guest
Cast
Self (Richard): likes seafood, gets up too early, walks too fast. Thinks that entering a park after the scheduled opening is like walking in on a movie after its started. Can accurately estimate the duration of any sequence of activities.
DW (Julia): Family photographer. Hates seafood, likes to sleep in, walks too slow. Has no sense of time. Thinks its immoral if not illegal to arrive at a park before opening time.
DS9 (Jonathan): Tall enough to ride anything but doesnt like thrill rides. Loves computer games and arcades. Haven't told him about Disney Quest.
DS6 (Patrick): Fearless; will ride anything. Just barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Has the patience of a forest fire. Doesnt like anything that isnt a ride or a meal. Haven't told him about Tower of Terror.
We are staying 5 nights at Beach Club Villas in our first trip as members of Disney Vacation Club, followed by 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Also see restaurant report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=303938
Did I mention that I had three personal goals for this vacation?
(1) Eat no french fries.
(2) Use a fastpass in an effective way.
(3) Actually use the walkie-talkies we bought and brought last year but never used.
Sun Dec 8: Last Call for the Cattle Car to Magic Kingdom
Somehow we manage to get ready in time to catch the 7:30 bus from Beach Club to Magic Kingdom. It pulls up nearly empty, with only a few passengers having boarded at Yacht Club. After some delay, we are ready to depart with a nearly full bus. Off we go! Not so fast I had forgotten that this bus also stops at Boardwalk! It shouldnt, as there are already people standing. We cram on as many people as possible at Boardwalk but still leave some behind. I feel sorry for those staying at Boardwalk (or for that matter, at Beach Club) who thought that dropping a bundle at a deluxe resort means you get decent bus service. By the time we get to MK and walk up to the entrance it is precisely 8:00. We enter, using our annual passes for the first time, so we have to do the finger thing.
We head for Fantasyland, and the boys say they dont want to ride Dumbo or the Carousel this year. So we hit Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Small World without a hint of a line. But when we head back toward Tomorrowland we notice lines are starting to build. After a brief squabble about whether we do Teacups (we dont), we get in line for the Speedway. The wait looks to be at least 15 minutes. There is only one lane running at first, but they get a second lane running and we get on shortly thereafter.
DS6 wants to ride Space Mountain, so he and I go while DW and DS9 ride Buzz Lightyear 3 times. Its 9:05 and already the wait for Space Mountain is almost 15 minutes. This is the one time during our trip I wished I had a fastpass. Its DS6s first time and he loves it! I rode it earlier this year and I swear theyve greased the track between then and now. Maybe it just seemed faster because I was in the back seat.
We ride Transit Authority, and Buzz Lightyear one more time so DS6 gets a chance. We passed up Alien Encounter; thats generally not a good idea for children under 12. As we walk toward Main street, we notice some people eating cinnamon rolls at Plaza Pavilion. One of them points us to Main Street Bakery as the source of the goodies. As we wait a barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans, performs for the people in line. We gobble our cinnamon rolls at a table just outside the bakery, and notice that people are now really streaming in. After walking through Swiss Family Treehouse, the sign for Jungle Cruise says 40 minute wait. I dont think that can be right but dont want to find out the hard way. The boys pass up an opportunity to walk onto Magic Carpets, so we pass up the rest of Adventureland and wander up toward Liberty Square. We manage to squeeze in Haunted Mansion, still a walk-on, before heading over to the Castle for our 11:35 lunch PS.
We decide to leave after lunch and take the monorail to the Grand Floridian to look at the Christmas decorations. As usual they have to be the biggest and best at everything. The tree goes nearly to the top of their five-story atrium, and some of the ornaments are as large as DS6! The gingerbread house is so large theres a store inside it. I like to imagine that after the holidays theres a cast member party where they all get together and eat all the gingerbread houses. DW wants to stay for awhile and explore (so do I) but the boys are getting pretty tired so we dont stay long. Back to MK to catch a bus back to Beach Club and relax for a while. On the way back one of the other passengers says Enjoy the great weather, its supposed to rain the rest of the week. Surely shes joking!
When we got back I took the boys down to swim at Stormalong Bay from 4:00-5:00. I knew were supposed to wear wristbands, and asked one of the lifeguards where to get them. It turned out there was nobody around to hand them out. Nobody seems to care, so we swim without them. By the time we left the air was getting quite cool.
After dinner in our room, we left the boys in the Sandcastle club for an hour and took a brief tour of the other Epcot resorts. We had stayed at the Dolphin for three days in 1994 when I attended a conference there; DS9 was just 13 months old then, and Boardwalk construction was just beginning. The Dolphin lobby was smaller than I remembered it. We also checked out the Christmas decorations at the Yacht Club and the Swan. We were on our way over to the Boardwalk Inn when we noticed a small crowd around a street juggler on the Boardwalk. We stopped to watch; he was not the worlds greatest juggler but he was very entertaining. We had to leave to pick up the boys. All four of us then walked over to Epcot and watched Honey I Shrunk The Audience, then rode Spaceship Earth at the boys request.
