Parrotheader
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2002
- Messages
- 178
This covers the 7-day land/sea vacation of Keith and Holly from Birmingham, AL as told by Keith (Parrotheader.) We're both 26 with kids still a couple years away. Holly had previously been to Disney World twice (one trip she was too young to remember) and Keith had been 5 times. We're BOTH cruise rookies. Pictures of our trip can also be found at:
http://www.luckie.net/disney/
Day 3 Three Parks in One Day
Monday, May 27
We head out to Animal Kingdom a little after 9:30. This is our first time here and while we want to explore it some, after looking at the map it looks like there simply isnt all that much there for adults yet. Lots of shops, restaurants and good attractions for little kids, but only a few things to really interest adults. On the plus side, the park was by far the most beautiful and afforded an inordinate share of picture opportunities.
We get a Fast Pass for the Safari ride and take the walking tour of Africa during the wait. The walking tours were very beautiful and well designed. The highlight of the Africa tour naturally was the gorillas. We then hop on the Safari Tour (God bless Fast Pass . . . as we were passing all the people in the regular line, I heard a little kid ¾ of the way up say weve got SLOW pass.) The Safari ride was extremely cool and we got LOTS of photos on it. I would LOVE to know how much Disney spent on landscaping in that section. Florida doesnt have that many hills naturally.
We then headed off to Asia to take the walking tour there. The highlight here was the tigers although I got some great pictures throughout. We thought about riding the Kali River Rapids, but then figured we didnt want to get wet as we hadnt planned on going back to the resort for awhile. We checked out the Dinosaur area real quick (saw it was mostly little kid stuff) and then hopped on the bus to Epcot around noon.
I used to love Epcot as a kid, but it is in DESPERATE need of an update in my opinion. We jumped on Spaceship Earth (5 min wait) for old time sake and found it hasnt changed much. We then went over to Test Track to get a Fast Pass. The Fast Pass told us to return 5 hours later! And the stand-by line was over an hour. Ummm . . . no thanks. We were spoiled at this point. This is what happens when you have only one REAL ride in a park. I know Epcot has a higher strategic purpose, but theres GOT to be a way they can incorporate more fun rides into the equation. Otherwise, everybody just goes to ONE thing, particularly when the parks been around for roughly 20 years and a LOT of Disney visitors have been there before.
We then head off to Mexico to the World Showcase area where we have reservations at the San Angel Inn for lunch. The atmosphere at that restaurant with the faux sky, volcano, and boats going by is truly fantastic. After lunch, we stroll around looking at some of the flowers (a flower garden show is currently being promoted here) and then its off to the Living Seas. While the Living Seas were still cool, it wasnt quite as good as I remembered and we were a bit disappointed. Plus, it was VERY crowded (again, a problem with not having enough cool attractions in one park causes everybody to gravitate to just a few things.)
At 2:30 we left Epcot and headed back to Port Orleans to take a nap. After our nap, we get up and head off to the Magic Kingdom at roughly 5:45. I dont know how we got so lucky, but even though the park was PACKED we managed to Fast Pass Space Mountain and then got in line for Alien Encounter. Alien Encounter was ok (its really only fun the first time and wed done it before.) After that, we walked over and hopped on my all time favorite with NO waiting, Pirates of the Caribbean. I love that ride. Then it was off to the Haunted Mansion with only a 10 minute wait. When we got out, the wait was over 30 minutes again. Again, we were very lucky. After that, it was back to Space Mountain where our Fast Pass wait was only 10 minutes while the regular wait was WELL over an hour and a half.
We left Magic Kingdom around 8:00 and took the boat to Wilderness Lodge (we love the boats since its just such a cool way to get around.) We ate dinner at the cheaper cafeteria area instead of Artist Pointe as wed originally planned and then caught the bus to Downtown Disney around 9:00. We went shopping and had a few drinks on the boardwalk area. It was a great atmosphere. Then we caught the boat to Port Orleans.
We thought the boat had been shut down, but when we saw it as we were leaving earlier that night we knew we had to take it back. Im glad we did because it was VERY cool. The little driver (a 60ish little guy with a Midwestern accent, I think his name was Don) was our driver. He was a cute little talkative guy and really set the right mood with Disney music in the background and all sorts of stories and information about the park, wildlife and things we were passing in the boat. He ended up being one of our favorite memories of the trip.
