Ian
09-28-2008, 12:13 PM
Who: Yours truly, Ian, DW, DD6, and DS1.
When: September 18th to the 25th, 2008
Where: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Disney's Vero Beach Resort
Let me tell you ... when you follow a night at MNSSHP with EMH at DHS, that alarm clock goes off E-A-R-L-Y! :coffee:
But we all really wanted to make sure we got a few spins in on TSM and, having heard the the lines were really long, we knew we'd have to get there early.
So we got up at the crack of dawn and schelpped ourselves (by car) over to the Studios. It didn't seem all that crowded, especially for a Saturday, but by the time we got in and were lined up on Hollywood Blvd it looked like a lot more people.
Holy cow ... let me tell you ... TSM is definitely the new Soarin'. As soon as that rope dropped there was a literal STAMPEDE of people hurtling themselves through the park to get in line. But lucky for us, being in possession of the DVC "Magic Fastpasses" we didn't feel the need to run.
When we arrived, the line for the Fastpasses was probably 10 minutes! I said to DW, "It's stupid to wait 10 minutes in line for Fastpasses instead of just waiting for the ride. By the time we get back all these people will be in line behind us and we can grab Fastpasses then."
That turned out to be a good plan. We waited like 20 minutes to ride the first time, which really wasn't all that bad. Although, when you consider it was 8AM during one of the slowest times of the year, maybe it was kinda bad after all.
I really, really love this attraction. It's such a blast (no pun intended). The one thing, though ... it's such a whirlwind. I think they've sped up the individual sequences since I first rode, because they definitely seemed a lot shorter to me. I may be wrong, but ... we really felt like we flew from game to game. And that makes it hard, because you can't spend time looking around for big point targets or anything. You just have to fire like mad and hope for the best.
I think I scored like 180,000 or so on my first try, which was pretty pathetic considering the high score for the month was something near twice that much. For a guy who hasn't missed scoring 999,999 on Buzz in like 5 years, this is a definite blow to my gaming ego. ;)
Anyway, when we got out my prediction was correct. There was no line for Fastpasses. So we got a "regular" Fastpass (which, shockingly, already had a return time of noon!) and also a "magic" Fastpass that let us re-ride immediately. So we went on again and this time I did a little worse than the first time. I scored like 160,000 or something. Next trip I might seriously consider devoting an entire day to doing nothing but riding this thing over and over again.
We wanted to take the kids to see Playhouse Disney, but it was still too early for the show. We were all starving, so we hit the ABC Commissary for one of the absolute worst breakfasts I've ever had in WDW. I gotta tell ya ... Disney gets it right most of the time when it comes to food, but I've found their counter service breakfasts to be near inedible. I had these pancakes that were served with the texture of a frisbee. They were just horrid. And the bacon ... yikes. All I'll say is I feel bad for the pig that produced it, because his legacy has been destroyed. :ack:
Once we composed ourselves and ensure we would not, in fact, have to rush to vomit, we headed over and waited to see Playhouse Disney. While we were waiting, JoJo and Goliath walked by. DS had a ner fit, so DW took the kids to meet and greet with them while I held the place in line.
This was my first time seeing the new show and I thought it was cute. Very well done. I kinda miss the old show a little bit (I'm a big JoJo and Stanley guy), but this one is good, too. Change is inevitable in children's television, I suppose. But I will admit that I missed singing The Goodbye Song with Luna at the end of the show.
After we were done we were sort of hot and kinda tired, so we decided to bag our TSM Fastpasses and head back to the hotel to swim and relax. We ended up giving our Fastpasses to a group of three nice older ladies who were quite happy not to have to stand in line!
We had reservations around 6 at Garden Grill, so after freshening up from swimming we monorailed it to the TTC and were lucky enough to be able to sit up front for the ride to Epcot. Unfortunately, our monorail pilot was a fairly miserable young lady who seemed like she would have rather had a boa constrictor riding up front as opposed to us. After three or four failed attempts to drag some productive information out of her, I gave up.
I mean I guess I sort of understand that it must be annoying to have to deal with people up there while you're trying to do your job, but come on! You're a monorail pilot for heaven's sake! Have some fun with it! Ergh ... she annoyed me.
Dinner at Garden Grill is always a highlight for us. The kids had a blast meeting Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto while Mommy and Daddy had a blast meeting the marinated flank steak and fried catfish. I swear I could eat this stuff until I burst. Come to think of it, I almost did!
DW's phone rang not long after we left the restaurant. It was a friend of ours who was visiting with her family. Their DD is a good friend of our DD, so we met up and rode some rides together, hung out and watched Reflections of Earth, and in general just had a good old time.
The one young lady that was traveling with them (who I would guess was around 11 or so) was a first-timer and I had a great time riding Test Track and Mission Space with her and her mother. I always like visiting Disney with newbies!
We had an early morning scheduled since we were checking out and leaving for Vero, so as soon as the fireworks were done we said goodbye, boarded the monorail and headed back to the GF. We put the kids to bed and then packed up, exhausted but excited for our first time trip to Disney's Vero Beach Resort!
