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Michael Parker -- October 2001 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)October 18-27, 2001 Cast of Characters:
Schedule:
*Warning, grab a cup of coffee, make it 2, this report is a lot longer than I thought it would be when I started writing it. The last trip we had taken to WDW was in 1997 and we were there for the 25th Anniversary celebration. Last time it was Myself (Michael) my wife Mary, our children Rebecca and Mikey, and pop-pop Tim and grandma Lori. And we had such a great time we just had to have my parents join us again, and were lucky that they could. I noticed on the WDW website that "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" was being held while we will be in WDW. We looked online for about 2 weeks, then one day I noticed that the wording on the web site had changed from "Not yet available" to "Not yet available online". My wife thought I was crazy but I immediately called WDW, and sure enough they were on sale and had gone on sale that morning. We snatched up our tickets for the Halloween party on Sunday October 21, and the children we're thrilled We had thought about flying down, since we drove last time, but the cost of flying is very expensive for people on a budget. Also, once we got there we wanted to have a vehicle anyway, so we decided to take the long trek down I-95 from NJ to Orlando again. A couple of tips for those who plan to drive down: A tip to offer those looking to rent vehicles. In this area, it is a little known fact that many car dealers rent out demos and other year old vehicles. We were able to rent a 2001 Chrysler town and country minivan for $430 from October 17-28 with *unlimited mileage*, which we obviously need since we drive about 1100 miles each way. This was a deal that other national rental chains couldn't touch. Another tip for those driving with children, consider leaving the night before you normally would. Why? Well last time we left NJ at 5am, and by 6pm that day, the kids were cranky, tired, and wanted out of the van. This time we left at 4pm, and drove straight through to Orlando without an overnight stay. By 9-10pm the kids fell asleep, and slept until 5-6 the next morning, except for waking them for the occasional "potty stops". This gave us 8hrs of driving time with the children snoring away, and that is always better than trying to keep them entertained for those extra 8 hrs if it were daytime. Again, overnight driving is not for everyone, but since pop-pop Tim is used to working midnight shifts, he didn't mind the overnight driving time, and I hopped in the seat after we stopped for breakfast, and took us the rest of the way. My best tip for those traveling down I-95? There is an incredible website if you have not heard of it yet (although I'm sure its linked here on mouseplanet somewhere lol). It is the I-95 website located at www.usastar.com . I was able to get every restaurant listing for every exit from here to Daytona, and then they have a special I-4 section where I got the info all the way to Orlando. They list hotels for every exit, and rest stops in each state. It really is a good resource for those planning to drive down I-95. And if you plan on staying on, or driving on us 192, this site was quite a find: www.kissimmee-us192.com . This site lists every business (supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants, you name it) along US 192 and the map is laid out quite well, a definite must have for anyone staying in this area . Now onto the trip: Thursday October 18: We departed NJ at 4pm; the van was loaded to the gills as we pulled out of pop-pops. A quick stop at McDonald's drive thru and were all set. I cant stress again how much better this trip was than last time in terms of our choice to leave at night. The kids ate dinner and basically fell asleep for hours. We woke them every time we stopped for gas so they cold have a "potty break" and this way they wouldn't need to stop 1/2 hour later because we didn't wake them. Another tip of sorts. By using the I-95 exit guide we were able to determine where we "should" be around breakfast time and where we wanted to stop for breakfast. We decided on a cracker barrel restaurant. We always loved everything we have had from there on past trips, and decided it was the place to stop after the overnight drive. I started thinking when we were planning the trip; cracker barrel has a website www.crackerbarrel.com . I wonder if they'd have the menu on there? Yes they did! Time to fire up the printer. Now some (like my wife) may see this as planning just a wee bit too much, but I didn't. After all, why wait and waste valuable drive time, when you have as long as you like on the way down to decide what you're in the mood for, and be ready to order soon as you sit down? Extreme? Maybe, but we all DID look at it on the drive down and knew what we, and especially the kids, wanted when we were seated. Friday October 19: Arrived at the Tropical Palms about 11am. We were going to do some shopping and sightseeing but decided to stop in just to see what time we