clkelley
<font color=purple>I squealed really loud!!<br><fo
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2001
- Messages
- 12,571
We just got back from 8 wonderful nights at All-Star Music.
The Group:
Me, Hubby, 18YO Son (Just Graduated HS), 18YO Girlfriend (Just Graduated HS), 19YO Son (In College), 19YO Girlfriend (In College)
We had connecting rooms in Jazz at All-Star Music. The room request gods shined on us. Courtyard View, 1st Floor (Whoopeee!!!!)
Magical Express was truly Magical. The bus was full of All-Star folks so a quick stop at Sports, then we were delivered to Music. About 90 minutes total. (Plane landed at 12:55, checked in by 2:30pm) We were on two different flights that arrived within 5 minutes of each other. The luggage on one flight and our carryons were in our room when we arrived back from Magic Kingdom about 9pm. The 2 bags on the other flight were delivered while I was on the phone trying to find out where they were. For the return, we were also on two different flights within 20 minutes of each other. We chose the earlier flight for our pickup time and had oodles of time at the airport. Once again the bus was full from All-Stars folks. The bus was coming from Movies when it pulled into Music and we went straight to the airport. The resort airline checkin was great!!! I'll be a total Southwest convert though if they become part of resort airline checkin.
Since there were 3 adults per room, we brought airbed cots. With a bit of rearranging we were able to put the cots on the wall where the table and chairs were.
1st Lesson Learned: Teenagers need their own room!!! Obsessively neat adults don't mix well in 260 SF with teenagers. We lived through it, but not something I will repeat.
The high speed internet does work well at All-Star Music but the location of the connection on the nightstand between the bed is awful!! The cord was barely long enough to reach to where I relocated the table, so it was not something you could leave hooked up permanently.
Eating an 8:00 breakfast at Donalds Breakfastosaurus is the absolute best way to get on Expedition Everest without a wait!! We were at rope drop at Dinoland right at 9:00 am. As we got in line for Everest, there was a HUGE wall of people coming from the main entrance behind us. We were on the 1st train!!
The summer evening EMH hours are perfect for teenagers!! Getting them up for early EMH then a nap at the room ran into a train wreck the 2nd day. Letting them sleep till 2pm then going to evening EMH worked much better!!! Plus it was much cooler after dark. The only problem was, even when I stay up late, I can't lay in bed much after 10am so I was pretty tired.
Just out of curiosity, I walked from Coronado Springs to All-Star Music one day on the sidewalk. Took me about 45 minutes. Blizzard Beach and McDonalds are also along that sidewalk. So if you are a walker, it is probably quicker than bus options with the waiting.
The attraction photos no longer come with attraction specific cardboard frames. They are all in generic cardboard folders. The attraction photos now lose some of their appeal. They might as well allow them to be on photopass. I won't be purchasing as many as I used to.
We stopped in at Comedy Warehouse one night for the early show while waiting for Adventurer's Club to open. The first act my son's girlfriend got the phone ringing on the wall. They had a ball with us asking about what our occasion was, where we worked, where we were from, etc.
Also, although I didn't see it, the kids went on the Backstage Tour and the two girls got picked for the water demonstration. My younger son's girlfriend got drenched!! They did record it with the cell phone camera. Funny!!
They are starting to put the tenting back on the Cirque Building that was destroyed in the hurricanes.
Pleasure Island is a mess right now. Really looking forward to see what it will look like when finished.
I saw something I've never noticed before. It looks like the Swan/Dolphin has a specialty boat of their own that can be rented out for snack/dinner cruises.
Magic Kingdom seemed incomplete without a ride on Pirates.
The new Mission: Space non-spinning ride still has plenty of simulator motion, just not the spinning. I figured out that it's not the centrifuge motion that bothers me, it's the dodging the asteroids after you wake up that bugs me.
I saw a "contracted" bus on the All-Stars/Blizzard Beach route.
Crush & Gusher is pretty cool. Lots of fun. Just wish we didn't have to drag the tubes up the stairs ourselves.
