At the pace and amount of details I add, I'll be writing about this trip until we go the next time! But it was so much fun, I want to capture every moment so we can relive it.
So Kathryn was the queen of scoring us fun meal reservations. At Hollywood Studios, she got us a reservation (two months in advance) at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. It's basically what the title says -- a diner-themed place set in the 50s with old classic TVs and TV shows running.
They make you feel like your in "mom's house". The waitresses tell you to get your elbows off the table. They look for "clean platers". They even "do the airplane" to make Mom eat her greens if she hasn't eaten then when she comes to clear the table.
We had a great waiter who was in character, but not over the top -- which is good because I don't know how the kids would have reacted. But he did ask Caroline and Joshua to set the table. He was originally from Long Island, so we bonded on the NY front. Matthew didn't eat much, but boy was he creative playing with his action figures, gold fish crackers and silverware. It was good food and fun, and came at a good time in the day. I'd go back again. We had S'mores for dessert. Oh yeah, and a vanilla Coke. THAT was needed.
Refreshed and with the hottest part of the day behind us -- and the crowds majorly thinned -- we used our fast pass for Toy Story Mania (at about 5:45 p.m.). Even more fun the second time. That's one ride they've really nailed it terms of perfection. Too bad the line is so long.
It was too early to go wait for Fantasmic, so we had a little time to kill. This would have been a perfect time to do the Back Lot Tour, but alas, it was closed (though it hadn't been scheduled to be closed). That's a good attraction, but we didn't majorly miss out.
So we took the kids on the Great Movie Ride. It's entertaining and relaxing and fine. We had chosen to avoid it because I remember Alien being in there and it was pretty gruesome. We figured the kids would just need to deal with it because we needed something to do. So we warned the kids. Caroline scrunched up next to me as we got closer to that part. Josh was OK. Matthew kept saying "Where's the alien!" He couldn't wait to see it and was very excited at the prospect. (Being a Jedi, I suppose...) The good news is it's not as bad as I remember and you only see him up in the ceiling. So I'm glad we went.
If I'm not mistaken, it was now about 6:45 p.m. and the parks and attractions were fairly quiet. We literally walked right on Star Wars. I mean NO ONE in front. I took Josh and Matthew (his third trip.....he seemed to memorize it because he does repeat the phrases now).
With Fantastmic at 8:15, we decided it was time to go to the arena. Glad we did....getting there an hour early and we sat in one of the last available sections on the far left side. You'd think one hour early would be plenty early but no. The time went relatively quickly with the kids playing games on my phone and Josh/Matthew playing with the action figures.
Fantasmic is great. Matthew fell asleep for it (of course). I wish Disney wouldn't make it so gruesome. The dragon couldn't be larger or scarier. Tone it back a bit!!! But definitely worth seeing. (Turns out they had not been doing shows every night the week we were there....Disney cutting back on performances to save money, so we were lucky).
Then the obligatory exodus with crowds and Matthew asleep in my arms. Easy exit and drive home (no need to take a parking shuttle).
Next up: Friday's second visit to Magic Kingdom....and it was a great one. Then Saturday at Animal Kingdom, which was Kathryn's favorite park.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Disney World, Day 3 (part 3) (Hollywood Studios)
So the Jedi training is by far the greatest thing that happened to Matthew at Disney World. Kathryn had hoped he would be selected, but she didn't want to get her hopes up too high. But Kathryn knows how to "work it" and made sure she had our cute kid up front but not being too stage mommy.
Kathryn has all the real details on this, but a handful of boys (and one girl) got invited up during the 2:20 p.m. show. They put a cape or robe on him, and then they go through Lightsaber training. Then, the crown jewel: Darth Vader shows up and they each get a turn "dueling" with the Dark Side. Again, Kathryn can share the whole play by play, but Matthew truly feels he's been ordained a Jedi. He now says he doesn't have to get married as Jedis don't get married. He's not going on a mission...because Jedis don't go on missions.
