Cast
Me: A 35 year old man who enjoys taking photos. I am not so much a Disney person. I would rather be in Yellowstone, Europe, or somewhere exploring remains of ancient civilizations. This trip was therefore for the benefit of others...
My wife: A 35 year old womanwho has been working too much lately and needed this trip.
Our niece: an 8 year old who has never (until now) left the state of Texas, flown on an airplane, and certainly has never been to WDW. She is big into the "princess" thing
June 4:
We flew from DFW through Atlanta and on to Orlando to begin our trip. Our niece had the window seat for the first time on an airplane. She thought it was exciting. We ate lunch in Atlanta before continuing on and arrived in Florida in the early afternoon. We immediately deplaned and went to get the Disney Magic Express to take us to our resort, the All-Star Movies! It poured down rain as the bus approached the resort, but it did subside as we got there
Our first impression of the resort was a good one. Check-in was easy and we got the information we needed from the concierge desk for our trip. We stayed in the blue Fantasia building close to the pool. Our niece likes to swim, so it was not long before we entered the pool. It is not too deep, perhaps a little over 4 feet at the center. We relaxed for a while at the pool. One thing to note: if you want to swim when you get there, you must pack your swimtrunks and anything else you need for the next 5 hours on your CARRY-ON luggage. It took a while to receive our suitcase, but that was OK, because we already had what we needed with us. After swimming, we decided to spend the evening at Downtown Disney. We had two days of park passes, and wanted to make the most of them, so we held off from going to a park in the afternoon and evening. A bus took us to the Downtown Disney area. Those of you who are physically able might consider standing for most of your bus rides, because they are packed and there are people who really need those seats more than you and me (elderly, disabled, very young children, etc.) We looked around at the shops and ate at the McDonalds there. I thought the Lego store was most interesting, it reminding me of growing up with those things. My travel companions bought some souvenirs and eventually we got back to the bus stop in time for another rain period. This bus was packed and it seemed like the ride took a while. We got back and prepared for bed knowing that we needed to get to the parks as they opened up. Oh yeah, we did get two of those refillable mugs for souvenir purposes as well as the drinks. I did use it quite a bit for the trip.
June 5
Today was Animal Kingdom day. We got up and caught the bus there, which was a quick ride. The park opened up shortly after we got there and everyone had the same idea as us: get to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We did this and waited about half and hour to get the ride. We did see some wildlife such as elephants, zebras, crocs, and a sleeping male lion near something that resembled that rock in the Lion King. We also took the train ride, saw a lot of the walk-through animal exhibits, and watched a Bug's Life under the big tree. The 3D show was really neat. We also went to the Dinosaur area and rode some of those rides. She also enjoyed the playground and the area where you "dig up" the bones of a whooly mammoth. My niece buried her head in my lap for most of the Dinosaur ride. She did not appreciate the sudden appearance of dinosaurs who thought we may be lunch
Speaking of lunch, we ate at the pizza place rather than Restaurantosaurus (our first choice). Restaurantosaurus had three times the number of people looking for a place to sit down than there were seats available. At the pizza place, I waited with my neice at an open table while my wife got the food. The afternoon was spent riding some rides in the dinosaur area before going to Asia to see the animals there. My favorite part was the tigers. They were up close and personal when we got there. Despite the appearance of rain 
I really enjoyed photographing them. Two of them had a little bit of interaction, and that was something to see. Our niece was getting a little tired, but she was ready to see the parade in the afternoon. This was a nice character parade in a wildlife/jungle theme. The music was also very lively and one will notice that there are many drummers on the parade route. After this, it was time to head back to the resort to cool off. We all went in the pool and contemplated dinner. We decided not to return to Downtown Disney since it was a long bus ride and we did not want to get back late. There were plenty of choices in the food court. Besides, we could use our refillable mugs there. I do wish there could have been some sugar free non-carbonated option for my wife. She did not get a mug due to the lack of this choice, so she stuck to water and whatever was available for sale behind the registers. We went to bed a little bit earlier, because the next morning would be the crucial wake up call.
