It started with an email.... KSC, MK, AK, EP, and MNSSHP Oct 2012 Trip Report

[Eosphotog]

It started with an email from my DW. It contained a single line - a link to a news article about the Kennedy Space Center opening up a new "Up Close" tour of launch pad 39A. From that one email I crafted a 6-day trip for DW, DS1 (1 year old), DS4 (4 year old), and myself that included a stay in Radiator Springs, a stroll through the Vehicle Assembly Building, seeing Atlantis in her natural habitat, crawling through the wall-to-wall crowds of October 2012 with visits to MK, EP, AK, with a magical finish at MNSSHP.

This trip report will cover all this, plus my observations on things such as trip planning, crowd management, free dining, and transportation. It will come in parts as I manage to write it up. Stay tuned!

Part 1 - The Plan
Part 2 - Travel to Radiator Springs (10/17)
Part 3 - Paying our Respects to Atlantis (10/18)
Part 4 - Sea of Crowds - Magic Kingdom (10/19)
Part 5 - Quiet Day at Animal Kingdom (10/20)
Part 6 - Perfect day at Epcot (10/21)
Part 7 - Perfect day concludes at MNSSHP (10/21)
Part 8 - Hurry up and Wait - Returning Home (10/22)

I will be using some symbols to mark observations:

- Happy moment (it worked!)
- Angry moment (ugh)
- Confused moment (what the...?)

 

[Eosphotog]

I've been thinking about a trip to WDW for a while, so when DW sent me a link to a Kennedy Space Center (KSC) "Up Close" tour I took this as a request for me to figure out a way to go visit. However DW didn't really see it that way. Her idea of packing up the kids and dragging them around Florida doesn't really seem like much of a vacation. I think she wanted me to let her go alone. That wasn't really going to happen, but I did start the research. I found disboards, dad's guide, easywdw, allears, etc. and I started reading. I also came up to speed on the happenings over at KSC as that would have to be part of the plan.

Areas of research:

- Flights
- Kennedy Space Center
- Sea World
- LEGOLAND
- WDW Parks
- Crowds
- WDW Resorts
- Staying on-property vs. off
- Off property hotels
- Renting DVC points
- Rental Cars (and transportation in general)
- WDW Discounts, including room-only and dining plan

Needless to say the scope of this trip expanded before I started to wrangle it back in. I started putting together a budget, and figured out what we wanted to spend, and how long I could be away from work, and that really started to give me focus:

1) Sea World and LEGOLAND were gone. We'll save those for another time.
2) We like suites because we like the kids to be able to sleep in one room while we hang out in the other.
3) This wasn't the trip to splurge on deluxe resorts.
4) We didn't have to do all parks
5) We need transportation to/from KSC
6) Mid-to-late October looked good crowd-wise based on various forecasts
7) JetBlue had inexpensive direct flights
8) I could be out for only 4 days

Based on these criteria a plan started to come together.

Week of Oct 17 looked pretty good. Light-to-moderate (per Dad's Guide), the 4th best week to visit (**************.net), While easywdw did say to hold off until the 22nd though, they said the only weekend to avoid was Columbus Day.

I later discover the forecasts for this week were wrong. But I learned this just prior to getting on the plane. More on that later.

For KSC I learned the space shuttle Atlantis was scheduled to be in the Vehicle Assembly Building in October awaiting her move to her new home at the visitor center. The VAB tour would let us see her, and that's important to us. So one day at KSC with the VAB tour... check.

For hotel, I did the cost analysis and realized by skipping the rental car for the entire stay, plus the free dining plan, staying at the Art of Animation vs. off-property became essentially a wash (within $20 or so a day). Given the pure coolness factor of AOA we decided to stay there. DS4 loves Cars, which made staying in the Cars area a no-brainer. This of course locked us in to relying on Disney for transportation, but we would have a car early on which would let us grab a few things (like groceries).

Disney announced free dining for my stay, starting on the 19th and also room discounts for the 17th and 18th. This worked perfectly with our plan to spend a day outside of parks!

