BigThunder
18-01-2009, 11:34 PM
Now lets talk fun stuff! The Parks!!:mickeybounce:
This was one of the least crowded trips we've had in a very long time. Ok, so the weather was very cold. Very, very cold on some days. But I'd much rather be a little chilly than having a heat stroke! It does cut out some swim time but if it also cuts out the crowds then I can give up swimming.....easily!
Our first park we went to was MK. There were so many marathon people everywhere that day that I was pretty bummed thinking how crowded the parks were going to be. We arrived at probably 10am & the crowd going in was massive. We almost turned around & left to go to another park! I'm so glad we didn't because the park was really not bad at all once we got inside. I guess everyone had just decided to go in at the same time, lol.
Most rides we were able to get on with a 10 minute wait at most. The only ones that were longer were Peter Pan & Snow White. Those were at 30 minutes for some reason. Everything else was great tho! This was also the EMH night for MK so we went back to the room (I napped!) & then we went back. It was incredibly dead!! It was the best...we walked on everything. So by 10pm we were already back at the room because we'd done everything we wanted & most of those twice. I love when MK is like this because it just doesn't seem to happen very often anymore. But that feeling when you can walk right onto Dumbo or wave yourself thru for a second ride on Pirates....those are magical feelings indeed!
I do think it odd we only did the one day at MK this time. This is a first. Normally MK is at least 2 days. But we did everything we wanted & the kids were more interested in days at EPCOT. Sure sign my babies are growing up :(
EPCOT was odd this trip. The crowds in the walkways were not bad at all but then some things, like MIssion Space & Test Track had little to no wait but Maelstrom, the ride in Norway, was out the door! There's never a line for that! It was definitely more crowded in World Showcase than Future World. Maybe due to the Kim Possible thing. Yes! We got to do it! It's funny, I made sucha big deal about trying to figure out how to do this & they had kiosks set up everywhere! You couldn't miss it. Loads of fun guys! You all have to do this, hopefully it will be around for awhile. One of my regrets is that the kids didn't get to do more, they only did Mexico & Norway. I think they said there were 7 countries you could do it in but the thing is you have to re-register at one of the kiosks after you do one mission to get a new phone & a new assignment. So that means a lot of backtracking. But they both got a huge kick out of it. I saw groups of teens, grandparents & preschoolers all doing it.
Also in EPCOT David was picked as one of the 'players' in the UK street show. They did The Holy Grail & David got to play Sir Galahad. It was so funny! I think he was a little embarressed but he really played it up. What was so funny was they picked an older guy to play the king...and when it came to the part where the narrator guy introduced him & he said 'ok now give them a kingly salute', the older guy hesitated oh so briefly & then boldly, with expression, shot everyone the bird!! First there was this awkward silence & then there was a combo of people hysterically laughing (me being one) & people walking off. If i'd had smaller kids I may have been offended but we all looked at each other & just burst out laughing, not what you expect! And the way the street performers handled it was so funny. OH, it was a great moment, hehehe.
Our visit to Hollywood Studios was a great day. Again kind of weird tho...The Great Movie Ride line was out the door & wrapped around the maze to the right of the building yet Tower of Terror was walk right on. We did it 3 times in a row! Not a soul in line; don't think i've ever seen it like that. We fast passed the new Pixar ride & then got in the stand by line because I think everyone needs to go thru it. The most amazing queue area at WDW i think. We didn't do Lights Motor Action & my girls were really bummed (I just don't get it) but we weren't there during a time it was going & we never made it back to do it. It started raining on us & it was obvious it was going to be an all day rain so we endured for awhile & then just made our way back to the resort.
Animal Kingdom. I hadn't been to this park in 2 years. The rest of the family had gone but where I'd been sick the last couple visits I hadn't felt like it, plus AK is not one of my favorites. This time was great tho! Maybe because I hadn't been there in so long. Not crowded at all. YOu will find that's always reason to celebrate in my book! We did Expedition Everest FOUR times straight, lol. The longest we waited was 9 minutes! This is a ride I'd already told myself I'd probably never do again but now that I'm a year out from my surgery I'm starting to feel a little safer, that maybe not everything will hurt me. It was good getting to ride it again with my family :) We walked straight on the safari too, that has never happened, always a line it seems. And we did the walk right after the safari where you can see the animals, which I'd never done and we also went to Rafiki's Planet Watch for the first time ever. It was really cute but by the time we got there it was almost park closing time. Rafiki, Jiminy Cricket & Pocahontas were all in the main building & there wasn't hardly a soul around so they really played it up with my kids. It made me smile. I wish we'd had more time to spend there.
Downtown Disney was so refreshing this time because 1) you guessed it, NOT CROWDED! hehe & 2) not 110 degrees. It always seems hot at DTD to me, lol, but not this time (quite chilly actually). So shopping was enjoyable this time without feeling a heat stroke coming on or having so many people in the stores you can't look at a thing.