Up Next:
Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon & Our Rest Day
http://www.luckie.net/disney/
Day 3 Three Parks in One Day
Monday, May 27
We head out to Animal Kingdom a little after 9:30. This is our first time here and while we want to explore it some, after looking at the map it looks like there simply isnt all that much there for adults yet. Lots of shops, restaurants and good attractions for little kids, but only a few things to really interest adults. On the plus side, the park was by far the most beautiful and afforded an inordinate share of picture opportunities.
We get a Fast Pass for the Safari ride and take the walking tour of Africa during the wait. The walking tours were very beautiful and well designed. The highlight of the Africa tour naturally was the gorillas. We then hop on the Safari Tour (God bless Fast Pass . . . as we were passing all the people in the regular line, I heard a little kid ¾ of the way up say weve got SLOW pass.) The Safari ride was extremely cool and we got LOTS of photos on it. I would LOVE to know how much Disney spent on landscaping in that section. Florida doesnt have that many hills naturally.
We then headed off to Asia to take the walking tour there. The highlight here was the tigers although I got some great pictures throughout. We thought about riding the Kali River Rapids, but then figured we didnt want to get wet as we hadnt planned on going back to the resort for awhile. We checked out the Dinosaur area real quick (saw it was mostly little kid stuff) and then hopped on the bus to Epcot around noon.
I used to love Epcot as a kid, but it is in DESPERATE need of an update in my opinion. We jumped on Spaceship Earth (5 min wait) for old time sake and found it hasnt changed much. We then went over to Test Track to get a Fast Pass. The Fast Pass told us to return 5 hours later! And the stand-by line was over an hour. Ummm . . . no thanks. We were spoiled at this point. This is what happens when you have only one REAL ride in a park. I know Epcot has a higher strategic purpose, but theres GOT to be a way they can incorporate more fun rides into the equation. Otherwise, everybody just goes to ONE thing, particularly when the parks been around for roughly 20 years and a LOT of Disney visitors have been there before.
We then head off to Mexico to the World Showcase area where we have reservations at the San Angel Inn for lunch. The atmosphere at that restaurant with the faux sky, volcano, and boats going by is truly fantastic. After lunch, we stroll around looking at some of the flowers (a flower garden show is currently being promoted here) and then its off to the Living Seas. While the Living Seas were still cool, it wasnt quite as good as I remembered and we were a bit disappointed. Plus, it was VERY crowded (again, a problem with not having enough cool attractions in one park causes everybody to gravitate to just a few things.)
At 2:30 we left Epcot and headed back to Port Orleans to take a nap. After our nap, we get up and head off to the Magic Kingdom at roughly 5:45. I dont know how we got so lucky, but even though the park was PACKED we managed to Fast Pass Space Mountain and then got in line for Alien Encounter. Alien Encounter was ok (its really only fun the first time and wed done it before.) After that, we walked over and hopped on my all time favorite with NO waiting, Pirates of the Caribbean. I love that ride. Then it was off to the Haunted Mansion with only a 10 minute wait. When we got out, the wait was over 30 minutes again. Again, we were very lucky. After that, it was back to Space Mountain where our Fast Pass wait was only 10 minutes while the regular wait was WELL over an hour and a half.
We left Magic Kingdom around 8:00 and took the boat to Wilderness Lodge (we love the boats since its just such a cool way to get around.) We ate dinner at the cheaper cafeteria area instead of Artist Pointe as wed originally planned and then caught the bus to Downtown Disney around 9:00. We went shopping and had a few drinks on the boardwalk area. It was a great atmosphere. Then we caught the boat to Port Orleans.
We thought the boat had been shut down, but when we saw it as we were leaving earlier that night we knew we had to take it back. Im glad we did because it was VERY cool. The little driver (a 60ish little guy with a Midwestern accent, I think his name was Don) was our driver. He was a cute little talkative guy and really set the right mood with Disney music in the background and all sorts of stories and information about the park, wildlife and things we were passing in the boat. He ended up being one of our favorite memories of the trip.
Up Next:
Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon & Our Rest Day
