Just back-11/2-11/10 Some notes...

[heffie]

Random notes/thoughts... Forgot how great Splash Mountain is. If your on the "regular" line for Space Mountain, when the line divides, the right one is shorter. A MUST- vanilla ice cream sanwiched in between 2 tollhouse cookies (from the bakery on Main street). We stayed at the Beach Club-Concierge level. Was it worth the money- No. Would I do it again/happy that I did it- you bet! Addequate continetal breakfast (my early to rise DS got up without waking us up went down to the lounge,ate and watched ESPN-he loved it). Food could have been a little more plentiful though. The 2 conciege were awesome. Utilized them quite often. Lost a ($4) toy from Animal Kingdom and had a broken ($4.50) toy from Mexico. Asked him if he could do anything. The next afternoon both were in my room. On a bus ride late at night, when all were tired, we had a bus driver have the entire bus singing songs and aswering trivial questions. Loved it. Lines were not too bad- Try to avoid MK on Sat and Mon. Animal Kingdom lines non-existant. wnr on the rapids 4 times-no wait-got drenched. Buzz Lightyear ride-get 100,000 points at the beginning of ride, turn around and shoot robot's left arm. we also went on the three day cruise. Awesome- Any questions about that????

 

[jennymouse]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! Thanks for posting!

 

[Cindy & Belle's Mom]

I have a question...what do you mean exactly when you say ...Buzz Lightyear...get 100,000 points: turn around and shoot robot's left arm? My DH and DS always got high scores on this ride and I never did resulting in soooooomuch gloating! Since I am hoping to have the family do this again...your (apparent) tip would be appreciated!

 

[Karel]

Hi. Were you on the Rapids Wed morning during the first rainstorm? That's when we were on and there was no line. Stayed on three times and then the kids went round by themselves. We were damp the rest of the day but it was a ton of fun.

 

[pnelson]

How old were your kids? What did they like about Disney World?

 

[heffie]

Concerning the rapids at Animal Kingdom- We were on the rapids on Tues. We were watching the parade during the brief shower. The hour before that was no lines. (We combined Bliz Beach and AK into one day. Bliz Beach in the morning, and AK in the afternoon. Possibly the lines at AK in the afternoon are much shorter?).What a blast of a ride! It was just myself and my 10yr old DD.Ages of my kids and what they liked???? 12yr old DS, 10DD, 4DS. What they liked?? Everything! 4& 10 loved Splash, BTMR, Buzz, 12 loved Dino ride at AK, Test Track... they really liked everything. If you have more of a specific quesiton, I'd be more than happy to answer it! My 4 yr old was able to keep up great, just a handful of rides that he wasnt on (babyswap!!). All kids were REALLY into pin trading, and my 4 yr old into autographs. I'll try to answer the question about Buzz ride (i'm sure there are more experts than me). In the very beginning of the ride, on the left hand side there is a very big robot. There are targets on both sides of both hands. As you pass the robot, turn all the way around, so that you are still facing/shooting the robot. On (the outside) of his left hand, there is a target. hit it, and you get 100,000 points! My wife hit it twice, so there was ALOT of bragging going on! I'm a day back now from my trip (we ended it with the 3 day cruise). It was simply an amazing vacation. If we could do it over, we would change little-spend more time in the countries at Epcot (maybe forgo Downtown Disney for that, hotel hop a little more.Just soooo much to do and so little time. Lastly, when my 12 yr DS went to bed last night, he came up to me, hugged me, and thanked me for a great vacation. Life is good!

 

[pnelson]

Did your 10 and 12 year old kids do autographs? My son will be 10 when we go and I really hate to give this up!!! He's just growing up too fast!!

 

[heffie]

Sorry, our 10&12 yr olds did not do autographs! We've been to Disney six times, and it is sad watching the kids pass through different stages of their lives. Example- our 4 yr old is so innocent and DW is still sooo magical to himCaptain Hook is a bad guy, and Mickey Mouse is, well Mickey Mouse-THE MAN! Our 12 yr old still sees a bit of the magic (he'll get it all back with his kids) but its more the rides for him. There's also a sadness in that this is the first time where we said to ourselves that we will not be rushing back to DW (in the next 1-2 yrs). Oh well...

 

[CRCrazy]

My 11 and 13 year olds did do autographs this March. The 13 year old didn't want an autograph book though, so she bought a plain white visor, and had them sign with her blue Sharpie. She also only had it signed by her favorites - my 5 and 11 year olds weren't so particular. I think the 11 year old liked the characters better than anything else! She is a bit of a wimp when it comes to rides!

I'm interested to see what they decide on in December - they don't even know they are going!

 

[pnelson]

Thank you, CRCrazy, for making me feel a little better. I've been feeling sad lately because he is getting so big! He's always loved the characters-I hope next year at 10 he can still get into it a little bit. He's been refusing to go on Dumbo since he was 7 so I can see where he is growing out of things! Too Sad!

 

[Cindy & Belle's Mom]

Pnelson,

I know that feeling well since our youngest of six are now 13! (identical twin girls). One thing you might cheer yourself up with a bit...your son must really be enjoying the prospect of driving one of the Grand Prix racing cars by himself! When he does this for the first time be sure to get video of it...our twenty-somethings still laugh and kid each other about their early driving skills!

Send somebody over to the entrance to Toontown. I think there's a good place to take video of it...or by now maybe the best spot is along the back walkway between the trainstop in Toonville and Space Mountain in Tomorrowland. Check them out for future reference.

 

[heffie]

My four year drove it this time (with my foot on the peddle. He loved it He loved being a "crazy driver" When we pulled up, the cast member looked at us, asked if we want to go again, I said sure, and off we went! He loved that too! (Small things like that make Disney sooo special)

 

[northwds]

Sounds like a great trip. We are going the same week next year. Oh it seems so far off, but I am already counting the days. How were the crowds? We went the same week in 2001, no crowds at all.