Caroline and I saw the last bit and it was very cute (with a sleeping and still stinky Sammy in my arms).
After all the fun and hub-bub with the Jedi training, it was time to stake out a place for the parade. One of Kathryn's friends says this is the best parade of the bunch. I strongly disagree. It was weak. Kind of like an ad for the Presidential Council on "get up and move". The 3 p.m. parade is themed to Pixar, which is great, but once the parade stretches out, the floats stay where they are and you just see one float for a very long time. In our case, one of the army guys stood in front of our area for 20 minutes leading the kids through dance moves, exercises and people jumping on trampolines. I kept wanting to see the floats further down in the parade. Watching the parade wasn't too bad in terms of crowds. Kids got ice cream.
It seems like many leave with the ending of the parade. We headed to the Muppet 3D movie, and it was EMPTY! It was nice to be inside where it's cool. It served as a good break. My favorite line in the movie is from Sam the Eagle: "The finale is titled A salute to all the nations of the world, but mostly America."
I believe Kathryn then took Matthew on Star Tours again via a Fast Pass while we walked the Streets of America. Dinner is next at the 50s Prime Time Cafe....dinner bell rings at 4:35 p.m.
Kathryn has all the real details on this, but a handful of boys (and one girl) got invited up during the 2:20 p.m. show. They put a cape or robe on him, and then they go through Lightsaber training. Then, the crown jewel: Darth Vader shows up and they each get a turn "dueling" with the Dark Side. Again, Kathryn can share the whole play by play, but Matthew truly feels he's been ordained a Jedi. He now says he doesn't have to get married as Jedis don't get married. He's not going on a mission...because Jedis don't go on missions.
Caroline and I saw the last bit and it was very cute (with a sleeping and still stinky Sammy in my arms).
After all the fun and hub-bub with the Jedi training, it was time to stake out a place for the parade. One of Kathryn's friends says this is the best parade of the bunch. I strongly disagree. It was weak. Kind of like an ad for the Presidential Council on "get up and move". The 3 p.m. parade is themed to Pixar, which is great, but once the parade stretches out, the floats stay where they are and you just see one float for a very long time. In our case, one of the army guys stood in front of our area for 20 minutes leading the kids through dance moves, exercises and people jumping on trampolines. I kept wanting to see the floats further down in the parade. Watching the parade wasn't too bad in terms of crowds. Kids got ice cream.
It seems like many leave with the ending of the parade. We headed to the Muppet 3D movie, and it was EMPTY! It was nice to be inside where it's cool. It served as a good break. My favorite line in the movie is from Sam the Eagle: "The finale is titled A salute to all the nations of the world, but mostly America."
I believe Kathryn then took Matthew on Star Tours again via a Fast Pass while we walked the Streets of America. Dinner is next at the 50s Prime Time Cafe....dinner bell rings at 4:35 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Disney World, Day 3 (part 2) (Hollywood Studios)
So it's now about 12:30 p.m. in our journey.
The challenge with Hollywood Studios is that so much of it is based on shows. What that means is you really have to plan more than other parks because you can't just fill a 20 minute void with a quick ride on the merry go round. It also prevents you from truly doing everything because most of the shows end by 5 p.m.
So we decided to split up which was a smart move. Kathryn took Matthew and Josh to the car stunt show that was to start at 1:20 p.m. I took Caroline and Sammy to go see Beauty and the Beast. At some point, Kathryn bought Matthew some non-Hasbro Star Wars action figures from the gift shop near Star Wars. Smart move! That entertained Matthew for quite a while while waiting for the show to start. I really liked the gift shop purchases we made as they were things that the kids played with right away (like the lightsaber, Toy Story blaster, etc.) (Oh, Kathryn and Caroline went to the store on the "Main Street" area while we were on Star Tours and got her the MInnie Mouse princess stuffed animal she wanted. Sammy got Wheezy, the penguin from Toy Story. He's pretty darn cute. Funny thing is I hear the first one they picked up didn't have a working squeaker. Isn't that the whole plot of Toy Story 2?)
