A Family Trip To Disney World with Teenagers, Young Adults, and Grandmother 8/4 - 8/11/2008
We just got back from our trip to Disney World and it was great! Our group included me, my husband, 2 of our 4 daughters ages 18 and 20 years old from Monday, Aug 4 Monday, Aug 11. Our 21 year old daughter, 16 year old nephew and my mother joined us from Thursday afternoon, Aug 7 Monday Aug 11. We stayed at Disneys Port Orleans French Quarter. This was our first time at POFQ and we enjoyed it. We have previously stayed at Dixie Landings, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, All Star Music, and the Polynesian. The Polynesian is our favorite, but it is really out of our price range, especially now that our kids are 18 and over and cost an additional $25.00 per night each at the Polynesian.
We requested and received first floor rooms in building 5 which is close to the food court, bus stop, pool, and boat dock. We were also happy that our rooms were right next to each other even though we arrived on different days.
We got 8 day Park Hoppers and our goal was to try the new attractions that we had not done before such as Toy Story Mania, The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends, the Lights Motor Action Stunt Show, Sounds Dangerous, Expedition Everest, and Soarin. We also wanted to do our old favorites including Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear and the Haunted Mansion. And we wanted to take a long break every afternoon to swim, relax and enjoy our hotel, especially since the temperature was in the 90s everyday. We would work in any shows or other attractions if we had time. We also wanted to take the hotel shuttle boats to Downtown Disney. Since some of our group members arrived a few days later some of us ended up doing several of our favorite attractions more than once. Since the young people in our group do not like to get up early we skipped all morning early entry extra Magic hours and always went to a park that opened at 9:00AM. No use arriving late at an early entry park. We found that MGM was the hardest park to do without arriving by 9:00 AM so we made the effort to get there by 8:45 AM one day and it paid off. We were able to ride Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, do Toy Story Mania and The Great Movie ride by 10:30 AM. I will outline each day below so you get and idea of how the week went.
We flew into Miami on Saturday, August 2 and spent a couple of days visiting with one my sisters, my mother, two nephews and a niece who live there. On Monday we drove from Miami to Orlando and had lunch with my husbands Aunt and two of his cousins. We checked into Port Orleans French Quarter about 5:00 PM and had no wait. We unpacked, the girls took a nap and my husband and I explored and found the pool, boat dock, hot tub, gift shop and food court. We all went to the food court about 7:30 PM and had dinner. I had the ribs and mashed potatoes, my husband had the chicken Quesadilla, one daughter had a personal pizza and the other had a chicken wrap. The wraps were pre-made with dressing but my daughter just wanted chicken, cheese and lettuce so the college student working there made my daughters wrap fresh the way she wanted it. There was no one else in line at the time so it wasnt a problem. We went to the bus stop at about 8:30 PM and arrived at the Magic Kingdom about 8:55 PM.
Day 1 in the Parks - The Magic Kingdom Monday, August 4, 2008
We got into the park and thought about taking the train because everyone was crowded around waiting for the 9:00 PM Spectromagic Parade. We just missed the train so we decided to walk. We made our way through the crowd over to Frontierland and checked out the lines at Splash and Thunder but the lines were too long. The park was open until midnight so we knew if we just waited until close to closing there would be no line so we headed to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Aladdins Magic Carpet Ride. There was no wait for any of them. Then we went to the Haunted Mansion with only a five minute wait. Then we walked on the Its a Small World Ride and then headed over to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain. The line was long and there were no more Fast Passes so we went and got a Buzz Light Year Fast Pass. We went on Snow Whites Scary Adventure with no wait and Winnie the Pooh with a 5 minute wait and then went back and did Buzz Light Year. Then we went on Peter Pan and had about a 15 minute wait. It is really popular. By then it was about 11:20 PM so we headed back to Frontierland and rode Thunder Mountain Railroad with no wait and then did Splash Mountain. We got off almost exactly at Midnight. We were quite tired after our long day. We took the bus back to the hotel and took turns taking showers. I was last and did not get to bed until 2:00 AM.
Day 2 in the Parks The Magic Kingdom Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Luckily, last night we had actually ridden on everything we had planned on riding last night and this morning (except for Space Mountain). We had a 10:10 AM PS for Cinderella Breakfast in the Castle. We were able to sleep in and arrived at Magic Kingdom about 9:45 AM. We got on a double decker bus and rode it down mainstreet. It took about ten minutes. There was a show going on outside the castle so we had to walk toward Tomorowland and then go over a bridge to get behind the castle just in time to check in. We had planned to have someone go get fast passes for Space Mountain before breakfast but it was really hot and no one felt like rushing over there to get them so we figured we had all week and could do Space Mountain later. We checked in and then waited in a long line to get our pictures taken with Cinderella and then were ushered upstairs for our breakfast. We had a nice table and could see out the window of the castle into Fantasyland. Several princesses were there and they all came up one at a time and we took pictures of them with our daughters. I think this breakfast was more for me than for them. Our oldest already graduated from college and lives out of state and could not make this trip. Our youngest leaves for college in a few weeks and our other 2 go back to college soon as well. So this feels like maybe one of our last family vacations where I can still think of my daughters as kids. I really enjoyed the breakfast. The food was good and we didnt feel like we had to rush because we had the 8 day pass and could just take our time and enjoy everything. We took a lot of pictures of the inside of the castle. The breakfast was a kind of expensive since everyone was over ten and I almost cancelled it several times but I am glad we went. We had also gone once before when our girls probably ranged in age from 5 -11 years old and I remembered that I really liked it. I justified the cost by figuring that it was probably about the same price (or less) than a sports game or concert and we got a meal, got to see the inside of the castle and got the pictures. I did not realize until I started reading in the guidebooks and talking to people that I was really lucky to even get a reservation. I think I booked our hotel around Feb. 23rd. The person that booked the hotel reservation asked if I wanted to book dining. I said OK then the dining person asked if I wanted to book Cinderella and I said ok. I wanted the latest time available since I knew no one would want to get up early and rush over there for breakfast. They had a choice of days and times available and I think I was calling at night or in the afternoon, not in the morning. When I later read in the guidebooks that you should call 180 days ahead and first thing in the morning and you should practice calling and when I talked to friends who told me they could never get a reservation even when they did all that I realized I really was lucky to get it so easily.
