emerzmom
11-27-2007, 05:40 PM
Cast:
:mickey:Mom (me): old enough
:mickey:DD: 17 yrs old 11th trip and wants to be a “street performer” at DS (MGM) one day
:mickey:DDF: (daughter’s friend) 17 yrs old and 1st trip since she was 6 yrs old
Trip dates: 11/16-11/24 (11/16 MVMCP)
I knew this was going to be a very different kind of a trip with two 17 yr old girls who stay up all night and don’t like to get up until the “crack of noon” and usually take 2-3 hours (showers, hair, make-up, etc) to get out of the house so the first decision I made was that we were not staying in a single hotel room with only 1 bathroom. I ended up finding a great deal on a 5 bedroom vacation home. At first my daughter was not excited about staying “off property” but it ended up being the best option for us. The house was in Davenport which is about 1 mile south on 27 which is at the end of 192. At first I was afraid it was WAY too far from WDW but in the end it only took about 10-15 minutes to get from the house to any park’s parking lot and it was kind of nice to have our own car. We played Disney CD’s in the car and played Disney trivia which was fun. It was a lot easier to park hop and resort hop with our own car. I used my Diamond Parking Pass (from AAA) which gave us close up parking at all the parks (highly recommended!!!...and you can purchase them on ebay if you are not a AAA member). We all had our own bathroom (very nice!) and in the evenings we could spread out and have some privacy as well. We had a pool and spa which was wonderful to come home to in the evenings. The house was really way too big for the 3 of us but it was so nice to have our own space. I would highly recommend this option to larger groups or big families. In all honesty there was a little “magic” lost by not staying on property but the pay off was worth it including a LOT more space and it was so peaceful and quiet which was a nice break from the busy parks.
The next clue that this was going to be a “different” kind of a trip with two 17 year olds was when we first got to MK for MVMCP on 11/16. The girls spotted Peter Pan and Wendy near PoC and wanted their picture with them. I thought “this is great…they are really going to get into this and act like kids”. Wrong! We walked away and all they could talk about was how “hot” Peter Pan was. Yes, this was definitely a different kind of a trip than when my DD was a little girl and was actually excited to see Peter Pan. Ahhh, they do grow up and sooooo fast!
Highlights: :magic:
MVMCP was great as usual and we walked onto almost every ride. We were the only ones on PoC which was pretty cool. It was pretty chilly that evening so the spray jets were turned off on Splash Mountain so we rode that a couple of times with minimal water damage. We grabbed hot dogs for dinner from the shop on Main Street (forgot the name but you diehards know what I am talking about) and caught a little bit of Wishes before the park “officially” closed at 7pm for MVMCP. The castle was UNBELIEVEABLE!!! The lighting is the best I have ever seen. The castle looked like it was draped in ice. It was soooooo beautiful. I think I took over 100 pictures of the castle (not kidding).
AK’s Expedition Everest is a great addition to the park. That park needed a good ride and EE fits the bill. We loved it and rode it several times. The Yeti is pretty scary with the red eyes and swooping out at you as you fly by but it is so fast that if you blink you miss him. I didn’t actually see him until the 3rd time we rode the ride.
EPCOT was packed both times we went. Fast Passes for Soarin’ were hard to come by and the stand by line was 70-120 minutes. Mission Space was good (we rode the orange). It was nice to see that they now offer a less intense version for those who can’t take the spinning effects. Why is the Malestrom ride in Norway so popular??? The single rider line at Test Track was a 70 minute wait…that is a long time to go real fast around the track once. I wish you went around a couple of times (I like speed).
Disney Studios/MGM was really crowded but we managed to ride ToT and RRC many times during our trip. ToT is my DD’s favorite. RRC is mine. My DD and DDF were in the Back Lot Tour show (with the explosions and spraying water). They had a blast but said those suits are NOT water proof. DDF was picked to be in a street show where they did their own rendition of 12 days of Christmas. It was cute and she was so happy to be chosen. My DD and I love the “street performers” and my DD would love to do this one day…you never know. We sat on the front row in the middle of the theater for Fantasmic. We thought we had really scored big on that one until we were sprayed in water the entire time the water screens were going. Osborne Lights were BEAUTIFUL. I like them better now than when they were on the Back Lot set. We were there Friday night after Christmas and it was PACKED but it still felt like Christmas. We loved it!
My birthday just happened to be during this trip (good planning on my part). So I chose O’hana’s for my birthday dinner. The food was okay. It has been better but it was good. My daughter surprised me by having flowers delivered to the table upon our arrival and a big birthday cake (way too big for the 3 of us) after our meal. I asked her how she did this and she said “Disney Magic, mom”. I think it was that and her dad’s credit card but however it happened it was really a nice surprise.
We had several great and fun meals including Afternoon Tea at the GF which is one of my DD and my favorite thing to do. It was also nice to see the big Gingerbread house and ohhhhh the smell!!! We had Thanksgiving dinner at Jiko at AKL. The food was good and it was a very nice experience. I love AKL. We also ate at 50’s Prime Time, Sci Fi, Tony’s, California Grill, House of Blues, and Earl of Sandwich….and more. Nothing extra special good or bad about the food at any of these restaurants but they no longer serve the string onion rings at 50’s Prime Time or Sci Fi. They only have the big thick ones….we liked the thin o-rings better.
