Ice's Long Strange Trip Report

[wizardmickey]

I'm gonna try and get this party started... But before I do I'd like to share this from INFO CENTRAL as it was a factor in choosing this time of year for this family trip;

BEST TIME TO VISIT
September
*Please note: These are general guidelines. Disney often offers vacation discounts and specials throughout the year. These can increase the crowds.

Yeah, incentives have DEFINITELY changed the flow of traffic during September... so much so that our resort was overbooked during the last few days of us trying to extend... but I'm getting ahead of myself - I should start at the start and maybe end at the end instead!

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me (Ice, now known by the family as "That Guy")
The Wife (Christy)
Mom & Dad Wyatt
Christy's brother Ty, his wife Vivian and their 7 year old daughter Faith.
Thursday was departure day, and it almost didn't happen thanks to Gustav. The airport here had been shut down since Monday, and our flight was the first flight going out after everything reopened. Luckily we faced no drama on that front, and made it to Houston and then on to Orlanda where we caught DME and were on our merry way to the All-Star Movies. We all got checked in, dropped off our carry-on's, met in the food court and headed off to Downtown Disney where we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Afterwards we walked it off for a bit and headed back to the bus and to the ASMovies for some shut-eye. I will add here that we had upgraded our room in order to get the Free Dining Plan being offered (which plays into the increased crowds) and specifically asked for a King-size bed. Now I know requests are met as best as they can, but our Preferred Room had two tiny beds in it (although it was right by the front of the resort)... for those of you who have met me, you know I am a large fella, and that tiny little bed had my feet dangling over the end unless I curled up some, and that then left less room for Christy. I figured that as crowded as they were, why bother complaining about wanting to be moved and possibly not getting what I want, so we just settled in and went to sleep.
The next day we all met for a quick breakfast. As we were checking out, we were informed that we also could have 4 drinks (and the large ones at that!) So we asked the family if they wanted OJ or apple juice or chocolate milk, and for the next few days they at least got free drinks with their breakfasts.
We hit the bus-stop for our connection to the Magic Kingdom. On our arrival we dropped stuff off at the locker and took a few pictures (Photopass and with our own cameras) and as we rounded Main Street, Faith's eyes went wide; "Look at that! It's Cinderella's Castle! It's so much bigger than in the stories!" From there we went straight for Christy's favorite ride... BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!! Why? Because she handily beats me everytime we ride it!!!
From there we made the circuit of Tomorrowland, including our 1st visit to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor; for those of you who've experienced it, you probably know all about "That Guy?" Well, guess who the monster's singled out to be That Guy during our visit? Needless to say, I tried to ham it up each time the camera was on me once I realized what was happening! And of course, I happily have my little sticker the CM gave me declaring me THAT GUY!
From there we hit as many attractions in as many lands as we could. Lines were what I would consider moderate... I've seen them about the same or less during the Christmas season, so I was a bit surprised at some of the lines, but we just skipped onto whatever had short lines. BTW - I've heard tales of the heat and humidity during the Summer being absolutely horrible... well, it ain't much better in September! It literally drained us!
After many fantastic (yet sweaty) experiences (including hearing my bro-in-law scream and giggle like a little girl on BTM and watch the family dance through the Pirate queue) it was time for our reserved dining at the castle. I had printed "Official Reservations" which they recieved at Christmas announcing they were being treated to dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. Quickly while I went ahead to check in, Viv took Faith to a store and got her decked out as Princess Ariel just in time for our name to be called. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and the novelty of eating INSIDE the Castle!!!
Once we were done we headed over to EPCOT and hit a few rides before finding a spot for Illuminations. Now, neither Viv or Faith have ever been to WDW before, and Ty hadn't been since he was 9, so they were all rather wide-eyed like country mice at some of the things they had seen so far, but Illuminations (even without the globe) literally blew them away. Ty's comment was "I never thought I'd see such a firework show synched up so perfectly to music!" By this time, we had been park hopping from 9 am to after 9 pm, and everyone (even those of us who normally just can't get enough) were worn out, so it was back to the hotel and some much needed sleep.