June 6
This was our last full day at Disney and it would be the trip to the Magic Kingdom. 90 days ago, my wife and I got up at 5:45AM to get a reservation for breakfast at the Cinderella's Royal Table. Our neice was very excited as one could imagine We got to the park a little bit after 8AM on the bus and went to the area where people with reservations enter the Magic Kingdom. We got some nice pictures in an uncrowded setting as we walked up Main Street to approach the castle. We then went in and were seated inside the restaurant. Sure enough, I noticed a lot of princesses in there! The food was nice and the portions were plenty for all of us. No one should leave this meal hungry. The room has the high ceilings and glass windows of a medieval dining hall. It faces Fantasyland below us. Everyone who dines here is a prince, princess, king, or queen. I gave our neice the autograph book and pen we bought last night. The first to arrive at our table was Cinderella! She signed the book and we all got some nice photos with her. You could see the amazement in my neice's eyes at the encounter. Princess Aurora showed up and autographed the book with a red and green pen. Red and Green are some common colors I have seen in the Aurora Borealis--the Northern Lights, coincidence? 
We met Mary Poppins, who wish us a supercalifragilisticsexpealidotous trip. Belle was on hand and drew a nice little bell with her signature. Snow White arrived and we also got some nice photos of her with our neice. While taking a photo of the restaurant, I noticed her silhouette against the windows. It was really neat. We finished our meal and went downstairs to the throne to meet the Fairy Godmother. After this, it was time for the park to open. I went into Tinkerbell's Treasures just to see what this "waking up Tink" thing was all about. To be honest, I think it is a bit overrated. We put on sunscreen and went to Tommorrowland to check out Space Mountain. Already, the line was 35 minutes, so I made up the first 3 fastpasses of the day. We drove the Grand Prix cars, rode the Mad Hatter teacups, rode Winnie-the-Pooh's honeypot, rode flying Dumbo, rode on the Carousel, and then met Ariel the Mermaid in her grotto. For those who enjoy photography, this will allow a lot of colors in your photos. Then, we rode Space Mountain and bypassed a very long wait 
While taking a break, I looked for another ride for our second fastpass usage and noticed that a show was beginning at the castle. We got there in time for Cinderellabration. Here, one can witness the crowning of Cinderella and see some of the other Disney royal figures as well. This show is very popular and thankfully frequent during the day. I set up the next fastpass use for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In the meantime, we waited in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean 
and took that boat ride. Then, it was on to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. All rides with the name "Mountain" in them are thrill rides in this park. We chose to eat lunch at Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square. The seafood here is good. There are many places to sit, however you may want to check upstairs if there are no free seats downstairs. Immediately afterwards, we got in line for the Haunted Mansion. This was a long line, so I went after our third set of fastpasses. These would be used for the Jungle Cruise. We went into the creepy Haunted Mansion and picked up our ghostly hitchhiker 
. We returned to Fantasyland to ride another ride and found Snow White's Scary Adventures. This is when the afternoon rain arrived. So, we put on our ponchos and headed towards Adventureland. We climbed up into the Swiss Family Robertson treehouse and watched it pour from there. We waited there a while for the rain to subside. At last it did, and we rode the Jungle Cruise. It is somewhat amusing compared to the Animal Kingdom, but yet it is a fun ride. We then went near the magic carpet ride and noticed a chance to meet Alladin, Jasmine, and the Genie. There was a line for them that led into a tent/pavilion structure. Our neice was excited about this, so we got in the line, and I got out my camera.