We should have done lunch early, as the touring book recommends, as finding a short line around 12:45 p.m. wasn't easy, and the kids were getting hungry. Not sure what Kathryn did, but I ended up going into the ABC Commisary on the way to Beauty and the Beast and was able to get chicken nuggets et al. The line was manageable, and my two kids were great. I was rushing us a bit because we didn't want another bad experience getting closed out of a show.
So we made the trek to Beauty and the Beast with full tummies. I checked the waits and Fast Pass availabilities at the "Main Street" and saw they were gone for Rock n Roller Coaster (as it's near Beauty and the Beast, I had thought I could get one for me and Kathryn. Darn....that is the best ride in all of Disney World, in my opinion. But that's OK...we totally went into the vacation saying it was for the kids and anything we get is just gravy.)
The Beauty and the Beast show was as good as expected. Caroline loved it and Sammy fell asleep (after pooping...so I just tried to position him up wind from other patrons). I was texting Kathryn and learning that they made it to the show just fine, Matthew loved playing with his Star Wars figures while waiting for the show and all was well.
I hear they liked the show....I think they said one part of the show was having technical difficulties, but Josh and Matthew thought it was fun.
I then carried the sleeping (stinky) Sammy through the crowds with Caroline in tow to catch up with Kathryn and the boys. They had gotten out earlier than us. I stopped and got me a frozen lemonade and had hoped to get Caroline a shake but the machine wasn't working. But we worked our way over and stayed in a restaurant that overlooked the Jedi Training stage....and discovered that Matthew had been chosen to be a Jedi (in the show that started at 2:20 p.m.)! Best best best moment of the whole trip for Kathryn and Matthew. Matthew still talks about it. Every dollar spent for the trip just paid off! Details in my next post.
The challenge with Hollywood Studios is that so much of it is based on shows. What that means is you really have to plan more than other parks because you can't just fill a 20 minute void with a quick ride on the merry go round. It also prevents you from truly doing everything because most of the shows end by 5 p.m.
So we decided to split up which was a smart move. Kathryn took Matthew and Josh to the car stunt show that was to start at 1:20 p.m. I took Caroline and Sammy to go see Beauty and the Beast. At some point, Kathryn bought Matthew some non-Hasbro Star Wars action figures from the gift shop near Star Wars. Smart move! That entertained Matthew for quite a while while waiting for the show to start. I really liked the gift shop purchases we made as they were things that the kids played with right away (like the lightsaber, Toy Story blaster, etc.) (Oh, Kathryn and Caroline went to the store on the "Main Street" area while we were on Star Tours and got her the MInnie Mouse princess stuffed animal she wanted. Sammy got Wheezy, the penguin from Toy Story. He's pretty darn cute. Funny thing is I hear the first one they picked up didn't have a working squeaker. Isn't that the whole plot of Toy Story 2?)
We should have done lunch early, as the touring book recommends, as finding a short line around 12:45 p.m. wasn't easy, and the kids were getting hungry. Not sure what Kathryn did, but I ended up going into the ABC Commisary on the way to Beauty and the Beast and was able to get chicken nuggets et al. The line was manageable, and my two kids were great. I was rushing us a bit because we didn't want another bad experience getting closed out of a show.
So we made the trek to Beauty and the Beast with full tummies. I checked the waits and Fast Pass availabilities at the "Main Street" and saw they were gone for Rock n Roller Coaster (as it's near Beauty and the Beast, I had thought I could get one for me and Kathryn. Darn....that is the best ride in all of Disney World, in my opinion. But that's OK...we totally went into the vacation saying it was for the kids and anything we get is just gravy.)
The Beauty and the Beast show was as good as expected. Caroline loved it and Sammy fell asleep (after pooping...so I just tried to position him up wind from other patrons). I was texting Kathryn and learning that they made it to the show just fine, Matthew loved playing with his Star Wars figures while waiting for the show and all was well.
