minnie mouse ears
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 1, 2003
- Messages
- 186
We went to Disney for 6 days & 1 day in Universal at the first of June. We started our park days on June 4th. Here is a list of some of my random observations from the week.
Staying offsite: We rented a house in Indian Creek with a pool. It was great for the 7 of us and I felt we missed no magic at all. However, we did spend most days open to close in the parks as well. The drive was short and we enjoyed the location and the house very much.
Disney:
Fastpasses Still LOVE them! We saved so much time using Fastpasses.
Touring Plans Well worth the money spent. Following Touring plans in the morning then using our own schedule and fastpasses in the afternoon allowed us to see so much even during the summer. On our first Magic Kingdom day, we used the Touring Plans then on our second Magic Kingdom Day (which was our last day) we took the time out to see the parades, character meet and greet in the front of the park, etc. We had a character breakfast on day 7 and we were too exhausted to criss cross the parks anymore so the touring plans went out the window that day. LOL. We also used TP on our fist Epcot Day, HS day and AK day.
Photopass Love it. I preordered Photopass and had a coupon code so I got it for $85 before our trip. We came home with probably 150 unique photopass pictures and I wish we had gotten more. The kids were tired of photopass by the end of the trip though and I was just plain tired. LOL They love the pictures though now & I am still adding in borders etc. right now. We also took probably 325-450 pictures of our own counting the ones that my mom took.
Strollers Very glad we bought a stroller for our 4 year old. He has a blood disorder and gets tired very easy. We had to carry him in some lines and there is no way that we could have carried him all over the parks and in and out. It was exhausting carrying him in the lines. Our 7 and 8 year olds did fine walking. Well the 7 year old did have to be carried out of a park on day 4 but we were walking all day everyday from open to close. I think that a healthy child ages 7 and above can walk all day in the parks just fine.
Magic Kingdom A tip for overstimulated exhausted kids is to take them to Tom Sawyer Island. We did this on day 7 and the kids loved it. I found a spot and sat down while dh chased the kids. There is even an area where they can shoot at the trains. I dont have a lot of tips etc for MK but we loved it. I will say that we did find a good spot for the electrical parade on main street under the shading and across from the artists. Oh and make sure you get close to the castle for Wishes. We were on main street and couldnt see the castle pictures well. However, we liked the nightshows at MK better than Fantasmic! Fantasmic crowds were just too much but I will go into that in a bit.
Epcot Oddly enough, this was my 11 year olds favorite park and my other kids loved it as well. The kids were 4, 7, 8 and 11. The older 3 kids really really enjoyed the Kim Possible missions and it allowed them to see part of the world. Dont miss this gem if you have kids in this age range. They thought it was so neat to set off a shooting star from the volcano in Mexico! I cant say enough good things about the nemo, crush and aquarium area. We spent one full day open to almost close at Epcot then from 1:30 close another day. I honestly could have easily spent a 3rd day in Epcot!
Animal Kingdom Love the Expedition Everest Ride and still love the Lion King Show. We also saw the Flights of Wonder Show for the first time and thought it was fantastic . My dare devil 4 year old even rode the Dinosaur Ride with no problem at all. It seems like we did a lot of walking in this park though bc we were criss crossing the park. Loved the Parade!
Hollywood Studios - Really enjoyed Toy Story Mania and my son loved the Stunt Show. This was our worst park of the week. We went on Tuesday and it was so crowded. We used our Fastpass on TSM so we stood in line for Star Tours. Star Tours was fun but my son leaned over the rail and lost his hat. He was heartbroken and was just sobbing. One of the CM in line told us that she could get it but then couldnt. We were told again later in the line that they could get it by several CMS and had another person in line tell us that they saw a CM get it already. Then comes the part that made me mad. The store CMs couldnt find it then I had a CM at the beginning of the line tell my dh flat out that not they could not get it and that we would have to come back the next day to pick it up at the front of the park if it would even be there. Okay IF I hadnt been told multiple times that they could get it and if my son was not so heartbroken and if other people in line hadnt told me that the CM already had it in hand I would have been okay with that. However, being told they can do something, being told that they already had it etc. then having a lazy CM tell me they couldnt didnt sit well with me at all. We went back to the unloading section and a WONDERFUL CM went and found it for us. We tried to tip him $5 for it but he told me that seeing my son happy and not crying anymore was tip enough for him. I could have hugged him . We had a nightmare of a time getting into Pizza Planet. The line was a little long at 3 but looked like it wouldnt be to bad. The workers were just were not moving at all. I have never seen any Disney CM move as slowly as they did in this line. Wow. I stood there for at least an hour to get pizza and was just shocked. The line was no longer than some I stood in for a very short time in other parks. Then comes the Fantasmic nightmare. We skipped the first show which was a big mistake. People in the line for the second show were pushing, shoving, cutting, etc. It was not a magical Disney moment! Had we known that there would have still been seats on the sides, we would have just walked in after everyone else was seated. I will not be doing the late Fantasmic again unless I walk in after the crowds. My 7 year old dd tried so hard to stay awake but just couldnt and we had to take turns carrying her out of the park. We liked HS but found it to be crowded and a lot of the CMs just seem to be not as friendly as in other parks. Dont get me wrong, we met a few awesome CMs but for the most part they just didnt seem to enjoy their jobs as much as in other parks. It could have been the crowd that was there that day but all in all this ended up being our least favorite park due to crowds.
