manchurianbrownbear
<font color=green>Not very concise<br><font color=
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2002
- Messages
- 1,160
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Here are several highlights, very few lowlights and some general observations from our recent trip to WDW, October 30 November 6.
Our party consisted of me DW, DS12, DS8, DD7, DD4, FIL, MIL and on the last day of the trip, BIL, SIL and niece, age 2.
Another warm, sunny day! We had to start a little earlier because the ladies had reservations for the Princess Breakfast at Cinderellas castle. DSs would certainly never admit to having any interest in a princess breakfast, even if they really did, so the men had made a PS at Kona Café! Since making the PS, visions of Tonga Toast and Kona Coffee danced in my head!
We were all able to ride the bus from ASMo to MK and from there we men hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian. I really enjoy riding the monorail, so this was a good excuse to do so, Por Favor Montenga (please forgive this Swede if thats misspelled!).
There arent a lot of things that I like better at home than at WDW, but coffee is one of them. I tolerate the WDW coffee because drinking coffee is a deeply ingrained nervous habit, I enjoy the caffeine boost and it give me an excuse to buy a refillable mug. Having heard so many good things about Kona coffee, I was eager to give it a try. The Tonga Toast was great, better than I expected. The coffee wasnt that great. When DW met up a little later, and I told her this, she asked if I had ordered the pressed pot. UUHHGGG! I hadnt! For some reason, I assumed that since the Kona Café is famous for their Kona coffee, that must be what you get when order coffee off the menu. I shouldnt go anywhere without DW! Now I guess I have to go back to WDW again, because I still havent had the pressed pot at Kona Café!
We took a boat back over to MK which was also enjoyable. The calm before the storm!
After renting a stroller and meeting the ladies, we ran into Buzz Lightyear with no line right outside of Cosmic Rays. The girls had already ridden a few rides after their breakfast while they waited for us. The men got in (a short) line for the Tea Cups while the girls headed over to Ariels Grotto. We were able to ride Tea Cups, maybe not the best ride after filling up on Tonga Toast, and then Peter Pans Flight both while the girls waited for Ariel.
Everyone rode IASW and then headed over to Mickeys Philharmagic. When we got there, the wait time was 25 minutes. We were about to look for a different ride and the wait time dropped to 5 minutes! I assume this is because a show just ended. We got in line immediately and were seated in the theatre within 5 minutes. This is the best of the 3-D shows, IMHO! Even though wed already seen it on Halloween, I would have been disappointed if wed missed it that day.
Next we headed toward Liberty Square and had to ride Haunted Mansion. The sign outside the Gracey Mansion said there was a 15 minute wait, but we walked on! After getting the kids pictures in the stocks ( we could use a set of those at home!), we moved on toward Splash Mountain. Everyone was getting hungry, so I took the 10 park passes from everyone in our group and got FPs while everyone else got in line at Pecos Bills for lunch. By the time we were done eating, we could use our FPs and everyone but DD4 and my MIL rode Splash Mountain. Our family filled one log and we couldn't resist buying the picture when we got off the ride. Its so ironic that such a popular attraction is based on a movie that Disney wont distribute in the U.S.! SM is DS8s favorite ride and he is obsessed with seeing Song of the South! Weve tried to explain was its not available here, but if you tell a kid they cant have something, thats all they want. Oh well, hell have to make do with his Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear bean bag characters!
Big Thunder Mountain RR was being rehabbed, so we missed out on that. Ironically, BTMRR was also being rehabbed on our previous trip, first week of November in 2000. On that trip we were able to ride it at MNSSHP, but we missed it all together this time.
One of the rides we had missed a MNSSHP a few days earlier was Aladdins Magic Carpets. DD7 is a big Jasmine fan, so we HAD to get on this ride even if we had to wait an hour. We were thrilled to find NO WAIT! And when we got off the ride we got autographs and pictures with both Jasmine and the Genie with very short lines!
At the gift shop (or is it the marketplace?) outside the Magic Carpets DD4 was reaching over her head for a magic lamp and brought the whole shelf down! If she hadnt been so horrified, she might have been in big trouble! Nothing was broken and of course, the CMs were great!
By this time it was starting to rain, so we ran to Pirates of the Caribbean. Once again, there was no wait! There were so many reports of big crowds in the days before we left, that we had kind of resigned ourselves to spending a lot of time in line, but with very few exceptions, our waits were very short.
