January 2009. . . Calling all Snowbirds ~ Part V

[2tinks2pirates]

We're on our way home We are stopping overnight in Florence, SC in about an hour and will finish our drive home tomorrow. Fortunately, we had great weather during our stay until the rain yesterday. However, it didn't really hit until we had finished most of our time at Epcot anyway. My MIL took my niece and our 3 oldest kids to Cirque so they had to leave pretty early. DH and I stayed with the 3 year old until we were tired of being cold and wet (even with ponchos).

We had a wonderful time all week even with the crowds. Saturday the 24th at MK was the worst of the crowds, but we weren't expecting to get much done that day anyway since we had BBB and then a late breakfast at CRT. Sunday at AK was crowded too, but with Fastpasses we were able to ride Everest 2 timess in a row and everyone saw what they wanted to. Monday was Downtown Disney, and it was great. We had never been before so we really enjoyed ourselves. Earl of Sandwich is delicious, and my kids made me a great shirt at the design-a-tee shop. Tuesday we went back to MK at opening and hopped right onto everything in Fantasyland. 5 minute waits at Thunder Mtn. and Haunted Mansion. Walkded onto POC. Our longest wait all day was at Astro Orbiter (25 min.). Splash Mountain was 10 minutes. We got a ton done that day! Wednesday we hit HS and while lots was closed we still saw everything anyone was interested in. We rode Tower of Terror 2 times in a row, but missed Beauty and the Beast. Sad about that since we saw it before and I wanted the 3 yr. old to see it. Guess we'll have to go back! Hit Epcot on Thursday and covered the biggies in Future World. Spent the morning finishing our packing and useing up our our meal/snack credits. Decided not to try the parks before heading home since we didn't want to be driving while wet.

Sorry to ramble. I'm trying to relive the magic before facing reality tomorrow. Safe travels to any other snowbirds making there way back.

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

I feel so lucky when I hear about all of your long waits. We found some days were better than others but for the most part, we did what we wanted when we wanted.

These were taken between 9:30 and 11:00 am.

 

[trixiequilts]

Has anyone else who recently entered their photopass cards have disappointing enhancements available? Like no year 2009? And holiday graphics? And no character siggies?

Am I doing something wrong???

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We're on our way home We are stopping overnight in Florence, SC in about an hour and will finish our drive home tomorrow. Fortunately, we had great weather during our stay until the rain yesterday. However, it didn't really hit until we had finished most of our time at Epcot anyway. My MIL took my niece and our 3 oldest kids to Cirque so they had to leave pretty early. DH and I stayed with the 3 year old until we were tired of being cold and wet (even with ponchos).

We had a wonderful time all week even with the crowds. Saturday the 24th at MK was the worst of the crowds, but we weren't expecting to get much done that day anyway since we had BBB and then a late breakfast at CRT. Sunday at AK was crowded too, but with Fastpasses we were able to ride Everest 2 timess in a row and everyone saw what they wanted to. Monday was Downtown Disney, and it was great. We had never been before so we really enjoyed ourselves. Earl of Sandwich is delicious, and my kids made me a great shirt at the design-a-tee shop. Tuesday we went back to MK at opening and hopped right onto everything in Fantasyland. 5 minute waits at Thunder Mtn. and Haunted Mansion. Walkded onto POC. Our longest wait all day was at Astro Orbiter (25 min.). Splash Mountain was 10 minutes. We got a ton done that day! Wednesday we hit HS and while lots was closed we still saw everything anyone was interested in. We rode Tower of Terror 2 times in a row, but missed Beauty and the Beast. Sad about that since we saw it before and I wanted the 3 yr. old to see it. Guess we'll have to go back! Hit Epcot on Thursday and covered the biggies in Future World. Spent the morning finishing our packing and useing up our our meal/snack credits. Decided not to try the parks before heading home since we didn't want to be driving while wet.

Sorry to ramble. I'm trying to relive the magic before facing reality tomorrow. Safe travels to any other snowbirds making there way back.

Have safe travels the rest of the way home!

It was crowded at MK Saturday the 24th. I'm glad we went early Wednesday when it was freezing, it wasn't too crowded then and we were able to get lots done. Because when we went back Saturday it was wall to wall people. We were very lucky to grab a spot for Spectro!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

HEY SNOWBIRD FRIENDS!

We are finally home! We had an amazing trip! So many amazing and magical things happened on our trip! I can't wait to tell you all about it! I will hopefully be on tomorrow - so much unpacking and laundry to do!

Welcome back! I looked for you at Chef Mickey's on the 20th but didn't really know what you looked like so I had a hard time finding you!

 

[sarbah77]

The beds are full size, not queen if that's what you are used to. The kids slept on an air mattress so DH and I each had our own bed!