Universal IOA Well worth the visit to see HP. Go to the HP section late in the day if not at opening. We were able to ride the Hulk, Spiderman and water rides as walk ons immediately after opening. Spiderman is awesome! Be sure to get a locker for the water rides. My dh ruined his walled on Popeys and Blutos. Everyone gets soaked to the bone on that ride! At an hour before closing, the castle had a 30 minute wait. It was my favorite ride of the week! We used Child Swap which worked out fantastic. My 4 year old got to see the inside of the castle even though he couldnt ride. Flight of the Hipograff had a 10 minute wait at an hour before closing. We skipped the wand shop since the line was so long. Frozen butter beer is the best of the two wow I wish I could make this stuff at home. Yum. We did lunch at Hard Rock Café which was fun. Dueling Dragons was a very smooth ride and moved so fast that I dont think it would even bother people who are afraid of normal Roller Coasters that go upside down. Using Child Swap allowed us to jump in front of a lot of people on this line. The CMS pulled us out and into another line ahead of a lot of the crowd.
I know I wrote more negative than positive here but we had a fantastic magical time. We probably walked 80 plus miles, had sore feet, a few meltdowns, etc. but we all had a blast. There is so much to do and see that you just cant do it all although we put in a good effort. LOL We took no afternoon breaks at all even though we planned to. It was just too hard. We dont do Disney every year so it will be awhile before we are back but made some great memories. I will do a food review later as well.
Staying offsite: We rented a house in Indian Creek with a pool. It was great for the 7 of us and I felt we missed no magic at all. However, we did spend most days open to close in the parks as well. The drive was short and we enjoyed the location and the house very much.
Disney:
Fastpasses Still LOVE them! We saved so much time using Fastpasses.
Touring Plans Well worth the money spent. Following Touring plans in the morning then using our own schedule and fastpasses in the afternoon allowed us to see so much even during the summer. On our first Magic Kingdom day, we used the Touring Plans then on our second Magic Kingdom Day (which was our last day) we took the time out to see the parades, character meet and greet in the front of the park, etc. We had a character breakfast on day 7 and we were too exhausted to criss cross the parks anymore so the touring plans went out the window that day. LOL. We also used TP on our fist Epcot Day, HS day and AK day.
Photopass Love it. I preordered Photopass and had a coupon code so I got it for $85 before our trip. We came home with probably 150 unique photopass pictures and I wish we had gotten more. The kids were tired of photopass by the end of the trip though and I was just plain tired. LOL They love the pictures though now & I am still adding in borders etc. right now. We also took probably 325-450 pictures of our own counting the ones that my mom took.
Strollers Very glad we bought a stroller for our 4 year old. He has a blood disorder and gets tired very easy. We had to carry him in some lines and there is no way that we could have carried him all over the parks and in and out. It was exhausting carrying him in the lines. Our 7 and 8 year olds did fine walking. Well the 7 year old did have to be carried out of a park on day 4 but we were walking all day everyday from open to close. I think that a healthy child ages 7 and above can walk all day in the parks just fine.
Magic Kingdom A tip for overstimulated exhausted kids is to take them to Tom Sawyer Island. We did this on day 7 and the kids loved it. I found a spot and sat down while dh chased the kids. There is even an area where they can shoot at the trains. I dont have a lot of tips etc for MK but we loved it. I will say that we did find a good spot for the electrical parade on main street under the shading and across from the artists. Oh and make sure you get close to the castle for Wishes. We were on main street and couldnt see the castle pictures well. However, we liked the nightshows at MK better than Fantasmic! Fantasmic crowds were just too much but I will go into that in a bit.
