Warning - these reports keep getting longer!
Day 3 - MGM / MK / Honey, I Lost my Stomach
Cast: PoohFanKC, 39, dad and husband (me);
DW, 39, lets me do the planning, but has veto power;
DD, 11;
DS, 9;
DS, 7.
Dates: June 1 - June 8, 2002
Resort: Port Orleans Riverside (Dixie Landings)
Trip: Second trip for all of us, first was in 2000.
After rising early (I never was able to sleep in this trip, despite the switch from central to eastern time - too excited, perhaps?) I made the morning trek to the Food Court for tea for DW and Fruit Punch / Sprite mixture for me and the kids. Perhaps I just dont look good in the morning, but I always got stares from the Mug Zombies who were heading to or from the Food Court with their resort refill mugs. (If you have been there, you know what I mean by Mug Zombies - not a pretty sight until they have had their coffee). We had red Dixie Landings mugs from 2000 while almost everyone else in the place had new Port Orleans Riverside mugs. I had read that the mugs are good forever and took them along. I never had any CM even blink an eye. I did have a guest remark that he used to have Dixie Landings mugs, but didnt bring them with him. It made me look like a real veteran. I will always assume the Mug Zombies were staring at the mugs and not me.
Anyway, we ate in the room, dressed the kids in matching Monsters, Inc. T-shirts (we got several comments from CMs that day as these were not "standard" WDW shirts) and headed to MGM.
The kids goal was to ride the Rock & Roller Coaster first and then Tower of Terror. It was DWs goal not to ride ToT. DW had endured this attraction on our previous visit and was not going to experience it again. DS7 has recently revealed that his stomach still hurts from when he rode ToT in 2000, but he was game this year.
We were waiting in the park when the rope dropped and the mad stampede down Sunset Blvd. began. I went ahead of the family, cut left and dodged right (never broke into a run - too undignified) and found myself in front of a closed R&R. I grabbed FPs, headed back up to Sunset Blvd. and directed the family to ToT. I gave DW the park passes so she could get Indiana Jones FPs if the timing worked out. The standby for ToT was posted as 20 minutes already, probably because no one was on R&R. DW was on her own for a while. The other four of us struck up a conversation with a family from Pennsylvania while we meandered through the pathway. Their youngest was having second thoughts about this attraction. I didnt let DS7 (the one with the 2 year old stomachache) say a word. We came, we rode, we felt mildly nauseous. Pretty normal for ToT. It was not as disturbing as the prior trip because we knew what to expect. The kids wanted me to float a penny, but I elected not to try. I didnt want anyone to get hurt when it fell.
We met up with DW (who was not at all nauseous) in the ToT gift shop, opted not to purchase the picture. We checked on R&R - it was open! We used our FPs and were immediately in the pre-show. We just love walking past all the people in the standby line. We had not ridden R&R last trip, as the kids were younger and not too keen on another gut-wrenching ride after ToT. This time they were psyched. DD kept telling us that Aerosmith has a song that she likes on the NOW 9 CD (compilation of current teen hits). She was wondering if that song would be playing at R&R. DW and I pointed out that Aerosmith had been around for quite a while and only the classics were played there. I tried to explain that Steve Tyler is OLD - his daughter Liv is much older than DD. We were treated to Love in an Elevator if I recall correctly. Well, the start is hard to describe other than saying zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Too bad they take your picture at this stage of the ride because no one looks particularly happy to be there. After blast off, the rest of the ride is relatively easy. It is not that dark and you can see whats coming up. It was a great coaster and all were talking triumphantly when we departed. We came, we rode, we conquered! We spent a little time in the gift store looking for, but not finding, the perfect memento of the ride. We settled for a smashed penny.
By now, the first Indiana Jones show time was fast approaching. We headed there and went standby. We forgot to pull the rope at the well, but remembered to do this on our last day. IJ had been under rehab during our prior trip, but DW had seen the attraction at Disneyland during a conference last year. We went for seats on the right hand side of the audience (I read a post that said more of the action took place there). Despite my childrens efforts, I was not chosen to participate in the show. Fine by me, I needed to sit for a while. All enjoyed the show. It is amazing to me how hot the flames get. Afterwards, I went for FPs for Millionaire while the family got in line for Sounds Dangerous. We heard Sounds Dangerous (enjoyed it again after hearing it on our prior trip) and headed for Millionaire. We stopped into One Mans Dream for about ten minutes before our FP time opened. This exhibit was nice and we promised to come back later to give it the time it deserved.
