sailing123
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 29, 2001
- Messages
- 2
We just got back from Disney today. What a great trip! Perfect weather -- sunny in the day, a few thunderstorms in the late afternoon/evening. NO SMOKE! Here's what we did (kids are 5 and 2):
Friday, 6/1 -- Arrive in Orlando in evening, check into Vistana resort
Saturday, 6/2 -- Hung out at the pool, went to Rainforest Cafe at DD for dinner
Sunday, 6/3 -- Animal Kingdom
Monday, 6/4 -- Magic Kingdom (DS's 5th birthday!)
Tuesday, 6/5 -- Day off -- pool day
Wednesday, 6/6 -- Magic Kingdom
Thursday, 6/7 -- Sea World
Friday, 6/8 -- Fly home
Some notable things that we found:
1) If you have young kids, even up to 7 or so, GET A STROLLER. It saves their energy BIG TIME. My son was still raring to go in the afternoons -- he wouldn't have been if he'd been walking all day.
2) We brought sandwiches in a small (purse-sized) cooler and lunched in the shade. Big money saver and no-one even looked twice.
3) Monday was EE day at MK, and it was CROWDED from the moment we got there. We knew that would be the case, but it was DS's birthday, so we just rolled with it. Wednesday was MUCH better -- we were there for park opening, and in the first hour had done Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan (2x), the Carousel, Mad Tea Party, and were walking into Legend of the Lion King. Toontown didn't open until 10:00; Fantasyland was definitely the place to be with young kids. Characters walking around -- Pooh and Tigger rode WITH people on the first few rounds of Winnie the Pooh! Not crowded -- no waiting for anything except Dumbo (didn't wait for).
4) All the books point out that Main Street opens about a half hour before the official park opening. BUT, they failed to mention (or at least it didn't sink in when I read them) that they won't let you on the monorail or ferry boat from the TTC until 8:30 a.m. unless you have a breakfast reservation or are staying at a Disney resort (even on non-EE days). So don't bother to get to TTC much before 8:30 -- getting there early just buys you a wait in a crowd.
5) On my son's birthday, we went to City Hall and they gave him a Birthday Button to wear. EVERYONE we saw wished him a happy birthday. But the incredible highlight was when a CM, Pedro, at Peter Pan, gave us a Priority Pass to use for the rest of the day -- like a FastPass whenever we wanted it for EVERY ride. Want to ride, Dumbo? Don't wait, just walk up to the handicapped entrance, flash the Priority Pass, and you're on. INCREDIBLE. Made the crowds on EE day not matter at all to us. We didn't ask for it, he just gave it to us as we came off of Peter Pan. No one else offered it (before or after), so I guess he must have had them to burn or we must have just found him in a good mood. It made the day truly magical.
6) Sunday at Animal Kingdom was great. We entered through the turnstyle at the back of the Rainforest Cafe (only 2 other people were there), they let us in about 10 minutes early, and we got on the first ride of the Safari. Animals were up and very active -- hippos out of the water, lion jumping up onto "Pride Rock", etc.. The gorillas were pretty active on the Pangani exploration trail too. It was NOTICEABLY less crowded than it was when we were there 3 years ago (about a month after it opened). Last time, Pangani was so crowded we couldn't get close enough to the rails to see anything. This time, at least early in the AM, it was a leisurely walk and we had no trouble at all.
7) Rainforest Cafe was great. My 5 year old LOVED it. My 2 year old was terrified at first by all the animals (too real) and the thunder storms. We kept talking her through it, telling her the animals were just toys with batteries. I carried her around the restaurant several times while we were there just looking at the animals and pointing out the "silly" things they were doing, trying to get her to laugh at them. By the time we left, she was okay, and had even figured out that the thunderstorms would be over soon. In hindsight, it was a good intro to Disney -- by the time we got to the parks and confronted the characters and animatronics, she wasn't afraid of them -- instead, totally into them!
Just a few things that stuck out in my mind.
Sondra
Friday, 6/1 -- Arrive in Orlando in evening, check into Vistana resort
Saturday, 6/2 -- Hung out at the pool, went to Rainforest Cafe at DD for dinner
Sunday, 6/3 -- Animal Kingdom
Monday, 6/4 -- Magic Kingdom (DS's 5th birthday!)
Tuesday, 6/5 -- Day off -- pool day
Wednesday, 6/6 -- Magic Kingdom
Thursday, 6/7 -- Sea World
Friday, 6/8 -- Fly home
Some notable things that we found:
1) If you have young kids, even up to 7 or so, GET A STROLLER. It saves their energy BIG TIME. My son was still raring to go in the afternoons -- he wouldn't have been if he'd been walking all day.
2) We brought sandwiches in a small (purse-sized) cooler and lunched in the shade. Big money saver and no-one even looked twice.
3) Monday was EE day at MK, and it was CROWDED from the moment we got there. We knew that would be the case, but it was DS's birthday, so we just rolled with it. Wednesday was MUCH better -- we were there for park opening, and in the first hour had done Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan (2x), the Carousel, Mad Tea Party, and were walking into Legend of the Lion King. Toontown didn't open until 10:00; Fantasyland was definitely the place to be with young kids. Characters walking around -- Pooh and Tigger rode WITH people on the first few rounds of Winnie the Pooh! Not crowded -- no waiting for anything except Dumbo (didn't wait for).
4) All the books point out that Main Street opens about a half hour before the official park opening. BUT, they failed to mention (or at least it didn't sink in when I read them) that they won't let you on the monorail or ferry boat from the TTC until 8:30 a.m. unless you have a breakfast reservation or are staying at a Disney resort (even on non-EE days). So don't bother to get to TTC much before 8:30 -- getting there early just buys you a wait in a crowd.
5) On my son's birthday, we went to City Hall and they gave him a Birthday Button to wear. EVERYONE we saw wished him a happy birthday. But the incredible highlight was when a CM, Pedro, at Peter Pan, gave us a Priority Pass to use for the rest of the day -- like a FastPass whenever we wanted it for EVERY ride. Want to ride, Dumbo? Don't wait, just walk up to the handicapped entrance, flash the Priority Pass, and you're on. INCREDIBLE. Made the crowds on EE day not matter at all to us. We didn't ask for it, he just gave it to us as we came off of Peter Pan. No one else offered it (before or after), so I guess he must have had them to burn or we must have just found him in a good mood. It made the day truly magical.
6) Sunday at Animal Kingdom was great. We entered through the turnstyle at the back of the Rainforest Cafe (only 2 other people were there), they let us in about 10 minutes early, and we got on the first ride of the Safari. Animals were up and very active -- hippos out of the water, lion jumping up onto "Pride Rock", etc.. The gorillas were pretty active on the Pangani exploration trail too. It was NOTICEABLY less crowded than it was when we were there 3 years ago (about a month after it opened). Last time, Pangani was so crowded we couldn't get close enough to the rails to see anything. This time, at least early in the AM, it was a leisurely walk and we had no trouble at all.
7) Rainforest Cafe was great. My 5 year old LOVED it. My 2 year old was terrified at first by all the animals (too real) and the thunder storms. We kept talking her through it, telling her the animals were just toys with batteries. I carried her around the restaurant several times while we were there just looking at the animals and pointing out the "silly" things they were doing, trying to get her to laugh at them. By the time we left, she was okay, and had even figured out that the thunderstorms would be over soon. In hindsight, it was a good intro to Disney -- by the time we got to the parks and confronted the characters and animatronics, she wasn't afraid of them -- instead, totally into them!
Just a few things that stuck out in my mind.
Sondra