I'm still working on pictures right now, so I'll post the link at the end of each section of my report (just in case.) Here's what's up so far:
http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z...WDWFAMILY2008/

More soon...

[Blue Genie]

OK before I go on to page 2 on your Photobucket what in the world did you do to make Minnie do this?

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...toImage104.jpg

Also grrrr U got Belle in Blue.

[wizardmickey]

You'll probably find a couple of pictures with Minnie getting "friendly" with me... this trip and from past trips. What can I say? Seems Minnie has a thing for me!
And I think this is maybe the 2nd or 3rd trip I've gotten Belle in the blue dress...

[LuvsTigger80]

Your pictures are great. looks like a good start to a happy vacation...

[Blue Genie]

You better be careful there Ice Minnie may take you away from Lady Ice.

[gerald72]

Nice pics.
Blue Genie is just jealous. He is worried you might steal Snow White from him.

[TinkRocks]

Fantastic pics, Ice - rather jealous, actually...

You guys obviously love having fun - it definitely shows!

Can't wait to read more of your trip report...

[mickeytinkerbellprincess]

Rockin' report and pics, Ice.i You're so lucky! Keep it coming

[JPL]

Sounds like a Mgical start to your trip

Can't wait to read more

[chrisb26]

Great report Ice!

I love your picture with you in front of the Giant Guitar!

[See.low]

Awesome pics ice ice baby! Looks like a fun time had by all!

[Blue Genie]

Nice pics.
Blue Genie is just jealous. He is worried you might steal Snow White from him.

NAH? Not with Snow White she was just my friend that I knew for almost 3 years this coming Oct.

[wizardmickey]

