cruisnfamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2002
- Messages
- 6,218
The Cast:
DH
DW(me)
DD9-Amanda
DS6-Billy
Day 3-Saturday June 1st
Ok, we know that "large crowds" are expected at MK this day so the day before we called the front desk to inquire if there would be early openings of the other parks....yes indeed, MGM will be open at 8am.
So, Mickey calls at 6:30am and today everybody is up and ready quickly (nobody wants to repeat yesterday's grumpy start). We pack, throw the luggage in the car and head to the bus stop for MGM by 7:30am. Who is waiting at the bus but Kevind65 with DW and DD. We chat while waiting for the buses, they are heading to AK this morning. Turns out their illuminations cruise was cancelled due to thunder storms the other night...they are really bummed over this. Along comes our bus and off we go!
There are crowds at the gate and I wonder how everybody knew they would be opening early. We didn't get a note in our room as everybody else has said, I called and inquired based on a tip from this board.
Anyway, the gates open at 8 but nothing else is open until 9am You couldn't ride a ride or eat before 9am. The only thing open are shops! We were really fuming! Why did we get up and out early only to wander around for 1 hour with nothing to do? Finally at about 8:40 we find a pastry shop and DH and I have danishes and the kids choose brownies for breakfast...nutritious right?
We did Star Tours (except DS who thought we were making him ride it as we walked him through for the kidswap thing) and then the great movie ride. DH and I are having a debate on this one...does it always have the same ending? I thought that last time a different character took over our ride, it was a gangster this time. Please help me out on this one. Anyway, continued to ride and sightsee throughout the day. Saw the muppets and thought that Honey I shrunk the audience was done much better but DD thought Muppets was better. Enjoyed the backstage tour, played in the Honey I shrunk the playground, etc, etc. Went in for HunchBack and were really impressed for the first 15 minutes. It seems they were having some kind of sound system problems and cancelled the show after the first 15 minutes. We were dissappointed as we were really enjoying it. I especially liked the puppets above the folks holding up their cloaks...really well done.
Well, by now it's about 2pm and we thought we would be on the road home already. It's hot and we're hungry. We try Prime Time-1 hour wait, Hollywood and Vine 1 hour wait, some other place, 1 hour wait and then we pop in at Sci-Fi Diner expecting to hear 1 hour wait. We hear one guy saying he can't get in here until dinner time. I inquire as to the wait time and a young waitress shrugs and says "Ummm, maybe an hour, I'll check" Well, she wanders back up 5 mins later asking who was it who wanted to know the wait time. I step up and she says something about do we need to sit in a car or would we be happy with a regular table. We tell her whatever is quickest will do and she leads us right in! No wait at all! I can't imagine folks are willing to wait up to 2 hours to sit in a car. The cars are cool and everything but we were hungry NOW. Anyway, we all order bugers and fries, DH had a rootbeer float which looked pretty awesome. The food was average, neither good nor bad but fit our needs for the moment. Billy and Amanda enjoyed watching the movies on the screen while waiting and eating and everybody was happy.
After lunch we headed for the exit and were on the road to Sarasota and home sweet home. We arrived home tired but not exhausted. A good time was had by all and we were not wiped out and run down like we usually are when we return home from Disney. This was our most relaxing trip yet. And can you believe it, with 2 kids aged 6 & 9, we never even went to the Magic Kingdom and nobody missed it!
DH
DW(me)
DD9-Amanda
DS6-Billy
Day 3-Saturday June 1st
Ok, we know that "large crowds" are expected at MK this day so the day before we called the front desk to inquire if there would be early openings of the other parks....yes indeed, MGM will be open at 8am.
So, Mickey calls at 6:30am and today everybody is up and ready quickly (nobody wants to repeat yesterday's grumpy start). We pack, throw the luggage in the car and head to the bus stop for MGM by 7:30am. Who is waiting at the bus but Kevind65 with DW and DD. We chat while waiting for the buses, they are heading to AK this morning. Turns out their illuminations cruise was cancelled due to thunder storms the other night...they are really bummed over this. Along comes our bus and off we go!
There are crowds at the gate and I wonder how everybody knew they would be opening early. We didn't get a note in our room as everybody else has said, I called and inquired based on a tip from this board.
Anyway, the gates open at 8 but nothing else is open until 9am You couldn't ride a ride or eat before 9am. The only thing open are shops! We were really fuming! Why did we get up and out early only to wander around for 1 hour with nothing to do? Finally at about 8:40 we find a pastry shop and DH and I have danishes and the kids choose brownies for breakfast...nutritious right?
We did Star Tours (except DS who thought we were making him ride it as we walked him through for the kidswap thing) and then the great movie ride. DH and I are having a debate on this one...does it always have the same ending? I thought that last time a different character took over our ride, it was a gangster this time. Please help me out on this one. Anyway, continued to ride and sightsee throughout the day. Saw the muppets and thought that Honey I shrunk the audience was done much better but DD thought Muppets was better. Enjoyed the backstage tour, played in the Honey I shrunk the playground, etc, etc. Went in for HunchBack and were really impressed for the first 15 minutes. It seems they were having some kind of sound system problems and cancelled the show after the first 15 minutes. We were dissappointed as we were really enjoying it. I especially liked the puppets above the folks holding up their cloaks...really well done.
Well, by now it's about 2pm and we thought we would be on the road home already. It's hot and we're hungry. We try Prime Time-1 hour wait, Hollywood and Vine 1 hour wait, some other place, 1 hour wait and then we pop in at Sci-Fi Diner expecting to hear 1 hour wait. We hear one guy saying he can't get in here until dinner time. I inquire as to the wait time and a young waitress shrugs and says "Ummm, maybe an hour, I'll check" Well, she wanders back up 5 mins later asking who was it who wanted to know the wait time. I step up and she says something about do we need to sit in a car or would we be happy with a regular table. We tell her whatever is quickest will do and she leads us right in! No wait at all! I can't imagine folks are willing to wait up to 2 hours to sit in a car. The cars are cool and everything but we were hungry NOW. Anyway, we all order bugers and fries, DH had a rootbeer float which looked pretty awesome. The food was average, neither good nor bad but fit our needs for the moment. Billy and Amanda enjoyed watching the movies on the screen while waiting and eating and everybody was happy.
After lunch we headed for the exit and were on the road to Sarasota and home sweet home. We arrived home tired but not exhausted. A good time was had by all and we were not wiped out and run down like we usually are when we return home from Disney. This was our most relaxing trip yet. And can you believe it, with 2 kids aged 6 & 9, we never even went to the Magic Kingdom and nobody missed it!