As I write, I realize that in providing a trip report, one risks giving too much detail on attractions that everyone has done before and boring the reader with stuff they already know. That said, Ill spend the next three paragraphs on Millionaire.
We didnt need the FPs this time. Everyone in the standby line got in and people continued to trickle in until the show began. This was probably the third show of the day. The host should have a show of his own. He just looked, spoke and acted like a game show host. There was no carryover contestant in the hot seat this time. The rules were explained and we were ready. DS7 decided that he was too far from the keypad, so he knelt on the floor through the entire show. (He did this later in the week, too.) The fastest finger question was read and everyone frantically punched in letters. If I wasnt so slow and if I had gotten the order correct, I might have been in the hot seat. Soooo close! A big man in his twenties sporting the only-in-Orlando combination of Mickey Ears and numerous arm tattoos won. After five questions (the easy ones), the audience standings were displayed. I was in 7th place. Just had to distract six people and fame and glory would be mine! Oops. Note to self - dont forget to punch in the right answers. I was quickly out of contention. The first contestant used all his lifelines, including the less than helpful Ask a Complete Stranger, left with a collection of pins and a hat, and the hot seat was open again.
The audience standings were checked and the leader was invited to the Hot Seat. He refused!!!! I think he was either ineligible because he worked there or just too scared of the hot seat. While I contemplated a way to slip into his seat and earn my way in to the hot seat, the audience member in second place was called up. With each new contestant the audience scores are reset, so I had new life. Unfortunately for me, the second contestant was still in the hot seat when the time expired, so she stayed and I didnt. They posted the standings before we left and I was in 4th place. So close, but yet so far.
For those who think I had forgotten my family during all the excitement, you are wrong. I always checked their scores to make sure that I was ahead of them. No one else showed up in the top ten. However, a couple sitting near us was #3 and #4 at one point. They admitted to having been there four times before.
After Millionaire, we headed to the Backlot Tour (standby with no wait). After the cool water tank demo Harbor Attack, we boarded the trams and did the tour. We had missed this on the prior trip and enjoyed it. We made DD sit on the left side of the tram so that she could feel the refreshment of the flood rushing over her. She stayed pretty dry though. There was a topiary of the Mickey water tower near the actual water tower. I took a picture which has both - I hope it turns out. Next, I headed for refreshments while the family went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Dont skip this just because you dont have little children. Its really nicely done. DS7 did not want to leave. After taking back the large iced tea (I had ordered a root beer - iced tea tastes a bit like Beverly when you are expecting root beer!), I joined the family. It was about 3:00 and we were already later than we had planned (where have you heard that before?!) We worked our way toward the exit, getting lost trying to take a shortcut near Muppets, and headed back to POR. We sat in the shade by the bus stop and counted buses. Not that our waits were ever that long, but we rarely just hopped on to an awaiting bus. I mentioned to DW that I had snapped a picture at the same bus stop last trip as we waited in the shade. No picture this time.
Lunch was sandwiches, cheese and crackers, fruit, carrots, celery and M&Ms in the room. Bringing our own food and making a grocery stop paid off! We probably had all our snacks and more than half our meals for under $100. We went to the big pool, the kids rode the slide about four hundred times while DW and I rested and had more coke and lemonade in our refill mugs. DW headed back to the room a little early to get freshened up. Shortly after 5:30, the kids dried off, we refilled the drinks at the Food Court (again) and headed for the room.
An observation about truth in advertising. Where are all of the young attractive bikini-clad women and handsome, not too muscular guys that appear romping in and around the pools in the WDW video? I thought they would all be here. Instead, it was people like us, in our thirties with three kids. Certainly not the same crowd we saw in the promotional materials. We've been misled! Then again, they might not have allowed us near the pool because we wouldn't fit in with the crowd.
