Hi all, just wanted to post a few notes from our first trip for all those other first timers that may be reading the forums as I did before we went. First off a bit about us - Mom and Dad, 37 and 36, kids are twins boys, 6 years old. Mom and Dad went as young kids but don't really remember much - boys had never been before. We stayed in our popup at Fort Wilderness. Our boys are 6 but love the thrill rides.
1) Tourguidemike. Wow - this was an absolute must now that we went. His advice and park recommendations for each day were spot on - just wish he had SeaWorld listed so we could have avoided the crowds the day we went.
2) CROCS - after reading all about them here, I got our family some. if you are really spending time at the pool, they are good. For walking the parks, your feet get very dirty and none of the rides really got our feet wet that they made that much of a difference. You definitely want to be sure they do not rub ANYWHERE on your feet. Mine rubbed just a bit on the instep just above the arch so ended up with blisters after my first day at Animal Kingdom. None of us wore them again after the first day but will use them at the neighborhood pool this summer.
3) Pirates of the Caribbean - it was closed the first part of our trip and a CM said it would not be open as rumored - they would never open it early except for employees and press. Well we went to the MK on Friday and it was open - no fanfare, we just walked by and noticed people going in. CM there said it would be open this week only - I haven't seen it in 20 yrs so don't remember it originally but wasn't really impressed with current setup. Hoping more to come as the finish it out for the new movie.
4) Attractions:
AK - We all loved the Bug Movie and Everest. Dinosaur was ok and scared one of our boys but he decided he liked it enough to go again. Jungle Safari was ok. Things are too spaced out and Khali River Rapids is way too short for the effort. Only spent 1 day here (first day)
MK - As always, the best park. Spent 3 days here overall (planned 2). One day was a bad day per Tourguidemike but we had to go as we didn't get park hopper and we had Cinderalla's breakfast booked. Park hopper would have been nice but we are glad we didn't do it for the cost. For us, we pretty much did all the rides. Our favorites (repeatedly rode)
Tomorrowland Transit Authority - it was just a nice, quick interesting ride when nothing else to do in tomorrowland while waiting on FP to come up.
Space Mountain - ok ride but really only coaster in MK
Big Thunder Mountain RR - not enough drops. Space Mountain better only because SM is in the dark.
Splash Mountain - kids LOVED this one - rode it over and over when we could.
Philharmagic - funny, kids really enjoyed
Haunted Mansion Classic ride that wife loves and kids realy got into. Made bunny ears and punched out the ghosts at the end when the got 'into' the car with us.
Buzz Lightyear Its fun and interactive
Rides we wished we didn't waste the time - Stitch - Just plain dumb and boring. Jungle Cruise - again boring.
MGM We ended up 2 days here instead of the 1 planned. Really enjoyed this park and definitely was our #2 park. By far, Tower of Terror was the best ride we experienced in all the parks. We probably hit it 12 times. Rock and Roller coaster was ok - kids ended up too small to ride but wife and I split the time and rode. Start was great but then it just seemed to slow down and was really short. We really enjoyed the shows, especially Muppet 3D and the new Extreme Action show. The kids also got to fight Darth Vader in the Jedi training show outside Star Tours. (BTW - we didn't care for Star Tours too much - just not exciting). We did enjoy both the Great Movie Ride and the Backlot Tour ride but probably spent all the rest of the time at TOT.
Epcot We spent our last day here and it was probably our worst day as far as fun. Soarin' was visually spectacular but too short. Test Track is pretty cool as well. Not much else there we really enojoyed and ended up there only half a day. We didn't do Mission Space as we heard it does a lot of fast spinning to create the Gforces and we, Mom/Dad, get motion sickness on really spinny rides.
Other stuff:
Chef Mickey was the best breakfast, especially for characters. Cinderellas was good but probably better for girls (wife just wanted to eat in the castle). We loved Hoop-De-Doo review and it was well worth the money. Wishes fireworks was excellent as well as SpectroMagic. We didn't do Illuminations as we just didn't want to spend time waiting on another show and getting stuck in all the crowds. Fantasmic was another great show but a crowded exit.
