mrsmouse
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2001
- Messages
- 110
Our WDW Trip Report: dedicated to those who reported before me... and to encourage those who haven't yet reported.
Cast:
DD- Amber 8 yo
DD- Brittney 11yo
DH- Darnell
Me (DW)- Sue- Disney planner
Friends: Tricia, Ilya, DN (12 yo nephew), DD (11yo), DD (2yo)
Act One: Planning
Back in August 2001, we began looking at possible dates of travel during the girls' school vacations, possibilities were November, February, or April. I began pricing accommodations via Disney Club (already a member), AAA, and Mousesavers discount codes. Plans came to a standstill after Sept. 11th. I knew we'd travel again, but when was even more an issue. Prices were terrific for November, but it was too soon. We decided on April as our spring vacation was 3 weeks after Easter. I hoped it would mean a decrease in the crowds, and perhaps value season for the hotels.
I initially made ressies at CBR in WDW for 5 nights@ $120. night, knowing we'd stay longer but probably somewhere offsite. I really wanted to stay at a moderate, after staying at All-Star Music in the Spring of 1998. I signed up for travelocity.com's fare watcher for airfare from Newark to MCO, and studied the Disboards and all of my favorite Disney resource websites for strategies and tips. I signed up for National's Emerald Club for free with DC, but made no firm ressies.
It wasn't until after the new year that I grabbed airfares for $154. per person plus tax, on a non-stop with Continental, with Orbitz. I played with dates and found staying longer that I had originally planned yielded cheaper airfares. I was looking at $200./ person 'til I tried different dates. We left on a Friday and stayed through 'til the following Monday, for a total of 10 nights/ 11 days. Also, I loved using Orbitz, not only did they have the best online prices, I had a choice of obtaining the paper tix (which I did), and they gave me seat assignments! They updated me with a 5 minute change in the flight schedule about a month before the flight, and emailed me (I realized after returning home) of flight updates on the dates of the flights confirming them. It was wonderful service. I will use them again.
We were very interested in the springtime magic cruise DCL cruise rates. After checking a few online TA's we booked a 3 day DCL cruise with mouseearvacations.com. Michelle (our TA) was patient and NOT pushy and found a secret porthole category 10 stateroom for us at a great price! They gave us a $25.00 ship credit for booking, then DC had the $50.00 coupon for ship credit, so we got $75.00!
Because of the cruise, we decided to budget the rest of the vacation by staying offsite in a suite-type hotel, and I planned to cook 1 or 2 dinners, and prepare breakfasts and snacks to carry into the parks. I chose Tropical Palms in Kissimmee because of the $49.00 AAA studio rate, and because we liked the idea of individual cottages. It came with good reviews from mouseplanet.com and Disboard members. I reserved 6 nights here, and 1 night after we return from the cruise.
I originally reserved with a noname rental car place due to price, then went with National for finally coming up with a comparable price AND the choice of the Emerald aisle. We reserved a standard car for 11 days for $274. that included taxes, etc. etc.
I made PS's for us & friends for O'Hana's arrival night, Crystal Palace, Boma (friends last night), and Chef Mickey's our last night. I clipped online coupons for Planet Hollywood, Jungle Jim's, DC, and joined Connections for WDW tix, 4 day plus hopper passes & 4 Q & C vouchers.
Ready or not WDW, here we come!!!!
Act 2: Friday, April 19th 2002
The alarm clock was set for 4am, we got up at 4:45! Our stress was not being able to find the $8.00/day long term parking lot at Newark International. When we did know where it was there was traffic! We chose the $12.00/day lot and proceeded to the monorail and the terminal. Checking in was painless. Orbitz already assigned us seats! Security was obvious and I was stopped for the roll of quarters in my pocketbook, and a few safety pins. This initiated a full inspection of my bags and removal of my sandals checking for explosives. I was impressed but it freaked the kids a bit. I reassured them they were keeping us safe! We arrived at the gate with about 10 minutes to spare and had a pleasant flight with a surprise breakfast of cereal, a banana and milk. I didn't think they were serving a meal, so this was a nice surprise.
After we arrived in Orlando, we picked up our bags and walked across a street, a short walk, to the rental car garage. What a treat to find a 4x4 in the Emerald aisle! Remember I reserved a standard, but I had a choice of whatever was in the aisle. I put a red Mickey on the antenna and we drove away in a nice Suzuki Vitaro. We loved it!
