cocoa's family
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2005
- Messages
- 11
Wed., Apr. 19 (DH, DW, DD9 and DD13)
We started the day early again, heading back to MK for another 7 a.m. opening. The pavement was wet here and there, suggesting we'd had some rain overnight, but I hadn't heard any falling and I didn't turn on the TV for news before we left for the park. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be at the opening during a busy time like this. Each day, starting early let us do a lot before the big crowds starting clogging the parks around 11 a.m. Today was an extra mess because the park's computer system evidently crashed at opening. There was just one family ahead of us in our entry line, and all the CMs nearby were finding that their stations were shutting down on them. As 7:00 approached, a man with a black bag started handing out clear plastic bags to each of the CMs -- don't know what all was in them, but they began letting us all in without using our cards. One of the things in the bag was a little hand counter to keep track of how many people were going through the gate. This became a problem later in the day when the system was reset. Until about noon our cards worked at the Fast Pass machines, but then they all started printing out "not valid" passes -- and the CMs were printing FPs out for people. It turned out that once the computers were fixed, we all needed to go back to the front gate and have the admission cards put through the scanners, so the Fast Pass system would accept the cards. Before that, though, we had a fantastic day. We started again at Indy Speedway, which we rode twice. Only a couple of other people rode it while we were there. Then we rode Mad Tea Party, Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow White, and Small World. We went to Tomorrowland and walked on Buzz Lightyear and the Astro Orbiter. (Only one other family was on it with us.) Then we headed for Splash Mountain (three rides yesterday hadn't satisfied us yet), first getting a FP for later, and then we walked on twice right after getting the fast passes. We rode the Magic Carpets twice with no wait, then got FP for Big Thunder. We stopped in to see Country Bear Jamboree, then headed back over to Big Thunder. DW and DD9 (who had no interest in BT) waited in the Splash area while DH and dd 13 rode Big Thunder. DD 13 hadn't enjoyed our ride on it Tuesday, because it seemed to move slower than last year. I didn't mind, since I got a great, smooth video of our ride. Today it moved much faster and bumpier, and she loved it again. We got back to DW in time to get a photo of DD 9 with Brer Bear, who was keeping folks entertained. Then we headed for lunch at Pinocchio Haus, where we had a window seat overlooking Small World. A cleaning guy in the restaurant kept people laughing down on Small World by squirting "smile" and"wave" on the windows with cleaning solution as he worked. We had a FP for Jungle Cruise, which still took a 10-15 minute wait to ride. Once you've been on the AK safari ride with real animals (well, except for the baby elephant), this one seems a little hokey. But the joking narration by the tour guide is still corny fun, and he really worked it. Splash Mountain broke down temporarily around noon, so we had to put off our fast passes for it till later. In the meantime, we took a spin on the Carousel of Progress and were able to FP Buzz Lightyear. We took a break at 3:00 for more swimming at the hotel. Then we returned to MK (going through the gate again magically fixed the fast pass problem from earlier in the day) and we got a FP to ride Peter Pan and had dinner at Cosmic Ray's. After riding Peter Pan, we got a FP to see Philharmagic again, and took a ride on Cinderella's Carrousel with no wait. The crowd was huge by now. After Philharmagic (which we saw this time from about the fourth row, center, in a very full room -- where we feared being trampled by the unruly mob that stormed through the doors as they opened for this show) we had another ride through Small World, where there was a bit of a jam up that brought it to a short standstill. DW felt a bit ill while riding -- don't blame the song, even though she'd heard way enough of it by now -- so we made our way through the crowds waiting for the parade to start for what seemed like an eternity and took the bus back to the hotel. We'd had a very full day, and she fortunately felt much better the next morning.