After breakfast we went to Mickeys Philharmagic. It was fun. The girls wanted to go back to the hotel and swim and lay out so we let them. My husband wanted to go to Country Bear Jamboree because he plays the guitar. We went to that and then decided we were ready to take the bus back to the hotel too.
Hollywood Studios I still like to call it MGM so dont get confused
After swimming, napping and showering my husband and I headed over to the Beach Club for a 5:30 Cape May Café Clambake. We took the bus to MGM and then took the boat from MGM to the Beach Club. We allowed about an hour and fifteen minutes and it took about that long. The girls dont like the clambake so they went to MGM and ate there. My husband loves the clambake so we always go and they have many things besides clams. I was full and never got around to the clams. We met up with the girls about 7:30 PM at MGM and found long lines and no Fast Passes for Aerosmith, Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania. Most of the shows were done for the day so it was a little disappointing. We decided to walk around the Streets of America, do Muppet 3D, take the Great Movie ride and then do Tower of Terror right before closing when there would be only a short wait. It worked out and we did not have to wait in any long lines and got out right about 10:00 PM. And took the bus back to the hotel. This time I got to shower first and was in bed by 11:30 PM
Day 3 in the Parks EPCOT Wednesday, August 6, 2008
We just went to the Parks in the morning on Wednesday because we were going to visit my older sister and her family who live in the Tampa area for the afternoon and evening. One of my older brothers and his wife were also meeting us at my sisters house as well as an aunt and a cousin who all live in the Tampa area. My mother and nephew from Miami were also going to be there and then were going to join us at Disney the next afternoon.
We always planned to get to the parks around 9AM but thanks to the wait time 0f 0 30 minutes for a bus and the wait time of 0 60 minutes for the daughters to get ready each day we only made it by 9:00 AM once. We decided to take the car to EPCOT since we wanted to leave for Tampa right from EPCOT and were hoping to get out of the park between 1:00 and 2:00 PM. We got to EPCOT around 10:00 AM and it did not seem to be too crowded. The first thing we did was get the Soarin FastPasses. Our time was 2:10 PM. That would set us behind schedule for Tampa but we wanted to do it. I called my sister and told her the plan and then we did The Seas with Nemo. I loved the clam mobile ride and we all enjoyed the aquariums, especially the one where you walk down a hall and the aquarium is on both sides and in front of you. My daughters also loved watching the Manatees. My husband loved turtle talk with Crush. Then we went to The Land and took the boat ride which we also love. I especially like the rainforest part. We ate lunch at the food court of Sunshine Seasons. We usually ate cheerios in our room for breakfast so we were usually hungry for lunch. We all had the stir fries at Sunshine Seasons. After lunch we watched The Circle of Life. It was only 1:30 by then so we were going to walk over to Figment when two girls came up to us and asked if we wanted 6 Fast Passes for Soarin. We said sure. It would save us about 40 minutes. We gave two of them away and rode Soarin and loved it. When we came out we gave our four 2:10 PM FAST PASSES to a family of 4 and they were really happy to get them. Then we headed to Tampa where we swam, showered and had a Lasagna dinner and did our laundry and had a great visit. We got back to the hotel about midnight. We went right to bed.
Day 4 in the Parks Animal Kingdom Thursday, August 7, 2008
Animal Kingdom is probably the worst park to take the buses to from Port Orleans French Quarter. It seemed like the buses for MK and EPCOT went directly to the park from POFQ but the Animal Kingdom one went to all 4 Riverside stops and then to Blizzard Beach so it could take an hour to get there. I think we got there about 10:00 AM We first got a FAST PASS for Expedition Everest for about 1:00 PM. We then walked on the Maharajah Jungle Trek and saw tigers and bats. Our FASTPASSES said we could get another at about 10:30 AM so we got one for Kilimanjaro Safari. We then got in line for Kali River Rapids because the line was not long since it was still early morning. It was hot so it was nice getting wet. We got really wet. Two of us put our shoes in the stay dry compartment even though it said to keep your shoes on. We both have orthotics in our shoes that we are not supposed to get wet so we had to. My other daughter had flip flops on so she did not have to worry. My husband said his shoes did not get too wet. Otherwise we were pretty much drenched and it took hours to dry but it was ok because it was so hot out. After that I went and got FAST Passes for Dinosaur Then we ate at the fast food Yak and Yetis. My girls love chicken fried rice and egg rolls so it was perfect and the price was right. We took our time eating and then went on the Safari. By then it was time for Expedition Everest. We enjoyed it but my husband and I decided that once was enough for us. Then as we walked over to the Dinosaur ride we got a FASTPASS for Its Tough To Be Bug and then went and rode Dinosaur. They had some sort of problem with the Dinosaur ride so we were in line extra long and it threw our schedule off. My Mom, nephew and daughter would be arriving about 3:00 so my other two daughters went back to the hotel to meet them. My husband was dying to see Its Tough To Be a Bug so we went to that and then went back to the hotel. My daughter who just arrived was starving she said so I went with her to the food court while everyone else went to the pool. We joined them and all swam until about 6:00. After everyone showered we all went to downtown Disney on the POFQ boat.
