luvaladdin
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2001
- Messages
- 160
We just returned this morning from the World, having arrived on Wednesday PM, 4/21. It was me with DS5 and DS8. My DH and DD15 did not come. These are just random notes, I did not do a trip report this time or keep notes.
Crowds:
We went to MK on Thursday, 4/22 for extra magic hour and I couldn't believe the crowds. In that hour, we only did 3 things: Buzz 2x and the Speedway (line was 25 minutes at 8:30). While waiting in the Buzz line the 2nd time, I commented to my son about how long the line might be at Space Mountain. A man in front of me said, "It's long." Before 9 am, the wait was 50 minutes. We got a fastpass for later in the morning, I believe it was for about 10:30. Went over to Frontierland at 9 to ride Splash and Big Thunder. Well, we only made it onto Splash because the lines had grown so long so fast. Previously we have been in the middle of May and once at the beginning of March, so the month of April was new to us. We're from New England and it was our spring break. In the early afternoon, Splash had a wait of 120 minutes. We used fastpass whenever possible. A number of people, guests and CM's alike, commented on the crowd levels and were suprised by them. The crowds were a bit better on Sunday and much better on Monday, 4/26, especially the morning/early afternoon at the MK.
The rides:
Mission Space was new to us, I absolutely hated it, my DS8 loved it and went on alone the 2nd time. I am not claustrophobic but I started panicking on the ride, wondering what I could do to get the ride to stop. I was thinking of trying to remove my safety harness (which I'm sure wouldn't happen, but then again, I was not thinking straight), was looking for some kind of big red panic button on the control panel I could push, thought about banging on the door - I mean, I was losing it. I had to mentally calm myself down. I knew my DS5 was not enjoying it, but I did not dare look at him because of all the warnings about looking straight ahead only and not closing your eyes. I did not like the feel of the immense pressure on my chest, that is what caused me to panic, like I couldn't breathe. I did not get nauseous however. What did suprise me was the relative lack of wait times on this ride. I thought sure the ride would be very popular. I don't know if people are reading all the posted warnings and staying away, or if people don't know about the ride. With the close proximity to Test Track, people can't help but see the ride, it's not as if it's in an empty space in the park.
Test Track was awesome as usual, we were only at Epcot at night, when fastpasses were gone, so we'd ride it about 8:30 when everyone else was at Illuminations or heading over there. One night the timing was perfect, we rode once and left the ride with a couple of minutes to spare and ran thru the gift shop to ride it again, being one of the last cars to run for the night. Another time we got in the singles line and I was leaving it up to my DS5 if he wanted to ride alone, but we lucked out and ended up sitting together in the same row. My DS8 was in the car behind us. We all loved it.
My kids surprised me, the things they loved 3 years ago they had no interest in this year. It was a little dismaying to me, as I see they are getting older and calling rides like Pooh a "baby ride." They didn't want to pose with characters and the bubbling water from the ground that they used to love, now they ignored. I guess not wanting to wait in line for the characters was a good thing,as the lines were extremely long. Reactions from DS5 were mixed. He loved Test Track, Splash Mtn and Big Thunder, but he hated all the 3D attractions (he would remove the glasses) and the loudness of most attractions bothered him. He didn't remember most rides from 3 years ago. At that time he loved Peter Pan, but this time he just liked it, and he really liked Buzz. My DS8 suddenly is very brave and loved all the thrill rides like Space Mtn, ToT and RnR coaster.
Weather: The weather was wonderful, ranging from 85 to 88 and no rain. There were enough clouds to provide relief from the sun but enough sun to be warm after getting wet on Splash Mtn. Coming from New England, with the weather just getting warmer, I loved the higher temp's.
