DisneyBarb
11-22-2013, 05:43 PM
Who - Me, OCD planner!
DH - converted hubby of 25 years
DD - Celebrating 18th birthday (next week)
DS - Mini me (15) who has the same Disney passion that I do.
Where - Poly
How - JetBlue
We discovered a couple of visits ago that making 8:00 a.m. ADRs in AK for Tusker House makes for a great breakfast and great way to get to the safari before the crowds.
Tusker house was great, the waitress was a bit slow (however friendly) returning with the check, and then you have to let them know you are using the magic band to pay the tip (we used a sit down meal credit), which then she leaves again and returns so you can sign it. This seem to have slowed us down throughout the week, not sure if its a result of the newness of the band, but it was slower then the past. We really enjoy this buffet and happy we discovered it.
No matter, we made our way to the safari which was about a 5 minute wait. This was by far the best safari we have done yet. All the animals were active and they seem to have more then usual. They lion even got up and stretched in front of us and their was a baby giraffe! They didn't do the usual back and forth to "command center" with the bridge rattling etc. Not sure when they took it out but did not miss it.
Onto Expedition Everest, I did not make FP for any thing at AK today since in previous visits we have not needed them this early in the a.m. On the first ride we saw the Yeti and it scared the you know what out of my daughter! Haven't seen him a long time!
We went on about 3 times and it was no more then a 10 minute wait. Onto Dinosaur and my DS made a comment about the 3 year old standing in line behind us, you guessed it, she screamed blood murder the whole time..sigh
We went to get a frozen coke but it was not open. Onto to Tough to be a Bug, it was very crowded but the wait was 10 mins.
We had friends coming over to hang out with us that live the next town over. I did not know if security would give them a hard time (they never had a problem before) and no problem this time either. Disney made money on them today, as we spent a few dollars at the poolside bar!:beer:
Said our goodbyes and off to studios (EMH). Had passes to ToT, RR, and TSM. We missed the ToT and RR times. We walked by TSM and it was a 40 minute wait and over to Osbourne. It was PACKED! but it was still great!
We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we decided to go to Pizza Planet, we could not find it! (They had things roped off), asked a Cast member and they sent us in a big circle. Now we are hungry, hot (it was a bit humid that night) and worried we wouldn't make our TSM fast passes, but we really needed to eat. We ended up at ABC Comminsary, service was slow but food was decent.
We made it to TSM within 5 minutes of the end time and all loved it. This ride just makes us all happy!! The boys beat the girls (so they say) but they didn't have proof!
We did GMR (still love!) We were able to go on RR and ToT on the way out with little wait. The streets still felt very crowded.
No wait for the bus but we had to stand.
Overall thoughts - Weather was a bit more humid then our previous trips so it zapped us a bit, I even went into the pool which I haven't done since kids were little (my phone said it was 86).
Bus - no wait at all for AK or HS either way. Friendly bus drivers
FP+, I felt bad we did not make our first 2 FP, I would have like to just been able to cancel them but had to change the time (which would not let me do a time during EMH when I booked it a few weeks ago) or the "experience". If I changed the experience then I wouldn't have used it so in essence we are still taking FP away from others. This would be an issue in a busier time. I think we should be able to just cancel 1 or 2 not all three (unless I totally missed something!).
Crowds - Better today, but I think this has to do with going first thing in the a.m. and being there when it closed. More like November, although streets were still packed.
Poly - We noticed more and more that the castle view is disappearing from many areas of the beach. This isn't due to the construction but the trees either on the island or near the boat launch at MK. I'm surprised more people don't notice/mention this. I remember clearly in 2003 sitting on a hammock near the boat dock, calling my mom and telling her I was drinking coffee looking at the castle (yes I was rubbing it in).
Also wanted to mention that the room refurb looks good!
Another good day!
DH - converted hubby of 25 years
DD - Celebrating 18th birthday (next week)
DS - Mini me (15) who has the same Disney passion that I do.
Where - Poly
How - JetBlue
We discovered a couple of visits ago that making 8:00 a.m. ADRs in AK for Tusker House makes for a great breakfast and great way to get to the safari before the crowds.
Tusker house was great, the waitress was a bit slow (however friendly) returning with the check, and then you have to let them know you are using the magic band to pay the tip (we used a sit down meal credit), which then she leaves again and returns so you can sign it. This seem to have slowed us down throughout the week, not sure if its a result of the newness of the band, but it was slower then the past. We really enjoy this buffet and happy we discovered it.
No matter, we made our way to the safari which was about a 5 minute wait. This was by far the best safari we have done yet. All the animals were active and they seem to have more then usual. They lion even got up and stretched in front of us and their was a baby giraffe! They didn't do the usual back and forth to "command center" with the bridge rattling etc. Not sure when they took it out but did not miss it.
Onto Expedition Everest, I did not make FP for any thing at AK today since in previous visits we have not needed them this early in the a.m. On the first ride we saw the Yeti and it scared the you know what out of my daughter! Haven't seen him a long time!
We went on about 3 times and it was no more then a 10 minute wait. Onto Dinosaur and my DS made a comment about the 3 year old standing in line behind us, you guessed it, she screamed blood murder the whole time..sigh
We went to get a frozen coke but it was not open. Onto to Tough to be a Bug, it was very crowded but the wait was 10 mins.
We had friends coming over to hang out with us that live the next town over. I did not know if security would give them a hard time (they never had a problem before) and no problem this time either. Disney made money on them today, as we spent a few dollars at the poolside bar!:beer:
Said our goodbyes and off to studios (EMH). Had passes to ToT, RR, and TSM. We missed the ToT and RR times. We walked by TSM and it was a 40 minute wait and over to Osbourne. It was PACKED! but it was still great!
We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we decided to go to Pizza Planet, we could not find it! (They had things roped off), asked a Cast member and they sent us in a big circle. Now we are hungry, hot (it was a bit humid that night) and worried we wouldn't make our TSM fast passes, but we really needed to eat. We ended up at ABC Comminsary, service was slow but food was decent.
We made it to TSM within 5 minutes of the end time and all loved it. This ride just makes us all happy!! The boys beat the girls (so they say) but they didn't have proof!
We did GMR (still love!) We were able to go on RR and ToT on the way out with little wait. The streets still felt very crowded.
No wait for the bus but we had to stand.
Overall thoughts - Weather was a bit more humid then our previous trips so it zapped us a bit, I even went into the pool which I haven't done since kids were little (my phone said it was 86).
Bus - no wait at all for AK or HS either way. Friendly bus drivers
FP+, I felt bad we did not make our first 2 FP, I would have like to just been able to cancel them but had to change the time (which would not let me do a time during EMH when I booked it a few weeks ago) or the "experience". If I changed the experience then I wouldn't have used it so in essence we are still taking FP away from others. This would be an issue in a busier time. I think we should be able to just cancel 1 or 2 not all three (unless I totally missed something!).
Crowds - Better today, but I think this has to do with going first thing in the a.m. and being there when it closed. More like November, although streets were still packed.
Poly - We noticed more and more that the castle view is disappearing from many areas of the beach. This isn't due to the construction but the trees either on the island or near the boat launch at MK. I'm surprised more people don't notice/mention this. I remember clearly in 2003 sitting on a hammock near the boat dock, calling my mom and telling her I was drinking coffee looking at the castle (yes I was rubbing it in).
Also wanted to mention that the room refurb looks good!
Another good day!