Our first WDW family vacation reeled in by free dining 8/17-24.Updated w/ pics & vid

[mince]

Our first WDW family vacation reeled in by free dining

Day 1

CMs: Me 36/male decision maker/planner. Did DW in 76 and DL in 77.
DW: Trusts my planning with good reason . Did DW in 83 and DL in 90 something.
DS: Will be 4 in October. Fell in love with Pluto, thus that’s how I’ll refer to him hereafter.

More on DS: Pluto was talking in full sentences at 15 months, so verbal now at 3.8 and tall, most think he is 5+ and are shocked when we tell them he is only 3. He makes conversations with strangers everywhere he goes. That said, emotionally we feel like he is a bit behind? Don’t know for sure as he’s our first? He also, when not conversing or focused on something he enjoys, has trouble sitting still -- Especially on Disney buses. Just painting the picture for you -- brilliant and wise beyond his years, but on off days a hint of ADHD (just my unofficial diagnosis).

We booked the trip in February for Aug 17-24, when we learned about the free DDP. We had been poking around different deals, including the Swan/Dolphin government discount, but were closed when we were quoted 7 nights with DDP at ASMo. We booked our ADRs in April; all dinners in an attempt to maximize; all between 5-5:40.

In May, we went to an amusement park, an hour and a half drive from our suburban Philadelphia home, Dutch Wonderland. To our dismay, Pluto, who had been great the prior summer riding all sorts of rides at boardwalk amusement parks, was terrified riding even the most basic rides, that he cried to have some stopped by the operator and refused to go on others. Our friends teased us, perhaps in jealousy—“We told you it was too early to book a Disney trip.” We pondered, “should we try to get our money back?”

After several beach trips in July, I really wasn’t looking forward to Disney. I’m a great planner and have planned out numerous vacations, but didn’t take a lot of interest in our upcoming trip. I told many that I’d rather just head to the beach for a week. My co-worker who sparked my Disney interest lent me a book and gave me maps to all the parks which I used as potty reading for a month or two prior to our trip. However I did not discover Dis and other forums until night before our trip.

Midnight 8/16 (leaving Phila 8/17 @ 10:30), my cruise director mode begins to takeover. I peruse our ADRs and notice that I booked several dinners at other resorts. I also begin to read horror stories about Disney buses. I panic, wake DW up and tell her I’m going to rent a car. I hopped on Orbitz and to my amazement, it was only $153 <tax included> for a mid-size for the entire week. The I wake DW up again and tell her that I’m pulling the trigger. I then realized that for rentals you don’t need a CC to hold the ressie, so it was a no-brainer. Literally at the midnight hour, the control freak took over. I needed to be in control of our transportation. I then proceeded to tear our ME tags off of our luggage. “Won’t they be looking for our bags” DW asked in the AM. I laughed, not really being sure and not really caring.

Arrived at airport 2.5 hours early. Economy parking Full – ***. We had to pay $17/day to park in St parking.. Brutal!!

No lines at check-in/security. Plane was already there. Great no worries, we’ll be on-time I thought. We’ll get to ASMo by 2:30, take a dip and hit our JIKO 5:30 ADR.

Pluto was in the worst of modes (not mood) today. Luckily he was a charmer and a sweetheart for the next five days, but today sucked. He was all over the place. And of course somehow our plane was delayed, even though the weather was beautiful and the plane was there. We had 3 announcements of delays with our child running around the airport. We did board an hour and a half late, but arrived in Orlando smoothly only an hour behind schedule. Pluto was great on the plane, but at MCO they could not take the luggage off of the plane due to storms in the area, so we had to wait and wait. Finally after a half an hour of chasing him around I took him in the stroller and went to get the rental from Alamo. Perfect transaction! I let him pick out the car. As soon as we got in the car, DW called, she had our luggage, I zipped around and picked her up.

Every Trip report has that, oh I now feel like I’m on vaca and excitement begins. Well this was the moment. Short lived as I did not get on 536E or whatever the road I was supposed to. DW pointed out that we were supposed to hit two tolls and did not. After a few miles I asked directions and indeed we had to backtrack.

