I'll try to put this all in one post. Dh 36, Me 33, ds5, ds5, ds2 went last week. We avoided big thrill rides (Dh did a couple of thrills) and focused on activities for young kids.
8/27- Arrived at MCO late eve. around 9 something. Rented a car and drove to Howard Johnson Maingate East for one night. This place was fine. We got the room for $35 a night, what a bargain. I'd heard bad reports but we had no problems at all. Comfy and clean. Perfect.
8/28- Drove to ASMo checked in around 8am, lines at the reservation desk were longer than any line I waited on for rides! Dropped off luggage and were told to call for our room number later. We went to Epcot. Got there after opening, around 9:45 by the time we made it to The Land pavilion. Got fastpasses for Soarin. Went on the Living in the Land ride (short wait). Did Soarin with no wait. Ate at Garden Grill b/c kids wanted to see characters on the first day. I didn't have PS for there but they got us in around 11:15 anyway. Food was yucky. Atmosphere was too dark. Our pictures didn't turn out well. We left Epcot and went back to AsMo for a nap/rest. We got our Toy story room and the kids loved it. Dinner at food court. Went back to Epcot in eve to walk into Ellen and walk onto Test Track with no waits (just before park closed).
8/29-Breakfast with Donald at AK at 8:00 put us in the park early. We did Dinoland after with no waits. Fastpassed K. Safari and did a few walk through exhibits. Saw Lion King show. Ate at Tusker House which was very good and air conditioned. Left at around 2 for nap at hotel. We went back out to Boma's for dinner. Desserts there were awesome. Dh liked the food too.
8/30-Breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:05 put us in MK early. My 2 year old was out of his mind at the sight of Pooh and friends. This was his FAVORITE part of the trip! We were able to walk onto rides in Fantasyland with no waits at all. We rode Peter Pan and Pooh over and over! Lunch at Pecos Bills the family didn't enjoy as much although I liked the chicken wrap. Did some rides in frontierland and Adventureland without lines. Left for the afternoon around 1-2. Dinner at ASMo food court then swimming in eve.
8/31-MGM. We arrived at park opening. Did every show Ariel, Playhouse, Beauty/Beast, Muppets, Ate at Sci Fi...cute theming. Calmed kids down. It started raining during lunch and didn't stop. Dh took kids out to the car for a nap and I stayed in the park to do Millionaire and Movie Ride. They came back for the parade (went on in the rain). We met characters from Mosters Inc and Toy Story during the day. Had dinner at Pizza Planet and played in the arcade.
9/1- Epcot World Showcase. Showed up around 11:00. Met the Characters on Holiday. Started in Mexico and walked around clockwise. Kids were pretty tired. they liked coloring masks at different pavilions. We headed in the American Adventure just as thunderstorms rolled in. They were done when the show ended. We left early around 3. I went to shop at Downtown Disney in the afternoon. Dh went back for Epcots eve EMH and did Soarin and Test Track again. Epcot is a park I feel like we didn't see enough of. But it wasn't a priority this trip.
9/2-MK again. This time we arrived at park opening early EMH 8:00am and saw noticably more people there. It's starting to get crowed for Labor Day weekend. We were still able to walk onto the rides we wanted to do in Tomorrowland. Did Buzz over and over again. DH rode Space Mountain. Did Mickey's Toon town later and had lunch in the Castle. Food was really good and even my boys enjoyed meeting the princesses. We saw them at Toon town earlier also. Left around 2 and went back to hotel. We came back in eve for Spectro and Wishes. We left just before Wishes ended and got on first bus back.
9/3-MK again. Arrived at park opening 9am (lots of people there with us) and walked on the rides we wanted to do again. Pace was slower today. It was our 3rd day in MK and we were just trying to do the "filler" attractions that we hadn't seen the first two days. I can honestly say we did almost EVERY attraction in MK. Crowds were bigger on this day, but we were doing less popular attractions now and didn't wait for them. I felt sorry for the long lines outside of Buzz knowing that we rode in multiple times in a row earlier in the week. Left around 1:00 for nap and did Hoop De Doo in eve. Kids enjoyed the show. We had front row seats.
Overall-Excellent vacation. Felt like we saw all of MK, my fav. park. We were on dining plan and ate well...too much food. Kids loved theming at ASMo. We were in the parks everyday with naps every afternoon. We are exhillerated and exhausted at the same time. We followed Tour Guide Mike's planning advice for which rides to visit when and we were able to walk onto everything, I'd definitely invest in his advice next time too. Dh said this vacation felt like it should cost $5000+ b/c we were doing so much. But it was only $1200+ airfare...what a value! Thanks to planning advice on the Dis and TGM...we had a great time.