DOWNTOWN DISNEY
We did not have reservations so we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table at Planet Holleywood. We arrived at 7:45 PM and they said it would be about an hour and a half and gave us an estimated time of 9:15 PM. We decided to wait because we had already checked at the Rain Forest Café and they had a long wait as well. We got seated at 8:30 PM so it wasnt so bad. They dont take same day reservations so if you think you might want to eat there make reservations ahead of time. You can always cancel if you change your mind. Most of us had hamburgers and thought they were pretty good. We had a nice dinner. My mother was getting pretty tired by the time we finished eating so she and I took the boat back to POFQ and the rest shopped and walked around and listened to a guitar player and had Italian ices before returning to the hotel by boat. The last boat leaves downtown Disney at 11:30 PM We found the boats to be a convenient way to travel in the evening. They come fairly often. Sometimes they fill up and you have to wait for the next boat but it is usually only 5 or 10 minutes. The boats to Downtown Disney are one of the best things about the Port Orleans hotels.
Day 5 in the Parks EPCOT Friday, August 8, 2008
My daughter who arrived on Thursday felt like we had already gone on everything so I told her we would go on them again with her because they were our favorites and since my nephew and mother had also missed them. So we all did The Living Seas with Nemo ride, the aquariums, The Land Ride and Soarin again. Then we did the Mexico and Norway rides and looked around the Mexico gift shop. By then it was almost time for our 1:30 PM Teppan Edo lunch reservation. This is all 4 of my daughters favorite restaurant along with OHANA which we would do on Saturday for dinner. We had a nice lunch. We all got the chicken and had water to drink to keep the cost down but we really enjoyed it. They cook at your table so it is entertaining as well as nourishing. It had rained when we were coming out of Soarin so we bought ponchos at the gift shop. We had FASTPASSES for Test Track but they were not until 5:00 PM Most of us were ready to go at 3:00 PM after lunch so we walked around the lake looking briefly at the countries. We stopped and had Edys ice cream on our way out of the park. My husband wanted more time in EPCOT so he stayed until 9:00 PM and watched Illuminations. We had seen it many times before and the girls just wanted to go back at 3:00 and swim and nap and my mother was also ready for a rest so the rest of us left.
Magic Kingdom
After swimming, showering and napping two of the girls and I were ready to go to the Magic Kingdom. My Mom decided to stay at the hotel and relax and my husband went back to the hotel to relax as well. My nephew and youngest daughter wanted to watch the Olympics for a little while before meeting us there. We got to the Magic Kingdom at 9:00 PM. They were open until 3:00 AM for Extra Magic hours so the park was actually pretty crowded. They were open until midnight for other guests. We watched the beginning of the 9:00 Spectromagic Parade and then decided to check out Splash and Thunder. They both had long lines. We decided to go check out Space Mountain. The lines were long and there were no FASTPASSES left so we got a FASTPASS for Buzz Lightyear and went on Its a Small World. We met my nephew and youngest daughter in Pinocchio Village House where we had personal pan pizzas and watched the Its a Small World Ride as we ate. Many people waved to us so it was kind of fun. The restaurant closed at 10:00 PM so we had just made it in. We were their last customers of the night. We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Aladdins Flying Carpets, and the Haunted Mansion. It was past midnight by now so we decided to go back and ride Splash and Thunder. The lines were still about 20 minutes long but we got in line anyway. We dont usually go on anything with more than a 10 minute wait. Well my youngest daughter (18) decided she had had enough so I left with her and my other 2 daughters and nephew stayed and did Splash, Thunder and Space Mountains and got back to the hotel at 2:30 AM.
