Bob P
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
- Messages
- 11,517
My wife was at the media event Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and my two teenagers and I flew down Friday morning and spent a quick Mothers Day weekend at WDW. Here are some highlights and thoughts:
Thursday: We met my wife at 10:30 at AKL and went off to the Studios, arriving around 11. We walked on to TZTOT after getting a FastPass for R&RC (which was only 15 minutes). After lunch we went on the Great Movie Ride, then we walked over to Epcot to do Soarin. The standby line wasnt bad but we FastPassed it anyway. We all loved the ride! While we didnt find it a knock your socks off like some of the E-Ticket rides, it was a very pleasant, relaxing, and exhilarating experience!
Then we saw Crush at the Living Seas...it's a vey cute show and I would highly recommend it, espeically if you have kids 10 and under. A video screen version of Crush, looking like he's in water, interacts livwe with the audience. Even the adults got a big kick out of it.
We walked around Epcot a bit, then decided to walk back to the Studios so that we could see the 6:00 showing of LMA. We originally were going to eat in Jiko that night but we didnt want to go back to the hotel, so we called Disney Dining and were able to get a 4:50 PS at Hollywood and Vine. Not only did we get the PS less than an hour before the dining time, but when we got there the CM asked us if we wanted the Fantasmic package! Hey, how can you turn down that offer? So we ate at H&V then went to LMA. Let me preface this by saying I am not a car racing fan, nor am I a fan of action movies. While the show has some great stunts in it, I was bored most of the time. It is about 35 minutes long and after about 10 minutes I was ready to leave. My wife (who had seen it at the press event) and 15YO daughter felt the same, my 17YO son liked it because he is a filmmaker and he was interested in the way they show you how they film the scenes. My thoughts are: if you are a NASCAR fan you will probably love it, and if you like movies with car chase scenes you will probably love it. It was very well done but just not for me. We then went off and did a few more things before watching Fantasmic. Weve never seen so many little ones crying or being carried out as we did at this showing.
We spent Saturday at the MK, getting there when it opened. We did some Fantasyland rides first since our son is going of to college in the fall and wanted to relive his childhood memories! Then about 9:45 we went to Splash and BTMRR, both were walk-ons! Then to Mickeys Philharmagic and Space Mountain (standby was 25 minutes) before lunch at Cosmic Rays. We took a pool break then went to dinner at California Grill, and back to the MK for a few more rides, Spectro, and Wishes. Let me address the always interesting dress code at California Grill question: I looked around and found about 20% of men were wearing shorts. It would probably have been a higher number but Saturday was a fairly cool day. All in all, the MK crowds were light to moderate during the day and heavier, though still not bad, at night. There were still FastPasses for Space at 7:30 and Splash at 8:30 (MK closed at 10).
We spent Mothers Day at Epcot and did the Brunch at World Showplace. Its a huge auditorium with hundreds of tables. The waiting area had characters but the actual brunch was quieter with a strolling guitarist and also some piped-in music. There were lots of choices of both breakfast foods and lunch foods. Later we noticed that Soarin FastPasses were gone at 3:00, but the standby lines for TT and MS were only about 25 minutes at that point.
We also had another very good experience with Tiffany Towncar to ease the fears of those of us who were concerned.
By the way, it seemed like we couldn't go more than 10 minutes without bumping into some image of Stitch! When did he take over as the King of WDW?
All in all, a greatbut quicktrip! Crowds were not bad at all! Ill be happy to answer any questions...
Thursday: We met my wife at 10:30 at AKL and went off to the Studios, arriving around 11. We walked on to TZTOT after getting a FastPass for R&RC (which was only 15 minutes). After lunch we went on the Great Movie Ride, then we walked over to Epcot to do Soarin. The standby line wasnt bad but we FastPassed it anyway. We all loved the ride! While we didnt find it a knock your socks off like some of the E-Ticket rides, it was a very pleasant, relaxing, and exhilarating experience!
Then we saw Crush at the Living Seas...it's a vey cute show and I would highly recommend it, espeically if you have kids 10 and under. A video screen version of Crush, looking like he's in water, interacts livwe with the audience. Even the adults got a big kick out of it.
We walked around Epcot a bit, then decided to walk back to the Studios so that we could see the 6:00 showing of LMA. We originally were going to eat in Jiko that night but we didnt want to go back to the hotel, so we called Disney Dining and were able to get a 4:50 PS at Hollywood and Vine. Not only did we get the PS less than an hour before the dining time, but when we got there the CM asked us if we wanted the Fantasmic package! Hey, how can you turn down that offer? So we ate at H&V then went to LMA. Let me preface this by saying I am not a car racing fan, nor am I a fan of action movies. While the show has some great stunts in it, I was bored most of the time. It is about 35 minutes long and after about 10 minutes I was ready to leave. My wife (who had seen it at the press event) and 15YO daughter felt the same, my 17YO son liked it because he is a filmmaker and he was interested in the way they show you how they film the scenes. My thoughts are: if you are a NASCAR fan you will probably love it, and if you like movies with car chase scenes you will probably love it. It was very well done but just not for me. We then went off and did a few more things before watching Fantasmic. Weve never seen so many little ones crying or being carried out as we did at this showing.
We spent Saturday at the MK, getting there when it opened. We did some Fantasyland rides first since our son is going of to college in the fall and wanted to relive his childhood memories! Then about 9:45 we went to Splash and BTMRR, both were walk-ons! Then to Mickeys Philharmagic and Space Mountain (standby was 25 minutes) before lunch at Cosmic Rays. We took a pool break then went to dinner at California Grill, and back to the MK for a few more rides, Spectro, and Wishes. Let me address the always interesting dress code at California Grill question: I looked around and found about 20% of men were wearing shorts. It would probably have been a higher number but Saturday was a fairly cool day. All in all, the MK crowds were light to moderate during the day and heavier, though still not bad, at night. There were still FastPasses for Space at 7:30 and Splash at 8:30 (MK closed at 10).
We spent Mothers Day at Epcot and did the Brunch at World Showplace. Its a huge auditorium with hundreds of tables. The waiting area had characters but the actual brunch was quieter with a strolling guitarist and also some piped-in music. There were lots of choices of both breakfast foods and lunch foods. Later we noticed that Soarin FastPasses were gone at 3:00, but the standby lines for TT and MS were only about 25 minutes at that point.
We also had another very good experience with Tiffany Towncar to ease the fears of those of us who were concerned.
By the way, it seemed like we couldn't go more than 10 minutes without bumping into some image of Stitch! When did he take over as the King of WDW?
All in all, a greatbut quicktrip! Crowds were not bad at all! Ill be happy to answer any questions...