Resort: Pop Century was fine, it reminded me of the All Stars resorts - we've stayed at all 3 in previous visits. The basic pools, food court, style of buildings, huge icons - very familiar. I was very happy with the $77 (inc tax) rate we paid. I didn't have enough time to fully explore the resort, and wish I had seen the memorabilia in the check-in area. I thought the room was more than big enough for the 3 of us and everything was clean. Mousekeeping was very good, she left our stuffed animals in the window every day and made towel animals for us. Whenever I left a tip, she left a thank you note. The spouting water area was great and in a good location. Check-in was fairly quick and the staff very friendly. We were in the 90's building, which I wasn't too happy with, but it was less than a 5 minute walk. It's just that after a day in the park, the last thing I want to do is walk some more and then to refill the mug was a pain. I blamed myself for this oversight, I didn't fax a room request. We also arrived late at night, which also contributed to it. So remember to fax your room request!
Our schedule:
We went at a pretty hectic pace. I only decided to go in January, and flights were pretty full on Southwest, so we couldn't get our usual 8 day trip. I would get up first at about 6 am, then wake the boys at 6:30, leaving by 7 am for the parks, returning to the resort between 2 and 4, and leaving for another park between 4:30 and 6:00. We'd get back to the room by 10:00 usually and unwind (with my pastry), and in bed by 11:00, then up the next morning to start all over again. We kept up this pace because we had 5 straight park days, arriving late at night and leaving very early on the 7th day (5 am). I think my boys displayed a remarkable level of stamina to keep up with this schedule. I can say now that I am utterly exhausted and hope that all this makes sense after I post it.
Dining:
If you're looking for dining reviews involving epicurean delights, you can skip this section. We pretty much ate counter service. Every morning the kids had cereal in the room - I brought two boxes with me and bought milk in the food court every day. I would have a yogurt (brought from home with an ice pack in my carry-on), which I kept on ice in the room. I did not rent a fridge. So breakfast cost about $1.40 for the 3 of us (the cost of the milk). I won't always comment on what my kids ate because they pretty much stuck to chicken fingers and cheeseburgers.
We ate in the Pop Century food court once, had the fried chicken dinner which was very tasty. The green beans were delicious, I swear. Also, every night before bed I just had to have a cherry pastry with my cup of decaf coffee. The ice cream was very good.
We ate twice at Columbia Harbour House, a first for us. The tuna salad sandwich was so good. THe lines were short for lunch and there was no line for dinner. We ate upstairs at lunch, but for dinner it was roped off. Had the stacked deli sandwich at Pizzafari in the AK, wonderful, I'm always surprised that I don't hear more about this sandwich, it's that good. Had the stacked sandwich at Cosmic Ray's, similiar to Pizzafari, but not as excellent. The chix caesar salad looked awesome, wished I had ordered that when I saw someone go by with it. Had the chicken wrap at Peco's Bill's, that was very good.
Had just one sit down meal, at the Sci Fi Dine-in. My kids were bickering right before that so they weren't speaking to each other and DS5 was pouting and refused to speak to me also. DS8 was disappointed that they were showing just short movie clips, rather than a longer feature. I thought the atmosphere was great, I was more impressed than my kids. Then again, they didn't know what a drive-in was, had to explain it to DS8-remember, DS5 wasn't talking. I had the reuben sandwich, which was pretty good. It's one of those things that I'm glad we did but wouldn't return every trip. Just a note: this restaurant was very popular, people were being turned away in droves. A hostess made an announcement to those in line so they wouldn't wait for nothing. She said they could return at 3:40 as walk-in's and be seated right away. I thought she also said they wouldn't be in a car though.
Another note of warning, this time for Epcot fast food. If you expect to walk up to a counter between 7:30 and 8:30 pm at any world showcase place and expect to get your food quickly, you'd be wrong. As I was. One night I first tried the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco - wait too long. Then the Yakitori House in Japan - too long. Ended up at Liberty Inn in America - even longer. I probably waited 20 minutes in a very slow line. I think for this time of year, you either had to have a reservation at a restaurant or you had to eat dinner at 4 pm. I mistakenly thought people would be done with dinner by 8 pm. I had the shwarma platter another night at Tangierine Cafe - very good. Another night had food at the cantina in Mexico - didn't care for it, although most people give it good reviews.
