Trip Report Oct. 1st - 8th/One Thread

[tinknme]

Saturday Oct. 1st

I started planning for this trip in June & now it was finally time to go! Dh drove myself & 2 ds Garrett(11) & Riley(9) to the airport in Moline. We flew Airtran & the flight was very pleasant. I met a fellow Diser with her family going to Disney as well, her member name is DJBounce. With this being a non-stop flight to Orlando I met quite a few people heading to Disney, couldn’t miss those yellow luggage tags We arrived in Orlando on time, yeah! I had reserved a Towncar for our trip beings I wanted to make a grocery stop. I had read a lot of good reviews about Magic City Transportation on these boards, so I thought I would give them a try. I will not go into detail, but our driver left a lot to be desired. I was very unhappy with his service. I was so upset that I called & talked to Anthony the owner. He is a wonderful person & took care of everything. If needed I would consider this Towncar service again.

We arrived at ASMu & I think everyone else was checking in at the same time. This was our 1st time staying at this resort, we had previously stayed at Pop. We were given a room in Broadway on the 1st floor. Room 8420 on the backside. Other than the walk to the buses & food court being more than what I wanted, this was a good location, nice & quiet. The ice machine was right next to us & the Piano pool was very close. The food court offered a nice variety of food & I really enjoyed shopping in their gift shop. One of the cms working in the gift shop moved to Florida from Peoria, Illinois which is only about 45 minutes from where we live, I thought this was pretty cool. I got my free pin & lanyard from the gift shop. All staff that we encountered was very friendly & housekeeping did a good job of cleaning our room. There is one exception to this. After we checked in I needed a luggage cart & the cms outside seem to not notice or care about the line of people waiting for luggage carts. They were talking amongst themselves & not paying any attention to the guests. Everyone was getting a little upset. After a few attempts of trying to get someones attention I finally gave up & grabbed a cart myself.

We found our room & the boys wanted to go swimming. I unpacked, got organized, called dh, & then we headed to the pool. I had planned on us eating lunch once we got settled in, but between the towncar problems & long lines at check-in we decided to just eat a snack in our room & wait for supper. We had seatings at Chef Mickeys for 8:20pm. We took the bus to MK & then the monorail to Chef Mickeys. We were about 10 minutes late, but were seated within 15 minutes. I will post separate reviews about our free dining! After supper we headed back to the resort & called it a night.

 

[tinknme]

Sunday Oct. 2cd

Today was a non park day. We had late breakfast seatings at WCC. The Wilderness Lodge is awesome! We all agreed this would be a nice place to stay. After breakfast we walked around & checked out the resort. We then took the boat to MK & then rode a bus to Pop Century. The boys had points to redeem from the arcade from our last trip. After the boys loaded up on their winnings we hopped on a bus to MGM & then rode a bus back to our resort. I had seatings for supper at Trails End. The plan was to eat supper & then go to the campfire & movie. The movie for the night was Sleeping Beauty & needless to say this did not thrill the boys lol We were still full from our late breakfast so I switched our seatings to a later time at 7:40pm. The boys swam some more & then we headed out. We took a bus to MK & then a bus to Ft. Wilderness. The Trails End was very busy, but we were seated quickly. After supper the boys played in the arcade & then we decided to take the boat back to MK. The fireworks were getting ready to start, so we lucked out & were able to watch the fireworks in the boat. The fireworks were great as usual! Once docked at MK we took a bus back to our resort. We did a lot of riding around today lol

 

[tinknme]

Monday Oct. 3rd

We had seatings at Cape May buffet for 10:30am. We rode the bus to MGM & then took a boat to the Beach Club. Another awesome resort! We really enjoyed this breakfast & checking out the resort. After breakfast we took the boat back to MGM. I had brought neck coolers for us to wear, but I forgot to bring them with us this morning It was so hot!!!!!! I broke down & paid $15 for the water bottle with the fan. It was well worth it! Riley rode RnRc & both boys opted out of riding TOT this time. We made it in time to see the Indiana Jones show. The boys really enjoyed this. The boys rode Star Tours & then we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. My oldest son enjoyed this on our last trip & wanted to go again. He was hoping we would get the cowboy scene, but we got the mobsters again. Oh well this is still a cool ride. There really was not much here we wanted to do, so we walked around, shopped(the boys decided they wanted to start pin trading)had some snacks & waited for the parade to begin. This was our 1st time seeing the parade & I really enjoyed it, well the boys did to lol I had planned on seeing the car stunt show & staying for Fantasmic, but the boys were ready to go. We will catch these next trip! We then headed to MK. We rode Buzz Lightyear, Indy Speedway, & the Haunted Mansion(this is a must do ride for me!). The Electric parade was getting ready to start, so we decided to leave before the crowds got to the buses. When we returned to the resort we had supper & then went to the pool.

