mjh8955
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2001
- Messages
- 815
Just back and ready to post some observations/comments:
We had 7 in our group; DH, DD11, DS14, Me, BIL, SIL and DN4. We stayed at our timeshare at HGVC International Drive. Plenty of room, beautiful resort, lots of activities for the kids. It was the first Disney experience for BIL, SIL and their 4-year-old son.
Sunday - House of Blues and Downtown Disney
Monday - MGM and Epcot
Tuesday - MK and Epcot
Wednesday - pool day
Thursday - part of us did Disneyquest (11 hours!); the rest to AK and MK
Friday - pool day
Saturday - Downtown Disney
Found the crowds to be very manageable, only attractions that weren't walk ons were Soarin' (we all loved it) and Rock'N Roller Coaster and Haunted Mansion (never again - I kept my eyes shut the entire time and I know I said bad words the whole ride). Forgot to bring our ponchos on Tuesday and had to buy 4 new ones.
Our 11 and 14-year-olds loved the little pocket guides for each park that I printed from themouseforless.com/tripplanning/pocketguides. They asked for them at each park we went to. Huge success - something I read about on this board.
Tried Rose and Crown for the first time, literally ran in there because we were drenched. Didn't research it in advance and I guess we just ordered the wrong things - food wasn't that great.
Visited Norway and rode the Maelstrom this time, mostly to get out of the rain, and enjoyed it so much we actually talked about going to Norway on vacation someday
We tried Disneyquest for the first time and all loved it. It was not crowded until late in the evening. Our kids designed and rode their Cyberspace rollercoasters about 20 times in a row. Husband was having a flashback to his youth with all the old pinball machines and video machines. Daughter enjoyed the "Create" area with the animation classes and making her own cd's. Went on Pirates of the Caribbean having no clue what it even was. We loved it all. Would NOT have had the same experience had it been crowded.
Saw Fantasmic for the first time and enjoyed it. It was very crowded, even on a non-crowded day.
Had a wonderful meal at Bahama Breeze and Fish Bones (off-site). Part of us anyway. Dear BIL just can't find his way outside the box and he stuck with McDonalds, Wendy's and Red Lobster. We split up alot to accomodate our different food preferences.
The character breakfast at the Crystal Palace was wonderful. Husband and I are still talking about the breakfast casserole with blueberries in it.
Great trip - used alot of tips and tricks from this board!
We had 7 in our group; DH, DD11, DS14, Me, BIL, SIL and DN4. We stayed at our timeshare at HGVC International Drive. Plenty of room, beautiful resort, lots of activities for the kids. It was the first Disney experience for BIL, SIL and their 4-year-old son.
Sunday - House of Blues and Downtown Disney
Monday - MGM and Epcot
Tuesday - MK and Epcot
Wednesday - pool day
Thursday - part of us did Disneyquest (11 hours!); the rest to AK and MK
Friday - pool day
Saturday - Downtown Disney
Found the crowds to be very manageable, only attractions that weren't walk ons were Soarin' (we all loved it) and Rock'N Roller Coaster and Haunted Mansion (never again - I kept my eyes shut the entire time and I know I said bad words the whole ride). Forgot to bring our ponchos on Tuesday and had to buy 4 new ones.
Our 11 and 14-year-olds loved the little pocket guides for each park that I printed from themouseforless.com/tripplanning/pocketguides. They asked for them at each park we went to. Huge success - something I read about on this board.
Tried Rose and Crown for the first time, literally ran in there because we were drenched. Didn't research it in advance and I guess we just ordered the wrong things - food wasn't that great.
Visited Norway and rode the Maelstrom this time, mostly to get out of the rain, and enjoyed it so much we actually talked about going to Norway on vacation someday
We tried Disneyquest for the first time and all loved it. It was not crowded until late in the evening. Our kids designed and rode their Cyberspace rollercoasters about 20 times in a row. Husband was having a flashback to his youth with all the old pinball machines and video machines. Daughter enjoyed the "Create" area with the animation classes and making her own cd's. Went on Pirates of the Caribbean having no clue what it even was. We loved it all. Would NOT have had the same experience had it been crowded.
Saw Fantasmic for the first time and enjoyed it. It was very crowded, even on a non-crowded day.
Had a wonderful meal at Bahama Breeze and Fish Bones (off-site). Part of us anyway. Dear BIL just can't find his way outside the box and he stuck with McDonalds, Wendy's and Red Lobster. We split up alot to accomodate our different food preferences.
The character breakfast at the Crystal Palace was wonderful. Husband and I are still talking about the breakfast casserole with blueberries in it.
Great trip - used alot of tips and tricks from this board!