could check in. Surprise, they let us check in right then and there. We unloaded the van and headed out for groceries. We dropped off the groceries and then headed out to walk around Old Town. Did dinner at Damon's (by the way their ribs are excellent). Then back to the room for some swimming. A quick note about the Tropical Palms, it is an offsite property. But the place was simply wonderful last time we stayed there. They are private villas, which can best be described as miniature mobile homes (only nicer). The thing we loved is that we had absolutely no noise, even though we were directly adjacent to the kiddie pool, full size pool, and poolside café. In the past when we had stayed at other motel-type accommodations we always had people coming and going at insane hours, cars coming and going, kids running up and down the walkways, it was always something. The tropical palms has none of that, its great. Our villa had a fully equipped kitchen, with dishwasher, oven and stovetop, full size refrigerator/freezer, microwave, coffee maker, and toaster. There were 2 bedrooms and a separate loft above the one bedroom, and the sleeper sofa in the living room area slept another 2 if need be. You have a private deck with a picnic table and various lounge chairs, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and laid back for being so close to the hustle and bustle of WDW . Saturday October 20 - Magic Kingdom / Character dinner at Liberty tree: FINALLY! We make it to the parks. First stop MK of course. Ok, I'm 33 but coming through the contemporary on the monorail and seeing that castle as the monorail turns for the station still gives me goosebumps. The children are so excited they're giggling for no good reason. We quickly head through security, grab a stroller and zoom right up the middle and through the castle and head for the pooh ride. This is new since the last time we visited and the children wanted to ride it first. Everyone enjoyed it and we went back several times during our trip. After Pooh it was off to toontown to meet Mr. Mouse. The lines were relatively short since we were there when they opened toontown at 10am, a strategy that I strongly recommend. We met Mickey and then got back in the other lines to meet all the other characters that were there. By 11:30 am the children's autograph books were well on their way to being filled and it was nice to get a lot of the character greetings done first, that left the rest of the day to wander from ride to ride. After toontown it was a quick couple of rides on the teacups then off towards tomorrowland. By now the children are getting a little hungry so we grab a fastpass for buzz lightyear and have lunch at cosmic rays. We didn't eat here the last time we were here but had heard about it in other trip reports here on mouseplanet and decided to give it a try. Rays did our hometown area proud, their version of the cheesesteak was pretty good, especially for being so far from Philadelphia, and is something we'd do again. After lunch it was time for our fastpass on buzz, I (being the game junkie back to the days of pong) had the high score with pop-pop and little mikey a close second. After buzz it was off to Alien encounter where mikey was thrilled that grandmom was picked (by the flashing light) to be transported. But as usual, grandmom didn't have to be the guinea pig after all. After AE it was time for pirates of the Caribbean, splash mountain, thunder railroad, and the country bears. After the bears it was time for our priority seating for the character dinner at Liberty tree tavern. As we were walking up I noticed a family of 4, mom dad son and daughter, just like us. I overheard the dad telling his crying daughter that he was sorry but the first time they could get in was 730pm (it was now only 5pm). Then suddenly it hit me, we had originally made our reservation for 10 people as my brothers family was supposed to join us on this trip. They had to back out at the last minute and I never remembered to change the reservation. To make it ever more perfect was the fact that they told me we would have a table of 6 and a table of 4 but that they would try to seat us together. Well I walked over to the gentleman, explained, and asked him to follow me to the podium for check in. When I got up there I explained to the CM that I did not need the table for 4 and that if it was possible I'd like this gentleman to have that table instead. The CM took care of everything, the gentleman and his family thanked us a bunch and we even ran into them a couple days later. It was nice to be able to help someone even if it was just for a moment. Dinner was excellent, the food was wonderful and the characters (Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale) were great with the kids. This has become an instant must with our family and will be something we do one night every time we go WDW from now on. After dinner we completed the lap around the park with haunted mansion, small world, and the carousel. By now the children were a little tired so we passed on the fireworks and headed for the parking