Thurs., Apr. 20
We started our last day early again, since Animal Kingdom opened at 8. We had to have our bags packed and ready for pick-up by Magical Express by 7. (We found Express to be very good with the baggage. Ours was delivered to the room and waiting for us when we got back from the parks on our first night. No problem.) Someone stopped by at 7 on the dot and took them away to be held till our flight later, and then we caught the bus to AK. We waited in line about 15 minutes before the gates opened, and we passed through with no problem. Hooray -- no computer outage this morning. Most people seemed to head down the right path of the Oasis, so we took the emptier left side. It was a brief break from the crowd. Once the two paths met up again, we were in the midst of a lot of tall people, so DD9 didn't get to see much of the opening ceremony. Once Minnie, Goofy and Mickey finished welcoming everyone, the people to the right made a mad dash toward Everest. We headed for Kilimanjaro Safari for a morning ride, and had a little deja vu from our Philharmagic experience the night before, with people rushing a little too hard toward the safari. Minnie's bus was leading the way, so DD9 got to have a good view now, and that helped slow some of the crowd down. We had a very brief wait at the loading area, making it onto the second truck in our group of adventureres. The ride was bumpier this morning than Sunday afternoon's safari, so I gave up trying to take more video. Sunday only a couple of elephants had been out in view, but today the ere were several, and some cute babies. Afterward, we took a leisurely walk down the Pangani Trail. We tried to take things at an easier pace for our last day. After walking the trail, and some nice photo ops, DH headed for Everest to get FPs while the family went on to Dinoland and got a ride on Triceratops Spin with no wait. DH got there in time for the second ride. (As busy as Everest had looked on Sunday, it only took a moment to get a FP this early.) DW and DD9 enjoyed the scenery outside Dinosaur while DH and DD13 went inside to ride. No wait. It was fun seeing Phylicia Rashad in the pre-ride film. The ride was a bit jerky for DH, and DD13 closed her eyes for part of it, but I'd still give it a big thumbs up. Next we walked past Everest and watched the riders screaming their way down the track, and we worked through the crowd to reach the Maharajah trail. The tigers were having a nap, but the bats were active, and I got some nice photos of the kimodo dragon. After that we got FPs for Kali Rapids. DW and DD13 had ridden it last year, and had barely gotten wet, so I had reluctantly agreed to give it a try.
But before that, our Everest FPs were ready to be used. DD9 asked DW not to ride it (no objection to DH riding it, though. Hmmm.) -- so they waited in the gift shop while DH and DD13 walked on and rode. I didn't see the Yeti, but the ride was breathtaking. We liked it enough to race back around for a second ride with the FPs that DW and DD9 didn't use. We stopped to tell them how it was, then waved goodbye and headed back inside. This time we had about a 3-minute wait to get on, and I snapped a few photos on the way up the track. Wonderful views of the park up there. Then I quickly put away the camera for the ride back down. This time we saw the animated Yeti projection inside the cave. (I swear I don't think it was running during the first ride. I don't think I could have missed it.) We still didn't spot a mechanical Yeti anywhere. But that didn't make it any less enjoyable. We would've grabbed another FP (though by now the lines for them had gotten huge), but I felt a little tightness in my chest after the second ride, and thought I'd better not push it. Our Kali ride time had arrived, so we FP'd with no wait -- and ended up extremely wet. DW was completely soaked head-to-toe, and DD9 came in a close second. DH's shoes and shorts were good and wet, and DD13, who had propped her feet on the foot rest area found her favorite tennis shoes soaked through. I figured with the humidity and heat we'd be dry soon, but it was a couple of hours before anyone began to feel remotely drier. I felt a little like the poor lady who sat in front of us on Splash Mountain earlier in the week, who came to MK wearing a long-sleeve black blouse, full makeup and dripping in diamonds, who was stunned to find that she'd get wet on something called Splash Mountain. She was quite ticked at her husband for getting her on it. We had only gotten a bit sprinkled sitting behind her. I wished I'd brought along a poncho, but it was too late now. (And ponchos and 90 degree heat don't go that well together anyway.) We had lunch at Pizzafari, which was pretty full. When we finished, a lady asked if she could have our table, so I warned her she might want to get some napkins and dry off the seats before sitting down. We shared a good laugh about our ride. Next we headed for the Festival of the Lion King, stopping for photos and autographs with Lilo and Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto on the way. Then we waited in the heat for 25 minutes before the doors for Lion King opened. But it gave us time to get drier -- and we were lucky to have ended up waiting in a shady area. The show was great, and I taped every minute of it. Afterward we stopped for photos with Brother Bear and then caught the Flights of Wonder show, where the host, Cassie, was making one of her last appearances. The show was entertaining, and her co-host was a hoot. Unfortunately, the lighting and my camera just weren't getting along. Because the sun was behind them, I got a lot of dark shots. We wandered down the trail past the big tree and enjoyed some of the trail stops around the Oasis. At 3:00 we headed back to Pop Century to collect our luggage and have frozen colas while waiting for our bus back to the airport. (We only had a 15 minute wait for the Magical Express, which was right on time for us, but a family waiting when we got there was supposed to have been picked up nearly 45 minutes earlier, and the bus hadn't shown up. Seems like the Magical Express has a few transportation kinks to work out during busy season.) We'd been able to make a full day of it -- and now just had two flights ahead of us to reach home a little after midnight. Or so we thought. Turned out there were storms in Atlanta, which caused our flight there to be delayed about 1 1/2 hours. And when we got to Atlanta, all the delays had flights backed up, so we didn't make it home on our connecting flight till 4:30 Friday morning. The kids slept most of the day. Hope they had some nice dreams about our trip.
