Short stay - 4 days - Tremendously long report - no pics yet.

[Dolby1000]

Here is the long version of our trip.

First of all, our overall trip was
4 stars (out of 5)
Overall, we had a wonderful four days. Although it was a little cool, especially at night, the sun shone for 4 days with nary a cloud in the sky. Therefore, no rain came down cancelling any shows or parades or making anyone’s life miserable. Although I would have liked it a little warmer, the cool weather probably worked to our advantage as my DW tends to wilt in the heat. Thankfully, we didn’t have to worry about that. We packed a lot into these four days, but working with a strategy to concentrate on new experiences while allowing time for old favorites we maximized our time and came home very tired, but quite satisfied.

So, since I think our strategy was sound, I’ll share with you our plan:

We had four full days, Wednesday – Saturday, we arrived late Tuesday night and were leaving early Sunday morning. This way, didn’t lose a day traveling on Wed or Saturday. We knew we planned at being at a park opening every day and closing one down everyday with little downtime in between. Although this is aggressive, the plan really worked out, we didn’t miss anything we wanted to see. Finally, our party consisted of me (male, 45) and my DW (49). No kids!

One last thing, we booked our trip through AAA. The cost was very, very close (with $1) of what Disney quoted us directly. Because we are AAA members, the primary caveat of going through AAA was preferred parking at all of the theme parks that prevented us from ever having to take a tram in and out of the parking lot. When you are trying to do 2 or 3 parks a day, every minute saved is an additional ride earned. This did require a little more walking, but my DW and I agreed it was worth it.

We did not do the meal plan since were have to pay for 1 or 2 days that we would not use.

Our plan, after reviewing park hours, parades, fireworks and extended magic hours (thanks to this web-site, it was very helpful):
Wednesday through midday – EPCOT
Wednesday midday through late evening – AK due to extended magic hours (open until 10PM)
Thursday all day – MGM (this is our favorite park, so I wasn’t going to cheat any time here). Park open until 8PM, yet also had an 8:30 2nd showing of Fantasmic. We had an 11:30 ADR for Sci-Fi Dine In and at 5:30 ADR for Hollywood and Vine.
Friday morning – AK to pick up anything missed on Wed
Friday midday – a planned break, maybe mini-golf if time allowed and/or Disney Marketplace
Friday evening – MK – We did have an ADR at 5:30 for Narcoosee’s at Grand Floridian (park was open until 11PM, two Spectro Magic parades and fireworks)

Saturday all day – MK with a mid-day break to pack, as we had to leave at 5:30 am in Sunday.

So, how did this work out and what all worked and didn’t, well, prepare to read, because I do like to go into a lot of detail.

POINT OF ORDER – Remember, I gave our trip 4 out of 5 stars. We came home satisfied we had a great trip. So, please be aware, that when I am critical of Disney, I am not saying we had a terrible time or that Disney sucks or that I wasn’t glad to be there. I am saying we had a great time, Disney was a lot of fun and I was darn glad to be there, I had a smile stuck to face everyday and came home hoarse from yelling and screaming on the rides. That said, this is a “critical” review, and I am going to knock down Disney on several points. Many are nit-picks, but they are still points I want to make. Overall, when I am “critical”, keep in mind that these areas really had a very low impact on my 4 out of 5 rating. But, there were enough of them to only allow the 4 out of 5 score. My DW and I also cruise, and I use the same scale. Only once in 20 years has a trip ever been a perfect 5 and that is because we are all people, and nothing is ever perfect. This includes Disney. BTW: The only 5 was just this last April on a Panama Canal cruise on Royal Caribbean, and my review for that, did also have a few nit-picks. I am a hard reviewer but that does not make me a Disney’s hater or a person “who should just stay home” so please leave those flaming thoughts to yourself.

Okay, day by day, here we go! God, hundreds of words and I really haven’t started yet!

United got us from Chicago to Orlando on time, praise be!
Hertz had our rental car ready. Again, booking through AAA got us an upgrade from a mid-size to a, wait for it, a Town and Country mini-van! For two people! Well, our car time is short, it is after 8PM, the heck with it, lets go! We are excited and ready to immerse ourselves in all things Disney. Okay then, put in the key and away we go. Whrrrr, whrrrr, whrrr, humm, we’ll close the side door and we’ll try that again. Whrrr, whrrr, whrrr. Won’t start. Well, off we go the desk to see what can be done. Quite quickly, we move from a mini-van to some sort of mini-suv thingy put out by Hyundai. Don’t ask me what it was, I do not know. I do know that it started, had headlights and a “D” gear. Off we go again, hoping this wasn’t a bad omen. It was dark, but at least traffic was light.

About 20 minutes later, we pulled in the CB (I hope I get these Disney anagram right), so, CB here means Caribbean Beach. The check-in area is empty, so we walk right up to a cheerful representative. We laugh and giggle and smile though the check-in process. Goodness these CMs can be nice and friendly. Perhaps, though, we giggled and laughed a little too much, as we were about to find out. We had our cards and maps in no time at all. Too bad being accurate wasn't part of the plan. The CM clearly said we were in Trinidad south, building 35, room 3550. I still have the paperwork, it says 3550. There is no mistake. Not having staying in the CB for over 10 years, I trusted the number. If we hurry, we can catch the Illuminations fireworks, hooray!

