QuickGold
Studios Superman
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2002
- Messages
- 3,187
Missing what happened before? Want to know more? Bored? Check out the previous logs of this TR:
Day 1
Pre-Trip Details
Da Crew: Me, 20 year old college student attending Pace University in New York City, but originally from Connecituct. I'm a Disney Nut(or as my parents call me, Disney Nazi).
Allon "Spock" Moore: Fraternity Brother who is coming with me down there. It took some doing, but I got him to go.
The wakeup call came at 7:00am and it doesnt matter how tired someone is from losing previous nights sleep, when you wake up and realize your going to WDW there is some sort of unknown energy(Gummy Bear Juice?
) that will get you out of your bed. That being said, after hanging up the phone, I was dressed in 2 minutes flat. Spock was actually quicker on his feet than I thought. We got ready and headed to the hotel's restaurant which offered breakfast buffet for $6. Needless to say, I abused my privliges and ate my fair share.
The cab was set to come at 7:45am so I ran back to the room to wait for the call they were there. When I got into my room, I saw the voicemail light was on and sure enough, the guy was waiting. I ran back to the elevator, and got to the front of the hotel and saw the guy. Spock came ensuite and we got in.
The driver was nice and offered some tips on what to see and do(Obviously he doesn't know who he's dealing with.....the Disney Nazi!
). We got into the park, though, the $13-15 the company promises us ballooned into a little over $20 with the fare and tolls(BTW, whoever mentioned Oceola Parkway as an alternative obviously forgot to mention its a toll road hence the reason no one is on there 
). We paid the man and walked in. It was about 8:10am and they hadn't let anyone in yet.
Okay, here's my time to gripe. I felt throughout my trip, Disney did a very poor job with handling the crowds. Did someone not tell Eisner it's Spring Break!? We went to MK, MGM and Epcot during our stay. At MK and MGM, they let people in at 8:45 and didnt drop the rope till 9am! At Epcot, the didnt open till 10! This caused HUGE crowd problems. I've been to WDW in the dead of summer and the park was opened at the latest, 8:30. This was just horrible. We ran to Space Mountain, and waited at least 20 minutes! There is DEFINETLY something wrong when the park opens and you have to wait 20 minutes to get on the first ride. Spock didnt like it so much, as I would quickly learn, he's the kind of guy who is more into getting thrilled and put on the brink of puking than enjoying the theme and enviroment.
Next we hit Alien Encounter and Spock liked it a bit more. Once again, there was a line out of the queuing area. We got in the next show so all was not lost. Spock found the ride a bit more entertaining and liked the part where the alien breaths on your necks and walks on top of the restraints. I, myself, are now less scared of it. I always shake my head when I see 5 year olds on the ride, screaming with joy and I remember I couldnt bring myself to go on till I was 18 and even then I was scared stupid. Oh well, Hakuna Matata!
We headed after AE to Splash Mountain. I wanted to tape the whole ride badly so I wrapped my camera in my Mickey poncho although, we took a flume drop a bit earlier than I expected, and the camcorder got hit bad! It worked fine afterwards, but all you heard on the tape was me screaming, "The camera! God! The Camera!"
. Finally I got the poncho around the camcorder such that only the lens and viewfinder were exposed. I got a great shot of the final drop and was pleased with it. Spock liked Splash Mountain alot and we decided to ride it again later.
After that, we rode BTMRr and the slew of other rides. Just some minor notes on some of the other rides. Our Jungle Cruise guide was by far the worst ever. He seemed like he was doing us a favor by talking about anything on the ship. I actualy recorded it and it was pretty bad, but its not a big deal, as he's more of an exception than anything.
I also noticed a very bad combination is someone like me, who is the Disney Nazi. People like me who research every aspect of WDW and know it all and must follow the rules set forth that I've found in the boards here and on other internet sites, and then you take someone like Spock, who is a novice Disney person and is more concerned with having a fear of death on all the rides. I really felt at times that we could have saved money and gone to a Six Flags because he complained often about how stupid the rides were. An example is Pooh. I like it for the theme, the smell of honey....the little things. He didnt like it all because we werent being thrown around like rag dolls in a dryer that is on its last cycle. I guess if your like me and taking someone who isn't into WDW like we are, then you should give them one helluva disclaimer or save your money and go to Six Flags. On the flip side, he did enjoy MGM alot and Epcot wasn't all that bad. I guess you just have to be more flexible.