We started the day early again, heading back to MK for another 7 a.m. opening. The pavement was wet here and there, suggesting we'd had some rain overnight, but I hadn't heard any falling and I didn't turn on the TV for news before we left for the park. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be at the opening during a busy time like this. Each day, starting early let us do a lot before the big crowds starting clogging the parks around 11 a.m. Today was an extra mess because the park's computer system evidently crashed at opening. There was just one family ahead of us in our entry line, and all the CMs nearby were finding that their stations were shutting down on them. As 7:00 approached, a man with a black bag started handing out clear plastic bags to each of the CMs -- don't know what all was in them, but they began letting us all in without using our cards. One of the things in the bag was a little hand counter to keep track of how many people were going through the gate. This became a problem later in the day when the system was reset. Until about noon our cards worked at the Fast Pass machines, but then they all started printing out "not valid" passes -- and the CMs were printing FPs out for people. It turned out that once the computers were fixed, we all needed to go back to the front gate and have the admission cards put through the scanners, so the Fast Pass system would accept the cards. Before that, though, we had a fantastic day. We started again at Indy Speedway, which we rode twice. Only a couple of other people rode it while we were there. Then we rode Mad Tea Party, Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow White, and Small World. We went to Tomorrowland and walked on Buzz Lightyear and the Astro Orbiter. (Only one other family was on it with us.) Then we headed for Splash Mountain (three rides yesterday hadn't satisfied us yet), first getting a FP for later, and then we walked on twice right after getting the fast passes. We rode the Magic Carpets twice with no wait, then got FP for Big Thunder. We stopped in to see Country Bear Jamboree, then headed back over to Big Thunder. DW and DD9 (who had no interest in BT) waited in the Splash area while DH and dd 13 rode Big Thunder. DD 13 hadn't enjoyed our ride on it Tuesday, because it seemed to move slower than last year. I didn't mind, since I got a great, smooth video of our ride. Today it moved much faster and bumpier, and she loved it again. We got back to DW in time to get a photo of DD 9 with Brer Bear, who was keeping folks entertained. Then we headed for lunch at Pinocchio Haus, where we had a window seat overlooking Small World. A cleaning guy in the restaurant kept people laughing down on Small World by squirting "smile" and"wave" on the windows with cleaning solution as he worked. We had a FP for Jungle Cruise, which still took a 10-15 minute wait to ride. Once you've been on the AK safari ride with real animals (well, except for the baby elephant), this one seems a little hokey. But the joking narration by the tour guide is still corny fun, and he really worked it. Splash Mountain broke down temporarily around noon, so we had to put off our fast passes for it till later. In the meantime, we took a spin on the Carousel of Progress and were able to FP Buzz Lightyear. We took a break at 3:00 for more swimming at the hotel. Then we returned to MK (going through the gate again magically fixed the fast pass problem from earlier in the day) and we got a FP to ride Peter Pan and had dinner at Cosmic Ray's. After riding Peter Pan, we got a FP to see Philharmagic again, and took a ride on Cinderella's Carrousel with no wait. The crowd was huge by now. After Philharmagic (which we saw this time from about the fourth row, center, in a very full room -- where we feared being trampled by the unruly mob that stormed through the doors as they opened for this show) we had another ride through Small World, where there was a bit of a jam up that brought it to a short standstill. DW felt a bit ill while riding -- don't blame the song, even though she'd heard way enough of it by now -- so we made our way through the crowds waiting for the parade to start for what seemed like an eternity and took the bus back to the hotel. We'd had a very full day, and she fortunately felt much better the next morning.