We found the hotel, a campsite for RV's and individual cottages of assorted studios and 1 and 2 BR's. We were able to check in early without a problem, and went swimming! What beautiful Florida weather! This was a pleasant and clean hotel. There were 2 things we didn't care for. 1 was there was no phone line in the room (a fact I probably knew at one point but we didn't have a laptop at that point so no biggee). A BIG problem for DH with laptop anticipating internet access. We later found a hookup in the lobby open 7a to 11p. It worked. Also, this studio (the cheapo) was TINY. The bathroom was a bit larger than an airline potty with a shower! I know we weren't in the room much, but at 5'6" I needed to squat to rinse out the shampoo in my hair. I pity anyone taller than us! Other than that, the pool was decent, they had a reasonable café for breakfast and lunch, a little store to purchase perishables, etc, and a nice laundry area. It was a 7 out of 10.
We arrived early for our PS at O'hana's and rode the monorail around. What a wonderful way to begin our vacation! We met our friends and were seated right away. They had been there since Tuesday, were staying at the Caribe Royale, and had already visited MK, MGM, & Blizzard Beach. It was a wonderful meal. The assortment of goodies on our lazy susan was refilled as needed. The shrimp dumplings & teriyaki wings were favorites. The meats came after and we liked the turkey and beef the best. The kids enjoyed the hoola hooping and coconut races, and the pineapple & caramel dessert was yummy. A $100.00 meal for the 4 of us including tax & gratuity. We saw a beautiful sunset & the water pageant from our window but I had planned on viewing it from the lagoon. L Oh well, we walked on the beach and enjoyed the splendor. AAAhhh, vacation.
Saturday After a quick breakfast in the room, and fanny packs full of snacks, we were off to AK. What a great choice for a Sat.! We walked on Dinosaur, the rapids, the safari, the train to conserv. Station, and bugs life. We ate lunch at Tusker House, ordering 2 meals with vouchers, and 1 kids meal and additional drink. Paid $6.00 & change. It was ok. DH & I shared a huge sandwich, we all shared fries and desserts. We didn't finish it all.
Saw great acrobats after lunch, worth stopping for, and finally caught up with friends after the parade. We were headed to bugs life and hotel for a break and dinner, and they were headed to safari and hotel. We agreed to meet later at Epcot. We were using our cellphones mostly, we had walkie talkies, but so did everyone else, didn't work so well.
We ate spaghetti in our room, had a swim, and headed to Epcot. It was later than I had liked, 7p, but WS was open 'til 9p, and then there was Illuminations. I waited for our friends while DH & DD's went on the Earth. A nice surprise for me was that even though literature says that FW closes at 7p, they keep Test Track, HISTA, & the Earth ride open 'til 9p. This was great! We met our friends and headed towards TT. Standby was 45 mins, so we (me, DH, & 4 older kids) used single rider line and waited around 20-25. We loved it! Our friends had split up, and the 2yo and DH were split from mom and older sibs. With much difficulty connecting with walkie-talkies they finally decided to meet at the car. It was about 9p and Illum. Had already started so we all headed to cars. We were hungry again so we stopped at Shoney's for a little bite, reasonable AND good AND nice service.
Magic No lines at AK on Saturday! AK parade begins in Africa and ends in Africa. Once it leaves Africa so does the crowd, we hung around and caught the parade on its return to Africa with no crowd! This was COOL! Also, not ALL of FW closes at 7p. Singles line at Test Track!
Mess Walkie Talkies were difficult to use in the parks- everybody has them. Vibrating cell phones worked much better for us(too bad I didn't learn this until 3rd or 4th day!)
Sunday I had all good intentions of getting the family to the church service at the Poly at 9a, and having coffee at Kona Café, but my sleepyheads didn't get up 'til 9a so we had breakfast in the room again. We were in MK by 10a. It was mobbed! We took the train to Frontierland, getting a fast pass for Splash while waiting 30 mins or so at BMTRR. Gotta love that fast pass! We then headed to space mtn. For a fast pass and went in Alien encounter. Met our friends on our way out of there and headed to our PS at Crystal Palace. It wasn't long before we went in. Their 2yo was SOOO excited about seeing Tigger and Pooh. The buffet was good, not spectacular, and we saw Pooh, Eeyore, & Tigger. Piglet was only in the entrance way with a long line to visit with him. It was a bit of a disappointment, $60.00 later. We headed to Adventureland for Pirates, got a fast pass for JC, went in Tiki Room, fast pass for HM, went right in Hall of President's, went back to Splash and TRR. Our friends left us to get in line for Spectromagic, so we were off to finish the park. Went to Fantasyland and walked in Snow White, Small World, Teacups, Carousel, Waited 20 mins for Speedway, and finally headed to Buzz and Space Mtn. Again. Wow! What a great time to do rides if you don't care about the parade. What seemed like 2 hours later (oops, it was only an hour later L) we arrived back at our hotel too exhausted to order the pizza we'd planned on so we had oodles of noodles and easy mac and cheese and crackers and too bed we went.