So the plan was set:

- Fly out on Wednesday 10/17, stay room-only (with discount!) in AOA
- Rent a car (via Costco and Alamo) and visit KSC on 10/18
- 3 days in the parks, with free-dining (2nd reservation) in AOA
- Fly back on Monday 10/22

Reservations made, tickets bought, and then obsession with Touring Plans kicked in. I must have made a dozen plans and tweaked them another dozen times before settling on an agenda for each day. But at last I had an agenda, and a good amount of confidence that we could actually pull this off. Though DW got annoyed more than once that I was spending so much time on this. Turns out, the planning will pay off.

On to Part 2.

 

[nanhol]

Sounds great--I'm looking forward to hearing the Disney details (including food!) AND about the KSC visit! We haven't been to KSC since summer of 2010 and wish we could add a visit when we're down this February.

 

[Eosphotog]

As we approached our departure date all of the expected things fell into place.

- We got several pieces of Mickey Mail (one set for room-only, another set for the package with park tickets)
- We secured our Magical Express reservations
- We made our VAB tour reservations at Kennedy Space Center
- We made our packing lists (researching DIS helped a lot here!)

and then we waited.... and waited... and then got antsy... and started reading accuweather forecasts.

RAIN! CLEAR! RAIN! CLEAR! - this goes on for awhile. Turns out 25-day forecasts are only useful if you have nothing else to do but worry about the weather. About 5 days before the trip the forecasts settled down - mid 80's and clear the entire stay!

I also started reading crowd reports. Sold out parties, massive lines, wall-to-wall people. In October. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. Panic sets in - I do NOT like crowds. I detest them even. So I doubled down on the planning and reviewed our agenda. Priorities were set, and I made it a point to plan on being there at rope drop as a mitigation for crowds, if they did in fact show up.

As the day approached we packed our bags, including two car seats (one for the plane as we always belt down our kids even if under two, and the other for the 4YO), a pack-and-play (DW didn't want to go with the one supplied by the resort), two suitcases with some room to spare for acquired goodies, and two backpacks for traveling and then for use in the parks. We tagged one suitcase and the 4YO car seat with DME tags, and decided to pick the other suitcase and pack-and-play up in Orlando since we didn't want to wait/trust DME (kids gotta go to sleep!).

Before we left we called Alamo to arrange for pick up from AOA to grab our rental car the first day we're there so we can go to KSC.

Day of the trip arrived, and we picked up the 4YO from school then off to the airport we go. We flew JetBlue, and confused the heck out of the employee at the ticket counter because some of our bags had DME tags while others didn't. We tried to convince him we knew what we were doing, but I don't think he actually believed us. Anyway, off to the flight we go.

Direct TV is awesome for entertaining a squirmy 4YO during the flight. He doesn't get to watch much TV at home, so this was an extra special treat.

Flight lands, and off to baggage claim we go. Turns out it is a long hike from JetBlue to DME, but a skycap helped us out with luggage. In retrospect DME luggage service should be all or nothing. If you're going to wait for one bag, might as well pick them all up.

Getting a stack of $1's for tipping is a must for these trips.

No line at the DME. Good omen? Well... we'll get to crowds later.

DME didn't leave for 20 minutes. People were getting kinda upset about it. I guess they leave every 30 minutes?

AOA was the first stop!

AOA has a CM welcome each bus. Nice touch with buttons being handed out to all of the kids and first-time visitors. Check-in was a breeze, and soon we were cruising the streets of Radiator Springs. We were pleased by the size of the room. It was clean, and we quickly settled in for the night after a quick stop for dinner in the cafe. No dining plan yet, so this one was on our own dime.

The room comes with paper plates and bowls!

But no scissors? Guess that's not a normal thing for a hotel room anyway, but a quick call down to guest services had a maintenance CM at our door with the tools necessary to cut open our zip ties.

Or dish soap? We had to add that to our shopping list. We had some sippy cups that needed a good washing.

DW and I took shifts watching the kids, and I wandered around the resort and walked around the lake to check out POP. I was also searching for some groceries as I thought that I had read somewhere there was a small store in each resort.

Turns out the "store" is a shelf in the cafe. You can buy a half gallon of milk at least, which is what we needed for breakfast the next morning.