Photo Pass: I pre-ordered the CD and I am so glad I did. We stopped every time we saw a Photo Pass opportunity. After editing pictures (adding borders, signatures, and cropping) I have 267 pictures on my CD. Pretty cool. Many of the pictures turned out very nice and I think it was worth the $99 to have several pictures with all of us taken at strategic sites around the parks. I can’t wait for my CD to arrive.
We also went to Cocoa Beach one day…very nice and relaxing. I thought I would miss the parks that day but it was nice to get away knowing that we would be back at the parks the next day.
Final thoughts:
Overall it was a wonderful and magical vacation. The best part was spending so much time with my teenage daughter who will be off to college next fall. She was so much fun to be with and both the girls kept me laughing the entire trip.
The cast members just don’t get into “it” as much as they used to. Rides like ToT and Haunted Mansion are so much more fun when the cast interacts with the guests and really has fun with their role. This just seemed to be missing from almost everything this visit. Sci Fi and 50’s Prime Time used to be so much fun because the cast members made it fun. There was very little if any “fun” going on at any of these places. There were even some rides that cast members were rude, grumpy, pushy, bossy, and just not pleasant which is not my usual experience at WDW. We rode in the front car on the monorail one night and the monorail driver was rude, abrupt, and acted like we were bothering him by even being there.
The parks were also a lot dirtier than I have ever seen them. I know that it was very crowded and that means a lot more trash but it was the worst I have ever seen it. I saw a water bottle, coke bottle, and some white paper floating in the water in “Living with the Land”. There was trash in the “queue” of several rides like ToT, RRC, Soarin’, etc. There were also a lot of dirty bathrooms including a dirty diaper on the sink area (that is gross). I am not trying to be a whiner or complainer…I LOVE WDW but part of what I love so much is that it has always been so sparkling clean unlike other theme parks (like many Six Flags theme parks that can be pretty trashy sometimes).
Maybe it is that my daughter is older but it seems like a little magic is gone. Maybe it was because we stayed off property. Maybe I have just been too many times in the last few years (is it even possible to go too many times to WDW???...NOT!). Again, I love WDW and would be there today if I could. It just seemed a little different this time.
I have some BEAUTIFUL pictures of the castle and Wishes that I will post as soon as I can figure out how to do it.
:mickey:Mom (me): old enough
:mickey:DD: 17 yrs old 11th trip and wants to be a “street performer” at DS (MGM) one day
:mickey:DDF: (daughter’s friend) 17 yrs old and 1st trip since she was 6 yrs old
Trip dates: 11/16-11/24 (11/16 MVMCP)
I knew this was going to be a very different kind of a trip with two 17 yr old girls who stay up all night and don’t like to get up until the “crack of noon” and usually take 2-3 hours (showers, hair, make-up, etc) to get out of the house so the first decision I made was that we were not staying in a single hotel room with only 1 bathroom. I ended up finding a great deal on a 5 bedroom vacation home. At first my daughter was not excited about staying “off property” but it ended up being the best option for us. The house was in Davenport which is about 1 mile south on 27 which is at the end of 192. At first I was afraid it was WAY too far from WDW but in the end it only took about 10-15 minutes to get from the house to any park’s parking lot and it was kind of nice to have our own car. We played Disney CD’s in the car and played Disney trivia which was fun. It was a lot easier to park hop and resort hop with our own car. I used my Diamond Parking Pass (from AAA) which gave us close up parking at all the parks (highly recommended!!!...and you can purchase them on ebay if you are not a AAA member). We all had our own bathroom (very nice!) and in the evenings we could spread out and have some privacy as well. We had a pool and spa which was wonderful to come home to in the evenings. The house was really way too big for the 3 of us but it was so nice to have our own space. I would highly recommend this option to larger groups or big families. In all honesty there was a little “magic” lost by not staying on property but the pay off was worth it including a LOT more space and it was so peaceful and quiet which was a nice break from the busy parks.
The next clue that this was going to be a “different” kind of a trip with two 17 year olds was when we first got to MK for MVMCP on 11/16. The girls spotted Peter Pan and Wendy near PoC and wanted their picture with them. I thought “this is great…they are really going to get into this and act like kids”. Wrong! We walked away and all they could talk about was how “hot” Peter Pan was. Yes, this was definitely a different kind of a trip than when my DD was a little girl and was actually excited to see Peter Pan. Ahhh, they do grow up and sooooo fast!
Highlights: :magic:
MVMCP was great as usual and we walked onto almost every ride. We were the only ones on PoC which was pretty cool. It was pretty chilly that evening so the spray jets were turned off on Splash Mountain so we rode that a couple of times with minimal water damage. We grabbed hot dogs for dinner from the shop on Main Street (forgot the name but you diehards know what I am talking about) and caught a little bit of Wishes before the park “officially” closed at 7pm for MVMCP. The castle was UNBELIEVEABLE!!! The lighting is the best I have ever seen. The castle looked like it was draped in ice. It was soooooo beautiful. I think I took over 100 pictures of the castle (not kidding).
