Sinclare
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 28, 2003
- Messages
- 525
I'll try to hit the main points and not draw it out too much.
June 7th
We started out on a rainy Saturday morning about 5am. I should have known how the trip down was going to go when we almost ran into a flooded area of road in the dark and had to back track to find a way around the flooding. After a couple hours of travel we met up with my sister in Corbin, Ky and started our long trip down to Orlando.
I have never seen so many delays, wrecks, and general bad driving contidions in my life. Aside from being held up in several areas for 45+ minutes at a time we saw numerous bad wrecks. At least one on the north bound lanes involved 20-30+ vehichels. I would say we either saw or were held up by ~25 wrecks.
By ~11 P.M. we made it nearly to the Florida line and got a motel.
June 8th
We got up early and drove through more rain. We arrived too early to get our house so I dedided to hit Down Town Disney and use our DisneyQuest tickets (Big Mistake). If I had stopped to think for a moment what everyone with kids would be doing on a rainy day at DTD it would be DisneyQuest. VERY CROWDED. We had to stand in line at every game for at least 10-30 minutes (the popular games like starwars) and the kids who had control of the popular games never heard of sharing. Most were hitting the continue button as fast as they could die. Finally, after waiting 30 min for the river rapids game we got fed up and left.
We did manage to pull out some good things though. I stopped by the Christmas Shop and bought Justin and me personalized Disney Gest of Honor badges (Both First and Last names on them). This was a good decision since every CM gave him personal attention and even some free stuff. We then went to Rain Forest Cafe and the kids liked that.
After getting to our rental house (the only way to go IMHO) we did some swimming. I would recommend that anyone going this time of year have their pool heated though as the constant rain keep the pool a bit cool for night swimming. Otherwise it was great, we had a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath housewith a private pool that when split 3 ways averaged out to about $27 a day and we didn't even use one of the bedrooms. It was only about 20 minutes from anything we wanted to do and was in a nice gated community.
June 9th
We had a character breakfast reserved for 7:15 am so we got up early and were the first ones to park (right in front of the entrance). Due to my reading the boards (and GOH badges) the driver let me and Justin sit in front with him which was a real treat.
One of the things I had really understimated was autographs. I figured my Justin (7yo boy) wouldn't care much about them but I packed a note pad and pen just in case. Well it turns out that he just loved doing this. Even though he wouldn't stand near enough for a picture, he would walk up and get a autograph. I later bought a disney autograph book for him to use next trip.
After we got inside MK our first stop was Space Mountain. I had forgot just how great this ride is. Justin had never ridden a coaster before (I couldn't talk him into riding any costers) suddenly became a coaster fanatic after SM even to the point of holding his arms up through most of the ride and even sitting in the FRONT seat! The rest of the day was the usual mix of MK magic with several hours of drenching rain thrown in. He really liked Pirates of the Carribean (sp?) and kept asking of those "people" were real; same with the Hall of Presidents. He didn't think the Haunted House was scary at all though. The Tiki birds was the only thing that had changed since I was 7yo with the addition of Iago from Aladin. IMO, it's actually better now.
We had to eat about dark so we didn't get a good place to see the parade and he had to take pictures perched from my shoulders (where he actually stayed through all of the parks, he perfers it to sitting in a stroller, so if you seen someone carring around a 7yo on their shoulders through MK that day it was most likely us). We did however manage to get a good spot in a restuarnt balcony to view the fireworks and he loved the castle turning different colors. By the last firework he had given up the ghost and conked out so I had to carry him all the way back out).
Thanks to everyone here for the great tips on MK, they really helped.
More to come as I get time..Universal IOA, Universal Studios, Sea World. I've got some good tips to give.
My main tips for MK:
1: As we were standing in line to get food at starligt cafe that night I overheard a couple other people talking about how they were advised NEVER to go to MK on a monday. I have to concur on this. Even with all my tips (which saved a lot of time) the park was rather crowded by noon and the wait times increased dramaticily. The rain worsened this because when it hit everyone went for the "inside rides" then when it stopped the inside rides were vacant and the outside rides were crowded. Go on a Wensday if at all possible.
2: If you have kids let them get lots of autographs. They really love doing this, even the shy ones like my son.
3: Smooshed pennies. Under normal conditions I would say it's a waste of money but for souvineers they really last. I got Justin a special booklet at Rain Forest Cafe to put them in and he loved collecting them in every park we visited. It's kind of a reward at the end of each ride.
4: There is NO way you can see everything in MK in one day. Pick the main ones you're kids will like and hit them first (SM in particular). I tried to go back and do SM again at the end of the night and the wait was over an hour. At the start of the day it only took us 10 minutes to get on.
5: The Pirate restraunt (near pirates of the carabiean) is a great place to eat lunch. Decent food and plenty of seating.
6: The Transit Athority is a great end of day ride. When we couldn't get on SM we opted for it. It was great since we had my 2yo niece with us. The part were it goes through space mountain is great. I like how you can see the glow in the dark cars running through the inside of SM. My son and nephew liked it because they could see just exactly what they rode that moring from a different perspective.
7: The big resturant with the balcony (I don't know the name) which is directly to the right at the end of main street (before you get to the big intersection at the castle) is a great place to view the fireworks. There is a "back" path that goes between mainstreet to the area of Space Mountain. Get there early while the parade is going on and you will have one of the best seats in MK to watch the fireworks.
