edk35
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2004
- Messages
- 11,398
I thought I would post it again and then in paranthesis tell you all WHAT WE REALLY DID...........LOL. We arrived Wed. Nov. 16th (for 10 nights) very late around 11:00. Our SW flight was 45 min. late. Anyway.......we stayed 7 nights at Shades of Green and 3 nights at CS. Here is the old schedule and how we followed that commando schedule. LOL
Arrive Orlando Wed. 16th at 9:00 (more like 10:00, did a grocery stop and checked in after 11:00)
Thursday 17th First Park Day MK We have 8:20 ARD at CP for breakfast then spend day/night at MK. ( Cancelled ARD, we got to bed too late and didn't get to MK until 10:30. This was our best MK day of the trip. The crowds were lower, they were only opened til 8:00 so we skipped spectro and Wishes and rode when everyone else was lined up. That worked out great. We got onto everything with no problems this night. Also saw Share A Dream Parade this day. We also hit a few things we usually skip at MK. So a good MK day to boot.
Friday 18th MGM til about 3:30 (probaby when HHDP is over or we might just watch it as we are walking toward gate) and boat over to EC for the rest of the night. ( We didn't do MGM this day....we went to AK instead at opening. Another perfect low crowd day. We had no problems riding things, saw Tarzan..haven't seen that in years. My youngest rode the Triceretops about 8 times. IT was a great low crowd day. We also ate at Tuskar House, had never tried that. The Safari ride was probably our best ever.........tons of animals were out. So this was our most perfect AK trip ever. We left around 2:30. My parents decided to come in a day early so we went back to hotel to meet them and then went to EC around 5:00. Another PERFECT NIGHT. Low crowds, rode everything, the Showcase was easy to get around. Saw Illuminations. Perfect evening.
Sat. This day my parents arrive SOG around 1ish I am guessing. So we plan on going to EMH at AK and getting back to hotel around 2:00. Then after we get back and parents are checked in and settled, they get their tickets, we head to EC. For rest of evening. (okay we went to MGM today instead.....not bad crowd wise. Saw Beauty and the Beast, rode TOT and RRRC, did the Stunt Show, rode the Great Movie Ride, did the the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game...had never done this in previous trips. Kids played at the playground. We had a great late lunch at Prime Time......yummy. THEN i made the biggest mistake. I should have stayed this night. I caved under pressure when the kids wanted to go back to hotel to swim. UGH. This would have been the perfect night to do Osborne Lights and Fantasmic. We skipped it. It was far more crowded when we returned to MGM on Monday.)
Sunday. MK from open to about 3:00 then boat over to FW for 4:30 ARD at Trails End for early dinner. After that boat back to MK (they are open til 11:00) We plan on skipping first Spectro, riding rides and seeing Wishes and then riding a couple of things,heading toward entrance of MK toward flag pole to watch 2nd spectro and then get out quickly. I am guessing though...low crowds by then. (Okay we had some spotty showers this day, even delayed the 3:00 parade......but not too bad. We arrived at opening, saw the opening show, did fantasy land first, we could tell it was more crowded today....but we got to ride most things with fast passes with no problem. THen we stuck with the plan of leaving around parade time to head to FW for dinner. When we arrived we skipped lining up for first spectro.......and we rode stuff...instead. It was not as low crowd as Thursday but we still had fun. We stayed late for Wishes and second spectro. IT was a long long long day. My youngest said "I don't ever want to do that again". LOL
Monday MGM all day/night lunch at 11:00 at Primetime, do HHDP, Osborne Lights and we are on the fence about Fantasmic this trip> But there are two..so we would do 2nd one at 8:00 if we do it. ( Cancelled Primetime because we did it on Sat. instead) MUCH MORE CROWDED TODAY.....today we did Indiana Show, Star Tours, RRRC and TOT again. We did the Walts Dream thing...had never done that. We saw the parade this day too. Ate at Pizza Planet....PACKED. We were back at Osborne Lights when they flipped them on...that was cool. We saw the first Fantasmic show......had we waited for 2nd..........it would have been less crowded..but we were all tired from night before. A definite difference in crowd levels today. Disney had that right with adding 2nd spectro and 2nd Fantasmics. That was the indicator it was crowded already.
