8caliace
United States Air Force
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2000
- Messages
- 324
This was our 4th trip to WDW and by far the most stressful in planning, but the most rewarding and relaxing trip yet.
The Crew:
Ace(me): 30, Active duty Air Force currently stationed in TX
Nancy: DW, 29. Civil service job on the base
Nick: 6, DS. First grader on fall break
Cameron: 8 months, DD. Spoiled lil girl.
JoAnn: 57, my mom. Lives in Vegas, always ready to spoil the grandchildren
Rob: 23, my brother. Works for an airline, and training as EMT/firefighter in Las Vegas
Ali: 27, brother's girlfriend. Also works for airline.
Tom: 27, Active duty Air Force stationed in California
Day 5 started at a very leisurely pace. This was Columbus Day, so we anticipated crowds wherever we went. So far, we had only spent one day visiting a Disney park, so we had 4 days left on our Military Salute passes. We also had 1 day left on the Universal Military passes. We wanted to get the most our of our Disney days, so we opted to finish off Universal today, and hopefully find lesser crowds at Disney for the remainder of the week. Piled into the van and off. Paid for parking, and we could already see the crowds by the amount of cars in the lots. Oh well, we did not mind. Made our way into the Studios to try to hit those final Express passes we had from Kodak. First stop was Jaws. Wait time posted was 30 minutes. We were on within about 2 minutes with the passes. I am glad this was the case as I would have been very disappointed had I wasted 30 minutes in line for that ride. Incredibly disappointing. Made our way up to MIB. Mom and Nancy sat out with the kids. Again a very disorganized line for Express pass holders. We waited about 10 minutes just to get in the building. But unlike Jaws, this ride was worth every second of waiting. Definitely a big hit with our group. We all loaded into one car and were off. Nick sat in the middle front and blasted away with some coaching from me. We managed to blast our opposing car about 6 times, while we took no hits. We made sure that the job of pushing the "red button" went to Nick, and he did his job perfectly. Thumbs way up for this ride. Slid down the way to Back to the Future. Wait of about 5 minutes with the passes. Not a bad ride, but far from great. Nick seemed to like it the most out of the group. Yet another stop in for Twister. Nick has a fascination with tornadoes, as we live in the middle of "tornado alley" in North Texas. He definitely got his fill here. Did some light snacking, as we had a PS for Boma later. Crossed back over to IOA for a final walk around. Our final "must-do" was Spiderman. Express passes had us on within 5 minutes. This ride was all that I had expected. Definitely a unique ride that is very impressive. Everyone really enjoyed it, and then we happened upon Spiderman himself for some pictures. He spent about 2-3 minutes asking Nick for his help in fighting the bad guys and talking. We got a great pic of them posing together. After wandering through some shops, it was time to load up and head out.
Drove back to CSR to get refreshed and dressed for Boma. Everyone had requested a return visit to Boma after our last trip. Checked in about 15 minutes ahead of PS, but they didn't seat us until about 20 minutes later. Had a nice big table against the windows in back. Definitely another big thumbs up from the group. Some of the things that stood out for me on this visit: Prime Rib was great again, loved the Bok Choy, the potato salad, cous cous, and potatoes with Afritude. Disappointed to not see the Chicken Pepper Pot soup, but I was okay. Of course, dessert was a hit. We all took one trip initially to sample everything. Personal faves: zebra domes, fruit tarts, and pineapple cheesecake. Nick stepped up and took the job of dessert runner. Once everyone had established their faves, Nick made trips to the dessert area and brought them back. He must have made about 5-6 trips for us getting more and more stuff. He even earned himself a couple dollars in tips for his work. Stuffed to the gills, we made the decision to head back to CSR. Swimming had been discussed on the ride, but all we could envision was us sinking to the bottom, so we took care of some laundry. Nick and Rob made some little friends as they were out finding frogs. This became a nightly ritual to see who could find the most. Finished up the laundry and turned in for the evening.