As you can see, the trip has been very positive for us--until now
As a disclaimer, let me say that the vast majority of the trip was great, but this just has to be mentioned to show a little bit of the "other side". In line, a cast member informed us that the genie would leave shortly and return no later than 5 minutes. No problem, we figured. We were offered an opportunity to wait if we would like. We accepted this option. Another cast member closed off the line at some point and would not let anyone else in the line. When our turn came, we let families behind us go ahead of us to get photographed with Jasmine and Alladin. The genie never reappeared. Suddenly, the cast member at the end of the line announced that this other guy next to us who had entered the line last would be the "final family" and we were not included. At first I thought this was a joke, but he was not kidding. My wife and I came to life very quickly and explained that we had been in the line for half an hour. The cast member who told us the genie would be back and we could wait had "conveniently" disappeared. Suddenly, Jasmine lost her short term memory and could not remember that we had been waiting in line. I wanted to just get a quick photo, but they would not allow it. I could have taken 10 good photos in the amount of time they spent arguing with me that there could be no exception to the "last family" in rule that was suddenly created. Alladin and Jasmine did offer to autograph the book quickly, but they would not allow the photo. They left abruptly with the rude cast member who would not give us the benefit of the doubt that we had been in line and had even let a few go ahead of us (No good deed goes left unpunished? ) The disney photographer witnessed much of this and told us we should go to City Hall and explain what just happened. We did exactly that and then I emailed them the story in its entirety upon our return home. After the unpleasant walk to City Hall (niece was confused, and my wife and I were not exactly smiling), we did meet the Launchpad McQuack and Suzy characters for autographs and photos. They were very nice. We looked around at some shops on Main Street and then decided to go on to the Contemperary Resort to prepare for dinner at Chef Mickey's. Our feet were tired, so we rested for half an hour before going to be seated. This character meal was very nice and I enjoyed the all you can eat prime rib and cocktail shrimp. Everyone raves about the parmesean mashed potatoes. I agree that they are good. I also like squash. We met Dale, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, and Chip in this order during the meal. The character interactions were very nice. Goofy was especially animated and quite skilled with interacting with children. We enjoyed the dessert, and they even had a sugar free option for my wife. As we left the meal, we had the chance to meet Donald Duck in the lobby. We rode the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and offered our neice a choice: go back in the park, ride some rides, and wait a couple of hours for the fireworks, or she could go swimming. She really likes swimming, so back to the All Star Movies Resort and the pool for us. We cooled off in the swimming pool and rehydrated ourselves with those refillable mugs. Then, it was bedtime.
The next day was our departure day. We slept in, casually packed, and then checked in for the plane at the desk. There, they collected our luggage, and we boarded the Disney Magical Express for the return to the airport. Everything went really smoothly. It was a relaxing trip for us (with that one single exception) and our neice now has fond memories of her first out-of-state trip. Next year, it will be our nephew's turn to choose a couple of theme parks. It could be Universal or Disney, but no one knows what he will choose at this point. Being a big Star Wars fan, I would imagine that MGM might be one of the parks. Anyway, this was our trip!
Me: A 35 year old man who enjoys taking photos. I am not so much a Disney person. I would rather be in Yellowstone, Europe, or somewhere exploring remains of ancient civilizations. This trip was therefore for the benefit of others...
My wife: A 35 year old womanwho has been working too much lately and needed this trip.
Our niece: an 8 year old who has never (until now) left the state of Texas, flown on an airplane, and certainly has never been to WDW. She is big into the "princess" thing
June 4:
We flew from DFW through Atlanta and on to Orlando to begin our trip. Our niece had the window seat for the first time on an airplane. She thought it was exciting. We ate lunch in Atlanta before continuing on and arrived in Florida in the early afternoon. We immediately deplaned and went to get the Disney Magic Express to take us to our resort, the All-Star Movies! It poured down rain as the bus approached the resort, but it did subside as we got there