Our plan for the evening was MK and Spectro Magic. We entered MK at about 6:30 and checked Lost and Found for the missing hat, but had no luck. Since our main goal for the evening was Spectro Magic, we had no real schedule. Since we had visited the left side of the park on Day 1, we headed for the right side. We experienced our first big WDW crowd. Space was out of FPs, the standby was at 60 minutes. Buzz was also backed up, with FP return time of 8:40 - too close to Spectro. We even had to wait for Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We had never seen a wait for TTA before. We would be back to MK later in the trip, so we decided to head to Toon Town and wait 20 minutes (!) for the Barnstormer. We toured Mickey and Minnies houses. We walked through Fantasyland - it was busy, too. We walked over to Splash/Thunder just in case the lines were clearing - they werent. I guess we were not the only ones who wanted to see Spectro that night. We settled at an outside table at Pecos Bill Cafe with a decent view of the parade route. DS7 was hungry so he and I headed inside for an $8 cheeseburger and fries deal. The family shared the fries and drink, alternated trips to the bathroom and water fountain and generally tried to maintain our spot for the parade. While I was gone, someone borrowed my chair. DW felt bad, but I just sat on the nearby wall. I found a replacement before the parade began.
After the false excitement created by the fifteen, ten and five minute warnings, the parade was in front of us. The wait was worth it. There was no comparison to the nighttime parade we saw two years before (Electric Magic?). We snapped lots of pictures - I hope they turn out. Spectro is good and you dont have to be right on the ropes (i.e.: dont need to line up hours in advance) to get a good view.
After the parade, we snuck inside through the seating area Pecos Bill's shares with the El Pirata y el Perico and walked on to Pirates of the Caribbean. I think that many people were still blocked from Adventureland by the parade - we had our own boat at Pirates. Pirates is somehow different at night - a little darker, a little scarier. This is still one of DS7's favorites. I have a low voice, so the Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me sounds pretty good, especially echoing in the empty caves of the wait area. After Pirates, with fireworks and park closing rapidly approaching, we headed toward the exit. The crowds waiting for the fireworks after Spectro were large. We reached the bus stop as the fireworks were finishing up. Not that we dont like fireworks, but we really dont like waiting for a bus with thousands of hot, sweaty, cranky people. We made it back to POR before most people even got out of the gates.
After the kids were down, DW and I finished a bottle of wine started earlier in the trip and went to bed ourselves.
Best Experience(s) of the Day: Millionaire / Rock & Roller Coaster / Spectro Magic / Pirates in our own boat.
Worst Experience of the Day: The MK crowds in the evening.
Next Report - Day 4 - AK / Epcot / Honey, I need a Cider!
Day 3 - MGM / MK / Honey, I Lost my Stomach
Cast: PoohFanKC, 39, dad and husband (me);
DW, 39, lets me do the planning, but has veto power;
DD, 11;
DS, 9;
DS, 7.
Dates: June 1 - June 8, 2002
Resort: Port Orleans Riverside (Dixie Landings)
Trip: Second trip for all of us, first was in 2000.
After rising early (I never was able to sleep in this trip, despite the switch from central to eastern time - too excited, perhaps?) I made the morning trek to the Food Court for tea for DW and Fruit Punch / Sprite mixture for me and the kids. Perhaps I just dont look good in the morning, but I always got stares from the Mug Zombies who were heading to or from the Food Court with their resort refill mugs. (If you have been there, you know what I mean by Mug Zombies - not a pretty sight until they have had their coffee). We had red Dixie Landings mugs from 2000 while almost everyone else in the place had new Port Orleans Riverside mugs. I had read that the mugs are good forever and took them along. I never had any CM even blink an eye. I did have a guest remark that he used to have Dixie Landings mugs, but didnt bring them with him. It made me look like a real veteran. I will always assume the Mug Zombies were staring at the mugs and not me.
Anyway, we ate in the room, dressed the kids in matching Monsters, Inc. T-shirts (we got several comments from CMs that day as these were not "standard" WDW shirts) and headed to MGM.
The kids goal was to ride the Rock & Roller Coaster first and then Tower of Terror. It was DWs goal not to ride ToT. DW had endured this attraction on our previous visit and was not going to experience it again. DS7 has recently revealed that his stomach still hurts from when he rode ToT in 2000, but he was game this year.
We were waiting in the park when the rope dropped and the mad stampede down Sunset Blvd. began. I went ahead of the family, cut left and dodged right (never broke into a run - too undignified) and found myself in front of a closed R&R. I grabbed FPs, headed back up to Sunset Blvd. and directed the family to ToT. I gave DW the park passes so she could get Indiana Jones FPs if the timing worked out. The standby for ToT was posted as 20 minutes already, probably because no one was on R&R. DW was on her own for a while. The other four of us struck up a conversation with a family from Pennsylvania while we meandered through the pathway. Their youngest was having second thoughts about this attraction. I didnt let DS7 (the one with the 2 year old stomachache) say a word. We came, we rode, we felt mildly nauseous. Pretty normal for ToT. It was not as disturbing as the prior trip because we knew what to expect. The kids wanted me to float a penny, but I elected not to try. I didnt want anyone to get hurt when it fell.