My older son's girlfriend had her left eye start burning really bad the 2nd day, so we checked out the Centra Care place. They were great!! Picked the kids up at All-Star Music, she was seen within 30 minutes. They filed Blue Cross/Blue Shield for her. They went to the pharmacy next door and got her prescription, (antibiotic eye drops) and the van dropped them back off at Epcot in time for Illuminations. The van is complimentary both directions. The only downside is that Medicare and BC/BS is the only insurance they will file. Any other, the office visit is over $100 and you have to file for reimbursement.
Star Wars weekends at the Studios are a little bizarre. Lots of guests in Star Wars costumes in addition to the walk around characters. The Star Wars editions of Millionaire were kind of fun.
The kids went on the Sea Raycers from the Contemporary. They really enjoyed that. They are dead serious about having your license with you to rent a boat. We had to go back to the room to retrieve the kids licenses before they could get their boats.
There's been lots of talk about fewer passholder discounts on the rooms, but I tell you the Disney Dining Experience card makes up for it. That is the best $50 I've ever spent. Even at the new price of $60 for next year (plus $25 for the spouse card), it will pay for itself. This trip alone we saved over $200.00. Over the five trips we've used it on, we've probably saved enough to cover the cost of one of our annual passes. We've also managed to get small passholder discounts on our rooms. Although we would have paid AAA rate, no problem.
The parks were generally uncrowded during the beginning of the trip, but gradually built as Memorial Day weekend approached. When I planned this trip, was scheduling around son's graduation, didn't even realize today was Memorial Day. Glad we came home on Sunday anyway. Flights were uncrowded.
Only one significant rainshower on Friday afternoon. Didn't really affect us at all as we were napping to get ready to go to late EMH at Magic Kingdom from midnite to 3am.
It also came a thundershower just as we pulled away from the gate on our flight home yesterday, so we sat on the runway for an hour while it passed. However, that caused us to have a southern takeoff and we got a great view of Magic Kingdom, Bay Lake, Seven Seas lagoon, the raceway, etc. out the right side window. Just picture perfect. Unfortunately, the camera was packed up in an overhead.
Well, that's my attempt at a trip report. I used to write really detailed ones. But my mind is beginning to wander, and I just didn't have the computer time to write one as the trip went on.
Any questions, just ask!
The Group:
Me, Hubby, 18YO Son (Just Graduated HS), 18YO Girlfriend (Just Graduated HS), 19YO Son (In College), 19YO Girlfriend (In College)
We had connecting rooms in Jazz at All-Star Music. The room request gods shined on us. Courtyard View, 1st Floor (Whoopeee!!!!)
Magical Express was truly Magical. The bus was full of All-Star folks so a quick stop at Sports, then we were delivered to Music. About 90 minutes total. (Plane landed at 12:55, checked in by 2:30pm) We were on two different flights that arrived within 5 minutes of each other. The luggage on one flight and our carryons were in our room when we arrived back from Magic Kingdom about 9pm. The 2 bags on the other flight were delivered while I was on the phone trying to find out where they were. For the return, we were also on two different flights within 20 minutes of each other. We chose the earlier flight for our pickup time and had oodles of time at the airport. Once again the bus was full from All-Stars folks. The bus was coming from Movies when it pulled into Music and we went straight to the airport. The resort airline checkin was great!!! I'll be a total Southwest convert though if they become part of resort airline checkin.
Since there were 3 adults per room, we brought airbed cots. With a bit of rearranging we were able to put the cots on the wall where the table and chairs were.
1st Lesson Learned: Teenagers need their own room!!! Obsessively neat adults don't mix well in 260 SF with teenagers. We lived through it, but not something I will repeat.
The high speed internet does work well at All-Star Music but the location of the connection on the nightstand between the bed is awful!! The cord was barely long enough to reach to where I relocated the table, so it was not something you could leave hooked up permanently.
Eating an 8:00 breakfast at Donalds Breakfastosaurus is the absolute best way to get on Expedition Everest without a wait!! We were at rope drop at Dinoland right at 9:00 am. As we got in line for Everest, there was a HUGE wall of people coming from the main entrance behind us. We were on the 1st train!!
