The rest of our WDW trip review (6/30-7/3)

[mickeymom629]

On Mon. 6/30, we got to AK at 8:00 for ee, a little later than I had hoped. The crowd size was huge and we didn't get past the gate until probably about 8:30. We rushed to the Safari ride. DH got fp's and met us at the entrance of that line (we moved pretty quickly in the regular line). I was surprised that the cm's let him stand there to get in line for us, and when I commented on that, he said no one saw him do it. Well, the Safari was great; lots of animals moving around and eating. We were pressed for time as we had DS15's gf15 coming in on a 10:38 a.m. flight. So, we realized we should only do Safari once and gave our fp's to another group of people (we are a group of 6).

Over to KRR for fp and to Dinoland for new roller coaster that is also like a Tilt a Whirl. Only DH, DS's 15, 13, and 9 went. DD and I too chicken.

Breakfast at Donald's (p.s. 10:20). We were starved and luckily after we checked, they had juice and coffee and danish on the front porch to eat while you wait. They took our group picture, which was good and I bought it. We got seated soon after and went right to the food line. There are two lines on the buffet and no one went on the left line because they didn't realize it was there. We were told about it and went right over. Lots of good food; quiche, fruit, hash browns, cheesy hash browns, donuts, eggs, bagels, bacon, etc. Our waitress was okay, but nothing special and we didn't have any "show" that I thought they were supposed to do. Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Pluto walked around and since we were near the end, it took a while for them to come to us, but then they kept coming back to our table. Got some good pictures, but if we had been in a rush to get back to the attractions, I don't think we would have waited for the characters at all.

DS15 took bus to OKW to wait for his GF who was on the Mears Shuttle. The rest of us used the fp for KRR. DS9 used DS15's fp ticket for a second ride. Over to Dinosaur! ride and bought our picture and then back to OKW to go to pool with everyone.

Over to MGM later during a rain storm. The tram guy said that the park would be closing at 10:30 with two showings of Fantasmic! I was suprised to hear that as I thought the park closed at 9 with one Fantasmic!, but I was excited. (Later I would find out he was wrong )

FP for RR and then to GMR which someone said on these boards looked different, but it was the same to me (I always love it). To Muppets 3D and then we all split up. DD and I watched the parade because the wait for Mermaid was too long. We all met at 50's PTC for our 6:30 p.s. Had about a 20 min. wait. Jenn was our "cousin" and she was great. Called me Sunshine and DS's GF16, Princess. After we were done with dinner (onion rings, I had veg. stuffed pepper, others had Bar b q chicken and fried chicken, DD had child spaghetti--all were great and we cleaned our plates and ordered s'mores to share for dessert. We forgot to get a drink with glowing ice cubes), I got up to use the restroom and Jenn was taking orders from the table next to us and looked up and asked me where I was going. When I told her, she told me that I'm supposed to ask for permission. Quizzed me on the soap afterwards. Kept having to tell DS15 to keep his elbows off the table. We had a great time!

Went to RnRc after and TOT. When I asked the guy near the Fantasmic! entrance (now it was about 8:55) why there weren't any attractions still opened (like Indiana Jones and Backlot Tours) he said because the park closes at 9! Ugh! So, DD and DS15 and his friend and I ended up in standing room only (not good, but at least we saw it). DH stayed behind because my other two sons had just run in to do ToT another time and didn't know about Fantasmic! So, my advice is to make sure you know what time things really are!

Back to OKW and sleep.

Tues. July 1.

HOT! DD and I went by bus to MK and got there at 9:45 ( a little later than I would have hoped as I had wanted to see the opening "show") Saw a part of the character show in front of the castle with lots of characters and then realized we were wasting precious ride time. Went to Pooh ride with hardly any wait, but got fp's for other rides. Went to Small World while waiting for fp time. We used fp's as best we could and saw PP, SW, Tiki Room (no one stood up when the birds told us to at the end, so I did and my DD was so embarrassed because she thought I was wrong), Pirates, Jungle Cruise, HM (which was in repair when we got the fp, so we had to keep checking back). Had egg rolls near Aladdin ride while we waited for a fp time. We did go back and forth across the park a number of times, but I love doing that. Stopped in to the new show with Goofy and characters dancing in the old Saloon, but we didn't want to stay and dance. Got a fp for Buzz ride, but decided we were ready to go back to the resort, so we gave it to a couple even though it was only 45 min. to wait.

The rest of our family had gone to TL and we all met back around 2:00 to relax.

