skoba-nelson
Back Off, I'm Grumpy
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2002
- Messages
- 323
An overview; me - 33, DW - 29. We skipped a lot of things because I can't do things like Star Tours or Body Wars and DW is expecting. Did not notice any cutbacks, only the absence of CoP and the Flametree BBQ. We even saw live performances in all parks not listed in the times guides. No EE so what. We were at each park when the gates were opened and had the 1st hour or so to ourselves to do what we wanted. CM's were great, parks were clean.
I posted a report of all meals on restaurant forum last week.
Feb 1 - arrival. Stopped on the way from near Savannah at Blue Spring State Park on I-4 to see the manatees, but they weren't in the spring because of FL's extra warm winter. It was only around noon when we arrived then but they still checked us in and had a room ready at ASSp. We drove to WL and explored the trails to FW. Did petting zoo, saw stables, and walked trails (some of those trails are deserted and pretty far around Bay Lake). Walked back to WL and saw their geyser. Drove to Poly, explored it and had PSR for 'Ohana.
Feb 2 - AK. arrived @ 8:40 via bus. Went 1st to Kili Safari. Our driver was a "soft" talker and was hard to hear but we saw every animal on the tour. Did Pagani Trail next, the gorillas were especially active. We saw DiVine on the walkway to Asia. We knew it was her and stayed and watched awhile. It was funny to watch people look at us wondering why we were watching a glob of plants! Walked the Maha Trek, a disappointment again. Saw the Flights of Wonder, then over to Poc & Her FF. Had lunch at Pizzafari. Walked around DinoLand, the midway games were dead. We then explored the Discovery Island Trails and animals in the Oasis and headed out. It was early so we decided to catch a waiting bus to AKL to explore. Of the 3 savannahs we saw only the one by the pool had any visible animals but animals they did. Several giraffes and gazelle-like cattle things. Just like the WL this resort offers a lot of nooks and crannies to sit and relax seemingly away from it all. Bussed back to AK and there was a waiting bus to AS!
Bus to MK. Played around with Walt kiosks inside Town Sq Ex Hall. Did Swiss Fam. TH, Tiki Room, PoC, and JC (FP). Had dinner at Pecos Bill. Rode Snow White's SA and then saw SM from around the HoP. Then wandered over to Tomorrowland Bridge for FW. All this talk on the boards about Tinkerbell I never realized it was a real person. I thought it was a firework on a string. We sure were surprised when we saw her. The TMRLD Bridge is a great spot to see her and the FW.
Feb 3 - Epcot. Super Bowl Sunday. Got on first showing of UoE. Not a big Ellen fan, but this show was very entertaining. Is the actor who plays Einstein someone famous. DW and I thought he looked familiar but couldn't figure it out. Next over to WoL and saw Cranium Command - great show! very funny! Walked over to the Land, saw Food Rocks - I like this one too, and then did the boat ride (FP). Had a snack in MX, did the boat ride. Snack in Norway, did the boat ride and stayed for the movie. Even though I know the boat is not going backward over the falls this still startles me. In China had snack and watched the Acrobats - again amazing. In Italy we watched a mime/juggler/comedian. In Japan we had a snack and watched the drummers. I felt bad for the women drummer on the right, her spot was right in the sun the other 2 were in the shade. In France we watched the movie and the Living Statue and had dessert. Over to Canada to see the movie. Then headed over to near Norway to watch ToD, which is ToN in disguise. Over to FW and rode SE, then finally watched Illuminations from near Morocco.
Feb 4 - MK. Many Ad. of WtP, Peter Pan's Flight, HM, and Buzz Lightyear all by 9:45. Rode the TTA. We wandered around Toonland. Had PSR at CP. After lunch we saw TS Island, the CBJ, the HoP and then the afternoon parade. Sat in the balcony for the Diamond HS Saloon Revue. And before leaving the park did a lap on the WDW RR.
Took bus to PI to see 8pm show at the Comedy Warehouse. For anyone who doesn't know this comedy club is similar to Who's Line Is It Anyway? on ABC. We really enjoyed this and recommend it especially if you have LoS pass or one with "plus" options.