No worries, got back en route and 25 minutes later we were at ASMo. I pulled up in front while Pluto and DW waited in the car. No wait for check-in although it still took her 10 minutes to process me. They put us in Toy Story and we were all very pleased. Convenient to the parking lot, buses, pool and food court. Just like the pictures Pluto exclaimed… but where’s Woody he asked. Dunno? I thought. He was right, Woody was covered in a big white plastic thinga-ma-bobber. I’m sure true Disers here know the skivvy, but I never asked to find out. Nevertheless, our room was small as I had been warned but was completely adequate for the three of us. We were very pleased with our new Home.

By this time it was 4:45 and we had that 5:30 Jiko ADR. Not knowing that it was only a 5 min drive, we hurried to change and we were out the door. Thank goodness for the rental at this point. I never wasted an opportunity to point at times at of convenience out to DW how the great having the rental was… this being no exception. WE arrived at AKL at 5ish.

Pluto was amazed that the shrubbery was singing on our walk from the lot to front door. A beautiful hotel it was. Our first moment of many, having resort envy. We are used to staying in nice hotels, but we rationalized that we won’t be in our room except to sleep and shower, which turned out to be true. We walked around this amazing building for a few then decided to check in at Jiko. Only a few tables already had guests dining, so we thought do we really need ADRs this week? LOL The entire place filled up by dessert.

A special meal it was. Our waitress brought out several bottles of wine for us to sample. We chose different selections and each had two glasses, sharing both. For starters we had the taste of Africa, Kenyan Coffee Barbecued Chicken Flatbread which was more like a sweet gourmet chicken pizza. DW had the Salmon which she really liked and I was blown away with the Short Rib. I’m not a sweet potato fan, so I asked for a different accompaniment and she suggest the “gourmet” mac and cheese that comes with the filet.

I failed to mention Pluto was under the table most of the meal, climbing from one chair to another annoying the hell out of us. Like I said, he was in rare poor form on day 1 and that would end today 

For dessert we had the triple coffee cake and the apple something or other (not on all-ears menus).

I payed OOP for kids meal and wine. Used 4TS credits as Jiko is Signature dining. Great meal, but no better than Le Cellier or some other single TS. Still 100% satisfied. Server added gratuity to our OOP check. I still left her a few bucks more.

Tired and full, still only 7ish, let’s go to AK. *** it’s closed? It closes at 6:00? My master plan foiled. Later in the trip, the closing time moved to 5:00.

We decided to head over to MGM for an hour or two. I figured that since it was later in the evening, we could find a decent spot near the front. I drove right next to the taxi stand and got a prime spot. We walked around for a bit. I had to use the facility. When I came out DW had already bought Pluto, Mickey ears. First of 4, yes 4 hats that we would purchase for him. We meandered over to the Muppets. Such newbies, in the waiting area, thinking this isn’t much of a show. Then the doors opened… nice show, glad we saw it first as it was definitely the inferior of all four 3D shows. Next we decided to do the movie ride. Remember our concern about Pluto and rides. Well this one and no bumps, or fast spins, but it did have gunshots and the wicked witch. He handled it very well and seemed to enjoy although he refused to get back on it on Day 5.

We decide to call it a day and returned back to ASMo with a nice “welcome home” from the security CMs.

Day 2 coming next Fri or Saturday. Please don’t be too critical. I never write and have never written anything like this.

 

[taraprather]

Great report so far, can't wait to hear more!

 

[Mouse's Shadow]

Can't wait to hear about the hats. We leave in 26 days. I dug out the Goofy hat that my son, then 11, bought 10 years ago. You know the one with the nose. We've been having a good time with it.

 

[almousefan]

Great Report! Keep up the good work!

 

[c8k6k]

I failed to mention Pluto was under the table most of the meal, climbing from one chair to another annoying the hell out of us.

We have a 3 yr old so I can relate. LOL. Very interested to hear about the rest of your trip.

Keri

 

[mince]

Day 2 MK Little ones EMH and much more

Wife thought it was weird referring to DS as Pluto so DS will do for now.

