Our 4th of July, My Bday, 1st Time at OKW Trip Report (Updated 8/23 - FINAL UPDATE!!)

[jrsmom]

Loving your report. We will be staying at OKW next week, it will be our first trip there our home resort is SSR.

 

[TigerLaw]

Loving your report. We will be staying at OKW next week, it will be our first trip there our home resort is SSR.

Thanks - I would like to hear back from you your thoughts/comparisons between OKW and SSR. My problem w. SSR is that it really reminds of one of the apartment complexes my wife lived in while we were in law school so its kinda hard for me to see it as disney. I guess that's why there is more than one DVC location, as not everyone is going to like a certain property (unless they had DVC in the castle of course!)

and BTW to everyone, my wife commented I wasn't meeting my usual trip report standard in terms of tons of pics, but I didn't really have a lot from this day, but the other days will be better I promise!!!

 

[GGOOFY1]

Yea MELISSA for keeping from slacking

 

[natasg]

I am really enjoying your trip report...thanks for sharing

 

[TigerLaw]

I forgot to give my next clue in "guess the celebrity I saw at WDW - he or she was born in New Jersey in 1954.

 

[AnnaS]

"The Boss" - I have no idea when he was born, really, just guessing right now.

 

[TigerLaw]

Saturday, July 4th

Parks Visited: MK and Epcot
Meals: Rose & Crown (dinner)

We decided prior to our trip that Saturday would be our split day, where Melissa would get to go to the pool as long as she wanted and I could do whatever at the parks. I had read that MK was surprisingly not crowded for the first few hours on a big holiday like the 4th, so I figured I would chance it and see what happens (additionally, the late night EMH the night before also helped encourage this view). MK opened to everyone at 8am so I didn’t get much sleep from the night before obviously. (I guess I should stop and say that Melissa reported that the main pool was crowded and that she barely got a pool chair when she went over at 9am (appears that the cruise boat habit of reserving chairs with pool towels was alive and well).

Anyway, going back to me at the park, I got to MK about 15 minutes before opening, and I couldn’t get over how it felt like an off season rope drop - I kept asking myself where everyone was! Here’s a picture of main street right after the rope drop:

At the rope drop, b/c the entire park was open, I tried to do a short cut through adventureland, but they stopped me at the country bear jamboree, so once everyone caught up, I walked over to the splash /big thunder area and first got a FP for splash. I then went and did Big thunder 4 times - I got to ride it twice and row, had to get off, and then rode it twice in a row for a second time! I then decided I would try to do stuff I would never get to do if I was with Melissa, so I did the indy speedway (which I hadn’t done in years) with like a 5 minute wait. Once I got that out of my system, I saw that toontown fair had opened, so I went over there and met not only with the Big Cheese himself, but Mrs. Big Cheese was there too!

Next, I saw there was no line for Goofy’s barnstormer, so I did that twice in a row as well (and yes I did feel a bit too old to be on the ride - but no one else was riding it!) . After that, I did the Pooh ride, as saw no line for that as well. Waling through the gift shop I saw these cute patriotic mickeys and then took this picture just b/c I was so shocked at the lack of crowds (this would have been taken around 9:30 or so or a full 90 minutes after park opening):

Along the way I walked into the Philharmagic gift shop and took these pics and then saw the fairy godmother out by herself, which was new to me:

After walking through fantasyland (forgot that I did peter pan as well with like a couple minute wait - so I got PP and Pooh in, which we didn’t do on our may trip), I went over and did jungle cruise, also essentially a walk on. What a difference a skipper makes!! I could hear and understand this skipper’s english, and enjoyed it so much more than the night before - she was a great skipper. Once I got off the boat, I went over to the hub for the move it shake it parade, which had its first parade moved up to 10am. I have lots more pics from that parade as well as the main parade coming up, so I leave it here for now with some non-parade pics:

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COMING UP - PARADES, PARADES AND MORE!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks - I would like to hear back from you your thoughts/comparisons between OKW and SSR. My problem w. SSR is that it really reminds of one of the apartment complexes my wife lived in while we were in law school so its kinda hard for me to see it as disney. I guess that's why there is more than one DVC location, as not everyone is going to like a certain property (unless they had DVC in the castle of course!)

and BTW to everyone, my wife commented I wasn't meeting my usual trip report standard in terms of tons of pics, but I didn't really have a lot from this day, but the other days will be better I promise!!!

Frankly, we felt it was like an apartment complex when we stayed there too. We stayed way back when it first opened, so much of the resort was not yet completed at that time. We like the lcoation etc, but didn't care for the apartment feel. We love how OKW feels like your own vacation home.

 

[wdrl]

Really enjoy reading your trip report. I wonder if the Fourth of July always has a slow start? Did the crowds pick up after lunch or in the evening?

How about another hint about your celebrity sighting?

 

[natasg]

Great Trip report so far...thanks for sharing. I love the narative and wow, never would have guessed the parks would be so empty on big hollidays early.

 

[BigEeyore]

I can't believe how uncrowded MK was on the 4th! I thought that was the second busiest time of the year (after Christmas/NY). Low crowds make trips more enjoyable, to be sure, but a part of me is worried it will lead to Disney cutting back even more on entertainment, CM's, park/resort improvementes, etc.

 

[TigerLaw]

Really enjoy reading your trip report. I wonder if the Fourth of July always has a slow start? Did the crowds pick up after lunch or in the evening?

Great Trip report so far...thanks for sharing. I love the narative and wow, never would have guessed the parks would be so empty on big hollidays early.

I can't believe how uncrowded MK was on the 4th! I thought that was the second busiest time of the year (after Christmas/NY). Low crowds make trips more enjoyable, to be sure, but a part of me is worried it will lead to Disney cutting back even more on entertainment, CM's, park/resort improvementes, etc.

You will all see in my next set of pics, the good times in terms of low crowds didn't last - by the time the move it shake it parade started at 10pm it was starting to fill up and by noon you could really see it.

My idea on this was (1) there was a late night EMH the night before and (2) everyone who wanted to be there that night knew to get there by noon and they knew they couldn't risk re-entry, so don't get there first thing since you will be "stuck" inside the park from noon to 10pm say.

Bottom line, I got let's say 2 hrs. of off-season crowds, and from there, I could start using FPs and going to shows/people mover rides, etc. so that's 4-5 hours of good times at MK!!!

 

[Greyhound22]

Jon Bon Jovi???

 

[TigerLaw]

Springsteen and Bon Jovi are good guesses, but are wrong.

Here is today's hint:

He or she got their start on CBS soap operas/serials that haven't been on TV for decades.

 

[BigEeyore]

John Travolta?

 

[TigerLaw]

We have a winner!!!

John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor, dancer and singer.

Travolta has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The first, for his role in Saturday Night Fever and the second for Pulp Fiction. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty.

Travolta, the youngest of six children,[1] was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City.

After attending Dwight Morrow High School, Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". He then moved to Los Angeles to further his career in show business.

Travolta played a messenger on the CBS soap opera The Edge of Night. He also appeared on another CBS serial The Secret Storm. Travolta's first California-filmed television role was as a fall victim in, Emergency! (S2E2), in September 1972, but his first significant movie role was as, "Billy Nolan," a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character in the horror film, Carrie (1976). Around the same time, he landed his star-making role as, "Vinnie Barbarino," in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).

 

[DenLo]

I really enjoy reading and seeing your pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TigerLaw]

I really enjoy reading and seeing your pics. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you like it - should have a new update done shortly!!!

 

[TigerLaw]

July 4th (cont.)

While I was waiting for the move it shake it parade, took these pics - the first shows the crowds getting back to normal by 10am for a holiday, and the second was just a CM who was dancing the whole time and was probably just as much fun to watch as the parade:

Now for some Move It, Shake It parade pics (I can just hear the great song over and over in my end looking at these!)

The last time I saw the parade in May, it didn’t stop at the hub, but rather, just went up and back down main street b/c of the rain. This time they did the same thing - I think it was just too crowded to do the full show. After the parade, I did splash twice in a row and big thunder one more time, all with my stored up fastpasses. Once I finished that off, I had a big hot dog at casey’s corner, bumped around the main st. shops a bit, and then watched the noon showing of the old snow globe parade n(I can't remember what they call it now) . I ended up w. a curb side seat on main street about 15 minutes before the parade started (so I was pretty impressed w. myself!) Here are some pics of that parade:

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Finally, here’s a couple pics of DD - the one with me is right after I got done w. splash - can you tell?

COMING UP - JUST HOW BAD WILL THE 4TH OF JULY AT EPCOT BE CROWD-WISE?

 

[BigEeyore]

Yay! I got the celebrity guessing game right! I hope you got some pics to document the sighting!