Day 6 in the Parks MGM Saturday, August 9, 2008
Well the next morning all the young people were too tired to go to the parks so my husband, my mother and I headed out to MGM and just let them all sleep and swim. We got there about 10:00 AM and got a 5:10 PM FAST PASS for Toy Story Mania. That is when I realized you really have to get to MGM by opening if you want to do all the most popular rides without long waits and without taking all day (Toy Story Mania, Aerosmith and Tower of Terror). Well the three of us did not care about Aerosmith or Tower of Terror but I really wanted to do Toy Story Mania so we were going to try to stay until 5:10 to do it. We had 7:25 Reservations for OHANA so I knew we would be cutting it close. We watched some of the High School Musical group perform and then did Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. Most of the show is in the dark so little kids might not like it but we liked it ok. Then we were going to try to squeeze in the 11:00 Indiana Jones show before the 11:50 Lights Motors Action show. I thought we might be cutting it close especially with my Mom not being able to hustle around the park like my husband. My husband wanted to try but when we got to Indiana Jones they said standing room only so we passed on it. We walked toward the Car Stunt show and saw the Mulch, Sweat and Shears rock group perform. We really enjoyed it. Then we went to the Stunt Car show and it was awesome! It was in a big stadium and was really cool. Almost as soon as they finished the show it began to rain hard. We pulled out our ponchos but it did not last long. We had 1:30 Reservations for The Prime Time Café for Lunch so we just had time to go see Walt Disney One Mans Dream and loved the movie. It is really amazing that one man started all this and how he did it. We ate a light lunch of salads and sandwiches at Prime Time Café. I had the club sandwich, my Mom the fish sandwich and my husband a salad and a Chocolate milk shake. He shared the Shake with me and it was really good. We did not want to eat too much however because of our Ohana dinner. By then it was about 3:00 PM. We went to Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and the Great Movie Ride. By then it was time for Toy Story Mania. I loved that ride! It is better than Buzz Lightyear because you stop at each station and shoot things like Pies and rings that you can really see rather than a thin red beam that is hard to see. It was really fun. Well then we hustled over to the bus stop, got back to the hotel and took showers. We told the kids to take a bus to MK and then the monorail to the Polynesian and we would meet them there in the car. Our rental car only held 5 people so we all could not ride over in the car. The kids were all ready and got there early because they had not gone to the parks that day. We just made it, checked in and were seated within 15 minutes at a nice table in the main dining room with a view out the windows. Everyone loves OHANA because there is so much food. First Bread, Salad, Chicken Dumplings, and Barbequed Chicken Wings. Then stir fried vegetables, noodles and 4 kinds of grilled meat Turkey, Shrimp, Steak and Pork. It is delicious. Then Bread Pudding a la mode for dessert. For entertainment the young children have coconut races and parade around and sing and dance. There is a woman in charge who does a nice job. We had a great time and all ate too much. While we were still eating the electric water pageant came by on the water and we could see it through the windows. We went down to the beach after dinner and watched the fireworks. We could not all fit in the car to go back to the hotel so my nephew and I volunteered to take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom and then take the bus back. We were rewarded by being able to watch the water Pageant go by again from our boat. We all went to bed when we got back because everyone was very tired.
Day 7 in the Parks MGM Sunday, August 10, 2008
Well my late arriving daughter and my nephew wanted to make up for lost time today, our last full day of vacation. They said they would be ready early. So the two of them and one of my other daughters, my mother and I decided to see if it was possible to get to a park before opening. We did and we were rewarded. We saw the little opening show and the kids rode Aerosmith and Tower of Terror while my Mom and I got Fast Passes to Toy Story Mania for all 4 of us. Our Fast Pass time was 9:45 AM, quite an improvement from the 5:10 PM the day before. After getting the Fast Passes my Mom and I got some fruit and then we to Starring Rolls and she got coffee. They finished the 2 rides by 9:35 and we were on Toy Story Mania on time. Since there were 5 of us we could not all fit in one car. No one wanted to go alone so I said I would. It wasnt so bad because since I was in the car alone I got all the targets to myself so I ended up with the highest score. My daughter wanted to go on the Great Movie Ride so we did that and were at the bus stop from MGM to AK at 10:30.
Animal Kingdom
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 11:00 AM and did Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, Its Tough To Be A Bug and then we all 7 of us met up at 1:30 PM for lunch at Yak and Yetis sit down restaurant. I had beef with broccoli, some had Honey chicken and some had double orders of chicken fried rice. It was good. We were done at 3:00 and some of us went to The Festival of the Lion King and some went back to the hotel. On the way out we bought our Dinosaur photo and saw some of the Jammin Jungle Parade. It was quite colorful!
Well everyone went swimming back at the hotel and I was finally starting to feel really tired. My husband picked up Unos pizzas and we ate them at a table by the pool. Everyone except me and my Mom then took the boats to Downtown Disney one last time and got Italian ices again. My Mom and I watched the Olympics and I was asleep by 11:00 PM.
Day 8 We skip the Parks Monday, August 11, 2008
Well I got up early and packed my suitcases. My husband and I walked over to Port Orleans Riverside and reminisced about when our kids were small and we stayed there. We got back to the room at 10:00 AM, woke everyone up, I showered, then we checked out and drove over to Boatwrights restaurant for our 11:20 AM Breakfast reservation. We had a wonderful breakfast there. The food was very good. I had eggs benedict. My husband had an omelet. The others had eggs, pancakes or cinnamon sugar French toast. We looked around in the gift shop, said good bye to my Mom and nephew who were driving back to Miami and headed for the airport. One of my daughters had a 4:00 flight to Columbus Ohio where she is working this summer. The rest of us flew back to Cleveland. It was a great trip but I was ready to go home. One book I would recommend is the Complete Walt Disney World 2008. It is by Julie and Mike Neal. It is full of colorful photos of all the Disney attractions and background information that I havent seen in other books and it makes a great souvenir as well as a good book to read before the trip. The Unofficial guide was also great for trip planning and I loved the maps from my Passporter book. I tore them out and used them in the parks because they are the only maps with the actual names of each ride or restaurant on the map in their correct place. Other maps, including Disneys put numbers on the buildings and then you have to look at a key off to the side to figure out what the number stands for. Well I hope this is not too long. I tried to give times so you could see how long it took to do things. We did not try to do everything and still had a great time!