Well I didn’t think I’d have time to bang another day out today, but time is permitting. We had definitely planned on going to MK today. Learning that there was Little ones EMH a bonus. I had 10-12 attractions earmarked to accomplish over our first 2 visits to MK. We set a 6:30 wake up call. I had no idea that Mickey would wake us up and still didn’t as I simply picked up the phone and hung it up. In fact I didn’t learn about Mickey’s wake ups until reading TRs on this board after our return.

I woke up and went to the World Premier food court. Decided on the adult waffle meal. When I ordered the cm asked me if I’d take 4 child waffles instead of one adult. I obliged as the DW and DS would be splitting breakfast with me. I got a small OJ, and a refillable coffee mug for DW. I used a CS credit for Waffles and snack for OJ. I realized 2 minutes later that I should have gotten a large OJ. Really I’d been hoping to see some fresh squeezed available since we were in Florida. The breakfast turned out to be more than satisfactory when combined with granola and breakfast bars that we brought with us.

After getting clean and pretty we walked out of our room at 7:25. Even though we had a car, everyone told us driving to MK is a hassle as you have to take another mode of transportation anyway. The bus arrived just when we did. That would be the theme for the next 3-4 days almost as if they could smell us coming. What a great feeling knowing that we’d arrive even before the EMH opened. They let us swipe our cards 10 minutes early and set up ropes on both sides of the main entryways. People were jockeying for position, including us. There couldn’t have been more than 100 people there but well wanted in and quick. The rope opposite us was dropped 30 seconds earlier than ours. The groans were loud and ours was dropped. Off we went, speedwalking, almost running to Fantasyland. Through the castle we went. Whoa, no lines anywhere. In fact we were the first ones to ride Peter Pan. Just behind us was Peter himself with another little boy. You’ll recall from the first installment that we were worried about DS and his fear of rides. I didn’t really get into detail before about how traumatized DS really was from our May trip to a local amusement park. But for the next couple of days he had issues about going down hills in cars and strollers. In fact he refused to go down a hill on a stroller. Thus, we felt Fantasy Land and Peter was the perfect place to start. TOTAL SUCCESS!! He enjoyed it!! Since Pooh was also a FP ride I thought we needed to squeeze that in as well. Another successful ride! DW and I were sooooo relieved.

He really wanted to ride Dumbo. There was a bit of line at that point. 5-10 minutes. I wanted to do other attraction while we had the Magic hour instead of waste time in a line. But she insisted. I don’t like spinny rides much, so they waited and I got a frozen coke. Another success.

I had read a lot of warnings about Snow White scaring little ones, but while things were going well, I felt as if I’d push the envelope. The witch freaked him out a bit, but he kept telling me afterwards, “I told you it wouldn’t be scary.”

Next up- Small World. He loved it, we loved it. I know this ride takes a lot of heat, but it turned out to be one of our favorites that we came back to do. I looked at my watch… OMG it’s only 8:45 and we finished a huge portion of our MK itinerary. Truly a Magic Hour. By far the most Magical hour of our trip, almost euphoric for all three of us.

After the carousel, it was only 8:55, we decided to go see Philharmagic. WOW. WOW. What a phenomenal piece of work. You have all seen it so I don’t need to expound, but we were blown away.

OK so Fantasy Land was done in an hour, thinking it would take the bulk of the day. So now what? Press your Luck? Yeah why not? Off to the haunted mansion. I thought this is where the trip could turn sour. With no line as the park just opened, we were the first group. DS was more intrigued than scared by the stretching room. The ride did scare him a bit. He ducked his head once or twice, but overall he was very brave and had a lot of questions about ghosts for the next hour. I asked him if he’d ride it again. “No way.” We decide just to walk and explore for a while.

