MR.MIKE
08-30-2007, 10:39 AM
Sunday, August 19th
Today everyone got their wake-up call at 5:45 am. We had to get out to the bus stop by 7am to catch a bus to Animal KIngdom for Donald's Brekfast.
I've always liked this breakfast and it really gets you deep into the park for opening time.
Knowing it is closing soon I made sure to get an 8am seating.
It seemed 7am was a bit too early for everyone as we didn't get to the bus stop until 7:20.
Did I mention that its nice having the TV at the bus stop? Even though they are showing that top 7 must sees with Stacey it helps pass the time. And it didn't occur to me just now that they have so many benches at that stop. I think the Poly has one and the contemp has a few too.
Two MGM buses passed us by before the Animal KIngdom/Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled up.
Quick, shove all the kids in pull the baby from the stroller, fold the stroller and get in. I almost look forward to the day when we don't use strollers anymore. Almost.
By the time we rented the AK stroller and my friend got his electric vehicle we made it to Donald's at 8:20. My 10 month son who 2 weeks ago cried at almost every character was still cautious about them but didn't make any sounds. We saw a waiter that we had about 2 to 3 years ago and that is always nice to see the same people. It says something about the persona nd the job and brings a connection to your trips.
After a good breakfast, we stood at the rope drop that leads to chester and hesters. I told everyone I'd get FPs for Mt Everest and they could play in chester & Hesters. My son asked to come and off we went following the rope. Once we passed the Nemo stage show they stopped walking with the rope and held it up again. I guess they were walking to fast.
After a minute or so we continued. Mt Everest loomed large in the distance and I got that nervous roller coaster feeling. I actually do not like roller coasters that have you riding on a track. They just feel too rickety for me. I like the ones that suspend you from above, like the Hulk at US.
Anyway as we start walking i look to my left across the water and see something. What is that? Something is moving...alot of somethings are moving. What is it...a swarm of locusts? This is actually what went through my head. Remember the scenes in Wizard of Oz where the sky is full of swarming monkeys? That is what this looked like but just on the ground. But it wasn't monkeys it was people coming from the other direction when the park opened. It was the strangest feeling and now we started walking faster to beat that crowd. We were probably less than 30 people. That crowd was hundreds.
Well we did beat them by seconds and the CM who was leading us said "whoever wants to ride first follow me" I so wanted to drag my son screaming on to the ride but I couldnt do that. We grabbbed our FPs which were for 9:55 and went back to chester and hesters.
My kids love the carnival games and they won a few prices at each game. The little ones loved the dinosaur/alladin type ride and I finally got my wife to go on Primevil Whirl. She can be such a chicken :secret:.
We get back to Mt Everest at 9:45 and as everyone sits and waits I walk to kali river rapids for FPs. The wait is only 5 minutes so i don't get them. Back at Mt everest no one will go on but me and my friend. His daughters won't go nor will his wife or mine. Forget about my kids, of course.
FP has us on in minutes. We just kept walking right until we got on. What a great ride! The anticipation and not knowing is much more scary than the ride itself but it was a lot of fun.
When we got off my wife was asking strangers what happened in the ride and decided to try it. We walked right back on and my wife and I got the front seat. My friend was right behind us and a single rider was seating next to him. My friend shouted "no hanky panky up there" and I looked back and said "that goes the same for the 2 of you" I don't think the stranger appreciated my joke but we couldnt stop laughing.
Without giving things away the front is a great place to be if you want to see how the ride works. Its pretty amazing.
Once we got off we still had 4 fastpasses and convinced my friends daughter to ride. So the four of jumped back on. We bought the picture of this one with the girls screamin so much.
Wow 3 times on Mt everest in less than a half hour. :thumbsup:
At Kali Rapids We see the wait is now 30 minutes (uh oh) and when i go to get FPs they tell us the ride is closed. Well it was getting a bit crowded and my kids did the rides they wanted and my friends girls said they don't care much for AK so we left. Bus came quick and we were back at the resort before noon.
Everyone was headed to the pool. My wife laid down with the baby and i laid down on the bed just for a second and we all passed out.
We were woken up by knocking that we didnt answer and a cm walking into the room delivering the package we bought at Epcot yesterday. She apologized but it was good we woke.