Speaking of morning... that came a little too soon. I never sleep well the first night at a new place.

 

[NOLAmom]

Your report is great so far and helping me plan as I am going with young kids in January. Can't wait for the next update!

 

[Eosphotog]

My ninja skills were well tested that morning. My alarm went off, and I snuck out of the room fearing that I may awaken the slumbering beasts^H^H^H^H^H^Hfamily. Dang those door latches are loud! Whew - no one woke up. The Alamo pick up went smoothly, and soon I was back. Car seats were installed, and kids were up and fed. On the road by 9AM and heading to the space coast.

There are WAY too many tolls in Florida. At least I got really good at chucking quarters. Except for the one toll plaza where the machine was broken. Pretty sure I'm going to get a nasty letter from Alamo about running a toll (which I didn't).

Pulled into Kennedy just after 10 and picked up our season pass.

Ah - let's take a moment to talk KSC tickets. I didn't have time to get free tickets (apparently your local member of congress can get you free passes, but it takes 6 months to get them), but I did a little research and figured out that Annual pass holders get free parking, and $10 discounts on tickets, plus discounts on food and gifts. The annual pass was just $5 more, so we got that pass which is also a nice souvenir for DW, and saved a chunk of money on tickets. We bought the AP online along with the VAB tour tickets. Showing the printout of the AP purchase confirmation got us free parking as well. We were escorted inside to get the AP and then paid for our other 2 tickets with the AP discount at that time.

We toured the rocket garden and showed DS4 the various rockets. He got a blast running down the walkway and white room for Apollo and climbing into the Gemini spacecraft for photos (even though he's photoshy - go figure).

No crowds at KSC! Going on a Thursday off-season before the new shuttle exhibit opens paid off.

We walked onto the Shuttle Launch Experience (only one other family was with us) and did a rider swap. Kids got free coins as a consolation prize for not being tall enough to ride.

The ride was much cooler than I expected. I was thinking it was going to be lame, but it actually was quite enjoyable. Apparently it was designed by astronauts to be an accurate simulation of a shuttle launch, minus the G forces.

Someone stole our little portable fan from our stroller while it was parked outside. DS4 was heartbroken - he loved that thing.

We grabbed lunch and toured the gift shop. Not enough time for an IMAX film as the VAB tour was at 1.

The VAB tour including the regular tour around Kennedy, so no need to to two bus tours - much to our kids delight.

We boarded the bus for the tour and we started off with the usual cruise around KSC. We stopped to look at launch pads, and then drove up to the VAB itself. This is a massive building. Standing inside doesn't even really put it in perspective either since there's so much inside you can't see the entire interior at once. But after realizing you can put 4 entire shuttle assemblies PLUS two more orbiters in the center (yeah, they built this place to support a huge space program that never came to be) helps. We walked inside and there she was, Atlantis.

Atlantis had JUST finished decommission and had rolled into the VAB the day before. We got lucky - really lucky. The shuttle was roped off, but we could stand in front of her and take photos. This was the highlight of DW's trip. She is a space nut and this is her Mecca. Of course this was the moment that DS4 decided he had HAD ENOUGH. Melt-down in the middle of the VAB? Of course.

Our tour guide was pretty cool about everything and let us linger in the VAB for almost a half-hour. Afterwards we said farewell to the shuttle, and climbed into the bus for one more stop at the Apollo/Saturn V center.

Last time I saw the Saturn V display it was outside and aging pretty badly. They've since built a building around the rocket, complete with several displays, and a pretty cool launch simulation using the original launch control stations from Apollo.

As the simulation (more like reenactment) I said to myself "I'm just gonna lose it if the controls light up". Well..... I managed to hold myself together, but I certainly got goosebumps. The countdown and launch is pretty cool.

After walking around the moon rocket the kids were both pretty tired, so we boarded a bus to head back to the visitor center for one last trip through the gift shop. We got our smashed pennies.

Oh - let me talk a little about smashing pennies. I came prepared with pre-1982 pennies (they are mostly copper compared to modern pennies which have a Zinc core) cleaned up with plenty of quarters. Well, I had fewer quarters than expected because of the tolls, but still had plenty. DS4 loves smashed pennies, and it turns out KSC and Disney had a lot of machines and designs to pick from. For $0.51, its a pretty good deal too.