So, there we are, two tired, yet excited people. Driving on over to Trinidad South, the furthest section of the resort from the Guest House; but we had a ground floor room, so everything was good. We easily park, I grab the suitcase (on wheels) while my wife carries the back-pack. We find building 35 and look at the signs. Hum, 1-18 this way and 19-35 that way. Seems to be 15 rooms short. Well, maybe the building is larger than we thought; this area is rather confusing to be around. I tell you, we walked around that building twice, and there was no room after 3535. Then, the fireworks began. Well, God bless the man from South Wales who took pity on our situation. Instead of watching the fireworks, he tried to help us find our room and we agreed, there was no 3550. He allowed us to call the front desk from his room, even while his two kids slept. Keeping my voice down, I called the operator to find out that we had room 3530, not 3550! If only I had tried our key in every door on the ground floor, this one would have opened. After thanking the nice man, sure enough, room 3530 opened and we had our home for the next five nights.

CB room – 3 stars
No remote for the TV (granted, we weren’t going to watch much anyway, but turning it off from our bed would have been nice). But, in fairness, we left a note for the maid and had one the next night.
Pillows were terrible
Bed sunk, deeply, in the middle. We ended up using the two beds separately.
The shower was reversed, hot was cold and cold was hot, took a day or two to figure that one out.
But, the shower did have good pressure and was high enough I didn’t have to stoop over to wash my hair.
We had a refrigerator
We had plenty of storage space and hangers
The room was clean
We had a table in which to eat on
The pool was 30 seconds away, which would have worked more in our favor had it been warmer, but still, a positive.
It was a garden view, but not a view of the parking lot, and since we were not going to be in it during the day, who the heck needs a view? Save your money, unless you plan to actually stay in room or the resort during the day, paying extra for a view is not needed at the CB.

Most this didn’t matter too much, since we were rarely in the room anyway. I took a late night swim (pool open late) and ran back to the room since this night, like all the others, was getting chilly (not Disney’s fault, and not included in my ranking).

We purchased our breakfast for the next day the night before at the marketplace. Neither me nor my DW really like breakfast, so cereal, juice and a banana was plenty enough for us to start our day. This little breakfast put us back $15 a day, so even though it was light, don’t think for a minute that such a breakfast is light on the wallet. When coming to Disney, nothing is cheap, be prepared.

Day 1 – EPCOT: Why EPCOT on day 1? Well, between the two of us, it is just not our favorite park. We only had about 4 or 5 attractions we wanted to experience so I figured we could get through here in about 3 or 4 hours. Furthermore, everything I read about the Food & Wine festival indicated that as Saturday approached, EPCOT was going to get more and more crowded.
Based on the help I have gotten here, here was my plan:
Soarin
Mission to Mars
Test Track
Honey I Shrunk the Audience
Turtle Talk
Finding Nemo & Friends ride
Lunch at Rose and Crown, if time allowed and it was available.
Here is what we actually did:
Arrived at 8:30, got close in AAA parking and was at the main fountain at 8:45. We planned our route to “The Land” and followed the CMs in Soarin costumes. We made the very first ride of the day on Soarin. This was a pattern for the next 3 days; we were on the very first ride of the attraction we chose to hit in the morning. And no, we didn’t run anyone down or move past the rope. Just got there early. This also eliminated the need for Fast Passes early on.
Soarin – 5 Stars
This is an amazing ride. We were in the front row on the right side section. Having only a vague idea of what this was all about, we were totally blown away! Yes, I really felt I was on a hang glider going through the California countryside. I was lifted, both physically and emotionally by this ride; we couldn’t have picked a better attraction to start off our 4 days. Soarin is not a conventional thrill ride, but I found it to be quite thrilling.
We were off of Soarin by 9:20; we went over to Test Track and got Fast Passes (9:50 – 10:50) and then went and walked onto Mission to Mars. We literally walked right onto the ride, with no wait. I cannot emphasize this enough, get to the parks when they open, you can get 2 -3 major attractions enjoyed within that first hour without needing Fast Passes. You can then use Fast Passes to re-ride a favorite or to get to others more quickly.
Mission to Mars – 4 Stars
We took the green ride, the one that does not spin. I am claustrophobic, so I was more than a little tentative going on this attraction. Well, I was able to enjoy it. I thought the presentation and the ride itself was quite fun. We had two small boys with us, one who was also a little tentative, but we called out his orders to him and he played along and liked it a lot. No need to go on it twice, but the one time was good fun.
Our Test Track Fast Passes weren’t available yet, so we walked over to the Living Seas. Nemo was down, but Talking Turtle with Crush was running. We only had to wait for one show.
Talking Turtle – 4 Stars
This was pretty cool, it had all the right small touches that make these attractions at Disney so much fun. The kids re-acted to Crush really well and it was very funny. When poised with some difficult questions about turtles, Crush came through with the answers. Actually, I was surprised that the children in the audience had such intelligent questions (like how many turtle species are there; very appropriate). As we were walking out, Nemo opened and we took that.
Finding Nemo & Friends (or whatever it is formally called)
3 Stars
This one is just okay. If you have children, they will get a kick out of it, but for just DW and I, it was slightly fun. The star fish at the end was the best part.
Okay, our Fast Passes were available. So, another hint, your Fast Passes have an available time on them, as soon as that time hits, you can get your next Fast Past without having used the one in your possession. So, we first went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience and got Fast Passes for that before returning to Test Track.
Test Track – 4 Stars
Nothing I can say will add to what others have said. This is fun, not to complicated and not really scary. But, it is different which makes it a fun ride.
We took a break and had a snack to re-group ourselves before going over to HISTA.
HISTA – 3 stars
This attraction is aging. It is still funny, but the movies have long been gone from the public view and I would like to see something else move in here.
It was now after noon, where did the time go? We walked over to the Rose and Crown pub, hoping to get seated without an ADR. Thankfully, EPCOT was not very crowded yet and those in the International area were taking part in the Food & Wine festival. Normally, I would not advise this. But, the park was not crowded and the aforementioned festival was pulling diners away from the sit down restaurants. I will discuss my opinion of the ADRs and Disney dinning towards the end of the review. We were seated in less than 10 minutes, with a nice outdoor view overlooking the lagoon. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch (about an hour, but that was due to us getting an appetizer and entree and not eating quickly. It was not due to the service) of fish & chips and beer.