Self (Richard): likes seafood, gets up too early, walks too fast. Thinks that entering a park after the scheduled opening is like walking in on a movie after its started. Can accurately estimate the duration of any sequence of activities.
DW (Julia): Family photographer. Hates seafood, likes to sleep in, walks too slow. Has no sense of time. Thinks its immoral if not illegal to arrive at a park before opening time.
DS9 (Jonathan): Tall enough to ride anything but doesnt like thrill rides. Loves computer games and arcades. Haven't told him about Disney Quest.
DS6 (Patrick): Fearless; will ride anything. Just barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Has the patience of a forest fire. Doesnt like anything that isnt a ride or a meal. Haven't told him about Tower of Terror.
We are staying 5 nights at Beach Club Villas in our first trip as members of Disney Vacation Club, followed by 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Also see restaurant report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=303938
Did I mention that I had three personal goals for this vacation?
(1) Eat no french fries.
(2) Use a fastpass in an effective way.
(3) Actually use the walkie-talkies we bought and brought last year but never used.
Sun Dec 8: Last Call for the Cattle Car to Magic Kingdom
Somehow we manage to get ready in time to catch the 7:30 bus from Beach Club to Magic Kingdom. It pulls up nearly empty, with only a few passengers having boarded at Yacht Club. After some delay, we are ready to depart with a nearly full bus. Off we go! Not so fast I had forgotten that this bus also stops at Boardwalk! It shouldnt, as there are already people standing. We cram on as many people as possible at Boardwalk but still leave some behind. I feel sorry for those staying at Boardwalk (or for that matter, at Beach Club) who thought that dropping a bundle at a deluxe resort means you get decent bus service. By the time we get to MK and walk up to the entrance it is precisely 8:00. We enter, using our annual passes for the first time, so we have to do the finger thing.
We head for Fantasyland, and the boys say they dont want to ride Dumbo or the Carousel this year. So we hit Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Small World without a hint of a line. But when we head back toward Tomorrowland we notice lines are starting to build. After a brief squabble about whether we do Teacups (we dont), we get in line for the Speedway. The wait looks to be at least 15 minutes. There is only one lane running at first, but they get a second lane running and we get on shortly thereafter.
DS6 wants to ride Space Mountain, so he and I go while DW and DS9 ride Buzz Lightyear 3 times. Its 9:05 and already the wait for Space Mountain is almost 15 minutes. This is the one time during our trip I wished I had a fastpass. Its DS6s first time and he loves it! I rode it earlier this year and I swear theyve greased the track between then and now. Maybe it just seemed faster because I was in the back seat.
We ride Transit Authority, and Buzz Lightyear one more time so DS6 gets a chance. We passed up Alien Encounter; thats generally not a good idea for children under 12. As we walk toward Main street, we notice some people eating cinnamon rolls at Plaza Pavilion. One of them points us to Main Street Bakery as the source of the goodies. As we wait a barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans, performs for the people in line. We gobble our cinnamon rolls at a table just outside the bakery, and notice that people are now really streaming in. After walking through Swiss Family Treehouse, the sign for Jungle Cruise says 40 minute wait. I dont think that can be right but dont want to find out the hard way. The boys pass up an opportunity to walk onto Magic Carpets, so we pass up the rest of Adventureland and wander up toward Liberty Square. We manage to squeeze in Haunted Mansion, still a walk-on, before heading over to the Castle for our 11:35 lunch PS.
We decide to leave after lunch and take the monorail to the Grand Floridian to look at the Christmas decorations. As usual they have to be the biggest and best at everything. The tree goes nearly to the top of their five-story atrium, and some of the ornaments are as large as DS6! The gingerbread house is so large theres a store inside it. I like to imagine that after the holidays theres a cast member party where they all get together and eat all the gingerbread houses. DW wants to stay for awhile and explore (so do I) but the boys are getting pretty tired so we dont stay long. Back to MK to catch a bus back to Beach Club and relax for a while. On the way back one of the other passengers says Enjoy the great weather, its supposed to rain the rest of the week. Surely shes joking!
When we got back I took the boys down to swim at Stormalong Bay from 4:00-5:00. I knew were supposed to wear wristbands, and asked one of the lifeguards where to get them. It turned out there was nobody around to hand them out. Nobody seems to care, so we swim without them. By the time we left the air was getting quite cool.
After dinner in our room, we left the boys in the Sandcastle club for an hour and took a brief tour of the other Epcot resorts. We had stayed at the Dolphin for three days in 1994 when I attended a conference there; DS9 was just 13 months old then, and Boardwalk construction was just beginning. The Dolphin lobby was smaller than I remembered it. We also checked out the Christmas decorations at the Yacht Club and the Swan. We were on our way over to the Boardwalk Inn when we noticed a small crowd around a street juggler on the Boardwalk. We stopped to watch; he was not the worlds greatest juggler but he was very entertaining. We had to leave to pick up the boys. All four of us then walked over to Epcot and watched Honey I Shrunk The Audience, then rode Spaceship Earth at the boys request.
Anxious to read more!