lot. Tip for the day: Get to toontown as it opens, lines to meet Mickey are small an you can meet a lot of characters with relatively little wait and then move on using fastpasses to bypass ride lines (no fastpasses to meet Mickey). Sunday October 21: Downtown Disney / Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party We woke up this morning and it was Pouring rain! Pop-Pop made a comment about seeing an ark float by, so we decided to move up our "off-day" from the parks to today. We already had our tickets for MNSSHP tonight and knew it would be a late night anyway, so we decided to do some shopping, and then back for a nap before the big night. This was our first trip to Downtown Disney. We got there as the stores were opening, crowds were very light, despite what I had read about crowds at DD on a Sunday (probably due to the rain). Pretty uneventful morning, Mary and Grandmom left a few items (I think) in the stores for someone else to buy. We grabbed chocolate milkshakes from ghirardelli (YUMMMMY!) And headed back to the room. Favorites? Well Mine was Team Mickey. Mary Liked Disney's days of Christmas. Grandmom and Pop-Pop liked world of Disney, and the kids' favorite was the Lego store. The rain didn't bother us at all, good idea to skip the parks today. It's always nice to have an off day in the plan that can be moved around with the weather. After a quick nap it was time to get ready for the Halloween party, still raining. We head for MK and have on clear ponchos we picked up at Wal Mart, which the kids were happy about, since they had their costumes on underneath - They were both giant m&m's mikey blue and Rebecca green. We got to the halloween party and all I can say is WOW! The theming was great, giant pumpkins and music playing from the haunted mansion; the rain didn't seem to be spoiling anyone's time. Time and Time again we were amazed at how we just walked on anything and everything with no wait at all. Pop-Pop and I did space mountain 7 times in a row and never even had to wait for a car to pull up, it was there waiting for us as we walked up to the queue. Buzz, Pirates, slash and thunder mountains, haunted mansion, peter pan, Indy speedway, all the same way, NO WAIT. In the future, we will plan all future trips to coincide with MNSSHP, as this is something that was too good to be true. Maybe the rain chased some away, maybe the fact that is was a Sunday night kept local families home (school night) but there were no crowds to be found anywhere. The rain did cancel the Halloween parade, but the fireworks still went off and were quite good. Another must-do to add to list. Tip for the day: Plan an off-day or two into your trip (for those who don't do length of stay passes, that is). If the weather is that bad you can shuffle your plans accordingly. MNSSHP, if you haven't gone, by all means do, it was a big hit with everyone. Monday October 22 : MGM Today we headed for the studios. We headed right for Rockin Rollercoaster as this was also new since our last trip. And with dad (me) being a huge Aerosmith fan, it was definitely on my must-ride list. Here's a tip, I guess, of sorts (although I would think everyone would be heading here first). We got here and grabbed a fastpass. The time on the fastpass was for 45 minutes from when we got it, but the ride wait was less than 5. So pop-pop and I rode the ride 4 times before our fastpass time. As we exited the 4th time, the line WAS getting long but aha, it was our fastpass time. So we cruised right up again for ride #5. I can't get enough of this ride, and cant wait to get back there again. We head back to meet Mary, Grandmom, and the kids who have done some (MORE) shopping. We are all set to head for little mermaid when my son, my 6 year old son, the one who didn't like alien encounter and wanted no parts of space mountain or thunder railroad, sees tower of terror and shouts out "cool!" Pop-Pop and I shake our heads wondering where this came from. If there's one thing Pop-Pop cant STAND it's rides where you free-fall. Dad is not too fond of them either. So my son says he wants to ride, after careful explanation of what the ride actually does, now he wants to ride it EVEN MORE! (way to go dad) So, being the mischievous son that I am, I turn to Pop-Pop and say "I'll ride it if Pop-Pop does" ha ha. Pop-Pop calls my bluff and were headed to TOT. My son LOVES it, and we have to ride it 2 more times right away and then 4 more times during our vacation. Even though the ride isn't my cup of tea (I am a coaster junkie) I had the same feeling a dad gets seeing his son hit his first home run on score his first touchdown. I looked down at his beaming face after our first ride on TOT and thought to myself "that's my boy". We did all the usual rides (star wars, muppet vision, great movie ride, mermaid, and millionaire). After Star Wars and before heading to Millionaire, it was time for the Stars and Motorcars Parade. We all really enjoyed this parade, although the Toy Story parade from our last trip is still our favorite. The cars were really neat and the kids got to shake quite a few hands of