I hear they liked the show....I think they said one part of the show was having technical difficulties, but Josh and Matthew thought it was fun.
I then carried the sleeping (stinky) Sammy through the crowds with Caroline in tow to catch up with Kathryn and the boys. They had gotten out earlier than us. I stopped and got me a frozen lemonade and had hoped to get Caroline a shake but the machine wasn't working. But we worked our way over and stayed in a restaurant that overlooked the Jedi Training stage....and discovered that Matthew had been chosen to be a Jedi (in the show that started at 2:20 p.m.)! Best best best moment of the whole trip for Kathryn and Matthew. Matthew still talks about it. Every dollar spent for the trip just paid off! Details in my next post.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Disney World, Day 3, Hollywood Studios (Part 1)
Thursday morning, and time to tackle a new park: Hollywood Studios. I felt less pressure heading into this park thinking that we could master it without much trouble. But the crowds were massive and it dampened our enthusiasm somewhat.
The park opened at 9 a.m., and we were there early, as usual. We didn't feel the need, though, to be at the Pole Position spot by the rope. We kind of thought we'd just be mellow about it. So we were back just a little bit. We figured that the real rush would be to Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Turns out the real rush is to Toy Story Mania. It's a dis-jumbled mess. It didn't help that we were a bit unfamiliar with the park, so we were just part of a cattle run. And the corridor to get you to Toy Story is too narrow -- especially with an army of strollers jockeying for position.
When we arrived in the area, there was confusion as to whether we were in the line or the line to get Fast Passes. We were in the correct line and the wait jumped up to 45 minutes pretty fast. (Shortest it would be all day). At one point, Kathryn encouraged me to go get a FastPass for Little Mermaid, so I jumped out and claimed one for 10:30 a.m.
My touring plan that I created said we'd do Toy Story twice right in a row when the doors opened and then move on at 9:20 a.m.. We laughed about that! It was around 10 before we had gone on it once. But it is a super duper awesome ride. Perhaps the best ride we went on at Disney World. You ride in these cute cars and wear 3-D glasses. It's all done virtually, though -- I'm told without the glasses, you'd just see silver screens. Then you go along in a fun house and stop in front of a screen and it becomes a shooting gallery where you score points on what you hit. Some of the items you hit then react with you -- for example, a water balloon shot results in a mist of spray hitting you. It's kind of the same idea as Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom, but much much cooler.
Oh, and there's the Mr. Potato Head in the waiting area that is fully interactive and isn't just on a computer loop.
So then we made a split-second decision and decided that we liked it enough that it was worth waiting in line to get a Fast Pass to ride again. Kathryn took the troops down the road to Mermaid and I waited in line to get the tickets. It was starting to feel very warm already. Somehow I was able to catch up with Kathryn and the kids waiting for the Mermaid show, which I thought was pretty amazing....but then Caroline had to go to the bathroom.
So Kathryn swam upstream with Caroline, got her to the bathroom and talked her way back into the line. I took the three boys in, and luckily Kathryn got into the same audience with us to watch the show. A little manuevering and she ended up with Sammy on the front row, and I had the other three back with me.
The show was good, and we liked it, but after seeing Nemo at Animal Kingdom, I realized this paled in comparison.
It's now 11 and we've done 2 things. The day before, we had knocked out 7 in that short of a time....of course, we also had to deal with "let's go home." But still, this had the "not my favorite park" feeling happening.
We rushed like mad to make the Indiana Jones show at 11:30. Alas, we arrived at 11:10 a.m., and it was already full. Due to what else we wanted to do, we knew we weren't going to get to to see the show at all. One of my bigger disappointments as that was something I thought the kids would really enjoy....and I like it too. Drat.
We had to regroup. We puttered around a little bit between snacks and my trying to get a FastPass for the Lights Actions Car show (after being sold out of one show, we didn't want to take a chance. We were told you could get a FastPass for this show and it didn't count against other Fast Passes. Alas, they weren't doing Fast Passes for it this day).