We just got back from our trip to Disney World and it was great! Our group included me, my husband, 2 of our 4 daughters ages 18 and 20 years old from Monday, Aug 4 Monday, Aug 11. Our 21 year old daughter, 16 year old nephew and my mother joined us from Thursday afternoon, Aug 7 Monday Aug 11. We stayed at Disneys Port Orleans French Quarter. This was our first time at POFQ and we enjoyed it. We have previously stayed at Dixie Landings, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, All Star Music, and the Polynesian. The Polynesian is our favorite, but it is really out of our price range, especially now that our kids are 18 and over and cost an additional $25.00 per night each at the Polynesian.
We requested and received first floor rooms in building 5 which is close to the food court, bus stop, pool, and boat dock. We were also happy that our rooms were right next to each other even though we arrived on different days.
We got 8 day Park Hoppers and our goal was to try the new attractions that we had not done before such as Toy Story Mania, The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends, the Lights Motor Action Stunt Show, Sounds Dangerous, Expedition Everest, and Soarin. We also wanted to do our old favorites including Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear and the Haunted Mansion. And we wanted to take a long break every afternoon to swim, relax and enjoy our hotel, especially since the temperature was in the 90s everyday. We would work in any shows or other attractions if we had time. We also wanted to take the hotel shuttle boats to Downtown Disney. Since some of our group members arrived a few days later some of us ended up doing several of our favorite attractions more than once. Since the young people in our group do not like to get up early we skipped all morning early entry extra Magic hours and always went to a park that opened at 9:00AM. No use arriving late at an early entry park. We found that MGM was the hardest park to do without arriving by 9:00 AM so we made the effort to get there by 8:45 AM one day and it paid off. We were able to ride Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, do Toy Story Mania and The Great Movie ride by 10:30 AM. I will outline each day below so you get and idea of how the week went.
We flew into Miami on Saturday, August 2 and spent a couple of days visiting with one my sisters, my mother, two nephews and a niece who live there. On Monday we drove from Miami to Orlando and had lunch with my husbands Aunt and two of his cousins. We checked into Port Orleans French Quarter about 5:00 PM and had no wait. We unpacked, the girls took a nap and my husband and I explored and found the pool, boat dock, hot tub, gift shop and food court. We all went to the food court about 7:30 PM and had dinner. I had the ribs and mashed potatoes, my husband had the chicken Quesadilla, one daughter had a personal pizza and the other had a chicken wrap. The wraps were pre-made with dressing but my daughter just wanted chicken, cheese and lettuce so the college student working there made my daughters wrap fresh the way she wanted it. There was no one else in line at the time so it wasnt a problem. We went to the bus stop at about 8:30 PM and arrived at the Magic Kingdom about 8:55 PM.
Day 1 in the Parks - The Magic Kingdom Monday, August 4, 2008
We got into the park and thought about taking the train because everyone was crowded around waiting for the 9:00 PM Spectromagic Parade. We just missed the train so we decided to walk. We made our way through the crowd over to Frontierland and checked out the lines at Splash and Thunder but the lines were too long. The park was open until midnight so we knew if we just waited until close to closing there would be no line so we headed to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Aladdins Magic Carpet Ride. There was no wait for any of them. Then we went to the Haunted Mansion with only a five minute wait. Then we walked on the Its a Small World Ride and then headed over to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain. The line was long and there were no more Fast Passes so we went and got a Buzz Light Year Fast Pass. We went on Snow Whites Scary Adventure with no wait and Winnie the Pooh with a 5 minute wait and then went back and did Buzz Light Year. Then we went on Peter Pan and had about a 15 minute wait. It is really popular. By then it was about 11:20 PM so we headed back to Frontierland and rode Thunder Mountain Railroad with no wait and then did Splash Mountain. We got off almost exactly at Midnight. We were quite tired after our long day. We took the bus back to the hotel and took turns taking showers. I was last and did not get to bed until 2:00 AM.
Day 2 in the Parks The Magic Kingdom Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Luckily, last night we had actually ridden on everything we had planned on riding last night and this morning (except for Space Mountain). We had a 10:10 AM PS for Cinderella Breakfast in the Castle. We were able to sleep in and arrived at Magic Kingdom about 9:45 AM. We got on a double decker bus and rode it down mainstreet. It took about ten minutes. There was a show going on outside the castle so we had to walk toward Tomorowland and then go over a bridge to get behind the castle just in time to check in. We had planned to have someone go get fast passes for Space Mountain before breakfast but it was really hot and no one felt like rushing over there to get them so we figured we had all week and could do Space Mountain later. We checked in and then waited in a long line to get our pictures taken with Cinderella and then were ushered upstairs for our breakfast. We had a nice table and could see out the window of the castle into Fantasyland. Several princesses were there and they all came up one at a time and we took pictures of them with our daughters. I think this breakfast was more for me than for them. Our oldest already graduated from college and lives out of state and could not make this trip. Our youngest leaves for college in a few weeks and our other 2 go back to college soon as well. So this feels like maybe one of our last family vacations where I can still think of my daughters as kids. I really enjoyed the breakfast. The food was good and we didnt feel like we had to rush because we had the 8 day pass and could just take our time and enjoy everything. We took a lot of pictures of the inside of the castle. The breakfast was a kind of expensive since everyone was over ten and I almost cancelled it several times but I am glad we went. We had also gone once before when our girls probably ranged in age from 5 -11 years old and I remembered that I really liked it. I justified the cost by figuring that it was probably about the same price (or less) than a sports game or concert and we got a meal, got to see the inside of the castle and got the pictures. I did not realize until I started reading in the guidebooks and talking to people that I was really lucky to even get a reservation. I think I booked our hotel around Feb. 23rd. The person that booked the hotel reservation asked if I wanted to book dining. I said OK then the dining person asked if I wanted to book Cinderella and I said ok. I wanted the latest time available since I knew no one would want to get up early and rush over there for breakfast. They had a choice of days and times available and I think I was calling at night or in the afternoon, not in the morning. When I later read in the guidebooks that you should call 180 days ahead and first thing in the morning and you should practice calling and when I talked to friends who told me they could never get a reservation even when they did all that I realized I really was lucky to get it so easily.
