"We're going wild - Disney style" - A Oct 15-25th Pre-TR (10/12...for the ladies!)

[khertz]

Can't think of any other "hot-button" topics right now...it's past my bedtime.

I think you only forgot ECVs, pushing to the front right before a parade/show, and people not giving up seats on the bus!

But as for your plans...

I agree about the Finding Nemo show. We saw it on our honeymoon, and while it was very good & well put together, it was just too durn long! Plus I was not as much a fan of the songs. I guess because when you go to a Disney World show, it is almost always songs you recognize from the movie the show is based on.

The tour sounds like fun for your DD! Hopefully they will sneak in some informative stuff for the parents. The last day always does seem like the hardest to plan, only because I try so hard to fit everything in early in the trip to make sure we have time for it, so the last day ends up a "catch up" day where we do anything we didn't get to do earlier in the trip. Since we don't make too many ADRs, that's not really a problem for us because we can just do whatever we feel like. But I can see where it could cause a bit of a problem for people who like to have several ADRs on their trip. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with holding onto 2 ADRs for awhile as long as you are not doing it for every meal and you cancel the one you decide not to use. Hopefully one day when you aren't even really thinking about plans, the perfect solution for Day 9 will come to you!

 

[skier_pete]

I think you only forgot ECVs, pushing to the front right before a parade/show, and people not giving up seats on the bus!

Oh, yeah, those are 3 more...though I think it's pretty universally accepted here that pushing to the front last minute for a parade is bad form...though we will often try to find someone that will let the our DD go to the front, and if we have a front spot I will generally let kids in front of me.

ECV can be understandably annoying, but I try to be patient with those folks, there here to have a good time as much as we are. They are worst when they are being loaded on your bus as you are trying to get to an ADR you are late for.

But as for your plans...

I agree about the Finding Nemo show. We saw it on our honeymoon, and while it was very good & well put together, it was just too durn long! Plus I was not as much a fan of the songs. I guess because when you go to a Disney World show, it is almost always songs you recognize from the movie the show is based on.

I think you hit that on the head, the songs aren't bad, but they aren't quite great or memorable. And most of the shows revolve around properties with existing songs. At least we never saw Tarzan Rocks, so can't be dissapointed that it's gone.

The tour sounds like fun for your DD! Hopefully they will sneak in some informative stuff for the parents. The last day always does seem like the hardest to plan, only because I try so hard to fit everything in early in the trip to make sure we have time for it, so the last day ends up a "catch up" day where we do anything we didn't get to do earlier in the trip. Since we don't make too many ADRs, that's not really a problem for us because we can just do whatever we feel like. But I can see where it could cause a bit of a problem for people who like to have several ADRs on their trip. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with holding onto 2 ADRs for awhile as long as you are not doing it for every meal and you cancel the one you decide not to use. Hopefully one day when you aren't even really thinking about plans, the perfect solution for Day 9 will come to you!

We totally fell for the DDP back when we first tried it in 2006. We love good food, and find it a great way to catch the characters as well. And the fact is, it doesn't cost much more than eating CS. In April, we ate CS except for two low-price TS meals (SciFi and The Plaza), we ended up spending about $75 a day on average, and we really only ate two meals a day out, with the third in our room in the AM. The DDP runs us about $95, which is about $20 a day more (plus we have to add tip to that), but again we really enjoy the TS restaurants. It DOES require a lot more thought out plan, but since I love the planning part, that is not a problem to me.

I haven't actually gotten to our LAST day yet, but this day is right now PLAN-FREE...a first for me.

 

[Overexcited]

I have seen the pool hopping posts. I think if people were hopping they are probably not trying to cause trouble, it was acceptable at Disney a bunch of years back. It can cause some crowding for sure so I understand why they ban it.
Parades! Nothing irritates me more than sitting down an hour early and some yahoo comes and sits in front of me or the kids a minute before the parade! Why do these people always seem to make it happen? If I tried I can tell you I would not find a seat!
FP is a gray zone, it depends how late and why. If you got stuck waiting for a parade to go by or your ADR ran way late. I have gotten to it 10 minutes late and panicked!
Basically it comes down to courtesy for other people.