I hear ya talking Genie, and all I can say is beware jealous Prince dudes - ya know what I mean?
THE NEXT CHAPTER BEGINS:
For the family's next day, we had a full schedule of events planned out (as in since they were only there for 3 days they gave us a list of things they for sure wanted to see and asked us to loosely plan around that). We got up early and headed over to the Animal Kingdom, and since the little one is sooooo fascinated by dinosaurs you can guess where we went to first! Now, I gotta say, as many times as we have ridden Dinosaur, my sweet sweet brave wife has never kept her eyes open when the big nasty red creature jumps out at us, and we have the pictures to prove this! Yet, her little niece loved the ride.
We rode the Triceratops Spin (whoopie!) and decided to make our way over towards Everest and check on the Nemo show along the way. As it turned out, the show was about to start and there was no line (only because so many people were inside already). We went right on in... and everyone really enjoyed the show! NOTE; Last trip, the Nemo show had just opened, and the lines were nonstop everytime we went to try to catch it, so this was quite fortunate this time!
It was after the show that Vivian realized she had lost her cell phone, so we doubled back to Dino-Land to retrace our steps, but had no luck. She reported it to the proper folks and was told to check with guest services later.
So it was time for Everest! Of the 7 of us, we knew fairly sure that at least 4 of us would ride or try to ride EVERYTHING!!!! Faith being so little was a consideration - Viv suffers major motion sickness - and Mom at least gives a few of them a try. For Everest, it was Christy, Ty, Dad and me... and we walked through with very little wait even though it said there was a 25 minute wait. While waiting to board, I remembered Figgie's trip report and telling us about the Yeti being in "B Show Mode", so I asked the CM and he said it was in B Mode. Even so, for those who'd never seen it before they were impressed... and por Ty was even a little queasy when we got off... he'd had a sinus infection when we left and going backwards kinds threw him off.
From there we meandered about and made it to the Kilimanjaro Safari, which was a biggie on the family's list. We had a very funny guide and some great views of the animals (sometimes they are out, and other times they are really out!) After exiting we walked the gorilla trail, and realized we were all getting hungry. Again, thanks to Figgie, I remembered seeing the Yak & Yeti as we walked about, so we made our way over there and put our name in (estimated wait time was 20-25 minutes.) Ty reeeeeeally wanted to ride the Kali River Rapids, and we figured it being so close by he could make there and back by the time we got called for our seating, and Faith and Dad chose to go too.
As we hung around, our name was called within about 10 minutes, so we left instructions for the people at the check-in to send the rest of our party to our table when they showed up. So we sat and waited... and waited... and waited... and finally decided to order the appetizer sampler... and we ate it.... and waited... and eventually they showed up. Apparently, the wait was 30 minutes (from the Stand-by entrance through the queue and to the ride) and then you factor in the ride time itself and, well, you get the idea! They were soaked, and because the Yak & Yeti is well air-conditioned, they were cold! Anyway, we ate, and other than Dad (who isn't a fan of Asian cuisine) and Faith (who slept through the whole thing) everybody loved it! Oh yeah... since Christy & I were on the FREE Dining Plan/Incentive, it was free for us!
The plan was to see the Lion King and Tough to be a Bug and then head over to the Magic Kingdom so they could see Wishes, but we got as far as Bug's and the majority of our little excursion was pooped and wanted a nap. We went back with them to the resort and we cleaned up and put on some fresh new clothes and ventured back to MK by ourselves. Ty said if they were up to it after they napped they might meet us there... uh huh.
It was quite crowded when we got to the MK, more than I had expected or seen on previous trips. Lines were averaging anywhere from 25 & 35 minutes all the way up to 50 minutes to an hour! So, we FastPassed a few things, got some PhotoPasses taken, ate and sweated like little piggies. Once again, we had an adventure at the Judges Tent; Mickey and Minnie greeted each of us with hugs, handshakes and kisses. When Mickey noticed my T-Shirt with him doing the whole Fantasmic dance on it, he began dancing while the CM's "hummed" the tune for him. Once he finished, he pointed to me, and I assumed that meant it was my turn, so I did my best Fantasmic dance. The whole time both the PhotoPass camera and our camera was snapping away, so the pictures are at the link (I'm in the tie-dye blue shirt during this part of the story.)
We made another trip over to Space Mountain, only to find it closed! They expected it to be open maybe in about 45-55 minutes... maybe. So instead we hit the TTA for a nice relaxing trip. As it approached Space Mountain, we noticed the lights were on where the astronauts are overhead. Something didn't feel right... and as we rounded the corner with the glass partition overlooking the loading zone, we could see all the lights in the building were on! So, Christy furiously snapped away on her camera as I videotaped a rather shocking site - the track system of Space Mountain as it was never meant to be seen by us mere mortals! Needless to say, seeing it made it just a bit scarier, but cool nonetheless (pictures are also in the linked pics.)
Since we knew we were going to make our last day (9/11) a full day of MK and we would see the fireworks then, we opted to just hit a few more rides and then head back to the resort around 7:30 for some rest (the heat was wiping us out too!)
http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z...WDWFAMILY2008/
Next up, DAY 3 for the Family!!!

[Blue Genie]

Keep it coming Ice mountain.

[Tink's Mom]

Thanks for sharing your pics with us. Everyone looks so happy!

[wizardmickey]

Y'all are welcome for the pic's... of which I only uploaded about 275-ish or so to my account at this time. Between what Christy snapped and the PhotoPass card we had about 900+, and her Mom just turned her film in this week and is giving us the disc from that when it's done (I have no idea how many pictures she took, but it looked like at least 4-5 rolls of film). Ty and Vivian used the cameras on their phones... So, if I upload more pictures I'll let y'all know!