 

[tinknme]

Tuesday Oct. 4th

This was our day at Epcot, we made it there about 10am. We got fast passes for Soaring & then headed over to Test track. I have not ridden this yet & again I opted out We then went on Ellens Universe Of Energy ride, I thought this was very interesting, not so sure the boys will go on on it again though. We then went back to Soaring. I am not to keen on heights & I was nervous about this ride. We were seated on the bottom row, which was fine by me. When we started to go up I closed my eyes & then slowly started squinting to see the show lol My boys kept telling me to open my eyes. I finally did & wow what a ride. I loved it! As everyone else has said, this is one awesome ride! As soon as we got off, we got another fast pass for later. We then went back to Test track & then made our way over to Spaceship Earth. After some shopping & pin trading we decided to head back to the resort. This was emh night, so we planned on staying late. We ate lunch at the resort & the boys swam for awhile. After resting we went back to Epcot & rode Soaring again. This time I kept my eyes open lol I could ride this over & over! The boys rode test track again & then we headed over to the World Showcase. It was raining, but it had cooled off & it felt great. We walked around checking out different worlds. We started at Mexico & watched Illuminations by China. After Illuminations the boys were hungry so they ate at Liberty Inn in America Adventure. We then walked our way to Canada. The station that sells the F&WF merchandise was closed for the night It was really pouring now & we waited it out under cover for awhile. We headed back around the world Showcase & I got a bite to eat at the Tangerine Café in Moracco. It was getting late & still drizzling so we got on the ride Malestrom. This was a walk on, no waiting here. Riley wanted to ride Test Track again, so we headed over there. It was close to closing so he was able to ride twice without getting off. At the bus stop I met another Dis member. I recognized her green mickey paint chip After a long wet day we were in bed by 1:30am.

 

[tinknme]

Wednesday Oct. 5th

We slept in today beings we were up so late. We left around 2pm & went to the Boardwalk to eat at the ESPN Club. It was not busy & we were seated right away. The boys loved that they were able to play a playstation game at our booth. This was a nice place to eat & the food was good with plenty for everyone. While we were eating it started to rain again & it was pouring! The boys played in the arcade for awhile. Once the rain stopped, we took the boat to Epcot. We listened to the British Invasion play in the UK & then we went to Canada so I could get my F&WF pin. I picked out the pin with Goofy on it We then headed over to American Adventure & made it just in time to watch the Commodores. Oh this brought back memories of Jr High lol Their performance was wonderful. I am so glad I was able to see them preform & the boys enjoyed them as well. After the show it started raining again, so we put our rain ponchos back on. I think it rained pretty good most of the day. We walked around & yes headed back to test track lol This time I decided to ride. This is a fun ride as well, but I did scream on the track outside lol I will definetly ride this again. It was getting late & time to head to MK. This was their emh night & we had seatings at Crystal Palace for 8:50pm. We arrived about 10 minutes early & we were seated pretty quickly. As soon as we got in, my oldest son sees Rabbit & goes crazy lol So we all get our pictures taken with Rabbit, we had never seen him here before & thought this was really cool. Even though it was close to closing time, the restaurant was still very busy. We were able to get pictures of the characters & their autographs. After supper we rode Buzz Lightyear, Indy Speedway, Winnie The Pooh, Peter Pan, the Teacups, & POC. Riley rode Astro Orbiter by himself. After the park closed we took our time walking around & enjoying the scenery at night. I think we were about the last to leave & we caught the last bus back to our resort. The boys fell asleep quickly & I finally dozed off around 2:30am.