EVC is what? I can only remember so many abbreviations.

 

[skier_pete]

I have seen the pool hopping posts. I think if people were hopping they are probably not trying to cause trouble, it was acceptable at Disney a bunch of years back. It can cause some crowding for sure so I understand why they ban it.
Parades! Nothing irritates me more than sitting down an hour early and some yahoo comes and sits in front of me or the kids a minute before the parade! Why do these people always seem to make it happen? If I tried I can tell you I would not find a seat!
FP is a gray zone, it depends how late and why. If you got stuck waiting for a parade to go by or your ADR ran way late. I have gotten to it 10 minutes late and panicked!
Basically it comes down to courtesy for other people.

EVC is what? I can only remember so many abbreviations.

See, you are all set for the next "rude people" thread!

I am the most evil of FP offenders, as we use them ALL late. I spend the morning collecting FP every chance I get (though mostly I do this at MK)...and then I use them all in the afternoon when the lines are long. Disney does permit this, we've done it now for 5 trips as I have never once been stopped or questioned about it. Many on the DIS think this is the ultimate evil, because the tickets have that time window on the front, and by using it late you are causing utter choas to the system. (The fact is if you read the back of the FP, it says "Cannot accept early arrivals, Valid only on date printed." but doesn't say anything about using them late.) So, I am one of those that gets blasted in those threads - but I just don't care - I feel this is (A) allowed by Disney and (B) a "no-harm no-foul" type offense, I am still taking the exact # of spaces on the ride I was going to, just at a different time. This is the way I look at any "offenses", if you are breaking a rule that Disney actually enforces or if it would adversely affect other peoples vacations, I won't do it. (For the record: I WILL re-use my resort mug as long as the style hasn't changed, but I WON'T pool-hop, or cut in front of you at the parade, or try to cut forward in a line to meet up with my family (unless they only got ahead a half dozen or so people somehow) and will generally give up my seats to seniors or women carrying their kids on the bus.)

An EVC - I forget the meaning of the acronym, but those are the electronic scooters that people tool around the parks on. I think people's main complaint about those are getting run over by them. But also, the delays they cause in your bus transportation. Someone with a stroller can similarly be called out for using it as a battering ram. While I don't do this, I have occasionally had the misfortune of bumping people with a stroller...I don't do it on purpose, and always apologize afterwards.

Since you are new - are you aware of the Lime-Green Mickey Heads (LGMH) that DISers use to ID themselves in the parks?

 

[Overexcited]

AHHHH the scooters! There were many times we were waiting for a long time to get on a bus , tired, hot and grumpy. The bus would pull up and load a bunch of scooters that just pulled up! I realize they have to do it that way but it was frustrating to the rest of us!
FP too many things to worry about than when others decide to use them, the system still works.

 

[skier_pete]

AHHHH the scooters! There were many times we were waiting for a long time to get on a bus , tired, hot and grumpy. The bus would pull up and load a bunch of scooters that just pulled up! I realize they have to do it that way but it was frustrating to the rest of us!
FP too many things to worry about than when others decide to use them, the system still works.

I always just console myself that the scooter folks have to wait until WE all get off the bus when we get to the destination. The only time I get real annoyed is when there's a big line for the bus, and the ECV family shows up at the last minute, and there's one ECV, and about 20 people, and they ALL get to pile on first.

And thanks for not judging me too harshly on my FP habit!

 

[skier_pete]

On Sunday October 24th, we will be getting up from our last day at the AKV. In my original plans - we were going to fly out today, but it turned out the flights were very expensive, and so instead I booked us to come home on Monday, October 25th. We saved almost $200 on the airfare, but I couldn't justify another night at AKV. So, on this day we will have to pack our stuff and get it transferred to a value, probably POP century. We intend to pack a day-bag for the night and therefore won't need to unpack.