The summer evening EMH hours are perfect for teenagers!! Getting them up for early EMH then a nap at the room ran into a train wreck the 2nd day. Letting them sleep till 2pm then going to evening EMH worked much better!!! Plus it was much cooler after dark. The only problem was, even when I stay up late, I can't lay in bed much after 10am so I was pretty tired.
Just out of curiosity, I walked from Coronado Springs to All-Star Music one day on the sidewalk. Took me about 45 minutes. Blizzard Beach and McDonalds are also along that sidewalk. So if you are a walker, it is probably quicker than bus options with the waiting.
The attraction photos no longer come with attraction specific cardboard frames. They are all in generic cardboard folders. The attraction photos now lose some of their appeal. They might as well allow them to be on photopass. I won't be purchasing as many as I used to.
We stopped in at Comedy Warehouse one night for the early show while waiting for Adventurer's Club to open. The first act my son's girlfriend got the phone ringing on the wall. They had a ball with us asking about what our occasion was, where we worked, where we were from, etc.
Also, although I didn't see it, the kids went on the Backstage Tour and the two girls got picked for the water demonstration. My younger son's girlfriend got drenched!! They did record it with the cell phone camera. Funny!!
They are starting to put the tenting back on the Cirque Building that was destroyed in the hurricanes.
Pleasure Island is a mess right now. Really looking forward to see what it will look like when finished.
I saw something I've never noticed before. It looks like the Swan/Dolphin has a specialty boat of their own that can be rented out for snack/dinner cruises.
Magic Kingdom seemed incomplete without a ride on Pirates.
The new Mission: Space non-spinning ride still has plenty of simulator motion, just not the spinning. I figured out that it's not the centrifuge motion that bothers me, it's the dodging the asteroids after you wake up that bugs me.
I saw a "contracted" bus on the All-Stars/Blizzard Beach route.
Crush & Gusher is pretty cool. Lots of fun. Just wish we didn't have to drag the tubes up the stairs ourselves.
My older son's girlfriend had her left eye start burning really bad the 2nd day, so we checked out the Centra Care place. They were great!! Picked the kids up at All-Star Music, she was seen within 30 minutes. They filed Blue Cross/Blue Shield for her. They went to the pharmacy next door and got her prescription, (antibiotic eye drops) and the van dropped them back off at Epcot in time for Illuminations. The van is complimentary both directions. The only downside is that Medicare and BC/BS is the only insurance they will file. Any other, the office visit is over $100 and you have to file for reimbursement.
Star Wars weekends at the Studios are a little bizarre. Lots of guests in Star Wars costumes in addition to the walk around characters. The Star Wars editions of Millionaire were kind of fun.
The kids went on the Sea Raycers from the Contemporary. They really enjoyed that. They are dead serious about having your license with you to rent a boat. We had to go back to the room to retrieve the kids licenses before they could get their boats.
There's been lots of talk about fewer passholder discounts on the rooms, but I tell you the Disney Dining Experience card makes up for it. That is the best $50 I've ever spent. Even at the new price of $60 for next year (plus $25 for the spouse card), it will pay for itself. This trip alone we saved over $200.00. Over the five trips we've used it on, we've probably saved enough to cover the cost of one of our annual passes. We've also managed to get small passholder discounts on our rooms. Although we would have paid AAA rate, no problem.
The parks were generally uncrowded during the beginning of the trip, but gradually built as Memorial Day weekend approached. When I planned this trip, was scheduling around son's graduation, didn't even realize today was Memorial Day. Glad we came home on Sunday anyway. Flights were uncrowded.
Only one significant rainshower on Friday afternoon. Didn't really affect us at all as we were napping to get ready to go to late EMH at Magic Kingdom from midnite to 3am.
It also came a thundershower just as we pulled away from the gate on our flight home yesterday, so we sat on the runway for an hour while it passed. However, that caused us to have a southern takeoff and we got a great view of Magic Kingdom, Bay Lake, Seven Seas lagoon, the raceway, etc. out the right side window. Just picture perfect. Unfortunately, the camera was packed up in an overhead.
Well, that's my attempt at a trip report. I used to write really detailed ones. But my mind is beginning to wander, and I just didn't have the computer time to write one as the trip went on.
Any questions, just ask!
