TimNDansMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2000
- Messages
- 3,093
July 27
I had learned from experience that trying to get the kids up for Early Entry wasnt easy and wed already gotten up early for EPCOT, so I thought wed try the day after EE at Magic Kingdom, for Friday. Also, since we were going to do E-Ride Night, getting up too early was not a good idea. We had our usual cereals in the room (DH would have his later in the food court and then head out for his golf game later in the afternoon) and caught the MK bus.
We arrived at 9 oclock and headed up Main Street, USA. I got that choked-up feeling that we all get when we see the castle rising there before us and I remember thinking how familiar everything felt to me as I looked around. It had been an extraordinary past year, with this the fourth trip to WDW and I tried to soak up as much of the feeling as I could since I wasnt sure when I would be back. DH not only wanted to move on to other golfing meccas but wants to try a cruise next. The kids are now at the age where they dont really want to travel with us anymore and certainly not another trip back to WDW anytime soon! So I felt a little sad too.
We immediately headed to Tomorrowland and followed the group of people at rope drop in. We got a Fastpass for Space Mountain, but was able to walk right on twice before we had to use it for the third time and a considerable line had formed by then. It was our intention to hit our favourite rides and then leave the park for a rest before E-Ride night, so we then headed over to Splash Mountain to discover that the ride was down and they werent giving out any Fastpasses. The wait for Big Thunder wasnt too long so we decided to go on that, before heading back over to Dans favourites, Buzz Lightyear, which we walked on 3 times in a row, and Haunted Mansion.
I had been wanting to go on Snow White and Peter Pan, which I hadnt gone on since 1987, so we also grabbed a Fastpass for PP while we went to wait the 30 minutes for SN. The kids thought these rides were hystericalwhat was that!mainly because one scene would show something dangerous about to happen and the next would show the happy ending. I told them that Disney probably chose to leave out the action scenes so as not to frighten the little kids. They still chuckle about this!
We kept checking back at Splash Mountain and although they would occasionally send some boats around, we didnt see it reopen while we were there that morning. We had to stop at the Frontierland Shootin Arcade, of course, and since another favourite, Pirates of the Caribbean was a walk-on, did that and also The Enchanted Tiki Room. It was quite comical at the end when the birds start singing "Stand-up.....", because no one did. I knew what was coming, but didn't want to be the first one and eventually a CM came and started motioning us all to "stand-up".
Earlier we had stopped for our usual ice cream treats (Mickey Bar, Toll House, Nestle Crunch) but I wanted to introduce the kids to Dole Whips. The vanilla/pineapple swirl is now Tims new favourite and I found out via the hotel bill that he had gone back twice before leaving the park to return to the room, while Dan stayed with me to watch the Magical Moments Parade. I had the same while Dan went for the chocolate swirl.
While waiting for the parade to begin, it started to rain and some of the characters carried clear plastic umbrellas. I didnt have a really good viewing spot for taking pictures, but I did take a few. When the end came, we hustled along behind people standing on Main Street still watching the parade, trying to get to the exit and ended up at where the parade ends beside City Hall and got several excellent pictures as there werent many people here. Ill have to remember this for next time.
Dan and I then went into City Hall to inquire about the E-Ride tickets and were told that we could purchase them up to 11pm, there. I decided, that in order to make absolutely sure that everyone was up for this, I would wait and buy them when we returned to the park in time for Spectromagic at 9 oclock.
We caught the bus back to ASMu and discovered that Tim had made it back okay on his own. We went to the food court for dinner and relaxed until it was time to leave for MK againabout 8pm.
As soon as we arrived, the plan was to head straight to City Hall, buy our tickets quickly and find a spot to view Spectromagic. Or so we thought! I would have thought that the CMs there would be ready to sell the tickets, because we ended up waiting a good 20 minutes while we were passed from one wicket to another because there wasnt a fund. I also must have told the CMs 3 times that I wanted to charge the tickets to the room and I guess I sounded a bit impatient by the 4th time, because that CM clued right in and said he would charge me for only 2 instead of 3 tickets, which I thought was very nice and totally unexpected. I was a bit surprised and confused by this experience and I think next time I will buy the tickets at the resort and see if that goes any better. I got the impression that City Hall was better set up to exchange pre-purchased tickets for the wrist bands and when I said, for the last time, that I wanted to charge the tickets to the room, that seemed to clear some last problem they were having. In the end it turned out okay, I kept my cool and got a free ticket!
The kids wanted to do their own thing during Spectromagic so we agreed to meet in front of the castle after the fireworks at 10pm. I found a good viewing area for the parade near the castle. I found that I quite enjoyed it, as much as I did Main Street Electric Parade. Afterwards, I went and found a good spot on the bridge to Tomorrowland where I had an excellent view of Tinkerbell as she flew overhead, just before the fireworks. Im not sure if it was my location, or the wind currents, but there was so much smoke from the fireworks, that it was a little hard to see them all near the end. Still I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and took several great pictures of the castle, changing colours. I met up with Dan immediately, but we had to wait until almost 10:30 until Tim showed up, claiming that he didnt have his watch, but that he had a ball riding Splash Mountain several times in a row! He managed to catch views of the parade just before the drop.