characters passing by. After the parade we had time to catch millionaire and maybe one more attraction before dinner. Mary and Grandmom loved millionaire, which we did several times. No one even made it onto the leaderboard but a nice young guy from Philadelphia did get up to 32,000 before our "show" ended the last time we did it. Millionaire ran a little longer than we thought and when we exited we had about 35 minutes until dinner. We had a ps for prime time café and we decided it was time to head for dinner. It had started raining while we were in millionaire and it was coming down quite hard now. We arrived at Prime Time for our ps 20 minutes early (remember this later on). On any other day, in any other weather, maybe, MAYBE, this would be a good place to dine. I am not a complainer and it takes an awful lot to get me upset. So a wait of 5 minutes, 15 minutes, even a 1/2 hour would be fine, I'd understand. We waited, even though we had made a ps 60 days ahead of time, for an hour and 45 minutes PAST OUR PS TIME (2 hrs 5 mins. total) to be seated. Again, if it were just me I wouldn't let it get to me. But with a hungry (and wet) 6 and 9 year old? It was a little hectic. The biggest thing that got to me was that after all the Disney magic, the nice CM's all along the way; you would think SOMEONE would at least say "sorry for the wait". I didn't want a freebie, or any special treatment, but a simple "we're sorry" would have gone a long, long, way. It didn't come from the lady who sat us, nor from our waitress, nor from the gentleman at the register who we checked with several times during our wait. In their defense, perhaps those dining saw the downpour and ordered a dessert when they normally wouldn't have, hoping the rain would pass. But "I'm sorry" costs nothing to say, and I'm sorry myself that I chose this place to eat. The food was ok, not great and everyone in our section just wasn't into the whole experience, We had 5-6 wet, tired families in our section that were all seated at the same time. Did they just build a new section or did 6 families all leave at the same time right before we were seated? One will never know I guess. The thing that really bugged us wasn't even the events unfolding, but the fact that we made our ps at a time that would get us out 1 hr before fantasmic started (our ps was for 5pm, fantasmic at 7:30). With the delay, not only did we lose that hour, but we didn't get our food until 15 minutes before the show started. That's right, we were seated at 6:45 and our food arrived at 7:15. No fantasmic tonight. And no prime time ever again. Tuesday October 23 : AK Today was the first trip to Animal Kingdom for everyone in our group. We really didn't know what to expect. But our first surprise came a little earlier than we had expected. Despite the best planning, checking mouseplanet, and printing the park hours out THE DAY WE LEFT HOME. We arrived 30 mins before the park was "supposed" to open, only to find out that the opening was pushed back an hour starting yesterday (Monday). Not a problem. It was actually really neat. People got out of their cars and were talking to one another. One woman overheard our tape of Disney movie songs we had compiled playing in the van's tape deck and asked us to turn it up. All in all that 1/2 hour went by really quick and they finally opened the gates and let people start to park. Of course we all got in right away and up to the gates, which meant another 45 minute wait for the park to open lol. First impressions of animal kingdom were pretty favorable from everyone in our family. We headed right for the safari and did that first. It was a fun ride and we saw a bunch of different animals. Momma and daddy lion were high up on the hill keeping a watchful eye on us, and a rhino was standing about 5 feet from us in a clearing as we drove by just before the lions. I particularly liked the African music they played as we were driving through the elephant section, nice touch, and it made you feel like you were somewhere miles away from sunny fla. After the safari it was time for the Lion King Show. We loved it. The kids really got into all the songs and it was their second most favorite thing in the park (the first is coming shortly). After the lion king show we stopped to see Pocahontas and her friends. Cute show, but not something worth running across the park for. But if you're there, as we were, around show time it is worth a peek. After Pocahontas it was up to the tree of life for it's tough to be a bug. This was great; my son was calling pop-pop the "stink bug" for the rest of the trip. We all enjoyed it and it was a nice break from the heat (not a lot of shady spots in AK, as compared to other parks). Ok, after the bugs it was on to the hands down favorite of the day, the rapid ride. This ride was great; as it ended up we only did it once and didn't realize that until the next day. We all boarded and had not seen people coming off the ride. If we did we would have known what to expect. Well, as luck would have it, as we go down the big drop my son and I end up on the losing end of the