Up next, Day 6 @ EPCOT
The Crew:
Ace(me): 30, Active duty Air Force currently stationed in TX
Nancy: DW, 29. Civil service job on the base
Nick: 6, DS. First grader on fall break
Cameron: 8 months, DD. Spoiled lil girl.
JoAnn: 57, my mom. Lives in Vegas, always ready to spoil the grandchildren
Rob: 23, my brother. Works for an airline, and training as EMT/firefighter in Las Vegas
Ali: 27, brother's girlfriend. Also works for airline.
Tom: 27, Active duty Air Force stationed in California
Day 5 started at a very leisurely pace. This was Columbus Day, so we anticipated crowds wherever we went. So far, we had only spent one day visiting a Disney park, so we had 4 days left on our Military Salute passes. We also had 1 day left on the Universal Military passes. We wanted to get the most our of our Disney days, so we opted to finish off Universal today, and hopefully find lesser crowds at Disney for the remainder of the week. Piled into the van and off. Paid for parking, and we could already see the crowds by the amount of cars in the lots. Oh well, we did not mind. Made our way into the Studios to try to hit those final Express passes we had from Kodak. First stop was Jaws. Wait time posted was 30 minutes. We were on within about 2 minutes with the passes. I am glad this was the case as I would have been very disappointed had I wasted 30 minutes in line for that ride. Incredibly disappointing. Made our way up to MIB. Mom and Nancy sat out with the kids. Again a very disorganized line for Express pass holders. We waited about 10 minutes just to get in the building. But unlike Jaws, this ride was worth every second of waiting. Definitely a big hit with our group. We all loaded into one car and were off. Nick sat in the middle front and blasted away with some coaching from me. We managed to blast our opposing car about 6 times, while we took no hits. We made sure that the job of pushing the "red button" went to Nick, and he did his job perfectly. Thumbs way up for this ride. Slid down the way to Back to the Future. Wait of about 5 minutes with the passes. Not a bad ride, but far from great. Nick seemed to like it the most out of the group. Yet another stop in for Twister. Nick has a fascination with tornadoes, as we live in the middle of "tornado alley" in North Texas. He definitely got his fill here. Did some light snacking, as we had a PS for Boma later. Crossed back over to IOA for a final walk around. Our final "must-do" was Spiderman. Express passes had us on within 5 minutes. This ride was all that I had expected. Definitely a unique ride that is very impressive. Everyone really enjoyed it, and then we happened upon Spiderman himself for some pictures. He spent about 2-3 minutes asking Nick for his help in fighting the bad guys and talking. We got a great pic of them posing together. After wandering through some shops, it was time to load up and head out.
Drove back to CSR to get refreshed and dressed for Boma. Everyone had requested a return visit to Boma after our last trip. Checked in about 15 minutes ahead of PS, but they didn't seat us until about 20 minutes later. Had a nice big table against the windows in back. Definitely another big thumbs up from the group. Some of the things that stood out for me on this visit: Prime Rib was great again, loved the Bok Choy, the potato salad, cous cous, and potatoes with Afritude. Disappointed to not see the Chicken Pepper Pot soup, but I was okay. Of course, dessert was a hit. We all took one trip initially to sample everything. Personal faves: zebra domes, fruit tarts, and pineapple cheesecake. Nick stepped up and took the job of dessert runner. Once everyone had established their faves, Nick made trips to the dessert area and brought them back. He must have made about 5-6 trips for us getting more and more stuff. He even earned himself a couple dollars in tips for his work. Stuffed to the gills, we made the decision to head back to CSR. Swimming had been discussed on the ride, but all we could envision was us sinking to the bottom, so we took care of some laundry. Nick and Rob made some little friends as they were out finding frogs. This became a nightly ritual to see who could find the most. Finished up the laundry and turned in for the evening.
Up next, Day 6 @ EPCOT