Ok, for the family's last day, we got up and made our way over to EPCOT. Viv almost made it onto Soarin', but just as the belt's snapped locked, she changed her mind and we had to wait for CM's to unlock her and get her out before our flight. Of course, since we had the little one, we had to hit the Clam-Mobiles and go see Nemo. Now, last time we rode this, we got stuck in front of the Bruce sequence for about 40 minutes, so we were a bit freaky when it stopped in the jelly-fish field and then again in the room with Crush surfing the currents... but, it crept back into motion and as soon as it stopped the rest of the family wondered why the wife and I hopped out of our clam so quickly!
We hit Test Track back to back a few times (lines were real short for that one), did the sissy version of Mission Space (probably the least queasy I've ever been on it), introduced the rest of the family to "Beverly" cola (and filmed as many reactions as we could) and then made our way over to the World Showcase.
Of course, since Mexico is first, we rode the Festival ride and wandered about inside the pyramid for a while just looking at stuff. Mom W. picked up some maracca's and treated us to a dance and we donned sombrero's for some pic's. I bought me a few new maracca's (the one I use on stage was loosing it's "rattle") and a Passport for Faith which Christy took her to get stamped before we headed back out into the heat and sun. As we came out we ran right into Fiesta Donald (anything Donald is my wife's FAVORITE!!!)
We began making the rounds, stopping for Passport visits (and making the mask) as well as just general rubbernecking. Of course, there was the required visit to Norway and the Maelstrom (and running through the theater at the end!) It was decided that, since we loved the Biergardden soooo much (and since Christy spent so much of her childhood living in Germany) that we would eat there. By this time, we were about halfway through the day and still needed to hit the Disney Hollywood Studios, so Christy and Ty made a dash for the lockers to get his backpack while I played fast tour-guide for the family and guided them over to the International Gateway... slowly of course, since the kid wanted to stop at every little stand or shop between Germany and France as we tried to time our walk to meet the rest of our party on the bridge. After meeting up, we caught a boat over to the DHS.

We tried getting to Toy Story Midway Mania, but the wait was 90 minutes, so that was a no-can-do. We hit the Little Mermaid, caught Lights, Motors, Action! (which shut down for a 2 week refurb a few days later) and the Tower.
It was the usual suspect for the Tower; Christy, Ty, Dad W. and me. Viv, Faith and Mom W. went and held seats for us for Beauty and the Beast. The newbies seemed to enjoy the ride... right up until that sudden first drop! Christy told me later that her normally laid-back Dad tightly clutched her arm on one side and the side rail of the elevator car on the other and shouted "Oh! Oh booooooy!" Ty told us afterwards that of everything he'd experienced so far, that actually scared him the most! Of course, had time permitted, they both agreed they would have done it again!
We got over the the theater and watched B&B, and after much debate, Christy "allowed" us to go on the Great Movie Ride (she hates it... her Mom loves it.... guess who won there?) I know we must've done something more, but for the life of me I can't remember off the top of my head. We did go grab some burgers and then made our way over to get seats for Fantasmic. I led the way... That's kinda like following a Bull running through a Balsa Wood forest... I only have one speed which isn't very fast, and due to some fused joints I have only one direction; Straight ahead and crush anything that accidentally crosses my path! Those who couldn't keep up just kept watching over the tops of the peoples heads for my hairy head, and I managed us some seats close to the front. The show as always was magnificent!!! The newbies were awestriken... and that seemed to be the perfect way for them to cap off their trip.
We got in line for our bus (good grief, it seemed like everyone in the park was staying at the All-Star resorts!!!! Never again I say... NEVER!) About an hour later we made it to the resort and refilled our mugs before heading off to sleepy land.
The next morning we met everyone for a final breakfast and hugs goodbye... and then, it was time for Ice and Lady Ice to Rock the World!!!!

Our adventures continue...

[JPL]

Great Report

Glad I could be a an influence on your trip

See Dino my trip reports may take forever to be completed but they have impact on others

[TinkRocks]

See Dino - my trip reports may take forever to be completed but they have impact on others

Ooooooohhh... do I detect some rivalry here???

Great reports, Ice... looking forward to reading more!

[Marla]

Thanks for sharing.

[mickeytinkerbellprincess]

Awesome report, looks like you had a ton of fun