Smashed pennies (aka Pressed or Elongated Pennies) FTW. The manual machines with the cranks also counts towards entertainment for certain 4YOs.

Back on the road, more tolls, and then a stop for dinner and a trip to Wal Mart. We went to the Wal Mart near Disney and lets just say that place is insane. At least there were a ton of employees keeping the place together because the tourists are nuts in there. Also a good place to pick up cheap Disney souvenirs. We got a t-shirt for DS4 for $8, and a couple other things including breakfast, snacks, and diapers.

Breakfast in the room is the way to go.

Back to the room, kids in bed, and then a stroll down to the lake to watch the Epcot fireworks. Btw - turns out I had a BETTER view from my room. Oh well.

Then off to bed for tomorrow is going to be a long day.

 

[Eosphotog]

With our trip to NASA out of the way, our attention was focused on spending 3 days in the parks. Our first two nights were "room only" and before we got started we had to check out and check back in to our "package" stay.

Oh, and we had a rental car to turn in, and a stroller to pick up (we rented a double-stroller from a 3rd party), and kids to wake up, and breakfast to be had, and a bus to catch because dang it - I'm NOT going to miss rope drop....

So much to do, so little time!

Alarm goes off at 6:30, crawled out of bed and drove the rental car back to the Car Care Center.

Disney signage is horrible - I didn't know to drive straight through an intersection and instead turned left one road too early. Disney's roads then routed me back out of Magic Kingdom and it took 10 minutes to get turned around. Ugh.

Car dropped off, and the shuttle was waiting for me to take me back to AOA. On the way back I called DW's phone. No answer. Is she not awake? Doesn't she know that rope drop is fast approaching?!? I then called the room directly and woke her up. Oh noes! We're running even MORE LATE!

Checked back in and picked up park tickets, filled up two mugs of morning caffeine and headed to the room. Kids were just getting up and clock was approaching 7:30. We're so not gonna make it. Melt down one goes to me. Go figure.

45 minutes later we're waiting for the bus and it finally shows up. We pull up right at 8:45 and manage to catch the show. Yay! But it was very crowded so we didn't actually see anything. But Zippydodah, its gonna be a wonderful day...

Execute plan Alpha. Straight to fantasy land.

- Pick up Peter Pan FP
- Pooh - 10 min wait
- Carousel - 2 min wait
- HEY - CM are in front of FLE! Are they going to open it?

CM's smiling and strongly suggest that we should hang around - gotta love them.

- Peter Pan - FP
- HEY - FLE is open!!!!

Strollers not allowed in? Told to park by the stone wall. Ok.

- Under the Sea - 0 min wait

Stroller is gone.

CM explains the stroller was moved to the other side of the wall "Where they belong". Woa - was that necessary? A bit snarky there, don't you think?

- Pick up Barnstormer FP
- Treats in the big top. YUM
- Dumbo indoor playground

New Dumbo queue area is awesome. AC, great playscape, and very relaxing.

- Dumbo - 5 min wait (we could just check in at any time - there was no queue)
- Barnstormer, twice with Rider Swap
- Pick up Buzz FP
- People Mover (quite the hit with the 4YO) - no wait
- Lunch at Cosmic Ray's
- Buzz

- Drop off DW and DS1 at the entrance so they could nap

Wall to wall people at this point on Main Street, its approaching 1pm

- RR to Frontier (5 min wait, train was packed)
- Pick up BTMRR FP
- Tom Sawyer Island (5 min wait, boats were packed)
- Pirates, 20 min wait
- BTMRR (BATS! 4YO was scared of the bats, seriously)

Massive crowds post-parade. We couldn't move with so many people.

- Met DW and DS1 at front gates
- Pirates (had just reopened - walked straight on)
- Picked up FP for Jungle Cruise
- Dinner at Columbia House
- Jungle Cruise

- Dropped off DW and DS1 at front gates

- Haunted Mansion, 25 min wait, mostly because ride was down and we didn't know it until we got inside
- Electric Parade - more insane crowds
- People Mover - 5 min wait (seriously)
- Found spot for Wishes on Tomorrowland bridge
- Watched wishes

Then we navigated the crowd out to catch the bus back to AOA

Listened to the CM who was saying "Crowds to the right, quick exit to the park to the left". We were routed behind Main Street and bypassed most of the crowds.