Tuesday EC til about 5:30 Lunch at Le Cellier at 2:20. Monorail back to MK for the rest of the night. We plan on just riding stuff while EVERYONE ELSE IS LINING UP FOR THE TWO SPECTROS/WISHES. ( LET ME JUST SAY THAT LE CELLIER IS THE BEST FOOD EVER...........It was soooooooo good and we will eat there every trip from now on. This was our first time eating there. Okay....we got to EC around 9:15. The wait for Soarin was 20 min. We fast passed it and also got in line. So pretty much when we got out...it was close to time to do it again. Much bigger crowds today...............by the time we did the Soarin the 2nd time....it was a 80 min. wait for Soarin.....that was at 10:30ish. The kids and my dh did Mission Space again........I don't like that one. He forgot to get Test Track fast passes and by then we were in the show case..so we didnt' do it. BIG MISTAKE..........because when we went back on Friday the day after Thanskgiving............HUGE WAITS. Anyway....we rode most of the FW stuff, enjoyed the countries....loved the food in Canada. WE listened to the band in Canada and United Kingdom..had never done that before either. Did not stay for Illuminations..went back to MK to meet friends.........OMG...........it was packed. It was soooooooooooo crowded. It was almost miserable. The idea we could ride stuff while the spectros were going on.......WRONG..............space mountain broked down, Buzz was a 50 min. wait and no fast passes. Fantasy Land was a zoo...............we did People Mover a few times and saw the inside of Space Mountain lit up...that was neat. We did watch Wishes again. We did fast pass TM.......and did the HH again. Peter Pan had a 20 min. wait at 10:30. We did Small World right before close. A huge difference in crowds tonight compared to our first MK day on Thursday previous week.
Wed. sleep in a bit, check out of SOG and transferr to CS. This is our down day so to speak. If we can check in, we will do pool time, lunch and later that afternoon/evening go to DTD. UNLESS WE DON'T GO TO SEA WORLD THE NEXT DAY. IF WE DON'T...WE PLAN ON GOING BACK TO EC. THen doing DTD on Thursday...Thanksgiving Day. ( WE didn't leave CS this day, had lunch and dinner at Pepper Market...didn't particulary like this place....would probably never stay at CS for that very reason. Over priced and not that good. Although we did enjoy the Thanksgiving meal there. That was good. THe kids swam twice this day, we rented a surrey bike too. The hotel is pretty spread out. The one CM told us ...it was bigger than MK. The rooms are okay..not near as nice or big or as soundproof as SOG though. You can hear showers, toilets. We stayed in the Casitas #4. We didnt' get our requested bldgs.
Thursday Sea World and dinner at Pepper Market. Unless we skip Sea World and just sleep in, have breakfast at hotel, pool time maybe again, DTD, eat at Pepper Market that night for dinner still even if we go to DTD. (Did not go to Sea World......had breakfaste at Maya Grill........their buffet is good...much better than breakfast at SOG, more expensive than SOG but better food. WE went to DTD around noon for about 5 hours.....nice day today. Went back to CS for swimming and Thanks giving dinner. All in all..a nice shopping day/beautiful weather too. Oh WE ATE AT Earl of Sandwich..loved it. That was a new try for us as well.
Friday OUR LAST FULL DAY/NIGHT. We plan on doing EC all day/night. We are going to see the tree lighting, do the storytelling, go out back gate and walk along BW...maybe grab lunch out there. See special Illuminations that night. Just take it all in on the last night. (okay.....got there right after opening...fast passed Soarin, EC was packed this day. Test Track broke down..fast pass line was out the bldg when it opened back up..we didn't even use our fast passes that day. I gave them away....the spaceship earth had a line too.......didn't have a line in Jan. or the other EC days of this trip. The kids and dh fast passed Mission Space again. We did Energy and Figment. Didn't even bother with the Living Seas...it was the first day back opened. IT looked crowded too from a distance. We headed to World Showcase...........OMG...I waited in line for about 25 min. just to order counter service in Mexico. Took forever. We didnt' even attempt to walk around to do story tellers, wait for tree lighting or the special Illuminations. We headed back to hotel around 4:00. Spent the evening swimming again and had dinner at Pepper Market.
Sat. SLEEP IN, BREAKFAST AT HOTEL, Parents leave to go home. Our flight isn't until 5:40...being picked up at 3:30 so we thought after we check out, we would take bus to Blizzard Beach for mini golf game. Back to hotel, grab a quick bite before leaving for airport. (we had breakfast at Maya again, checked out, took AK bus to Summer Winterland. Did both courses. Because BB is closed....we would have had to wait for EC bus to pick us up there...go to EC then transfer to CS bus from EC to get back to hotel..so we just hoofed it to hotel...not too bad a walk. The AK bus driver suggested that to save time. We grabbed some pizza from Pepper market and then our car service picked us up at 3:00.
I thought CS was nice, but SOG is much nicer...just doens't have great food offerings, pools aren't exciting there either. Love being close to monorail though. My daughter lost her nice jacket, her dance jacket. She had it at CS on Wed. when it was kind of cold.. we have pictures of her in it. She didn't have it on at DTD...it was much warmer that day. WE think she left it by the pool or in the Pepper Market. It had the name of her Ballet School on it and also her name was embroidered on it. I called the resort and they put me through to House Keeping.........no one turned it in. So my guess is that it was stolen. She took down our phone number. But my guess it is history. So there you have our update. We had fun, we enjoyed our two NON park days. We enjoyed our Le Cellier meal, Trails End was okay this trip. Pepper Market is not that great.........enjoyed Earl of Sandwich.