To stretch our visit to the AKV as long as possible, I made a 9:30 AM breakfast ADR at Boma. Again, I was thinking the night before we will be doing Spectro and the fireworks, and thus we would want to be able to sleep in a bit.

I have purposefully left this a "plan-free" day. At some point, I suppose we will need to get over to POP century to check-in, though technically, I will probably check-in on the 15th on-line before our trip - electronic check-in is 10 days in advnance, so might not even have to do that. I really want to leave this day as free as possible - but this brings me to my one dilemma on the trip....which I will discuss further in the next post. But, I think we will spend the day going to a couple of different parks and seeing some of the things we missed.

The next day (monday) we fly out...the flight we are on leaves at noon, so we expect to do nothing more than pack up. (I considered booking a later flight - but the flight today are limited for some reason - we couldve booked the 6:45 PM flight, but would've gotten home very late, and with school / work the next day thought that was a bad idea.

So, that's the trip in detail. I figure I will also put a summary post together as well. Look for that to go up shortly.

 

[skier_pete]

So, I am struggling with one aspect of our trip, which is unusual for me at this late a date.

The way I plan a trip is I have a spreadsheet that shows each day, the parks we plan to attend, meals, and any special events. I start the planning by filling in those things as best I can with dates and times, then I start moving things around....and moving them back...and moving them around. And eventually I find that I land on a plan that works best. I usually end up there when I find that whatever I do to move things around gives me a less satisfactory plan. But often, there's one or two points that I just don't really like.

For this trip - that is our Saturday plan. I wanted to leave time in the plan to see Spectro and Wishes, but because of MNSSHP, and also wanting to see Illuminations (our family is not into Fantasmic! so much), I had a hard time coming up with a good date...and the only really good date was Saturday, the last night at AKV.

I didn't have so much a problem with this, but it was also the best day for booking the Family Magic Tour in the morning.

I also wanted to fit in a Princess Buffet on the trip, and wanted to try 1900 Park Fare because I want to see the step-sisters and Lady Tremaine, so I figure this would be the ideal day to book that. I was OK with all this as I planned it out.

But now looking back on it, I am not so sure. The big thing is, will the family want to spend some time enjoying the hotel today, our last full day there? Looking at the day - the morning is booked probably through about 1 PM. Then, we have dinner at 6 PM, and Spectro and 9 PM followed by Wishes at 10 PM. Now, we could simply go back to the hotel for the afternoon time (1 PM to 6 PM), but will the family be burnt out from late nights by this point, and would they rather just stay a few more hours at MK, and skip Spectro and Wishes. But if that happens, then we won't want the 1900 PF ADR that night.

my other concern is that DD might not be too thrilled about having dinner with Cinderella's step-family. She does not really like villians, especially meeting the characters...now while the Cinderella villians are not the scariest bunch (just mostly mean more than evil) she might really not want to do this.

So, the more I think about these plans, the more I second-guess myself. So, I was thinking, what if we leave ourselves the option of doing the Princess meal on Sunday instead....and maybe I should make it on Sunday at Akerhaus instead of 1900 PF...so this past weekend I went on-line and got an ADR at 6:50 PM on Sunday (Day 10) for Akerhaus...then I thought we can just decide on Saturday whether we want to eat out on Saturday night, or Sunday night.

After I did it, I realized the problems with THIS plan are many:
(1) we already have a breakfast ADR at Boma so would have two TS meals on Sunday.
(2) we purposefully have no plans for Sunday and this would force us to Epcot (which I think is a likely destination anyways) for dinner.
(3) I really would rather do 1900 PF than Akerhaus again. (which we enjoy, but have done twice)
(4) Akerhaus requires a 48-hour cancelation else they charge you $10 per person, meaning we would need to make the decision on Friday (before 6:50 PM) as to whether we cancel that ADR, which pretty much throws my new plan out anyways.