After breakfast we went to Mickeys Philharmagic. It was fun. The girls wanted to go back to the hotel and swim and lay out so we let them. My husband wanted to go to Country Bear Jamboree because he plays the guitar. We went to that and then decided we were ready to take the bus back to the hotel too.
Hollywood Studios I still like to call it MGM so dont get confused
After swimming, napping and showering my husband and I headed over to the Beach Club for a 5:30 Cape May Café Clambake. We took the bus to MGM and then took the boat from MGM to the Beach Club. We allowed about an hour and fifteen minutes and it took about that long. The girls dont like the clambake so they went to MGM and ate there. My husband loves the clambake so we always go and they have many things besides clams. I was full and never got around to the clams. We met up with the girls about 7:30 PM at MGM and found long lines and no Fast Passes for Aerosmith, Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania. Most of the shows were done for the day so it was a little disappointing. We decided to walk around the Streets of America, do Muppet 3D, take the Great Movie ride and then do Tower of Terror right before closing when there would be only a short wait. It worked out and we did not have to wait in any long lines and got out right about 10:00 PM. And took the bus back to the hotel. This time I got to shower first and was in bed by 11:30 PM
Day 3 in the Parks EPCOT Wednesday, August 6, 2008
We just went to the Parks in the morning on Wednesday because we were going to visit my older sister and her family who live in the Tampa area for the afternoon and evening. One of my older brothers and his wife were also meeting us at my sisters house as well as an aunt and a cousin who all live in the Tampa area. My mother and nephew from Miami were also going to be there and then were going to join us at Disney the next afternoon.
We always planned to get to the parks around 9AM but thanks to the wait time 0f 0 30 minutes for a bus and the wait time of 0 60 minutes for the daughters to get ready each day we only made it by 9:00 AM once. We decided to take the car to EPCOT since we wanted to leave for Tampa right from EPCOT and were hoping to get out of the park between 1:00 and 2:00 PM. We got to EPCOT around 10:00 AM and it did not seem to be too crowded. The first thing we did was get the Soarin FastPasses. Our time was 2:10 PM. That would set us behind schedule for Tampa but we wanted to do it. I called my sister and told her the plan and then we did The Seas with Nemo. I loved the clam mobile ride and we all enjoyed the aquariums, especially the one where you walk down a hall and the aquarium is on both sides and in front of you. My daughters also loved watching the Manatees. My husband loved turtle talk with Crush. Then we went to The Land and took the boat ride which we also love. I especially like the rainforest part. We ate lunch at the food court of Sunshine Seasons. We usually ate cheerios in our room for breakfast so we were usually hungry for lunch. We all had the stir fries at Sunshine Seasons. After lunch we watched The Circle of Life. It was only 1:30 by then so we were going to walk over to Figment when two girls came up to us and asked if we wanted 6 Fast Passes for Soarin. We said sure. It would save us about 40 minutes. We gave two of them away and rode Soarin and loved it. When we came out we gave our four 2:10 PM FAST PASSES to a family of 4 and they were really happy to get them. Then we headed to Tampa where we swam, showered and had a Lasagna dinner and did our laundry and had a great visit. We got back to the hotel about midnight. We went right to bed.
Day 4 in the Parks Animal Kingdom Thursday, August 7, 2008
Animal Kingdom is probably the worst park to take the buses to from Port Orleans French Quarter. It seemed like the buses for MK and EPCOT went directly to the park from POFQ but the Animal Kingdom one went to all 4 Riverside stops and then to Blizzard Beach so it could take an hour to get there. I think we got there about 10:00 AM We first got a FAST PASS for Expedition Everest for about 1:00 PM. We then walked on the Maharajah Jungle Trek and saw tigers and bats. Our FASTPASSES said we could get another at about 10:30 AM so we got one for Kilimanjaro Safari. We then got in line for Kali River Rapids because the line was not long since it was still early morning. It was hot so it was nice getting wet. We got really wet. Two of us put our shoes in the stay dry compartment even though it said to keep your shoes on. We both have orthotics in our shoes that we are not supposed to get wet so we had to. My other daughter had flip flops on so she did not have to worry. My husband said his shoes did not get too wet. Otherwise we were pretty much drenched and it took hours to dry but it was ok because it was so hot out. After that I went and got FAST Passes for Dinosaur Then we ate at the fast food Yak and Yetis. My girls love chicken fried rice and egg rolls so it was perfect and the price was right. We took our time eating and then went on the Safari. By then it was time for Expedition Everest. We enjoyed it but my husband and I decided that once was enough for us. Then as we walked over to the Dinosaur ride we got a FASTPASS for Its Tough To Be Bug and then went and rode Dinosaur. They had some sort of problem with the Dinosaur ride so we were in line extra long and it threw our schedule off. My Mom, nephew and daughter would be arriving about 3:00 so my other two daughters went back to the hotel to meet them. My husband was dying to see Its Tough To Be a Bug so we went to that and then went back to the hotel. My daughter who just arrived was starving she said so I went with her to the food court while everyone else went to the pool. We joined them and all swam until about 6:00. After everyone showered we all went to downtown Disney on the POFQ boat.