Denise
Arrive Orlando Wed. 16th at 9:00 (more like 10:00, did a grocery stop and checked in after 11:00)
Thursday 17th First Park Day MK We have 8:20 ARD at CP for breakfast then spend day/night at MK. ( Cancelled ARD, we got to bed too late and didn't get to MK until 10:30. This was our best MK day of the trip. The crowds were lower, they were only opened til 8:00 so we skipped spectro and Wishes and rode when everyone else was lined up. That worked out great. We got onto everything with no problems this night. Also saw Share A Dream Parade this day. We also hit a few things we usually skip at MK. So a good MK day to boot.
Friday 18th MGM til about 3:30 (probaby when HHDP is over or we might just watch it as we are walking toward gate) and boat over to EC for the rest of the night. ( We didn't do MGM this day....we went to AK instead at opening. Another perfect low crowd day. We had no problems riding things, saw Tarzan..haven't seen that in years. My youngest rode the Triceretops about 8 times. IT was a great low crowd day. We also ate at Tuskar House, had never tried that. The Safari ride was probably our best ever.........tons of animals were out. So this was our most perfect AK trip ever. We left around 2:30. My parents decided to come in a day early so we went back to hotel to meet them and then went to EC around 5:00. Another PERFECT NIGHT. Low crowds, rode everything, the Showcase was easy to get around. Saw Illuminations. Perfect evening.
Sat. This day my parents arrive SOG around 1ish I am guessing. So we plan on going to EMH at AK and getting back to hotel around 2:00. Then after we get back and parents are checked in and settled, they get their tickets, we head to EC. For rest of evening. (okay we went to MGM today instead.....not bad crowd wise. Saw Beauty and the Beast, rode TOT and RRRC, did the Stunt Show, rode the Great Movie Ride, did the the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game...had never done this in previous trips. Kids played at the playground. We had a great late lunch at Prime Time......yummy. THEN i made the biggest mistake. I should have stayed this night. I caved under pressure when the kids wanted to go back to hotel to swim. UGH. This would have been the perfect night to do Osborne Lights and Fantasmic. We skipped it. It was far more crowded when we returned to MGM on Monday.)
Sunday. MK from open to about 3:00 then boat over to FW for 4:30 ARD at Trails End for early dinner. After that boat back to MK (they are open til 11:00) We plan on skipping first Spectro, riding rides and seeing Wishes and then riding a couple of things,heading toward entrance of MK toward flag pole to watch 2nd spectro and then get out quickly. I am guessing though...low crowds by then. (Okay we had some spotty showers this day, even delayed the 3:00 parade......but not too bad. We arrived at opening, saw the opening show, did fantasy land first, we could tell it was more crowded today....but we got to ride most things with fast passes with no problem. THen we stuck with the plan of leaving around parade time to head to FW for dinner. When we arrived we skipped lining up for first spectro.......and we rode stuff...instead. It was not as low crowd as Thursday but we still had fun. We stayed late for Wishes and second spectro. IT was a long long long day. My youngest said "I don't ever want to do that again". LOL
Monday MGM all day/night lunch at 11:00 at Primetime, do HHDP, Osborne Lights and we are on the fence about Fantasmic this trip> But there are two..so we would do 2nd one at 8:00 if we do it. ( Cancelled Primetime because we did it on Sat. instead) MUCH MORE CROWDED TODAY.....today we did Indiana Show, Star Tours, RRRC and TOT again. We did the Walts Dream thing...had never done that. We saw the parade this day too. Ate at Pizza Planet....PACKED. We were back at Osborne Lights when they flipped them on...that was cool. We saw the first Fantasmic show......had we waited for 2nd..........it would have been less crowded..but we were all tired from night before. A definite difference in crowd levels today. Disney had that right with adding 2nd spectro and 2nd Fantasmics. That was the indicator it was crowded already.