Joy
8/27- Arrived at MCO late eve. around 9 something. Rented a car and drove to Howard Johnson Maingate East for one night. This place was fine. We got the room for $35 a night, what a bargain. I'd heard bad reports but we had no problems at all. Comfy and clean. Perfect.
8/28- Drove to ASMo checked in around 8am, lines at the reservation desk were longer than any line I waited on for rides! Dropped off luggage and were told to call for our room number later. We went to Epcot. Got there after opening, around 9:45 by the time we made it to The Land pavilion. Got fastpasses for Soarin. Went on the Living in the Land ride (short wait). Did Soarin with no wait. Ate at Garden Grill b/c kids wanted to see characters on the first day. I didn't have PS for there but they got us in around 11:15 anyway. Food was yucky. Atmosphere was too dark. Our pictures didn't turn out well. We left Epcot and went back to AsMo for a nap/rest. We got our Toy story room and the kids loved it. Dinner at food court. Went back to Epcot in eve to walk into Ellen and walk onto Test Track with no waits (just before park closed).
8/29-Breakfast with Donald at AK at 8:00 put us in the park early. We did Dinoland after with no waits. Fastpassed K. Safari and did a few walk through exhibits. Saw Lion King show. Ate at Tusker House which was very good and air conditioned. Left at around 2 for nap at hotel. We went back out to Boma's for dinner. Desserts there were awesome. Dh liked the food too.
8/30-Breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:05 put us in MK early. My 2 year old was out of his mind at the sight of Pooh and friends. This was his FAVORITE part of the trip! We were able to walk onto rides in Fantasyland with no waits at all. We rode Peter Pan and Pooh over and over! Lunch at Pecos Bills the family didn't enjoy as much although I liked the chicken wrap. Did some rides in frontierland and Adventureland without lines. Left for the afternoon around 1-2. Dinner at ASMo food court then swimming in eve.
8/31-MGM. We arrived at park opening. Did every show Ariel, Playhouse, Beauty/Beast, Muppets, Ate at Sci Fi...cute theming. Calmed kids down. It started raining during lunch and didn't stop. Dh took kids out to the car for a nap and I stayed in the park to do Millionaire and Movie Ride. They came back for the parade (went on in the rain). We met characters from Mosters Inc and Toy Story during the day. Had dinner at Pizza Planet and played in the arcade.
9/1- Epcot World Showcase. Showed up around 11:00. Met the Characters on Holiday. Started in Mexico and walked around clockwise. Kids were pretty tired. they liked coloring masks at different pavilions. We headed in the American Adventure just as thunderstorms rolled in. They were done when the show ended. We left early around 3. I went to shop at Downtown Disney in the afternoon. Dh went back for Epcots eve EMH and did Soarin and Test Track again. Epcot is a park I feel like we didn't see enough of. But it wasn't a priority this trip.
9/2-MK again. This time we arrived at park opening early EMH 8:00am and saw noticably more people there. It's starting to get crowed for Labor Day weekend. We were still able to walk onto the rides we wanted to do in Tomorrowland. Did Buzz over and over again. DH rode Space Mountain. Did Mickey's Toon town later and had lunch in the Castle. Food was really good and even my boys enjoyed meeting the princesses. We saw them at Toon town earlier also. Left around 2 and went back to hotel. We came back in eve for Spectro and Wishes. We left just before Wishes ended and got on first bus back.
9/3-MK again. Arrived at park opening 9am (lots of people there with us) and walked on the rides we wanted to do again. Pace was slower today. It was our 3rd day in MK and we were just trying to do the "filler" attractions that we hadn't seen the first two days. I can honestly say we did almost EVERY attraction in MK. Crowds were bigger on this day, but we were doing less popular attractions now and didn't wait for them. I felt sorry for the long lines outside of Buzz knowing that we rode in multiple times in a row earlier in the week. Left around 1:00 for nap and did Hoop De Doo in eve. Kids enjoyed the show. We had front row seats.
Overall-Excellent vacation. Felt like we saw all of MK, my fav. park. We were on dining plan and ate well...too much food. Kids loved theming at ASMo. We were in the parks everyday with naps every afternoon. We are exhillerated and exhausted at the same time. We followed Tour Guide Mike's planning advice for which rides to visit when and we were able to walk onto everything, I'd definitely invest in his advice next time too. Dh said this vacation felt like it should cost $5000+ b/c we were doing so much. But it was only $1200+ airfare...what a value! Thanks to planning advice on the Dis and TGM...we had a great time.
Joy
