MrScubaBHT
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2002
- Messages
- 40
Day 5 - Tuesday Morning, July 9.
Im up before the wake-up call as take my shower. And now for something completely different, my Dad and I drive over to McDs and pick up breakfast and bring it back to ASM. Everyone is really excited this morning and we make it to the lobby in time for the Character Caravan. The kids get Minnie Mouses autograph and picture, one of the 7 dwarfs was there, and one of the toys from toy story. Not enough time to get the other two autographs or pictures if we want to make it to MK before park opening. We just miss the first bus, but only have to wait a couple of minutes before the next one. As we approach the MK with the castle in view, the monorail passes overhead and the kids just go wild with excitement. Can we ride that Daddy, can we, huh? I get a big grin on my face remembering my first trip to Disney Land in 1973 and getting to stay in the Disneyland Hotel and riding the monorail from the hotel into the park. Unforgettable, can remember it like it was yesterday. So I give the kids the affirmative, that we will ride the monorail. Before we knew it, we were pulling into MK and heading over to the security check.
Of all of the parks Ive been to, Disney by far handles crowds the best. There must have been at least 12 lines open and each had fewer than 10 people in line. The security did a very quick and through examination of all of our backpacks, fanny packs, etc and all this in under 5 minutes. We make it to the entrance and put our passes in and everything is going so smooth until my father-in-law tries his passes. No go, he gets the big X. We call a CM over and they try it several times and then they tell him he needs to go back to ASM to get it fixed. This doesnt fly very well and after a little discussion the CM said for them to wait and she would see what she could do. My mother-in-law and my mom said that they would wait with him and meet us at Splash Mountain. My dad gives mom the FRS and we make sure the other radios are tuned in to the same channel and privacy code and we hear the train blow its whistle and make a made dash for the station only to see it pull away just as we top the steps. The conductor tells us the next train will be by in 5 minutes. We decide to wait since it it only 8:50 and they havent dropped the rope at the end of Main Street Yet. 2 minutes later the conductor gets a call on the radio, and apparently the 2nd train didnt make it on to the main tracks in time, so now we have to wait about 20 minuets. So we all decide to walk to Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Before we make it to the bottom of the steps my Mom calls to say that they were able to get a temporary pass for my father-in-law for the day (very impressed with CMs ability to handle this problem in a short amount of time) and we meet them at the bottom of the steps. We make it to the end of Main Street just as they drop the rope and the mad dash to the back of the park is on. I notice a group of about 200 kids taking a group picture in front of the Castle and decide that we better hoof it if we want to be able to ride BTMRR and SM before the lines get long. We make it to SM in no time at all and there isnt any lines yet. Unfortunately, we hesitate just a little to long in deciding if we want to do BTMRR or SM first, and the 200 kids I mentioned earlier all rush into SM. Decision made, BTMRR it is and FP for SM. Our FP return time is 9:30 10:30. So we go to the Standby Line for BTMRR and only have a short 5-minute wait.
After we ride BTMRR it is only 9:20, so were not yet within our FP return time for SM. The Country Bears are not too far away and the first showing is just about to start. So we catch the first show of the day. There are only about 25 people total in the theater and it was kind of a let down. This show is definitely better later in the day when the theater is packed and all the kids and adults are clapping and stomping along with the songs.
Its now 9:50 and we head over to SM and head for the FP return. This is my first time to use FP and all I can say is, wow! What a benefit. The Stand-by line wait is now over an hour, but we only have a short 5-minute wait and were on. There are 10 of us that ride, so we take up an entire log. There is a short discussion of who is going to sit up front and get wet. I finally volunteer my son and myself. This is by far the best Log Ride Ive ever been on. The music and theme of the ride are very entertaining. There are several small drops that fool you into thinking its the big one. Once you do make it to the big one (got a kick out of the buzzards talking overhead before the plunge) you think the ride is over, but it keeps going to finish out the Brer Rabbit story. We take a look at our picture and decide that we just have to have it since it has all of our family, my parents, and my wifes sister and her family. We also by an extra photo for my SIL for her birthday. Its here that I take advantage of two other benefits only available to those staying at a Disney Resort. Paying for the purchase with our Ultimate Park Hopper / Room Key and having the purchase delivered to ASM so we dont have to carry it around all day. For me, the biggest benefit was being able to use our passes for all of our purchases and not having to worry about how much money to take into the park with us each day. Only time I had to pay cash was for purchases made at some of the street vendors. (Note: I made a habit of checking our balance each morning with the front desk to make sure our spending wasnt getting out of hand and to match my receipts with the charges. Receipts and charges always matched).