Feb 5 - MGM. Started off with Sounds Dangerous and played with some of the experiments after the show in the exit area. Went over to Muppet Vision 3D, I always like this. Wandered around the Shrunk the Kids Playground. The CM kept checking on us to make sure we were playing. We then saw Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. This was excellent. I was almost a shedding a tear even before the movie portion. I wonder if this is a permanent fixture - it should be. We then played with the kiosks under the hat. Had PSR at SciFi. Did the Great Movie Ride. I like it better when the gangster takes us over. Saw Indy Jones Stunt Show. Then walked over to WWTBAM. Even if the TV show is getting poor ratings this show is fun to do. If I lived in FL and had an AP this show could be addicting for me. We watched the parade from near the hat. At some point in the day we ran into a CM in "character". He moved to Hollywood and was trying to write fortune cookies. I told him what a fortune cookie had on it for DW back at home before we left and what he said was really funny. Look out for these CM's while in MGM.
We used walkway to BW and Y & BC resort areas. Explored the BW and had ice cream at B&C.
Walked back to MGM to catch the bus. We figured it was a shorter walk than all the way through Epcot and the lengthy walk they have their to the bus stops.
In the evening we drove to the Lake Buena Vista Outlet Mall with the Character Corner. All we got was some goblets with cobalt blue and Mickey's etched in them for only 1.99 each. They had a ton of Mickey golf shirts. One thing they had was the orange embroidered Goofy shirt for only 8.99. If DW didn't already have the sweatshirt she would have gotten this. Otherwise this outlet mall was scary. It was about 7:45 at night and we felt safer on the NYC subway and Staten Island ferry at midnight than we did here. Afterwards we drove through Celebration. Looking back we both wish on our off day (Feb 6) we would've came back here in the daytime to check it out. From what we saw it looks more (relaxing) fun than DD.
Feb 6- off day. We played putt-putt around 11:00. From ASSp we walked over to Winter Summerland. We played the summer course. I really enjoy playing mini golf at WDW. I like reading the signs at each hole with their tips or warnings! on them. I shot a 41, DW a 44. They gave us a candycane for our effort.
Took bus to DD. Did some shopping and ate at Wolfgang Puck Cafe.
Came back to ASSp and relaxed by the pool.
Feb 7 - Universal Studios. We did ET first. This was actually kind of scary. Next we did MIB, similiar to Buzz but this was a lot of fun. They were so not busy the CM told us to use the baby swap line to ride again if we wanted (we did). Saw Twister - impressive! Then over to T23D. Saw the Animal Planet Live Show and then had lunch. Scooted over to see Beetlejuice's RnR Graveyard Revue - kind of cheesy. Next was the Wild x3 West Stunt Show. They didn't explain things the way they do at Indy Jones show they just do it. I like how they explain it to us at MGM better. We then rode Earthquake. The preshow for this (and Twister) was almost as good as the ride. Next to Kongfrontation. Just a little nervous because a friend got stuck on this ride a few years back. We saw the Alfred Hitchcock: Art of Making Movies. This could be updated with another director IMHO. Lastly after wandering around the kidland areas we saw the Gory, Gruesome, and Grotesque Horror Make-Up Show. We didn't learn too much but the hosts were quite funny.
No offense to WDW - I love everything there, but if I was passing through and not staying overnight and had only 1 day to spend at one of the parks I would probably choose Universal Studios. For the same 1 day admission price as 1 day ticket to one WDW park. Epcot and MK you need 2 days and 1 1/2 respectively. AK and MGM wouldn't be worth it for me.
Later we had PSR at Boma and drove over there after going back to our room to clean up.