Off to MK around 4:00. Problem with one of our old room key tickets (we thought it still had a hopper pass on it), so DH told 15 year olds to go in to the park
with no plan as to when and where to meet. We had to get their e night wrist bands and the park was crowded. DH went to buy another pass (we had so many extras back at the room ) and I went with the other kids to Tomorrowland to get wrist bands, hoping the teens had gone there. Nope. Meanwhile, Pal Mickey was in my backpack (too hot to carry him around) and he kept giggling and vibrating and my kids were telling me that he had something to say. But I was so upset about losing the teens, that I didn't want to talk to him. We got wristbands for DS's 13 and 9 and we went to go to Pirates while my DH went on Main street to look for teens. Found them in a shop (they tried to call our cell phones). Then the sky opened up and it poured. I rushed the kids I was with to the Tiki Room before we got too drenched. (Why did we never have our ponchos when we needed them?? They were in the back of the van). DH called me to say he was with the teens and they would meet us after the storm at Pirates. We saw Tiki show (I love it and this time people stood). Pirates, then got teens their wristbands and went to Barnstormer where it poured again while they were on the ride, so we bought ponchos )

Columbia Harbour House for dinner. Small World, HM, Buzz and Peter Pan. Saw fireworks in Liberty area and then e night started. DD and I watched the castle change while we enjoyed a soda from Casey's before taking the bus back. DH stayed with kids at e night (10-1a.m.).

E night not worth it anymore they said. They started with Splash Mountain which was hardly any wait, but the Railroad line was about 15 min. wait. Space Mountain broke after they got one ride, while they were waiting for their second. Buzz and Space Mountain had waits almost as bad as during the day. They didn't bother with HM, Jamboree, Alien or People Mover.

Wed. July 2

We all went to the pool after sleeping late. DS's 13 and 9 went on a water mouse to DTD and back and loved it. Lunch and smoothies at the snack bar.

Epcot around 2:00. Spaceship Earth with no wait. Over to TT to let the kids ride with our purple passes from the first day. No fp's left to get. The line was really long. I know this is getting long, so I'll just say that DH, DS's 13 and 9 went on Mission Space and loved it. Dinner in China. Nice waitor, okay food. DD and I saw Richard Wood the fiddler in the Pavillion. Illuminations near Norway, a great place to watch. We met a nice family from Britain there. We did other attractions, but I know this is getting long (if any one is still reading).

We checked out on July 3 and walked around DTD, but it was very hot. Visited relatives (got another flat tire) until the 5th and drove home (with a couple more mishaps, but I won't bore you with those since they have nothing to do with Disney)

Anyway, the Disney part of the trip was too short, but great. If you want to ask me any questions, please do!

 

[lcborn2run]

Your report is far from boring..we wouldn't read these things if we didn't want to know all the "little" details.

I'm curious about your mishaps as I thought your first installment was very funny (I'm hoping you can laugh now). Especially about the part of exiting the police car in front of the hotel.

Thanks for the report...

Lisa

p.s. How did you like Columbia House? Seems to get all positive reviews....

 

[MI mom of 3]

We were at the E-night on July 1st. The only thing we waited long for was Space Mtn. This was the first time I'd done it. No one else was interested so DD15 and I did it all by ourselves. Pretty strange to be just the 2 of us. There were 11 of us on the trip.

Question: Did Tinkerbell fly before the fireworks that night. Told DD that because of the rain earlier she probably wouldn't, so we were on Splash during the fireworks. DD was very disappointed that she didn't get to see her.

Thanks for an entertaining report.

 

[jumpnjack]

It's me again. I read your final report and please please be assured that I loveeeeeeee details. It is the details that help all of us to feel like we are there again. I guess that is why we like them. Anyway. Sounds like you had a wondeful trip.. You may think everyone knows what to do but ah contrare there are people like me.... I did not know that there was a parade in Mgm how stupid am I.How do you know when they are go to Disney site for whats up every day kinda thing? I have never seen it.
Thanks again for your fun report!

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for sharing ~ Wonderful reviews!!!!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Look at my tag! No trip report is too long! I want more details from you!

Maybe you should have listened to Pal Mickey. Bet he knew where your 2 teens were!

Great report...feel free to write more!

 

[TimeforMe]

I remember you posting when you were contemplating taking your DS's GF. How did that work out? Both of our kids' have friends flying out to meet us on the latter part of our trip in August. Thanks for the report--it was great reading!

 

[cpl100]

I enjoyed your report. I, too, recall you posting about your son's friend attending. How did it work out?

