Our dream vacation full of magic!

[undertheseas]

As a family this was our fourth trip to Disney World and it was still magical. DD (age 10), DS (he turned eight a few days after our trip), and DH are thrill ride junkies and I'm the big chicken. I refuse to ride M:S and ToT, I'll ride EE and RnR but never more than once in a row. We are always at the park opening but this trip we didn't stay every night for fireworks if we were tired. We had to deal with two hurricanes but we had some special magic and had a great time.


Day One – Friday, August 29

This year it was harder to get ready for the trip, things at work were crazy and then my aunt died a few days before we left. I felt bad missing the funeral but we did get to attend the visitation the night before we left. That made for a long day to go to Illinois and then drive to Saint Louis. We stayed with SIL and she was so sweet to get up at 5:30 so we could make our 8:00 flight. Our flight arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, at about 11:00. I love Southwest, we’ve never had any problems with them and in fact our flights always arrive early too. We deboarded the plane about 11:10 and were in the Magical Express line by 11:25. The line looked long but I was checked in and we were on a bus by 11:40. We had to drop off at Old Key West, Saratoga Springs and then arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter around 12:30. Our room was not ready but it was because we got our room request, building four. I intended to fax in my request again a few days before we arrived but I forgot so it shows that initial requests can be honored. We ate at Sassagoula Floatworks hoping that would give them time to finish the room but it wasn’t so we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We like to start and end each trip in the MK and we were through the gates by 2:00. Because it was Labor Day weekend we expected it to be crowded and didn’t have a plan, we would just do whatever rides we wanted that didn’t have a long wait. We decided to start with Pirates of the Caribbean which was a walk on, got a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain, then Haunted Mansion (walk on as well), then we saw the Hall of Presidents for the first time, used the FP for Splash Mountain (which had a long standby line starting at the stairs). We got a FP for Space Mountain, saw the Laugh Floor and rode Buzz which was a walk on but half way through the ride broke down which let us get higher than usual scores (DH maxed out sooner than usual). We went to Toontown where the kids rode the Barnstormer, we visited Mickey and Minnie’s houses, they rode the Carrousel, and watched Philharmagic. Dinner was at Cosmic Ray’s before heading to Space Mountain to use the FP but it was broken down and since the Speedway was a 10 minute wait we rode that. We let the kids drive by themselves but they had trouble holding the gas pedal down all the way so we held up the other drivers. By that time Space Mountain was running again so we used our FP. We were tired so we decided to head back to POFQ. We saw 3 buses that said “POFQ” pass our stop and one even left the MK empty. This would happen often during our trip. I noticed this type of thing a lot during the trip and it wasn’t just our resort. After 25 minutes we finally had a bus stop for us. Our room was 4133 and really I think it was a perfect location! We were just a few rooms from the food court, the pool was just around a corner and down the lane, we could use the passage way to the back to the building and around to the bus stops. We only heard a few loud groups the entire trip and never past 10:00 or so. The kids swam while I unpacked and we were all in bed around 10:15. The room was very clean, we couldn’t adjust the fridge temperature but we filled bottles with ice and they stayed frozen. The safe was really small and wouldn’t hold our old camcorder or the laptop.

Day Two – Saturday, August 30

We got up at 6:00 to eat in the room and get to Disney Hollywood Studios for Early Magic Hours. We arrived at 7:15 and walked briskly to Toy Story Mania. The ride is fun, better than Buzz I think but not worth the 90 minute wait it had most of our trip. I waited in line for 15 minutes just to get a FP for later in the day (12:05 even though I got it around 8:30). Rock n Roller Coaster, they rode Tower of Terror twice, then the Great Movie Ride and watched Muppets 3D. We ate lunch at Pizza Planet and it began to rain and continued to rain off and on all day due to an outer band of Hurricane Gustav. TSM had an 80-90 minute wait all day, RnR had 20 minutes in the morning but 60 minutes later in the day. They rode ToT twice with little wait but later in the afternoon the wait was 40 minutes. The Block Party parade was rained out so I was disappointed. Dinner was at Sci Fi and when we came back out rain was still threatening so we went back to the resort for ice cream and an early bedtime.

Day Three – Sunday, August 31

Up and at ‘em at the ungodly hour of 5:45 on vacation so we could eat at Kona. The front desk had told me two different times for the first breakfast bus, 6:15 and 6:45. We arrived at the bus stop at 6:40 where other people had been waiting for a while. The first bus to the MK didn’t arrive until 7:05 (there was one for DHS and Animal Kingdom before the MK). We ran to the monorail and arrived at the Polynesian 5 minutes late for our 7:30 Advanced Dining Reservation. After a very filling breakfast we rode the monorail to Epcot and decided to skip Mission: Space because of the full tummies, we rode Test Track, Soarin, the clam shells and watched Turtle Talk before the dolphin show. Soarin had a 20 minute wait and M:S had 40 minutes. We started the World Showcase with China. By the time we got to Norway we knew we’d eat a snack to hold us over until dinner so we tried school bread and an almond pretzel. We continued through the countries ending in Canada with dinner at Le Cellier. We waited 20 minutes for Test Track and Maelstrom had a 30 minute wait so we decided just to skip it. We watched Illuminations which was strange without the globe. Hurricane Gustav was headed to Louisiana and today although it was cloudy all day it never did anything more than a light mist. It was windy and a lot cooler than this time last year.