Ha! Glad to hear we're not the only married couple who slept in separate beds!

Hey, did any rides break down on y'all? We were on Splash Mountain when it broke down, waited for 30-45 minutes before being evacuated and never got to ride it [this was our last day and it was out of commission the rest of the day]. Some of us were waiting for Space Mountain and, just as our group was about to get on, the ride broke down and stayed that way for the rest of the day. TTA pooped out for a little while but started running again in time for me to ride it a second time [I do like that one a lot - so futuristic/retro, all at the same time].

I know that a lot of time the stops are the wheelchair loads... but those don't last too long.

TTA broke down while we're on it. I mean, totally broke down they stopped Space Mountain and turned on the lights, then evacuated us one car at a time broke down.

I took some goofy pictures while we were waiting:

Our feet!


Our faces!

I took pictures of the castle, the track, the speedway... anything I could to kill some time. Then we were let out by the staircase closest to Space Mountain and handed a master FastPass.

But, let's see, Nemo stopped, Spaceship Earth stopped... Soarin' was stopped because someone jumped out, I think Haunted Mansion didn't stop for once, POTC stopped, TSM stopped... all for a few minutes.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Ha! Glad to hear we're not the only married couple who slept in separate beds!

I need my sleep on vacation!! This was the first time we took an air mattress to Disney and the kids were thrilled to sleep on it and we were happy in our own beds!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We took pics on Test Track when it broke down!

 

[sarbah77]

I need my sleep on vacation!! This was the first time we took an air mattress to Disney and the kids were thrilled to sleep on it and we were happy in our own beds!

We looked at the beds, when we got there, and went "yeah, we're sleeping in separate beds through the marathon." Then, "Well, we need sleep to recover from the marathon" and then "you know, this is just more comfortable."

Also, glad to see I'm not the only one busting out the camera to kill time. Oh, the joy of digital cameras!

 

[MelXThree]

Ha! Glad to hear we're not the only married couple who slept in separate beds!

We did end up sleeping in separate bed but we also have three kids. The first night my DS5 fell off the bed three times! (he's NEVER fallen out of his bed) so we seprated and then my twins (who are only almost 2) took up SO much room! I did not sleep very well all week

When was that? It broke down on us Monday. We were in the robot room. I remember thinking that I was glad we weren't in the cold room.

We were at DHS on Sunday the 25th! We got there at opening and went straight to TT and it was closed because they had frost on the tracks. There was about 10 CM's all walking around looking confused So we got FP and went back in an hour they were open and as we started to go in line - they closed AGAIN! So we waited until after lunch as we finally went on it. Then we went back with Baby Swap with my Mom and that's when it broke down But really I am from Canada I did not need to break down in the cold room...I went to Flordia to get OUT of the cold

 

[MelXThree]

Shelly I noticed on your CBR review that you talked about the pirate cruise...my DS5 went on the one at GF and he loved it too I am so glad we decided to do it.

 

[mana_liz]

Has anyone else who recently entered their photopass cards have disappointing enhancements available? Like no year 2009? And holiday graphics? And no character siggies?

Am I doing something wrong???

I was very disappointed with the enhancements...this is my first time using photopass...should there be more? I did send them an e-mail asking about a 2009 border. If that's all they have, it's a bummer. They had some many options if you looked at the parks. We added some really cute things to our Visa Reward photos.

 

[mana_liz]

Can someone send me the Valentine's Day smilie?

Thanks.

 

[trixiequilts]

I was very disappointed with the enhancements...this is my first time using photopass...should there be more? I did send them an e-mail asking about a 2009 border. If that's all they have, it's a bummer. They had some many options if you looked at the parks. We added some really cute things to our Visa Reward photos.

Yep, exactly. I saw all the enhancements in the parks with our Visa Reward photo too, and also have seen many on TRs that have tons of fun things that were added. I e-mailed them too. We'll see what happens.

I WANT THE FUN STUFF!!!

 

[crzyred]

Has anyone else who recently entered their photopass cards have disappointing enhancements available? Like no year 2009? And holiday graphics? And no character siggies?

Am I doing something wrong???

Well I must be doing the same thing you are. I sent an email. I have til Feb 15 to order, so they better be making some changes by then.

However I am not at all happy with our photopass pictures. We pre-ordered the cd and now too much time has passed to get out of it. My family is well aware that I'm ticked off about them and I'm demanding that everyone needs to cover my share of the cd, because I'm so disappointed.

We've done the cd a few times and had a great success, very unusual pictures, really great castle pics etc. This time though, our castle pictures aren't completely in focus and there is some worker guy in them. The vast majority of our pictures we look like we are all washed out in them.

Maybe if I switch them all over to black and white, then you won't be able to tell how pale we all look...