The group decides to head over to HM to get FP. Once we arrive the find there to only be a short 5 10 minute wait and we decide to forgo the FP and use the Stand-by line. We make it into the Stretch room within 8 minutes; so glad we didnt waste a FP here. As always HM was a hit with both adults and kids. Upon exiting HM we discovered a light rain beginning to fall. So we head over to the shelter for the River Boat since it is just pulling in to dock and there isnt any line.
We ride the River Boat and the kids run all over looking at the paddle wheel, the steam engine, and the best part is we stay dry while it begins to rain. Just as were pulling in to dock the rain stops. Thats what I call timing.
Its time to hope on over to POC and the Tiki Room. Once again we are blessed to find a short line for POC and have less that a 10-minute wait!!!! I thought this was supposed to be one of the most crowded weeks for WDW. So far, the lines for all of the rides except SM and BTMRR have been under 10 minutes and FP have not been needed. We ride POC and this is another big hit with the adults and kids alike. After exiting the ride we head straight for the Tiki Room just in time to catch the start of the pre-show. The Disney Gods must be with us today, as our timing has been excellent. No wait for the River Boat, No Wait for the Country Bears, and now no wait for the Tiki Room.
After Tiki, we decide that its time to head back to Tomorrow Land and get a FP for Space Mountain. I get everyones pass and get FP for Space Mountain. FP return time is just under an hour. So we ride the Tomorrow Land Transit Authority (no line, walked right on), and COP (again, great timing and no wait). After COP we still have about 30 minutes before our FP return time to Space Mountain, so we decide to do Alien Encounter (again short wait for previous show to finish). After Alien Encounter we are within our FP return time and we get our FPs for Buzz. Stand-by line for both Space Mountain and Buzz are now both over an hour long. But with FP in hand we walk right in to Space Mountain and are put on the right track with now wait. Seems like Space Mountain is darker than the last time I rode (much better). My daughter (10) is just now starting to want to ride roller coasters (son 8 has loved them since he was tall enough to ride his first at age 6) and she has been eagerly anticipating Space Mountain for months and she really loved it. Now for the best part about going to WDW with a large group of chickens!!!! You get their FPs and get to ride again. We had 6 extra FPs since my Mom, Dad, MIL, FIL, Niece, and Nephew wouldnt ride. So we all ride again and this time we get the left track. WhaaaHooo! We were able to ride Space Mountain twice in under 15 minutes . Yes, life is good!!!! Now what to do, we still have another 20 minutes to go before our FP return for Buzz. So we decide to ride the Tomorrow Land Speedway. Its now a little after 12:00 and this is the longest line we have encountered so far, a whopping 15 minutes. All tracks are open and the line moves right along and all of us ride in separate cars. My son rear ends his Aunt and got a big kick out of being able to drive the car and ride by himself for the first time (just made the height requirement).
Now its time for Buzz. Again, FPs are great. I got a big kick out of walking past all of the people just standing in line with a big silly grin on my face as we go to the front of the line. After a short 5-minute wait we are on Buzz and for my first attempt I score 127,000 points and beat everybody (thanks to the hints I found on this board, wink wink).
Sometime between all of this we did manage to get a bite to eat at Pecos Bills, I think right after POC and Tiki before we headed to Tomorrow Land.