Day Four – Monday, September 1

We woke up at 6:15 for an early EMH at the Animal Kingdom. DD was picked to reveal the tip board which earned us VIP seats at the Lion King. We rode Expedition Everest then I got FPs and took photos while DH and the kids rode again. We headed over to ride the Safari and this was the first time we had seen the lion moving around and he was even roaring! We watched It’s Tough to be a Bug and then Lion King where DS was picked to represent our section, the lions. We used our EE FP before getting a FP for Kali River Rapids, waited 25 minutes to ride Kali and then our FPs were ready and rode again. We waited almost 30 minutes for a bus to the resort while we saw 2-3 buses leaving empty. We went back to the room to shower before catching the boat to Downtown Disney. We were lucky to only have to wait 5 minutes for the boat and it was a really peaceful ride although the boats are really loud. We had early reservations at Captain Jack’s but I really wanted to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express so we split pizzas there before heading to the Lego store. At the World of Disney we bought our pins and mugs to represent this year, then Once Upon a Toy. We ate at Captain Jack’s and got candy at Goofy’s before catching a boat back to the hotel. We dropped off our purchases and set off to DHS for late EMH. TSM had a 90 minute wait and RnR wasn’t running, ToT had a 40 minute wait so we went to Fantasmic which by the time the show was about to start the whole theatre was full. DH and the kids rode ToT using our FPs while I took photos. RnR was still down and TSM had a 70 minute wait so we just decided to leave the park.

Day Five – Tuesday, September 2

Today was an MK day. We saw 2 DHS buses, 3 Epcot and AK buses waiting for one MK bus arrived 20 minutes later. We rode Peter Pan, Dumbo, Snow White wasn’t running so we moved on to Pooh, Peter Pan again, HM, BTMRR and Splash Mtn which were all walk ons or very short waits. PotC was next (DS missed it because he was being a complete brat, this was the 3rd ride he missed) followed by the Jungle Cruise. We grabbed a FP for Space Mtn and had lunch at the Pinocchio Haus. We rode It’s a Small World, then Space Mountain, watched the Laugh Floor and left at 2:15. This time we only had a 10 minute wait for a bus to the resort so we could shower and dress for dinner. We took a bus back to the MK followed by a boat ride to the Grand Floridian and Narcoosee’s. Afterwards we took the boat back to the MK where the kids and I rode ride Space Mountain while DH saved us spots on Main Street for Spectro Magic and Wishes.

Day 6 - Wednesday, September 3

Hard to believe the trip was already half over! We were up at 7:30 for a non-EMH at AK. DD and DH rode EE (DS is missing yet another ride due to his attitude and mouth). While we were waiting on the other two we saw a Dream Team member enter EE but I didn’t think much about it. DH and DD came back and we decided that all of us would ride EE which was a walk on. As we got onto our train we noticed several Dream Team members waiting at the exit but we figured one of the trains in front of us would win so imagine our surprise to win Dream Fast Passes! We were thrilled. We walked to Dinosaur to use our first FP but there was no wait. We went back to EE and rode twice more then KRR, ITTBAB which were all walk ons and the dream FP weren’t needed but a great souvenir for the trip. We waited 20 minutes for a bus (and saw 2 buses for Old Key West, All Stars, Epcot and 3 to DHS). We showered and ate at the resort before waiting for a bus going to DHS 1:45. In 20 minutes we saw several other park buses, multiples for each park including 3 Epcot buses that arrived at the same time, I have photos to email Disney to show them the bus system needs some tweaking. DH took the kids to try to get some FPs while I watched some of the DHS Hollywood characters. It turned out that the kids were watching the Public Works characters on the next street. They came back in time to watch the Block Party parade with me, they got a Nerf ball at the end. It was cute but I liked Stars and Cars better. TSM had a 60 minute wait and we really wanted to ride so we were hoping that the number was padded like we had seen at some of the other rides but this one wasn’t padded at all. We were pushing it to get a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner anyway but after we waited in line for an hour we got on the ride and the computer screwed up and we missed 3 screens. Luckily we told the cast members and they let us ride again but now we were really late. We ran to catch a bus and arrived at Boma 15 minutes late. It was an early ADR but it was already packed with long food lines. The food was OK but we won’t be going back. We walked around the resort and were a little disappointed that there wasn’t more spots to view the animals. We caught another bus to DHS and then to the resort to swim and do laundry.

