MelanieC
<font color=blue>BL II - Blue Team<br><font color=
- Joined
- Sep 28, 1999
- Messages
- 11,928
Hi all,
I wanted to check in after our fantastic vacation over the past two weeks. It was Me (37), DH (42), DD14 & DS8.
We had fantastic weather (only rained a few times and only once that it affected our park time. It was an evening in EPCOT and we had already had dinner, so we just went back to the room early). It was HOT! It was hot last year, but I seemed to notice it more this year. The key is to have a plan, but be willing to change the plan if the weather doesn't cooperate.
Here are a few tips for helping to stay cooler in such hot weather. We found that we would immediately get hot walking about 20 feet even after being in cold A/C for an hour. Visit gift shops often. We used gift shops, fast food restaurants, etc. that were on our way from one location to the next to help keep us cool. Examples-walking through ABC Commissary and Cosmic Ray's. When we had to walk from one side of a park to the next, we would stop at as many gift shops and/or fast food establishments to cool off as was necessary.
Use the mister spray/water sprays for cooling off. At MK there is the misters in Tomorrowland (under a red alien car). At EPCOT there are many. Car Wash near Test Track, misters between test track & Mission Space, shooting water from the ground (wasn't working near Test Track & Mission Space) near Honey I shrunk the Audience. AK - In africa I remember two. One near Tusker house and one as you start to go toward Asia.
Also for those of you who don't go on Kali because you don't want to get wet.......Go after lunch. On our first day at AK, DD and I didn't go on and I was so hot that day that I didn't feel that good. The second day, I said I would go on it because we were so hot and I felt great at the end of the day. I really think getting cooled down by that water ride helped alot.
One thing that worked extremely well for cooling down was to buy a smoothie. They are cold and icy (I highly recommend the Chai Freeze at AK's Royal Anandapur Tea Co.). Take them to a cold gift shop (or as we did one day to the exit of R&RRC) and eat them inside. This immediately brings your temperature down to the point of having stomach freeze!!!
Eat indoors. We prefer table service for lunch and dinner, but even if you eat fast food (even from an outdoor Kiosk or cart) take your food indoors to eat. You would not believe how many people we saw outside in 96 degree weather eating hot dogs and turkey legs. The thought of eating those kinds of foods outdoors in that heat makes my tummy hurt. Not to mention these people looked miserable, sweaty and the kids looked like they needed an A/C break. I know not everyone was that bad, but my advise is find a fast food establishment that has indoor seating and take a load off in the comforatble A/C. Every park has them........use them to your advantage.
My point of my ramblings above, is to use whatever means are available to you to beat the heat. Be thankful your at Disney who has many many indoor attractions. We were at Busch Gardens in Tampa last year and every attraction except one was outside. This is lines and rides. I was miserable and all the lines were long. Disney knows how to do a theme park right.
Restaurants- We didn't have a bad meal anywhere. There were some that were better than others but not a bad meal anywhere. By the way I loved the most of the new items at Ohana's. I do miss the Prawns, but this was a great meal for us. I will post a complete restaurant review - We ate at a lot of restaurants!
Fastpasses - Use them........We still to this day can't figure out why people wait in 50 plus minute lines instead of using them. The longest thing we waited for was usually Pirates of the Caribbean (longest was 40 mintues, but I think it only took us 30). If you use them wisely you can avoid long lines all together. It will depend on the time of year. Certain times of the year it's unavoidable.
We didn't use any early or late entry and didn't have a wait. I also saw a bus on Sunday morning leaving the Pop Century at a few minutes before 7am, going to MGM (I'm assuming for early entry - but I haven't checked that fact). There were only 3 or 4 people on the bus. If your willing to get up for early entry you may have the park to yourself that time of the morning? Can't verify as we didn't do this.
The Pop Century was again a wonderful resort for our use. We were barely at the hotel and it was good for us. We would love to stay at Poly, AK lodge or Wilderness Lodge, but we are rarely in the room. For a two week stay I just can't justify the cost. I'd rather put it towards our food. Bus service was ok, except coming home from DDT. We only used it 4-5 times total so we didn't use it much. We drove to the parks every day (except when the kids went back early by themselves, DD met me at MK one day, and DS and I went to MK by ourselves on two mornings. DD and I also took it home from DDT one night (took over an hour). The slushy machines were working all the times we saw. One evening they weren't frozen enough, so they were a little melted.