Magic Watching a 2yo light up seeing Tigger & Pooh. Fast Pass! Splash Mountain! Small World! Space Mountain at closing time!!
Mess Leaving the park with thousands of people going the same place you are. Overpriced Disney meals.
Monday We planned on sleeping in & WE DID! Today was our first visit to Universal Studios, US today, & IOA tomorrow. After a nice breakfast out at IHOP, we arrived at 12noon and met our friends (by coincidence) at the front gate! We began at the beginning (a very logical place to start) at Twister, then King Kong, Earthquake, & Jaws. There was minimal lines, they did have express pass (like fast pass) so we tried it. Wonderful! I don't think most people knew to use it, as US advertises this is for onsite guest incentive. It is for anyone, a limited # of people per day, so they say, to go to the front of the line. If it's 2p, the express pass was for 2:05 to 3:05. It was ridiculous! We loved it! The longest line we stood in was for MIB. BTF was a walk on so kids went on 2nd time! Very cool Coca-cola cool off station near MIB. Our friends lunched (quite pricey!) and we got the kids icees and breadsticks. Water play area very refreshing, but be warned, your kids will be soaked!! Be prepared for this & wear bathing suits! I knew this for IOA but not US. Tricia got drenched with her 2yo. (Very funny, actually) We finished with Woody's roller coaster, ET( cute), Hanna Barbera, and boys (DH's & DN) went in Terminator while girls hung out in wig /hat store. EVERYONE tries on all of the wigs and takes each others photos. As a nurse I was concerned about lice, but I admit I joined in with one carefully inspected wig. We left together at closing (7pm) and met at one of our favorite offsite restaurants, Jungle Jim's in Crossroads shopping center. This restaurant has good food AND is affordable. Words unheard of putting in a sentence about Disney restaurant food. The only problem was a pretty large spider walked over my 11yo to get to the table (from a hanging plant we guess) and walked across it. She freaked and cried and was shaken by it. Yup, can you say arachnophobic? We'll still go back. Did I mention they have great drink specials?
Magic This was a good sleep late day. We were able to do almost the entire park from 12-7pm. It was relatively crowd free and we pretty much leisurely went from one attraction to another. It was a nice change of pace.
Mess We were disappointed to miss the last Nick show of the day at 5:30p. This was last on our circle of the park, but something we all wanted to see, lesson learned, check the show times schedule! Spider in the jungle at Jim's L.
Tuesday We arose promptly and ate in room. Another gorgeous Florida day for IOA! We LOVED this park. We arrived around 9:30-10a, and walked on practically every ride!! We again did a lap around the park, starting left. We began with Hulk, this is one of the coasters you can't take any carry on bags with you (makes you go "hmmmm") so they provide a free locker for up to 40 mins or so while you ride. Good thing there was no wait. This was awesome. Then Storm Force, Dr. Doom's Fearfall (I skipped this- looked crazy), then Spiderman. They had technical diff. During our ride so they asked us if we wanted to ride again sure we did! This was DH's favorite ride of time. It was great. Then we got wet in Toon Lagoon. You get drenched on all the rides here, Dudley's Falls, & Popeyes Barges. The girls went on one of them a second time. My DH kept ringing out his shirt! Jurassic Park River Adventure was a favorite and our funniest ride photo!
