disneyboy98
04-11-2009, 03:19 AM
Ok, I am actually writing this at 2:35 am, but to keep things straight in our heads I am saying this is really 11:59 pm so we don’t get confused about what day the events took place on. You got it? Good! You’re doing better than I because right now my eyes are dropping. However, I love my trip reports so let’s get at it!
To start this off, I have an announcement for you fans of the resort TV. At 12:00 am this morning (which means two and half hours ago) the Top 7 was gone and the “Must Do Disney” show premiered. Stacey is still the host but it is a new format (not just a remix of the top 7). It is updated to highlight the new things and Space Mountain is definitely not mentioned or shown at all in the show (as it is due to go down for major rehab on April 19th. Which means I have to get one last ride in there before we leave). I just thought that it was interesting that I woke up this morning and it was the Top 7 and now it is a brand new show.
Today, well today was not your typical start to a typical Disney vacation. We started our first day of our vacation by…going to the outlets to shop!! WHAT? Are you kidding me? Yes, yes we did go! Yesterday we started talking and thought that because of the crowds right now, we would let the MK have it’s really busy time and then go this evening to enjoy EMH.
So, that’s how we started. We went to the Premium Outlets, we shopped, we bought, the end! Ha ha ha! Ok, we also went to the Publix right across the street from the outlets and bought some groceries for the room (snacks, fruit, etc.)
After we returned from our shopping trip we decided to relax for a few hours this afternoon by the pool. So we asked Miss Chloe if she would like to go swimming. She said “yes” (very enthusiastically) so we went. It was great. We relaxed, we swam, and Chloe looked like she was her own floatation device. Plus, the did not want her to get a sunburn so she had the hat and the swimsuit on! However, even with all the stuff on her, she had an absolute blast.
After a few hours we decided to head over to the MK around 6:30 pm. When we walked in we could tell that it was busy, but definitely not unmanageable. We worked our way up Main Street (Chloe cheered when she saw the castle…priceless!) and her grandpa bought her a balloon to have for the evening. Beckie thought we should check the Time Tip board at the end of Main Street but when we got there was no one there and no wait times posted for any of the attractions. We kind of did a big “GULP” because we did not know if that meant it was so busy that they just quit putting them up or that someone’s job was done for the day. Thus, we continued on to see what we could actually get on. We headed into Frontierland for supper at Pecos Bills (hamburgers and fixings from the fixings bar are GOOD! Pics at the bottom of the post). After filling up on burgers we then headed over and picked up a FP for Splash Mountain (return time of 11:30 pm). We then wanted to do something that Chloe would like so we hopped on the train and rode it around once. She absolutely loved it and squealed when the train made it’s “toot toot” sounds.
After riding the circuit, and heading back to Frontierland, we then made our way over to see Mike Wazowski at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Chloe loves Mike and Sully so every chance she got she would get our attention that she could see Mike in the show. Again, very cool show because it changes all the time!
We then headed over to go on Winnie the Pooh but the wait time was over 40 minutes so we bypassed it for another evening because we didn’t want to wait that long. So, it was off to ride the carousel and we got to do that twice (0 wait time). As you can see from the pics, Chloe loved it. She was also eyeing up Dumbo as we went passed and we promised that she would get on it before the end of the vacation (she does like Dumbo!). From there, we headed over and went on Small World and, again, Chloe screamed with laughter. She even started dong her “happy dance” as we went through the ride and she pointed out all of the animals that she saw and yelled out there names.
From Fantasyland we headed over to Liberty Square and had 5 minute wait to get on Haunted Mansion. Still a favorite and Chloe said she liked the ghosts because they were “funny ghosts”. Next we headed over to the Liberty Square bridge to catch Wishes and and Chloe loved the pretty colors, the popping noices (even though they were loud she got used to them after the first couple) and then she kept pointing to the castle and saying “Tinker Bell Fly” (if you have seen the show you understand because Tinker Bell does fly from the castle at the beginning).
After Wishes we went over to the baby care centre to give Chloe some juice and a bit of a refresher and then we were off to POTC. All through the ride Chloe pointed at Jack every time we went by him. If you have followed my passed trip reports you know I am an absolute POTC freak! Thus, my niece has no choice but to get into Pirates. We got to the first animatronic of Jack Sparrow and she saw him and shouted “Captain Jack” with no help from me or anyone else. My work is done! She is trained! YAY!