Day Seven – Thursday, September 4

We woke early for an EMH at the MK. Space Mountain was not running so we went to Buzz before DH took DD to ride Stitch and DS and I rode Buzz a few more times. Space Mtn was running by then so we rode that, then the Tea Cups, Snow White and then we went to Sir Mickey’s to take photos of the giant. The kids and I decided to get embroidered ears which I’ve always wanted. We rode PP twice, HM twice, and PotC all without waiting. We were hungry so we had a very nutritious lunch of Dole Whips before riding Space Mtn using FPs and watching the Laugh Floor. We caught the monorail to Epcot where we ate at Seasons Sunshine Fair before riding Soarin, and then Test Track twice where Dave found some new Hidden Mickeys. We toured the counties and rode Maelstrom, watched the Chinese Acrobats and Sergi and the candy lade in Japan. Dinner was at Le Chefs and we rode Soarin and Spaceship Earth before leaving the park where we found a bus to our resort waiting. Hurricane Hanna was moving in, it was windy and surprisingly had not rained since the last Saturday.

Day Eight - Friday, September 5

We arrived for the opening and Space Mountain was down so we rode Buzz, then Space Mtn, Indy Speedway where it began to rain from Hurricane Hanna. We rode the Tea Cups, PP, it stopped raining, HM, BTMRR and then Pecos Bill for lunch. DD and I rode Splash Mtn but DS didn’t want to. Right before we got to the vultures the ride broke down for several minutes. Then we all headed to PotC but it was time for a pirate tutorial so we stayed for that and DS was picked and Jack wanted to fight DS himself, DS was really excited. We rode PotC and when we came out it was pouring down rain. We waited a few minutes but it didn’t look like it was going to let up so we decided to leave the park to take a nap and change for the party. We took a bus to the MK and then a monorail to the Grand Floridian (the monorail stopped a few times for several minutes). While we ate at the Grand Floridian Café we watched it rain and we were worried that the party that would be starting in just over an hour might be ruined but by the time we left the rain stopped and it turned out to be a nice evening with clear skies. We arrived at the MK at about 6:30 and were waiting in line near Carrousel of Progress for candy when it started. We headed from Space Mtn to Toontown where we got more candy and saw the Queen of Hearts, Alice, Tweedledee and Tweedledumb. We got in line to see Mickey dressed as a vampire, then Minnie’s house while DH saved us seats on Main Street for the parade. It took us until 8:00 to see those two characters so we gave up on the characters for the night. The parade was great, we loved the Headless Horseman but he’s so fast I only got one photo. DH took the kids to look for a pin guy and rode Buzz while I found us seats for Hallowishes which was incredible, I’ve had the songs stuck in my head for a week afterward. DH wanted to try taping the parade again so I camped out for seats in Frontierland while he bought the kids party shirts and pins and they rode HM. After the Headless Horseman rode the kids and I left to ride HM. The parade was still going on so we had to head behind the castle to get around and came across the evil Steps so we waited to meet them. For evil stepsisters they were really generous with the candy! We stopped to get my party shirt and unfortunately the photo pass photographers were all gone (it was 11:30) so we didn’t get a family photo at the party. We were back to the room just before midnight. I don’t know if it was because it was a party day or if it was Hurricane Hanna but everything was a walk on all day.

Day Nine – Saturday, September 6

We were up early for EMH at DHS. We rode TSM and got a FP for later then decided to wait 30 minutes to ride it again. We rode RnR twice, ToT twice all by 10:00. We shared a counter service credit at Starring Rolls before watching Muppets 3D. We decided to leave the park and our FP for TSM wasn’t until 2:00 so we found a nice British family to give them to. We took a boat to Epcot, getting off at the Boardwalk to find DH a shirt at the ESPN store. We walked to Epcot and ate at the bakery in France. We headed to England where we saw Mary Poppins and the World Showcase players performing the Holy Grail (grail, grail, grail, HUH) which was of course “RUBBISH!” I love those guys! We rode Test Track, M:S, Ellen’s Energy, Test Track again before getting our boarding passes for Southwest and eating at Coral Reef. We rode Soarin’ and Spaceship Earth before leaving for the night.

Day Ten – Sunday, September 7

Our last day was full of magic. We were picked to open the Magic Kingdom!!! The cast members got the kids’ autograph books before a ride on the fire truck back to Toontown. We met the characters and had the books signed before we opened the MK. It was soooo neat and we got a lot of great photos from the photo pass photographer. A really magical moment that we'll always remember. Then we went to the Laugh Floor because the kids really wanted DH to be “THAT GUY” but instead DH “needed a hug” and DS was picked to answer a joke. Then we rode Space Mtn were we were picked to tour the command tower which was really neat. Next was Peter Pan and we decided to ride it twice. As we were getting off we won Dream Mickey ears from the Dream Team, it was really our lucky day! We rode HM, watched Philharmagic and PotC and used the remaining snack credits before having to leave to return to the resort. We checked out, ate lunch and caught the ME bus which then stopped at Old Key West and Saratoga Springs before heading to the airport. We had another uneventful flight that arrived 10 minutes early.

Wrap Up – It was a magical trip, especially the second half. I can’t believe that with the hurricane season the way it’s been that we only had 2 days of rain and Hanna didn’t ruin our party. We've only been to a Pirate and Princess party before but the MNSSHP was way better. POFQ was great and I would stay there again. We didn’t really miss the appetizers from the free dining but we did buy a few out of pocket, what we did miss was the included tips. And we proved again that 10 days at Disney isn’t enough! DS told me today he's ready to go back.


Here's a link to my dining report http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1956716