azcavalier
09-04-2013, 10:02 AM
Got back on Monday from our ten day trip to WDW and Hilton Head. Rather than a "blow by blow" account, here were the highlights:
1. The Beach Club was *awesome*! Stormalong Bay was a ton of fun, and the sand-bottom pool rocks. Plus, our room was 1505. Just about as far as you could get from the main lobby, but only two rooms in all of WDW are closer to Epcot (those would be 1503 and 1501). Our room was the middle room on the end of the wing closest to Epcot, and there was a side exit we could leave from. Then out through the gate, over the bridge, and we're in the international gateway entrance! It was the best.
2. Splash Mountain...as it should be. For the first time in years, Splash Mountain was had everything working. It was great to see it back to normal. The only thing missing was the "jumping" water that would jump over the logs as you passed by. But everything else was great.
3. Our older two kids (16 and 13) went off and played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom by themselves and had a lot of fun. For the first time we even let them go to the park by themselves, just to play it. We hung out at the pool instead, and they hopped the monorail to meet us at O'hana for dinner. It's awesome that they can be responsible and go have fun.
4. Crowds - totally manageable. The longest we waited for anything was about 20 minutes. Of course, that was partially because of our judicious use of FastPasses.
1. The Beach Club was *awesome*! Stormalong Bay was a ton of fun, and the sand-bottom pool rocks. Plus, our room was 1505. Just about as far as you could get from the main lobby, but only two rooms in all of WDW are closer to Epcot (those would be 1503 and 1501). Our room was the middle room on the end of the wing closest to Epcot, and there was a side exit we could leave from. Then out through the gate, over the bridge, and we're in the international gateway entrance! It was the best.
2. Splash Mountain...as it should be. For the first time in years, Splash Mountain was had everything working. It was great to see it back to normal. The only thing missing was the "jumping" water that would jump over the logs as you passed by. But everything else was great.
3. Our older two kids (16 and 13) went off and played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom by themselves and had a lot of fun. For the first time we even let them go to the park by themselves, just to play it. We hung out at the pool instead, and they hopped the monorail to meet us at O'hana for dinner. It's awesome that they can be responsible and go have fun.
4. Crowds - totally manageable. The longest we waited for anything was about 20 minutes. Of course, that was partially because of our judicious use of FastPasses.