Our first impression of the resort was a good one. Check-in was easy and we got the information we needed from the concierge desk for our trip. We stayed in the blue Fantasia building close to the pool. Our niece likes to swim, so it was not long before we entered the pool. It is not too deep, perhaps a little over 4 feet at the center. We relaxed for a while at the pool. One thing to note: if you want to swim when you get there, you must pack your swimtrunks and anything else you need for the next 5 hours on your CARRY-ON luggage. It took a while to receive our suitcase, but that was OK, because we already had what we needed with us. After swimming, we decided to spend the evening at Downtown Disney. We had two days of park passes, and wanted to make the most of them, so we held off from going to a park in the afternoon and evening. A bus took us to the Downtown Disney area. Those of you who are physically able might consider standing for most of your bus rides, because they are packed and there are people who really need those seats more than you and me (elderly, disabled, very young children, etc.) We looked around at the shops and ate at the McDonalds there. I thought the Lego store was most interesting, it reminding me of growing up with those things. My travel companions bought some souvenirs and eventually we got back to the bus stop in time for another rain period. This bus was packed and it seemed like the ride took a while. We got back and prepared for bed knowing that we needed to get to the parks as they opened up. Oh yeah, we did get two of those refillable mugs for souvenir purposes as well as the drinks. I did use it quite a bit for the trip. June 5
Today was Animal Kingdom day. We got up and caught the bus there, which was a quick ride. The park opened up shortly after we got there and everyone had the same idea as us: get to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We did this and waited about half and hour to get the ride. We did see some wildlife such as elephants, zebras, crocs, and a sleeping male lion near something that resembled that rock in the Lion King. We also took the train ride, saw a lot of the walk-through animal exhibits, and watched a Bug's Life under the big tree. The 3D show was really neat. We also went to the Dinosaur area and rode some of those rides. She also enjoyed the playground and the area where you "dig up" the bones of a whooly mammoth. My niece buried her head in my lap for most of the Dinosaur ride. She did not appreciate the sudden appearance of dinosaurs who thought we may be lunch
Speaking of lunch, we ate at the pizza place rather than Restaurantosaurus (our first choice). Restaurantosaurus had three times the number of people looking for a place to sit down than there were seats available. At the pizza place, I waited with my neice at an open table while my wife got the food. The afternoon was spent riding some rides in the dinosaur area before going to Asia to see the animals there. My favorite part was the tigers. They were up close and personal when we got there. Despite the appearance of rain I really enjoyed photographing them. Two of them had a little bit of interaction, and that was something to see. Our niece was getting a little tired, but she was ready to see the parade in the afternoon. This was a nice character parade in a wildlife/jungle theme. The music was also very lively and one will notice that there are many drummers on the parade route. After this, it was time to head back to the resort to cool off. We all went in the pool and contemplated dinner. We decided not to return to Downtown Disney since it was a long bus ride and we did not want to get back late. There were plenty of choices in the food court. Besides, we could use our refillable mugs there. I do wish there could have been some sugar free non-carbonated option for my wife. She did not get a mug due to the lack of this choice, so she stuck to water and whatever was available for sale behind the registers. We went to bed a little bit earlier, because the next morning would be the crucial wake up call. June 6
This was our last full day at Disney and it would be the trip to the Magic Kingdom. 90 days ago, my wife and I got up at 5:45AM to get a reservation for breakfast at the Cinderella's Royal Table. Our neice was very excited as one could imagine
We got to the park a little bit after 8AM on the bus and went to the area where people with reservations enter the Magic Kingdom. We got some nice pictures in an uncrowded setting as we walked up Main Street to approach the castle. We then went in and were seated inside the restaurant. Sure enough, I noticed a lot of princesses in there! The food was nice and the portions were plenty for all of us. No one should leave this meal hungry. The room has the high ceilings and glass windows of a medieval dining hall. It faces Fantasyland below us. Everyone who dines here is a prince, princess, king, or queen. I gave our neice the autograph book and pen we bought last night. The first to arrive at our table was Cinderella! She signed the book and we all got some nice photos with her. You could see the amazement in my neice's eyes at the encounter. Princess Aurora showed up and autographed the book with a red and green pen. Red and Green are some common colors I have seen in the Aurora Borealis--the Northern Lights, coincidence? We met Mary Poppins, who wish us a supercalifragilisticsexpealidotous trip. Belle was on hand and drew a nice little bell with her signature. Snow White arrived and we also got some nice photos of her with our neice. While taking a photo of the restaurant, I noticed her silhouette against the windows. It was really neat. We finished our meal and went downstairs to the throne to meet the Fairy Godmother. After this, it was time for the park to open. I went into Tinkerbell's Treasures just to see what this "waking up Tink" thing was all about. To be honest, I think it is a bit overrated. We put on sunscreen and went to Tommorrowland to check out Space Mountain. Already, the line was 35 minutes, so I made up the first 3 fastpasses of the day. We drove the Grand Prix cars, rode the Mad Hatter teacups, rode Winnie-the-Pooh's honeypot, rode flying Dumbo, rode on the Carousel, and then met Ariel the Mermaid in her grotto. For those who enjoy photography, this will allow a lot of colors in your photos. Then, we rode Space Mountain and bypassed a very long wait While taking a break, I looked for another ride for our second fastpass usage and noticed that a