We than planned to go to the AK, but DW wanted a monorail ride to the MK and back. Hey, we’re on vacation, so why not.

So, we then left EPCOT and made for the AK.

Animal Kingdom – 4 Stars

We were able to park in the AAA section as several people had left. It was a little after three. Although it was sunny, I don’t think the temps even hit 70 and the breeze from the north had a real chill to it. We took our hooded sweatshirts (from here on out – I am calling them hoodies) in with us, already feeling the temps dropping. Here is where we hit our first minor derailment. The safari ride Fast Passes were gone and the wait time was over 90 minutes; furthermore, it closed at 4:30 and it was already after 3. We quickly gave up that idea and moved the ride to Friday morning. I had half expected this as this was an extended hours day at AK, so the crowd, while still manageable, was a little larger than normal for early Nov. We walked over the Expedition Everest and I bet my wife that she would love it and do it two or three times. We skipped the Fast Past as the stand-by time was only 20 minutes.
Expedition Everest – 5 Stars
This ride is great. It does things no roller coaster has ever done before. It has great turns and swoops, some in the daylight and some in the dark. I don’t want to give anything away about what this ride does, suffice to say, it is awesome. However, my DW, although impressed by the ride, didn’t care for a certain section of it. She said she would not go on it again, either that day or Friday. I lost the bet. DW would make me pay up later in the week.
From EE we walked into Finding Nemo – The Musical.
Finding Nemo – 2 stars (GASP – A counter opinion! What will we do?)
Having loved The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway (both came to Chicago), I was anticipating, nay I was expecting, the same magical spell the other two had placed upon me. Now, I was a theatre minor in college and my DW and I try to go the theatre as often as possible. I do not know if this made me give this show higher expectations that I should have. Maybe it did, I don’t know. Furthermore, it is only fair to say that the Lion King not only is my all time favorite Disney film (not just animated films, but any Disney film) but one of my 5 Best Movies of All Time. You know, if you are on a desert island and could have only 5 movies, which would they be sort of thing. And, let it be said, I did really enjoy Finding Nemo – the film. Not as much as The Lion King, but Finding Nemo has everything that the Pixar films can do. So, the story for the musical is not the issue here.
The theatre was packed, but we had great seats in the upper center section. In truth, rarely are their bad seats in any Disney theatre. The lights went down and we were pumped. Anticipation was high as the performance began.
Sadly, had we not been seated in the center of a row, we would have walked out. It pains me to say this, because I see and understand the effort Disney puts into their shows. No one, but no one, puts on a better show than Disney. And Finding Nemo tries, tries real hard to be one of those shows. Sadly, it just strikes out. Really, my DW and I almost fell asleep it was so slow and boring.
Yes, the puppetry is amazing and the actors truly skilled performers. Ray is magnificent and Bruce is well designed. The production of the show is in line with BatB and close to, but not quite as good as The Lion King. So, what is the problem?
Okay, I understand that they only have 30 minutes to get in a 90 minute film, so some things have to go. But, they removed the heart of the film. All of the characterization and nuances of the film that captured our hearts is taken out. Dory is reduced to a one line joke of getting Nemo’s name wrong. There is so much more to her character than what we see here. Nemo is reduced to “hating his father” and “learning to love him”. The fish in the tank with Nemo might as well not even exist. None of their motivation in helping Nemo is even shown. And the dialog getting this across is plain and has no depth. Ray and Bruce are cameos. Heck, the whole thing plays like a series of scenes from the film with no real glue holding them together. They would have been better off naming it “Some scenes from Finding Nemo, oh yes, we added some songs too.” If you haven’t seen the film, the play makes little sense. Finally, I’m sorry, but starting a play off by killing a mother and dozen’s of other clown fish didn’t help. If they were going to cut anything out, this is a scene that should be lost. We don’t need to see it. In the movie, the scene had the time to show the relationships between Marlon and his wife and the responsibility of Nemo being the only survivor. Here, it gets the play off to a heavy handed start that it doesn’t have the time to recover from.
Here is an aside, I had the same problem with Pirates III (if you haven’t seen it, skip to the next paragraph) starting the movie off by killing, hanging a child just derailed the whole picture for me. This was not part of the ride and I just hated the scene and it was a while before the movie could recover from it.
So, since they lost the heart of the film, they probably though that the music could replace it. Well, The Lion King’s music has a background, a heritage; it is rich and complex. The music speaks to anyone who hears it, both adult and child. I know I am going to get slammed here, but the music to Finding Nemo is terrible. I know it is a play for all audiences, so why does the music play at a Playhouse Disney or even, dare I say it, a Barney level? It is insipid, uninspiring, plain and forgettable. It fails to capture the heart of the film that they removed. Sure, it has beat and a catchy refrain, but it really doesn’t speak to anyone older than, say, 8 or 10 years old. In fact, beyond the refrain “In the Big Blue World”, I think, I can’t remember anything about it.
If you have kids, who have seen the movie, certainly, take them to see this. Seeing anything as a live performance as complicated as this one will be a positive experience for them. I love the idea of exposing children to live theatre and this play makes for a good intro since it is only 30 minutes long and certainly not in any way in a “formal” theatre setting where a noisy child might upset other patrons. But, if you only have teens or have no kids, feel free to skip this one, don’t let this attempt to turn Finding Nemo into a musical ruin a very good film.
Okay, I said it; I didn’t like it, so go ahead, flame away. Remember, this did NOT ruin my day, ruin my afternoon, or cause me to have a terrible trip or hate Disney altogether. Frankly, it just wasn’t our cup of tea. End of story.