From there we headed over to Frontierland to catch Spectromagic. Chloe is a die hard Mickey Mouse fan and we thought it would be interesting to get her reaction this time; especially since she now can say “Mickey Mouse” (plus every other Disney character under the sun) . Well, once again, she did not disappoint (check the pics, link at the bottom) she saw him and her eyes lit up, she started screaming “MICKEY MOUSE” and waved and clapped as his float came by. Mickey looked at her, waved and blew her a kiss. She also had the same reaction for Minnie, Goofy, and Donald (she does love The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, her favorite show.). Imagine what it is going to be like when we get over to Playhouse Disney…yikes!
Well after that, we then went to use our FPs for Splash. Beckie, Kevin, dad, and myself went while mom waited with Chloe (we got a baby swap). We walked right on. I didn’t get wet so much. Then we switched dad for mom and went back through (not using the baby swap because by this time the wait was five minutes long as EMH had kicked in at midnight) so we walked right on again. This time though, I GOT SOAKED!!!
When we came back out, Chloe was asleep in the stroller so we decided to just walk back through Frontierland, into Fantasyland (20 minute wait for Peter Pan, didn’t go on, but that shows you how minimal the crowd was), through the castle and up main street where we got a quick snack.
We then all agreed that it was time to head back for some much needed rest so it was onto the bus and back to the Swan.
There have been many reports of record attendance and shutting the parks down because it’s so busy. However, tonight, we kind of feared the worst but went with it. Now, looking back, we did a lot of stuff tonight and we did not feel like we were rushing around. The crowds were manageable. Yes, it was busy, but it was not “OH WOW” busy. Plus, tonight, I really felt that EMH helped us out a bit with a few rides. From what I can tell, being down here, is that a lot of the people in the parks are either local or not staying on property (Disney still has a lot of rooms available). Therefore, if you’re not staying on property you don’t get to use EMH benefit so the parks empty out and it quite quiet and easy to get on the rides you want without waiting for a very long time. That’s just what we noticed anyways.
Tomorrow, well we are thinking that we may take a trip to Downtown Disney in the morning and look around there and then we might do some resort hopping and Chloe’s new word for the trip is “monorail” so we are going to take her on the monorail tomorrow and look around those resorts (Poly, GF, and Contemporary). We also have a ADR for Cape May Café in the evening. We also want to get back to the MK and work on getting on a few more rides and go visit Mickey at his house. Sounds like a big day. I’ll let you know how it really turns out.
Until tomorrow, have a Disney day!
To see today’s pics, please click here! (http://picasaweb.google.com/brettyoung8864/FridayApril10th2009#)
To start this off, I have an announcement for you fans of the resort TV. At 12:00 am this morning (which means two and half hours ago) the Top 7 was gone and the “Must Do Disney” show premiered. Stacey is still the host but it is a new format (not just a remix of the top 7). It is updated to highlight the new things and Space Mountain is definitely not mentioned or shown at all in the show (as it is due to go down for major rehab on April 19th. Which means I have to get one last ride in there before we leave). I just thought that it was interesting that I woke up this morning and it was the Top 7 and now it is a brand new show.
Today, well today was not your typical start to a typical Disney vacation. We started our first day of our vacation by…going to the outlets to shop!! WHAT? Are you kidding me? Yes, yes we did go! Yesterday we started talking and thought that because of the crowds right now, we would let the MK have it’s really busy time and then go this evening to enjoy EMH.
So, that’s how we started. We went to the Premium Outlets, we shopped, we bought, the end! Ha ha ha! Ok, we also went to the Publix right across the street from the outlets and bought some groceries for the room (snacks, fruit, etc.)
After we returned from our shopping trip we decided to relax for a few hours this afternoon by the pool. So we asked Miss Chloe if she would like to go swimming. She said “yes” (very enthusiastically) so we went. It was great. We relaxed, we swam, and Chloe looked like she was her own floatation device. Plus, the did not want her to get a sunburn so she had the hat and the swimsuit on! However, even with all the stuff on her, she had an absolute blast.
After a few hours we decided to head over to the MK around 6:30 pm. When we walked in we could tell that it was busy, but definitely not unmanageable. We worked our way up Main Street (Chloe cheered when she saw the castle…priceless!) and her grandpa bought her a balloon to have for the evening. Beckie thought we should check the Time Tip board at the end of Main Street but when we got there was no one there and no wait times posted for any of the attractions. We kind of did a big “GULP” because we did not know if that meant it was so busy that they just quit putting them up or that someone’s job was done for the day. Thus, we continued on to see what we could actually get on. We headed into Frontierland for supper at Pecos Bills (hamburgers and fixings from the fixings bar are GOOD! Pics at the bottom of the post). After filling up on burgers we then headed over and picked up a FP for Splash Mountain (return time of 11:30 pm). We then wanted to do something that Chloe would like so we hopped on the train and rode it around once. She absolutely loved it and squealed when the train made it’s “toot toot” sounds.