When: September 18th to the 25th, 2008
Where: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Disney's Vero Beach Resort
Let me tell you ... when you follow a night at MNSSHP with EMH at DHS, that alarm clock goes off E-A-R-L-Y! :coffee:
But we all really wanted to make sure we got a few spins in on TSM and, having heard the the lines were really long, we knew we'd have to get there early.
So we got up at the crack of dawn and schelpped ourselves (by car) over to the Studios. It didn't seem all that crowded, especially for a Saturday, but by the time we got in and were lined up on Hollywood Blvd it looked like a lot more people.
Holy cow ... let me tell you ... TSM is definitely the new Soarin'. As soon as that rope dropped there was a literal STAMPEDE of people hurtling themselves through the park to get in line. But lucky for us, being in possession of the DVC "Magic Fastpasses" we didn't feel the need to run.
When we arrived, the line for the Fastpasses was probably 10 minutes! I said to DW, "It's stupid to wait 10 minutes in line for Fastpasses instead of just waiting for the ride. By the time we get back all these people will be in line behind us and we can grab Fastpasses then."
That turned out to be a good plan. We waited like 20 minutes to ride the first time, which really wasn't all that bad. Although, when you consider it was 8AM during one of the slowest times of the year, maybe it was kinda bad after all.
I really, really love this attraction. It's such a blast (no pun intended). The one thing, though ... it's such a whirlwind. I think they've sped up the individual sequences since I first rode, because they definitely seemed a lot shorter to me. I may be wrong, but ... we really felt like we flew from game to game. And that makes it hard, because you can't spend time looking around for big point targets or anything. You just have to fire like mad and hope for the best.
I think I scored like 180,000 or so on my first try, which was pretty pathetic considering the high score for the month was something near twice that much. For a guy who hasn't missed scoring 999,999 on Buzz in like 5 years, this is a definite blow to my gaming ego. ;)
Anyway, when we got out my prediction was correct. There was no line for Fastpasses. So we got a "regular" Fastpass (which, shockingly, already had a return time of noon!) and also a "magic" Fastpass that let us re-ride immediately. So we went on again and this time I did a little worse than the first time. I scored like 160,000 or something. Next trip I might seriously consider devoting an entire day to doing nothing but riding this thing over and over again.
We wanted to take the kids to see Playhouse Disney, but it was still too early for the show. We were all starving, so we hit the ABC Commissary for one of the absolute worst breakfasts I've ever had in WDW. I gotta tell ya ... Disney gets it right most of the time when it comes to food, but I've found their counter service breakfasts to be near inedible. I had these pancakes that were served with the texture of a frisbee. They were just horrid. And the bacon ... yikes. All I'll say is I feel bad for the pig that produced it, because his legacy has been destroyed. :ack:
Once we composed ourselves and ensure we would not, in fact, have to rush to vomit, we headed over and waited to see Playhouse Disney. While we were waiting, JoJo and Goliath walked by. DS had a ner fit, so DW took the kids to meet and greet with them while I held the place in line.
This was my first time seeing the new show and I thought it was cute. Very well done. I kinda miss the old show a little bit (I'm a big JoJo and Stanley guy), but this one is good, too. Change is inevitable in children's television, I suppose. But I will admit that I missed singing The Goodbye Song with Luna at the end of the show.
After we were done we were sort of hot and kinda tired, so we decided to bag our TSM Fastpasses and head back to the hotel to swim and relax. We ended up giving our Fastpasses to a group of three nice older ladies who were quite happy not to have to stand in line!
We had reservations around 6 at Garden Grill, so after freshening up from swimming we monorailed it to the TTC and were lucky enough to be able to sit up front for the ride to Epcot. Unfortunately, our monorail pilot was a fairly miserable young lady who seemed like she would have rather had a boa constrictor riding up front as opposed to us. After three or four failed attempts to drag some productive information out of her, I gave up.
I mean I guess I sort of understand that it must be annoying to have to deal with people up there while you're trying to do your job, but come on! You're a monorail pilot for heaven's sake! Have some fun with it! Ergh ... she annoyed me.
Dinner at Garden Grill is always a highlight for us. The kids had a blast meeting Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto while Mommy and Daddy had a blast meeting the marinated flank steak and fried catfish. I swear I could eat this stuff until I burst. Come to think of it, I almost did!
DW's phone rang not long after we left the restaurant. It was a friend of ours who was visiting with her family. Their DD is a good friend of our DD, so we met up and rode some rides together, hung out and watched Reflections of Earth, and in general just had a good old time.
The one young lady that was traveling with them (who I would guess was around 11 or so) was a first-timer and I had a great time riding Test Track and Mission Space with her and her mother. I always like visiting Disney with newbies!
We had an early morning scheduled since we were checking out and leaving for Vero, so as soon as the fireworks were done we said goodbye, boarded the monorail and headed back to the GF. We put the kids to bed and then packed up, exhausted but excited for our first time trip to Disney's Vero Beach Resort!