At $17.00 without a frame, $20.00 with a frame, we passed. There was a Pteronodon (sp?) ride for kids only between certain heights. My younger daughter was the right height and could bring 1 adult (or taller person which included my older daughter). We let them go on this flying dino ride, but we didn't like that it was about at least a 20 min wait, then the ride let out into a plyground area. Parents were losing kids left and right. Ours were responsible and came directly to us, but we think this was a big problem US needs to address. Next was more coasters in the Lost Continent, Flying Unicorn & Dueling Dragons. My youngest couldn't ride this one (54" height restrict)(but rode Hulk with no problem), inconsistencies noted. I flew around on the Dueling dragons, so I felt it prudent they noticed she was too small. It was for her own safety. Suess landing was cute, not much to except an express pass for Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish. I think they went on the Caro-Suess-el, too. That was it, it was 4p and we had done the whole park! Pretty cool. We didn't run. We really didn't wait long for anything. If there was any sort of a line we just got express passes and went right on. We were quite hungry at this point, but my DH refused to patronize the park restaurants or dining areas. We were leaving to get a bite offsite, and planned to return to see the Nick show at US that we had missed the day before. I begged to check a menu on Citywalk at an Italian place and found $2.50 pizza slices. We stopped and got a pizza and to our DELIGHT discovered happy hour on citywalk from 3-7p $1.50 beers and $2.00 drinks! DH was a new man! The sign said all citywalk restaurants but there is small print not at Margaritavilles, only on porch. Well, I set out to find the porch but didn't. My margarita was $4.00, but I was pleased with that. We relaxed and replenished ourselves before returning to US for the last Nick show. Not as great as we'd hoped, but fun. We then caught the last Terminator show of the day. My DH raved about it the day before. It was a bit violent for my taste. My 8yo DD & I didn't are for it. Good effects I guess, but not my taste. We left & met our friends at their hotel pool. This was their last night on vaca. We had canceled our PS's at Boma. We just weren't up for another $100.00 meal. We had fun. Caribe Royale has a beautiful pool area with a waterfall and waterslide area. My friend has been there on business and got a great discount on a 2BR suite that was huge! Let's not discuss how big their bathrooms were. We ate offsite at a mediocre Sizzler.
Magic IOA was our favorite park! Exciting new rides and minimal to no lines! Happy hour on Citywalk!! Swimming at the Caribe Royale. Being on vacation with friends.
Wednesday We finished up breakfast foods in room, and headed to MGM by 10a. We just can't get there at the opening. How do you spell CROWDED?! First we went to TOT, got a fast pass for a while later, R&RC had a 60 min standby line! Aahh! Dorothy your not in US anymore! We went to the Great Movie Ride (30 mins wait), Muppets (30 mins), back to ToT (my first time- I loved it!) Although I was distracted by my white-as-a -ghost- holding-on-for-dear-life DD and couldn't enjoy it. I think she finally smiled with the last up& down. We then went to R&R coaster, got a fast pass and got in line (30 mins). This was awesome. We laughed so hard at our ride photo- our faces and hair are so windblown from the 0 to 60 in 3 secs take off! We then went to Star Tours (maybe 10 mins) & Walt's movie. It was thinning out as everyone was headed to Fantasmic. We took advantage of this and went back to ToT before leaving. I sat next to my other DD this time. We stopped at a freezing Pizzaria Uno for dinner. Delicious food and great service (despite tired, cranky, freezing family). Why do they freeze you so?
Magic ToT (one of Disney's best IMO) and Walt's movie.
Mess It was so crowded. Frustrating after leisurely walking around US & IOA for 2 days. Freezing restaurants!
Thursday This is our Cruise embarkation day!!! We checked out & treated ourselves to Krispee Kreme for breakfast (Dunkin Donuts still has the best coffee IMO). We also paid a visit to another favorite place in Orlando, Belz Outlets. WHY pay full price for a WDW or US t-shirt, when you can go to the park outlets in Belz and buy so much more for your money! Especially at the US outlet in Mall One. Everything was 50% off the lowest price. We bought 2 t-shirts, IOA men's boxers($4.50), mug, magnet, and a few other odds and ends (candy or something I think) for $22.00. You can't even buy one t-shirt for that! I was syked up for the Character Warehouse in Mall 2. No extra 50% off here, but good deals just the same. I love my $12.00 WDW: An Amercian Tradition long sleeve tee. The girls got their friends and teachers stuff here and we were off to Port Canaveral.
Magic Park outlet stores! They have a limited selection of what you've seen and haven't seen in the parks. Usually last seasons or last years stuff. In the Disney Warehouse we saw 2001 and 2000 merchandise. But they did have a great $5.00 100th anniversary mousepad for me. J We love this and try not to buy anything 'til we've at least seen what they have. Then, if I've gotta have something I've seen in the park, there's always Downtown Disney or the airport stores. Krispee Kreme has great donuts.
To be continued... in the cruise report forum... a 3-day Wonder cruise(Thurs to Sun) and 1 more day in WDW (Epcot), home on Monday
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Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I obtained sooooo much great info from these boards, it's only fair to do this in return.