Well, that's it folks. I hope my reports have not been too long or too boring. I figured I would try to lump it all into a couple posts rather than doing one every day. It's been fun reliving it with you all :hug2:
This was one of the least crowded trips we've had in a very long time. Ok, so the weather was very cold. Very, very cold on some days. But I'd much rather be a little chilly than having a heat stroke! It does cut out some swim time but if it also cuts out the crowds then I can give up swimming.....easily!
Our first park we went to was MK. There were so many marathon people everywhere that day that I was pretty bummed thinking how crowded the parks were going to be. We arrived at probably 10am & the crowd going in was massive. We almost turned around & left to go to another park! I'm so glad we didn't because the park was really not bad at all once we got inside. I guess everyone had just decided to go in at the same time, lol.
Most rides we were able to get on with a 10 minute wait at most. The only ones that were longer were Peter Pan & Snow White. Those were at 30 minutes for some reason. Everything else was great tho! This was also the EMH night for MK so we went back to the room (I napped!) & then we went back. It was incredibly dead!! It was the best...we walked on everything. So by 10pm we were already back at the room because we'd done everything we wanted & most of those twice. I love when MK is like this because it just doesn't seem to happen very often anymore. But that feeling when you can walk right onto Dumbo or wave yourself thru for a second ride on Pirates....those are magical feelings indeed!
I do think it odd we only did the one day at MK this time. This is a first. Normally MK is at least 2 days. But we did everything we wanted & the kids were more interested in days at EPCOT. Sure sign my babies are growing up :(
EPCOT was odd this trip. The crowds in the walkways were not bad at all but then some things, like MIssion Space & Test Track had little to no wait but Maelstrom, the ride in Norway, was out the door! There's never a line for that! It was definitely more crowded in World Showcase than Future World. Maybe due to the Kim Possible thing. Yes! We got to do it! It's funny, I made sucha big deal about trying to figure out how to do this & they had kiosks set up everywhere! You couldn't miss it. Loads of fun guys! You all have to do this, hopefully it will be around for awhile. One of my regrets is that the kids didn't get to do more, they only did Mexico & Norway. I think they said there were 7 countries you could do it in but the thing is you have to re-register at one of the kiosks after you do one mission to get a new phone & a new assignment. So that means a lot of backtracking. But they both got a huge kick out of it. I saw groups of teens, grandparents & preschoolers all doing it.
Also in EPCOT David was picked as one of the 'players' in the UK street show. They did The Holy Grail & David got to play Sir Galahad. It was so funny! I think he was a little embarressed but he really played it up. What was so funny was they picked an older guy to play the king...and when it came to the part where the narrator guy introduced him & he said 'ok now give them a kingly salute', the older guy hesitated oh so briefly & then boldly, with expression, shot everyone the bird!! First there was this awkward silence & then there was a combo of people hysterically laughing (me being one) & people walking off. If i'd had smaller kids I may have been offended but we all looked at each other & just burst out laughing, not what you expect! And the way the street performers handled it was so funny. OH, it was a great moment, hehehe.
Our visit to Hollywood Studios was a great day. Again kind of weird tho...The Great Movie Ride line was out the door & wrapped around the maze to the right of the building yet Tower of Terror was walk right on. We did it 3 times in a row! Not a soul in line; don't think i've ever seen it like that. We fast passed the new Pixar ride & then got in the stand by line because I think everyone needs to go thru it. The most amazing queue area at WDW i think. We didn't do Lights Motor Action & my girls were really bummed (I just don't get it) but we weren't there during a time it was going & we never made it back to do it. It started raining on us & it was obvious it was going to be an all day rain so we endured for awhile & then just made our way back to the resort.
Animal Kingdom. I hadn't been to this park in 2 years. The rest of the family had gone but where I'd been sick the last couple visits I hadn't felt like it, plus AK is not one of my favorites. This time was great tho! Maybe because I hadn't been there in so long. Not crowded at all. YOu will find that's always reason to celebrate in my book! We did Expedition Everest FOUR times straight, lol. The longest we waited was 9 minutes! This is a ride I'd already told myself I'd probably never do again but now that I'm a year out from my surgery I'm starting to feel a little safer, that maybe not everything will hurt me. It was good getting to ride it again with my family :) We walked straight on the safari too, that has never happened, always a line it seems. And we did the walk right after the safari where you can see the animals, which I'd never done and we also went to Rafiki's Planet Watch for the first time ever. It was really cute but by the time we got there it was almost park closing time. Rafiki, Jiminy Cricket & Pocahontas were all in the main building & there wasn't hardly a soul around so they really played it up with my kids. It made me smile. I wish we'd had more time to spend there.
Downtown Disney was so refreshing this time because 1) you guessed it, NOT CROWDED! hehe & 2) not 110 degrees. It always seems hot at DTD to me, lol, but not this time (quite chilly actually). So shopping was enjoyable this time without feeling a heat stroke coming on or having so many people in the stores you can't look at a thing.
Well, that's it folks. I hope my reports have not been too long or too boring. I figured I would try to lump it all into a couple posts rather than doing one every day. It's been fun reliving it with you all :hug2: