RoyalCinderella
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2004
- Messages
- 295
Hey, gang, just returned home from WDW this evening. What a wonderful, beautiful adventure our vacation was. Even with American Airlines losing our golf clubs (got them from US Airways the next day), Mears losing our double- triple confirmed reservation for a private van transfer from MCO to WDW, and really large Brazilian tour groups that behaved respectfully for the most part(the flag was on the sleeve or "Brasil" was printed across the front), the great moments far outweighed the not-so-great ones.
Overview: We are 3 adults and stayed at the BCV for 8 nights, 7 full "Disney days." We stayed for 4 extra magic hours evenings, and we spent most of our time in the MK and Epcot. We got to the parks between 8 and 9am each morning, with one exception at noon (AK).
--We rode EE for the first time and LOVED it!! Mr. Yeti is our new favorite, resort-wide. OK, so maybe its a tie with TOT, but he was awesome. By far the best seat is the front row. We waited one or two trains at the most for the front, and it is so much better than the middle or the back. What a ride as Disney did an amazing job with the show and story on this one.
--We watched the shuttle launch from the American Adventure. We got misty eyed, and I video taped and took pictures. Amazing sight to behold, as the fife and drum corps played patriotic music and all the guests in the area clapped and cheered!
--We rode Pirates the evening of July 3rd about an hour before the preview of the MK's July 4th fireworks show. Captain Jack was so lifelike, the movements were so smooth and his voice was loud and clear when you hear him speak. The entire ride got a spit-polish and the audio is much improved. At least in WDW, the plot change including Barbossa and Jack is minimal, and the original character and story of the ride is preserved very well.
--We also saw Jack in one of his first performances on June 29th. The ride wasn't yet open then, and the CM out front was telling everyone it would be open July 7th. Anyway, the Jack character was delightful, and retained so many of Johnny Depp's mannerisms it was scary. Think SNL impersonation. An awesome show to see, even though it gets toasty out on the Pirate's plaza area in front of POTC. He was not available for pictures or autographs, as he makes a really quick, running exit to end the show as if he's escaping from us reporting that he's out of jail or something. I couldn't tell exactly what the assistant pirate was saying at that point. Anyway, he's not available for meet and greets at this time.
--The only maintenance that we saw that desperately needs doing is on the back of the space mountain building that is visible from the people mover and the train. Otherwise, the park is gleaming and spotless, even with the crowds. Attendants manned the restrooms the entire week from June 29 through July 6. The swirling purple whirlygigs and the Mission: Space red planet and sign are starting to noticeably fade. But that's ok, I suppose.
--Crowds were tremendous, but we're a festive bunch and don't mind them. If you are even remotely bothered by sharing your personal space with 50K - 80K of your closest friends during the July 4th fireworks shows at the MK and Epcot, I wouldn't recommend going during this time. The waits for all the rides ranged from 45 to 120 minutes (Peter Pan and Soarin') and a good average of the standby times for every ride all week was about an hour. At the EMHs after about 11:30pm to midnight, the waits were 10 - 30 minutes for everything, very nice.
--Fastpass and EMHs are your friends during these peak attendance times! We enjoyed our vacation immensely even with the capacity crowds because of carefully planned touring. ADRs were required for Le Cellier, CRT breakfast (no, really?), the Poly's spirit of aloha dinner show (duh), 50s PT diner (surprising), and LTT. They were turning parties without an ADR away at the door. But, do stay flexible with respect to the weather. We only had one shower that lasted more than about 5 minutes.
--The weather was fantastic. It would come a dark cloud, a cool breeze, then a shower for about 5 - 10 minutes. Just enough to cool things off, and back out into the park we'd go, and it would stay cool up until dark. Nice. It was in the mid 90s all week with plenty of sunshine. Of course, we're from Texas, and our weather is just the same as Florida's. That said, we weren't uncomfortable at all except for an hour one afternoon at the AK.
Well, just some general information about our vacation. If you have any specific questions, just fire away - I'd love to relive some of the moments from the trip again!
Overview: We are 3 adults and stayed at the BCV for 8 nights, 7 full "Disney days." We stayed for 4 extra magic hours evenings, and we spent most of our time in the MK and Epcot. We got to the parks between 8 and 9am each morning, with one exception at noon (AK).
--We rode EE for the first time and LOVED it!! Mr. Yeti is our new favorite, resort-wide. OK, so maybe its a tie with TOT, but he was awesome. By far the best seat is the front row. We waited one or two trains at the most for the front, and it is so much better than the middle or the back. What a ride as Disney did an amazing job with the show and story on this one.
--We watched the shuttle launch from the American Adventure. We got misty eyed, and I video taped and took pictures. Amazing sight to behold, as the fife and drum corps played patriotic music and all the guests in the area clapped and cheered!
--We rode Pirates the evening of July 3rd about an hour before the preview of the MK's July 4th fireworks show. Captain Jack was so lifelike, the movements were so smooth and his voice was loud and clear when you hear him speak. The entire ride got a spit-polish and the audio is much improved. At least in WDW, the plot change including Barbossa and Jack is minimal, and the original character and story of the ride is preserved very well.
--We also saw Jack in one of his first performances on June 29th. The ride wasn't yet open then, and the CM out front was telling everyone it would be open July 7th. Anyway, the Jack character was delightful, and retained so many of Johnny Depp's mannerisms it was scary. Think SNL impersonation. An awesome show to see, even though it gets toasty out on the Pirate's plaza area in front of POTC. He was not available for pictures or autographs, as he makes a really quick, running exit to end the show as if he's escaping from us reporting that he's out of jail or something. I couldn't tell exactly what the assistant pirate was saying at that point. Anyway, he's not available for meet and greets at this time.
--The only maintenance that we saw that desperately needs doing is on the back of the space mountain building that is visible from the people mover and the train. Otherwise, the park is gleaming and spotless, even with the crowds. Attendants manned the restrooms the entire week from June 29 through July 6. The swirling purple whirlygigs and the Mission: Space red planet and sign are starting to noticeably fade. But that's ok, I suppose.
--Crowds were tremendous, but we're a festive bunch and don't mind them. If you are even remotely bothered by sharing your personal space with 50K - 80K of your closest friends during the July 4th fireworks shows at the MK and Epcot, I wouldn't recommend going during this time. The waits for all the rides ranged from 45 to 120 minutes (Peter Pan and Soarin') and a good average of the standby times for every ride all week was about an hour. At the EMHs after about 11:30pm to midnight, the waits were 10 - 30 minutes for everything, very nice.
--Fastpass and EMHs are your friends during these peak attendance times! We enjoyed our vacation immensely even with the capacity crowds because of carefully planned touring. ADRs were required for Le Cellier, CRT breakfast (no, really?), the Poly's spirit of aloha dinner show (duh), 50s PT diner (surprising), and LTT. They were turning parties without an ADR away at the door. But, do stay flexible with respect to the weather. We only had one shower that lasted more than about 5 minutes.
--The weather was fantastic. It would come a dark cloud, a cool breeze, then a shower for about 5 - 10 minutes. Just enough to cool things off, and back out into the park we'd go, and it would stay cool up until dark. Nice. It was in the mid 90s all week with plenty of sunshine. Of course, we're from Texas, and our weather is just the same as Florida's. That said, we weren't uncomfortable at all except for an hour one afternoon at the AK.
Well, just some general information about our vacation. If you have any specific questions, just fire away - I'd love to relive some of the moments from the trip again!
But, since we'll have my 2yo granddaughter, that's prolly not a good idea.... 
And not the creepy one wih no eyes. It's cool in it's own way but no irises creep me out.
GLAD to hear they didn't here! 