Thurs., Apr. 20
We started our last day early again, since Animal Kingdom opened at 8. We had to have our bags packed and ready for pick-up by Magical Express by 7. (We found Express to be very good with the baggage. Ours was delivered to the room and waiting for us when we got back from the parks on our first night. No problem.) Someone stopped by at 7 on the dot and took them away to be held till our flight later, and then we caught the bus to AK. We waited in line about 15 minutes before the gates opened, and we passed through with no problem. Hooray -- no computer outage this morning. Most people seemed to head down the right path of the Oasis, so we took the emptier left side. It was a brief break from the crowd. Once the two paths met up again, we were in the midst of a lot of tall people, so DD9 didn't get to see much of the opening ceremony. Once Minnie, Goofy and Mickey finished welcoming everyone, the people to the right made a mad dash toward Everest. We headed for Kilimanjaro Safari for a morning ride, and had a little deja vu from our Philharmagic experience the night before, with people rushing a little too hard toward the safari. Minnie's bus was leading the way, so DD9 got to have a good view now, and that helped slow some of the crowd down. We had a very brief wait at the loading area, making it onto the second truck in our group of adventureres. The ride was bumpier this morning than Sunday afternoon's safari, so I gave up trying to take more video. Sunday only a couple of elephants had been out in view, but today the ere were several, and some cute babies. Afterward, we took a leisurely walk down the Pangani Trail. We tried to take things at an easier pace for our last day. After walking the trail, and some nice photo ops, DH headed for Everest to get FPs while the family went on to Dinoland and got a ride on Triceratops Spin with no wait. DH got there in time for the second ride. (As busy as Everest had looked on Sunday, it only took a moment to get a FP this early.) DW and DD9 enjoyed the scenery outside Dinosaur while DH and DD13 went inside to ride. No wait. It was fun seeing Phylicia Rashad in the pre-ride film. The ride was a bit jerky for DH, and DD13 closed her eyes for part of it, but I'd still give it a big thumbs up. Next we walked past Everest and watched the riders screaming their way down the track, and we worked through the crowd to reach the Maharajah trail. The tigers were having a nap, but the bats were active, and I got some nice photos of the kimodo dragon. After that we got FPs for Kali Rapids. DW and DD13 had ridden it last year, and had barely gotten wet, so I had reluctantly agreed to give it a try.
But before that, our Everest FPs were ready to be used. DD9 asked DW not to ride it (no objection to DH riding it, though. Hmmm.) -- so they waited in the gift shop while DH and DD13 walked on and rode. I didn't see the Yeti, but the ride was breathtaking. We liked it enough to race back around for a second ride with the FPs that DW and DD9 didn't use. We stopped to tell them how it was, then waved goodbye and headed back inside. This time we had about a 3-minute wait to get on, and I snapped a few photos on the way up the track. Wonderful views of the park up there. Then I quickly put away the camera for the ride back down. This time we saw the animated Yeti projection inside the cave. (I swear I don't think it was running during the first ride. I don't think I could have missed it.) We still didn't spot a mechanical Yeti anywhere. But that didn't make it any less enjoyable. We would've grabbed another FP (though by now the lines for them had gotten huge), but I felt a little tightness in my chest after the second ride, and thought I'd better not push it. Our Kali ride time had arrived, so we FP'd with no wait -- and ended up extremely wet. DW was completely soaked head-to-toe, and DD9 came in a close second. DH's shoes and shorts were good and wet, and DD13, who had propped her feet on the foot rest area found her favorite tennis shoes soaked through. I figured with the humidity and heat we'd be dry soon, but it was a couple of hours before anyone began to feel remotely drier. I felt a little like the poor lady who sat in front of us on Splash Mountain earlier in the week, who came to MK wearing a long-sleeve black blouse, full makeup and dripping in diamonds, who was stunned to find that she'd get wet on something called Splash Mountain. She was quite ticked at her husband for getting her on it. We had only gotten a bit sprinkled sitting behind her. I wished I'd brought along a poncho, but it was too late now. (And ponchos and 90 degree heat don't go that well together anyway.) We had lunch at Pizzafari, which was pretty full. When we finished, a lady asked if she could have our table, so I warned her she might want to get some napkins and dry off the seats before sitting down. We shared a good laugh about our ride. Next we headed for the Festival of the Lion King, stopping for photos and autographs with Lilo and Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto on the way. Then we waited in the heat for 25 minutes before the doors for Lion King opened. But it gave us time to get drier -- and we were lucky to have ended up waiting in a shady area. The show was great, and I taped every minute of it. Afterward we stopped for photos with Brother Bear and then caught the Flights of Wonder show, where the host, Cassie, was making one of her last appearances. The show was entertaining, and her co-host was a hoot. Unfortunately, the lighting and my camera just weren't getting along. Because the sun was behind them, I got a lot of dark shots. We wandered down the trail past the big tree and enjoyed some of the trail stops around the Oasis. At 3:00 we headed back to Pop Century to collect our luggage and have frozen colas while waiting for our bus back to the airport. (We only had a 15 minute wait for the Magical Express, which was right on time for us, but a family waiting when we got there was supposed to have been picked up nearly 45 minutes earlier, and the bus hadn't shown up. Seems like the Magical Express has a few transportation kinks to work out during busy season.) We'd been able to make a full day of it -- and now just had two flights ahead of us to reach home a little after midnight. Or so we thought. Turned out there were storms in Atlanta, which caused our flight there to be delayed about 1 1/2 hours. And when we got to Atlanta, all the delays had flights backed up, so we didn't make it home on our connecting flight till 4:30 Friday morning. The kids slept most of the day. Hope they had some nice dreams about our trip.