We snacked a lot. I packed lots of snacks, most of which we ate. I brought strawberry breakfast bars, teddy grahams, Ritz peanut butter crackers, poptarts, rice krispy bars, juice boxes, a few soda cans, and candy. Every day they could pick two candy items to have, which I had bought at home on sale - like Chiclets gum, lollipops, nerds, fruit snacks, etc. This saved us a lot of $ in the parks. It seemed my kids were constantly hungry, especially when waiting in line. I was glad that I had packed such a variety of snacks and it was worth it toting them to the parks.
We also bought Mickey bars - DS8's favorite; Itsakadoozie - DS5's favorite; and the Nestle ice cream sandwich - my favorite. I think we had one of these (at least) every day. I had a Dole whip, which my kids didn't like. Oh, too bad, I had to eat it all by myself.
I refused to buy soda. I think I bought one the whole trip. We always asked for ice water wherever we went, whether a counter service place or a cart selling drinks in cups. My kids didn't like it, but they got used to it. All of the CM's were gracious about it.
Going solo:
It was an interesting trip on my own with my two boys. It was a wonderful time with wonderful memories and lots of special moments. Not having another adult or older child made certain things difficult, like leaving a line to go potty (which happened a lot!), splitting up to go on rides (my DS8 rode alone on Tower of Terror, Rock n roller coaster, Space Mountain and Mission Space. I'd wait just inside the gift shop with my DS5.), one wanting to go to the pool and one wanting to stay in the room. On the other hand, it was much easier than I had thought it would be. There were spats and a couple of semi melt-downs (you know those embarrassing moments when you want to sink through the cement?), but overall the kids were great and played well together. Most rides it also worked well with 3 of us. For instance, we all rode together in one row on Splash Mtn, Buzz (I got to pivot), Test Track, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and more.
To summarize, I'm sad and glad to be home. The pace was grueling and the crowds heavy, my feet are happy to be at home and not walking so much. I don't know when we'll be back, so it was sad to leave, especially the Magic Kingdom last night after watching Wishes. By the way, Spectromagic at MGM was fantastic - loved it. I hope you enjoyed reading.
Crowds:
We went to MK on Thursday, 4/22 for extra magic hour and I couldn't believe the crowds. In that hour, we only did 3 things: Buzz 2x and the Speedway (line was 25 minutes at 8:30). While waiting in the Buzz line the 2nd time, I commented to my son about how long the line might be at Space Mountain. A man in front of me said, "It's long." Before 9 am, the wait was 50 minutes. We got a fastpass for later in the morning, I believe it was for about 10:30. Went over to Frontierland at 9 to ride Splash and Big Thunder. Well, we only made it onto Splash because the lines had grown so long so fast. Previously we have been in the middle of May and once at the beginning of March, so the month of April was new to us. We're from New England and it was our spring break. In the early afternoon, Splash had a wait of 120 minutes. We used fastpass whenever possible. A number of people, guests and CM's alike, commented on the crowd levels and were suprised by them. The crowds were a bit better on Sunday and much better on Monday, 4/26, especially the morning/early afternoon at the MK.
The rides:
Mission Space was new to us, I absolutely hated it, my DS8 loved it and went on alone the 2nd time. I am not claustrophobic but I started panicking on the ride, wondering what I could do to get the ride to stop. I was thinking of trying to remove my safety harness (which I'm sure wouldn't happen, but then again, I was not thinking straight), was looking for some kind of big red panic button on the control panel I could push, thought about banging on the door - I mean, I was losing it. I had to mentally calm myself down. I knew my DS5 was not enjoying it, but I did not dare look at him because of all the warnings about looking straight ahead only and not closing your eyes. I did not like the feel of the immense pressure on my chest, that is what caused me to panic, like I couldn't breathe. I did not get nauseous however. What did suprise me was the relative lack of wait times on this ride. I thought sure the ride would be very popular. I don't know if people are reading all the posted warnings and staying away, or if people don't know about the ride. With the close proximity to Test Track, people can't help but see the ride, it's not as if it's in an empty space in the park.