DOWNTOWN DISNEY
We did not have reservations so we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table at Planet Holleywood. We arrived at 7:45 PM and they said it would be about an hour and a half and gave us an estimated time of 9:15 PM. We decided to wait because we had already checked at the Rain Forest Café and they had a long wait as well. We got seated at 8:30 PM so it wasnt so bad. They dont take same day reservations so if you think you might want to eat there make reservations ahead of time. You can always cancel if you change your mind. Most of us had hamburgers and thought they were pretty good. We had a nice dinner. My mother was getting pretty tired by the time we finished eating so she and I took the boat back to POFQ and the rest shopped and walked around and listened to a guitar player and had Italian ices before returning to the hotel by boat. The last boat leaves downtown Disney at 11:30 PM We found the boats to be a convenient way to travel in the evening. They come fairly often. Sometimes they fill up and you have to wait for the next boat but it is usually only 5 or 10 minutes. The boats to Downtown Disney are one of the best things about the Port Orleans hotels.
Day 5 in the Parks EPCOT Friday, August 8, 2008
My daughter who arrived on Thursday felt like we had already gone on everything so I told her we would go on them again with her because they were our favorites and since my nephew and mother had also missed them. So we all did The Living Seas with Nemo ride, the aquariums, The Land Ride and Soarin again. Then we did the Mexico and Norway rides and looked around the Mexico gift shop. By then it was almost time for our 1:30 PM Teppan Edo lunch reservation. This is all 4 of my daughters favorite restaurant along with OHANA which we would do on Saturday for dinner. We had a nice lunch. We all got the chicken and had water to drink to keep the cost down but we really enjoyed it. They cook at your table so it is entertaining as well as nourishing. It had rained when we were coming out of Soarin so we bought ponchos at the gift shop. We had FASTPASSES for Test Track but they were not until 5:00 PM Most of us were ready to go at 3:00 PM after lunch so we walked around the lake looking briefly at the countries. We stopped and had Edys ice cream on our way out of the park. My husband wanted more time in EPCOT so he stayed until 9:00 PM and watched Illuminations. We had seen it many times before and the girls just wanted to go back at 3:00 and swim and nap and my mother was also ready for a rest so the rest of us left.
Magic Kingdom
After swimming, showering and napping two of the girls and I were ready to go to the Magic Kingdom. My Mom decided to stay at the hotel and relax and my husband went back to the hotel to relax as well. My nephew and youngest daughter wanted to watch the Olympics for a little while before meeting us there. We got to the Magic Kingdom at 9:00 PM. They were open until 3:00 AM for Extra Magic hours so the park was actually pretty crowded. They were open until midnight for other guests. We watched the beginning of the 9:00 Spectromagic Parade and then decided to check out Splash and Thunder. They both had long lines. We decided to go check out Space Mountain. The lines were long and there were no FASTPASSES left so we got a FASTPASS for Buzz Lightyear and went on Its a Small World. We met my nephew and youngest daughter in Pinocchio Village House where we had personal pan pizzas and watched the Its a Small World Ride as we ate. Many people waved to us so it was kind of fun. The restaurant closed at 10:00 PM so we had just made it in. We were their last customers of the night. We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Aladdins Flying Carpets, and the Haunted Mansion. It was past midnight by now so we decided to go back and ride Splash and Thunder. The lines were still about 20 minutes long but we got in line anyway. We dont usually go on anything with more than a 10 minute wait. Well my youngest daughter (18) decided she had had enough so I left with her and my other 2 daughters and nephew stayed and did Splash, Thunder and Space Mountains and got back to the hotel at 2:30 AM.
