Well I just got back to reality and decided to post my report. I'll try to be detailed so everyone can get an idea of how it is now in Disney.
Saturday (9/6): Left Baton Rouge at 7am, drove all day and arrived at OKW for 7pm. Didn't waste anytime unpacking and we hopped on a boat to Downtown Disney. If anyone is going to Old Key West, make sure you take the boat ride at night to Downtown, it's awesome coming into the lake and seeing everything all lit up. We were surprised at the amounts of people there. The wait at Rainforest Cafe was 1 1/2 hours. We decided to shop a little and then head back to the room and rest up.
Sunday (9/7): Woke up and checked the weather. I was thrilled to see that there was no rain forecasted for the whole week!!! Unheard of in Orlando in September. Decided to head to MGM first. We hopped on the bus around 10am. Arrived in MGM and my DD loved seeing the big Stitch Balloon and she had to take her picture. Crowds were not as light as I thought they would be but they were still small. First thing we did was head over to RnR to see if it was really closed and sure enough it was
. We went to guest realtions and complained a little, why we complained is a whole other story I won't get into. The guest realtions people are so friendly and helpful. They asked where we were staying and the ages of the children with us. Next we decided to head on over and do the tower of terror. The wait was 25 minutes!!! I couldn't believe the wait was so long. Once we got in I understood why, they only had one side running. I hate when they do this to you. Not to mention, b/c RnR was closed, more people were coming to do Tower of Terror. Regardless, we did it about 6 times that day 
. We decided to eat lunch at the drive in theatre place. You gotta love a burger and fries for $10.99 . We were able to see all the shows with no waits and really enjoyed the day. Fantasmic was great as usual and we had really awesome seats. When we arrived at the room, we had to packages waiting for the kids. The first one was an apology card with all the characters signatures along with a RnR T-Shirt and a Hat!!!!! The 2nd package was a princess crown and wand which my little girl loves!!!! All because we went to guest relations and told them we were upset about RnR being closed, this is why I love disney so much.
Monday (9/8): We decided to do Magic Kingdom and have a character breakfast at Crystal Palace. We arrived around 10am and went straight to the palace to eat. Wait time was minimum and my DD loved eating with the Pooh characters. After eating we headed straight over to the kiddie area and were surprised at just how crowded it was!! The wait on Snow White was 45min !!!!!! We let my DD do the Carousel, Dumbo, It's a small world (which she loved), Snow White, Peter Pan. All of those rides together took a total of about 3 hours to do in the heat. One thing I did learn, if you want to do the that area, do it late in the evening when all the kids are tired and resting. After doing this, we decided to get our fix on space mountain and boy were we surprised!!! Space Mountain wait was 55 mins. The line was out the door. Luckily we had some passes to walk right in (another perk for complaining about RnR). When we got to the end of the line, we then knew why the wait was so long. Disney decided to make everyone wait by only opening one side. I hate when the do this!!! There is no reason why they should have only had one side open. The wait could have easily dropped from 55mins to about 15 mins if both were open. After space mountain we went to Mickeys town and let DD take pictures with MM. She loved this and the wait wasn't too bad. We ate dinner back in the room and went to sleep.
Tuesday (9/9) AM: We decided to split the day and do morning in AK and afternoon in Epcot. We arrived at AK around 10am and made reservations at Rainforest for 2pm. I have to say that I really enjoyed AK. Last time I was at AK I didn't like it that much but for some reason I liked it this time. We went straight to the bugs life show. My DD loved this show. She loved all the 3d movies and was amazed by them. She is only 3 and it seems so real to her. After Bugs life, we went to Pocahontas. Festival of the lion king was not running so we didn't get to see that one. We then went to see Tarzan which was great. After Tarzan, we went and did the new rollercoasters which were great for kids. After that, we did dinosaur. What was really cool was how we could see them working on the Everest ride from the bridge going into dinoland. I stood there for a few minutes and wondered how amazing it's going to look to see a huge mountain right there. Can't wait to see it!!! We went to Rainforest and ate a wonderful lunch and headed straight to Epcot.
