disneyholic family
disney on my mind....
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2002
- Messages
- 20,500
so we made it....despite landing exactly when Dennis was on line with Tampa and there were tornado watches in effect in the area...
we did do a bit of roller coastering on our way from JFK to MCO, from about North Carolina on down, but the landing was much better than anyone on the plane had expected.....and the thunderous applause followed by a very loud "Thank you Lord" from one of the passengers, pretty much summed up the general feeling on the plane -- especially those of us who had spent the entire flight making good use of the Song satellite TVs glued to the weather reports from Fox, CNN and the Weather Channel....
so we're here....at Disney's wonderful Old Key West.....even nicer than we remembered it from our last stay at OKW 3 years ago...
I've decided to do the opposite of EMH....meaning that we will always go to a park that doesn't have any EMH hours that day......so far the strategy has worked....we'll see how it works at the other two parks...
we arrived on sunday.....checked in (at 1:00.....there were many rooms available and we had our pick of locations even at that hour....)
by the way, check in was AMAZING......faster than fast....when we walked in there were a few people in front of us, but they had greeters working the line, to keep people occupied as they waited....however, it was only a minute or two, before we were next (there were at least 10 CMs working check in - they kept that line moving)...
what a wonderful way to start our vacation...especially after the dismal beginning at MCO in the neverending ALAMO line....however, although it took FOREVER to get through that line, at least we did have a fantastic rate, thanks to the Brits Guide code.....also , i love the way alamo just lets you pick out the car you want from the type you're entitled to.....it's fantastic....there were about 20 mini-vans to choose from and so we were able to look for exactly the things we wanted....
so back to WDW....
or back to the flight..
it took us 12 hours into JFK (so i don't want to hear any complaints from you about your flight of how many hours?.....6?....7?....let me assure you that 12 hours non-stop in the air, is endless.....endless....)...
at JFK, passport control was speedy, but since we're americans it always is....but i have to say, those cameras are creepy and i'd hate to be a foreigner who has to have their picture and fingerprint taken....creepy...
baggage was slow as it always is at JFK.....nothing to be done but wait and try not to grind your teeth....once we had our luggage in hand, customs was a breeze, then on to the connecting desk to hand back our luggage....also pretty easy....
then the trek over to the Song terminal.....and my god.....a line with more people than you would think would be up at 6 in the morning on a sunday....
that took forever....and then.....to put the icing on the cake, since our tickets were purchased overseas, we were 'selected' for a special check at security....oh joy.....i wonder if they haven't noticed that the 9/11 terrorists were flying on tickets purchased inside the US.....oh well....every single time we make a home visit the same thing happens.......so we grinned and beared it for the 10 minutes it took for our stuff to be manhandled.....
and then on to the gate, where we were lucky to be given exit seats (since we're all over the age of 16).....that was a nice touch.....we enjoyed the extra legroom on the 2.5 hour flight south...
jumping back to OKW, once we were checked in, showered (after being awake for 36 hours) and changed, we headed over to Downtown Disney where we ate at the Earl of Sandwich (which replaced that little gourmet grocery store) and to buy our annual passes (with a discount since we were actually renewing)...
we also took the opportunity to buy My Pal Mickey....who by the way, has turned out to be lots of fun...
then on to Goodings, which doesn't have such a good selction as it had in years past....we're planning on finding an alternative if we can....
and then to bed....
monday we were up early (DH works when we're on vacation, so he was up at 5 to make his emails and phone calls)...we were out at 8 and headed over to MGM, which has evening EMH on sunday nights....so i figured monday morning would be good there...
and indeed it was.....in fact, for the first 2 hours, the park seemed entirely deserted (other than the opening rush for ToT and RNRC)....
oddly we bumped into our neighbors standing in line before opening...talk about a needle in a haystack....
at MGM we did ToT first and then on to RNRC, where the line was still only 5 minutes long....then headed for the great movie ride (no wait)....then to Muppet Vision 3D (not working).....then over to pick up FPs for the new car stunt show....then to Catastrophe Canyon (no wait)....then to the Prime Time Cafe....we actually had a PS here for 12:30 and it was only 11:15....but the stunt show is also at 12:30, so we decided to try to eat lunch early....