I guess that's plenty for now as my first post and will be happy to answer any questions for newcomers
1) Tourguidemike. Wow - this was an absolute must now that we went. His advice and park recommendations for each day were spot on - just wish he had SeaWorld listed so we could have avoided the crowds the day we went.
2) CROCS - after reading all about them here, I got our family some. if you are really spending time at the pool, they are good. For walking the parks, your feet get very dirty and none of the rides really got our feet wet that they made that much of a difference. You definitely want to be sure they do not rub ANYWHERE on your feet. Mine rubbed just a bit on the instep just above the arch so ended up with blisters after my first day at Animal Kingdom. None of us wore them again after the first day but will use them at the neighborhood pool this summer.
3) Pirates of the Caribbean - it was closed the first part of our trip and a CM said it would not be open as rumored - they would never open it early except for employees and press. Well we went to the MK on Friday and it was open - no fanfare, we just walked by and noticed people going in. CM there said it would be open this week only - I haven't seen it in 20 yrs so don't remember it originally but wasn't really impressed with current setup. Hoping more to come as the finish it out for the new movie.
4) Attractions:
AK - We all loved the Bug Movie and Everest. Dinosaur was ok and scared one of our boys but he decided he liked it enough to go again. Jungle Safari was ok. Things are too spaced out and Khali River Rapids is way too short for the effort. Only spent 1 day here (first day)
MK - As always, the best park. Spent 3 days here overall (planned 2). One day was a bad day per Tourguidemike but we had to go as we didn't get park hopper and we had Cinderalla's breakfast booked. Park hopper would have been nice but we are glad we didn't do it for the cost. For us, we pretty much did all the rides. Our favorites (repeatedly rode)
Tomorrowland Transit Authority - it was just a nice, quick interesting ride when nothing else to do in tomorrowland while waiting on FP to come up.
Space Mountain - ok ride but really only coaster in MK
Big Thunder Mountain RR - not enough drops. Space Mountain better only because SM is in the dark.
Splash Mountain - kids LOVED this one - rode it over and over when we could.
Philharmagic - funny, kids really enjoyed
Haunted Mansion Classic ride that wife loves and kids realy got into. Made bunny ears and punched out the ghosts at the end when the got 'into' the car with us.
Buzz Lightyear Its fun and interactive
Rides we wished we didn't waste the time - Stitch - Just plain dumb and boring. Jungle Cruise - again boring.
MGM We ended up 2 days here instead of the 1 planned. Really enjoyed this park and definitely was our #2 park. By far, Tower of Terror was the best ride we experienced in all the parks. We probably hit it 12 times. Rock and Roller coaster was ok - kids ended up too small to ride but wife and I split the time and rode. Start was great but then it just seemed to slow down and was really short. We really enjoyed the shows, especially Muppet 3D and the new Extreme Action show. The kids also got to fight Darth Vader in the Jedi training show outside Star Tours. (BTW - we didn't care for Star Tours too much - just not exciting). We did enjoy both the Great Movie Ride and the Backlot Tour ride but probably spent all the rest of the time at TOT.
Epcot We spent our last day here and it was probably our worst day as far as fun. Soarin' was visually spectacular but too short. Test Track is pretty cool as well. Not much else there we really enojoyed and ended up there only half a day. We didn't do Mission Space as we heard it does a lot of fast spinning to create the Gforces and we, Mom/Dad, get motion sickness on really spinny rides.
Other stuff:
Chef Mickey was the best breakfast, especially for characters. Cinderellas was good but probably better for girls (wife just wanted to eat in the castle). We loved Hoop-De-Doo review and it was well worth the money. Wishes fireworks was excellent as well as SpectroMagic. We didn't do Illuminations as we just didn't want to spend time waiting on another show and getting stuck in all the crowds. Fantasmic was another great show but a crowded exit.
I guess that's plenty for now as my first post and will be happy to answer any questions for newcomers