We ate lunch at the Plaza Pavillion and it was a really great place. Hardly crowded, good food selection, good portions and decent prices(in WDW that is, outside of the WDW, we could have brought up charges of heresy).
We stayed at the parks until about 5 or 6 and decided to take the free shuttle that the hotel provided back to our hotel. However, we could not find the bus lanes for the charters and missed it. I called the cab company we took in and asked for them to pick us up. They said it would be about 20-30 minutes. We waited in the taxi cab area and one of the drivers came up to us asking if we needed a ride. We told him we were all set and he asked how much we wanted to be driven. Now, being college students, our mooching sensors went off and our eyes glistened. We got him to drive us for $15 and he was a pretty good driver. We called him "Money talks" because thats what he kept on repeating. Many of the Florida cab drivers are of caribbean descent and they are among the nicest people around. He was a great guy and got us to our hotel quickly.
We decided for dinner to eat in one of the restaurants on US192(or as I came to call it, "Highway of Death" as if you tried crossing without a signal, you could be assured to become a permanent bumper sticker ). We found a great Chinese buffet(lots of food + cheap price = happy college kids 
) across the street and ate till we decided that eating any more might cause our belly buttons to go from innies to outties. We went back to our room and relaxed.
Day 3 coming soon!
Things I learned:
Disney nuts need to be around Disney Nuts: Trying to go to the world with someone who has no idea your secretly a Disney nazi can have huge rammifications. I had to change my itinerary from 'Ride everything' to 'Ride as much as possible, while fast passing Splash mountain as much as humanly possible'.
Plaza Pavillion is best place for food: No doubt that if your in MK and want good food for a decent price, look no further than Plaza Pavillion.
Disney forgot its spring break: This will be repeated in future TR's but I really felt that Disney was very bad with the planning. Opening the parks to let people in at 8:45 and then opening rides @ 9 is just bad planning. There was a truckload of people from the rope to the gate and the whole park got swamped in a matter of minutes. No kudos, just lots of coal.
Day 1
Pre-Trip Details
Da Crew: Me, 20 year old college student attending Pace University in New York City, but originally from Connecituct. I'm a Disney Nut(or as my parents call me, Disney Nazi).
Allon "Spock" Moore: Fraternity Brother who is coming with me down there. It took some doing, but I got him to go.
The wakeup call came at 7:00am and it doesnt matter how tired someone is from losing previous nights sleep, when you wake up and realize your going to WDW there is some sort of unknown energy(Gummy Bear Juice?
) that will get you out of your bed. That being said, after hanging up the phone, I was dressed in 2 minutes flat. Spock was actually quicker on his feet than I thought. We got ready and headed to the hotel's restaurant which offered breakfast buffet for $6. Needless to say, I abused my privliges and ate my fair share. The cab was set to come at 7:45am so I ran back to the room to wait for the call they were there. When I got into my room, I saw the voicemail light was on and sure enough, the guy was waiting. I ran back to the elevator, and got to the front of the hotel and saw the guy. Spock came ensuite and we got in.
The driver was nice and offered some tips on what to see and do(Obviously he doesn't know who he's dealing with.....the Disney Nazi!
). We got into the park, though, the $13-15 the company promises us ballooned into a little over $20 with the fare and tolls(BTW, whoever mentioned Oceola Parkway as an alternative obviously forgot to mention its a toll road hence the reason no one is on there ). We paid the man and walked in. It was about 8:10am and they hadn't let anyone in yet.Okay, here's my time to gripe. I felt throughout my trip, Disney did a very poor job with handling the crowds. Did someone not tell Eisner it's Spring Break!? We went to MK, MGM and Epcot during our stay. At MK and MGM, they let people in at 8:45 and didnt drop the rope till 9am! At Epcot, the didnt open till 10! This caused HUGE crowd problems. I've been to WDW in the dead of summer and the park was opened at the latest, 8:30. This was just horrible. We ran to Space Mountain, and waited at least 20 minutes! There is DEFINETLY something wrong when the park opens and you have to wait 20 minutes to get on the first ride. Spock didnt like it so much, as I would quickly learn, he's the kind of guy who is more into getting thrilled and put on the brink of puking than enjoying the theme and enviroment.