After Buzz, my wifes parents, her sister and family give out (what a bunch of wimps) and they head back to ASM to go lounge around the pool. This is just my opinion, but why spend a whole lot of money just to go back to the motel and swim in the pool???? They were done for the day, not coming back later in the evening to catch the parade or fireworks. Oh well, to each their own.
So its down to my parents and us. We spend the rest of the day riding some of the more minor attractions that we bypassed earlier in the day such as the Train, Its A Small World, Jungle Cruise, Etc For the rest of the day we did not have to use another FP. Everything we did had a wait time of 15 minutes or less. Again I repeat my questions, Where are all of the long, long, lines I had been reading about in the posts leading up to our trip???? Did we just do a better job of utilizing the FP and touring the Park???? Who knows, but we sure did enjoy our day and we accomplished a lot (still had a few things left, but we did all of the major rides and most of the minor attractions by 8:00 PM).
We decide its time to grab a spot for the night parade and fireworks and luck out to find a spot behind a family on the right side of the central hub (at 8:15 PM, again I think the Disney Gods are with us). Even better is the roped walk-way to fantasy land is to our left, so we will have a clear view of all of the parade coming into the hub and passing in front of us. We stake out our spot and Dad and I go pick up Pizzas at the little eatery right as you enter Tomorrow Land. Well everything is just going great and were talking to the people around us and the parade its 8:55 within minutes of the start of the parade when this man and woman from somewhere from the middle east decide they are going to hop the rope and stand right in front of us. Whoooa Nellie! Who do they think they are, weve been here for an hour and they think they can just hop the rope and stand right in front of us (not to mention there isnt any room). So I ask the guy just what does he think hes doing and I explain to him that we along with everyone around us staked out our parade spot well over an hour ago and that he would need to find someplace else to view the parade. Well, the guy just looks at me and tells me that I dont own the sidewalk and hell do as he !##$@# pleases. Well its all I can do to tell this guy off, but keeping a level head I call the CM over that has been keeping the pedestrian traffic moving and she asks us if we can scooch over a little bit and let these people in. Well, my mom says were all schooched up and I tell the CM that all of us have been waiting here for over an hour and have no intention of letting this couple in front of us. I again tell the guy that he and his friend need to go find a some other place and he turns to me and tells me that he isnt talking to me and he starts to pick the rope up and starts to step over. Thats it, Ive had enough!!! I move over in front of him and stare him right in the face to let him know that we were not going to be intimidated into giving up our prime spot. After about 5 seconds he realizes that none of us are going to give in and he and his friend move of in a hurry. I still cant believe that they thought they could just wedge themselves in and think everyone would be ok with that. I also cant believe the CM had the audacity to ask us to let them in! Whats up with that? Anyway, after it was all said and done, this lady that was behind me with her family said that She had my back and she also wasnt going to put up with this guy!.
Its parade time and these ended up being the best seats in the house. We all had a unobstructed view of the entire parade and to make things better, we didnt even half to stand. I also was able to take excellent video. After the parade we moved up just a little after the crowed dispersed so we could have a better view of the castle for the fireworks. Again we had excellent viewing for Tinker Bell and the Fireworks.
We started heading up Main Street with about 5 minutes left to go and made it to the exit right as the Grand Finale was going off. Made it to the bus stop ahead of the crowd and only had to wait for the 2nd bus, maybe 15 minutes.
So far the bus transportation service has been excellent and make it easy for some of the party to leave when they want.
Oh, forgot to mention that we had purchased our E-night tickets before we left ASM this morning but since we were able to ride everything we wanted to and re-ride a few others we decided not to do E-night. Went the City Hall around 4:30 PM and talked to a CM out front and asked him if I could get a refund. He told me to get in line and they could issue a refund. Well, I got to the font of the line and I give the guy our E-night passes and said that we wouldnt be able to use them and wanted a refund and he tells me all sales are final on E-night passes. I quickly find the guy I was talking to earlier and he says the same thing. So I ask him why he told me just a few minutes ago they would be happy to refund the tickets. He said he didnt recall telling me that but would make a one time exception and refund us the money on the E-night tickets.
