Three Times A Charm - Spring Break 2004 pt. 2

[KimEadler]

Cast: Me (OCD Disney Planner!)
Tim (My wonderful husband)
Skylar (My teenaged son)
Trevor (My 11-year old son)
Tori (My 9-year old Disney princess)
Mom (My mother who also loves Disney!)

This report was mostly written for me and my family! It has a lot of detail, (ie: it's long!!) so I will remember what we did during our Magical trip!

Saturday, March 20: Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom & Disney MGM Studios

We get new room keys that have our UPH passes on them. Pop Century actually delivers these to our rooms, and I’m so relieved that we don’t have to move during our 3 different reservations! (A 1-night room only reservation, a 6-night UPH package reservation, and a 1-night room only reservation!). We now have access to the entire world for the next 7 days!! Our first park will be Typhoon Lagoon! We’ve never been to a Disney water park, and we are all excited to try it! I’ve read that it sometimes gets crowded on a Saturday, so we are there before opening! We head straight to the shark reef, and there is no wait! I’m somewhat surprised when Tori refuses to swim! It is a little harder than I expected – it’s definitely deep water, and the masks don’t fit great. But it is amazing!! The fish swim right up next to you, and the sharks and stingrays are huge!! What a thrill! We all loved it! We go back through a second time so Mom can try it – she likes it, too! After riding all of the slides, and cruising in the amazing lazy river, we hit the wave pool! These waves are fun!! But I thought that the waves seemed bigger when we saw them earlier ….. wait, the waves have stopped for a minute …. POWWWW!!!! A HUGE wave just hit me in the face! From nowhere came a 6-foot wave!! How fun!! I straighten out my sunglasses on my face, and we spend the next hour or so surfing the waves!!! What fun!! A huge wave to ride, but no undertow or salt water! After playing in the waves, we do another trip around the park riding our favorite rides! Tori wants to try the shark reef, so back we go! She did great! It was harder for her because the mask didn’t fit too well, so she ended up with a face full of salt water, but she did it! I’m so proud of her for trying!

About 2:30, we decide to head back to the room to change and catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. We are in AK by 3:30, and walk towards the safari. I want to see Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle parade since we’ve never seen it before! We grab a place on the curb, get some ice cream (Mickey ice cream bars and frozen bananas!), and wait for the parade! It was great! Beautiful floats with huge “puppet” animals – and of course, Mickey and Minnie! Gosh it’s good to see them again! I’ve missed them! Right after the parade we head to the safari. There is no wait at all! The animals are very active; this is the best safari ride we’ve had! The lion was out, and several animals were up close to our jeep! After the safari, we head over to Dinosaur! Again, there was no wait! This is a good ride! I was so into the ride, I missed the giant dinosaur at the end – I must have had my eyes closed! Next is the new ride, Primeval Whirl. This is a fun little roller coaster that spins as you ride! The signs are hysterical! Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00, but we’re not ready to stop yet! We ride the bus over to MGM @ 6:15. My thought is that most people will be lining up and waiting for Fantasmic at 7:30!! I was right!! We walk on Tower of Terror and Rock’n Roller Coaster!! What great rides!! MGM closes at 7:30, so it’s a bus ride back to Pop! Did I mention that Pop Century is the closest bus stop at MGM?! This is nice! Dinner (pizza and salad from Everything Pop) and bed … we’re heading to Magic Kingdom tomorrow morning!

 

[pumba]

I dont' go deep......but I stand at the end of it and still get blown over.....it is my favorite thing to do........plus the lazy river......thanks so much for your report.......sounds like you had a blast

 

[Momster]

Wow, what an action packed day!

I was wondering how that Shark Reef worked. Sounds really neat. What if you don't know how to swim? My DD age 7 is just learning and I don't know how really. DH and DS age 9 can both swim. Also what about people who wear glasses (like me)? Do they have optical masks or can you put them over your glasses?

 

[KimEadler]

The shark reef was a blast! If you aren't a good swimmer, you can use a life jacket (they are free!). The saltwater gives you a little bit of buoyancy, and you don't really swim across the tank, you float and use your arms to propel you across the water. (No kicking!)

I didn't ask about optical masks, but I don't see how you could put the mask on over your glasses. You really need a tight fit around your face so that the saltwater doesn't get in your mask. That was the main problem my DD9 had - the water came in her mask and it was hard for her to keep her face in the water to see the fish!

We had many more action packed days ... I'm working on the balance of my trip reports!

 

[Momster]

Thanks for the info about Shark Reef. Maybe we can all do it after all, it sounds cool. DD 7 is a little concerned about swimming with sharks, even little ones. I think I saw something in one of the guidebooks about an age requirement of 10 years old though?

Guess I'll just have to wait and see about the optical masks, I don't think I'll be able to see well enough without something like that. When we were on our honeymoon years ago in Hawaii, they had optical masks for the snorkeling trips scheduled by our hotel. We really wanted to go but they were all booked up during the time we were there.

We are all bummed that Dinosaur will be closed when we are there in a few days. Oh well, plenty of other stuff to do.