So, what do I do? I could:
(A) Leave the ADRs as is, allowing for the option of Akerhaus Sunday or 1900PF Saturday.
(B) Cancel the Akerhaus ADR and stick with the original plan. In this one, we could skip the 1900PF ADR and just wing our last DDP meal.
(C) Cancel the Akerhaus ADR and instead book 1900PF for Sunday. This would eliminate points 3 and 4 above, but not points 1 and 2, would be a possibly less convenient locale for dinner on Sunday, but at least would give us the option of bumping that meal.
(D) Go back to the drawing board and try and restructure for something else entirely.

Of these four options - I am most leaning towards (C). A quick glance at my planning spreadsheet just says to me that everything else is too well planned to want to mess with at this late date. I hate booking extra ADRs and keeping them until the last minute, but I usually allow myself to make ONE ADR that I know will eventually get cancelled, and I don't have any of those up until now.

This is where I really miss talking about the trip with my wife, who still doesn't want to know anything about the surprises. I bounce ideas off her and it helps me think things through.

Any thoughts / comments out there?

 

[Overexcited]

So, I am struggling with one aspect of our trip, which is unusual for me at this late a date.

The way I plan a trip is I have a spreadsheet that shows each day, the parks we plan to attend, meals, and any special events. I start the planning by filling in those things as best I can with dates and times, then I start moving things around....and moving them back...and moving them around. And eventually I find that I land on a plan that works best. I usually end up there when I find that whatever I do to move things around gives me a less satisfactory plan. But often, there's one or two points that I just don't really like.

For this trip - that is our Saturday plan. I wanted to leave time in the plan to see Spectro and Wishes, but because of MNSSHP, and also wanting to see Illuminations (our family is not into Fantasmic! so much), I had a hard time coming up with a good date...and the only really good date was Saturday, the last night at AKV.

I didn't have so much a problem with this, but it was also the best day for booking the Family Magic Tour in the morning.

I also wanted to fit in a Princess Buffet on the trip, and wanted to try 1900 Park Fare because I want to see the step-sisters and Lady Tremaine, so I figure this would be the ideal day to book that. I was OK with all this as I planned it out.

But now looking back on it, I am not so sure. The big thing is, will the family want to spend some time enjoying the hotel today, our last full day there? Looking at the day - the morning is booked probably through about 1 PM. Then, we have dinner at 6 PM, and Spectro and 9 PM followed by Wishes at 10 PM. Now, we could simply go back to the hotel for the afternoon time (1 PM to 6 PM), but will the family be burnt out from late nights by this point, and would they rather just stay a few more hours at MK, and skip Spectro and Wishes. But if that happens, then we won't want the 1900 PF ADR that night.

my other concern is that DD might not be too thrilled about having dinner with Cinderella's step-family. She does not really like villians, especially meeting the characters...now while the Cinderella villians are not the scariest bunch (just mostly mean more than evil) she might really not want to do this.

So, the more I think about these plans, the more I second-guess myself. So, I was thinking, what if we leave ourselves the option of doing the Princess meal on Sunday instead....and maybe I should make it on Sunday at Akerhaus instead of 1900 PF...so this past weekend I went on-line and got an ADR at 6:50 PM on Sunday (Day 10) for Akerhaus...then I thought we can just decide on Saturday whether we want to eat out on Saturday night, or Sunday night.

After I did it, I realized the problems with THIS plan are many:
(1) we already have a breakfast ADR at Boma so would have two TS meals on Sunday.
(2) we purposefully have no plans for Sunday and this would force us to Epcot (which I think is a likely destination anyways) for dinner.
(3) I really would rather do 1900 PF than Akerhaus again. (which we enjoy, but have done twice)
(4) Akerhaus requires a 48-hour cancelation else they charge you $10 per person, meaning we would need to make the decision on Friday (before 6:50 PM) as to whether we cancel that ADR, which pretty much throws my new plan out anyways.

So, what do I do? I could:
(A) Leave the ADRs as is, allowing for the option of Akerhaus Sunday or 1900PF Saturday.
(B) Cancel the Akerhaus ADR and stick with the original plan. In this one, we could skip the 1900PF ADR and just wing our last DDP meal.
(C) Cancel the Akerhaus ADR and instead book 1900PF for Sunday. This would eliminate points 3 and 4 above, but not points 1 and 2, would be a possibly less convenient locale for dinner on Sunday, but at least would give us the option of bumping that meal.
(D) Go back to the drawing board and try and restructure for something else entirely.

