just back 1/13-1/22

[mousiemom]

Oh, what a wonderful time we had! There were 14 of us. Both sets of grandparents, sisters, neices, and my husband and 5yr old daughter. We go to Disney every yr. and decided this was the best time of the year to go. We went last yr. the 1st week of Feb. but you had all the mardi gras crowds. We had the best weather and no lines!!! Pop was awesome as ever and the buses ran smooth. My mother has a bad knee this year so she was able to get a wheelchair from Pop(for free)her whole stay. We always had a seat on the bus and it worked well with her for the rides. This was our itenairary:

Sat. - MK, not too crowed for a Sat. We ate lunch in our room and went back for spectro and wishes. Very cold this night.

Sun. - MGM, my little girl rode the TOT for the 1st time and loved it. Rode it 5 more times thru our trip. They were actually airing the millionaire show w/Meredith and my husband took a chance & asked a CM for some tickets and they gave us 14 tickets. Then, when we were standing in line for the show, they pulled our group out and sat us in a smaller section for the show. To top it off, they gave all the audience members gold mickey ears to wear and keep. Meredith was wearing a pair with real crystals worth $1500. They were gorgeous and of course Mickey & Minnie came out! It was so cool. A magical moment for everybody!! That night, we went to Epcot early to try to go on Soarin and the wait was 75min. and no more fastpasses. So, went had dinner in Mexico by the lake and watched Illuminations! Awesome!!

Mon. - Animal Kingdom, this was our magical hour so we got there @ 8am and headed to the Safari and no lines. We saw Tarzan Rocks one last time before it ended this week. Went to MGM for Fantasmic show. Great as ever!

Tues. - Universal Studios/IOA - No lines. Great time!

Wed. - Chef Mickey Breakfast(our favorite)Had Papa's ball cap signed by all the characters and wore our t-shirts we had made with our picture on the front w/mickey ears. They were a conversation piece. Everybody loved them
Headed to Epcot to get fastpass for Soarin. Enjoyed the land ride while we waited and Soarin was too cool. Try to get on the front row cause we had little feet dangling above us but the ride was cool. You were truly Soarnin over Cali.
Went back over to MK and my daughter rode Space Mtn. on the front row w/her arms up. Brave. She loved it.

Thurs. - Bush Gardens-no lines and just an hr. down the interstate. Really cool rollercoasters-Sheikra is very scarry/200ft drop.

Fri. - Grandparents took daughter to MK and we went to MGM and rode our favorites TOT and Rockin Rollercoaster. Went back to ride Soarin @ Epcot but no more fp and the line was 90min.

Sat. - everybody went home but me, hh, and dd. We always have one day just for us. We had our character lunch @ the crystal palace and loved it!! We thought this was better and prettier than the castle lunch. The food was great and it was fun seeing all the pooh characters. The crowds grew larger towards the afternoon @ MK. The fp lines were 30min long. We ended with our tradtional last ride the people mover(transit authority). We love just sitting back and looking @ MK and the castle @ night. Took some great pics too. We love using the photopass! Even though I took 17 rolls of film, I love looking @ the ones the photographer makes. Crazy us, we learned also, the fp are good till the end of the day. Didn't know that. We always went back between the times on the ticket. So, that was very useful. We learn something every yr. we go. We can't wait to go back next Jan. and ride Expedition Everest. It looks so cool. They were testing it when we were there. I was so jealous. Have fun @ the most magical place on earth!! we did!
Pam

 

[heart4dis]

I noticed you spent one day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure... did you manage to find a one-day two-park pass? Did you split the party? did you buy a two-day pass and only go one day? Do you have annual passes there?

sorry to be so nosy...it's just that the last time we went I found some very rare one-day two-park passes so we could go one day to US/IOA. We went at a light time of year and faced no real crowds so we could do both parks in a day. I can't find any of those now and am told they don't exist, so I just wondered...

 

[mousiemom]

We actually bought the 2park 1 day ticket for $99.95 and got our child's for free online. The rest of my family bought their tickets there and they only had to pay $73.00 for the 2park 1 day ticket. We didn't split up cause I wanted to experience the rides with my older sisters that haven't been before. We love Universal. Our favorite is spiderman and the hulk and we're adding the mummy too.

 

[kelleigh1]

We were there during the same time frame, but arrived on Sunday. I'd tried to get tickets for the Millionaire taping, but they never released them online. I never thought to go to MGM that day and see if we could get them.


We were lucky enough to ride Soarin' first thing in the morning and then grabbed FastPasses as soon as we got off. Later that day, we saw the wait time of 100 minutes. So glad we did it early. I think that's the only way to go if you really want to ride it. Of course, Test Track being closed last week must have added to the line.

 

[mousiemom]

Yes, I missed test track this yr. Yeah, anytime there's a new ride people flock to it. Next yr., it will be expedition everest. Maybe the newness will wear off before Jan. 07.

 

[kelleigh1]

We probably won't be able to go in January of '07. We were barely able to afford to go this year, but since it was already paid for, we weren't going to cancel. We're hoping for fall of '07, but we'll see.

Hubby heard one of the CM's mention that they didn't like Expedition Everest. Apparently the CM's had the opportunity to test it out last week. I honestly have no interest in riding it as I don't do roller coasters. Hubby might decide to try it next time, we'll see. I forget why he said the CM didn't like it. He may have said it was too short. I'll have to ask him. (Although I know that everyone's taste is different so even if one person didn't like it, doesn't mean others won't love it.)

 

[OhMari]

We actually bought the 2park 1 day ticket for $99.95 and got our child's for free online. The rest of my family bought their tickets there and they only had to pay $73.00 for the 2park 1 day ticket. We didn't split up cause I wanted to experience the rides with my older sisters that haven't been before. We love Universal. Our favorite is spiderman and the hulk and we're adding the mummy too.

Why were the tickets only $73 at the parks. My son is racing in Gainsville the 1st weekend in March and me and dd were going to slip away and go to Universal. I was going to get the no-expiration, so I can use the tickets for next April 07.

 

[Minniespal]

Sounds fantastic ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[mousiemom]

You got me. We found out the price difference when we got to the ticket box. Don't you just love Universal? You know we always wear our ponchos and water shoes for the water rides but I got soaked on Popeye. But I love them. Dudley Dooright was down. This yr. we did both parks in one day and we were exhausted. We ususally go for two days but wanted to spend more time @ the disney parks.