 

[debbieandroo]

Test Track broke down when we were in the cold room It started back up in about 5 mins but it could have broke down anywhere else in the ride and it would hav ebeen much better

Brrrr....

When was that? It broke down on us Monday. We were in the robot room. I remember thinking that I was glad we weren't in the cold room.

Buzzlightyear broke down on us too. But that's nothing new, it always breaks down on us!

You were on TT on Monday? I was there, too.

Yes, this happened to us often too. It was very frustrating. Test Track said 30 minutes when it was actually 65 minutes. I wasn't happy!

Then when we used fastpasses for TT again later we still waited 20-25 minutes.

I'm not sure what the deal was with the times being off. We have never had that happen before. Usually they are right on or even less than the stated wait time.

Two of us rode TT without a fastpass when the line said 10 minutes [the park had just opened] and we waited for 20-25. Then we did a child swap - I stayed with the baby and his mom had to use the regular line which seemed to take forever [the baby was fussy and ONLY wanted his mom - that was a rough 20-25 minutes!]. I am so glad TT didn't decide to break down then. We had a rough enough time when Space Mountain broke down the night before - the baby's mother was in line then, too. Three of us were staying with the baby who did not want us at all - only mommy and daddy.

We're on our way home We are stopping overnight in Florence, SC in about an hour and will finish our drive home tomorrow. Fortunately, we had great weather during our stay until the rain yesterday. However, it didn't really hit until we had finished most of our time at Epcot anyway. My MIL took my niece and our 3 oldest kids to Cirque so they had to leave pretty early. DH and I stayed with the 3 year old until we were tired of being cold and wet (even with ponchos).

We had a wonderful time all week even with the crowds. Saturday the 24th at MK was the worst of the crowds, but we weren't expecting to get much done that day anyway since we had BBB and then a late breakfast at CRT. Sunday at AK was crowded too, but with Fastpasses we were able to ride Everest 2 timess in a row and everyone saw what they wanted to. Monday was Downtown Disney, and it was great. We had never been before so we really enjoyed ourselves. Earl of Sandwich is delicious, and my kids made me a great shirt at the design-a-tee shop. Tuesday we went back to MK at opening and hopped right onto everything in Fantasyland. 5 minute waits at Thunder Mtn. and Haunted Mansion. Walkded onto POC. Our longest wait all day was at Astro Orbiter (25 min.). Splash Mountain was 10 minutes. We got a ton done that day! Wednesday we hit HS and while lots was closed we still saw everything anyone was interested in. We rode Tower of Terror 2 times in a row, but missed Beauty and the Beast. Sad about that since we saw it before and I wanted the 3 yr. old to see it. Guess we'll have to go back! Hit Epcot on Thursday and covered the biggies in Future World. Spent the morning finishing our packing and useing up our our meal/snack credits. Decided not to try the parks before heading home since we didn't want to be driving while wet.

Sorry to ramble. I'm trying to relive the magic before facing reality tomorrow. Safe travels to any other snowbirds making there way back.

It looks like we were following each other around - we did the same parks on the same days, except for DD on Monday - we went to Epcot then.

 

[MelXThree]

Yep, exactly. I saw all the enhancements in the parks with our Visa Reward photo too, and also have seen many on TRs that have tons of fun things that were added. I e-mailed them too. We'll see what happens.

I WANT THE FUN STUFF!!!

I e-mailed them yesterday too! They still have Christmas stuff on there???

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Welcome back! I looked for you at Chef Mickey's on the 20th but didn't really know what you looked like so I had a hard time finding you!

I so totally looked for you too! I wandered around the restaurant in circles looking for you (kinda knew what you looked like, knew you had 2 boys) from about 530 - 545! If you saw a blondish looking lady in denim capris, and a turqoise Minnie tshirt with a red Mickey Lanyard chasing 2 blonde headed little girls around the ice cream machine - that was me! I loved Chef Mickey's! Too much Fun! The characters were slow though - we ended up leaving before we got to see Minnie and Pluto! I would definitely go back!

 

[trixiequilts]

I e-mailed them yesterday too! They still have Christmas stuff on there???

Unfortunately yes.

 

[coffeehousemom]

Oh I forgotten about the break down.... we had a "funny" one... well Chuck & Corwin did. They were going to go on MS the intense side. They were about to go in when a CM stopped them & apologized said that they would have to move to a different capsule because someone had umm gotten sick in the last ride. Other than that we only had a few where you could tell that they were pausing for wheelchairs or people that needed help getting on.

I was a little disappointed in photopass borders etc. But they are still cool. To be honest its not a big deal cause I know Chuck will end up doing his own thing to all our pics anyhow. The joys of being married to a graphic artist.