All in all, a great day at MK!!!! Tomorrow its Epcot!
Im up before the wake-up call as take my shower. And now for something completely different, my Dad and I drive over to McDs and pick up breakfast and bring it back to ASM. Everyone is really excited this morning and we make it to the lobby in time for the Character Caravan. The kids get Minnie Mouses autograph and picture, one of the 7 dwarfs was there, and one of the toys from toy story. Not enough time to get the other two autographs or pictures if we want to make it to MK before park opening. We just miss the first bus, but only have to wait a couple of minutes before the next one. As we approach the MK with the castle in view, the monorail passes overhead and the kids just go wild with excitement. Can we ride that Daddy, can we, huh? I get a big grin on my face remembering my first trip to Disney Land in 1973 and getting to stay in the Disneyland Hotel and riding the monorail from the hotel into the park. Unforgettable, can remember it like it was yesterday. So I give the kids the affirmative, that we will ride the monorail. Before we knew it, we were pulling into MK and heading over to the security check.
Of all of the parks Ive been to, Disney by far handles crowds the best. There must have been at least 12 lines open and each had fewer than 10 people in line. The security did a very quick and through examination of all of our backpacks, fanny packs, etc and all this in under 5 minutes. We make it to the entrance and put our passes in and everything is going so smooth until my father-in-law tries his passes. No go, he gets the big X. We call a CM over and they try it several times and then they tell him he needs to go back to ASM to get it fixed. This doesnt fly very well and after a little discussion the CM said for them to wait and she would see what she could do. My mother-in-law and my mom said that they would wait with him and meet us at Splash Mountain. My dad gives mom the FRS and we make sure the other radios are tuned in to the same channel and privacy code and we hear the train blow its whistle and make a made dash for the station only to see it pull away just as we top the steps. The conductor tells us the next train will be by in 5 minutes. We decide to wait since it it only 8:50 and they havent dropped the rope at the end of Main Street Yet. 2 minutes later the conductor gets a call on the radio, and apparently the 2nd train didnt make it on to the main tracks in time, so now we have to wait about 20 minuets. So we all decide to walk to Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Before we make it to the bottom of the steps my Mom calls to say that they were able to get a temporary pass for my father-in-law for the day (very impressed with CMs ability to handle this problem in a short amount of time) and we meet them at the bottom of the steps. We make it to the end of Main Street just as they drop the rope and the mad dash to the back of the park is on. I notice a group of about 200 kids taking a group picture in front of the Castle and decide that we better hoof it if we want to be able to ride BTMRR and SM before the lines get long. We make it to SM in no time at all and there isnt any lines yet. Unfortunately, we hesitate just a little to long in deciding if we want to do BTMRR or SM first, and the 200 kids I mentioned earlier all rush into SM. Decision made, BTMRR it is and FP for SM. Our FP return time is 9:30 10:30. So we go to the Standby Line for BTMRR and only have a short 5-minute wait.
After we ride BTMRR it is only 9:20, so were not yet within our FP return time for SM. The Country Bears are not too far away and the first showing is just about to start. So we catch the first show of the day. There are only about 25 people total in the theater and it was kind of a let down. This show is definitely better later in the day when the theater is packed and all the kids and adults are clapping and stomping along with the songs.
Its now 9:50 and we head over to SM and head for the FP return. This is my first time to use FP and all I can say is, wow! What a benefit. The Stand-by line wait is now over an hour, but we only have a short 5-minute wait and were on. There are 10 of us that ride, so we take up an entire log. There is a short discussion of who is going to sit up front and get wet. I finally volunteer my son and myself. This is by far the best Log Ride Ive ever been on. The music and theme of the ride are very entertaining. There are several small drops that fool you into thinking its the big one. Once you do make it to the big one (got a kick out of the buzzards talking overhead before the plunge) you think the ride is over, but it keeps going to finish out the Brer Rabbit story. We take a look at our picture and decide that we just have to have it since it has all of our family, my parents, and my wifes sister and her family. We also by an extra photo for my SIL for her birthday. Its here that I take advantage of two other benefits only available to those staying at a Disney Resort. Paying for the purchase with our Ultimate Park Hopper / Room Key and having the purchase delivered to ASM so we dont have to carry it around all day. For me, the biggest benefit was being able to use our passes for all of our purchases and not having to worry about how much money to take into the park with us each day. Only time I had to pay cash was for purchases made at some of the street vendors. (Note: I made a habit of checking our balance each morning with the front desk to make sure our spending wasnt getting out of hand and to match my receipts with the charges. Receipts and charges always matched).