By now the sun had set and it was dark. Let me tell you this, AK gets dark at night. There is very little light so see by. Furthermore, the dining choices suck. We went to what we thought was a diner by the Dinosaur area, only to learn that it was a McDonalds.
McDonalds at Disney – 0 Stars
Walt never would have stood for this. We did not want McDonalds. This would be true at Disney or at home. So, we found a smoke house counter service restaurant where DW had some ribs and I had a turkey sandwich. They were okay, but the ribs were lukewarm at best.
Let’s see from there we did some shopping and went to the Festival of the Lion King.
Festival of the Lion King – 5 Stars
Disney has this one right. We all know the story, so why bother trying to tell it? We all just want to sing along with the songs. This festival is fun, bright, and energetic and makes no apology for concentrating on the music. It is just 30 minutes of singing, dancing, and light comedy from Timon. You don’t need to know the movie to enjoy it. The quality of the dancers and acrobats is very high. We sat around other people from NJ, CT and RI (but not NJ, even though it was NJ week). We all just swayed and sang along and traded pins. Everyone had smiles on and no one was killed (see Finding Nemo, above). One of my favorite parts of our trip.
We then went back and DW waited for me to ride EE twice. There was no wait at all; I literally just walked up and onto a train. AK at night gives you a wonderful chance to take some rides multiple times. Let me tell you, as good as EE is in the daytime, at night it is even better. The whole thing is dark.
I had wanted to go on Kali River Rapids, but the temps had fallen to under 60, with a bit of a north wind. As much as I like being on vacation and saying “what the heck”, even this was a bit chilly for me. We also put this off until Friday morning, when the sun would be out.
Whew, we walked out of AK, humming I Just Can’t Wait to be King, calling day one a great success. We had already enjoyed 6 rides or attractions, in two theme parks, we had never done before, which was one big goal of the trip. Tired, but happy, we fell into our sagging beds, looking back on a wonderful day, but dreaming of falling elevators, destroying Death Stars and rocking and rolling from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds.

