Kczimmy
Donald Devotee
- Joined
- May 2, 2010
- Messages
- 8
My wife and I are the proud parents of 12 kids. I know they are technically children, but we call them kids. Before you faint, my wife has five from a previous marriage, I have seven. Most of my kids are grown with kids of their own; we have only six left at home. That still sounds like a handful until you realize they are with their other parents every other week. These every other week periods are when we catch our breath and occasionally get away on a vacation for two. This last week was one of those occasions. Michelle and I have been looking forward to this visit since February. We were on a plane out of Michigan by 7AM on the 15th. (Saturday) We touched down before 9:30AM and were at the Boardwalk resort before 10:30. We did not expect our room to be ready, so we dropped off our carry-on bag and headed straight to the parks. We always get the Park Hopper option so we can come and go whenever we please. Even though our home resort is Saratoga Springs, we like to stay at the Boardwalk because of the bus situation. When we brought 10 people to WDW a few years ago, we spent a good amount of our vacation waiting in Saratoga Springs bus stops. Even though Disneys bus stops are world-class, they are still bus stops. At the Boardwalk, you can grab a boat every 10 minutes for either Epcot or Hollywood Studios, or just walk, if you really want to spend more time on your feet. Walking through Epcot and catching a monorail to MK is sometimes faster than waiting for a bus. It would be amazing if Disney were able to get the bus system to work as regularly and consistently as the monorail or the boat schedule does. On one morning this week, we watched three AK busses come through the Boardwalk, one after another, in less than 10 minutes! Before you start to think I am just a complainer, we had a marvelous time. The benefits of Disney far outweigh the negatives. We have yet to find anywhere we would rather vacation. The high standards and consistently exceptional service Disney is famous for is what raises our expectations to such a high level.
My wife and I are a couple of those pin-trader nuts. We can trade 200 pins a week, easy. We dont sell them on Ebay or anything like that, we just love to search and find certain ones. I usually wear Donald Duck or Stitch; my wife likes Cinderella or Tinker Bell. This trip we built quite a good Toy Story collection. We find and gift quite a few pins a year to our kids and grandkids. It is also fun to give pins away on the bus trips. We always ask the parents first, but Im afraid we condemned a couple of parents to a long future of pin and lanyard purchasing on this trip.
Our favorite ride is the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately, it broke down on the day we were at HS, making our FP useless. Two days later, one of the cast members traded a new FP for each of our expired ones, so we were compensated for our disappointment. Our high scores run in the 165,000 to 195,000 neighborhood. Between 9:20 and noon, we were able to ride the ride five times! Our second favorite ride is the Rockin Roller Coaster, also at HS. Unbeknownst to us, the RRC was scheduled for refurbishment from May 15-20, the exact days we were going to be there! What to do? Well, you schedule another trip, of course!!!
The best part of our vacation was the same as the last visit. Talking with the other guests and cast members is always a blast. The cast members who also collect pins have a great time checking out the rare pins we sometimes wear, and they are genuinely the most gracious and interesting people you would ever want to meet. We are looking forward to seeing them again in August!
My wife and I are a couple of those pin-trader nuts. We can trade 200 pins a week, easy. We dont sell them on Ebay or anything like that, we just love to search and find certain ones. I usually wear Donald Duck or Stitch; my wife likes Cinderella or Tinker Bell. This trip we built quite a good Toy Story collection. We find and gift quite a few pins a year to our kids and grandkids. It is also fun to give pins away on the bus trips. We always ask the parents first, but Im afraid we condemned a couple of parents to a long future of pin and lanyard purchasing on this trip.
Our favorite ride is the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately, it broke down on the day we were at HS, making our FP useless. Two days later, one of the cast members traded a new FP for each of our expired ones, so we were compensated for our disappointment. Our high scores run in the 165,000 to 195,000 neighborhood. Between 9:20 and noon, we were able to ride the ride five times! Our second favorite ride is the Rockin Roller Coaster, also at HS. Unbeknownst to us, the RRC was scheduled for refurbishment from May 15-20, the exact days we were going to be there! What to do? Well, you schedule another trip, of course!!!
The best part of our vacation was the same as the last visit. Talking with the other guests and cast members is always a blast. The cast members who also collect pins have a great time checking out the rare pins we sometimes wear, and they are genuinely the most gracious and interesting people you would ever want to meet. We are looking forward to seeing them again in August!