On our way down to the pool we saw a bride taking photos in the lubby. When we got to the pool we saw everyone sitting at the lounge chairs and my son looking upset. All at once him, my daughter and our friend told us how the lifeguard had to rescue him. Both my older children are in swimming classes and it is great to see the progess they make. My son still likes to use swimmies even though he can swim. He likes to see someone at the bottom ofthe slide when he comes down and it seems his sister was a bit too far and he started to panick when he hit the water. The lifeguard jumped in and reached him at the same time my friend's daughter did. He really was fine just got scared.
Some of the group went up and I had another yummy drink from the bool par. This time an orange creamsicle. Got a non-alcholic one for my daughter and we walked the beach and watched that bride from the lobby arrive.
Back at the room and everyone else was tired so me, my daughter Jess, and my freinds daughter, Jen went to the MK. We arrived at 3:15 and although we heard parade music it hadn't arrived at the train station yet. Main st wasn't crowded at all. The crowd watching wasn't even one person deep in places. We walked up the stairs to the station and watched from above. What a great spot! You could see so much and we had a great time. We did a few rides and then had our pictures with photopass near the castle where Tinkerbell flies over.
Back to the room again by 5:15. The parents showered, ordered room service for the kids, borrowed movies from the concierge desk for them to watch and got on the monorail by 6pm. We were eating at the Coral Reef at 7pm.
I had such a vision in my mind of a quiet dinner, just the adults, so relaxing. Well 1 out of 3 aint bad. That place was so noisy, and of course there was going to be kids there from other families.
It was nice to see the tanks full of fish and we saw a few divers in there too. I picked this place because my wife and our friends like seafood. So what happens? We all order the exact same meal. Salad and steak. It was actually very good and we did relax and talk and had a nice time.
We got out at 8:30 and I was tempted to watch Illumination ( i love that show) but knowing we had the grand gathering dinner with illumination reserved seating later in the week I decided to not ask if they wanted to wait.
We got home at 9:15, with the band playing, poured myself some amaretto and found the kids watching High School Musical 2. I wrote this recap sitting on the balcony as the MK fireworks began.
What a great day!!
Coming up: 2 meals at the MK, Time for the kids to get cranky, Lady give me my salad and Where is that Electric Water Parade anyway?
Today everyone got their wake-up call at 5:45 am. We had to get out to the bus stop by 7am to catch a bus to Animal KIngdom for Donald's Brekfast.
I've always liked this breakfast and it really gets you deep into the park for opening time.
Knowing it is closing soon I made sure to get an 8am seating.
It seemed 7am was a bit too early for everyone as we didn't get to the bus stop until 7:20.
Did I mention that its nice having the TV at the bus stop? Even though they are showing that top 7 must sees with Stacey it helps pass the time. And it didn't occur to me just now that they have so many benches at that stop. I think the Poly has one and the contemp has a few too.
Two MGM buses passed us by before the Animal KIngdom/Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled up.
Quick, shove all the kids in pull the baby from the stroller, fold the stroller and get in. I almost look forward to the day when we don't use strollers anymore. Almost.
By the time we rented the AK stroller and my friend got his electric vehicle we made it to Donald's at 8:20. My 10 month son who 2 weeks ago cried at almost every character was still cautious about them but didn't make any sounds. We saw a waiter that we had about 2 to 3 years ago and that is always nice to see the same people. It says something about the persona nd the job and brings a connection to your trips.
After a good breakfast, we stood at the rope drop that leads to chester and hesters. I told everyone I'd get FPs for Mt Everest and they could play in chester & Hesters. My son asked to come and off we went following the rope. Once we passed the Nemo stage show they stopped walking with the rope and held it up again. I guess they were walking to fast.
After a minute or so we continued. Mt Everest loomed large in the distance and I got that nervous roller coaster feeling. I actually do not like roller coasters that have you riding on a track. They just feel too rickety for me. I like the ones that suspend you from above, like the Hulk at US.
Anyway as we start walking i look to my left across the water and see something. What is that? Something is moving...alot of somethings are moving. What is it...a swarm of locusts? This is actually what went through my head. Remember the scenes in Wizard of Oz where the sky is full of swarming monkeys? That is what this looked like but just on the ground. But it wasn't monkeys it was people coming from the other direction when the park opened. It was the strangest feeling and now we started walking faster to beat that crowd. We were probably less than 30 people. That crowd was hundreds.