Day 2 – MGM – 5 stars.
I know poor MGM gets a lot of hits on this board; people just don’t seem to like it. Well, put me down as the exception. MGM remains my favorite park because it has my favorite rides and shows.
Wakie, wakie, the alarm goes of at 7:30. What, this is vacation? Well, we had a choice, sleep or get to the parks early to enjoy everything. We can rest when we get home. Today was dedicated solely to MGM. Again, a very sunny day, but a cold morning, not a shorts day. We had only brought two pairs of jeans, thankfully, CB had a laundry, looks like we are going to need it. Packing shorts just in case it got warm, but wearing our hoodies, we pulled into the AAA parking section at 8:30.
So, how did we do on day 2? Well, I don’t know just how crowded MGM was, but I would have to say, what we did planned around these crowds, and although it seemed crowded, we really didn’t wait for any ride or show.
Okay, rope drop and we walk over to TOT.
TOT – 5 Stars
Like yesterday, got on the very first ride. TOT remains my favorite ride (well, Soarin almost replaced it, almost) and we were dropped 5 times. We screamed and yelled each time we hit the top; just to be sure that anyone watching got the full effect. I think they captured the look and feel of The Twilight Zone perfectly.
From there, a short walk over to
Rock and Roll Roller Coaster – 5 Stars
It is amazing, 0 to 60 in a few short seconds, yet the coaster portion is a very smooth ride. We also really just walked up to this one and only waited, I think, 5 minutes at most. We were in the very last row in the very last car, so we got some great speed. DW’s picture on this was so embarrassing funny, we almost brought it. We have it from doing the ride 7 years ago, but really, her mouth is wide open in a full fledged screaming mode. Once we saw it, well, we were on the floor we were laughing so hard. Isn’t it these moments that make Disney so much fun? The whole day at MGM was full of this unrestrained joy.
Okay, two great rides in, now for one of my all-time favorites, Star Tours. Really, yes, I am a Star Wars geek (no toys though, I can only go so far), and I loved Star Tours ever since first riding it years ago.
Star Tours – 5 Stars – I still love it!
Again, absolutely no line at all, again, we walked right up to where they assign boarding positions without stopping. Here is where we ran into a bit of a problem. In line, waiting to board, was a family of five, including a small child, oh he had to be about 3, maybe 4 years old. I think he just met the height requirement. I am not lying when I say this kid was terrified. No, he wasn’t a little scared; he was absolutely terrified, as only a small child can be. So, we board the ride and this kid is just screaming at the top of his lungs that we wanted out. Now, with a child that small, is logic going to do any good? The kid wasn’t even 5 years old, no matter what reasoning you give him, he is not going to listen and he wanted off and he wanted off now. I still cannot believe that these two parents were so terrible to that kid, actually calling him a coward and a scardy-cat. Really, is this a vacation? The kid wanted out, if both parents wanted to ride, one could have stayed with the child and the other taken the next ride. The attendant even paused, asking if the child was okay, and he screamed again that we wanted off. Everyone in the car was praying they would get him off, who wants to destroy the Death Star while a terrified 4 year old is screaming in terror? So of course, they didn’t. And true to form, that kid screamed the entire ride. At full throat and he had a healthy throat, let me tell you. He was pulling at his belt, trying to get out. I truly think what these parents did was cruelty. It was an act of pure selfishness, not only for themselves, but for everyone else on the ride. As we left, the parents were still riding the kid for being scared and calling him a “baby” and being “foolish”. One person, however, did turn around and looking at the parents, sarcastically thanked them for the screaming. The parents then walked off in huff. I didn’t say anything, because, really, what can you say? I have learned that people who selfishly only think for themselves will never acknowledge it. These two lived only for their experience and didn’t give a damn how if affected others; and worse, how it affected their child. That is sad. This wasn’t a case of where the child was a little apprehensive, he was 100% terrified and didn’t care how much he liked the movie, he didn’t like being enclosed. Being claustrophobic, I can sympathize.
Well, DW had had enough and wanted a break. I wanted to enjoy the ride without the screaming, so I walked in to do it again as the line was still nearly non-existent. Hey, ever do Star Tours with no sound? We did. The ride operated, but silently. Boy, that ride creaks a lot! When the attendant came to load the next ride, she wondered why everyone wasn’t leaving. We told her about the sound and she told everyone to sit down and she would re-run the ride, with sound this time. She did and I finally had the experience I was looking for. Quick tip, if you want to see the Death Star actually explode, look at the right side screen when R2D2 appears just before going into hyperspace, you will see the Death Star explode in the background. So, it wasn’t 10AM yet, and we had done TOT, Rock and Roller Coaster and Star Tours – 3 times. Other than the poor child who I really felt for, it was a great morning.
To continue, we went to Muppet Vision 3D next.
MV3D – 4 Stars
We love the Muppets, so, naturally, we enjoy this attraction. One hint, be sure to see the entire pre-show, it is as funny as the attraction itself. If you don’t like Muppets, then, obviously, skip it.
Well, now it wasn’t 11AM yet and we had accomplished everything I had planned on doing before our 11:30 AM lunch at Sci-Fi Drive In . So, with a little over a half hour, we walked by The Great Movie ride. Well, skip that, there was a 40 minute wait, not worth it IMHO. So, we went through the Narnia attraction. Fell free to skip this, it was just a time waster and really didn’t offer any new insights to the film except for a couple of props and costumes. We then walked through One Man’s Dream which was also pretty much a time waster. We already knew a lot about Walt since we grew up in the 60’s. We didn’t learn anything new.
Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre – 4 stars
This was the only meal I had at Disney that consisted of a burger and fries. But what a burger and what a setting. DW had the BLT soup and really liked it. Our burgers were served hot and delicious. I think the wait for the food was a bit long, but we just sat back and enjoyed the show. Thank goodness we had the ADR as even though the park was not full if you didn’t have one, you were not getting in. We split a milkshake for dessert.
Leaving lunch left us about 50 minutes until the Lights, Camera, Action stunt show, so we did a little shopping as we walked towards the rear of the park. The show was at 1:20 and we arrived at around 12:45. This is a large theatre, but since the show was only being run twice, we decided, in a rare moment going against our thinking, to see the first show. Normally, we would wait for the second one, but LCA was a must see on our list and we wanted our food to settle before going back on any rides.