If you have a Disney Visa - (I think this may end in Sept sometime) go to Innoventions West for the Disney Visa Character meet & greet. I have never been treated better. The character interaction was out of this world. They had a Photopass photographer and another person who asked to take pictures with our camera. Minnie even came up with the idea to do a girls only and a boys only picture. They came out so good. The ones on our camera were all done landscape view. I bought a frame at Disney with 3 frames connected by a chain that were all in landscape view. We are going to put 1 picture of the girls (DD, me & Minnie), 1 picture of everyone together (DD, DS, DH, me, Minnie & Goofy) and 1 picture of the boys (DS, DH & Goofy, in it.
Also even if you don't plan on buying any of the photo pass pictures. Go get photo pass pictures at every opportunity with the entire group in the picture. Ask the CM to use your camera to take pictures after they do. Don't feel bad for asking to have them take more than 1 picture. I found if they only took one, someone had eyes closed. Taking more than 1 (most CM's took 2, a few took more without me asking). I have some great shots this way.
The best spot for a MK picture is to the right of the castle if you are facing it. As you cross the bridge from Tomorrowland to the Castle. Forget doing it on main street. To many people and you don't get a good view of the castle. This spot turned out best. Also do it more than one time in a day and on more than one day if you are there often enough. Pictures don't always turn out. This gives you more chances to get that one perfect family photo. Also mix it up once in a while. DH and I got several in this spot in MK when we went early by ourselves.
We took a hot air balloon ride with Thompson Aire one morning. Besides having to be there at 5:45am it was spectacular.
Also - one last tip........go to innoventions West and get a lesson on riding the Segway. Another highlight of the trip! Free and totally fun!
Please feel free to ask me any questions. I will be posting a full trip report (most is already complete as I would come back at the end of the day and type up what we did so I wouldn't forget. You'd be amazed at how you forget things when your there for so many days. I almost don't remember the beginning of the trip.
I wanted to check in after our fantastic vacation over the past two weeks. It was Me (37), DH (42), DD14 & DS8.
We had fantastic weather (only rained a few times and only once that it affected our park time. It was an evening in EPCOT and we had already had dinner, so we just went back to the room early). It was HOT! It was hot last year, but I seemed to notice it more this year. The key is to have a plan, but be willing to change the plan if the weather doesn't cooperate.
Here are a few tips for helping to stay cooler in such hot weather. We found that we would immediately get hot walking about 20 feet even after being in cold A/C for an hour. Visit gift shops often. We used gift shops, fast food restaurants, etc. that were on our way from one location to the next to help keep us cool. Examples-walking through ABC Commissary and Cosmic Ray's. When we had to walk from one side of a park to the next, we would stop at as many gift shops and/or fast food establishments to cool off as was necessary.
Use the mister spray/water sprays for cooling off. At MK there is the misters in Tomorrowland (under a red alien car). At EPCOT there are many. Car Wash near Test Track, misters between test track & Mission Space, shooting water from the ground (wasn't working near Test Track & Mission Space) near Honey I shrunk the Audience. AK - In africa I remember two. One near Tusker house and one as you start to go toward Asia.
Also for those of you who don't go on Kali because you don't want to get wet.......Go after lunch. On our first day at AK, DD and I didn't go on and I was so hot that day that I didn't feel that good. The second day, I said I would go on it because we were so hot and I felt great at the end of the day. I really think getting cooled down by that water ride helped alot.
One thing that worked extremely well for cooling down was to buy a smoothie. They are cold and icy (I highly recommend the Chai Freeze at AK's Royal Anandapur Tea Co.). Take them to a cold gift shop (or as we did one day to the exit of R&RRC) and eat them inside. This immediately brings your temperature down to the point of having stomach freeze!!!