Of these four options - I am most leaning towards (C). A quick glance at my planning spreadsheet just says to me that everything else is too well planned to want to mess with at this late date. I hate booking extra ADRs and keeping them until the last minute, but I usually allow myself to make ONE ADR that I know will eventually get cancelled, and I don't have any of those up until now.

This is where I really miss talking about the trip with my wife, who still doesn't want to know anything about the surprises. I bounce ideas off her and it helps me think things through.

Any thoughts / comments out there?

I get stuck like that as well. It is not a surprise in my family but my DH just nods his head and shrugs so that leaves just me. Anyways, I say go for the the new, do something you haven't done before. If it is not your fav you can cross it off your list next time! They will love your choices!

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Jumping in a little late, hope that is okay!


We're going around the same time as you (although you should be back before we leave). Looking forward to reading all of your planning

 

[skier_pete]

I get stuck like that as well. It is not a surprise in my family but my DH just nods his head and shrugs so that leaves just me. Anyways, I say go for the the new, do something you haven't done before. If it is not your fav you can cross it off your list next time! They will love your choices!

Excellent point! I think that is why I'm leaning towards canceling the Akerhaus. We enjoy the meal there (the character interaction was a bit rushed both times - it seems all the princesses come out at once, assault you, and vanish) but am ready for a change. Thanks!

If you have any dilemmas, post them in your PTR - the rest of us are always willing to help a fellow planning nut.

Jumping in a little late, hope that is okay!
We're going around the same time as you (although you should be back before we leave). Looking forward to reading all of your planning

You are never too late to join...feel free to follow the links in my 1st post. I am about to do a sum-up post right now.

 

[skier_pete]

Day 1 (Friday 10/15)
Land @ MCO 7 PM
ME to AKV

Day 2 (Saturday 10/16)
Park: AK
ADR: Boma @ 5:50 PM
Events: None

Day 3 (Sunday 10/17)
Park: Epcot
ADR: Garden Grill @ 6:05 PM
Events: Illuminations (9 PM)

Day 4 (Monday 10/18)
Park: Blizzard Beach
ADR: Jiko (Adult's Only) 6:15 PM
Events: Club Kidani (for DD) 6-8 PM

Day 5 (Tuesday 10/19)
Park: Magic Kingdom
ADR / Events: Hoop-De-Do-review: 5 PM

Day 6 (Wednesday 10/20)
Park: DHS / Epcot
ADR: Le Cellier 6:15 PM
Events: None

Day 7 (Thursday 10/21)
Park: See below / DTD
ADR: Crystal Palace 4:50 PM
Events: MNSSHP (7 PM - 12 AM)

Day 8 (Friday 10/22)
Park: AK
ADR: Saana 5:45 PM
Events: None

Day 9 (Saturday 10/23)
Park: MK
ADR: 1900 Park Fare 6:00 PM (Maybe)
Events: Family Magic Tour (10 AM - 12:30 PM), Spectromagic (9 PM) Wishes (10 PM)

Day 10 (Sunday 10/24)
Park: TBD
ADR: Boma 9:30 AM, 1900 PF dinner 6:50 PM(Maybe)
Events: None

Day 11 (Monday 10/25)
Leave 9 AM ME for MCO, 12 noon flight to Buffalo (via Baltimore)

A couple of things I didn't mention before - as you can see we are not big hopper people, so even though we have the APs, we only have potentially two days for hopping. Also, there is almost no EMH planned into the system (we could be at AK for a bit of PM EMH on 10/22), generally I find evening EMH too crowded, and AM EMH too early.

 

[onescgirl]

This is a great trip you are planning for your family.
Now, does your wife not read Disboards at all or does she just not read your PTR thread?

You will like Garden Grill restaurant. My kids liked riding Living with the Land right before we went in to eat.