Somehow in this short amount of time DS had already fallen in love with Pluto. We decided to hit Toon Town. It was roped off. I imagine they open it a bit later than the park everyday? When the rope came down and the characters came to greet us, DS ran to Pluto screaming his name. Pluto magically grabbed his hand and personally escorted him to and through Minnie’s house.
The cm told me that I’d have to stay with them. Somehow DW fell behind in the crowd. I kept calling her name. UGH she has the camera. How could she fall back and not catch up during such an incredible photo op? As we bent through a queue, I slowed up, I gave her a mouthful and told grabbed the camera from her. She was still behind us. At this point the CM was screaming, now where’s the father? I caught up and managed to get some pix in Minnie’s house. I’ll post some later. Eventually when all of the characters got in their Photopass positions, DW caught up. We got our pix with Goofy and Minnie too.

While we’re here let’s explore the rest of Toon Town, right? So we parked the stroller and checked out the boat. But wait, “here comes the train,” exclaimed DW. Hastily we all jumped on. This is perfect I thought, we’ll head over to TL or AL. It pulled away. Umm…but… we left our stroller in TT. So much for hitting any other attractions for 20 minutes. I stewed while perseverating that we were wasting 20 minutes with an empty park.

Looking back the ride turned out to be enjoyable. Off to TL, we obtained Fps for Buzz. The plan was to eat lunch while waiting to execute our first FP. The master plan had us eating at the Noodle Station. Closed?!? Closed?!? Folied again. Cosmic rays it was. This would be my first attempt at CS DDP maximization- buying an adult meal for DS. He got the Chicken tenders, DW and split a Caesar Salad and a grilled Chicken Sandwich. Yes, yes should have ordered burgers. Wayyy too much food. From this point forward for the most part, we spilt 2 CS meals 3 ways. The salad was by far the best of the three. The fixins bar was kick-***. -- Awesome sautéed onions that I piled high on the chicken sandwich. DS ate more pickles and tomatoes than he did chicken or fries.

Off to ride buzz with our FPs. Fun ride, but expected a bit more. But expected a bit less….begging for a toy from DS. This was the first of “please, please, please I really want it.” Man I don’t remember all of the dedicated gift shops following rides when I was here in the 76. of course I was six and don’t remember much,

Decision time. Go back to the resort…but I selfishly wanted to ride a big-boy ride. Let me go obtain a FP for SM and see if I can’t sneak it in. I the meantime, DW an DS waited for a photo op with buzz himself.

An hour we’d have to kill if I wanted to ride SM. Getting hot and crowded it was. I convinced them to at least hang around for a few more minutes and see if we can’t kill the hour. We rode Tland Trans. A very nice respite. Then bribery took over. Let’s get DS an ice cream treat- Mickey Premium Bar. I must admit I wanted some as well. Incredible! That may be the single best ice cream bar I ever had. DS ate most of it. Dove bars, klondikes, chocolate dips, none can hold a candle to that thick milk chocolate exterior on a MPB. That obviously was the first of many. Still some time to kill, we went to the arcade and gift shop to cool down.

5 minutes early I proceeded through the FP entrance to SM. Actually waited about 10 minutes to get on. I was not overly impressed and not as I remembered from my childhood, but was happy to get some serious G-Force flowing finally. The walk out after SM took way too long.

At this point it was nearing one o’clock and definitely time to head back if we wanted to relax as we had ADRs at Chef Mickey’s at 5:15.

We realized that we need not run should we attend another early EMH, LOL

Just as it had on the way to MK, the bus pulled up as we approached the queue.

Will continue Day 2 soon………….

 

[pumba]

thanks so much for this day. You are right about those sauteed onions at Cosmic Rays....Love those and the mushrooms on top of our burgers.....but I LOVE the Chicken Ceasar Salad there......I think I ate four when we were there in May......my favorite

thanks again

 

[sconnell]

Awe. Come on! I'm loving this TR! Can't you just find a few minutes for the next installment?

 

[ekball]

Loving this!! (Oh and HI sconnell )

I feel like I'm seeing the future...WDW with my DD (almost 3 at trip time) will be very similar I believe (right down to potential fear of rides and possibly "annoying the hell out of us" at dinner ).

I'm on board...waiting for more laughs (and pictures!!!)

 

[sconnell]

Loving this!! (Oh and HI sconnell )

I feel like I'm seeing the future...WDW with my DD (almost 3 at trip time) will be very similar I believe (right down to potential fear of rides and possibly "annoying the hell out of us" at dinner ).

