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View Full Version : Strmchsr Family Vacation 2010 part 2



Strmchsr
05-07-2010, 08:19 AM
Cast; Me, Renae (DW), Caleb (DS9), Cole (DS4)

Date: May 6, 2010

I forgot to mention a highlight of my trip in part 1. I ran into Intercot's own Scar Wednesday evening, which was quite a treat. I always love hanging out with my Intercot friends and meeting Scar was a great experience.

Okay, Thursday we started off a Chef Mickey's which was fun as always. Pluto and Cole had a fun wrestling match and we enjoyed the other characters as well. After breakfast we headed for Epcot. Surprisingly, after our first 3 days, crowds in Epcot weren't bad at all. I think I saw max wait times for Soarin and TT at 40 & 30 min respectively. Things like Nemo, Mission Space, and Imagination were walk-on and even Innoventions wasn't crazy busy. Had a very enjoyable day.

Renae and Caleb did the Seas Aqua Tour and had a blast. It was Renae's first experience in a "live" water environment on semi-scuba. Caleb has been a certified scruba ranger since age 8 (almost 2 years) and has logged 25 dives, so nothing new to him, but Renae is taking the open water course with Caleb when he turns 10 this summer so a good warm-up for her. I highly recommend this experience.

Once they were through we got together and were able to ride most of the FutureWorld rides. A little 30 min thunderstorm came through in the afternoon which cooled things off. No big deal. Just a sea breeze storm as per normal in Florida. Then it was time for me to do DiveQuest. I can't tell you how cool it is to spend 40 min at the bottom of the Seas tank and get to come within 12" of a 7 foot sand-tiger shark, have rays swim all around you, and meet up with a giant sea turtle. The big male turtle, Tolstoy, is feeling a little amorous these days as its that time of year and he was a little friendlier than was necessarily comfortable at times, but it was a ton of fun. I don't think my ears equalized properly as I suffered some vertigo and still feel a little dizzy this morning. Hopefully that will go away soon. DiveQuest is another awesome experience. You don't have to have any scuba experience to do the Seas Aquartour, but you do have to be a certified diver to do DiveQuest. Both give a great behind the scenes tour and all proceeds go to marine conservation.

For the evening we went to MK, which was crazy crowded, and did the Wishes Dessert Party. The dessert buffet was just as wonderful as described and the view of Wishes was perfect. It was nice not having to camp out to find a "perfect" spot. Everyone had an assigned table and the view from the Tomorrowland Terrace was great. Not sure if I'd spend the money to do it again, but I really enjoyed it for this one time.

Now off the Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Hopefully no ticks this go round. :D

mouseketeer mom
05-07-2010, 08:33 AM
Very enjoyable day! My DD and DH do the Aqua Seas tour each trip..it's become their "special thing" together. Glad both tours were enjoyable for your family. Thanks!

faline
05-07-2010, 09:00 AM
The tours and the the dessert party sound wonderful! Glad your family is enjoying the trip!

Mickey'sGirl
05-07-2010, 09:04 AM
What a great day, and a great experience for your wife and eldest son! My big guys did the Aqua Seas tour last year, and Harry is still talking about it!!

I am glad that the crowds have thinned out for you a bit and you can get some elbow room for your youngest! :mickey:

pdrlkr
05-08-2010, 01:25 PM
Thanks for the Report! :smickey:

scooterca42
05-08-2010, 03:18 PM
Divequest is fabulous, we just automatically factor the cost into our budget now. We only had six people (including us) on our last one - was yours full?

Thing of it is, it's not even a full atmosphere so you have to constantly equalize. Every shot of me in the video I have my hand at my nose... ;)

ibrowse17
05-08-2010, 04:59 PM
Sounds great:thumbsup:

RedSoxFan
05-09-2010, 08:11 AM
Sounds like you are having fun. DH and DS (16 at the time) did the Aqua Seas tour for the first time on our last trip. They loved it.:mickey:

Scar
05-09-2010, 09:39 AM
Chris,

It was a real pleasure meeting you and your family and I hope we get the chance again.

BTW, I missed my flight Fri. night. The check in kiosks weren't working properly so I (and a lot of other people) had to stand in line to check in, took about 45 mins and I missed it literaly by minutes. I stood there helplessly watching my plane sit there for 10 minutes before it pulled away. In all 7 people missed it. They gave me (and I assume everyone else) a ticket for Sat. at no charge. Anyway, I rented a car, caught Illuminations (again) and got a room at ASSp for the night and had an extra day at Disney. :thumbsup:

(Sorry for highjacking your trip report.) ;)

KylesMom
05-09-2010, 10:19 AM
A full day for sure! I'm so glad that you had a good experience at Chef Mickey's, and that both the Aqua Seas Tour & DiveQuest were all you'd hoped it would be. Fun, too that the day before you got to hang with Scar! :mickey:

vizsla
05-10-2010, 05:11 AM
Thanks for the report.

Jenemmy
05-10-2010, 08:36 AM
I was part of that WISHES crowd last Thursday night --- it was CRAZY, wasn't it?? We actually watched Spectro from right in front of the Hall of Presidents and then scooted over to the castle for Wishes. I had debated on the dessert party, and I sure wish I had gone that route now.

Speaking of crazy crowds, We tried to get into Fantasmic Wednesday night and about 45 minutes before the show started, it was Standing Room Only. (for the 1st show). Having a tired 5 year old with us, we abandoned that plan.

yjgirl32
05-10-2010, 08:52 AM
Thanks for sharing- we are hoping the dessert party will be available in Oct. Would be a nice addition to our plans.

DisneyorBust
05-11-2010, 04:36 PM
Glad to read that the crowds were smaller at Epcot. I like those afternoon showers....especially when they make lots of folks leave the parks! :thedolls:

#1disneyfan
05-14-2010, 08:48 PM
Thanks for the report!