Day 6 in the Parks MGM Saturday, August 9, 2008
Well the next morning all the young people were too tired to go to the parks so my husband, my mother and I headed out to MGM and just let them all sleep and swim. We got there about 10:00 AM and got a 5:10 PM FAST PASS for Toy Story Mania. That is when I realized you really have to get to MGM by opening if you want to do all the most popular rides without long waits and without taking all day (Toy Story Mania, Aerosmith and Tower of Terror). Well the three of us did not care about Aerosmith or Tower of Terror but I really wanted to do Toy Story Mania so we were going to try to stay until 5:10 to do it. We had 7:25 Reservations for OHANA so I knew we would be cutting it close. We watched some of the High School Musical group perform and then did Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. Most of the show is in the dark so little kids might not like it but we liked it ok. Then we were going to try to squeeze in the 11:00 Indiana Jones show before the 11:50 Lights Motors Action show. I thought we might be cutting it close especially with my Mom not being able to hustle around the park like my husband. My husband wanted to try but when we got to Indiana Jones they said standing room only so we passed on it. We walked toward the Car Stunt show and saw the Mulch, Sweat and Shears rock group perform. We really enjoyed it. Then we went to the Stunt Car show and it was awesome! It was in a big stadium and was really cool. Almost as soon as they finished the show it began to rain hard. We pulled out our ponchos but it did not last long. We had 1:30 Reservations for The Prime Time Café for Lunch so we just had time to go see Walt Disney One Mans Dream and loved the movie. It is really amazing that one man started all this and how he did it. We ate a light lunch of salads and sandwiches at Prime Time Café. I had the club sandwich, my Mom the fish sandwich and my husband a salad and a Chocolate milk shake. He shared the Shake with me and it was really good. We did not want to eat too much however because of our Ohana dinner. By then it was about 3:00 PM. We went to Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and the Great Movie Ride. By then it was time for Toy Story Mania. I loved that ride! It is better than Buzz Lightyear because you stop at each station and shoot things like Pies and rings that you can really see rather than a thin red beam that is hard to see. It was really fun. Well then we hustled over to the bus stop, got back to the hotel and took showers. We told the kids to take a bus to MK and then the monorail to the Polynesian and we would meet them there in the car. Our rental car only held 5 people so we all could not ride over in the car. The kids were all ready and got there early because they had not gone to the parks that day. We just made it, checked in and were seated within 15 minutes at a nice table in the main dining room with a view out the windows. Everyone loves OHANA because there is so much food. First Bread, Salad, Chicken Dumplings, and Barbequed Chicken Wings. Then stir fried vegetables, noodles and 4 kinds of grilled meat Turkey, Shrimp, Steak and Pork. It is delicious. Then Bread Pudding a la mode for dessert. For entertainment the young children have coconut races and parade around and sing and dance. There is a woman in charge who does a nice job. We had a great time and all ate too much. While we were still eating the electric water pageant came by on the water and we could see it through the windows. We went down to the beach after dinner and watched the fireworks. We could not all fit in the car to go back to the hotel so my nephew and I volunteered to take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom and then take the bus back. We were rewarded by being able to watch the water Pageant go by again from our boat. We all went to bed when we got back because everyone was very tired.
Day 7 in the Parks MGM Sunday, August 10, 2008
Well my late arriving daughter and my nephew wanted to make up for lost time today, our last full day of vacation. They said they would be ready early. So the two of them and one of my other daughters, my mother and I decided to see if it was possible to get to a park before opening. We did and we were rewarded. We saw the little opening show and the kids rode Aerosmith and Tower of Terror while my Mom and I got Fast Passes to Toy Story Mania for all 4 of us. Our Fast Pass time was 9:45 AM, quite an improvement from the 5:10 PM the day before. After getting the Fast Passes my Mom and I got some fruit and then we to Starring Rolls and she got coffee. They finished the 2 rides by 9:35 and we were on Toy Story Mania on time. Since there were 5 of us we could not all fit in one car. No one wanted to go alone so I said I would. It wasnt so bad because since I was in the car alone I got all the targets to myself so I ended up with the highest score. My daughter wanted to go on the Great Movie Ride so we did that and were at the bus stop from MGM to AK at 10:30.
Animal Kingdom
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 11:00 AM and did Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, Its Tough To Be A Bug and then we all 7 of us met up at 1:30 PM for lunch at Yak and Yetis sit down restaurant. I had beef with broccoli, some had Honey chicken and some had double orders of chicken fried rice. It was good. We were done at 3:00 and some of us went to The Festival of the Lion King and some went back to the hotel. On the way out we bought our Dinosaur photo and saw some of the Jammin Jungle Parade. It was quite colorful!
Well everyone went swimming back at the hotel and I was finally starting to feel really tired. My husband picked up Unos pizzas and we ate them at a table by the pool. Everyone except me and my Mom then took the boats to Downtown Disney one last time and got Italian ices again. My Mom and I watched the Olympics and I was asleep by 11:00 PM.
Day 8 We skip the Parks Monday, August 11, 2008
Well I got up early and packed my suitcases. My husband and I walked over to Port Orleans Riverside and reminisced about when our kids were small and we stayed there. We got back to the room at 10:00 AM, woke everyone up, I showered, then we checked out and drove over to Boatwrights restaurant for our 11:20 AM Breakfast reservation. We had a wonderful breakfast there. The food was very good. I had eggs benedict. My husband had an omelet. The others had eggs, pancakes or cinnamon sugar French toast. We looked around in the gift shop, said good bye to my Mom and nephew who were driving back to Miami and headed for the airport. One of my daughters had a 4:00 flight to Columbus Ohio where she is working this summer. The rest of us flew back to Cleveland. It was a great trip but I was ready to go home. One book I would recommend is the Complete Walt Disney World 2008. It is by Julie and Mike Neal. It is full of colorful photos of all the Disney attractions and background information that I havent seen in other books and it makes a great souvenir as well as a good book to read before the trip. The Unofficial guide was also great for trip planning and I loved the maps from my Passporter book. I tore them out and used them in the parks because they are the only maps with the actual names of each ride or restaurant on the map in their correct place. Other maps, including Disneys put numbers on the buildings and then you have to look at a key off to the side to figure out what the number stands for. Well I hope this is not too long. I tried to give times so you could see how long it took to do things. We did not try to do everything and still had a great time!
We were down there the same time. We also were at the MK on Friday for EMH. We thought the lines were great after midnight.
