Obsessed w/Disney in OH
With hope, the imagination soars.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 1999
- Messages
- 254
The Sloneckers Holiday Trip to Disney-MGM, Sci-Fi, Illuminations(Part 5 of 10)
Slonecker Family:
Lisa-Obsessed w/Disney crazed planner; been planning this trip since last Christmas
Russ-DH, is a converted Disney-fan; read the Passporter this time
Holly-DD-15, even admits to her teenage friends that she loves Disney; future goal is to work at Disney as an architect and Imagineer
Emily-DD-12, spirited & creativeenergy galore, happy to be out of school
Jana-DD-8, nothing holds her backkeepin up with the sisters; roller coaster rider
Trip:: 7 nights at Beach Club for our third family trip to WDW-first trip for Christmas activities. November 29-December 6
Mickey calls again!! It gets harder and harder to get everybody rolling in the mornings! But, our favorite park, MGM awaits us so rise and shine! We walked to MGM and found the path this time!!
Hurrah! We zipped over to RnR and got FPs, but also joined the stand-by line. This time, Emily and I were in the last caroh my gosh, it was zippy and rough! Gratefully, the next time we were the second car and it was much, much better. We then did the FPs, got another FP for all and headed to TOT. Russ surprised us by joining us in line! He has never ridden it before and the girls were thrilled to show him. This time, it was amazing! We realized how much we missed the other day when it had to stop to make the man shut off his video camera. We dropped and dropped. Russ said one ride on TOT was enough for him! 
The girls decided to use the FPs to ride RnR and Russ and I had enough. I waited to find some one to give our 2 FPs to. Its fun to do things like this. I finally saw a mother and daughter who appeared to be disappointed in the wait time and I asked if they had FPs and when they said no, I gave them our 2 remaining FPs to enjoy the ride right away. They were very grateful and I enjoyed giving them away.
It was time for the character greeting at the Sorcerers Hat and we headed that way. There was a line forming for pictures with Minnie and Pluto in their Christmas finery. We decided to do a family picture and we waited a while, but got it. We were really impressed with the CMs this trip who offered to take pictures while families posed with the characters.
We went over to the Great Movie Ride. My family is not totally wild about this attraction, but I love it. The line was really long for some reason and took forever. As we neared the front, they asked for parties of 2 or 3 to fill in and we volunteered to split up. They put Jana and I in the very first row. This was great for me, but she was scared because we were so close to the action of the shooting and robbery. Shes not easily scared, but she declared that she was never sitting in the front seat of that ride again!!
We headed over to Millionaire. Ever since Emily got in the hot seat last trip, she has been determined to get there again. Hollys comment was, I sure hope I dont get up there, I didnt do my hair this morning! Oh the vanity of teenage girls! As you can guess, the fastest finger question happened, and guess whose number came up??!! HOLLY!! She went down and sat in the hot seat. We did the family wave.
She did well, but did have some tricky questions. She got mixed up on one and said final answer before she thought enough about it. She missed that one and got out. She rejoined us in a bit and as I anticipated the first words out of her mouth were, Oh my gosh, I am so embarrassedI got up there and I didnt do my hair!! 
We teased her about Millionaire quite a bit on the remainder of the trip.
We headed over to Muppets 3-D. After Philharmagic, these other 3-D shows are not as impressive!
While we were in that area, we saw Timon, Green Army Man, and Kermit the Frog so Jana snatched the autograph book and joined the lines. We really were done with what we wanted to do and we were hungry, so headed to Sci-Fi to see if we might be able to get in early for our lunch p.s. We sat there a very, very long time and finally got in about the exact time of our p.s. Oh well! The girls enjoyed looking in the book store near there and I enjoyed people-watching.
We had never been to Sci-Fi diner before and the whole car concept was fun! We had a great waitress and we all stuck with the foods that others on DIS had advised: burgers, onion rings, shakes, etc. Jana did not opt for a shake and wanted the glow in the dark ice cubes instead which she loved. The food really was finethere certainly was plenty of it! We ate and waited for our bill and waited for our bill. It took forever! It was nearing time to get a spot for the parade and so we left Russ to get the bill and the girls and I headed out for a spot. Of course, the benches were full but as we neared a spot, a family got up from a bench and walked away. We didnt hesitate to settle in and wait for one of our favorite parades. Emily, who can never sit still, went scouting for souvenirs.
The parade was really as good as we remembered and our view was great. I love the way MGM has planned for the parade route with benches all along it! We were planning to stay for Fantasmic and we had some time to kill so we looked through some shops and stopped at the lockers for our sweatshirts. We looked at TOT and RnR both which had a 5 minute wait. It seems lots of people left after the parade! The girls went on both rides. Jana decided she wanted Mickey ears with her name on it for a souvenir so I took her to the store, Celebrity 5 & 10, to place her order.
They said it would be ready after Fantasmic so we headed out.