 

[tinknme]

Thursday Oct. 6th


We woke up around 10am & just hung around the resort. The boys went swimming while I did laundry. While doing laundry I met another Dis member poohbear & her mother After I finished laundry we returned to our room to get ready for MNSSHP. We had seatings at LTT for 4:30pm. We had no trouble getting into the park after 4pm with just our Halloween tickets. We arrived for our seatings & were seated within a couple of minutes. This was our favorite meal. The food was wonderful & the characters were great. Guess what, I met another Dis member I recognized her from a picture. During our dinner it started to rain The rain did not let up till after 7pm. The park was not very crowded during this time. The boys rode splash mountain twice. They would have kept riding it if I would have let them lol While waiting for the boys on Splash Mountain I met another Dis member! It was raining pretty good out & we had a nice chat in the rain lol We did not do very many rides, mostly walking around getting candy & seeing the characters. My favorite characters of the night were the seven dwarfs! While waiting in line for them to come back out, Riley got in line for Dumbo(this was right by were I was standing). Garrett waited with me & the fireworks started. Fantastic is all I can say! Beings I was waiting in line, I was not in the best spot for pictures, but I did the best I could. After the fireworks The seven dwarfs & Snow White came out. Garrett & I got our pictures taken, unfortunately Riley missed out Once Riley got off of Dumbo we went to Mickeys Philharmagic. I must say this is the best 3D show. We also rode the Carousel, Snow Whites Scarey Adventure & Haunted Mansion. The boys rode Indy Speedway & Goofys Barnstormer numerous times. While in Tomorrowland we watched Stitch dance dressed as Elvis in Cosmic Rays, Pluto was there as well. In Toontown we met a lot of different characters, getting pictures & autographs. The boys thought it was cool seeing Mickey & Minnies Houses. One thing we did miss was the parade Before park closing we stopped at Caseys & ate hotdogs & fries. These are the best hotdogs. We took our time eating & watched everyone leaving the park. We took one more walk around the park & headed out. I just love this park after closing Once back to our room the boys had to go through all their candy & see what they had gotten lol We finally turned off the lights at 2:30am.

 

[tinknme]

Friday Oct. 7th

We woke up a little after 10 & the boys went to the food court & brought breakfast back to the room for us. This is a lazy day for me, the week has caught up with me. We head out for DTD around 3pm. We waited at the bus stop for 45 minutes! I was not very happy & neither was anyone else that was waiting. We finally make it to DTD around 4:30pm. Garrett says he is hungry so we decide to eat at Planet Hollywood. We were seated quickly & we all enjoyed the atmosphere. The food was very good & again plenty for all. I bought the picture they took of us when we arrived. I received a 5x7, 2 small pictures, & 2 key chains with pictures for $20. After eating we headed to Disney Quest. We were here till about 8:30pm. The boys love this place! We then head over to Marketplace & have ice cream at Ghirardellis, their ice cream is so good! I used my coupon I received in an email. We then went to a few shops finding more pins & the boys were enjoying trading them. I picked up my free pin at The World of Disney store, such a cute pin! I also bought the Donald Duck Halloween pin, I would have loved to been able to get the one with Tink. But they were only being sold at parks We went to Mickeys Mart & the boys picked out a few items & Riley got a grab bag. I purchased a few things for myself. Everything in this store is $10 & under. We checked out Goofys Candy store & thought this was a pretty neat place. It was close to closing time, so we went to Wolfgang Pucks Express & got some food to go. We made it back to our room around midnight. After eating a very late supper, we called it a night.

 

[tinknme]

Saturday Oct. 8th

This is our departure day We woke up around 8am. After taking showers & eating in our room I begin packing. I had a late checkout for noon, so I did not have to rush. Garrett & Riley went to the arcade & redeemed their points. We leave our luggage with bag check & do some last minute shopping in the gift shop. We then have lunch in the food court & use the rest of our dining credits. After retrieving our luggage we wait for our 1pm pickup with the towncar. We make it to the airport & do the curbside check in. Our flight leaves as scheduled at 3:25pm & we land on time in Moline at 5pm.