Test Track was awesome as usual, we were only at Epcot at night, when fastpasses were gone, so we'd ride it about 8:30 when everyone else was at Illuminations or heading over there. One night the timing was perfect, we rode once and left the ride with a couple of minutes to spare and ran thru the gift shop to ride it again, being one of the last cars to run for the night. Another time we got in the singles line and I was leaving it up to my DS5 if he wanted to ride alone, but we lucked out and ended up sitting together in the same row. My DS8 was in the car behind us. We all loved it.
My kids surprised me, the things they loved 3 years ago they had no interest in this year. It was a little dismaying to me, as I see they are getting older and calling rides like Pooh a "baby ride." They didn't want to pose with characters and the bubbling water from the ground that they used to love, now they ignored. I guess not wanting to wait in line for the characters was a good thing,as the lines were extremely long. Reactions from DS5 were mixed. He loved Test Track, Splash Mtn and Big Thunder, but he hated all the 3D attractions (he would remove the glasses) and the loudness of most attractions bothered him. He didn't remember most rides from 3 years ago. At that time he loved Peter Pan, but this time he just liked it, and he really liked Buzz. My DS8 suddenly is very brave and loved all the thrill rides like Space Mtn, ToT and RnR coaster.
Weather: The weather was wonderful, ranging from 85 to 88 and no rain. There were enough clouds to provide relief from the sun but enough sun to be warm after getting wet on Splash Mtn. Coming from New England, with the weather just getting warmer, I loved the higher temp's.
Resort: Pop Century was fine, it reminded me of the All Stars resorts - we've stayed at all 3 in previous visits. The basic pools, food court, style of buildings, huge icons - very familiar. I was very happy with the $77 (inc tax) rate we paid. I didn't have enough time to fully explore the resort, and wish I had seen the memorabilia in the check-in area. I thought the room was more than big enough for the 3 of us and everything was clean. Mousekeeping was very good, she left our stuffed animals in the window every day and made towel animals for us. Whenever I left a tip, she left a thank you note. The spouting water area was great and in a good location. Check-in was fairly quick and the staff very friendly. We were in the 90's building, which I wasn't too happy with, but it was less than a 5 minute walk. It's just that after a day in the park, the last thing I want to do is walk some more and then to refill the mug was a pain. I blamed myself for this oversight, I didn't fax a room request. We also arrived late at night, which also contributed to it. So remember to fax your room request!
Our schedule:
We went at a pretty hectic pace. I only decided to go in January, and flights were pretty full on Southwest, so we couldn't get our usual 8 day trip. I would get up first at about 6 am, then wake the boys at 6:30, leaving by 7 am for the parks, returning to the resort between 2 and 4, and leaving for another park between 4:30 and 6:00. We'd get back to the room by 10:00 usually and unwind (with my pastry), and in bed by 11:00, then up the next morning to start all over again. We kept up this pace because we had 5 straight park days, arriving late at night and leaving very early on the 7th day (5 am). I think my boys displayed a remarkable level of stamina to keep up with this schedule. I can say now that I am utterly exhausted and hope that all this makes sense after I post it.
Dining:
If you're looking for dining reviews involving epicurean delights, you can skip this section. We pretty much ate counter service. Every morning the kids had cereal in the room - I brought two boxes with me and bought milk in the food court every day. I would have a yogurt (brought from home with an ice pack in my carry-on), which I kept on ice in the room. I did not rent a fridge. So breakfast cost about $1.40 for the 3 of us (the cost of the milk). I won't always comment on what my kids ate because they pretty much stuck to chicken fingers and cheeseburgers.
We ate in the Pop Century food court once, had the fried chicken dinner which was very tasty. The green beans were delicious, I swear. Also, every night before bed I just had to have a cherry pastry with my cup of decaf coffee. The ice cream was very good.
We ate twice at Columbia Harbour House, a first for us. The tuna salad sandwich was so good. THe lines were short for lunch and there was no line for dinner. We ate upstairs at lunch, but for dinner it was roped off. Had the stacked deli sandwich at Pizzafari in the AK, wonderful, I'm always surprised that I don't hear more about this sandwich, it's that good. Had the stacked sandwich at Cosmic Ray's, similiar to Pizzafari, but not as excellent. The chix caesar salad looked awesome, wished I had ordered that when I saw someone go by with it. Had the chicken wrap at Peco's Bill's, that was very good.