Not enough buses and a long wait back to AOA.

We got a motor coach routed to handle the massive crowd in the AOA line. Nice comfy ride back with stroller storage under the bus

Quick bath for the 4YO, quick shower for me, and crawled into bed.

It was crowded, and it got a bit warm. But, we had a plan, and got EVERYTHING that we wanted done. The extensive planning payed off, and even though we didn't follow it to the letter, we knew how to make use of FP and hit the right spots at the right time, including hitting rope drop to get a LOT done before lunch.

Planning makes ALL the difference in the world, even if you toss the plan out the window the moment you step into the park, just having priorities and a good idea of waits and when to use FP makes a huge difference.

We also had a bit of luck. Getting into FLE dress rehearsal to ride Little Mermaid, and walking right onto Pirates after it had just reopened for instance.

Tomorrow's plan is to take it a lot slower with a relaxed start in the morning and a relatively short park visit. I didn't set my alarm clock (on purpose).

 

[Eosphotog]

So we encountered massive, level 8+ crowds. In late October. Whaaaat is going on?!?

Turns out ALL of Florida public schools were out Friday. Combine that with other fall breaks throughout the country, F&W, free dining, room discounts, and the good weather and you had a perfect storm.

I think the era of low-crowds-in-October is over. But, with a plan I'm pretty sure that it doesn't really matter. Not that I'm going to purposely book for July 4 or something next time, rather I'll be looking at the end of January or 1st week of December

Well, we were there, and we have to take what we get. We survived MK, so our confidence is pretty high that AK and EP are going to be fine.

Let's find out if we were right...

 

[scottny]

we were there from 10/8-10/20 and this was the busiest I have ever seen it in october. Fifth time down there and will not be returning for a week long trip again in October. I will go for long weekends.

 

[Jaco5nc]

Great report! We were there 10/13 - 10/20 and expected very low crowds (as it has been in the past). We were shocked at the amount of people and wondered if there is ever a time with low crowds anymore? We have been going since 1971...I was almost 2 when the park opened!

 

[Eosphotog]

I was hiking through the jungle, surrounded by thick brush. Suddenly the plants turned into snakes and before I knew it they were all over me, wrapping their bodies around mine. They slowly squeezed and I struggled to breathe. As their hold tightened I gasped my last taste of air.

I woke suddenly in a cold sweat. It was just a dream. The snakes weren't real, though the crowds they represented certainly were. Only I made it out of MK alive... though just barely

Day 2 in the parks was going to be different by design. We woke "naturally" by way of the kids rather than alarm clock. AK was our target, but we didn't race to rope drop, rather we took our time with a relaxed pace.

We got to the park just after 10, and the crowds weren't too bad.

- Picked up Safari FP
- Took train to Rafiki's
- Toured the petting zoo (VERY low crowds)
- Met Rafiki (no line)
- Took the train back (by now the outbound train was packed)
- Rode Safari

No lions? Weren't there lions? Where are the lions?

Back seat FTW - awesome view by turning around and watching animals behind us.

- Walked one of the animal trails. Saw hippos.
- Picked up FP for Everest (sorry kids - none for you)
- Lunch at Yak and Yeti QS

Why did they make finding seating so hard?

Found the crowds! Asia was wall-to-wall

- DW headed off to Everest
- I took the kids on Triceratop Spin (10 minutes)

Disney has some cool methods for getting folks in wheelchairs onto rides. One of the cars on Triceratop Spin comes apart with a cool pivot loading mechanism. It takes a while, but the whole wheelchair gets loaded and secured.

- Grabbed FP for Dinosaur
- Hung out at Boneyard
- DW came back - my turn to ride Everest

Wasn't there supposed to be a Yeti on this ride?

- Met up with family at Boneyard
- DW took DS4 on Dinosaur
- DS4 survived! And wanted to ride again! Rider swap - my turn with DS4!