at Prime Time they said no problem and in we went....it was really nice since it was pretty empty.....it's usually packed solid when we're there....this was a wonderful change and our server had plenter of time to really harass us nicely.....after lunch it was off to the stunt show, which is amazing,.....however, they really MUST do something about the heat in the stands.....it was brutal.....they have a few fans but far too few and far too weak......we were quite literally dying of the heat.....i would not go to see the show again until they find a way to move the air a bit....
we decided to stay in our seats until most of the people had cleared the stadium....from there we decided we'd had enough for the day.....it was extremely hot by that time and the sun was beating down.....on the way out, we passed Star Tours and saw that it was a 5 minute wait....so in we went.....it was less than 5 minutes....
from there we decided we'd go for one more ride on ToT....but then one side broke down, so the CMs gave us our FPs back and back to the hotel we went...
back at OKW, while DH worked, we went for a quick dip in the quiet pool....
then off to the AMC theatre to see War of the Worlds....(boy are those tickets expensive...even with the AP discount)..
This morning (tuesday morning) was our Segway tour at epcot....the second time we've done it and it was just as great as the first time...we had the 9:30 class, and so the first thing we did was get in the opening dash (controlled dash, led by the CMs) from the rope to the Land, to get FPs for Soarin....
then our 2 hour segway.........our segway tour ended at about 12:00 when we headed to the Land for a quick lunch, followed by Soarin....what a super great ride....a real winner.....people applauded when it was over...and everyone without exception thought it was great....really well done..
after soarin we headed over to Imagination, then honey i shrunk the audience....then test track....which was shut down for lightening as we were about to get into a car....so we took a return any time pass and headed for mission space....only my son rides this one, so he got in the singles line and we headed for the fun team game in the exit area....
finally over to spaceship earth...
then to the Leave a Legacy desk to find out where the kids picture is from last year (when we took the cruise, it was part of the package)...
their picture is in a great location, opposite the fountain, and it was fun seeing it there....
that's it for now.....we hit AK tomorrow and then MK on thursday....
i'll keep you posted..
by the way, the weather has been great, if beastly hot....
very little rain...i think it rained while we were in the movie...
it drizzled today, but nothing real....
very un-July like weather so far...
we did do a bit of roller coastering on our way from JFK to MCO, from about North Carolina on down, but the landing was much better than anyone on the plane had expected.....and the thunderous applause followed by a very loud "Thank you Lord" from one of the passengers, pretty much summed up the general feeling on the plane -- especially those of us who had spent the entire flight making good use of the Song satellite TVs glued to the weather reports from Fox, CNN and the Weather Channel....
so we're here....at Disney's wonderful Old Key West.....even nicer than we remembered it from our last stay at OKW 3 years ago...
I've decided to do the opposite of EMH....meaning that we will always go to a park that doesn't have any EMH hours that day......so far the strategy has worked....we'll see how it works at the other two parks...
we arrived on sunday.....checked in (at 1:00.....there were many rooms available and we had our pick of locations even at that hour....)
by the way, check in was AMAZING......faster than fast....when we walked in there were a few people in front of us, but they had greeters working the line, to keep people occupied as they waited....however, it was only a minute or two, before we were next (there were at least 10 CMs working check in - they kept that line moving)...
what a wonderful way to start our vacation...especially after the dismal beginning at MCO in the neverending ALAMO line....however, although it took FOREVER to get through that line, at least we did have a fantastic rate, thanks to the Brits Guide code.....also , i love the way alamo just lets you pick out the car you want from the type you're entitled to.....it's fantastic....there were about 20 mini-vans to choose from and so we were able to look for exactly the things we wanted....
so back to WDW....
or back to the flight..
it took us 12 hours into JFK (so i don't want to hear any complaints from you about your flight of how many hours?.....6?....7?....let me assure you that 12 hours non-stop in the air, is endless.....endless....)...
at JFK, passport control was speedy, but since we're americans it always is....but i have to say, those cameras are creepy and i'd hate to be a foreigner who has to have their picture and fingerprint taken....creepy...
baggage was slow as it always is at JFK.....nothing to be done but wait and try not to grind your teeth....once we had our luggage in hand, customs was a breeze, then on to the connecting desk to hand back our luggage....also pretty easy....
