Aurora
06-17-2011, 03:55 PM
Our pack-it-all-in trip, June 4-12, 2011, Part 3, Day 5
Day 5: We are not normally early risers, so getting the kids up early is a challenge. But we did manage to pull them out of bed before 7:30. Magic Kingdom opening was at 9 a.m. (Sis and her family went to the Space Coast today.)
The pull-out beds and pull-out chair at BLT are wonderful. Very easy to fold and unfold, and much more comfortable than the foam pullouts they have at Saratoga Springs (unless they have replaced these in recent years). The three kids split up sleeping together in the full-size pullout and took turns with the twin (but by the end of the week, 6yo DS was sleeping with DH and I in the king bed).
We walked over to the MK this time and arrived at about 9 a.m., later than we had planned. Throngs of people were coming from the buses, the ferries and the monorail, more than we had expected. It was just a sea of quickly moving people, and when I say “sea,” I mean you were risking getting clobbered if you moved against the tide. We had planned to go straight to Dumbo, but after getting a castle pic with the PhotoPass photographer, she said if we wanted to see Mickey there was just a short wait right now.
We decided to see Mickey first. :mickey: In hindsight, even though we went to Dumbo right after that and it was a LONG wait, I think it was the right decision. I’m not sure we would have gone all the way back to the gate with a FastPass just to see Mickey. Although it said the wait was 5 minutes, it was actually about 15 minutes, but Mickey and Minnie were both there and really took their time having fun with the guests, so it was worth it.
By the time DH and kids got in the line for Dumbo, their wait was around 45 minutes. While they were in line, I walked over to Splash Mountain to get Fast Passes. We did some criss-crossing the park that day to use the Fast Passes, but would have waited in very long lines if we didn't use them. Even rides that traditionally have little or no wait – like the TTA PeopleMover and It’s a Small World, had lines that were longer than I've seen in years.
The wait times also seemed to be inaccurate in some cases, so after a few rides, we had a hard time gauging how long the waits actually were. For example, we got in line for Winnie the Pooh at 10:45 a.m.; the posted standby wait time was 40 minutes, but we weren't in line for more than 15 before getting on the ride. (Later in the trip we were given a clue about one reason wait times might have been off.) We absolutely LOVED the new interactive queue for Pooh. Even the big kids had fun in there.
Along with Dumbo and Pooh, we did IASW and then used the FPs for Splash Mountain. After that the big kids went off by themselves for awhile and did Stitch’s Great Escape and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. DH and I took our youngest to meet Goofy and then over to Tom Sawyer Island and had a lovely time.
When we met up again around 2 p.m. we decided to head back to the room for a break. We hadn’t done much but it was hot and crowded. I got Fast Passes for Space Mountain for later but it turned out we never used them because we went over to Epcot instead. (Another problem with time signage – the FP return time said between 5:50 and 5:50. You had to actually get the passes or ask someone who was getting them to find out the return time was between 5:50 and 6:50. Not a big deal, just an example of the time issues.)
We ate lunch in the room (sandwiches), then later while at Epcot we rode the Seas with Nemo and did Turtle Talk with Crush, which we never get tired of because of the interaction with the audience. We rode Journey into your Imagination (which my kids absolutely love), played in the ImageWorks for awhile, and drank some samples of Coke around the world in Club Cool. The kids know the joke about Beverly so we didn’t do it, plus I’m the only one I know who actually … ahem … likes Beverly. To me it tastes like the San Pellegrino limonata and I kinda enjoy it after eating/drinking so much sweet stuff.
Even though again, we didn’t experience many attractions, we were pretty pooped, so DH and sons headed back via monorail before Illuminations, while DD and I shopped at Mouse Gears.
(Here's where I really started to notice the cast members. There was something happening earlier in the day that I couldn't put my finger on, but at Mouse Gears, I really noticed it. About half the time, I didn't know whether I was going to get a helpful CM or one that I can only describe as sullen. It's not just that they weren't cheerful, which in the heat and crowds I can totally understand, but that in some cases, they seemed bothered by your even being there. I ALWAYS said hello to each CM; some did not even respond back or look at me. We did come across many pleasant, cheery CMs, and when it happened, they were a joy. But I'd have to put the odds at about 50/50. Maybe that's considered good these days.)
The boys wanted to swim, so DH decided to pool hop over to the Poly with them, which we can do as DVC members. DD and I went back to the room, and I watched the “Wishes” fireworks (AGAIN, YAY!) from the Contemporary pedestrian bridge. By the time DH got the boys out of the pool at around 11 p.m., 6yo son was crying that he needed to get back in right away because he didn’t get to have ANY fun. :D
NEXT: Day 6, Hollywood Studios/Epcot on Thursday.