show was beginning at the castle. We got there in time for Cinderellabration. Here, one can witness the crowning of Cinderella and see some of the other Disney royal figures as well. This show is very popular and thankfully frequent during the day. I set up the next fastpass use for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In the meantime, we waited in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean and took that boat ride. Then, it was on to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. All rides with the name "Mountain" in them are thrill rides in this park. We chose to eat lunch at Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square. The seafood here is good. There are many places to sit, however you may want to check upstairs if there are no free seats downstairs. Immediately afterwards, we got in line for the Haunted Mansion. This was a long line, so I went after our third set of fastpasses. These would be used for the Jungle Cruise. We went into the creepy Haunted Mansion and picked up our ghostly hitchhiker . We returned to Fantasyland to ride another ride and found Snow White's Scary Adventures. This is when the afternoon rain arrived. So, we put on our ponchos and headed towards Adventureland. We climbed up into the Swiss Family Robertson treehouse and watched it pour from there. We waited there a while for the rain to subside. At last it did, and we rode the Jungle Cruise. It is somewhat amusing compared to the Animal Kingdom, but yet it is a fun ride. We then went near the magic carpet ride and noticed a chance to meet Alladin, Jasmine, and the Genie. There was a line for them that led into a tent/pavilion structure. Our neice was excited about this, so we got in the line, and I got out my camera. As you can see, the trip has been very positive for us--until now
As a disclaimer, let me say that the vast majority of the trip was great, but this just has to be mentioned to show a little bit of the "other side". In line, a cast member informed us that the genie would leave shortly and return no later than 5 minutes. No problem, we figured. We were offered an opportunity to wait if we would like. We accepted this option. Another cast member closed off the line at some point and would not let anyone else in the line. When our turn came, we let families behind us go ahead of us to get photographed with Jasmine and Alladin. The genie never reappeared. Suddenly, the cast member at the end of the line announced that this other guy next to us who had entered the line last would be the "final family" and we were not included. At first I thought this was a joke, but he was not kidding. My wife and I came to life very quickly and explained that we had been in the line for half an hour. The cast member who told us the genie would be back and we could wait had "conveniently" disappeared. Suddenly, Jasmine lost her short term memory and could not remember that we had been waiting in line. I wanted to just get a quick photo, but they would not allow it. I could have taken 10 good photos in the amount of time they spent arguing with me that there could be no exception to the "last family" in rule that was suddenly created. Alladin and Jasmine did offer to autograph the book quickly, but they would not allow the photo. They left abruptly with the rude cast member who would not give us the benefit of the doubt that we had been in line and had even let a few go ahead of us (No good deed goes left unpunished? ) The disney photographer witnessed much of this and told us we should go to City Hall and explain what just happened. We did exactly that and then I emailed them the story in its entirety upon our return home. After the unpleasant walk to City Hall (niece was confused, and my wife and I were not exactly smiling), we did meet the Launchpad McQuack and Suzy characters for autographs and photos. They were very nice. We looked around at some shops on Main Street and then decided to go on to the Contemperary Resort to prepare for dinner at Chef Mickey's. Our feet were tired, so we rested for half an hour before going to be seated. This character meal was very nice and I enjoyed the all you can eat prime rib and cocktail shrimp. Everyone raves about the parmesean mashed potatoes. I agree that they are good. I also like squash. We met Dale, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, and Chip in this order during the meal. The character interactions were very nice. Goofy was especially animated and quite skilled with interacting with children. We enjoyed the dessert, and they even had a sugar free option for my wife. As we left the meal, we had the chance to meet Donald Duck in the lobby. We rode the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and offered our neice a choice: go back in the park, ride some rides, and wait a couple of hours for the fireworks, or she could go swimming. She really likes swimming, so back to the All Star Movies Resort and the pool for us. We cooled off in the swimming pool and rehydrated ourselves with those refillable mugs. Then, it was bedtime. The next day was our departure day. We slept in, casually packed, and then checked in for the plane at the desk. There, they collected our luggage, and we boarded the Disney Magical Express for the return to the airport. Everything went really smoothly. It was a relaxing trip for us (with that one single exception) and our neice now has fond memories of her first out-of-state trip. Next year, it will be our nephew's turn to choose a couple of theme parks. It could be Universal or Disney, but no one knows what he will choose at this point. Being a big Star Wars fan, I would imagine that MGM might be one of the parks. Anyway, this was our trip!