The group decides to head over to HM to get FP. Once we arrive the find there to only be a short 5 10 minute wait and we decide to forgo the FP and use the Stand-by line. We make it into the Stretch room within 8 minutes; so glad we didnt waste a FP here. As always HM was a hit with both adults and kids. Upon exiting HM we discovered a light rain beginning to fall. So we head over to the shelter for the River Boat since it is just pulling in to dock and there isnt any line.
We ride the River Boat and the kids run all over looking at the paddle wheel, the steam engine, and the best part is we stay dry while it begins to rain. Just as were pulling in to dock the rain stops. Thats what I call timing.
Its time to hope on over to POC and the Tiki Room. Once again we are blessed to find a short line for POC and have less that a 10-minute wait!!!! I thought this was supposed to be one of the most crowded weeks for WDW. So far, the lines for all of the rides except SM and BTMRR have been under 10 minutes and FP have not been needed. We ride POC and this is another big hit with the adults and kids alike. After exiting the ride we head straight for the Tiki Room just in time to catch the start of the pre-show. The Disney Gods must be with us today, as our timing has been excellent. No wait for the River Boat, No Wait for the Country Bears, and now no wait for the Tiki Room.
After Tiki, we decide that its time to head back to Tomorrow Land and get a FP for Space Mountain. I get everyones pass and get FP for Space Mountain. FP return time is just under an hour. So we ride the Tomorrow Land Transit Authority (no line, walked right on), and COP (again, great timing and no wait). After COP we still have about 30 minutes before our FP return time to Space Mountain, so we decide to do Alien Encounter (again short wait for previous show to finish). After Alien Encounter we are within our FP return time and we get our FPs for Buzz. Stand-by line for both Space Mountain and Buzz are now both over an hour long. But with FP in hand we walk right in to Space Mountain and are put on the right track with now wait. Seems like Space Mountain is darker than the last time I rode (much better). My daughter (10) is just now starting to want to ride roller coasters (son 8 has loved them since he was tall enough to ride his first at age 6) and she has been eagerly anticipating Space Mountain for months and she really loved it. Now for the best part about going to WDW with a large group of chickens!!!! You get their FPs and get to ride again. We had 6 extra FPs since my Mom, Dad, MIL, FIL, Niece, and Nephew wouldnt ride. So we all ride again and this time we get the left track. WhaaaHooo! We were able to ride Space Mountain twice in under 15 minutes . Yes, life is good!!!! Now what to do, we still have another 20 minutes to go before our FP return for Buzz. So we decide to ride the Tomorrow Land Speedway. Its now a little after 12:00 and this is the longest line we have encountered so far, a whopping 15 minutes. All tracks are open and the line moves right along and all of us ride in separate cars. My son rear ends his Aunt and got a big kick out of being able to drive the car and ride by himself for the first time (just made the height requirement).
Now its time for Buzz. Again, FPs are great. I got a big kick out of walking past all of the people just standing in line with a big silly grin on my face as we go to the front of the line. After a short 5-minute wait we are on Buzz and for my first attempt I score 127,000 points and beat everybody (thanks to the hints I found on this board, wink wink).
Sometime between all of this we did manage to get a bite to eat at Pecos Bills, I think right after POC and Tiki before we headed to Tomorrow Land.
After Buzz, my wifes parents, her sister and family give out (what a bunch of wimps) and they head back to ASM to go lounge around the pool. This is just my opinion, but why spend a whole lot of money just to go back to the motel and swim in the pool???? They were done for the day, not coming back later in the evening to catch the parade or fireworks. Oh well, to each their own.