Thanks for reading.
Cast:
DD- Amber 8 yo
DD- Brittney 11yo
DH- Darnell
Me (DW)- Sue- Disney planner
Friends: Tricia, Ilya, DN (12 yo nephew), DD (11yo), DD (2yo)
Act One: Planning
Back in August 2001, we began looking at possible dates of travel during the girls' school vacations, possibilities were November, February, or April. I began pricing accommodations via Disney Club (already a member), AAA, and Mousesavers discount codes. Plans came to a standstill after Sept. 11th. I knew we'd travel again, but when was even more an issue. Prices were terrific for November, but it was too soon. We decided on April as our spring vacation was 3 weeks after Easter. I hoped it would mean a decrease in the crowds, and perhaps value season for the hotels.
I initially made ressies at CBR in WDW for 5 nights@ $120. night, knowing we'd stay longer but probably somewhere offsite. I really wanted to stay at a moderate, after staying at All-Star Music in the Spring of 1998. I signed up for travelocity.com's fare watcher for airfare from Newark to MCO, and studied the Disboards and all of my favorite Disney resource websites for strategies and tips. I signed up for National's Emerald Club for free with DC, but made no firm ressies.
It wasn't until after the new year that I grabbed airfares for $154. per person plus tax, on a non-stop with Continental, with Orbitz. I played with dates and found staying longer that I had originally planned yielded cheaper airfares. I was looking at $200./ person 'til I tried different dates. We left on a Friday and stayed through 'til the following Monday, for a total of 10 nights/ 11 days. Also, I loved using Orbitz, not only did they have the best online prices, I had a choice of obtaining the paper tix (which I did), and they gave me seat assignments! They updated me with a 5 minute change in the flight schedule about a month before the flight, and emailed me (I realized after returning home) of flight updates on the dates of the flights confirming them. It was wonderful service. I will use them again.
We were very interested in the springtime magic cruise DCL cruise rates. After checking a few online TA's we booked a 3 day DCL cruise with mouseearvacations.com. Michelle (our TA) was patient and NOT pushy and found a secret porthole category 10 stateroom for us at a great price! They gave us a $25.00 ship credit for booking, then DC had the $50.00 coupon for ship credit, so we got $75.00!
Because of the cruise, we decided to budget the rest of the vacation by staying offsite in a suite-type hotel, and I planned to cook 1 or 2 dinners, and prepare breakfasts and snacks to carry into the parks. I chose Tropical Palms in Kissimmee because of the $49.00 AAA studio rate, and because we liked the idea of individual cottages. It came with good reviews from mouseplanet.com and Disboard members. I reserved 6 nights here, and 1 night after we return from the cruise.
I originally reserved with a noname rental car place due to price, then went with National for finally coming up with a comparable price AND the choice of the Emerald aisle. We reserved a standard car for 11 days for $274. that included taxes, etc. etc.
I made PS's for us & friends for O'Hana's arrival night, Crystal Palace, Boma (friends last night), and Chef Mickey's our last night. I clipped online coupons for Planet Hollywood, Jungle Jim's, DC, and joined Connections for WDW tix, 4 day plus hopper passes & 4 Q & C vouchers.
Ready or not WDW, here we come!!!!
Act 2: Friday, April 19th 2002
The alarm clock was set for 4am, we got up at 4:45! Our stress was not being able to find the $8.00/day long term parking lot at Newark International. When we did know where it was there was traffic! We chose the $12.00/day lot and proceeded to the monorail and the terminal. Checking in was painless. Orbitz already assigned us seats! Security was obvious and I was stopped for the roll of quarters in my pocketbook, and a few safety pins. This initiated a full inspection of my bags and removal of my sandals checking for explosives. I was impressed but it freaked the kids a bit. I reassured them they were keeping us safe! We arrived at the gate with about 10 minutes to spare and had a pleasant flight with a surprise breakfast of cereal, a banana and milk. I didn't think they were serving a meal, so this was a nice surprise.
After we arrived in Orlando, we picked up our bags and walked across a street, a short walk, to the rental car garage. What a treat to find a 4x4 in the Emerald aisle! Remember I reserved a standard, but I had a choice of whatever was in the aisle. I put a red Mickey on the antenna and we drove away in a nice Suzuki Vitaro. We loved it!