LCA – 4 stars
A very entertaining car, motorcycle and stunt show. Again, there aren’t really any bad seats, but you are sitting a bit far back if you are near the top. I tested the zoom lens on my digital camera and got a great shot of the TOT from our seats.
From here, we tried to get out of the theatre and raced up to the Indiana Jones show at 2:00 PM. We just, just made it. But, this then guaranteed that we would end up seeing everything we wanted, with several hours to spare.
IJSP (Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular)
Other than one mishap (I think, the three statues during the opening sequence never lowered their swords, I’m sure that they did the past) a very good and entertaining show. If this is your first trip to MGM, a definite not miss.
Okay, time for a snack and a place on the street to watch the parade. This is your standard character parade; but made a little different as they are all on classic cars decorated for whatever film or event they represent.
Let’s see, now we have 2 hours before dinner, so in the next 2 hours we:
Saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid – 4 stars – Like the Lion King, concentrates on the popular songs and doesn’t try to re-tell the entire story.
Went through the Magic of Disney Animation – 0 stars. Nothing is left, our 1st time through here back in the 90’s we actually viewed the animators drawing Mulan. Now, it is nothing.
Backlot Tour – 2 stars – other than the Canyon ride, there is no longer any backlot here. If you have done it before, no need to do it again.
The Great Movie Ride – 3 stars – The line had dwindled to nothing, it was now a walk on. Campy, but still enjoyable.
Hit all the stores.
Hollywood and Vine – Dinner – 3 stars
We had an ADR for 5:30 and were seated on time. Like we saw at the Sci-Fi earlier in the day, if you didn’t have an ADR, you were not getting in.
DERAIL – DERAIL – DERAIL – DERAIL – DERAIL
SOAP BOX WARNING - I AM GETTING ON MY SOAPBOX!
Let’s talk about those ADRs. This whole process just doesn’t deliver. It fails due to two factors:
A. Those who visit Disney with no real plan of attack have no chance of finding a character meal or a sit down restaurant at any theme park. We were there in off season, booked about 3 months out, and had trouble in two areas:
1. Having to know where in advance we were going to be
2. Discovering that many restaurants were already not available – 90 days out!
B. Two restaurants we did visit, which were both sold out, and I mean they were actually turning people away, ended up with empty tables because the holders of the ADR didn’t show. Both of these happened at MGM, the Sci-Fi Dine in had many empty tables, but it was worse that evening.
Hollywood & Vine Thursday night at MGM: We had a 5:30 reservation. When reserving, I was told that there were no seats available for the Fantasmic package (which I wouldn’t have taken anyway, I was just curious). But, we did get an independent 5:30 reservation, which mirrored, within 15 minutes, the Fantasmic package (huh?). We got there a few minutes early and had to wait, no big deal. I watched as the hostess turned away at least 5 couples, saying they were booked solid. We were seated on time. I guess we took about an hour to eat; we were tired and not in any hurry. I noticed that the table for four next to us was empty the entire time. In fact, by the time we left at 6:30 (and they were STILL turning people away) the dining room was 35 – 40 % empty! I asked the hostess, what gives, the place is empty and you are turning people away? I did this out of earshot of any guest, why stir up the pot? Really long story short (too late), people book multiple ADRs since they don’t really know where they are going to be (see A above) and then, once they decide, fail to cancel the ones they don’t need. Wow, talk about missed dinner checks, and I thought Disney was able to squeeze out every dollar and here were many empty tables, with a lot of demand, going empty. Bad, Bad, Bad!
Therefore, Disney is developing a serious problem with their dining.
1 – They lack, by a lot, enough sit down restaurants to even begin to satisfy demand. They don’t all have to be character meals, just a nice family place to sit down and eat, without having to leave the park. I don’t need to greet Goofy or Chip & Dale when I eat. Having the option is nice, don’t end the character meals, just give us more sit down choices.
2- They allow multiple ADRs for the same group for same times across multiple restaurants. This leads to empty seats (missed revenue anyone?) and more unhappy customers. Disney must begin to disallow this practice and not allow any ADRs within 2 hours of each other.
3. They need to allow for the fact that sometimes, we just don’t know where we will be at 6PM on a given day. Disney needs to create sit down meal space (even sans characters as I say above) that cannot be reserved. Say 20% of any sit down restaurant should be set aside for walk ups. This allows maneuvering space for people who don’t show up and some wiggle room for those who were unable to plan in advance. Based on the number of people turned away on a slow day, those tables will fill. And look, happier Guests!!!
3. Finally, not related to ADRs, they did something even more unforgivable, they sold out to McDonalds; leaving customers a serious lack of healthy (or, shall we say, good tasting) choices, or even a decent variety of choices for those who were either unable to get an ADR or who didn’t have a chance because they didn’t want to over plan their day. I must say, much of the reason I gave Disney a 4 out of 5 was due to this ADR process. It stinks, it doesn’t work and needs to be fixed.
OKAY, STEPPING OFF MY SOAPBOX, RETURING TO MGM
Leaving Hollywood and Vine (good salmon, good salads, fresh fruit, decent beef, dry, extremely dry, nearly desert dry, pork, great mashed potatoes (with garlic and parmesan cheese) and decent baked deserts) we decided to wait until 8:30 for the Fantasmic show. This was a great decision. From 7:00 – to 8:20 (DW was tired, so she very nicely waited for me) I was able to go on TOT (twice, 3 drops and 4 drops), Rock & Roller coaster, and Star Tours twice more.
Fantasmic – 4 Stars
We showed up at the Fantasmic theatre at 8:20, 10 minutes before show time. The theatre was only 50% full. DO THE SECOND SHOW!!! When there is the second show, there is so much open seating that signing up for a Fantasmic dinner package is not needed. We heard the first show was mobbed. Even arriving a mere 10 minutes until show time, we actually found seats in the 4th row, center. Warning, if the breeze is blowing the right direction, these seats may become damp with the spray. We ended up wiping our glasses, several times. The seats do not get you soaked, like say, Kali River Rapids, but if the wind is persistent, it could get a little annoying. Giggling stupidly, we coyly moved back a couple of rows to keep our glasses clear.
Ah, a wonderful day has ended. Back to the CB, a mere 5 minutes from MGM and another night, full of dreams of wild animals, river rapids and of spectro magics.

