milhouse
04-17-2008, 04:31 PM
Last Minute - Disney Day Trip to MK
Monday April 6, 2008
Cast:
Me, DW, DS8, DD6, & DS2 1/2
Home : Rochester NY
The family flew to Fort Lauderdale for a wedding. We decided a while back not to make the 6-hour round trip to Disney for just a one day visit. We like to do the total immersion week long Disney vacation. But once down there, the wife and I decided that we couldn't come all the way to Florida and skip Disney. I was also not looking forward to chasing the 2yr old around the pool all day. So off we go leaving the non-Disney loving members of the extended family behind to tour the Everglades, no thanks, say hi to the gators for me.
We leave at 8am, 3 hours and $17 in tolls up the Florida Turnpike and we get to WDW. We park in Sleepy and there's a short walk to the TTC. We get to Main Street USA around noon. The wather is cloudy but warm, around 80. The place is wall to wall people. MK is open late with magic hours tonight and there are two Spectros so the crowds will be big. I'm not used to April crowds especially mid-day April, we've been to WDW in May and Feb the last few years. DW tries to get a reservation at Tony's but is told no reservations but is told to come back at 4:30 and we may get seated.
I run ahead and get FPs to BTM and meet the family at POC. After Pirates, MK is buzzed by the Thunderbirds who are flying very low which was very cool. The kids get to ride BTM twice as we pull a baby swap and then head over to Philharmagic. The kids love this show especially the 2 yr old, he sits through the whole thing with his glasses on. This is a 180 from last year. A year ago he wouldn't sit through anything, I walked him out of a bunch of shows. It's nice to see him mature to the point where he can enjoy these shows.
It's 2pm now and the fast pass times are very long and everything is packed. I'm glad the extended family didn't come because they would have been ready to go already. I grab a FP for SM at 8:45pm. The strategy now is to wait standby in lines where the family can wait together. So we do Pooh and Snow White. It's just past 4pm and DW goes to Tony's and I grab a FP to Peter Pan for 9:15. DW gets a table at Tony's outside, The Plaza was also taking walk-ups at 4:30.
The meal at Tony's was so so. The servers were great, they must have brought me 10 cokes, I always get caught up in everything and let myself get dehydrated. I had a very good steak at Tony's last year. This year the wife and I had the chicken parm. It wasn't too tasty. I bit bland for us. We decided that we should have tried The Plaza instead but the kids wanted Tony's.
Now it's off to Buzz and then some stuffed animal shopping at ToonTown. Barnstormer, then a walk to the Country Bear Jamboree which the 2 yr old loves. At 8, DW and the kids go off to ride the Carousel and IASW while I stake out a spot for Spectro in front of the Liberty Tree Tavern. Spectro is awsome, my favorite, then we skip the fireworks to use our FPs first on Peter Pan then two rides on SM (using a baby swap). We were pretty astonished that the stanby line at 10:30 for SM is still 90 minutes. For us 11pm means time to leave, get the kids in their jammys, and drive back to Fort Lauderdale. After a full day that was a tough drive, DW stayed awake for most of it and yapped in my ear to keep me awake. She has her talents.
All in all, we had a great time and were glad we made the effort to go. The crowds kept us from moving as fast as we are used to, but for big Disney fans like ourselves - it was a good day trip.
Monday April 6, 2008
Cast:
Me, DW, DS8, DD6, & DS2 1/2
Home : Rochester NY
The family flew to Fort Lauderdale for a wedding. We decided a while back not to make the 6-hour round trip to Disney for just a one day visit. We like to do the total immersion week long Disney vacation. But once down there, the wife and I decided that we couldn't come all the way to Florida and skip Disney. I was also not looking forward to chasing the 2yr old around the pool all day. So off we go leaving the non-Disney loving members of the extended family behind to tour the Everglades, no thanks, say hi to the gators for me.
We leave at 8am, 3 hours and $17 in tolls up the Florida Turnpike and we get to WDW. We park in Sleepy and there's a short walk to the TTC. We get to Main Street USA around noon. The wather is cloudy but warm, around 80. The place is wall to wall people. MK is open late with magic hours tonight and there are two Spectros so the crowds will be big. I'm not used to April crowds especially mid-day April, we've been to WDW in May and Feb the last few years. DW tries to get a reservation at Tony's but is told no reservations but is told to come back at 4:30 and we may get seated.
I run ahead and get FPs to BTM and meet the family at POC. After Pirates, MK is buzzed by the Thunderbirds who are flying very low which was very cool. The kids get to ride BTM twice as we pull a baby swap and then head over to Philharmagic. The kids love this show especially the 2 yr old, he sits through the whole thing with his glasses on. This is a 180 from last year. A year ago he wouldn't sit through anything, I walked him out of a bunch of shows. It's nice to see him mature to the point where he can enjoy these shows.
It's 2pm now and the fast pass times are very long and everything is packed. I'm glad the extended family didn't come because they would have been ready to go already. I grab a FP for SM at 8:45pm. The strategy now is to wait standby in lines where the family can wait together. So we do Pooh and Snow White. It's just past 4pm and DW goes to Tony's and I grab a FP to Peter Pan for 9:15. DW gets a table at Tony's outside, The Plaza was also taking walk-ups at 4:30.
The meal at Tony's was so so. The servers were great, they must have brought me 10 cokes, I always get caught up in everything and let myself get dehydrated. I had a very good steak at Tony's last year. This year the wife and I had the chicken parm. It wasn't too tasty. I bit bland for us. We decided that we should have tried The Plaza instead but the kids wanted Tony's.
Now it's off to Buzz and then some stuffed animal shopping at ToonTown. Barnstormer, then a walk to the Country Bear Jamboree which the 2 yr old loves. At 8, DW and the kids go off to ride the Carousel and IASW while I stake out a spot for Spectro in front of the Liberty Tree Tavern. Spectro is awsome, my favorite, then we skip the fireworks to use our FPs first on Peter Pan then two rides on SM (using a baby swap). We were pretty astonished that the stanby line at 10:30 for SM is still 90 minutes. For us 11pm means time to leave, get the kids in their jammys, and drive back to Fort Lauderdale. After a full day that was a tough drive, DW stayed awake for most of it and yapped in my ear to keep me awake. She has her talents.
All in all, we had a great time and were glad we made the effort to go. The crowds kept us from moving as fast as we are used to, but for big Disney fans like ourselves - it was a good day trip.