You mentioned riding Jungle Cruise after dark. Is it better after dark? We've never rode JC & I wanted to make sure we did this trip. Do I need to ride it after dark?

 

[skier_pete]

This is a great trip you are planning for your family.
Now, does your wife not read Disboards at all or does she just not read your PTR thread?

You will like Garden Grill restaurant. My kids liked riding Living with the Land right before we went in to eat.

You mentioned riding Jungle Cruise after dark. Is it better after dark? We've never rode JC & I wanted to make sure we did this trip. Do I need to ride it after dark?

My wife does not read to DIS, she spends very little time on the computer, so it's pretty easy for me to spill all here. it's helped a lot in fact, because I can't talk about it at home!

And DD really likes LwtL too...so I know she'll like the restaurant. We just have never been able to squeeze it in with trying all the WS restaurants, which we still haven't tried them all. But, I decided to give this a go instead of Chef Mickey's, which we did last trip, and while enjoyed find the food a bit so-so...

You've NEVER ridden JC? For shame! About JC - If you have never ridden it, I wouldn't recommend after dark for the first ride ever...it's a different experience, but it's not better. The key to a good JC experience is a good skipper...one who really sells the awful awful jokes, and as passengers, being able to enjoy the awful, awful jokes. Some skippers don't even do a lot of the jokes. (There are more jokes in the routine than can be told in one ride, so multiple rides with different skippers can provide vastly different experiences.) A bad skipper makes the rides very boring...the ride itself is sort of lame as an adult, but with the right skipper we find it so much fun. But again, you need to be in the mood for bad puns and other groan-inducing jokes. (A non-spoilery sample joke sometimes said while passing the savannah area: "The rocks you are seeing are sandstone, but some people take it for granite." Yep...that bad. But if sold right and you take it the right way, it can be a blast.

At night, the ride is very dark...you really can't see a lot of the animitronics very well. Because of this, you can see the sites in the temple (the indoor portion) much better because your night vision is adjusted. We did it once before, but we had a terrible skipper, so I'd like to try it again with hopefully slightly better luck. But I would say that if you ride it once during the day and decide to try again, check it out at night. (FP is a good idea for this ride, as the line is one of the slowest moving in MK! Because DD likes the ride so much, we have probably spent more time in line for JC than any other ride at WDW - partly because we almost never wait in lines, but often do at JC because we need to ride it at least twice!)

 

[Overexcited]

My wife does not read to DIS, she spends very little time on the computer, so it's pretty easy for me to spill all here. it's helped a lot in fact, because I can't talk about it at home!

And DD really likes LwtL too...so I know she'll like the restaurant. We just have never been able to squeeze it in with trying all the WS restaurants, which we still haven't tried them all. But, I decided to give this a go instead of Chef Mickey's, which we did last trip, and while enjoyed find the food a bit so-so...

You've NEVER ridden JC? For shame! About JC - If you have never ridden it, I wouldn't recommend after dark for the first ride ever...it's a different experience, but it's not better. The key to a good JC experience is a good skipper...one who really sells the awful awful jokes, and as passengers, being able to enjoy the awful, awful jokes. Some skippers don't even do a lot of the jokes. (There are more jokes in the routine than can be told in one ride, so multiple rides with different skippers can provide vastly different experiences.) A bad skipper makes the rides very boring...the ride itself is sort of lame as an adult, but with the right skipper we find it so much fun. But again, you need to be in the mood for bad puns and other groan-inducing jokes. (A non-spoilery sample joke sometimes said while passing the savannah area: "The rocks you are seeing are sandstone, but some people take it for granite." Yep...that bad. But if sold right and you take it the right way, it can be a blast.

At night, the ride is very dark...you really can't see a lot of the animitronics very well. Because of this, you can see the sites in the temple (the indoor portion) much better because your night vision is adjusted. We did it once before, but we had a terrible skipper, so I'd like to try it again with hopefully slightly better luck. But I would say that if you ride it once during the day and decide to try again, check it out at night. (FP is a good idea for this ride, as the line is one of the slowest moving in MK! Because DD likes the ride so much, we have probably spent more time in line for JC than any other ride at WDW - partly because we almost never wait in lines, but often do at JC because we need to ride it at least twice!)