Well we did beat them by seconds and the CM who was leading us said "whoever wants to ride first follow me" I so wanted to drag my son screaming on to the ride but I couldnt do that. We grabbbed our FPs which were for 9:55 and went back to chester and hesters.
My kids love the carnival games and they won a few prices at each game. The little ones loved the dinosaur/alladin type ride and I finally got my wife to go on Primevil Whirl. She can be such a chicken :secret:.
We get back to Mt Everest at 9:45 and as everyone sits and waits I walk to kali river rapids for FPs. The wait is only 5 minutes so i don't get them. Back at Mt everest no one will go on but me and my friend. His daughters won't go nor will his wife or mine. Forget about my kids, of course.
FP has us on in minutes. We just kept walking right until we got on. What a great ride! The anticipation and not knowing is much more scary than the ride itself but it was a lot of fun.
When we got off my wife was asking strangers what happened in the ride and decided to try it. We walked right back on and my wife and I got the front seat. My friend was right behind us and a single rider was seating next to him. My friend shouted "no hanky panky up there" and I looked back and said "that goes the same for the 2 of you" I don't think the stranger appreciated my joke but we couldnt stop laughing.
Without giving things away the front is a great place to be if you want to see how the ride works. Its pretty amazing.
Once we got off we still had 4 fastpasses and convinced my friends daughter to ride. So the four of jumped back on. We bought the picture of this one with the girls screamin so much.
Wow 3 times on Mt everest in less than a half hour. :thumbsup:
At Kali Rapids We see the wait is now 30 minutes (uh oh) and when i go to get FPs they tell us the ride is closed. Well it was getting a bit crowded and my kids did the rides they wanted and my friends girls said they don't care much for AK so we left. Bus came quick and we were back at the resort before noon.
Everyone was headed to the pool. My wife laid down with the baby and i laid down on the bed just for a second and we all passed out.
We were woken up by knocking that we didnt answer and a cm walking into the room delivering the package we bought at Epcot yesterday. She apologized but it was good we woke.
On our way down to the pool we saw a bride taking photos in the lubby. When we got to the pool we saw everyone sitting at the lounge chairs and my son looking upset. All at once him, my daughter and our friend told us how the lifeguard had to rescue him. Both my older children are in swimming classes and it is great to see the progess they make. My son still likes to use swimmies even though he can swim. He likes to see someone at the bottom ofthe slide when he comes down and it seems his sister was a bit too far and he started to panick when he hit the water. The lifeguard jumped in and reached him at the same time my friend's daughter did. He really was fine just got scared.
Some of the group went up and I had another yummy drink from the bool par. This time an orange creamsicle. Got a non-alcholic one for my daughter and we walked the beach and watched that bride from the lobby arrive.
Back at the room and everyone else was tired so me, my daughter Jess, and my freinds daughter, Jen went to the MK. We arrived at 3:15 and although we heard parade music it hadn't arrived at the train station yet. Main st wasn't crowded at all. The crowd watching wasn't even one person deep in places. We walked up the stairs to the station and watched from above. What a great spot! You could see so much and we had a great time. We did a few rides and then had our pictures with photopass near the castle where Tinkerbell flies over.
Back to the room again by 5:15. The parents showered, ordered room service for the kids, borrowed movies from the concierge desk for them to watch and got on the monorail by 6pm. We were eating at the Coral Reef at 7pm.
I had such a vision in my mind of a quiet dinner, just the adults, so relaxing. Well 1 out of 3 aint bad. That place was so noisy, and of course there was going to be kids there from other families.
It was nice to see the tanks full of fish and we saw a few divers in there too. I picked this place because my wife and our friends like seafood. So what happens? We all order the exact same meal. Salad and steak. It was actually very good and we did relax and talk and had a nice time.
We got out at 8:30 and I was tempted to watch Illumination ( i love that show) but knowing we had the grand gathering dinner with illumination reserved seating later in the week I decided to not ask if they wanted to wait.
We got home at 9:15, with the band playing, poured myself some amaretto and found the kids watching High School Musical 2. I wrote this recap sitting on the balcony as the MK fireworks began.
What a great day!!
Coming up: 2 meals at the MK, Time for the kids to get cranky, Lady give me my salad and Where is that Electric Water Parade anyway?