then the trek over to the Song terminal.....and my god.....a line with more people than you would think would be up at 6 in the morning on a sunday....
that took forever....and then.....to put the icing on the cake, since our tickets were purchased overseas, we were 'selected' for a special check at security....oh joy.....i wonder if they haven't noticed that the 9/11 terrorists were flying on tickets purchased inside the US.....oh well....every single time we make a home visit the same thing happens.......so we grinned and beared it for the 10 minutes it took for our stuff to be manhandled.....
and then on to the gate, where we were lucky to be given exit seats (since we're all over the age of 16).....that was a nice touch.....we enjoyed the extra legroom on the 2.5 hour flight south...
jumping back to OKW, once we were checked in, showered (after being awake for 36 hours) and changed, we headed over to Downtown Disney where we ate at the Earl of Sandwich (which replaced that little gourmet grocery store) and to buy our annual passes (with a discount since we were actually renewing)...
we also took the opportunity to buy My Pal Mickey....who by the way, has turned out to be lots of fun...
then on to Goodings, which doesn't have such a good selction as it had in years past....we're planning on finding an alternative if we can....
and then to bed....
monday we were up early (DH works when we're on vacation, so he was up at 5 to make his emails and phone calls)...we were out at 8 and headed over to MGM, which has evening EMH on sunday nights....so i figured monday morning would be good there...
and indeed it was.....in fact, for the first 2 hours, the park seemed entirely deserted (other than the opening rush for ToT and RNRC)....
oddly we bumped into our neighbors standing in line before opening...talk about a needle in a haystack....
at MGM we did ToT first and then on to RNRC, where the line was still only 5 minutes long....then headed for the great movie ride (no wait)....then to Muppet Vision 3D (not working).....then over to pick up FPs for the new car stunt show....then to Catastrophe Canyon (no wait)....then to the Prime Time Cafe....we actually had a PS here for 12:30 and it was only 11:15....but the stunt show is also at 12:30, so we decided to try to eat lunch early....
at Prime Time they said no problem and in we went....it was really nice since it was pretty empty.....it's usually packed solid when we're there....this was a wonderful change and our server had plenter of time to really harass us nicely.....after lunch it was off to the stunt show, which is amazing,.....however, they really MUST do something about the heat in the stands.....it was brutal.....they have a few fans but far too few and far too weak......we were quite literally dying of the heat.....i would not go to see the show again until they find a way to move the air a bit....
we decided to stay in our seats until most of the people had cleared the stadium....from there we decided we'd had enough for the day.....it was extremely hot by that time and the sun was beating down.....on the way out, we passed Star Tours and saw that it was a 5 minute wait....so in we went.....it was less than 5 minutes....
from there we decided we'd go for one more ride on ToT....but then one side broke down, so the CMs gave us our FPs back and back to the hotel we went...
back at OKW, while DH worked, we went for a quick dip in the quiet pool....
then off to the AMC theatre to see War of the Worlds....(boy are those tickets expensive...even with the AP discount)..
This morning (tuesday morning) was our Segway tour at epcot....the second time we've done it and it was just as great as the first time...we had the 9:30 class, and so the first thing we did was get in the opening dash (controlled dash, led by the CMs) from the rope to the Land, to get FPs for Soarin....
then our 2 hour segway.........our segway tour ended at about 12:00 when we headed to the Land for a quick lunch, followed by Soarin....what a super great ride....a real winner.....people applauded when it was over...and everyone without exception thought it was great....really well done..
after soarin we headed over to Imagination, then honey i shrunk the audience....then test track....which was shut down for lightening as we were about to get into a car....so we took a return any time pass and headed for mission space....only my son rides this one, so he got in the singles line and we headed for the fun team game in the exit area....
finally over to spaceship earth...
then to the Leave a Legacy desk to find out where the kids picture is from last year (when we took the cruise, it was part of the package)...
their picture is in a great location, opposite the fountain, and it was fun seeing it there....
that's it for now.....we hit AK tomorrow and then MK on thursday....
i'll keep you posted..
by the way, the weather has been great, if beastly hot....
very little rain...i think it rained while we were in the movie...
it drizzled today, but nothing real....
very un-July like weather so far...
)