Tuesday EC til about 5:30 Lunch at Le Cellier at 2:20. Monorail back to MK for the rest of the night. We plan on just riding stuff while EVERYONE ELSE IS LINING UP FOR THE TWO SPECTROS/WISHES. ( LET ME JUST SAY THAT LE CELLIER IS THE BEST FOOD EVER...........It was soooooooo good and we will eat there every trip from now on. This was our first time eating there. Okay....we got to EC around 9:15. The wait for Soarin was 20 min. We fast passed it and also got in line. So pretty much when we got out...it was close to time to do it again. Much bigger crowds today...............by the time we did the Soarin the 2nd time....it was a 80 min. wait for Soarin.....that was at 10:30ish. The kids and my dh did Mission Space again........I don't like that one. He forgot to get Test Track fast passes and by then we were in the show case..so we didnt' do it. BIG MISTAKE..........because when we went back on Friday the day after Thanskgiving............HUGE WAITS. Anyway....we rode most of the FW stuff, enjoyed the countries....loved the food in Canada. WE listened to the band in Canada and United Kingdom..had never done that before either. Did not stay for Illuminations..went back to MK to meet friends.........OMG...........it was packed. It was soooooooooooo crowded. It was almost miserable. The idea we could ride stuff while the spectros were going on.......WRONG..............space mountain broked down, Buzz was a 50 min. wait and no fast passes. Fantasy Land was a zoo...............we did People Mover a few times and saw the inside of Space Mountain lit up...that was neat. We did watch Wishes again. We did fast pass TM.......and did the HH again. Peter Pan had a 20 min. wait at 10:30. We did Small World right before close. A huge difference in crowds tonight compared to our first MK day on Thursday previous week.
Wed. sleep in a bit, check out of SOG and transferr to CS. This is our down day so to speak. If we can check in, we will do pool time, lunch and later that afternoon/evening go to DTD. UNLESS WE DON'T GO TO SEA WORLD THE NEXT DAY. IF WE DON'T...WE PLAN ON GOING BACK TO EC. THen doing DTD on Thursday...Thanksgiving Day. ( WE didn't leave CS this day, had lunch and dinner at Pepper Market...didn't particulary like this place....would probably never stay at CS for that very reason. Over priced and not that good. Although we did enjoy the Thanksgiving meal there. That was good. THe kids swam twice this day, we rented a surrey bike too. The hotel is pretty spread out. The one CM told us ...it was bigger than MK. The rooms are okay..not near as nice or big or as soundproof as SOG though. You can hear showers, toilets. We stayed in the Casitas #4. We didnt' get our requested bldgs.
Thursday Sea World and dinner at Pepper Market. Unless we skip Sea World and just sleep in, have breakfast at hotel, pool time maybe again, DTD, eat at Pepper Market that night for dinner still even if we go to DTD. (Did not go to Sea World......had breakfaste at Maya Grill........their buffet is good...much better than breakfast at SOG, more expensive than SOG but better food. WE went to DTD around noon for about 5 hours.....nice day today. Went back to CS for swimming and Thanks giving dinner. All in all..a nice shopping day/beautiful weather too. Oh WE ATE AT Earl of Sandwich..loved it. That was a new try for us as well.
Friday OUR LAST FULL DAY/NIGHT. We plan on doing EC all day/night. We are going to see the tree lighting, do the storytelling, go out back gate and walk along BW...maybe grab lunch out there. See special Illuminations that night. Just take it all in on the last night. (okay.....got there right after opening...fast passed Soarin, EC was packed this day. Test Track broke down..fast pass line was out the bldg when it opened back up..we didn't even use our fast passes that day. I gave them away....the spaceship earth had a line too.......didn't have a line in Jan. or the other EC days of this trip. The kids and dh fast passed Mission Space again. We did Energy and Figment. Didn't even bother with the Living Seas...it was the first day back opened. IT looked crowded too from a distance. We headed to World Showcase...........OMG...I waited in line for about 25 min. just to order counter service in Mexico. Took forever. We didnt' even attempt to walk around to do story tellers, wait for tree lighting or the special Illuminations. We headed back to hotel around 4:00. Spent the evening swimming again and had dinner at Pepper Market.
Sat. SLEEP IN, BREAKFAST AT HOTEL, Parents leave to go home. Our flight isn't until 5:40...being picked up at 3:30 so we thought after we check out, we would take bus to Blizzard Beach for mini golf game. Back to hotel, grab a quick bite before leaving for airport. (we had breakfast at Maya again, checked out, took AK bus to Summer Winterland. Did both courses. Because BB is closed....we would have had to wait for EC bus to pick us up there...go to EC then transfer to CS bus from EC to get back to hotel..so we just hoofed it to hotel...not too bad a walk. The AK bus driver suggested that to save time. We grabbed some pizza from Pepper market and then our car service picked us up at 3:00.
I thought CS was nice, but SOG is much nicer...just doens't have great food offerings, pools aren't exciting there either. Love being close to monorail though. My daughter lost her nice jacket, her dance jacket. She had it at CS on Wed. when it was kind of cold.. we have pictures of her in it. She didn't have it on at DTD...it was much warmer that day. WE think she left it by the pool or in the Pepper Market. It had the name of her Ballet School on it and also her name was embroidered on it. I called the resort and they put me through to House Keeping.........no one turned it in. So my guess is that it was stolen. She took down our phone number. But my guess it is history. So there you have our update. We had fun, we enjoyed our two NON park days. We enjoyed our Le Cellier meal, Trails End was okay this trip. Pepper Market is not that great.........enjoyed Earl of Sandwich.
Denise
