Madzac
05-26-2009, 10:02 PM
Cast of characters for WL 5/9-5/17:
Me-37
DH-43
Grandma
DD7
DS4
DS1
Tuesday May 12- Magic Kingdom
Well after another late night, we were happy to have nothing planned super early in the morning and no rope drop to be at. We took our time waking and lounged a bit before showering and heading to catch a bus to the MK. We had 1015 ADRs at 1900 Park fare this morning, our first actual character meal and boy were the kids excited!
Everyone advised plenty of time to get resort to resort so we left shortly after 9am. Once we arrived at MK we went up and caught the resort monorail and rode that over to the Grand Floridian. Quite the fancy place! We were a bit early so we wandered around for 20 min or so and then checked in 15 or 20 min early. We were seated right at our ADR time. The buffet was excellent, tons of choices of great breakfast food, anything you can think of, as well as a nice dessert buffet (ice cream for breakfast!) When we were seated, we had just missed several of the characters so we figured it would be awhile before anyone came and it was. About 45 min later they started in our room... Tigger, then Alice in Wonderland(who was so in character and complained about DS1's sticky fingers), then Pooh and Mary Poppins. The kids were totally in love with the characters and got autographs and many pictures. Our little one didnt care much about the face characters but went absolutly nuts when Tigger and Pooh came!!! We were then done with our meal and waited and waited for the Mad Hatter. He had headed in to the kitchen shortly before our table and was missing for a good 20 min! FINALLY, as we were about to give up, he came and was the hit of the day. Very very funny... asked my DD how she got here and if she came through a rabbit hole? The pictures with him are the best! Overall, we enjoyed our breakfast, the food was good, but it was VERY loud and seemed less organized than others we had been too. I am not sure with all the choices if I would rush to go back for this one.
After we finished breakfast, we hopped on the monorail to the MK to see what we had yet to see. We started in tomorrowland with Carousel of Progress, an oldie but goodie, then we did Astro orbiters (probably our longest wait of the trip at about 25 min), buzz again since it was a walk on, and monster's inc laugh floor. This new show was SO cute, we really enjoyed it! After this, we headed to get FPs for Thunder Mountain before finding a spot for the parade. When we arrived the wait was only 10 min so we hopped in line while grandma found us a spot in fronteirland. This was DSs first actual coaster and boy did he love it!!! We rode twice! Kind of nice having a grandma with us who didnt want to do thrill rides as we were able to do those rides and have someone to be with DS1.
After grabbing Splash FPs we grabbed our spot and waited for the parade to come by. Our family really enjoys parades so we make sure to see them all. And they werent disappointed, lots of characters! They skies were looking a bit dark but we decided to head on out to Tom Sawyers Island after this since we had never done this and thought the kids might like it. As expected DS4 thought it was so cool and loved the caves and fort. He could have stayed there much longer... but the skies were getting darker and they told us if the lightening started, the rafts would not run until it stopped, so we wanted to get back to shore. We headed next to the Country bear show at Grandma's request... her all time favorite. I like it too, but for the first time felt like it was showing its age a little bit. Next we headed to Adventureland and rode Pirates! We love pirates! And I liked the new effects... last trip pirates was closed so we were glad to get on it this time around! The skies were getting darker and darker as we got in line for the magic carpets... we were just sure we would get up and they would close the ride, but as it turned out, we were the last group to ride before they closed it! From there we went to the treehouse and made a quick walk through as they were closing that down as well! Suddenly, it was pouring! And lightening as well, so much of the outdoor things were now closing. We ran across and snuck out to the Tiki room and watched the show... I still wish they would fire the "new management" and bring back the old. But the kids enjoyed the show.
At this point we were debating what to do next. It was raining pretty good and lots of people were leaving it seemed. I was feeling pretty bummed. We still hadnt ridden Jungle Cruise or especially Splash Mountain!! Splash is MY favorite! So we ran through the rain to Casey's to grab a bite to eat. We have never been to Casey's before and let me tell you, it will now be a tradition! Yummy!!! IT was SOOOO good! Great hotdogs, fries and brownies, yummy! There was no seating inside and the tables were all in the rain so like many others we sat under the awning on the ground and had a picnic. It was GREAT fun! One of our favorite memories!
After eating, it was still raining though not quite as hard. Many of the rides were still closed. we walked back to fantasyland to find that Pooh and Peter pan both had pretty long lines. so we saw Philharmagic again and when we came out saw Dumbo was back running so we made our way over to Splash! And it was running! It was still raining, though not super hard, but no more lightening so they reopened! And there was no line, we didnt need the FPs we had, we basically walked right on. We did this twice in a row, once with Grandma and once with DH so someone could be with the little one who enjoyed the little play area. Let me tell you, I love spash mountain, but doing it in the rain when you are already wet is a whole nother adventure(we were lucky it was WARM and raining, unlike last week)! It was so much fun, we were already wet and just laughed and laughed when we got more wet. The kids just loved this ride and as always, it lived up to my memories! After Splash twice, we walked on BTMRR one more time and then walked onto Jungle Cruise, which I had never done at night before. It was a great time and totally different ride at night.
We were done and it was 10 min before wishes. The kids were wanting some pool time, so much to my dismay chose to head back rather than catching wishes again. We took the boat back and could see wishes from the lagoon on the boat which was pretty neat. DH and the kids took a really quick dip in the pool, then we all showered and turned in. Another fun filled day, and we learned that despite a little rainshower, we actually had even MORE fun!!!