 

[mickeymom629]

Well then, I'll tell you the rest of the (now funny) story.
After we got the second flat tire of the trip in front of my father-in-law's house, my DH plugged it up temporarily and went with his Dad to Walmart to buy tires. When they returned two hours later, he got out of the van and somehow, his key disappeared. He didn't know where it was (almost makes me think the muggle-hating wizards were around us). Luckily, I had mine with me so we went to his sister's for dinner. The next day, he had to get another key made.
We left the relatives on Sat. around 11 a.m. and drove north to home. We were lucky to by-pass a bunch of dark clouds along the way and by about 7:30 or so, I was hinting to DH that I would like to stop for dinner and the night soon. He is the type to want to drive straight through, if given the chance, and I didn't have reservations anywhere. The kids were watching a video and we decided that when it was over, we would stop. Well, around 8:30, we were nearing Fayetteville, N.C. and there looked like a lot of choices, so I mentioned to stop, but the video wasn't over (it only had 5 minutes more to go), so DH didn't think I meant now. After that exit, there wasn't anything much for quite a while. Finally, around 9, we exited and checked into a Days Inn. I was so exited that they had two adjoing rooms available, but when we went into them, I was immediately thinking "yuck". We still had not eaten, and no one could agree where, so two of us got subs at Subway and the others got Dominos and we carried it back to the room to eat (which I had said I didn't want to do as soon as we had gotten to the room the first time-yuck). So, we are sitting around eating and one of my sons looks at a picture on the wall and says, "Gross, there are crushed spiders on here". Meanwhile, we had let in three flies that we were trying to kill before bedtime. Then, DH looks down and sees a big spider crawling across the floor. Well, screams from us girls, everyone grabs their food and luggage and we head to the van as DH calls the front desk to inform them that we are leaving! Luckily, they gave us our money back.

On the road again and we couldn't find any vacancies (it didn't help that it was July 4th weekend) and now it's really late. DH tries to have us sleep at a rest stop at some point around midnight. That is NOT an option for me, so after five minutes of pretending we are trying to sleep under bright lights in a parking lot, we are off again. Finally, around 2 a.m. we stop at a Ramada in VA, DH and DD sleep on sleeping bags and we get some sleep. (Only could afford one room here--same price as two rooms at Days Inn)

Next day, only three hours till home and finally, with only one hour left, a rock hits our windshield and we now have a crack going across.

But we are home, safe and sound



Columbia Harbour House is always one of our favorites. One time we were eating when the fireworks were starting and we were able to run out and look up and see them. I get tuna sandwich, DH gets New England clam chowder in a bread bowl, macaroni and cheese for kids. I'm sure they have other stuff, but I can't think of what right now.

DS15's girlfriend ended up flying in to meet us on 6/30 Mon. So she missed our first visit to Epcot and our one day at Animal Kingdom, but at least she missed our S.C. fiasco! She took the Mears Shuttle, her parents didn't want her to do the town car. It was okay, except that she liked to sleep (shared a bed with DD11) and we didn't feel comfortable making her rush up, so it put a small damper on us at times. The two of them ended up shopping a lot rather than going on the rides, so I was a little upset, but I guess as long as they were happy, that was the point. If I had felt comfortable doing it, I guess I could have told them to take the ferry to DTD (from our OKW villa) to shop and not waste admission to the parks. And DS15 wasn't any more smiley toward us this trip with her, which I couldn't understand. Also, my other kids are more shy around others, even though they know and like this girl, so conversations weren't as flowing. There were times when I was giving everyone choices about what we could do next and it was "it doesn't matter" and DS15 later told me that he didn't like that I was always asking questions to them Everyone had a good time and we saw a lot, but I won't be in a big hurry to take a friend next time. I think he would have had more fun with one of his guy friends, but that's just my opinion. She ended up taking the Mears Shuttle back to the airport, so that worked out great for us and her too.

Jumpnjack, you can go on the Disney website for park hours and when you get to the calendar of the month you want, you click on the entertainment line in the day you are curious about and it will tell you what time parades and fireworks and Fantasmic! are, of course subject to change. If you don't care about parades, that is a good time to go on attractions too. There are other websites that can give you that info too, but I'm not sure what they are right now.

MI mom of 3, yes, Tinkerbell did fly the night of July 1. Where we were standing, that was the only thing we did see and then we had to run toward the Riverboat because our entire view of the fireworks was obstructed. We had just walked to that viewing area, but I feel sorry for all the people who had probably sat there for a while. Just for anyone's future reference, it was near the castle around the corner from the Liberty area, near a snack stand and the trees were all around.

Whenever you want to watch fireworks or Illuminations, make sure you are not near trees.

 

[TimeforMe]

OMG, I was laughing out loud reading about your hotel "adventure". Your family's luck sounds so much like mine. I thought we were the only ones with bad luck like that My DH would've been having a fit by then. How was yours?

I hope our kids' friends accompaying us works out OK. They are both having someone join us, so I think it'll be OK.

Thanks for sharing. I got a good chuckle