tube. Now I am a big guy, I go about 250 pounds, so when we hit that water we sort of sunk into it a bit, or so it seemed. The best way to describe it is if 2 people each poured about 10 gallons of water over my shoulders and into my lap. My daughter and wife (who were on the relatively DRY side) were laughing so hard they were crying. It felt really good in the heat and I didn't mind at all, although I must say when I was paying for dinner the next night (some 30 or so hours later) my money and wallet were still a little damp. After the rapids we hit Tarzan rocks, really nice show. Then onto dinosaur! I must say off all the Disney rides I have ever been on this one was a little disappointing. It was very loud (I know, dinosaurs would be loud wouldn't they?) and dark, or course, but that was about it. A noisy dark ride where you get surprised at the end. It was ok, but nothing I'd wait a long time to ride again. By now it was getting very hot (about 90-95) so we decided to make it an early day and do some swimming back at the pool. We left AK about 3pm and funny thing is we all felt we had done a full day. We didn't have anything we wanted to still see and it was a fun day. Even typing this now it doesn't seem like we did a lot but we had a nice time. AK definitely gets a thumbs up from our clan. After dinner at Ponderosa steakhouse (on 192) Pop-Pop decided to take the kids to MGM to see Fantasmic, which we had missed the day we were there. I wasn't feeling well by this point (maybe the heat, or maybe I ate too much lol) and Mary and Grandmom wanted to just relax by the pool. So Pop-Pop dropped the 3 of us off at our hotel, and took both children (kudos to pop-pop) to MGM to see the show. This, as it turned out, would be my one regret of the trip. Especially after hearing how wonderful the show was from them when they returned. I never made it back to Fantasmic on this trip but it is the one and only must I have for next time. We all hit the hay pretty early after their return for some much needed rest. Tip of the day: Even though it is the case at all parks, if you are going to AK make sure you have a hat or something to keep the sun off your face, as there are very few shady spots as you are walking though the park. Wednesday October 24 : MGM/Epcot This morning we are going to try park hopping for the first time (we have lived a sheltered Disney life, I know). The main reasons for heading to MGM this morning were for dad (me) to get a few more loops in on rockin rollercoaster, and Pop-Pop and the kids really wanted to see beauty and the beast (which wasn't performing on Monday when we were here). By noon I was thoroughly coastered out (well I'll never be, but said I was) and we had seen the Beauty and the Beast show, which was very nice. We loved the opening group (4 for a dollar I believe they were called?) they had and we didn't realize that they had a cd available until we read it here on mouseplanet after our return. Guess we'll just have to wait until next time to buy that. Our new thrill seeker mikey made sure both Pop-Pop and I went on TOT with him again. By noon we had our handtsamps and were heading for the van for the drive over to EPCOT. Showed our parking ticket from MGM to the woman at the EPCOT gate, and were waved right through as we were told earlier. The Big mistake of this day was arriving when the world showcase was already open. Combine that with the fact that none of us had ever been to EPCOT before. Last trip we spent the whole time in either MK or MGM (which is still the kids favorite park). Complicating things further was the fact that we did very little reading here on mouseplanet or in our (seemingly hundreds) of guidebooks we had bought over the last couple years. We hadn't planned on visiting so we had very little preparation for EPCOT. So as we arrived, we blew right past everything in the front half of the park. We did try test track, which was great, before heading for the boat to Germany. We got to Germany where Pop-Pop and I had a couple beers (and a couple more beers) while the kids shopped with Mary and Grandmom. Then it was over to Italy for more shopping and then on to American adventure. American Vibe was just starting as we walked in. This cd we DID buy and we still listen to it quite a bit. The singing, as well as the presentation in the theatre, were very good. I noticed that the kids started to nod off during the theatre show. It was nice and cool in there and it was another hot day outside. After the show we came across the Sam Adams setup as the international food and wine festival was going on at this time. Yep, you guessed it, more beers for Me and Pop-Pop. Even Grandmom tried the cherry-wheat and liked it. Mary was the wine drinker and she had a few glasses along the way. Not to be left out, the children (NO we didn't give them beer lol) were sampling many different foods from the various carts. It was getting really warm now as we bypassed several countries on our way to great Britain. We looked in a few shops and bought a few small items and headed back towards the front of the park. There