We found the hotel, a campsite for RV's and individual cottages of assorted studios and 1 and 2 BR's. We were able to check in early without a problem, and went swimming! What beautiful Florida weather! This was a pleasant and clean hotel. There were 2 things we didn't care for. 1 was there was no phone line in the room (a fact I probably knew at one point but we didn't have a laptop at that point so no biggee). A BIG problem for DH with laptop anticipating internet access. We later found a hookup in the lobby open 7a to 11p. It worked. Also, this studio (the cheapo) was TINY. The bathroom was a bit larger than an airline potty with a shower! I know we weren't in the room much, but at 5'6" I needed to squat to rinse out the shampoo in my hair. I pity anyone taller than us! Other than that, the pool was decent, they had a reasonable café for breakfast and lunch, a little store to purchase perishables, etc, and a nice laundry area. It was a 7 out of 10.
We arrived early for our PS at O'hana's and rode the monorail around. What a wonderful way to begin our vacation! We met our friends and were seated right away. They had been there since Tuesday, were staying at the Caribe Royale, and had already visited MK, MGM, & Blizzard Beach. It was a wonderful meal. The assortment of goodies on our lazy susan was refilled as needed. The shrimp dumplings & teriyaki wings were favorites. The meats came after and we liked the turkey and beef the best. The kids enjoyed the hoola hooping and coconut races, and the pineapple & caramel dessert was yummy. A $100.00 meal for the 4 of us including tax & gratuity. We saw a beautiful sunset & the water pageant from our window but I had planned on viewing it from the lagoon. L Oh well, we walked on the beach and enjoyed the splendor. AAAhhh, vacation.
Saturday After a quick breakfast in the room, and fanny packs full of snacks, we were off to AK. What a great choice for a Sat.! We walked on Dinosaur, the rapids, the safari, the train to conserv. Station, and bugs life. We ate lunch at Tusker House, ordering 2 meals with vouchers, and 1 kids meal and additional drink. Paid $6.00 & change. It was ok. DH & I shared a huge sandwich, we all shared fries and desserts. We didn't finish it all.
Saw great acrobats after lunch, worth stopping for, and finally caught up with friends after the parade. We were headed to bugs life and hotel for a break and dinner, and they were headed to safari and hotel. We agreed to meet later at Epcot. We were using our cellphones mostly, we had walkie talkies, but so did everyone else, didn't work so well.
We ate spaghetti in our room, had a swim, and headed to Epcot. It was later than I had liked, 7p, but WS was open 'til 9p, and then there was Illuminations. I waited for our friends while DH & DD's went on the Earth. A nice surprise for me was that even though literature says that FW closes at 7p, they keep Test Track, HISTA, & the Earth ride open 'til 9p. This was great! We met our friends and headed towards TT. Standby was 45 mins, so we (me, DH, & 4 older kids) used single rider line and waited around 20-25. We loved it! Our friends had split up, and the 2yo and DH were split from mom and older sibs. With much difficulty connecting with walkie-talkies they finally decided to meet at the car. It was about 9p and Illum. Had already started so we all headed to cars. We were hungry again so we stopped at Shoney's for a little bite, reasonable AND good AND nice service.
Magic No lines at AK on Saturday! AK parade begins in Africa and ends in Africa. Once it leaves Africa so does the crowd, we hung around and caught the parade on its return to Africa with no crowd! This was COOL! Also, not ALL of FW closes at 7p. Singles line at Test Track!
Mess Walkie Talkies were difficult to use in the parks- everybody has them. Vibrating cell phones worked much better for us(too bad I didn't learn this until 3rd or 4th day!)
Sunday I had all good intentions of getting the family to the church service at the Poly at 9a, and having coffee at Kona Café, but my sleepyheads didn't get up 'til 9a so we had breakfast in the room again. We were in MK by 10a. It was mobbed! We took the train to Frontierland, getting a fast pass for Splash while waiting 30 mins or so at BMTRR. Gotta love that fast pass! We then headed to space mtn. For a fast pass and went in Alien encounter. Met our friends on our way out of there and headed to our PS at Crystal Palace. It wasn't long before we went in. Their 2yo was SOOO excited about seeing Tigger and Pooh. The buffet was good, not spectacular, and we saw Pooh, Eeyore, & Tigger. Piglet was only in the entrance way with a long line to visit with him. It was a bit of a disappointment, $60.00 later. We headed to Adventureland for Pirates, got a fast pass for JC, went in Tiki Room, fast pass for HM, went right in Hall of President's, went back to Splash and TRR. Our friends left us to get in line for Spectromagic, so we were off to finish the park. Went to Fantasyland and walked in Snow White, Small World, Teacups, Carousel, Waited 20 mins for Speedway, and finally headed to Buzz and Space Mtn. Again. Wow! What a great time to do rides if you don't care about the parade. What seemed like 2 hours later (oops, it was only an hour later L) we arrived back at our hotel too exhausted to order the pizza we'd planned on so we had oodles of noodles and easy mac and cheese and crackers and too bed we went.