We were finally off for our first E-Ride Night! And what a beautiful night it was! We decided to start with Haunted Mansion. As Dan did not want to go on Splash Mountain, he decided to go to BL while Tim and I went over to SM. The plan was that he would stay there and do BL (his choice!) until we came and got him afterwards. Tim and I got right on SM and then decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad since we could walk right on. We then went over to meet back up with Dan and take him back over to BTMRR, which Tim and I had thought was great in the dark. But when we got thereno Dan. We waited for ages for him, but still no Dan. We had no idea where he could have gone. Finally, I decided to walk over to SM and BTMRR and see if I could find him, but I came back to Tim, waiting at BLstill no Dan! We were wasting valuable time and although I was concerned, I knew he had to be somewhere about. Tim and I went on BL, both sides of Space Mountain and then went back over to Splash and rode it 3 timesthe last time we were told we could stay on if we wanted to. I cant believe that we managed to stay fairly dry after all that! From there we walked back over towards the castle because I wanted to get some character pictures if they were still out. Yes, they were and I have some great photos taken with Pluto, Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie! All the while, we were still looking for Dan.
One oclock came before we knew it and it was time to leave. He didnt show up at the bus stop and the only thing we could think of was that Dan had gone back to the room for some reason. I must admit that I held my breath as I opened the door to our room back at ASMu and there was Dan fast asleep! I found out later that he wasnt getting any great scores on BL like he had earlier in the day and decided we were taking too long. So in spite of our arrangement, he decided to carry on with the other rides and keep an eye out for us. He couldnt find us either, so finally decided to head back to the room at 12:45he thought that we must have gone back. I think another reason that we couldnt find him was that at one point he decided to go for an ice cream at the Cone Shop on Main Street and said he even stood out in the middle of the street eating his chocolate fudge sunday in a waffle dish, so we could see him!! I had originally thought that it would be nice for us ALL to get a treat on Main Street and sit and people watch and enjoy the evening before the park closed at 1am but since Tim and I had wasted close to an hour just looking for Dan, we missed this treat. We have since had a chat for future reference, about not leaving the appointed meeting place, and that none of us should/would leave the area entirely, without telling someone!
In spite of the mix-up we enjoyed going to E-Ride night and would definitely do it again. I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow! The next morning, I wanted to go to the Kona Café for Tonga Toast. Our wonderful, relaxing visit to WDW was winding down or so I thought!
I had learned from experience that trying to get the kids up for Early Entry wasnt easy and wed already gotten up early for EPCOT, so I thought wed try the day after EE at Magic Kingdom, for Friday. Also, since we were going to do E-Ride Night, getting up too early was not a good idea. We had our usual cereals in the room (DH would have his later in the food court and then head out for his golf game later in the afternoon) and caught the MK bus.
We arrived at 9 oclock and headed up Main Street, USA. I got that choked-up feeling that we all get when we see the castle rising there before us and I remember thinking how familiar everything felt to me as I looked around. It had been an extraordinary past year, with this the fourth trip to WDW and I tried to soak up as much of the feeling as I could since I wasnt sure when I would be back. DH not only wanted to move on to other golfing meccas but wants to try a cruise next. The kids are now at the age where they dont really want to travel with us anymore and certainly not another trip back to WDW anytime soon! So I felt a little sad too.
We immediately headed to Tomorrowland and followed the group of people at rope drop in. We got a Fastpass for Space Mountain, but was able to walk right on twice before we had to use it for the third time and a considerable line had formed by then. It was our intention to hit our favourite rides and then leave the park for a rest before E-Ride night, so we then headed over to Splash Mountain to discover that the ride was down and they werent giving out any Fastpasses. The wait for Big Thunder wasnt too long so we decided to go on that, before heading back over to Dans favourites, Buzz Lightyear, which we walked on 3 times in a row, and Haunted Mansion.
I had been wanting to go on Snow White and Peter Pan, which I hadnt gone on since 1987, so we also grabbed a Fastpass for PP while we went to wait the 30 minutes for SN. The kids thought these rides were hystericalwhat was that!mainly because one scene would show something dangerous about to happen and the next would show the happy ending. I told them that Disney probably chose to leave out the action scenes so as not to frighten the little kids. They still chuckle about this!
We kept checking back at Splash Mountain and although they would occasionally send some boats around, we didnt see it reopen while we were there that morning. We had to stop at the Frontierland Shootin Arcade, of course, and since another favourite, Pirates of the Caribbean was a walk-on, did that and also The Enchanted Tiki Room. It was quite comical at the end when the birds start singing "Stand-up.....", because no one did. I knew what was coming, but didn't want to be the first one and eventually a CM came and started motioning us all to "stand-up".