were giant storm clouds on the horizon and with us all a little hot and tired we decided that we didn't want to be worn out tomorrow (our last day) and called it a day. On the way out of the park we passed ice station cool. PERFECT! It couldn't have come at a better time. As we walked through pop-pop and I just wanted to stay in the "snowing" section, but were convinced to move on by the rest of the gang. A lot of the soda we tried was very good and I particularly liked the watermelon flavored soda, sorry I don't remember the name. We bought a few glasses for home, and headed out toward the parking lot. We no sooner got on the tram then the skies opened up for a downpour. By the time we got to our section of the parking lot, it was over. That's Florida weather all right. We stopped at Damon's for some more of their wonderful ribs, and got them to go for back at the room. The rest of the group got checkers (they're in the same parking lot) and it was back to the room for dinner and swimming. Tip of the day: READ UP on everything, even if its something you may not think you will do! Next time we will hit the air conditioned, kid friendly, front of EPCOT before moving onto the countries. Thursday October 25 (last day) : MK/Cinderella's Royal Table Character Breakfast Well the kids could hardly wait for today to come, in a way. It is our last day in the parks, that's true, but they were so looking forward to eating in the castle (and so were the adults). We tried every day calling the number to get reservations 60 days out. Even called 60 days out from other park days (we would have changed the schedule). As luck would have it, on our last try, for our last day, we got the much coveted ps for 7:50 am, not a bad time if I say so myself (ok I'm done gloating). We had no problems at all getting on the monorail or to the gates or getting a stroller at 730 am (when the park didn't open for WDW guests till 8am, and everyone else at 9). If you remember the age of our children (7&9) you may ask why the stroller? We found through the trip that our son, the 7 year old, would like a push every now and then and it was also great for carrying our cameras, video camera, and any bags from shopping, until we could get back to a locker. Well worth the price of the stroller to not have to lug everything around, in my opinion. I had thought all along that our "magic moment" of this trip would be the breakfast itself. It actually came a little early. As we passed under the train station and out onto main street it was almost surreal. There was no one around. We strolled on up to the castle with maybe 4 or 5 other people in sight anywhere. It was a really neat thing to be in the giant park almost all alone. We checked in at the podium about 10 minutes early but were taken upstairs immediately in the elevator. As we walked in we were so busy looking around we didn't notice our table location until we reached it. We were sat right next to one of the windows looking out on fantasyland. Boy what a view. The food was wonderful. The children gobbled up the chocolate muffins, Pop-Pop and Grandmom were enjoying the fruit and Mary and I were drinking what seemed like gallons of orange juice. Then the real food arrived. I have read it here many times, but the French toast was out of this world. The bacon and sausage were great and the eggs (which some have complained here about) seemed great to us. The characters were wonderful with the kids, taking time to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Cinderella, Snow white, and Aladdin came around to the tables and we met jasmine and the fairy godmother downstairs afterwards. After September 11 just a month before our trip, it was impossible to find the EPCOT Mickey ears USA pin anywhere. They were sold out park wide. This was more than a mission, it was a quest lol. But being in Disney and feeling the way we did about what happened to our country, we (and many others) just wanted something that combined the 2. Silly? maybe but we really wanted this pin to wear, not to trade or lock away. Just to wear. I just started our first family pin collection on this trip and it wasn't to trade, just pins of things we liked or had been to. Well, this very nice waiter (who was serving another table) came over to take a look at our pins, that I had around my neck. A very VERY nice guy. Probably mid 30's with glasses (wish I had his name). His eyes perked up and he said to me "I guess there's no chance of me getting that MNSSHP pin from you?" To which I jokingly replied, "only if you have the Mickey USA pin". He says hold on and comes back with one. I had bought a spare at the halloween party to give to my brother once we got home(since he had to back out of the trip). Hope he doesn't read this lol (but he got some cool stuff from us as it was). I know in the world of pin trading this may be a lopsided trade (since you can only get the MNSSHP pin at MNSSHP), but we each had what the other one wanted so that makes it good in my eyes, and I'll never forget the location or the reason behind our first (and only still) pin trade. After our