Feb 8 - Epcot. Played around in the What If labs at the end of the Imagination (closed) ride. We enjoy sending email postcards of our faces turned into flowers, animals, etc. We both love moving our arms and hands to make music in the virtual street scene too. We had signed up for the 11:00 am Behind the Seeds Tour at the Land. Interesting, but I wish they would tell you more on how you can use some of the information they give you on pest/garden problems at home. BTW most of the boats going through were empty or 1/3 full. Went over to the Living Seas. The manatees were just fed so we watched them for quite a while. We headed to the BW next to eat at ESPN Club. Afterwards we saw the Fife & Drum group in USA. Were at Germany for the top of the hour, but the clock was 1hour and 40 minutes slow - oh well, next time. We saw Wonders of China. I rode Test Track, I used the single riders line - no wait. We headed for Ice Station for the 5th time (both days) and stopped and watched Kristos on the way. We explored Innovention E & W. We played with Walt's kiosk at the end. BTW the kiosk have cartoon pictures of the attractions as the icons to click on. The pictures are drawn exactly as they are. Has anyone noticed the Mission:Space icon has the space shuttle on top of that maroon ball? Does that mean the final design will look like it appears on the kiosk celebrating Walt's 100th? We headed out and the fountain just started a show. We were glad we caught it. We enjoyed this a lot. It's amazing the things that they do. We headed back to France to get desserts and along the way saw the British Invasion in the UK, again the Living Statue, and the World Showcase Players in the UK on the way back.
Feb 9 - Daytona. Left ASSp at 7:00 so we could get to Daytona early. WC qualifying and Goodys Dash race tickets were only $20 each. Plus our seats turned out to be on the start/finish line in the Winston Tower.
Overall the parks were slow. Everyone looks at our pictures and asks where is everyone. The only time crowds appeared were for the parades. We would go again at this time of year. We walked on most rides and only had to use the FP a couple of times. The longest wait we had was for CBJ. We got there just as the doors closed and decided to wait it out until the next show. Super Bowl Sunday was a joke at Epcot. Walked on Maelstorm, El Rio, 20 people approx in O'Canada, walked on SE. Weather was great - especially if you are coming from Ohio. We had a rainy day Thur at Universal (we should've flipped that w/ our off day - but the forecast was the same for both days). Other than that we had blue skies every day and temps from highs around 64 to 78. I wore jeans one day, DW split 4 days shorts - 4 days jeans. We didn't make any late nights for DW has to take a shot approx 12 hours apart so it worked out good that the parks were slow and only open to 9 at the lastest anyway.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
I posted a report of all meals on restaurant forum last week.
Feb 1 - arrival. Stopped on the way from near Savannah at Blue Spring State Park on I-4 to see the manatees, but they weren't in the spring because of FL's extra warm winter. It was only around noon when we arrived then but they still checked us in and had a room ready at ASSp. We drove to WL and explored the trails to FW. Did petting zoo, saw stables, and walked trails (some of those trails are deserted and pretty far around Bay Lake). Walked back to WL and saw their geyser. Drove to Poly, explored it and had PSR for 'Ohana.
Feb 2 - AK. arrived @ 8:40 via bus. Went 1st to Kili Safari. Our driver was a "soft" talker and was hard to hear but we saw every animal on the tour. Did Pagani Trail next, the gorillas were especially active. We saw DiVine on the walkway to Asia. We knew it was her and stayed and watched awhile. It was funny to watch people look at us wondering why we were watching a glob of plants! Walked the Maha Trek, a disappointment again. Saw the Flights of Wonder, then over to Poc & Her FF. Had lunch at Pizzafari. Walked around DinoLand, the midway games were dead. We then explored the Discovery Island Trails and animals in the Oasis and headed out. It was early so we decided to catch a waiting bus to AKL to explore. Of the 3 savannahs we saw only the one by the pool had any visible animals but animals they did. Several giraffes and gazelle-like cattle things. Just like the WL this resort offers a lot of nooks and crannies to sit and relax seemingly away from it all. Bussed back to AK and there was a waiting bus to AS!
Bus to MK. Played around with Walt kiosks inside Town Sq Ex Hall. Did Swiss Fam. TH, Tiki Room, PoC, and JC (FP). Had dinner at Pecos Bill. Rode Snow White's SA and then saw SM from around the HoP. Then wandered over to Tomorrowland Bridge for FW. All this talk on the boards about Tinkerbell I never realized it was a real person. I thought it was a firework on a string. We sure were surprised when we saw her. The TMRLD Bridge is a great spot to see her and the FW.
Feb 3 - Epcot. Super Bowl Sunday. Got on first showing of UoE. Not a big Ellen fan, but this show was very entertaining. Is the actor who plays Einstein someone famous. DW and I thought he looked familiar but couldn't figure it out. Next over to WoL and saw Cranium Command - great show! very funny! Walked over to the Land, saw Food Rocks - I like this one too, and then did the boat ride (FP). Had a snack in MX, did the boat ride. Snack in Norway, did the boat ride and stayed for the movie. Even though I know the boat is not going backward over the falls this still startles me. In China had snack and watched the Acrobats - again amazing. In Italy we watched a mime/juggler/comedian. In Japan we had a snack and watched the drummers. I felt bad for the women drummer on the right, her spot was right in the sun the other 2 were in the shade. In France we watched the movie and the Living Statue and had dessert. Over to Canada to see the movie. Then headed over to near Norway to watch ToD, which is ToN in disguise. Over to FW and rode SE, then finally watched Illuminations from near Morocco.
Feb 4 - MK. Many Ad. of WtP, Peter Pan's Flight, HM, and Buzz Lightyear all by 9:45. Rode the TTA. We wandered around Toonland. Had PSR at CP. After lunch we saw TS Island, the CBJ, the HoP and then the afternoon parade. Sat in the balcony for the Diamond HS Saloon Revue. And before leaving the park did a lap on the WDW RR.
Took bus to PI to see 8pm show at the Comedy Warehouse. For anyone who doesn't know this comedy club is similar to Who's Line Is It Anyway? on ABC. We really enjoyed this and recommend it especially if you have LoS pass or one with "plus" options.
Feb 5 - MGM. Started off with Sounds Dangerous and played with some of the experiments after the show in the exit area. Went over to Muppet Vision 3D, I always like this. Wandered around the Shrunk the Kids Playground. The CM kept checking on us to make sure we were playing. We then saw Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. This was excellent. I was almost a shedding a tear even before the movie portion. I wonder if this is a permanent fixture - it should be. We then played with the kiosks under the hat. Had PSR at SciFi. Did the Great Movie Ride. I like it better when the gangster takes us over. Saw Indy Jones Stunt Show. Then walked over to WWTBAM. Even if the TV show is getting poor ratings this show is fun to do. If I lived in FL and had an AP this show could be addicting for me. We watched the parade from near the hat. At some point in the day we ran into a CM in "character". He moved to Hollywood and was trying to write fortune cookies. I told him what a fortune cookie had on it for DW back at home before we left and what he said was really funny. Look out for these CM's while in MGM.
We used walkway to BW and Y & BC resort areas. Explored the BW and had ice cream at B&C.
Walked back to MGM to catch the bus. We figured it was a shorter walk than all the way through Epcot and the lengthy walk they have their to the bus stops.
In the evening we drove to the Lake Buena Vista Outlet Mall with the Character Corner. All we got was some goblets with cobalt blue and Mickey's etched in them for only 1.99 each. They had a ton of Mickey golf shirts. One thing they had was the orange embroidered Goofy shirt for only 8.99. If DW didn't already have the sweatshirt she would have gotten this. Otherwise this outlet mall was scary. It was about 7:45 at night and we felt safer on the NYC subway and Staten Island ferry at midnight than we did here. Afterwards we drove through Celebration. Looking back we both wish on our off day (Feb 6) we would've came back here in the daytime to check it out. From what we saw it looks more (relaxing) fun than DD.
Feb 6- off day. We played putt-putt around 11:00. From ASSp we walked over to Winter Summerland. We played the summer course. I really enjoy playing mini golf at WDW. I like reading the signs at each hole with their tips or warnings! on them. I shot a 41, DW a 44. They gave us a candycane for our effort.
Took bus to DD. Did some shopping and ate at Wolfgang Puck Cafe.