Next we hit Alien Encounter and Spock liked it a bit more. Once again, there was a line out of the queuing area. We got in the next show so all was not lost. Spock found the ride a bit more entertaining and liked the part where the alien breaths on your necks and walks on top of the restraints. I, myself, are now less scared of it. I always shake my head when I see 5 year olds on the ride, screaming with joy and I remember I couldnt bring myself to go on till I was 18 and even then I was scared stupid. Oh well, Hakuna Matata!
We headed after AE to Splash Mountain. I wanted to tape the whole ride badly so I wrapped my camera in my Mickey poncho although, we took a flume drop a bit earlier than I expected, and the camcorder got hit bad! It worked fine afterwards, but all you heard on the tape was me screaming, "The camera! God! The Camera!"
. Finally I got the poncho around the camcorder such that only the lens and viewfinder were exposed. I got a great shot of the final drop and was pleased with it. Spock liked Splash Mountain alot and we decided to ride it again later.After that, we rode BTMRr and the slew of other rides. Just some minor notes on some of the other rides. Our Jungle Cruise guide was by far the worst ever. He seemed like he was doing us a favor by talking about anything on the ship. I actualy recorded it and it was pretty bad, but its not a big deal, as he's more of an exception than anything.
I also noticed a very bad combination is someone like me, who is the Disney Nazi. People like me who research every aspect of WDW and know it all and must follow the rules set forth that I've found in the boards here and on other internet sites, and then you take someone like Spock, who is a novice Disney person and is more concerned with having a fear of death on all the rides. I really felt at times that we could have saved money and gone to a Six Flags because he complained often about how stupid the rides were. An example is Pooh. I like it for the theme, the smell of honey....the little things. He didnt like it all because we werent being thrown around like rag dolls in a dryer that is on its last cycle. I guess if your like me and taking someone who isn't into WDW like we are, then you should give them one helluva disclaimer or save your money and go to Six Flags. On the flip side, he did enjoy MGM alot and Epcot wasn't all that bad. I guess you just have to be more flexible.
We ate lunch at the Plaza Pavillion and it was a really great place. Hardly crowded, good food selection, good portions and decent prices(in WDW that is, outside of the WDW, we could have brought up charges of heresy).
We stayed at the parks until about 5 or 6 and decided to take the free shuttle that the hotel provided back to our hotel. However, we could not find the bus lanes for the charters and missed it. I called the cab company we took in and asked for them to pick us up. They said it would be about 20-30 minutes. We waited in the taxi cab area and one of the drivers came up to us asking if we needed a ride. We told him we were all set and he asked how much we wanted to be driven. Now, being college students, our mooching sensors went off and our eyes glistened. We got him to drive us for $15 and he was a pretty good driver. We called him "Money talks" because thats what he kept on repeating. Many of the Florida cab drivers are of caribbean descent and they are among the nicest people around. He was a great guy and got us to our hotel quickly.
We decided for dinner to eat in one of the restaurants on US192(or as I came to call it, "Highway of Death" as if you tried crossing without a signal, you could be assured to become a permanent bumper sticker
). We found a great Chinese buffet(lots of food + cheap price = happy college kids ) across the street and ate till we decided that eating any more might cause our belly buttons to go from innies to outties. We went back to our room and relaxed.Day 3 coming soon!
Things I learned:
Disney nuts need to be around Disney Nuts: Trying to go to the world with someone who has no idea your secretly a Disney nazi can have huge rammifications. I had to change my itinerary from 'Ride everything' to 'Ride as much as possible, while fast passing Splash mountain as much as humanly possible'.
Plaza Pavillion is best place for food: No doubt that if your in MK and want good food for a decent price, look no further than Plaza Pavillion.
Disney forgot its spring break: This will be repeated in future TR's but I really felt that Disney was very bad with the planning. Opening the parks to let people in at 8:45 and then opening rides @ 9 is just bad planning. There was a truckload of people from the rope to the gate and the whole park got swamped in a matter of minutes. No kudos, just lots of coal.