Eat indoors. We prefer table service for lunch and dinner, but even if you eat fast food (even from an outdoor Kiosk or cart) take your food indoors to eat. You would not believe how many people we saw outside in 96 degree weather eating hot dogs and turkey legs. The thought of eating those kinds of foods outdoors in that heat makes my tummy hurt. Not to mention these people looked miserable, sweaty and the kids looked like they needed an A/C break. I know not everyone was that bad, but my advise is find a fast food establishment that has indoor seating and take a load off in the comforatble A/C. Every park has them........use them to your advantage.
My point of my ramblings above, is to use whatever means are available to you to beat the heat. Be thankful your at Disney who has many many indoor attractions. We were at Busch Gardens in Tampa last year and every attraction except one was outside. This is lines and rides. I was miserable and all the lines were long. Disney knows how to do a theme park right.
Restaurants- We didn't have a bad meal anywhere. There were some that were better than others but not a bad meal anywhere. By the way I loved the most of the new items at Ohana's. I do miss the Prawns, but this was a great meal for us. I will post a complete restaurant review - We ate at a lot of restaurants!
Fastpasses - Use them........We still to this day can't figure out why people wait in 50 plus minute lines instead of using them. The longest thing we waited for was usually Pirates of the Caribbean (longest was 40 mintues, but I think it only took us 30). If you use them wisely you can avoid long lines all together. It will depend on the time of year. Certain times of the year it's unavoidable.
We didn't use any early or late entry and didn't have a wait. I also saw a bus on Sunday morning leaving the Pop Century at a few minutes before 7am, going to MGM (I'm assuming for early entry - but I haven't checked that fact). There were only 3 or 4 people on the bus. If your willing to get up for early entry you may have the park to yourself that time of the morning? Can't verify as we didn't do this.
The Pop Century was again a wonderful resort for our use. We were barely at the hotel and it was good for us. We would love to stay at Poly, AK lodge or Wilderness Lodge, but we are rarely in the room. For a two week stay I just can't justify the cost. I'd rather put it towards our food. Bus service was ok, except coming home from DDT. We only used it 4-5 times total so we didn't use it much. We drove to the parks every day (except when the kids went back early by themselves, DD met me at MK one day, and DS and I went to MK by ourselves on two mornings. DD and I also took it home from DDT one night (took over an hour). The slushy machines were working all the times we saw. One evening they weren't frozen enough, so they were a little melted.
If you have a Disney Visa - (I think this may end in Sept sometime) go to Innoventions West for the Disney Visa Character meet & greet. I have never been treated better. The character interaction was out of this world. They had a Photopass photographer and another person who asked to take pictures with our camera. Minnie even came up with the idea to do a girls only and a boys only picture. They came out so good. The ones on our camera were all done landscape view. I bought a frame at Disney with 3 frames connected by a chain that were all in landscape view. We are going to put 1 picture of the girls (DD, me & Minnie), 1 picture of everyone together (DD, DS, DH, me, Minnie & Goofy) and 1 picture of the boys (DS, DH & Goofy, in it.
Also even if you don't plan on buying any of the photo pass pictures. Go get photo pass pictures at every opportunity with the entire group in the picture. Ask the CM to use your camera to take pictures after they do. Don't feel bad for asking to have them take more than 1 picture. I found if they only took one, someone had eyes closed. Taking more than 1 (most CM's took 2, a few took more without me asking). I have some great shots this way.
The best spot for a MK picture is to the right of the castle if you are facing it. As you cross the bridge from Tomorrowland to the Castle. Forget doing it on main street. To many people and you don't get a good view of the castle. This spot turned out best. Also do it more than one time in a day and on more than one day if you are there often enough. Pictures don't always turn out. This gives you more chances to get that one perfect family photo. Also mix it up once in a while. DH and I got several in this spot in MK when we went early by ourselves.
We took a hot air balloon ride with Thompson Aire one morning. Besides having to be there at 5:45am it was spectacular.
Also - one last tip........go to innoventions West and get a lesson on riding the Segway. Another highlight of the trip! Free and totally fun!
Please feel free to ask me any questions. I will be posting a full trip report (most is already complete as I would come back at the end of the day and type up what we did so I wouldn't forget. You'd be amazed at how you forget things when your there for so many days. I almost don't remember the beginning of the trip.