Epcot Oddly enough, this was my 11 year olds favorite park and my other kids loved it as well. The kids were 4, 7, 8 and 11. The older 3 kids really really enjoyed the Kim Possible missions and it allowed them to see part of the world. Dont miss this gem if you have kids in this age range. They thought it was so neat to set off a shooting star from the volcano in Mexico! I cant say enough good things about the nemo, crush and aquarium area. We spent one full day open to almost close at Epcot then from 1:30 close another day. I honestly could have easily spent a 3rd day in Epcot!
Animal Kingdom Love the Expedition Everest Ride and still love the Lion King Show. We also saw the Flights of Wonder Show for the first time and thought it was fantastic . My dare devil 4 year old even rode the Dinosaur Ride with no problem at all. It seems like we did a lot of walking in this park though bc we were criss crossing the park. Loved the Parade!
Hollywood Studios - Really enjoyed Toy Story Mania and my son loved the Stunt Show. This was our worst park of the week. We went on Tuesday and it was so crowded. We used our Fastpass on TSM so we stood in line for Star Tours. Star Tours was fun but my son leaned over the rail and lost his hat. He was heartbroken and was just sobbing. One of the CM in line told us that she could get it but then couldnt. We were told again later in the line that they could get it by several CMS and had another person in line tell us that they saw a CM get it already. Then comes the part that made me mad. The store CMs couldnt find it then I had a CM at the beginning of the line tell my dh flat out that not they could not get it and that we would have to come back the next day to pick it up at the front of the park if it would even be there. Okay IF I hadnt been told multiple times that they could get it and if my son was not so heartbroken and if other people in line hadnt told me that the CM already had it in hand I would have been okay with that. However, being told they can do something, being told that they already had it etc. then having a lazy CM tell me they couldnt didnt sit well with me at all. We went back to the unloading section and a WONDERFUL CM went and found it for us. We tried to tip him $5 for it but he told me that seeing my son happy and not crying anymore was tip enough for him. I could have hugged him . We had a nightmare of a time getting into Pizza Planet. The line was a little long at 3 but looked like it wouldnt be to bad. The workers were just were not moving at all. I have never seen any Disney CM move as slowly as they did in this line. Wow. I stood there for at least an hour to get pizza and was just shocked. The line was no longer than some I stood in for a very short time in other parks. Then comes the Fantasmic nightmare. We skipped the first show which was a big mistake. People in the line for the second show were pushing, shoving, cutting, etc. It was not a magical Disney moment! Had we known that there would have still been seats on the sides, we would have just walked in after everyone else was seated. I will not be doing the late Fantasmic again unless I walk in after the crowds. My 7 year old dd tried so hard to stay awake but just couldnt and we had to take turns carrying her out of the park. We liked HS but found it to be crowded and a lot of the CMs just seem to be not as friendly as in other parks. Dont get me wrong, we met a few awesome CMs but for the most part they just didnt seem to enjoy their jobs as much as in other parks. It could have been the crowd that was there that day but all in all this ended up being our least favorite park due to crowds.
Universal IOA Well worth the visit to see HP. Go to the HP section late in the day if not at opening. We were able to ride the Hulk, Spiderman and water rides as walk ons immediately after opening. Spiderman is awesome! Be sure to get a locker for the water rides. My dh ruined his walled on Popeys and Blutos. Everyone gets soaked to the bone on that ride! At an hour before closing, the castle had a 30 minute wait. It was my favorite ride of the week! We used Child Swap which worked out fantastic. My 4 year old got to see the inside of the castle even though he couldnt ride. Flight of the Hipograff had a 10 minute wait at an hour before closing. We skipped the wand shop since the line was so long. Frozen butter beer is the best of the two wow I wish I could make this stuff at home. Yum. We did lunch at Hard Rock Café which was fun. Dueling Dragons was a very smooth ride and moved so fast that I dont think it would even bother people who are afraid of normal Roller Coasters that go upside down. Using Child Swap allowed us to jump in front of a lot of people on this line. The CMS pulled us out and into another line ahead of a lot of the crowd.
I know I wrote more negative than positive here but we had a fantastic magical time. We probably walked 80 plus miles, had sore feet, a few meltdowns, etc. but we all had a blast. There is so much to do and see that you just cant do it all although we put in a good effort. LOL We took no afternoon breaks at all even though we planned to. It was just too hard. We dont do Disney every year so it will be awhile before we are back but made some great memories. I will do a food review later as well.