After we got off POC it was pouring! Hoping that it would be a passing storm, we ran to the Tiki Room. I miss the old Tiki Bird Show, but the new one is funny. If youll excuse a rabbit trail, we purchased The Official Album on this trip and Iagos song is on it. The words are very funny; you are boring Tiki Birds, Im a big celebrity . It also has all the Splash Mountain songs.
The rain hadnt let up, so we put our ponchos on and headed toward Tomorrowland. It was almost time for supper so we got Space Mountain FPs and went to Cosmic Rays to eat. The great condiment bar in Cosmic Rays (and Pecos Bills) really makes the counter service burgers and hotdogs a lot better. Grilled onions, fresh tomatoes, etc Mmmm.
The rain had almost completely stopped by the time we finished eating and the park had really cleared out. We probably wouldnt have needed our FPs at Space Mountain. Before riding SM we picked up FPs for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. There was still a 10 or 15 minute wait there. After riding SM we were able to jump on BLSRS. We LOVE Fast Pass. We only had a little over an hour before Wishes, so we hurried to CoP. On our WDW trip in 2000 CoP was closed, so this was the first time Id watched it since I was in high school. Its still pretty cool and it was fun to watch the kids reactions! Our last ride at MK was Tomorrowland Transit Authority; we closed out the trip with a couple old school attractions!
Even though the rain had driven a lot of people out of the park, there was still a pretty big crowd gathering on Main Street for Wishes. We dashed into Main Street Emporium for a little last minute souvenir shopping and then proceeded onto Main Street to watch Wishes. We ended up on the castle end of Main Street instead of the entrance gate end. I think you probably get a better view back by the gate, but we were still able to enjoy the show! As we got closer to the start of the show we were packed in pretty tight. CMs were directing people to roped off paths through crowd so they wouldnt have to push through crowd to cross the street. A women in a motorized cart (moving a little too fast IMO) ran over the toes of a women standing in front of us! Yikes! It was a hit and run; she never stopped to apologize or see if the women was OK. Crowds can definitely bring out the worst in people!
Wishes was great, probably the best fireworks show Ive ever seen. It was moving for me (in a manly way!), especially since we were in the final minutes of our LONG awaited WDW trip. Time goes way to fast at WDW!
Here are several highlights, very few lowlights and some general observations from our recent trip to WDW, October 30 November 6.
Our party consisted of me DW, DS12, DS8, DD7, DD4, FIL, MIL and on the last day of the trip, BIL, SIL and niece, age 2.
Another warm, sunny day! We had to start a little earlier because the ladies had reservations for the Princess Breakfast at Cinderellas castle. DSs would certainly never admit to having any interest in a princess breakfast, even if they really did, so the men had made a PS at Kona Café! Since making the PS, visions of Tonga Toast and Kona Coffee danced in my head!
We were all able to ride the bus from ASMo to MK and from there we men hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian. I really enjoy riding the monorail, so this was a good excuse to do so, Por Favor Montenga (please forgive this Swede if thats misspelled!).
There arent a lot of things that I like better at home than at WDW, but coffee is one of them. I tolerate the WDW coffee because drinking coffee is a deeply ingrained nervous habit, I enjoy the caffeine boost and it give me an excuse to buy a refillable mug. Having heard so many good things about Kona coffee, I was eager to give it a try. The Tonga Toast was great, better than I expected. The coffee wasnt that great. When DW met up a little later, and I told her this, she asked if I had ordered the pressed pot. UUHHGGG! I hadnt! For some reason, I assumed that since the Kona Café is famous for their Kona coffee, that must be what you get when order coffee off the menu. I shouldnt go anywhere without DW! Now I guess I have to go back to WDW again, because I still havent had the pressed pot at Kona Café!
We took a boat back over to MK which was also enjoyable. The calm before the storm!
After renting a stroller and meeting the ladies, we ran into Buzz Lightyear with no line right outside of Cosmic Rays. The girls had already ridden a few rides after their breakfast while they waited for us. The men got in (a short) line for the Tea Cups while the girls headed over to Ariels Grotto. We were able to ride Tea Cups, maybe not the best ride after filling up on Tonga Toast, and then Peter Pans Flight both while the girls waited for Ariel.