Tuesday (9/9) PM: Arrived in Epcot and my Brother in law showed me his picture on the leave a legacy wall. After that we headed straight for the golf ball, my DD loved it. Next we did mission space. I have to admit, going into mission space I was real nervous. There was no wait and we got right on. Before you get on the ride, they warn you numerous times about motion sickness and how not to get sick on the ride. TAKE THEIR ADVICE. The ride was so amazing. It really felt like you were taking off into space. Next we did the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show, which of course DD loved. I think she actually loved the jumping fountain better than anything outside. We toured the worlds and watched illuminations which was fantastic. Went home and slept.
Wednesday (9/10): Did Universal and Islands. Here is a quick overview of what we did:
Barney Show
MIB
ET
Shrek 4-D (Best 4D show)
Jimmy Neutron (hated)
The Hulk (7 times with no wait each time)
Dr Doom
Spider Man (Walked right on)
Deuling Dragons (5 times, no wait)
Needless to say, I had a major headache by the end of the day from all the G force
Thursday (9/11): Took the day off and spent time at the resort and the outlet malls. We had a wonderful day relaxing.
Friday (9/12): We didn't know what to do this day. It was a toss up between Blizzard Beach or Busch Gardens. We decided to go to Busch Gardens and boy did I regret it. I won't get into too many details about it, but if you ever want to appreciate just how clean and friendly Disney is, spend a day in Busch!!!
Saturday (9/13): The day I had been dreading the most. I hate having to leave and come back to reality. However, we had such I nice vacation that I couldn't complain at all.
Summary: To summarize, we had a nice trip overall. The weather was good, just a little too hot. No rain was nice. The crowds were a little more than I expected and I wish Disney would have had both sides of each ride open to reduce some of the wait. The Old Key West is one of the best places I have ever stayed and will definitley stay there again.
Ryan
Saturday (9/6): Left Baton Rouge at 7am, drove all day and arrived at OKW for 7pm. Didn't waste anytime unpacking and we hopped on a boat to Downtown Disney. If anyone is going to Old Key West, make sure you take the boat ride at night to Downtown, it's awesome coming into the lake and seeing everything all lit up. We were surprised at the amounts of people there. The wait at Rainforest Cafe was 1 1/2 hours. We decided to shop a little and then head back to the room and rest up.
Sunday (9/7): Woke up and checked the weather. I was thrilled to see that there was no rain forecasted for the whole week!!! Unheard of in Orlando in September. Decided to head to MGM first. We hopped on the bus around 10am. Arrived in MGM and my DD loved seeing the big Stitch Balloon and she had to take her picture. Crowds were not as light as I thought they would be but they were still small. First thing we did was head over to RnR to see if it was really closed and sure enough it was
. We went to guest realtions and complained a little, why we complained is a whole other story I won't get into. The guest realtions people are so friendly and helpful. They asked where we were staying and the ages of the children with us. Next we decided to head on over and do the tower of terror. The wait was 25 minutes!!! I couldn't believe the wait was so long. Once we got in I understood why, they only had one side running. I hate when they do this to you. Not to mention, b/c RnR was closed, more people were coming to do Tower of Terror. Regardless, we did it about 6 times that day . We decided to eat lunch at the drive in theatre place. You gotta love a burger and fries for $10.99 . We were able to see all the shows with no waits and really enjoyed the day. Fantasmic was great as usual and we had really awesome seats. When we arrived at the room, we had to packages waiting for the kids. The first one was an apology card with all the characters signatures along with a RnR T-Shirt and a Hat!!!!! The 2nd package was a princess crown and wand which my little girl loves!!!! All because we went to guest relations and told them we were upset about RnR being closed, this is why I love disney so much.Monday (9/8): We decided to do Magic Kingdom and have a character breakfast at Crystal Palace. We arrived around 10am and went straight to the palace to eat. Wait time was minimum and my DD loved eating with the Pooh characters. After eating we headed straight over to the kiddie area and were surprised at just how crowded it was!! The wait on Snow White was 45min !!!!!! We let my DD do the Carousel, Dumbo, It's a small world (which she loved), Snow White, Peter Pan. All of those rides together took a total of about 3 hours to do in the heat. One thing I did learn, if you want to do the that area, do it late in the evening when all the kids are tired and resting