So we hit Star Tours, one that we knew would be a Matthew favorite. We should have jumped just a few minutes sooner because it was like a 10 minute wait....but a show must have let out because it went up to like 30. I took Josh and Matthew while Kathryn hung with Caroline and Sam. They watched a Jedi Training show....which was good learning for later. Matthew really loved the line for Star Tours, and actually seeing 3CPO and R2D2. (He got on a Star Wars kick earlier this year and loves everything about it). It was magical....like watching a kid meet Santa. I was glad Josh was riding on Star Tours, because it's a good intense ride that's not too scary.
While waiting in line, I formulated our new game plan, which would involve one half going to see Beauty and the Beast, and the other going to the Cars show. More on that in the next post.
The park opened at 9 a.m., and we were there early, as usual. We didn't feel the need, though, to be at the Pole Position spot by the rope. We kind of thought we'd just be mellow about it. So we were back just a little bit. We figured that the real rush would be to Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Turns out the real rush is to Toy Story Mania. It's a dis-jumbled mess. It didn't help that we were a bit unfamiliar with the park, so we were just part of a cattle run. And the corridor to get you to Toy Story is too narrow -- especially with an army of strollers jockeying for position.
When we arrived in the area, there was confusion as to whether we were in the line or the line to get Fast Passes. We were in the correct line and the wait jumped up to 45 minutes pretty fast. (Shortest it would be all day). At one point, Kathryn encouraged me to go get a FastPass for Little Mermaid, so I jumped out and claimed one for 10:30 a.m.
My touring plan that I created said we'd do Toy Story twice right in a row when the doors opened and then move on at 9:20 a.m.. We laughed about that! It was around 10 before we had gone on it once. But it is a super duper awesome ride. Perhaps the best ride we went on at Disney World. You ride in these cute cars and wear 3-D glasses. It's all done virtually, though -- I'm told without the glasses, you'd just see silver screens. Then you go along in a fun house and stop in front of a screen and it becomes a shooting gallery where you score points on what you hit. Some of the items you hit then react with you -- for example, a water balloon shot results in a mist of spray hitting you. It's kind of the same idea as Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom, but much much cooler.
Oh, and there's the Mr. Potato Head in the waiting area that is fully interactive and isn't just on a computer loop.
So then we made a split-second decision and decided that we liked it enough that it was worth waiting in line to get a Fast Pass to ride again. Kathryn took the troops down the road to Mermaid and I waited in line to get the tickets. It was starting to feel very warm already. Somehow I was able to catch up with Kathryn and the kids waiting for the Mermaid show, which I thought was pretty amazing....but then Caroline had to go to the bathroom.
So Kathryn swam upstream with Caroline, got her to the bathroom and talked her way back into the line. I took the three boys in, and luckily Kathryn got into the same audience with us to watch the show. A little manuevering and she ended up with Sammy on the front row, and I had the other three back with me.
The show was good, and we liked it, but after seeing Nemo at Animal Kingdom, I realized this paled in comparison.
It's now 11 and we've done 2 things. The day before, we had knocked out 7 in that short of a time....of course, we also had to deal with "let's go home." But still, this had the "not my favorite park" feeling happening.
We rushed like mad to make the Indiana Jones show at 11:30. Alas, we arrived at 11:10 a.m., and it was already full. Due to what else we wanted to do, we knew we weren't going to get to to see the show at all. One of my bigger disappointments as that was something I thought the kids would really enjoy....and I like it too. Drat.
We had to regroup. We puttered around a little bit between snacks and my trying to get a FastPass for the Lights Actions Car show (after being sold out of one show, we didn't want to take a chance. We were told you could get a FastPass for this show and it didn't count against other Fast Passes. Alas, they weren't doing Fast Passes for it this day).