After riding the circuit, and heading back to Frontierland, we then made our way over to see Mike Wazowski at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Chloe loves Mike and Sully so every chance she got she would get our attention that she could see Mike in the show. Again, very cool show because it changes all the time!
We then headed over to go on Winnie the Pooh but the wait time was over 40 minutes so we bypassed it for another evening because we didn’t want to wait that long. So, it was off to ride the carousel and we got to do that twice (0 wait time). As you can see from the pics, Chloe loved it. She was also eyeing up Dumbo as we went passed and we promised that she would get on it before the end of the vacation (she does like Dumbo!). From there, we headed over and went on Small World and, again, Chloe screamed with laughter. She even started dong her “happy dance” as we went through the ride and she pointed out all of the animals that she saw and yelled out there names.
From Fantasyland we headed over to Liberty Square and had 5 minute wait to get on Haunted Mansion. Still a favorite and Chloe said she liked the ghosts because they were “funny ghosts”. Next we headed over to the Liberty Square bridge to catch Wishes and and Chloe loved the pretty colors, the popping noices (even though they were loud she got used to them after the first couple) and then she kept pointing to the castle and saying “Tinker Bell Fly” (if you have seen the show you understand because Tinker Bell does fly from the castle at the beginning).
After Wishes we went over to the baby care centre to give Chloe some juice and a bit of a refresher and then we were off to POTC. All through the ride Chloe pointed at Jack every time we went by him. If you have followed my passed trip reports you know I am an absolute POTC freak! Thus, my niece has no choice but to get into Pirates. We got to the first animatronic of Jack Sparrow and she saw him and shouted “Captain Jack” with no help from me or anyone else. My work is done! She is trained! YAY!
From there we headed over to Frontierland to catch Spectromagic. Chloe is a die hard Mickey Mouse fan and we thought it would be interesting to get her reaction this time; especially since she now can say “Mickey Mouse” (plus every other Disney character under the sun) . Well, once again, she did not disappoint (check the pics, link at the bottom) she saw him and her eyes lit up, she started screaming “MICKEY MOUSE” and waved and clapped as his float came by. Mickey looked at her, waved and blew her a kiss. She also had the same reaction for Minnie, Goofy, and Donald (she does love The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, her favorite show.). Imagine what it is going to be like when we get over to Playhouse Disney…yikes!
Well after that, we then went to use our FPs for Splash. Beckie, Kevin, dad, and myself went while mom waited with Chloe (we got a baby swap). We walked right on. I didn’t get wet so much. Then we switched dad for mom and went back through (not using the baby swap because by this time the wait was five minutes long as EMH had kicked in at midnight) so we walked right on again. This time though, I GOT SOAKED!!!
When we came back out, Chloe was asleep in the stroller so we decided to just walk back through Frontierland, into Fantasyland (20 minute wait for Peter Pan, didn’t go on, but that shows you how minimal the crowd was), through the castle and up main street where we got a quick snack.
We then all agreed that it was time to head back for some much needed rest so it was onto the bus and back to the Swan.
There have been many reports of record attendance and shutting the parks down because it’s so busy. However, tonight, we kind of feared the worst but went with it. Now, looking back, we did a lot of stuff tonight and we did not feel like we were rushing around. The crowds were manageable. Yes, it was busy, but it was not “OH WOW” busy. Plus, tonight, I really felt that EMH helped us out a bit with a few rides. From what I can tell, being down here, is that a lot of the people in the parks are either local or not staying on property (Disney still has a lot of rooms available). Therefore, if you’re not staying on property you don’t get to use EMH benefit so the parks empty out and it quite quiet and easy to get on the rides you want without waiting for a very long time. That’s just what we noticed anyways.
Tomorrow, well we are thinking that we may take a trip to Downtown Disney in the morning and look around there and then we might do some resort hopping and Chloe’s new word for the trip is “monorail” so we are going to take her on the monorail tomorrow and look around those resorts (Poly, GF, and Contemporary). We also have a ADR for Cape May Café in the evening. We also want to get back to the MK and work on getting on a few more rides and go visit Mickey at his house. Sounds like a big day. I’ll let you know how it really turns out.
Until tomorrow, have a Disney day!
To see today’s pics, please click here! (http://picasaweb.google.com/brettyoung8864/FridayApril10th2009#)