UP NEXT... Animal Kingdom day and Rainforest Cafe.
Me-37
DH-43
Grandma
DD7
DS4
DS1
Tuesday May 12- Magic Kingdom
Well after another late night, we were happy to have nothing planned super early in the morning and no rope drop to be at. We took our time waking and lounged a bit before showering and heading to catch a bus to the MK. We had 1015 ADRs at 1900 Park fare this morning, our first actual character meal and boy were the kids excited!
Everyone advised plenty of time to get resort to resort so we left shortly after 9am. Once we arrived at MK we went up and caught the resort monorail and rode that over to the Grand Floridian. Quite the fancy place! We were a bit early so we wandered around for 20 min or so and then checked in 15 or 20 min early. We were seated right at our ADR time. The buffet was excellent, tons of choices of great breakfast food, anything you can think of, as well as a nice dessert buffet (ice cream for breakfast!) When we were seated, we had just missed several of the characters so we figured it would be awhile before anyone came and it was. About 45 min later they started in our room... Tigger, then Alice in Wonderland(who was so in character and complained about DS1's sticky fingers), then Pooh and Mary Poppins. The kids were totally in love with the characters and got autographs and many pictures. Our little one didnt care much about the face characters but went absolutly nuts when Tigger and Pooh came!!! We were then done with our meal and waited and waited for the Mad Hatter. He had headed in to the kitchen shortly before our table and was missing for a good 20 min! FINALLY, as we were about to give up, he came and was the hit of the day. Very very funny... asked my DD how she got here and if she came through a rabbit hole? The pictures with him are the best! Overall, we enjoyed our breakfast, the food was good, but it was VERY loud and seemed less organized than others we had been too. I am not sure with all the choices if I would rush to go back for this one.
After we finished breakfast, we hopped on the monorail to the MK to see what we had yet to see. We started in tomorrowland with Carousel of Progress, an oldie but goodie, then we did Astro orbiters (probably our longest wait of the trip at about 25 min), buzz again since it was a walk on, and monster's inc laugh floor. This new show was SO cute, we really enjoyed it! After this, we headed to get FPs for Thunder Mountain before finding a spot for the parade. When we arrived the wait was only 10 min so we hopped in line while grandma found us a spot in fronteirland. This was DSs first actual coaster and boy did he love it!!! We rode twice! Kind of nice having a grandma with us who didnt want to do thrill rides as we were able to do those rides and have someone to be with DS1.
After grabbing Splash FPs we grabbed our spot and waited for the parade to come by. Our family really enjoys parades so we make sure to see them all. And they werent disappointed, lots of characters! They skies were looking a bit dark but we decided to head on out to Tom Sawyers Island after this since we had never done this and thought the kids might like it. As expected DS4 thought it was so cool and loved the caves and fort. He could have stayed there much longer... but the skies were getting darker and they told us if the lightening started, the rafts would not run until it stopped, so we wanted to get back to shore. We headed next to the Country bear show at Grandma's request... her all time favorite. I like it too, but for the first time felt like it was showing its age a little bit. Next we headed to Adventureland and rode Pirates! We love pirates! And I liked the new effects... last trip pirates was closed so we were glad to get on it this time around! The skies were getting darker and darker as we got in line for the magic carpets... we were just sure we would get up and they would close the ride, but as it turned out, we were the last group to ride before they closed it! From there we went to the treehouse and made a quick walk through as they were closing that down as well! Suddenly, it was pouring! And lightening as well, so much of the outdoor things were now closing. We ran across and snuck out to the Tiki room and watched the show... I still wish they would fire the "new management" and bring back the old. But the kids enjoyed the show.
At this point we were debating what to do next. It was raining pretty good and lots of people were leaving it seemed. I was feeling pretty bummed. We still hadnt ridden Jungle Cruise or especially Splash Mountain!! Splash is MY favorite! So we ran through the rain to Casey's to grab a bite to eat. We have never been to Casey's before and let me tell you, it will now be a tradition! Yummy!!! IT was SOOOO good! Great hotdogs, fries and brownies, yummy! There was no seating inside and the tables were all in the rain so like many others we sat under the awning on the ground and had a picnic. It was GREAT fun! One of our favorite memories!
After eating, it was still raining though not quite as hard. Many of the rides were still closed. we walked back to fantasyland to find that Pooh and Peter pan both had pretty long lines. so we saw Philharmagic again and when we came out saw Dumbo was back running so we made our way over to Splash! And it was running! It was still raining, though not super hard, but no more lightening so they reopened! And there was no line, we didnt need the FPs we had, we basically walked right on. We did this twice in a row, once with Grandma and once with DH so someone could be with the little one who enjoyed the little play area. Let me tell you, I love spash mountain, but doing it in the rain when you are already wet is a whole nother adventure(we were lucky it was WARM and raining, unlike last week)! It was so much fun, we were already wet and just laughed and laughed when we got more wet. The kids just loved this ride and as always, it lived up to my memories! After Splash twice, we walked on BTMRR one more time and then walked onto Jungle Cruise, which I had never done at night before. It was a great time and totally different ride at night.
We were done and it was 10 min before wishes. The kids were wanting some pool time, so much to my dismay chose to head back rather than catching wishes again. We took the boat back and could see wishes from the lagoon on the boat which was pretty neat. DH and the kids took a really quick dip in the pool, then we all showered and turned in. Another fun filled day, and we learned that despite a little rainshower, we actually had even MORE fun!!!
UP NEXT... Animal Kingdom day and Rainforest Cafe.