Cast: Me (Mike) and wife (Stephanie)
Drove 766 miles for fun and frolic. Spend the night in Gainesville and arrive in Disney World at 7:30 am the next morning. Check into Coronado Springs (third time to stay here. No room this early, but the paperwork is done.)
This is our first vacation in 27 years without the brats. They are now 17 and 19. To sum up the entire trip early, we had a great time. Theres more to do than time to do it in 7 days. I took 543 pictures and we did everything we wanted to do.
OK, now for the good stuff. Went to MGM and got a fastpass for Tower of Terror. Went to the other side of the park for Star Tours where we had the longest wait of the entire trip; 30 minutes. We then went back to use our fastpass and low and behold, we didnt need it. Walked right on to Tower of Terror. We ate a quick bite at Starring Rolls and then proceeded to catch the boat to Epcot. Our mission today was to ride the Tower and then catch things weve never rode before at Epcot. Body Wars, Cranium Command, and Ellens adventure had a maximum of a 7 minute wait.
As the old timers say, if you stand still long enough in Disney World, someone will form a line behind you. Sure enough at 12:45 pm a 10 person line was forming at Mission Space. So we blindly waited as persons 11 and 12 and it opened at around 1:00. By the time we got on, there were 200 people behind us. This is a ride you have to experience. There are constant warnings about being in enclosed spaces, spinning and loud noises. Dont worry about that. Go on this thing and enjoy. The blast off will pull some serious Gs on you, but youll survive. We only got to ride it once today but it was great.
So off to the Mexico pavilion to go on the boat ride. I also purchased a hand made leather wallet with a western scene on it for $20 in Mexico. We went back to Coronado Springs to officially check in and get our room. No problems there. Back now to MGM and ride the Great Movie Ride (no wait), the Muppets (8 minute wait), and then shop a little. We then had a Fantasmic meal at Hollywood and Vine. This meal is $19.95 each and well worth it. We were surprised by the appearance of prime rib on the buffet. It was delicious! We then killed an hour or so by shopping and then on to Fantasmic. This is always entertaining and we left the park and back to Coronado for some serious sleep.
I must say that the Cast Members were as nice as they ever were and the parks were very clean. I did see some Cast Member emptying trash cans for the first time. There were also some of them sweeping up paper and debris. This was usually invisible in other trips, but as least you know theyre on the job. Our first day was a complete success and Day 2 will take place in Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
Drove 766 miles for fun and frolic. Spend the night in Gainesville and arrive in Disney World at 7:30 am the next morning. Check into Coronado Springs (third time to stay here. No room this early, but the paperwork is done.)
This is our first vacation in 27 years without the brats. They are now 17 and 19. To sum up the entire trip early, we had a great time. Theres more to do than time to do it in 7 days. I took 543 pictures and we did everything we wanted to do.
OK, now for the good stuff. Went to MGM and got a fastpass for Tower of Terror. Went to the other side of the park for Star Tours where we had the longest wait of the entire trip; 30 minutes. We then went back to use our fastpass and low and behold, we didnt need it. Walked right on to Tower of Terror. We ate a quick bite at Starring Rolls and then proceeded to catch the boat to Epcot. Our mission today was to ride the Tower and then catch things weve never rode before at Epcot. Body Wars, Cranium Command, and Ellens adventure had a maximum of a 7 minute wait.
As the old timers say, if you stand still long enough in Disney World, someone will form a line behind you. Sure enough at 12:45 pm a 10 person line was forming at Mission Space. So we blindly waited as persons 11 and 12 and it opened at around 1:00. By the time we got on, there were 200 people behind us. This is a ride you have to experience. There are constant warnings about being in enclosed spaces, spinning and loud noises. Dont worry about that. Go on this thing and enjoy. The blast off will pull some serious Gs on you, but youll survive. We only got to ride it once today but it was great.
So off to the Mexico pavilion to go on the boat ride. I also purchased a hand made leather wallet with a western scene on it for $20 in Mexico. We went back to Coronado Springs to officially check in and get our room. No problems there. Back now to MGM and ride the Great Movie Ride (no wait), the Muppets (8 minute wait), and then shop a little. We then had a Fantasmic meal at Hollywood and Vine. This meal is $19.95 each and well worth it. We were surprised by the appearance of prime rib on the buffet. It was delicious! We then killed an hour or so by shopping and then on to Fantasmic. This is always entertaining and we left the park and back to Coronado for some serious sleep.
I must say that the Cast Members were as nice as they ever were and the parks were very clean. I did see some Cast Member emptying trash cans for the first time. There were also some of them sweeping up paper and debris. This was usually invisible in other trips, but as least you know theyre on the job. Our first day was a complete success and Day 2 will take place in Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