Day 3 – AK, Mini Golf, Marketplace & MK (seems like a busy day, huh)
Again, early alarm; same reasoning as the last two days. Is that frost on the grass? No, boy, seems almost cold enough. Well, the sun is out, not a cloud in the sky, we’ll just dress for another cooler day. There is mist coming off of the pool. Well, into the car we go and make off for the AK. We wanted to make up for the attractions we have missed.
We got there at 8:30 and, once again, my poor DW just couldn’t get her card to work in the turnstile. What is up with this finger scanning, card reading technology to get into the parks? It just doesn’t work. Watching those around us, I made a mental count and saw that every 4th or 5th ticket is not read and the poor attendant, excuse me, CM, had to fiddle with the card or the reader to make it work. I cannot imagine the lines that would form on a crowded day as people wait and wait for this technology to work. Imagine if your ATM card failed 20% of the time, you would be sure to complaint to your bank. Disney needs to fix this as it causes log jams of people at the entrance. This is the worse place to hold everyone up since they are all excited to get into the park and start playing. I saw many groans and crannied necks to see just what the hold up was. Privately, a frustrated CM told me that they cannot stand working the gates as the cards and readers just don’t work very well.

K Safari Ride – 5 stars (I am not going to try and spell it)
Okay, down the rope comes and make our way to the Safari ride. Third day in a row, we are on ride number one! The sun is bright and the cool air has the animals out and wandering. I think the only one we didn’t get a glimpse of was the white rhino. I even got a few good pictures.
I still wanted to do Kali River Rapids, but the air was still cool and it seems that the AK always has some breeze blowing. Well, the wait for EE was only 5 minutes, so we, excuse me, I did that one again and then we went and did Dinosaur.
Dinosaur – 4 Stars
A good ride, similar in scope to the Indiana Jones Ride at Disneyland in CA. Since we were still early in the day, the line here was also less than 5 minutes. This ride is very jerky and I do not advise it if you have back or neck problems. It also takes place in the dark and really, although it certainly is fun, there isn’t that much to see. Until the last turn, of course.
Okay, it is about 10AM, not really much warmer, but it is our last opportunity to get in Kali River Rapids, since we have a change of clothes in the car, we say, what the heck, let’s go.
Kali River Rapids – 4 Stars
It would be 5 if only the ride was a bit longer. Since the morning was cool, again, there was no wait, and we walked right onto the ride. We sat with 5 other people who dropped $35 for 5 ponchos. Really, IMHO, that is nuts. If you do not want to get wet, don’t go on the ride. I will never bother with ponchos on any water ride. We had a good ride and really, didn’t get that wet. The bottoms of my pants and DW’s jeans were pretty wet, but that was it. We were spared because people were not squiring us from above. The people next to me got the big wave from the second drop. Since their ponchos bunched up on them when they sat down, they got wet anyway. There was on raft full of girls that were on their third trip through and were soaked. As the water itself was very cold, how they managed to get around three times and not freeze to death is excellent testimony to the “we are on vacation and having fun” mantra. I was envious (hey, I like to get wet), but it was time to move on.
So, thus ended the AK for us and we moved along to play a round of mini-golf at the Blizzard Beach – Mickey’s Winterland; I believe it is called, as we had a 2 for 1 coupon. It was fun as mini golf goes, if not rather easy. If you really want to be challenged, go over to the Fantasia mini-golf.
From there, we trucked over to the Disney’ Marketplace for lunch and shopping. This was a HUGE mistake. I had not expected this place to be actually more crowded than any of theme parks, but it was. There were people everywhere, heck, you couldn’t even find parking. Apparently, over the weekend (but prep was underway) was some sort of art festival and numerous sidewalk areas were closed for people doing chalk-art. So, we wanted lunch, but guess what, we had no ADR (this was an unplanned trip). Everything was packed to the gills, even the Earl of Sandwich had, oh say, a 40 minute wait. As I had said before, McDonald’s was out of the question. Why does this place have so few quickie choices, other than Macs (which was mobbed too). We really only wanted just a hot dog as we had an ADR for Narcoosee’s that night and did not want to fill up. We ended up splitting a pretzel dog. We tried to browse the shops, but really, all the shops pretty much had the same stuff we had already seen in the theme parks. We quickly left and actually decided to spend some re-fresher time at the CB since the afternoon was turning out nice.
So, DW decided it was time to pay up for losing the bet. She had not told me what the price was so, as we walked to our room and past the pool, she said, that I had to go jump in the pool with my clothes on. So, if anyone was by the Trinidad South pool last Friday when somebody jumped into the pool fully clothed, well, that was me, paying off my bet. Really, though, as silly as it was, it was fun, and being on vacation is about doing silly stuff, right?
Then she made me do the laundry too.
That evening, we had dinner at the Grand Floridian restaurant Narcoosee’s (spelling, I’m sure). We had an ADR for 5:50 and planned to go to the MK after as it was open until 11:00 PM and had SpectroMagic at 8 & 10 and 9PM Wishes fireworks.
Dinner was outstanding, if not very expensive. DW had the crab encrusted Halibut and I had the surf & turf, so really, the expensiveness is largely our fault! We had agreed that one night we were going to have a nice sit down dinner and this was it. Service and the food were outstanding, as was the view of the MK at sunset, and then as darkness rolled around. We were not rushed at all, and had appetizer, entrée and a dessert, each. We rolled out of there shortly after 7PM. We had self-parked at the GF (really, could they put that farther away and make it a smaller lot?) and a CM said it was no problem leaving it there as we went to the MK. We weren’t causing MK to lose a parking fee since parking is included at all theme parks for resort guests.
So, our new plan was to watch SpectroMagic, see Wishes and then see what other rides we could get in. Well, even at 7:30, Frontierland was still pretty devoid of spectators. So, we walked over to the HM and, really, I am not exaggerating, just walked on, 0 wait time. It has been loving refurbished and remains a MK favorite – 4 stars.
Then it was about 15 minutes to the parade, so, and I swear, without any pushing, shoving or even asking anyone to move, we got front row seats for the parade, without being in anyone’s way. We sat between two families, one from NJ (first one we met that was there for Jersey week) and another from Downers Grove, IL – our next door neighbor city! Before we knew it, the lights were down, the music was up and the parade came by.
SpectroMagic – 4 stars
How could you not be dazzled by this parade? Every float and character is brilliantly illuminated and flashing and dancing to the music. It is very impressive.
But, I have to say this, and maybe because I saw it first, but I liked the old Main Street Electrical parade a little better. SpectroMagic just kind of waltzed by, yet the old parade really danced by, it had much livelier music and a different sort of energy, it seemed more interactive. Just my two cents, but my DW also agreed. So there.
We then walked over the castle and waited for wishes. We placed ourselves about 10 yards in front of the Ice Cream Parlor. This gave us a clear view of the castle and of Tinkerbell.
Wishes – 5 stars
We love fireworks and Wishes didn’t disappoint. A truly wonderful way to continue our evening MK visit. So, what does nearly everyone do after Wishes? They leave. Not us.
It was about 9:30 and we had 90 minutes of open park time.
Can you say PotC with no wait? - 4 stars
Can you say Splash Mountain – we didn’t, the temps were still falling it was too chilly.
Can you say Winnie the Pooh – yep, no wait at all!
Can you say Mickey’s Philharmagic (spelling, again, I know). It was nearing 10PM, and I asked the CM when the last show would start, and she said 11PM. You know, that is one thing I like about Disney, if they say they are open until 11PM, they keep nearly everything (realistically speaking) open until that very time. And here we were, taking full advantage of it because the park was really emptying out. One exception, Peter Pan’s flight was still at 30 minutes. What is it with that ride? So, back on topic, we asked the CM when was the next showing of Mickey’s Philharmagic? She said in two minutes. We made the decision and strolled right in to the theatre (this is a movie?), grabbed our “opera” glasses and sat down in the middle of a row in the 60% empty theatre.
Mickey’s Philharmagic – 5 stars.
I have never laughed so hard and so long in my life. This presentation is utterly genius, true genius. DO NOT MISS IT. It is fun for all ages and something, I believe, Walt Disney himself would have gotten a kick out of. Since I enjoyed so much, sight unseen (we had no idea what to expect) I am not going to give anything away here. Go see it, right now, first thing, you won’t regret it. This is pure Disney at its very, very best. This is why people come down here.
Okay, so what else before 11PM (SpectroMagic was running again, but we opted for more rides since we had seen it earlier), but walking near main street, we could see that there was a ton of open viewing available, even as it started.
People Mover – check (no wait – I admit, something about this calm ride appeals to me, besides, it was neat seeing Tomorrowland at night, all lit up). – 3 Stars
Buzz Lightyear – check, no wait – 4 stars
Monster Inc. Comedy club – check – no wait – 3 stars (perhaps because the theatre was half empty, it just wasn’t that funny).
Time to go before we collapse – check.
What did we learn here, campers? If you want to get a lot of rides in, stay after the parades and fireworks. The lines are short and Fast Passes were not needed.
Back to the CB (after a seeming very long Monorail ride, we were stopped along the line and then held at every station).
Wow, only one more day left, I am even too tired to dream anymore.