I'm on board...waiting for more laughs (and pictures!!!)

HI!
Anywho, I'm there with both of our kids crawling up my skirt-tails. DS will be 2 the week after our trip and DD 4.5. I know they don't seem as bad to other people. But, for instance, last night we went to Bennigans. It was quiet there. My DS was sweetly, swinging his legs to the music. DD was climbing from DH's lap to her chair and back. On the outside, everything looked like a normal family. (But what I saw was, that DS was kicking me with every swing. DD was whiney because she was tired because a storm kept her awake.) So basically, I understand about them "annoying the hell out of us" and not just at dinner. But aren't the little suckers worth it? lol.

 

[mince]

Day 2 continued…

We arrived back at ASMo with a couple of hours to relax before our ADR at Chef Mickey’s. I really wanted a drink to sit with by the pool and didn’t feel like paying resort prices all week. DW likes to relax with a glass of wine every other night so I thought I’d trek solo outside the World to make an alcohol run while the rest of the fam took a nap. I was trying to get to the Publix, but never found it. Instead I kept driving down 192, looking for a supermarket. I found every chain restaurant, strip mall, even managed to cross International drive or a sign that directed to ID? After 4-5 miles, I thought there has to be a liquor store in one of these strip malls. Why I am looking for a grocery store? Sure enough in the first strip mall I passed there was a dinky liquor store. The only Kettle One they had came with a DVD and a martini shaker, but it was normally priced so it would have to do. The wine selection was extremely poor. Eventually decided on Chilean Cab. Had to buy a corkscrew too. I like my vodka on the rocks with a slice of orange. Found an orange stand before getting back on to the main road and I was good to go. Got back, made a drink, let DW and DS sleep and headed to the pool. The ice melted in seconds and I didn’t really enjoy it. In fact it would be the only drink I would make and the only drink I would have the entire stay. DW only had one glass of wine two days later, so the alcohol run was a complete waste except for touring a bit of the road to Kissimmee.

By the time I got back from the pool, it was time to shower and get ready for dinner. We decided to definitely drive to the CR. The plan was to leave the car there and take the MR to MK for a few evening attractions, Spectromagic and Wishes. Please don’t throw tomatoes this way for taking your parking spot. We arrived at the security gate and were scrutinized. He had a list to verify our ADR and eventually we were on our way. No 3 hour pass was given, and no verbal instructions to leave once we finished dinner. It was a bit of a walk to the lobby. We entered through the back. What a view…again resort envy. The escalator was out so we had a bit of a hike. Oops we forgot the stroller. Do I wait in the priority seating line to check in with DS who doesn’t do great in lines or walk back to the car to get the stroller. I opted for the stroller. When I got back DW still wasn’t checked in. Some ADR? A few minutes late we were given a beeper and herded to a photo op. I hate this kind of stuff and never buy. But one of the pictures turned out great and we talked ourselves into it.

A few minute wait and our table was ready. The food was just OK. Nothing really had much of a taste, but DS really enjoyed it, even if Pluto wasn’t there.

pics with Minnie/Chip and DS at Chef Mickey's:

Check came. Our sever talked us into using DDP for DS meal and not pay cash as it’s one of the more expensive kid’s meals. He was right Those buffet servers REALLY make out with 18% added with the DDP when they only bring drinks out, no? . They manage double the tables of a regular TS server. Good for them eh. We all built a sundae after waving our napkins with characters.

Time to catch the MR to MK. One came quickly and before we knew it we were back at MK. It was now 7ish. We had yet to step foot on AL or FrL. So we headed that way. The jungle cruise looked nice and tame. This was the longest we waited for any ride. FP was closed and the cm said it was only 10 minutes, but closer to 20-25. Worth the wait though. We had a very dry comedian/driver. She repeated a joke that in the jungle _______ grew to be 50 feet long and way 2 tons. We did, however, love the ride. In fact, we enjoyed it more than KJ Safari at AK. Obviously one was real and one wasn’t, but we can get closer to the Safari animals at the Philadelphia zoo. Our driver did leave us with one nice tip, that watching the parade in Liberty Sq is less crowded and there is some seating. We decided we’d have to do the JK cruise again another day.

