We are: me, 39, huge planner and late-blooming Disney lover; DH, also 39, who said "last trip," DS9, DS7 and DD7.
We split our stay between BCV and AKL. Both lovely resorts. Walking to Epcot was wonderful! Actually, with the mobs of people straming out after Illuminations, it was almost difficult to "swim against the tide" to get out!
We only did three full park days, figuring one park/one day each was enough. I was nervous about that, but was counting on the low crowds.
Sunday, the 23rd, was the busiest day crowd-wise, but we still did everything we wanted. We were able to get onto Rock n Rollercoaster before it broke down!
On the boat ride over, the "captain" let us know that the Indiana Jones show may be slated for the drawing board, so he advised all of us to see it if we won't be down for a while. It was great, as usual. This time, since my kids saw it about 15 months ago, they were able to remember to "discover" the fake audience member. It was fun, and warm during the special effects -- we sat up close, to the left of the stage -- very exciting!
The great Movie Ride had, for some reason, one of the longest waits -- 25 minutes -- but we're glad we did it, since we never did before. Tower of Terror was in fact terrifying -- I'll never get used to that ride. My 7 year old DD went on though! MGM did have kind of a "nostalgic" feeling to me that day -- Star Tours, Indiana Jones, the Great Movie Ride -- are all "dated" rides -- I rode them all thinking they may not be here for our next trip in a few years. But the Stunt Show, what we could see if it, anyway, looked very exciting.
Millionaire was great fun, didn't make it into the hotseat (or the top ten, for that matter) but my husband was a total stranger while we were in the lobby. Unfortunately, he was incorrect. Sorry, whoever it was!
We had a nice FDP dinner at Hollywood and Vine. I had wanted Mama Melroses and couldn't get in, but we were pleasantly surprised with the buffet. We were just too cold to stick it out for fantasmic ( think my DH was secretly pleased because the Patriots playoff game was coming on) so we went back to BCV for a nice, relaxing evening after a busy, and wonderful, day at MGM Studios.
Monday was a Disneyquest day, at the request of my older boy. I was expecting an arcade, but it was much more fun than that! The Pirates of the Carribean ride was a blast, and so was Magic Carpets. the nice thing was there were no crowds, so we got to do things over and over. We went back to the room, where my Parents showed up to surprise the kids. They were overwhelmed! It was a lot of fun surprising them. We all went to ESPN for a great dinner, where my kids met a professional football player from the Denver Broncos, then my parents went back to their hotel and we called it a night.
Tuesday was our Epcot day. What a wonderful, wonderful day we had there. Last trip, crowds prevented us from seeing the Innoventions exhibits, but they were nearly empty this time and we had a great time building robots, finding fire hazards and a bunch of other things. It was perfect for all of us. We were able to get on all the rides with no or short waits, then went back to the Beach Club so we could rest. In the evening, we strolled around the countries and caught the living statues, Chinese Acrobats and the gorgeous belly dancer in Morocco. We were all blown away. I called a few hours before for a PS in Mexico, so we went there, and got a table overlooking the "river." My kids were blown away -- a ride in a restaurant?!? Of course, we had to do it, so we walked on while waiting for our entrees. I'm glad we did -- it was like a Mexican version of Small World, so we felt like we did that ride! the food was so-so, but no one cared because it was such a great time.
After dinner, we watched Illuminations, then headed back. A great day.
Wednesday was a pool day for us -- the weather improved, and we needed some rest -- and my parents took a drive out to the coast. We met up later for a quiet dinner.
Thursday was our day to switch resorts, so we packed up, visited my parents at their International Drive hotel, then we headed over to the AKL. Very impressive! Giraffes right outside the balcony! My parents very generously offered to take the kids to their room that night for a sleepover, so DH and I headed to House of Blues for some music and dinner and a couple of Margaritas. but not too many because the next day was....Magic Kingdom.
My parents and the kids met up with us and we all headed in. It was a drizzly day, but we didn't mind! I could really see the crowd diffrence between this trip and our November, 2003 trip. We walked on and off Buzz a few times (my mom got over 200,000 points!) waited a while for those blasted racecars that my boys like and did everything very leisurely, but quickly. We had a lunch PS in the castle, where one of our magical moments occurred -- Cinderella was alone (with only another CM) in the throne room when we walked in. My DD's face just lit up. She got to sit with her on the throne for quite a while and just talk. My DD, a die-hard lover of the color pink since babyhood, has now switched to blue because it's Cinderell's favorite. We had a fun, and good, lunch, all of us loving the your highness and m'lord stuff, and felt very refreshed for the rest of our day.
We did all the rides we wanted to at least twice -- Thunder needed fastpasses, but it was quick return times -- and we even explored Tom Sawyer's Island and got a cute picture of the kids playing checkers. We sat, by ourselves, It was closed), on the porch at Aunt Polly's to watch the parade as it started. We did a few more rides, got a bite to eat, and stayed for the fireworks. A long, but great day!