Came back to ASSp and relaxed by the pool.
Feb 7 - Universal Studios. We did ET first. This was actually kind of scary. Next we did MIB, similiar to Buzz but this was a lot of fun. They were so not busy the CM told us to use the baby swap line to ride again if we wanted (we did). Saw Twister - impressive! Then over to T23D. Saw the Animal Planet Live Show and then had lunch. Scooted over to see Beetlejuice's RnR Graveyard Revue - kind of cheesy. Next was the Wild x3 West Stunt Show. They didn't explain things the way they do at Indy Jones show they just do it. I like how they explain it to us at MGM better. We then rode Earthquake. The preshow for this (and Twister) was almost as good as the ride. Next to Kongfrontation. Just a little nervous because a friend got stuck on this ride a few years back. We saw the Alfred Hitchcock: Art of Making Movies. This could be updated with another director IMHO. Lastly after wandering around the kidland areas we saw the Gory, Gruesome, and Grotesque Horror Make-Up Show. We didn't learn too much but the hosts were quite funny.
No offense to WDW - I love everything there, but if I was passing through and not staying overnight and had only 1 day to spend at one of the parks I would probably choose Universal Studios. For the same 1 day admission price as 1 day ticket to one WDW park. Epcot and MK you need 2 days and 1 1/2 respectively. AK and MGM wouldn't be worth it for me.
Later we had PSR at Boma and drove over there after going back to our room to clean up.
Feb 8 - Epcot. Played around in the What If labs at the end of the Imagination (closed) ride. We enjoy sending email postcards of our faces turned into flowers, animals, etc. We both love moving our arms and hands to make music in the virtual street scene too. We had signed up for the 11:00 am Behind the Seeds Tour at the Land. Interesting, but I wish they would tell you more on how you can use some of the information they give you on pest/garden problems at home. BTW most of the boats going through were empty or 1/3 full. Went over to the Living Seas. The manatees were just fed so we watched them for quite a while. We headed to the BW next to eat at ESPN Club. Afterwards we saw the Fife & Drum group in USA. Were at Germany for the top of the hour, but the clock was 1hour and 40 minutes slow - oh well, next time. We saw Wonders of China. I rode Test Track, I used the single riders line - no wait. We headed for Ice Station for the 5th time (both days) and stopped and watched Kristos on the way. We explored Innovention E & W. We played with Walt's kiosk at the end. BTW the kiosk have cartoon pictures of the attractions as the icons to click on. The pictures are drawn exactly as they are. Has anyone noticed the Mission:Space icon has the space shuttle on top of that maroon ball? Does that mean the final design will look like it appears on the kiosk celebrating Walt's 100th? We headed out and the fountain just started a show. We were glad we caught it. We enjoyed this a lot. It's amazing the things that they do. We headed back to France to get desserts and along the way saw the British Invasion in the UK, again the Living Statue, and the World Showcase Players in the UK on the way back.
Feb 9 - Daytona. Left ASSp at 7:00 so we could get to Daytona early. WC qualifying and Goodys Dash race tickets were only $20 each. Plus our seats turned out to be on the start/finish line in the Winston Tower.
Overall the parks were slow. Everyone looks at our pictures and asks where is everyone. The only time crowds appeared were for the parades. We would go again at this time of year. We walked on most rides and only had to use the FP a couple of times. The longest wait we had was for CBJ. We got there just as the doors closed and decided to wait it out until the next show. Super Bowl Sunday was a joke at Epcot. Walked on Maelstorm, El Rio, 20 people approx in O'Canada, walked on SE. Weather was great - especially if you are coming from Ohio. We had a rainy day Thur at Universal (we should've flipped that w/ our off day - but the forecast was the same for both days). Other than that we had blue skies every day and temps from highs around 64 to 78. I wore jeans one day, DW split 4 days shorts - 4 days jeans. We didn't make any late nights for DW has to take a shot approx 12 hours apart so it worked out good that the parks were slow and only open to 9 at the lastest anyway.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