Finally it was Pirates time. A 10 minute wait and we were aboard. DS was OK until…………the BIG DIP, the BIG DIP that changed everything. He hid his face and although he didn’t cry, the look of terror was worse than any cry. He gained his composure by the end of the ride. But hereafter getting him on rides, although successful was a bit of a struggle. Yet another gift shop and another “Mom, Dad Pleeeeeeeease…”
I told him if he rode it again another day, he could have anything in the shop he wanted. He’s pretty quick and realized that he could now bribe us to ride future attractions. More on that later.

Time to cool off a bit, we found some frozen lemonade—absolutely horrible, too sweet and too bitter, what a disappointment. Realizing we were on the parade route with 40 minutes to kill, we thought we’d stay nearby. The country Bear Jamboree was right next door, so it seemed like it would be a nice cool time killer. And it was. DS loved it! He thought the moose on the wall were real and kept asking how they get up there.

Still 20 minutes until SpectroMagic, we decided to stake out a nice spot for the parade right across from the Jamboree. Turned out to be excellent. Unlike some of the other areas, you can see the floats approaching from distance. The street is wide so the ones that move around and spin had plenty of room to put on a show. 30 years later, the show was much more magical and more colorful.

Here's a 30 second video...more to come:

Spectro Vantage Point Video

Since we were near the end of the parade route, it was almost time for Wishes. We walked almost to the entrance of the park as a CM told us we could see them just as well from there and would have an easier exodus with the masses. I liked wished, but after just seeing Spectro it was a bit of a letdown. We managed to catch the second MR back to the CR, found are car and were welcomed home again to ASMo. By far we enjoyed the best day of the summer.

Back at the hotel for a few minutes, we watched the in-house Disney Attractions channel. You know the one that boasts the 7 best attractions even though they highlight 100. Well we saw the Power Rangers and suddenly to my DS, the trip took on a whole new meaning.

Day 3 would be AK in the AM, then search for Power Rangers.

Pix coming I swear...

 

[sconnell]

WOOHOO! Another day! Thanks a bunch! Great report! Can't wait for more!

 

[Bev J]

Enjoying all your fun, yep when my DS was 5 we would mention the Power Rangers and his eyes would glaze over...can't wait to see what happend with yours.
Thanks for taking time to write the TP.

Bev

 

[mince]

Enjoying all your fun, yep when my DS was 5 we would mention the Power Rangers and his eyes would glaze over...can't wait to see what happend with yours.
Thanks for taking time to write the TP.

Bev

During the promo for MGM they flash the Power Rangers a couple of times, but never mention them. No where in any book did I read that they'd be there. DS first noticed them and pointed them out to me. We really were'nt sure if they were at Disney, but knew we had to find out and soon or we'd never here the end of it.

More on them later.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

That was sure a teaser. Your DS is sure a cute little guy. Now, get on with the TR. Please!

 

[mince]

"Mommy, Daddy are we going to look for the Power Rangers today?"

"Go back to sleep..." Not much success there. So we did our morning ritual: 4 kids waffles, 3-4 slices of bacon, fruit, coffee for DW in refillable mug and an OJ. I realized if I'm going to use a CS credit, I may as well get the lg juice.

"Mommy, Daddy are we going to look for the Power Rangers today?"

"They won't be around until the afternoon," we assured him.

DW and I were very excited to go to AK for the first time. We arrived at the park at about 9:30. There is such a great feeling when you first see the Grand entranceway to one of the parks. AK was no different. We were all very tired from the night before, but it didn't ruin the excitement. I knew we'd be returning to AK at least once more so I had a very limited touring plan for the day. I thought DS could handle the rapids since I read it was timid. Although, after Pirates I thought it could turn out disasterous. DS was really apprehensive about getting on a ride. He always asked what the ride entailed and I try to be honest. So he countered with, "Will you buy me a toy if I ride on it?" I told him that if he was brave, since we had only bought him ears and a trinket from MK that we would. We waited about 10 mi, no FP and away we went. I sat next to DS and DW somehow ended up sharing her two seater with the largest man we saw the entire week. She was squished, but a very good sport. The ride was timid, until the drop that soaks the boat. Of course DS and I happenned to be right in front where the majority of the drenching occurred. I don't think he was scared but water splashed in his eyes and he was very upset and cried a bit. He was fine but very wet. What no giftshop? "Where's my toy?"