Magic Watching a 2yo light up seeing Tigger & Pooh. Fast Pass! Splash Mountain! Small World! Space Mountain at closing time!!
Mess Leaving the park with thousands of people going the same place you are. Overpriced Disney meals.
Monday We planned on sleeping in & WE DID! Today was our first visit to Universal Studios, US today, & IOA tomorrow. After a nice breakfast out at IHOP, we arrived at 12noon and met our friends (by coincidence) at the front gate! We began at the beginning (a very logical place to start) at Twister, then King Kong, Earthquake, & Jaws. There was minimal lines, they did have express pass (like fast pass) so we tried it. Wonderful! I don't think most people knew to use it, as US advertises this is for onsite guest incentive. It is for anyone, a limited # of people per day, so they say, to go to the front of the line. If it's 2p, the express pass was for 2:05 to 3:05. It was ridiculous! We loved it! The longest line we stood in was for MIB. BTF was a walk on so kids went on 2nd time! Very cool Coca-cola cool off station near MIB. Our friends lunched (quite pricey!) and we got the kids icees and breadsticks. Water play area very refreshing, but be warned, your kids will be soaked!! Be prepared for this & wear bathing suits! I knew this for IOA but not US. Tricia got drenched with her 2yo. (Very funny, actually) We finished with Woody's roller coaster, ET( cute), Hanna Barbera, and boys (DH's & DN) went in Terminator while girls hung out in wig /hat store. EVERYONE tries on all of the wigs and takes each others photos. As a nurse I was concerned about lice, but I admit I joined in with one carefully inspected wig. We left together at closing (7pm) and met at one of our favorite offsite restaurants, Jungle Jim's in Crossroads shopping center. This restaurant has good food AND is affordable. Words unheard of putting in a sentence about Disney restaurant food. The only problem was a pretty large spider walked over my 11yo to get to the table (from a hanging plant we guess) and walked across it. She freaked and cried and was shaken by it. Yup, can you say arachnophobic? We'll still go back. Did I mention they have great drink specials?
Magic This was a good sleep late day. We were able to do almost the entire park from 12-7pm. It was relatively crowd free and we pretty much leisurely went from one attraction to another. It was a nice change of pace.
Mess We were disappointed to miss the last Nick show of the day at 5:30p. This was last on our circle of the park, but something we all wanted to see, lesson learned, check the show times schedule! Spider in the jungle at Jim's L.
Tuesday We arose promptly and ate in room. Another gorgeous Florida day for IOA! We LOVED this park. We arrived around 9:30-10a, and walked on practically every ride!! We again did a lap around the park, starting left. We began with Hulk, this is one of the coasters you can't take any carry on bags with you (makes you go "hmmmm") so they provide a free locker for up to 40 mins or so while you ride. Good thing there was no wait. This was awesome. Then Storm Force, Dr. Doom's Fearfall (I skipped this- looked crazy), then Spiderman. They had technical diff. During our ride so they asked us if we wanted to ride again sure we did! This was DH's favorite ride of time. It was great. Then we got wet in Toon Lagoon. You get drenched on all the rides here, Dudley's Falls, & Popeyes Barges. The girls went on one of them a second time. My DH kept ringing out his shirt! Jurassic Park River Adventure was a favorite and our funniest ride photo!