very fun and very filling breakfast it was time to head out to the park. We actually got outside about 8:45. Early entrants (which are now a thing of the past) were already in since 8, but we actually wouldn't have been for another 15 minutes (since we were off site). Another little perk, if you will, of the breakfast. The children wanted to ride pooh again so we did that. Then over to the tea cups again. We had missed the hall of presidents our first day here and really wanted to get in there. So me made a beeline across the park to get to the hall for the first show. I don't remember ever being in the hall and people giving a standing ovation, but they did today. It was actually a pretty good feeling being in there in light of everything that had happened a month ago. After presidents it was a ride though the haunted mansion, then over to splash mountain (mikey's new favorite ride - next to TOT in MGM of course). We went over and rode pirates, jungle cruise, and saw the tiki room show. I like the new show as opposed to the old one. The old one was great but since so many birds have been in recent Disney movies it made sense (although it would have been nice to have scuttle from the little mermaid in there). After the tiki room we cut through to frontierland and the diamond horseshoe. We went in a grabbed some rootbeer floats. WOW were they good. The show was great and the characters played to our video camera coming up and saying hi to the camera and interacting with it several times which made the kids laugh. This was a fun way to get out of the heat for a while, grab a snack, and be entertained all at the same time. I definitely recommend it. After The show it was off to the country bears, and another ride down splash mountain and then thunder railroad. Now it was getting time for the parade which we had skipped our first day in MK. So we grabbed a spot across from the diamond horseshoe by the water. I had seen people with these turkey legs on a couple different trips and never bothered to try one. Well why not? So Grandmom and I each got one and were pulling some off for the kids who turned out to love them. This was an inside joke with our family as every time we talked about going to Disney World I would comment "So I can get my turkey leg". Every day I forgot to get my turkey leg. Finally on the last afternoon I remembered. So, having given 1 side of the meat to the kids, I turn it around, take a big bite, and am pulling the leg away from me to get the skin off when I hear POP! Pop? Well, it seems I broke my front tooth clean in half horizontally. The whole bottom half of my top front tooth was gone. It must have been a little weak. I mean the turkey wasn't THAT tough lol. Disney magic? Not exactly. Memorable? Uh huh. Luckily it was both a clean break and below any nerve so I didn't feel a thing and it didn't bother me a bit (although the bill to get it fixed when I got home bothered me some lol). Needless to say my great turkey leg quest and the outcome has been the butt of many a joke since then with the family. Grandmom even joked that I better be careful and not lose an eye with a hot dog next time. The Share a Dream come true parade was ok (not the best we've ever seen, which to us is still the toy story parade at MGM last trip) but it wasn't horrible or a waste of time. After the parade it was another spin through the haunted mansion, then it's a small world. I have a suggestion for Disney, make small world like buzz lightyear to increase its popularity. Grab some rifles from the shooting gallery in frontierland and award points for every annoying little singer you hit. Ok just kidding, the kids love it but the song stays with me for 6 months every time we go. After small world it was up to the carousel (our traditional ending point) and then we headed out. It was a fun day but staying for the fireworks didn't interest anyone so we left around 6pm. Tip for the day: Cinderella Character breakfast (like I have to tell you). It is without a doubt the best thing we have done in any park at any time. If you want the Disney magic, this is the place to be. As we passed the "See ya real soon!" sign on world drive we remembered that it had been 5 years since we last saw that sign, and vowed to be back sooner than that. If you made it this far, congratulations. Sorry it was so long but writing this has gotten me excited all over again. You see, as I write this, we have already bought plane tickets for this October. Yep, we are flying this time. I also have in my hands tickets for not 1 but 2 halloween parties this time around. We will be renting a private home with it's own inground pool (the kids cant wait) off of 192. If you'd like to see, it can be found here. We have increased our stay and will do 6 days in the parks vs. 5 last time. And we also have 3 off days vs. 1 last time. So look for another trip report sometime in November :) And yes, Grandmom and Pop-Pop are going with us again. Wasn't 5 years after all. Michael Parker lairmaster@jersey.net Mail a Comment to Michael Parker |
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