We explored Asia which we really enjoyed. Next we headed to the jungle walk. Not much to write home about on any on the nature trails

"Where are the power rangers?"

Still being reminded about the toy and getting hungry, we headed toward the Flame Tree BBQ. Noticing that Bugs had no wait, we decided to squeeze in our 3rd of the 4 3Ds. We all thoroughly enoyed it, with exception of DW who did not care for the foggy smoke. The dropping spiders scared DS a bit, but we kept reminding him that nothing is real is Disney. He was a bit angry at us. We told him before every 3D movie that if he was scared, he could take his glasses off. That didn't work with the spiders. "Was there someone on the roof dropping them, there must have been," he kept questioning us.

I don't remember the name of the large gift shop near Bugs, but this would be where DS would get his badge of bravery for riding the Rapids. After perusing the entire store, "Dad, I want those..." But you already have ears. "Not Pirate Ears." So here it was hat number 2 of 4 for DS, the pirate ears with the bandana and peircing.

We began walking towards Camp Minnie Mickie at which point I crankily demanded Lunch.

Back to Flame Tree that I read so much about. Everyone's avorite place at AK. Great ribs, although a small 1/2 rack. We also got a pork sandwich that was fair to midland. We did buy DS a hot dog kids meal. The ribs stood out and we wished we had ordered the chicken or salad in lieu of the sandwich. It was one of the few lunches I didn't walk away feeling bloated.

Alright we hadn't seen any characters so we headed back to CampMM. The show is just starting we heard a CM saying. What show? We saw people scurrying in the distance, so we rushed ahead. Oh the Festival of the Lion King...great we thought. I hadn't read or heard anything about the show. We had just seen the Broadway rendition of LK in June and loved it and love the movie so we were excited. We were ushered in during the opening. We loved the show. DS absolutely was thrilled. We sang, we clapped we loved the acrobats!! Why did we pay $300 for LK musical tickets when DS enjoyed thise more? I joked we could have put that money toward an extra day or two at DW

Satisfied, hot and tired, we headed back to the hotel knowing we had alot more to accomplish at AK another day.

"Where are the power rangers?"

 

[mince]

Day 3 continued…the jaw drops, we find the Rangers

I actually napped for 15 minutes while DW and DW swam. I eventually joined them. One of the few days we actually made it to the pool . I thought we’d spend a lot more time at the hotel and at the pool.

We were back on the bus to MGM around 3:00. Our initial mission was of course to find the Power Rangers. Although we had already been to MGM, it was only for an hour or so on our arrival night. I had made ADRs months in advance for Prime Time @ 5:30.
We stopped at the information kiosk to inquire about the Rangers that we caught a glimpse of on TV. Sure enough a CM handed me a times guide which had the Rangers on Streets of America @ 4:30. It was brutally hot and I wanted a frozen drink. I waited and waited in line at the bar across from the Backlot Tour. Finally after 10 minutes, I order two drinks, whip out my key to the World… “We don’t take snack credits here. No bars do.” Crap, I had to spend cashola for a snack. I had a surplus of snack credits too.

It was time to head over to the Power Rangers area. We were a good 20 minutes early. Certainly we’d be at the front of the line. There was one other little boy (from the UK) with his father waiting for the Rangers. We inquired if we were in the right place and it appeared to be so. I headed for the Bathroom. When I came back, to my dismay, somehow?????? I see my wife on the opposite corner with 10 families in front of her. For those that don’t know they break the Rangers up on different corners after they do their grand appearance. So after investing a good portion of the day to see the Rangers we were in the back of the line. I gave DW a few jabs for being so passive with this line thing. After all, we were there so early. Nevertheless, they came and it was quite a show. DS did get his pic with the Red Ranger (SPD), but since it took so long in that line, we were shut out of the other lines. DS seemed content though. In fact MORE content than I’ve ever seen him.