Earlier we had stopped for our usual ice cream treats (Mickey Bar, Toll House, Nestle Crunch) but I wanted to introduce the kids to Dole Whips. The vanilla/pineapple swirl is now Tims new favourite and I found out via the hotel bill that he had gone back twice before leaving the park to return to the room, while Dan stayed with me to watch the Magical Moments Parade. I had the same while Dan went for the chocolate swirl.
While waiting for the parade to begin, it started to rain and some of the characters carried clear plastic umbrellas. I didnt have a really good viewing spot for taking pictures, but I did take a few. When the end came, we hustled along behind people standing on Main Street still watching the parade, trying to get to the exit and ended up at where the parade ends beside City Hall and got several excellent pictures as there werent many people here. Ill have to remember this for next time.
Dan and I then went into City Hall to inquire about the E-Ride tickets and were told that we could purchase them up to 11pm, there. I decided, that in order to make absolutely sure that everyone was up for this, I would wait and buy them when we returned to the park in time for Spectromagic at 9 oclock.
We caught the bus back to ASMu and discovered that Tim had made it back okay on his own. We went to the food court for dinner and relaxed until it was time to leave for MK againabout 8pm.
As soon as we arrived, the plan was to head straight to City Hall, buy our tickets quickly and find a spot to view Spectromagic. Or so we thought! I would have thought that the CMs there would be ready to sell the tickets, because we ended up waiting a good 20 minutes while we were passed from one wicket to another because there wasnt a fund. I also must have told the CMs 3 times that I wanted to charge the tickets to the room and I guess I sounded a bit impatient by the 4th time, because that CM clued right in and said he would charge me for only 2 instead of 3 tickets, which I thought was very nice and totally unexpected. I was a bit surprised and confused by this experience and I think next time I will buy the tickets at the resort and see if that goes any better. I got the impression that City Hall was better set up to exchange pre-purchased tickets for the wrist bands and when I said, for the last time, that I wanted to charge the tickets to the room, that seemed to clear some last problem they were having. In the end it turned out okay, I kept my cool and got a free ticket!
The kids wanted to do their own thing during Spectromagic so we agreed to meet in front of the castle after the fireworks at 10pm. I found a good viewing area for the parade near the castle. I found that I quite enjoyed it, as much as I did Main Street Electric Parade. Afterwards, I went and found a good spot on the bridge to Tomorrowland where I had an excellent view of Tinkerbell as she flew overhead, just before the fireworks. Im not sure if it was my location, or the wind currents, but there was so much smoke from the fireworks, that it was a little hard to see them all near the end. Still I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and took several great pictures of the castle, changing colours. I met up with Dan immediately, but we had to wait until almost 10:30 until Tim showed up, claiming that he didnt have his watch, but that he had a ball riding Splash Mountain several times in a row! He managed to catch views of the parade just before the drop.
We were finally off for our first E-Ride Night! And what a beautiful night it was! We decided to start with Haunted Mansion. As Dan did not want to go on Splash Mountain, he decided to go to BL while Tim and I went over to SM. The plan was that he would stay there and do BL (his choice!) until we came and got him afterwards. Tim and I got right on SM and then decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad since we could walk right on. We then went over to meet back up with Dan and take him back over to BTMRR, which Tim and I had thought was great in the dark. But when we got thereno Dan. We waited for ages for him, but still no Dan. We had no idea where he could have gone. Finally, I decided to walk over to SM and BTMRR and see if I could find him, but I came back to Tim, waiting at BLstill no Dan! We were wasting valuable time and although I was concerned, I knew he had to be somewhere about. Tim and I went on BL, both sides of Space Mountain and then went back over to Splash and rode it 3 timesthe last time we were told we could stay on if we wanted to. I cant believe that we managed to stay fairly dry after all that! From there we walked back over towards the castle because I wanted to get some character pictures if they were still out. Yes, they were and I have some great photos taken with Pluto, Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie! All the while, we were still looking for Dan.
One oclock came before we knew it and it was time to leave. He didnt show up at the bus stop and the only thing we could think of was that Dan had gone back to the room for some reason. I must admit that I held my breath as I opened the door to our room back at ASMu and there was Dan fast asleep! I found out later that he wasnt getting any great scores on BL like he had earlier in the day and decided we were taking too long. So in spite of our arrangement, he decided to carry on with the other rides and keep an eye out for us. He couldnt find us either, so finally decided to head back to the room at 12:45he thought that we must have gone back. I think another reason that we couldnt find him was that at one point he decided to go for an ice cream at the Cone Shop on Main Street and said he even stood out in the middle of the street eating his chocolate fudge sunday in a waffle dish, so we could see him!! I had originally thought that it would be nice for us ALL to get a treat on Main Street and sit and people watch and enjoy the evening before the park closed at 1am but since Tim and I had wasted close to an hour just looking for Dan, we missed this treat. We have since had a chat for future reference, about not leaving the appointed meeting place, and that none of us should/would leave the area entirely, without telling someone!
In spite of the mix-up we enjoyed going to E-Ride night and would definitely do it again. I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow! The next morning, I wanted to go to the Kona Café for Tonga Toast. Our wonderful, relaxing visit to WDW was winding down or so I thought!