. After doing this, we decided to get our fix on space mountain and boy were we surprised!!! Space Mountain wait was 55 mins. The line was out the door. Luckily we had some passes to walk right in (another perk for complaining about RnR). When we got to the end of the line, we then knew why the wait was so long. Disney decided to make everyone wait by only opening one side. I hate when the do this!!! There is no reason why they should have only had one side open. The wait could have easily dropped from 55mins to about 15 mins if both were open. After space mountain we went to Mickeys town and let DD take pictures with MM. She loved this and the wait wasn't too bad. We ate dinner back in the room and went to sleep.Tuesday (9/9) AM: We decided to split the day and do morning in AK and afternoon in Epcot. We arrived at AK around 10am and made reservations at Rainforest for 2pm. I have to say that I really enjoyed AK. Last time I was at AK I didn't like it that much but for some reason I liked it this time. We went straight to the bugs life show. My DD loved this show. She loved all the 3d movies and was amazed by them. She is only 3 and it seems so real to her. After Bugs life, we went to Pocahontas. Festival of the lion king was not running so we didn't get to see that one. We then went to see Tarzan which was great. After Tarzan, we went and did the new rollercoasters which were great for kids. After that, we did dinosaur. What was really cool was how we could see them working on the Everest ride from the bridge going into dinoland. I stood there for a few minutes and wondered how amazing it's going to look to see a huge mountain right there. Can't wait to see it!!! We went to Rainforest and ate a wonderful lunch and headed straight to Epcot.
Tuesday (9/9) PM: Arrived in Epcot and my Brother in law showed me his picture on the leave a legacy wall. After that we headed straight for the golf ball, my DD loved it. Next we did mission space. I have to admit, going into mission space I was real nervous. There was no wait and we got right on. Before you get on the ride, they warn you numerous times about motion sickness and how not to get sick on the ride. TAKE THEIR ADVICE. The ride was so amazing. It really felt like you were taking off into space. Next we did the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show, which of course DD loved. I think she actually loved the jumping fountain better than anything outside
. We toured the worlds and watched illuminations which was fantastic. Went home and slept.Wednesday (9/10): Did Universal and Islands. Here is a quick overview of what we did:
Barney Show
MIB
ET
Shrek 4-D (Best 4D show)
Jimmy Neutron (hated)
The Hulk (7 times with no wait each time)
Dr Doom
Spider Man (Walked right on)
Deuling Dragons (5 times, no wait)
Needless to say, I had a major headache by the end of the day from all the G force
Thursday (9/11): Took the day off and spent time at the resort and the outlet malls. We had a wonderful day relaxing.
Friday (9/12): We didn't know what to do this day. It was a toss up between Blizzard Beach or Busch Gardens. We decided to go to Busch Gardens and boy did I regret it. I won't get into too many details about it, but if you ever want to appreciate just how clean and friendly Disney is, spend a day in Busch!!!
Saturday (9/13): The day I had been dreading the most. I hate having to leave and come back to reality. However, we had such I nice vacation that I couldn't complain at all.
Summary: To summarize, we had a nice trip overall. The weather was good, just a little too hot. No rain was nice. The crowds were a little more than I expected and I wish Disney would have had both sides of each ride open to reduce some of the wait. The Old Key West is one of the best places I have ever stayed and will definitley stay there again.
Ryan