It was now time for Star Tours FPs that I had picked up earlier. I went first while solo. SINGLE WORST RIDE OF MY LIFE!! I hated it. I really almost barfed. It took everything I had , including closing my eyes, breathing in through my nose and out my mouth to not get sick. Did I mention I hated this ride. I warned DW but she went on anyway. While DS and I were waiting outside Star Tours for her, we were being cleared away for the parade route. I was really unprepared today and knew nothing of the parade. After learning it was 5:30, my wheels started turning. Yep, the same time as my ADR. What to do?? A nice couple from Chicago let DS and I sit on a bench on the parade route while we were waiting for DW. He suggested we stay for the parade and call PT and let them know we’d be late. I didn’t have their number and figured we’d only be 15 minutes late. DW got back and I talked her into my plan. A CM gave us a quick escape route to get to PT after the parade was over (which we totally screwed up). Anyway back to the parade, it was tremendous! We enjoyed as much if not more than SpectroMagic. And guess what? Yep, the Power Rangers were in it. Quite a Bonus. Here’s a little clip (Sorry for the slow download speed. My hosting company is slow):

Parade video

After the parade, we did not take the route that the CM had suggested. We ended up getting stuck behind the parade again. We arrived at our PT Café ADR 20-25 minutes late. They didn’t seem to care. We waited…and waited…and waited. It began to drizzle so everyone and their grandmother decided it was time to eat. The waiting room was jammed. It was not conducive for DS. He began to get ancy as he was very hungry. We braved the rain and decided to skip some pennies in the pond out front. Then We waited…and waited…and waited. Finally after 45+ minutes we were seated. Uncle Dale served us and played the role very well. He was pretty PO’d at me for failing to remove my hat after his multiple requests. He was extremely pushy, yet hilarious. He was also pushy with maximizing our DDP. He wanted everyone to order shakes and desserts. The family next to us was forced by Uncle Dale to get malts and desserts to go. We had the onion rings and cheese appetizers, neither which were any good. DW had salmon I think? And I ordered the sirloin. It was the worst cut of meat I’ve had in quite some time. It was so chewy my jaw began to hurt. I now refer to it as the gum steak. Dale came by to ask how our food was and I told him how horrible it was. I am not one to normally send food back. I decided on the pot roast as a replacement and it was excellent. Some of the best pot roast I’ve ever had. It was dessert time and we got the Sundae wit everything on it. The only thing it seemed to be missing was ice cream? There was only a drop. My DW adores smores so that was a no brainer for the second dessert. Aside form waiting for our table, we waited an inordinate amount of time for each course. We were at our table for an 1:45 minutes. Add that to the 45 minutes we waited for a table, PT took nearly 2.5 hours. Won’t be heading back there next trip.

We headed out only to learn that it had poured during dinner. Our stroller was a wet mop and DS wasn’t pleased that he had to sit on it. It was still drizzling and there was mass exodus out of MGM. So much for Fantasmic. We headed for the exits too. Our bus line was really long, spiraling out of the queues and extending 50-100 ft. Disney did a very good job sending extra buses over. We only waited 10-15 minutes. DW was actually freezing during the wait. Yep freezing in August at DW. It got even colder on the bus as the driver couldn’t turn off the AC or we’d have fogged up.

I’ll try to post day 4 quicker…

 

[Jaclyn810]

great job so far! i feel like i am there and it is making me want to go!

 

[kaysmommie]

Great trip report! I would love to see pics of ASM. I have not stayed at the value resorts yet and am curious about the rooms and if the beds are comfy and stuff like that. We only got 2 Power ranger autograph's. I guess it's impossible to get them all.

 

[mince]

Great trip report! I would love to see pics of ASM. I have not stayed at the value resorts yet and am curious about the rooms and if the beds are comfy and stuff like that. We only got 2 Power ranger autograph's. I guess it's impossible to get them all.

Not impossible...that will come day 5.