At $17.00 without a frame, $20.00 with a frame, we passed. There was a Pteronodon (sp?) ride for kids only between certain heights. My younger daughter was the right height and could bring 1 adult (or taller person which included my older daughter). We let them go on this flying dino ride, but we didn't like that it was about at least a 20 min wait, then the ride let out into a plyground area. Parents were losing kids left and right. Ours were responsible and came directly to us, but we think this was a big problem US needs to address. Next was more coasters in the Lost Continent, Flying Unicorn & Dueling Dragons. My youngest couldn't ride this one (54" height restrict)(but rode Hulk with no problem), inconsistencies noted. I flew around on the Dueling dragons, so I felt it prudent they noticed she was too small. It was for her own safety. Suess landing was cute, not much to except an express pass for Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish. I think they went on the Caro-Suess-el, too. That was it, it was 4p and we had done the whole park! Pretty cool. We didn't run. We really didn't wait long for anything. If there was any sort of a line we just got express passes and went right on. We were quite hungry at this point, but my DH refused to patronize the park restaurants or dining areas. We were leaving to get a bite offsite, and planned to return to see the Nick show at US that we had missed the day before. I begged to check a menu on Citywalk at an Italian place and found $2.50 pizza slices. We stopped and got a pizza and to our DELIGHT discovered happy hour on citywalk from 3-7p $1.50 beers and $2.00 drinks! DH was a new man! The sign said all citywalk restaurants but there is small print not at Margaritavilles, only on porch. Well, I set out to find the porch but didn't. My margarita was $4.00, but I was pleased with that. We relaxed and replenished ourselves before returning to US for the last Nick show. Not as great as we'd hoped, but fun. We then caught the last Terminator show of the day. My DH raved about it the day before. It was a bit violent for my taste. My 8yo DD & I didn't are for it. Good effects I guess, but not my taste. We left & met our friends at their hotel pool. This was their last night on vaca. We had canceled our PS's at Boma. We just weren't up for another $100.00 meal. We had fun. Caribe Royale has a beautiful pool area with a waterfall and waterslide area. My friend has been there on business and got a great discount on a 2BR suite that was huge! Let's not discuss how big their bathrooms were. We ate offsite at a mediocre Sizzler.
Magic IOA was our favorite park! Exciting new rides and minimal to no lines! Happy hour on Citywalk!! Swimming at the Caribe Royale. Being on vacation with friends.
Wednesday We finished up breakfast foods in room, and headed to MGM by 10a. We just can't get there at the opening. How do you spell CROWDED?! First we went to TOT, got a fast pass for a while later, R&RC had a 60 min standby line! Aahh! Dorothy your not in US anymore! We went to the Great Movie Ride (30 mins wait), Muppets (30 mins), back to ToT (my first time- I loved it!) Although I was distracted by my white-as-a -ghost- holding-on-for-dear-life DD and couldn't enjoy it. I think she finally smiled with the last up& down. We then went to R&R coaster, got a fast pass and got in line (30 mins). This was awesome. We laughed so hard at our ride photo- our faces and hair are so windblown from the 0 to 60 in 3 secs take off! We then went to Star Tours (maybe 10 mins) & Walt's movie. It was thinning out as everyone was headed to Fantasmic. We took advantage of this and went back to ToT before leaving. I sat next to my other DD this time. We stopped at a freezing Pizzaria Uno for dinner. Delicious food and great service (despite tired, cranky, freezing family). Why do they freeze you so?
Magic ToT (one of Disney's best IMO) and Walt's movie.
Mess It was so crowded. Frustrating after leisurely walking around US & IOA for 2 days. Freezing restaurants!
Thursday This is our Cruise embarkation day!!! We checked out & treated ourselves to Krispee Kreme for breakfast (Dunkin Donuts still has the best coffee IMO). We also paid a visit to another favorite place in Orlando, Belz Outlets. WHY pay full price for a WDW or US t-shirt, when you can go to the park outlets in Belz and buy so much more for your money! Especially at the US outlet in Mall One. Everything was 50% off the lowest price. We bought 2 t-shirts, IOA men's boxers($4.50), mug, magnet, and a few other odds and ends (candy or something I think) for $22.00. You can't even buy one t-shirt for that! I was syked up for the Character Warehouse in Mall 2. No extra 50% off here, but good deals just the same. I love my $12.00 WDW: An Amercian Tradition long sleeve tee. The girls got their friends and teachers stuff here and we were off to Port Canaveral.
Magic Park outlet stores! They have a limited selection of what you've seen and haven't seen in the parks. Usually last seasons or last years stuff. In the Disney Warehouse we saw 2001 and 2000 merchandise. But they did have a great $5.00 100th anniversary mousepad for me. J We love this and try not to buy anything 'til we've at least seen what they have. Then, if I've gotta have something I've seen in the park, there's always Downtown Disney or the airport stores. Krispee Kreme has great donuts.
To be continued... in the cruise report forum... a 3-day Wonder cruise(Thurs to Sun) and 1 more day in WDW (Epcot), home on Monday
.Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I obtained sooooo much great info from these boards, it's only fair to do this in return.
Thanks for reading.