Day 5: We are not normally early risers, so getting the kids up early is a challenge. But we did manage to pull them out of bed before 7:30. Magic Kingdom opening was at 9 a.m. (Sis and her family went to the Space Coast today.)
The pull-out beds and pull-out chair at BLT are wonderful. Very easy to fold and unfold, and much more comfortable than the foam pullouts they have at Saratoga Springs (unless they have replaced these in recent years). The three kids split up sleeping together in the full-size pullout and took turns with the twin (but by the end of the week, 6yo DS was sleeping with DH and I in the king bed).
We walked over to the MK this time and arrived at about 9 a.m., later than we had planned. Throngs of people were coming from the buses, the ferries and the monorail, more than we had expected. It was just a sea of quickly moving people, and when I say “sea,” I mean you were risking getting clobbered if you moved against the tide. We had planned to go straight to Dumbo, but after getting a castle pic with the PhotoPass photographer, she said if we wanted to see Mickey there was just a short wait right now.
We decided to see Mickey first. :mickey: In hindsight, even though we went to Dumbo right after that and it was a LONG wait, I think it was the right decision. I’m not sure we would have gone all the way back to the gate with a FastPass just to see Mickey. Although it said the wait was 5 minutes, it was actually about 15 minutes, but Mickey and Minnie were both there and really took their time having fun with the guests, so it was worth it.
By the time DH and kids got in the line for Dumbo, their wait was around 45 minutes. While they were in line, I walked over to Splash Mountain to get Fast Passes. We did some criss-crossing the park that day to use the Fast Passes, but would have waited in very long lines if we didn't use them. Even rides that traditionally have little or no wait – like the TTA PeopleMover and It’s a Small World, had lines that were longer than I've seen in years.
The wait times also seemed to be inaccurate in some cases, so after a few rides, we had a hard time gauging how long the waits actually were. For example, we got in line for Winnie the Pooh at 10:45 a.m.; the posted standby wait time was 40 minutes, but we weren't in line for more than 15 before getting on the ride. (Later in the trip we were given a clue about one reason wait times might have been off.) We absolutely LOVED the new interactive queue for Pooh. Even the big kids had fun in there.
Along with Dumbo and Pooh, we did IASW and then used the FPs for Splash Mountain. After that the big kids went off by themselves for awhile and did Stitch’s Great Escape and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. DH and I took our youngest to meet Goofy and then over to Tom Sawyer Island and had a lovely time.
When we met up again around 2 p.m. we decided to head back to the room for a break. We hadn’t done much but it was hot and crowded. I got Fast Passes for Space Mountain for later but it turned out we never used them because we went over to Epcot instead. (Another problem with time signage – the FP return time said between 5:50 and 5:50. You had to actually get the passes or ask someone who was getting them to find out the return time was between 5:50 and 6:50. Not a big deal, just an example of the time issues.)
We ate lunch in the room (sandwiches), then later while at Epcot we rode the Seas with Nemo and did Turtle Talk with Crush, which we never get tired of because of the interaction with the audience. We rode Journey into your Imagination (which my kids absolutely love), played in the ImageWorks for awhile, and drank some samples of Coke around the world in Club Cool. The kids know the joke about Beverly so we didn’t do it, plus I’m the only one I know who actually … ahem … likes Beverly. To me it tastes like the San Pellegrino limonata and I kinda enjoy it after eating/drinking so much sweet stuff.
Even though again, we didn’t experience many attractions, we were pretty pooped, so DH and sons headed back via monorail before Illuminations, while DD and I shopped at Mouse Gears.
(Here's where I really started to notice the cast members. There was something happening earlier in the day that I couldn't put my finger on, but at Mouse Gears, I really noticed it. About half the time, I didn't know whether I was going to get a helpful CM or one that I can only describe as sullen. It's not just that they weren't cheerful, which in the heat and crowds I can totally understand, but that in some cases, they seemed bothered by your even being there. I ALWAYS said hello to each CM; some did not even respond back or look at me. We did come across many pleasant, cheery CMs, and when it happened, they were a joy. But I'd have to put the odds at about 50/50. Maybe that's considered good these days.)
The boys wanted to swim, so DH decided to pool hop over to the Poly with them, which we can do as DVC members. DD and I went back to the room, and I watched the “Wishes” fireworks (AGAIN, YAY!) from the Contemporary pedestrian bridge. By the time DH got the boys out of the pool at around 11 p.m., 6yo son was crying that he needed to get back in right away because he didn’t get to have ANY fun. :D
NEXT: Day 6, Hollywood Studios/Epcot on Thursday.