June 7th
We started out on a rainy Saturday morning about 5am. I should have known how the trip down was going to go when we almost ran into a flooded area of road in the dark and had to back track to find a way around the flooding. After a couple hours of travel we met up with my sister in Corbin, Ky and started our long trip down to Orlando.
I have never seen so many delays, wrecks, and general bad driving contidions in my life. Aside from being held up in several areas for 45+ minutes at a time we saw numerous bad wrecks. At least one on the north bound lanes involved 20-30+ vehichels. I would say we either saw or were held up by ~25 wrecks.
By ~11 P.M. we made it nearly to the Florida line and got a motel.
June 8th
We got up early and drove through more rain. We arrived too early to get our house so I dedided to hit Down Town Disney and use our DisneyQuest tickets (Big Mistake). If I had stopped to think for a moment what everyone with kids would be doing on a rainy day at DTD it would be DisneyQuest. VERY CROWDED. We had to stand in line at every game for at least 10-30 minutes (the popular games like starwars) and the kids who had control of the popular games never heard of sharing. Most were hitting the continue button as fast as they could die. Finally, after waiting 30 min for the river rapids game we got fed up and left.
We did manage to pull out some good things though. I stopped by the Christmas Shop and bought Justin and me personalized Disney Gest of Honor badges (Both First and Last names on them). This was a good decision since every CM gave him personal attention and even some free stuff. We then went to Rain Forest Cafe and the kids liked that.
After getting to our rental house (the only way to go IMHO) we did some swimming. I would recommend that anyone going this time of year have their pool heated though as the constant rain keep the pool a bit cool for night swimming. Otherwise it was great, we had a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath housewith a private pool that when split 3 ways averaged out to about $27 a day and we didn't even use one of the bedrooms. It was only about 20 minutes from anything we wanted to do and was in a nice gated community.
June 9th
We had a character breakfast reserved for 7:15 am so we got up early and were the first ones to park (right in front of the entrance). Due to my reading the boards (and GOH badges) the driver let me and Justin sit in front with him which was a real treat.
One of the things I had really understimated was autographs. I figured my Justin (7yo boy) wouldn't care much about them but I packed a note pad and pen just in case. Well it turns out that he just loved doing this. Even though he wouldn't stand near enough for a picture, he would walk up and get a autograph. I later bought a disney autograph book for him to use next trip.
After we got inside MK our first stop was Space Mountain. I had forgot just how great this ride is. Justin had never ridden a coaster before (I couldn't talk him into riding any costers) suddenly became a coaster fanatic after SM even to the point of holding his arms up through most of the ride and even sitting in the FRONT seat! The rest of the day was the usual mix of MK magic with several hours of drenching rain thrown in. He really liked Pirates of the Carribean (sp?) and kept asking of those "people" were real; same with the Hall of Presidents. He didn't think the Haunted House was scary at all though. The Tiki birds was the only thing that had changed since I was 7yo with the addition of Iago from Aladin. IMO, it's actually better now.
We had to eat about dark so we didn't get a good place to see the parade and he had to take pictures perched from my shoulders (where he actually stayed through all of the parks, he perfers it to sitting in a stroller, so if you seen someone carring around a 7yo on their shoulders through MK that day it was most likely us). We did however manage to get a good spot in a restuarnt balcony to view the fireworks and he loved the castle turning different colors. By the last firework he had given up the ghost and conked out so I had to carry him all the way back out).
Thanks to everyone here for the great tips on MK, they really helped.
More to come as I get time..Universal IOA, Universal Studios, Sea World. I've got some good tips to give.
My main tips for MK:
1: As we were standing in line to get food at starligt cafe that night I overheard a couple other people talking about how they were advised NEVER to go to MK on a monday. I have to concur on this. Even with all my tips (which saved a lot of time) the park was rather crowded by noon and the wait times increased dramaticily. The rain worsened this because when it hit everyone went for the "inside rides" then when it stopped the inside rides were vacant and the outside rides were crowded. Go on a Wensday if at all possible.
2: If you have kids let them get lots of autographs. They really love doing this, even the shy ones like my son.
3: Smooshed pennies. Under normal conditions I would say it's a waste of money but for souvineers they really last. I got Justin a special booklet at Rain Forest Cafe to put them in and he loved collecting them in every park we visited. It's kind of a reward at the end of each ride.
4: There is NO way you can see everything in MK in one day. Pick the main ones you're kids will like and hit them first (SM in particular). I tried to go back and do SM again at the end of the night and the wait was over an hour. At the start of the day it only took us 10 minutes to get on.
5: The Pirate restraunt (near pirates of the carabiean) is a great place to eat lunch. Decent food and plenty of seating.
6: The Transit Athority is a great end of day ride. When we couldn't get on SM we opted for it. It was great since we had my 2yo niece with us. The part were it goes through space mountain is great. I like how you can see the glow in the dark cars running through the inside of SM. My son and nephew liked it because they could see just exactly what they rode that moring from a different perspective.
7: The big resturant with the balcony (I don't know the name) which is directly to the right at the end of main street (before you get to the big intersection at the castle) is a great place to view the fireworks. There is a "back" path that goes between mainstreet to the area of Space Mountain. Get there early while the parade is going on and you will have one of the best seats in MK to watch the fireworks.