Wow we agree on so many things Disney! This ride as akid is so cool but as an adult very lame. The skipper really does make or break it. My DS loved this ride, we laughed the whole way. Funny we got off and my DS says "were those animals real?" we just burst out laughing!

 

[skier_pete]

Wow we agree on so many things Disney! This ride as akid is so cool but as an adult very lame. The skipper really does make or break it. My DS loved this ride, we laughed the whole way. Funny we got off and my DS says "were those animals real?" we just burst out laughing!

Hah! You didn't realize how right you were that "There are more of my kind!" Too bad we don't visit Rochester more, we could do a mini-DIS meet.

On our two pre-child trip we thought this ride was so lame, but our first trip with DD (@ 3.5) it was one of her very very favorites - she was in AWE of all those animals. This was a ride that really improve when seeing through the eyes of a child. We also found a better appreciation of the jokes, too. My favorites change from trip to trip. (Recent fave from unloading: "If you've enjoyed yourself on this ride, remember my name is Dave and this is the Jungle Cruise, if you haven't, my name is Mary and this is Peter Pan's Flight." )

tWe tell the jokes on other rides - like Living with the Land, which really becomes WAY more fun when you add JC jokes! (Though not all passengers appreciate it - so you must do so quietly.)

 

[Overexcited]

Hah! You didn't realize how right you were that "There are more of my kind!" Too bad we don't visit Rochester more, we could do a mini-DIS meet.

On our two pre-child trip we thought this ride was so lame, but our first trip with DD (@ 3.5) it was one of her very very favorites - she was in AWE of all those animals. This was a ride that really improve when seeing through the eyes of a child. We also found a better appreciation of the jokes, too. My favorites change from trip to trip. (Recent fave from unloading: "If you've enjoyed yourself on this ride, remember my name is Dave and this is the Jungle Cruise, if you haven't, my name is Mary and this is Peter Pan's Flight." )

tWe tell the jokes on other rides - like Living with the Land, which really becomes WAY more fun when you add JC jokes! (Though not all passengers appreciate it - so you must do so quietly.)

My fav from last visit "please gather your belongings and take small children by the hand, any child left behind will be brought to it's a small world and their will be stapled to the floor and they will be taught to sing in many languages!"+

 

[skier_pete]

My fav from last visit "please gather your belongings and take small children by the hand, any child left behind will be brought to it's a small world and their will be stapled to the floor and they will be taught to sing in many languages!"+

That's a good one I have heard. Another variation on that: "please gather your belongings and take small children by the hand, please don't leave your child behind...if you don't want them, it's likely that we don't either."

 

[PrincessInOz]

Skier_Pete - You are very wise to leave Day 10 as TBD and keeping things flexible.

We had 10 days in May and by the time Day 10 rolled round, we just wanted to take things easy and enjoy the resort. We'd pretty much covered all the parks a number of times and gotten on all the rides/attractions that we wanted to do multiple times.

I would highly recommend pm EMH for AK....we found low crowds and were able to walk on to every single ride.

 

[skier_pete]

Skier_Pete - You are very wise to leave Day 10 as TBD and keeping things flexible.

We had 10 days in May and by the time Day 10 rolled round, we just wanted to take things easy and enjoy the resort. We'd pretty much covered all the parks a number of times and gotten on all the rides/attractions that we wanted to do multiple times.

I would highly recommend pm EMH for AK....we found low crowds and were able to walk on to every single ride.

Hey Princess, thanks for the advice...the problem with AK is we like almost none of the rides in the park. I'm the only one that rides EE, DD is the only one that likes Kali (so we do it for her) and no-one likes any of the rides in Dinoland. DD still won't see the Bug's Life movie, and she freaked so badly at HiStA in April I don't dare even try it. So, that leaves us with trying a late Safari, which I think we will do before we head back to the hotel and Saana for dinner.