AK’s Expedition Everest is a great addition to the park. That park needed a good ride and EE fits the bill. We loved it and rode it several times. The Yeti is pretty scary with the red eyes and swooping out at you as you fly by but it is so fast that if you blink you miss him. I didn’t actually see him until the 3rd time we rode the ride.
EPCOT was packed both times we went. Fast Passes for Soarin’ were hard to come by and the stand by line was 70-120 minutes. Mission Space was good (we rode the orange). It was nice to see that they now offer a less intense version for those who can’t take the spinning effects. Why is the Malestrom ride in Norway so popular??? The single rider line at Test Track was a 70 minute wait…that is a long time to go real fast around the track once. I wish you went around a couple of times (I like speed).
Disney Studios/MGM was really crowded but we managed to ride ToT and RRC many times during our trip. ToT is my DD’s favorite. RRC is mine. My DD and DDF were in the Back Lot Tour show (with the explosions and spraying water). They had a blast but said those suits are NOT water proof. DDF was picked to be in a street show where they did their own rendition of 12 days of Christmas. It was cute and she was so happy to be chosen. My DD and I love the “street performers” and my DD would love to do this one day…you never know. We sat on the front row in the middle of the theater for Fantasmic. We thought we had really scored big on that one until we were sprayed in water the entire time the water screens were going. Osborne Lights were BEAUTIFUL. I like them better now than when they were on the Back Lot set. We were there Friday night after Christmas and it was PACKED but it still felt like Christmas. We loved it!
My birthday just happened to be during this trip (good planning on my part). So I chose O’hana’s for my birthday dinner. The food was okay. It has been better but it was good. My daughter surprised me by having flowers delivered to the table upon our arrival and a big birthday cake (way too big for the 3 of us) after our meal. I asked her how she did this and she said “Disney Magic, mom”. I think it was that and her dad’s credit card but however it happened it was really a nice surprise.
We had several great and fun meals including Afternoon Tea at the GF which is one of my DD and my favorite thing to do. It was also nice to see the big Gingerbread house and ohhhhh the smell!!! We had Thanksgiving dinner at Jiko at AKL. The food was good and it was a very nice experience. I love AKL. We also ate at 50’s Prime Time, Sci Fi, Tony’s, California Grill, House of Blues, and Earl of Sandwich….and more. Nothing extra special good or bad about the food at any of these restaurants but they no longer serve the string onion rings at 50’s Prime Time or Sci Fi. They only have the big thick ones….we liked the thin o-rings better.
Photo Pass: I pre-ordered the CD and I am so glad I did. We stopped every time we saw a Photo Pass opportunity. After editing pictures (adding borders, signatures, and cropping) I have 267 pictures on my CD. Pretty cool. Many of the pictures turned out very nice and I think it was worth the $99 to have several pictures with all of us taken at strategic sites around the parks. I can’t wait for my CD to arrive.
We also went to Cocoa Beach one day…very nice and relaxing. I thought I would miss the parks that day but it was nice to get away knowing that we would be back at the parks the next day.
Final thoughts:
Overall it was a wonderful and magical vacation. The best part was spending so much time with my teenage daughter who will be off to college next fall. She was so much fun to be with and both the girls kept me laughing the entire trip.
The cast members just don’t get into “it” as much as they used to. Rides like ToT and Haunted Mansion are so much more fun when the cast interacts with the guests and really has fun with their role. This just seemed to be missing from almost everything this visit. Sci Fi and 50’s Prime Time used to be so much fun because the cast members made it fun. There was very little if any “fun” going on at any of these places. There were even some rides that cast members were rude, grumpy, pushy, bossy, and just not pleasant which is not my usual experience at WDW. We rode in the front car on the monorail one night and the monorail driver was rude, abrupt, and acted like we were bothering him by even being there.
The parks were also a lot dirtier than I have ever seen them. I know that it was very crowded and that means a lot more trash but it was the worst I have ever seen it. I saw a water bottle, coke bottle, and some white paper floating in the water in “Living with the Land”. There was trash in the “queue” of several rides like ToT, RRC, Soarin’, etc. There were also a lot of dirty bathrooms including a dirty diaper on the sink area (that is gross). I am not trying to be a whiner or complainer…I LOVE WDW but part of what I love so much is that it has always been so sparkling clean unlike other theme parks (like many Six Flags theme parks that can be pretty trashy sometimes).
Maybe it is that my daughter is older but it seems like a little magic is gone. Maybe it was because we stayed off property. Maybe I have just been too many times in the last few years (is it even possible to go too many times to WDW???...NOT!). Again, I love WDW and would be there today if I could. It just seemed a little different this time.
I have some BEAUTIFUL pictures of the castle and Wishes that I will post as soon as I can figure out how to do it.