Day 4
Yet again, we were up with the sun. It was much harder this time. Like we had the three days earlier, even though we were on the run, we really were taking the time to fully enjoy each ride we were on. I know it sounds like we were rushing, and I have to admit, we were to some extent, yet, all I remember are our smiles and good times we had each day.
At the MK for opening, threw up some Pixie Dust (glad I don’t have to sweep that up everyday) and went directly for BTMR. Yep, we were 4 for 4, first ride of the day and in the front car too, so we were the very first riders of the day!
BTMR – 3 stars – As this ride ages, other coasters, like EE, leave it far, far behind.
Then, no matter how cool it was, over to Splash Mountain.
Splash Mountain – 5 stars – Because we had gotten off of BTMR so quickly, and because it was the 4th cool morning in a row, this one had no wait either. Now, last time at Disney, we rode this 3 or 4 times, and never had more than a few droplets fall on us. This time, we got wetter than we had at the Kali River Rapids. Oh well, the sun will have to dry us out.
Okay, the park was still pretty empty, so we did:
Peter Pan – 10 minute wait
Mickey’s Philharmagic again
Snow White’s Scary Adventures – 5 minutes
Disney Railroad – full journey from Mickey’s Toontown
Space Mountain – 3 stars, this one is again too, about a 15 minute wait.
Carousel of Progress – 3 stars, for nostalgias sake
Then we were tired. The past 4 days had caught up with us. It seemed as if all our energy was sucked up from us.
We managed to stay around for the Wishes parade – 4 stars, but then we were fully done. We drove back to the CB so that I could get a little more sun by the pool (in my swim suit this time) while DW packed (she kicked me out). We watched as Illinois (yeah) beat Ohio State, talk about your dreams fulfilled.
Believe it or not, we had the energy for one more thing. We like symmetry, so on a very stupid whim, we went back to EPCOT, forgetting about the Food & Wine festival and took Soarin one last time. For the only time in 4 days, we stood in a line, as all the Fast Passes were long gone. Yes, we waited about 80 minutes, with many other not so well planning folks. But we talked and joked and laughed at our adventures together; I like it when we meet people from all over and just talk to each other. Somehow, the 80 minutes just rolled by. Soarin was a great way to end the trip. We returned to CM and ate something from the food court, I honestly don’t remember what.

Oh, why haven’t I mentioned “Year of a Million Dreams”? Well, in 4 days, didn’t see anything that gave any sort of clue that there was a promotion on. I’ve said my piece about this elsewhere on this board, suffice to say, we didn’t win anything, nay, we never even saw a Dream Team cast member, nor did we encounter anyone else who had won anything or seen a Dream Team member as well. However, I didn’t expect to, didn’t have any notions of winning or seeing anything, so that aspect has no effect on my 4 out of 5 ranking. We didn’t come to Disney due to this promotion; we came because the time was right. Not being involved here had no bearing on our trip and has no bearing on my trip ranking. Until we came home and I noticed the thread on this board, while we were there, I don’t think I really gave it much thought.

Finally, Check Out at 6AM the next day was a breeze, Hertz got the SUV thingy back and United got us home on time.
We got home a little after noon. Once we settled in, I don’t remember much of Sunday at all, except with my eyes closed.
Thanks for reading this short novel.
Dolby1000 - Dave
You can email me with any questions or comments to Dolby1000@yahoo.com
Sooner or later, I will have a few pictures posted on flickr, I’ll post a link to them when I get them posted.

 

[hoosll]

Thanks for the great report.

I totally agree about the north wind - I always check wind direction over sunniness!

Thanks for the warning on Nemo, I plan to go, but if we don't make it, I won't be crushed.

ADRs - I am convinced that Disney refuses to staff up the restaurants so when all the tables are not filled they give a sigh of relief ... ridiculous!

I agree about the poor child and Star Wars... how cruel. I see so many parents intent on getting their money's worth when the kids would rather just play in the pool.

We will be going for 4 days in 2 weeks so I thoroughly enjoyed sharing your 4 days.