 

[tinknme]

Final thoughts

ASMu was a nice value resort, but it is more spread out than I like. I really do not have anything bad to say other than the bus service was slow. I am sure this is because they share with the other All Stars. The room was clean, housekeeping was efficient, & we were in a quiet area. The pools were nice & the boys enjoyed them, they never seemed to be too crowded. The landscaping was very nice & well kept. It was quite humid during our stay & rained everyday, but not all day. The parks were busier than I had thought they would be, but it was manageable. We used fast passes when needed & rode rides that did not have long wait times. We went to Epcot & MK emh at night & rode a few rides with no problems before closing. I just love being in the parks after closing. The Halloween party was very enjoyable even though it rained for awhile. We were able to see a lot of characters & the fireworks were awesome. I did not get to spend as much time at the F&WF as I would have liked. Maybe sometime just dh & myself can go & enjoy it. I had a wonderful time on this trip & I my boys did as well. It was stressful for me at times & I had a meltdown, not the boys lol The dining plan was wonderful, alot of food! It was nice not having to worry about how much food was going to cost. I will definitely pay for the dining plan on future trips. I am glad we had the opportunity to go on this trip & experience MNSSHP, the F&WF, & the free dining! I am hoping to take a trip next year with a friend & then a family trip in December(dh included this time!). We have never been around Christmas & this would be a new experience for us. Hope I did not bore you all & for those of you who made it this far, thank you for reading.

 

[mommykds]

Great trip report! I was at Epcot the same day as you & it's true, the Commodores did take me back! We were also at LTT & mnsshp on 10/6. Since they had cancelled the first parade the 2nd one was packed so we weren't able to find a good spot & missed most of it. We were also behind the castle because we were on line for SW & the 7 dwarfs.

 

[scrappinmom]

We were there for MNSSHP the same night too! & we rode Splash Mtn a half dozen times! But WAHHHH while you were meeting the 7 dwarfs we were snacking & getting our parade spot! So we missed them! The ONE thing my oldest DDwanted was to meet Dopey...I'm working on my trip report..I'll post it soon

 

[PolyGuy]

Great report...loved reading it. We were there same time as you...weather wasn't perfect, crowds were much bigger than expected, but sounds like you still had a really good time.

 

[tinknme]

We were 3rd in line for the seven dwarfs, I probably seen you & did not even realize it! My boys had never heard of the Commodores before, but they really enjoyed them. My oldest son was getting embarrassed because I was singing along with them

Great trip report! I was at Epcot the same day as you & it's true, the Commodores did take me back! We were also at LTT & mnsshp on 10/6. Since they had cancelled the first parade the 2nd one was packed so we weren't able to find a good spot & missed most of it. We were also behind the castle because we were on line for SW & the 7 dwarfs.

 

[tinknme]

We missed them the 1st time they were out, so I asked a cm when they would be back out. I stood in line for about 45 minutes waiting, but it was so worth it! Can't wait to read your trip report

We were there for MNSSHP the same night too! & we rode Splash Mtn a half dozen times! But WAHHHH while you were meeting the 7 dwarfs we were snacking & getting our parade spot! So we missed them! The ONE thing my oldest DDwanted was to meet Dopey...I'm working on my trip report..I'll post it soon

 

[tinknme]

Even though I did have my one little meltdown we did have a great time. I agree I was hoping for better weather & I did not realize it would still be soooooo humid! But we were at Disney I am already planning trips for next year, not that I am addicted or anything

Great report...loved reading it. We were there same time as you...weather wasn't perfect, crowds were much bigger than expected, but sounds like you still had a really good time.

 

[Cinerama]

Great report--thanks!!

 

[lovmy2girls]

You said it was crowded but manageable, what were the wait times for the main attractions in the parks, like Splash Mountain, Soarin, that kind of thing ?

 

[tinknme]

Soaring had wait times of an hour or more. We used fastpasses & as soon as we got off we got another fastpass to use later. We did not do splash mountain till the halloween party & before the party started it was a walk on. The boys rode it twice without getting off. They were also able to ride Goofys Barnstormer in Toontown & Indy Speedway numerous times once the party started. We never waited in long lines for Haunted Mansion or POTC, these were pretty much walk on as well. We did fastpass Buzz Lightyear beings the lines were so long. We went to MK emh night & the rides had some pretty good lines. Peter Pans Flight had the lines wrapped around the building. We waited till almost closing & were able to walk right on. Test track was only a 20 minute wait if you did single rider. We also went here on emh night & my youngest ds was able to ride twice without getting off at closing. I guess what worked best for us was waiting till late in the evening for getting on rides. We had some pretty late nights, but it was worth it

You said it was crowded but manageable, what were the wait times for the main attractions in the parks, like Splash Mountain, Soarin, that kind of thing ?

 

[lovmy2girls]

Thanks tinknme !

 

[tinknme]

Your welcome

Thanks tinknme !