We met up with DW (who was not at all nauseous) in the ToT gift shop, opted not to purchase the picture. We checked on R&R - it was open! We used our FPs and were immediately in the pre-show. We just love walking past all the people in the standby line. We had not ridden R&R last trip, as the kids were younger and not too keen on another gut-wrenching ride after ToT. This time they were psyched. DD kept telling us that Aerosmith has a song that she likes on the NOW 9 CD (compilation of current teen hits). She was wondering if that song would be playing at R&R. DW and I pointed out that Aerosmith had been around for quite a while and only the classics were played there. I tried to explain that Steve Tyler is OLD - his daughter Liv is much older than DD. We were treated to Love in an Elevator if I recall correctly. Well, the start is hard to describe other than saying zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Too bad they take your picture at this stage of the ride because no one looks particularly happy to be there. After blast off, the rest of the ride is relatively easy. It is not that dark and you can see whats coming up. It was a great coaster and all were talking triumphantly when we departed. We came, we rode, we conquered! We spent a little time in the gift store looking for, but not finding, the perfect memento of the ride. We settled for a smashed penny.
By now, the first Indiana Jones show time was fast approaching. We headed there and went standby. We forgot to pull the rope at the well, but remembered to do this on our last day. IJ had been under rehab during our prior trip, but DW had seen the attraction at Disneyland during a conference last year. We went for seats on the right hand side of the audience (I read a post that said more of the action took place there). Despite my childrens efforts, I was not chosen to participate in the show. Fine by me, I needed to sit for a while. All enjoyed the show. It is amazing to me how hot the flames get. Afterwards, I went for FPs for Millionaire while the family got in line for Sounds Dangerous. We heard Sounds Dangerous (enjoyed it again after hearing it on our prior trip) and headed for Millionaire. We stopped into One Mans Dream for about ten minutes before our FP time opened. This exhibit was nice and we promised to come back later to give it the time it deserved.
As I write, I realize that in providing a trip report, one risks giving too much detail on attractions that everyone has done before and boring the reader with stuff they already know. That said, Ill spend the next three paragraphs on Millionaire.
We didnt need the FPs this time. Everyone in the standby line got in and people continued to trickle in until the show began. This was probably the third show of the day. The host should have a show of his own. He just looked, spoke and acted like a game show host. There was no carryover contestant in the hot seat this time. The rules were explained and we were ready. DS7 decided that he was too far from the keypad, so he knelt on the floor through the entire show. (He did this later in the week, too.) The fastest finger question was read and everyone frantically punched in letters. If I wasnt so slow and if I had gotten the order correct, I might have been in the hot seat. Soooo close! A big man in his twenties sporting the only-in-Orlando combination of Mickey Ears and numerous arm tattoos won. After five questions (the easy ones), the audience standings were displayed. I was in 7th place. Just had to distract six people and fame and glory would be mine! Oops. Note to self - dont forget to punch in the right answers. I was quickly out of contention. The first contestant used all his lifelines, including the less than helpful Ask a Complete Stranger, left with a collection of pins and a hat, and the hot seat was open again.
The audience standings were checked and the leader was invited to the Hot Seat. He refused!!!! I think he was either ineligible because he worked there or just too scared of the hot seat. While I contemplated a way to slip into his seat and earn my way in to the hot seat, the audience member in second place was called up. With each new contestant the audience scores are reset, so I had new life. Unfortunately for me, the second contestant was still in the hot seat when the time expired, so she stayed and I didnt. They posted the standings before we left and I was in 4th place. So close, but yet so far.
For those who think I had forgotten my family during all the excitement, you are wrong. I always checked their scores to make sure that I was ahead of them. No one else showed up in the top ten. However, a couple sitting near us was #3 and #4 at one point. They admitted to having been there four times before.