We got to Fantasmic about 5:30 for the 7:00 show and people were pouring in. We got great seats in the Mickey section and settled in. We were there for a bit and Emily decided she wanted to get the book, The Making of the Haunted Mansion that she had seen in one of the shops. She wanted to get it then so she could look at it while we waited. I was not in the mood to go out and walk across the park again. Plus, they kept making the announcement that if you left, you might not get back in. However, there was still lots of space to fill in, so she finally convinced Russ to go with her. The girls and I visited with the people around us and it was fun. Russ and Emily finally made it back although I think Russ secret agenda was to find coffee along the way, which he did not. He was disappointed that the vendors at Fantasmic did not sell coffee, but he finally settled for hot chocolate.
We enjoyed Fantasmic as we always do. We have seen it 3 times now on our trips to WDW and we all felt this version was the best we had seen. It was so enjoyable! The lights and decorations were so pretty on the walk out and Jana was pleased with her Mickey ears with pink lettering for Jana. The girls wanted to ride the boat back and we convinced them to walk. It was a nice evening and it was funwe really were the only ones on the path back and the view of the Boardwalk area was beautiful!
We unloaded and decided to head to Epcot for the 9:30 Illuminations. That is one definite advantage of being at BC and this area. If we had to rely on the buses to get us back from MGM and then to Epcot, we could never had done both shows in one evening. Since we could rely on our own feet power, we could do it! We arrived at Epcot and our favorite spots around Canada were occupied with people right at the railing at waters edge. We wandered around a bit trying to decide where to go and finally decided to stand behind the people that were at the railing. There was a couple there that Jana and Emily struck up a conversation with(Jana knows no strangers!
) and pretty soon an enthusiastic game of Disney trivia occurred as the couple quizzed the girls and the girls stumped them with some Disney questions.
Russ and Holly headed to get our favorite Epcot Canadian treat, Beavertails. They were out of maple, our favorite,
but we enjoyed the cinnamon/sugar and chocolate/hazelnut ones we had. 
The couple let Jana and Emily kneel on the bench in front of them(thank you!) and we had a great view even though we werent right in front. The show is awesome, awesome! I love it more every time I see it. The music is great and I just love everything about it. Holly and I made a pact to come back again and see it another evening.
We walked back to BC and let the girls take off their shoes and go in the sand. While we were there, there was some young toddlers and kids that were playing at the edge of the water. I couldnt understand why any parents would allow their child to play in this water! First of all, it was dark and second of all, that water has to contain residue of fuel from the boats that go back and forth multiple times each day. Just doesnt seem like a good idea to me, but enough said on that!
We sat in the swings for a bit, but soon it was to bed. Tomorrow brings MK and breakfast with the princesses!
Stay tuned for: Early arrival at MK, breakfast with the princesses, SOB, and Spectro.
Slonecker Family:
Lisa-Obsessed w/Disney crazed planner; been planning this trip since last Christmas
Russ-DH, is a converted Disney-fan; read the Passporter this time
Holly-DD-15, even admits to her teenage friends that she loves Disney; future goal is to work at Disney as an architect and Imagineer
Emily-DD-12, spirited & creativeenergy galore, happy to be out of school
Jana-DD-8, nothing holds her backkeepin up with the sisters; roller coaster rider
Trip:: 7 nights at Beach Club for our third family trip to WDW-first trip for Christmas activities. November 29-December 6
Mickey calls again!! It gets harder and harder to get everybody rolling in the mornings! But, our favorite park, MGM awaits us so rise and shine! We walked to MGM and found the path this time!!
Hurrah! We zipped over to RnR and got FPs, but also joined the stand-by line. This time, Emily and I were in the last caroh my gosh, it was zippy and rough! Gratefully, the next time we were the second car and it was much, much better. We then did the FPs, got another FP for all and headed to TOT. Russ surprised us by joining us in line! He has never ridden it before and the girls were thrilled to show him. This time, it was amazing! We realized how much we missed the other day when it had to stop to make the man shut off his video camera. We dropped and dropped. Russ said one ride on TOT was enough for him! The girls decided to use the FPs to ride RnR and Russ and I had enough. I waited to find some one to give our 2 FPs to. Its fun to do things like this. I finally saw a mother and daughter who appeared to be disappointed in the wait time and I asked if they had FPs and when they said no, I gave them our 2 remaining FPs to enjoy the ride right away. They were very grateful and I enjoyed giving them away.
It was time for the character greeting at the Sorcerers Hat and we headed that way. There was a line forming for pictures with Minnie and Pluto in their Christmas finery. We decided to do a family picture and we waited a while, but got it. We were really impressed with the CMs this trip who offered to take pictures while families posed with the characters.
We went over to the Great Movie Ride. My family is not totally wild about this attraction, but I love it. The line was really long for some reason and took forever. As we neared the front, they asked for parties of 2 or 3 to fill in and we volunteered to split up. They put Jana and I in the very first row. This was great for me, but she was scared because we were so close to the action of the shooting and robbery. Shes not easily scared, but she declared that she was never sitting in the front seat of that ride again!!