And that was it. Aside from some crowds in Asia it was pretty straight forward. No stress, but no battling people for shows either (we're not show people really). We got everything we wanted done, though I would have liked to catch the Flights of Wonder show.

Now we had to figure out how to get to our next destination: DTD. After doing a little research we decided to catch the bus to Saratoga Springs and walk over to DTD. It worked pretty well, though the bus did another stop at Blizzard Beach, and then made multiple stops at the resort. For the record, its the 4th stop (3rd stop in the resort). Short 10 minute walk though to the side of DTD we wanted to visit.

We strolled through the various stores and picked up some gear. DW found her R2D2 hat, but it had scratches.

Disney doesn't discount damaged gear. They would rather toss it than sell it at mark down.

So we left it behind and went to another store. Sure enough, they had the R2D2 hats and we found one in good condition.

Why does Disney put the price tag right on the ear with super adhesive that is impossible to remove without googone?!?

We did dinner at T-Rex, thinking the coolness factor would offset the cost. Well, it didn't really. It was expensive, and loud, and... for us, never again. We should have done sandwiches.

Oh well...

A few more shops and then off to the resort bus back to AOA. Got the kids to bed by 8... and they needed it for tomorrow is gonna be the longest day yet of our trip.

With kids in bed DW and I took turns wandering around. A few tasty beverages later and we too hit the beds with alarm set.

 

[Eosphotog]

We weren't supposed to go to Epcot on this trip. We had originally planned to go back to MK for the day and head back to the resort when the park closed for the party. But I decided that just wasn't the right way to end the trip, so I bought tickets to the party and instead spent the first part of the day at Epcot.

The day was shaping up to be a great one: Weather called for clear skies, high 70's, and a light breeze. The family was well-rested from the day before, and we took our time getting up and out the door and still managed to walk right up just as the opening ceremony just finished. We strolled in and, much like everyone else, made a bee-line to pick up FP for Soarin, then we had some time to kill....

- Took turns riding Sum of all Thrills - walked on
- Kids explored the rest of Innoventions while DW and I swapped off
- Spaceship Earth - walked on

Got stuck for about 10 minutes, but it was in the last drop with the hall full of lights. Pretty cool place to hang out.

- Picked up FP for Mission Space
- Cruised over and rode Soarin

Lucky DS4 got to ride twice due to rider swap

I sat and watched the FP return times go up by almost 2 hours in just 20 minutes. There were massive lines just to pick up the FP!

- Nemo with friends - walked on
- Crush - waited for the next show

A kid in a grey half-shell asked "Question Mark". That's it. Crush's respond "Pretty sure the words go before the punctuation dude". Had us cracking up for an hour afterwards.

DW asked how Crush was done. I said magic. She didn't accept that, so I had to go into depth about how it was done. Sigh.

The Seas don't seem like what I remember. It seemed massive when I was a kid, but the actual aquarium portion seemed small and not very impressive. Maybe I'm spoiled by the more modern (and amazing) aquariums out there.

- Mission Space, with Rider Swap (no DS4 though)

I wished I had known about the indoor playscape at the end of Mission Space. We sat outside watching a skywriter with what ended up being a rather disappointing message. Turns out there's some sort of election coming up.

DW almost got sick on the ride (we both went Orange). She's REALLY glad she ate AFTER the ride!

- Lunch at the electric umbrella
- Visited Figment, walked on

Where are all of the cool exhibits in ImageWorks? This is it? Really?

Up to this point there's really very little crowd except for the madness around Soarin and what appeared to be a constant stream of people heading into World Showcase for F&W. It was really about as Perfect as we could have imagined... up to this point.

So, we're getting close to leaving and decided to take a walk around World Showcase.

oh. my.... that was insane. People EVERYWHERE. We didn't really stop, just walked through. We did pick up a tasty frosted beverage (with a little adult juice for us, and triple checked the lack of adult juice in DS4's) half way through which hit the spot.

After the walk we headed back to the bus (and observed the line to Spaceship Earth - really? Guess we left at the right time!) for DS1's nap and our preparation for the party.