We left Disney hoping for another trip in our future -- even DH, who turned from "never again" to "in a couple of years!"
We split our stay between BCV and AKL. Both lovely resorts. Walking to Epcot was wonderful! Actually, with the mobs of people straming out after Illuminations, it was almost difficult to "swim against the tide" to get out!
We only did three full park days, figuring one park/one day each was enough. I was nervous about that, but was counting on the low crowds.
Sunday, the 23rd, was the busiest day crowd-wise, but we still did everything we wanted. We were able to get onto Rock n Rollercoaster before it broke down!
On the boat ride over, the "captain" let us know that the Indiana Jones show may be slated for the drawing board, so he advised all of us to see it if we won't be down for a while. It was great, as usual. This time, since my kids saw it about 15 months ago, they were able to remember to "discover" the fake audience member. It was fun, and warm during the special effects -- we sat up close, to the left of the stage -- very exciting!
The great Movie Ride had, for some reason, one of the longest waits -- 25 minutes -- but we're glad we did it, since we never did before. Tower of Terror was in fact terrifying -- I'll never get used to that ride. My 7 year old DD went on though! MGM did have kind of a "nostalgic" feeling to me that day -- Star Tours, Indiana Jones, the Great Movie Ride -- are all "dated" rides -- I rode them all thinking they may not be here for our next trip in a few years. But the Stunt Show, what we could see if it, anyway, looked very exciting.
Millionaire was great fun, didn't make it into the hotseat (or the top ten, for that matter) but my husband was a total stranger while we were in the lobby. Unfortunately, he was incorrect. Sorry, whoever it was!
We had a nice FDP dinner at Hollywood and Vine. I had wanted Mama Melroses and couldn't get in, but we were pleasantly surprised with the buffet. We were just too cold to stick it out for fantasmic ( think my DH was secretly pleased because the Patriots playoff game was coming on) so we went back to BCV for a nice, relaxing evening after a busy, and wonderful, day at MGM Studios.
Monday was a Disneyquest day, at the request of my older boy. I was expecting an arcade, but it was much more fun than that! The Pirates of the Carribean ride was a blast, and so was Magic Carpets. the nice thing was there were no crowds, so we got to do things over and over. We went back to the room, where my Parents showed up to surprise the kids. They were overwhelmed! It was a lot of fun surprising them. We all went to ESPN for a great dinner, where my kids met a professional football player from the Denver Broncos, then my parents went back to their hotel and we called it a night.
Tuesday was our Epcot day. What a wonderful, wonderful day we had there. Last trip, crowds prevented us from seeing the Innoventions exhibits, but they were nearly empty this time and we had a great time building robots, finding fire hazards and a bunch of other things. It was perfect for all of us. We were able to get on all the rides with no or short waits, then went back to the Beach Club so we could rest. In the evening, we strolled around the countries and caught the living statues, Chinese Acrobats and the gorgeous belly dancer in Morocco. We were all blown away. I called a few hours before for a PS in Mexico, so we went there, and got a table overlooking the "river." My kids were blown away -- a ride in a restaurant?!? Of course, we had to do it, so we walked on while waiting for our entrees. I'm glad we did -- it was like a Mexican version of Small World, so we felt like we did that ride! the food was so-so, but no one cared because it was such a great time.
After dinner, we watched Illuminations, then headed back. A great day.
Wednesday was a pool day for us -- the weather improved, and we needed some rest -- and my parents took a drive out to the coast. We met up later for a quiet dinner.
Thursday was our day to switch resorts, so we packed up, visited my parents at their International Drive hotel, then we headed over to the AKL. Very impressive! Giraffes right outside the balcony! My parents very generously offered to take the kids to their room that night for a sleepover, so DH and I headed to House of Blues for some music and dinner and a couple of Margaritas. but not too many because the next day was....Magic Kingdom.
My parents and the kids met up with us and we all headed in. It was a drizzly day, but we didn't mind! I could really see the crowd diffrence between this trip and our November, 2003 trip. We walked on and off Buzz a few times (my mom got over 200,000 points!) waited a while for those blasted racecars that my boys like and did everything very leisurely, but quickly. We had a lunch PS in the castle, where one of our magical moments occurred -- Cinderella was alone (with only another CM) in the throne room when we walked in. My DD's face just lit up. She got to sit with her on the throne for quite a while and just talk. My DD, a die-hard lover of the color pink since babyhood, has now switched to blue because it's Cinderell's favorite. We had a fun, and good, lunch, all of us loving the your highness and m'lord stuff, and felt very refreshed for the rest of our day.
We did all the rides we wanted to at least twice -- Thunder needed fastpasses, but it was quick return times -- and we even explored Tom Sawyer's Island and got a cute picture of the kids playing checkers. We sat, by ourselves, It was closed), on the porch at Aunt Polly's to watch the parade as it started. We did a few more rides, got a bite to eat, and stayed for the fireworks. A long, but great day!
We left Disney hoping for another trip in our future -- even DH, who turned from "never again" to "in a couple of years!"