Had just one sit down meal, at the Sci Fi Dine-in. My kids were bickering right before that so they weren't speaking to each other and DS5 was pouting and refused to speak to me also. DS8 was disappointed that they were showing just short movie clips, rather than a longer feature. I thought the atmosphere was great, I was more impressed than my kids. Then again, they didn't know what a drive-in was, had to explain it to DS8-remember, DS5 wasn't talking. I had the reuben sandwich, which was pretty good. It's one of those things that I'm glad we did but wouldn't return every trip. Just a note: this restaurant was very popular, people were being turned away in droves. A hostess made an announcement to those in line so they wouldn't wait for nothing. She said they could return at 3:40 as walk-in's and be seated right away. I thought she also said they wouldn't be in a car though.
Another note of warning, this time for Epcot fast food. If you expect to walk up to a counter between 7:30 and 8:30 pm at any world showcase place and expect to get your food quickly, you'd be wrong. As I was. One night I first tried the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco - wait too long. Then the Yakitori House in Japan - too long. Ended up at Liberty Inn in America - even longer. I probably waited 20 minutes in a very slow line. I think for this time of year, you either had to have a reservation at a restaurant or you had to eat dinner at 4 pm. I mistakenly thought people would be done with dinner by 8 pm. I had the shwarma platter another night at Tangierine Cafe - very good. Another night had food at the cantina in Mexico - didn't care for it, although most people give it good reviews.
We snacked a lot. I packed lots of snacks, most of which we ate. I brought strawberry breakfast bars, teddy grahams, Ritz peanut butter crackers, poptarts, rice krispy bars, juice boxes, a few soda cans, and candy. Every day they could pick two candy items to have, which I had bought at home on sale - like Chiclets gum, lollipops, nerds, fruit snacks, etc. This saved us a lot of $ in the parks. It seemed my kids were constantly hungry, especially when waiting in line. I was glad that I had packed such a variety of snacks and it was worth it toting them to the parks.
We also bought Mickey bars - DS8's favorite; Itsakadoozie - DS5's favorite; and the Nestle ice cream sandwich - my favorite. I think we had one of these (at least) every day. I had a Dole whip, which my kids didn't like. Oh, too bad, I had to eat it all by myself.
I refused to buy soda. I think I bought one the whole trip. We always asked for ice water wherever we went, whether a counter service place or a cart selling drinks in cups. My kids didn't like it, but they got used to it. All of the CM's were gracious about it.
Going solo:
It was an interesting trip on my own with my two boys. It was a wonderful time with wonderful memories and lots of special moments. Not having another adult or older child made certain things difficult, like leaving a line to go potty (which happened a lot!), splitting up to go on rides (my DS8 rode alone on Tower of Terror, Rock n roller coaster, Space Mountain and Mission Space. I'd wait just inside the gift shop with my DS5.), one wanting to go to the pool and one wanting to stay in the room. On the other hand, it was much easier than I had thought it would be. There were spats and a couple of semi melt-downs (you know those embarrassing moments when you want to sink through the cement?), but overall the kids were great and played well together. Most rides it also worked well with 3 of us. For instance, we all rode together in one row on Splash Mtn, Buzz (I got to pivot), Test Track, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and more.
To summarize, I'm sad and glad to be home. The pace was grueling and the crowds heavy, my feet are happy to be at home and not walking so much. I don't know when we'll be back, so it was sad to leave, especially the Magic Kingdom last night after watching Wishes. By the way, Spectromagic at MGM was fantastic - loved it. I hope you enjoyed reading.
I only ride the "baby rides" LOL 
I am taking my kids alone this year--well almost. My mother will be flying down to meet us. It's the driving part I really dread, but my husband HATES to drive, so he's never too much help in that department anyway. I want to take my kids over to PC just to see the icons and take pictures one afternoon. I think we might also try the food court with our vouchers. My daughter is very curious about the Twinkie tiramasu and cheesecake. I'm glad you and your family are back home again safely.