So its down to my parents and us. We spend the rest of the day riding some of the more minor attractions that we bypassed earlier in the day such as the Train, Its A Small World, Jungle Cruise, Etc For the rest of the day we did not have to use another FP. Everything we did had a wait time of 15 minutes or less. Again I repeat my questions, Where are all of the long, long, lines I had been reading about in the posts leading up to our trip???? Did we just do a better job of utilizing the FP and touring the Park???? Who knows, but we sure did enjoy our day and we accomplished a lot (still had a few things left, but we did all of the major rides and most of the minor attractions by 8:00 PM).
We decide its time to grab a spot for the night parade and fireworks and luck out to find a spot behind a family on the right side of the central hub (at 8:15 PM, again I think the Disney Gods are with us). Even better is the roped walk-way to fantasy land is to our left, so we will have a clear view of all of the parade coming into the hub and passing in front of us. We stake out our spot and Dad and I go pick up Pizzas at the little eatery right as you enter Tomorrow Land. Well everything is just going great and were talking to the people around us and the parade its 8:55 within minutes of the start of the parade when this man and woman from somewhere from the middle east decide they are going to hop the rope and stand right in front of us. Whoooa Nellie! Who do they think they are, weve been here for an hour and they think they can just hop the rope and stand right in front of us (not to mention there isnt any room). So I ask the guy just what does he think hes doing and I explain to him that we along with everyone around us staked out our parade spot well over an hour ago and that he would need to find someplace else to view the parade. Well, the guy just looks at me and tells me that I dont own the sidewalk and hell do as he !##$@# pleases. Well its all I can do to tell this guy off, but keeping a level head I call the CM over that has been keeping the pedestrian traffic moving and she asks us if we can scooch over a little bit and let these people in. Well, my mom says were all schooched up and I tell the CM that all of us have been waiting here for over an hour and have no intention of letting this couple in front of us. I again tell the guy that he and his friend need to go find a some other place and he turns to me and tells me that he isnt talking to me and he starts to pick the rope up and starts to step over. Thats it, Ive had enough!!! I move over in front of him and stare him right in the face to let him know that we were not going to be intimidated into giving up our prime spot. After about 5 seconds he realizes that none of us are going to give in and he and his friend move of in a hurry. I still cant believe that they thought they could just wedge themselves in and think everyone would be ok with that. I also cant believe the CM had the audacity to ask us to let them in! Whats up with that? Anyway, after it was all said and done, this lady that was behind me with her family said that She had my back and she also wasnt going to put up with this guy!.
Its parade time and these ended up being the best seats in the house. We all had a unobstructed view of the entire parade and to make things better, we didnt even half to stand. I also was able to take excellent video. After the parade we moved up just a little after the crowed dispersed so we could have a better view of the castle for the fireworks. Again we had excellent viewing for Tinker Bell and the Fireworks.
We started heading up Main Street with about 5 minutes left to go and made it to the exit right as the Grand Finale was going off. Made it to the bus stop ahead of the crowd and only had to wait for the 2nd bus, maybe 15 minutes.
So far the bus transportation service has been excellent and make it easy for some of the party to leave when they want.
Oh, forgot to mention that we had purchased our E-night tickets before we left ASM this morning but since we were able to ride everything we wanted to and re-ride a few others we decided not to do E-night. Went the City Hall around 4:30 PM and talked to a CM out front and asked him if I could get a refund. He told me to get in line and they could issue a refund. Well, I got to the font of the line and I give the guy our E-night passes and said that we wouldnt be able to use them and wanted a refund and he tells me all sales are final on E-night passes. I quickly find the guy I was talking to earlier and he says the same thing. So I ask him why he told me just a few minutes ago they would be happy to refund the tickets. He said he didnt recall telling me that but would make a one time exception and refund us the money on the E-night tickets.
All in all, a great day at MK!!!! Tomorrow its Epcot!