Everyone rode IASW and then headed over to Mickeys Philharmagic. When we got there, the wait time was 25 minutes. We were about to look for a different ride and the wait time dropped to 5 minutes! I assume this is because a show just ended. We got in line immediately and were seated in the theatre within 5 minutes. This is the best of the 3-D shows, IMHO! Even though wed already seen it on Halloween, I would have been disappointed if wed missed it that day.
Next we headed toward Liberty Square and had to ride Haunted Mansion. The sign outside the Gracey Mansion said there was a 15 minute wait, but we walked on! After getting the kids pictures in the stocks ( we could use a set of those at home!), we moved on toward Splash Mountain. Everyone was getting hungry, so I took the 10 park passes from everyone in our group and got FPs while everyone else got in line at Pecos Bills for lunch. By the time we were done eating, we could use our FPs and everyone but DD4 and my MIL rode Splash Mountain. Our family filled one log and we couldn't resist buying the picture when we got off the ride. Its so ironic that such a popular attraction is based on a movie that Disney wont distribute in the U.S.! SM is DS8s favorite ride and he is obsessed with seeing Song of the South! Weve tried to explain was its not available here, but if you tell a kid they cant have something, thats all they want. Oh well, hell have to make do with his Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear bean bag characters!
Big Thunder Mountain RR was being rehabbed, so we missed out on that. Ironically, BTMRR was also being rehabbed on our previous trip, first week of November in 2000. On that trip we were able to ride it at MNSSHP, but we missed it all together this time.
One of the rides we had missed a MNSSHP a few days earlier was Aladdins Magic Carpets. DD7 is a big Jasmine fan, so we HAD to get on this ride even if we had to wait an hour. We were thrilled to find NO WAIT! And when we got off the ride we got autographs and pictures with both Jasmine and the Genie with very short lines!
At the gift shop (or is it the marketplace?) outside the Magic Carpets DD4 was reaching over her head for a magic lamp and brought the whole shelf down! If she hadnt been so horrified, she might have been in big trouble! Nothing was broken and of course, the CMs were great!
By this time it was starting to rain, so we ran to Pirates of the Caribbean. Once again, there was no wait! There were so many reports of big crowds in the days before we left, that we had kind of resigned ourselves to spending a lot of time in line, but with very few exceptions, our waits were very short.
After we got off POC it was pouring! Hoping that it would be a passing storm, we ran to the Tiki Room. I miss the old Tiki Bird Show, but the new one is funny. If youll excuse a rabbit trail, we purchased The Official Album on this trip and Iagos song is on it. The words are very funny; you are boring Tiki Birds, Im a big celebrity . It also has all the Splash Mountain songs.
The rain hadnt let up, so we put our ponchos on and headed toward Tomorrowland. It was almost time for supper so we got Space Mountain FPs and went to Cosmic Rays to eat. The great condiment bar in Cosmic Rays (and Pecos Bills) really makes the counter service burgers and hotdogs a lot better. Grilled onions, fresh tomatoes, etc Mmmm.
The rain had almost completely stopped by the time we finished eating and the park had really cleared out. We probably wouldnt have needed our FPs at Space Mountain. Before riding SM we picked up FPs for Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. There was still a 10 or 15 minute wait there. After riding SM we were able to jump on BLSRS. We LOVE Fast Pass. We only had a little over an hour before Wishes, so we hurried to CoP. On our WDW trip in 2000 CoP was closed, so this was the first time Id watched it since I was in high school. Its still pretty cool and it was fun to watch the kids reactions! Our last ride at MK was Tomorrowland Transit Authority; we closed out the trip with a couple old school attractions!
Even though the rain had driven a lot of people out of the park, there was still a pretty big crowd gathering on Main Street for Wishes. We dashed into Main Street Emporium for a little last minute souvenir shopping and then proceeded onto Main Street to watch Wishes. We ended up on the castle end of Main Street instead of the entrance gate end. I think you probably get a better view back by the gate, but we were still able to enjoy the show! As we got closer to the start of the show we were packed in pretty tight. CMs were directing people to roped off paths through crowd so they wouldnt have to push through crowd to cross the street. A women in a motorized cart (moving a little too fast IMO) ran over the toes of a women standing in front of us! Yikes! It was a hit and run; she never stopped to apologize or see if the women was OK. Crowds can definitely bring out the worst in people!
Wishes was great, probably the best fireworks show Ive ever seen. It was moving for me (in a manly way!), especially since we were in the final minutes of our LONG awaited WDW trip. Time goes way to fast at WDW!