We headed over to Millionaire. Ever since Emily got in the hot seat last trip, she has been determined to get there again. Hollys comment was, I sure hope I dont get up there, I didnt do my hair this morning! Oh the vanity of teenage girls! As you can guess, the fastest finger question happened, and guess whose number came up??!! HOLLY!! She went down and sat in the hot seat. We did the family wave.
She did well, but did have some tricky questions. She got mixed up on one and said final answer before she thought enough about it. She missed that one and got out. She rejoined us in a bit and as I anticipated the first words out of her mouth were, Oh my gosh, I am so embarrassedI got up there and I didnt do my hair!! We teased her about Millionaire quite a bit on the remainder of the trip.We headed over to Muppets 3-D. After Philharmagic, these other 3-D shows are not as impressive!
While we were in that area, we saw Timon, Green Army Man, and Kermit the Frog so Jana snatched the autograph book and joined the lines. We really were done with what we wanted to do and we were hungry, so headed to Sci-Fi to see if we might be able to get in early for our lunch p.s. We sat there a very, very long time and finally got in about the exact time of our p.s. Oh well! The girls enjoyed looking in the book store near there and I enjoyed people-watching.We had never been to Sci-Fi diner before and the whole car concept was fun! We had a great waitress and we all stuck with the foods that others on DIS had advised: burgers, onion rings, shakes, etc. Jana did not opt for a shake and wanted the glow in the dark ice cubes instead which she loved. The food really was finethere certainly was plenty of it! We ate and waited for our bill and waited for our bill. It took forever! It was nearing time to get a spot for the parade and so we left Russ to get the bill and the girls and I headed out for a spot. Of course, the benches were full but as we neared a spot, a family got up from a bench and walked away. We didnt hesitate to settle in and wait for one of our favorite parades. Emily, who can never sit still, went scouting for souvenirs.
The parade was really as good as we remembered and our view was great. I love the way MGM has planned for the parade route with benches all along it! We were planning to stay for Fantasmic and we had some time to kill so we looked through some shops and stopped at the lockers for our sweatshirts. We looked at TOT and RnR both which had a 5 minute wait. It seems lots of people left after the parade! The girls went on both rides. Jana decided she wanted Mickey ears with her name on it for a souvenir so I took her to the store, Celebrity 5 & 10, to place her order.
They said it would be ready after Fantasmic so we headed out.We got to Fantasmic about 5:30 for the 7:00 show and people were pouring in. We got great seats in the Mickey section and settled in. We were there for a bit and Emily decided she wanted to get the book, The Making of the Haunted Mansion that she had seen in one of the shops. She wanted to get it then so she could look at it while we waited. I was not in the mood to go out and walk across the park again. Plus, they kept making the announcement that if you left, you might not get back in. However, there was still lots of space to fill in, so she finally convinced Russ to go with her. The girls and I visited with the people around us and it was fun. Russ and Emily finally made it back although I think Russ secret agenda was to find coffee along the way,
which he did not. He was disappointed that the vendors at Fantasmic did not sell coffee, but he finally settled for hot chocolate.We enjoyed Fantasmic as we always do. We have seen it 3 times now on our trips to WDW and we all felt this version was the best we had seen. It was so enjoyable! The lights and decorations were so pretty on the walk out and Jana was pleased with her Mickey ears with pink lettering for Jana. The girls wanted to ride the boat back and we convinced them to walk. It was a nice evening and it was funwe really were the only ones on the path back and the view of the Boardwalk area was beautiful!
We unloaded and decided to head to Epcot for the 9:30 Illuminations. That is one definite advantage of being at BC and this area. If we had to rely on the buses to get us back from MGM and then to Epcot, we could never had done both shows in one evening. Since we could rely on our own feet power, we could do it! We arrived at Epcot and our favorite spots around Canada were occupied with people right at the railing at waters edge. We wandered around a bit trying to decide where to go and finally decided to stand behind the people that were at the railing. There was a couple there that Jana and Emily struck up a conversation with(Jana knows no strangers!
) and pretty soon an enthusiastic game of Disney trivia occurred as the couple quizzed the girls and the girls stumped them with some Disney questions. Russ and Holly headed to get our favorite Epcot Canadian treat, Beavertails. They were out of maple, our favorite,
but we enjoyed the cinnamon/sugar and chocolate/hazelnut ones we had. The couple let Jana and Emily kneel on the bench in front of them(thank you!) and we had a great view even though we werent right in front. The show is awesome, awesome! I love it more every time I see it. The music is great and I just love everything about it. Holly and I made a pact to come back again and see it another evening. We walked back to BC and let the girls take off their shoes and go in the sand. While we were there, there was some young toddlers and kids that were playing at the edge of the water. I couldnt understand why any parents would allow their child to play in this water! First of all, it was dark and second of all, that water has to contain residue of fuel from the boats that go back and forth multiple times each day. Just doesnt seem like a good idea to me, but enough said on that!
We sat in the swings for a bit, but soon it was to bed. Tomorrow brings MK and breakfast with the princesses!
Stay tuned for: Early arrival at MK, breakfast with the princesses, SOB, and Spectro.