After Millionaire, we headed to the Backlot Tour (standby with no wait). After the cool water tank demo Harbor Attack, we boarded the trams and did the tour. We had missed this on the prior trip and enjoyed it. We made DD sit on the left side of the tram so that she could feel the refreshment of the flood rushing over her. She stayed pretty dry though. There was a topiary of the Mickey water tower near the actual water tower. I took a picture which has both - I hope it turns out. Next, I headed for refreshments while the family went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Dont skip this just because you dont have little children. Its really nicely done. DS7 did not want to leave. After taking back the large iced tea (I had ordered a root beer - iced tea tastes a bit like Beverly when you are expecting root beer!), I joined the family. It was about 3:00 and we were already later than we had planned (where have you heard that before?!) We worked our way toward the exit, getting lost trying to take a shortcut near Muppets, and headed back to POR. We sat in the shade by the bus stop and counted buses. Not that our waits were ever that long, but we rarely just hopped on to an awaiting bus. I mentioned to DW that I had snapped a picture at the same bus stop last trip as we waited in the shade. No picture this time.
Lunch was sandwiches, cheese and crackers, fruit, carrots, celery and M&Ms in the room. Bringing our own food and making a grocery stop paid off! We probably had all our snacks and more than half our meals for under $100. We went to the big pool, the kids rode the slide about four hundred times while DW and I rested and had more coke and lemonade in our refill mugs. DW headed back to the room a little early to get freshened up. Shortly after 5:30, the kids dried off, we refilled the drinks at the Food Court (again) and headed for the room.
An observation about truth in advertising. Where are all of the young attractive bikini-clad women and handsome, not too muscular guys that appear romping in and around the pools in the WDW video? I thought they would all be here. Instead, it was people like us, in our thirties with three kids. Certainly not the same crowd we saw in the promotional materials. We've been misled! Then again, they might not have allowed us near the pool because we wouldn't fit in with the crowd.
Our plan for the evening was MK and Spectro Magic. We entered MK at about 6:30 and checked Lost and Found for the missing hat, but had no luck. Since our main goal for the evening was Spectro Magic, we had no real schedule. Since we had visited the left side of the park on Day 1, we headed for the right side. We experienced our first big WDW crowd. Space was out of FPs, the standby was at 60 minutes. Buzz was also backed up, with FP return time of 8:40 - too close to Spectro. We even had to wait for Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We had never seen a wait for TTA before. We would be back to MK later in the trip, so we decided to head to Toon Town and wait 20 minutes (!) for the Barnstormer. We toured Mickey and Minnies houses. We walked through Fantasyland - it was busy, too. We walked over to Splash/Thunder just in case the lines were clearing - they werent. I guess we were not the only ones who wanted to see Spectro that night. We settled at an outside table at Pecos Bill Cafe with a decent view of the parade route. DS7 was hungry so he and I headed inside for an $8 cheeseburger and fries deal. The family shared the fries and drink, alternated trips to the bathroom and water fountain and generally tried to maintain our spot for the parade. While I was gone, someone borrowed my chair. DW felt bad, but I just sat on the nearby wall. I found a replacement before the parade began.
After the false excitement created by the fifteen, ten and five minute warnings, the parade was in front of us. The wait was worth it. There was no comparison to the nighttime parade we saw two years before (Electric Magic?). We snapped lots of pictures - I hope they turn out. Spectro is good and you dont have to be right on the ropes (i.e.: dont need to line up hours in advance) to get a good view.
After the parade, we snuck inside through the seating area Pecos Bill's shares with the El Pirata y el Perico and walked on to Pirates of the Caribbean. I think that many people were still blocked from Adventureland by the parade - we had our own boat at Pirates. Pirates is somehow different at night - a little darker, a little scarier. This is still one of DS7's favorites. I have a low voice, so the Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me sounds pretty good, especially echoing in the empty caves of the wait area. After Pirates, with fireworks and park closing rapidly approaching, we headed toward the exit. The crowds waiting for the fireworks after Spectro were large. We reached the bus stop as the fireworks were finishing up. Not that we dont like fireworks, but we really dont like waiting for a bus with thousands of hot, sweaty, cranky people. We made it back to POR before most people even got out of the gates.
After the kids were down, DW and I finished a bottle of wine started earlier in the trip and went to bed ourselves.
Best Experience(s) of the Day: Millionaire / Rock & Roller Coaster / Spectro Magic / Pirates in our own boat.
Worst Experience of the Day: The MK crowds in the evening.
Next Report - Day 4 - AK / Epcot / Honey, I need a Cider!
! We loved Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Too bad it is so short.