So we hit Star Tours, one that we knew would be a Matthew favorite. We should have jumped just a few minutes sooner because it was like a 10 minute wait....but a show must have let out because it went up to like 30. I took Josh and Matthew while Kathryn hung with Caroline and Sam. They watched a Jedi Training show....which was good learning for later. Matthew really loved the line for Star Tours, and actually seeing 3CPO and R2D2. (He got on a Star Wars kick earlier this year and loves everything about it). It was magical....like watching a kid meet Santa. I was glad Josh was riding on Star Tours, because it's a good intense ride that's not too scary.
While waiting in line, I formulated our new game plan, which would involve one half going to see Beauty and the Beast, and the other going to the Cars show. More on that in the next post.
Early Season Baseball
Hi all:
I'll return to the play-by-play of Disney World in a day or so, but today is the first real day of the Baseball Season. I see the Red Sox home opener has already been postponed in Boston. It's pouring rain here in NYC....and I hear the same is predicted in Baltimore, where the Yankees open. Some games are threatened due to snow.
When will MLB learn? It would be better for all, eliminate some catch-up double-headers and often return travel to certain cities if the first two weeks of the season featured games exclusively hosted in warm weather cities and/or domed stadiums. Who wouldn't be in favor of that? What fan wants to sit in weather not suitable for skiing, let alone watching baseball?
It's not perfect, but there's nearly enough warm weather venues to go around - for each league, it could be set up to have only one cold-weather venue for the first week or two of the season:
NL (with 16 teams, they need 8 warm weather places)
• Florida (Miami)
• Atlanta
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• Houston
• Arizona (Phoenix)
• San Francisco
AL (with 14 teams, they need 7 warm weather places)
• Tampa
• Toronto (dome)
• Minnesota
• Los Angeles (Angels)
• Oakland
• Texas (Dallas)
To be fair, I looked over the schedule again, and it's not as bad as some years. Maybe they did wise up. But why aren't Tampa and L.A. Dodgers hosting games today instead of being on the road?
I'll return to the play-by-play of Disney World in a day or so, but today is the first real day of the Baseball Season. I see the Red Sox home opener has already been postponed in Boston. It's pouring rain here in NYC....and I hear the same is predicted in Baltimore, where the Yankees open. Some games are threatened due to snow.
When will MLB learn? It would be better for all, eliminate some catch-up double-headers and often return travel to certain cities if the first two weeks of the season featured games exclusively hosted in warm weather cities and/or domed stadiums. Who wouldn't be in favor of that? What fan wants to sit in weather not suitable for skiing, let alone watching baseball?
It's not perfect, but there's nearly enough warm weather venues to go around - for each league, it could be set up to have only one cold-weather venue for the first week or two of the season:
NL (with 16 teams, they need 8 warm weather places)
• Florida (Miami)
• Atlanta
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• Houston
• Arizona (Phoenix)
• San Francisco
AL (with 14 teams, they need 7 warm weather places)
• Tampa
• Toronto (dome)
• Minnesota
• Los Angeles (Angels)
• Oakland
• Texas (Dallas)
To be fair, I looked over the schedule again, and it's not as bad as some years. Maybe they did wise up. But why aren't Tampa and L.A. Dodgers hosting games today instead of being on the road?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Disney World, Day 2 (part 3) (Magic Kingdom)
It was now about 5:30 p.m. and we were ready to test out a new land: Toon Town! Kathryn took some kids to try and catch some characters in the State Fair tent, and I let Matthew blow off steam in Donald's Boat. He didn't want to leave there. Eventually, Kathryn found the line for characters was too long, so she, Matthew and Caroline decided to try Goofy's Barnstormer, a fun little roller coaster.
I kept an eye on Sam (and Josh) in the boat and another little playground.
Kathryn encouraged us to push onward as it was now around 6:30 p.m. So I did one of my famous dashes across the park to see if I could get Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise. While there, I checked out the line for Pirates, and it was less than 10 minutes. So I sprinted back, and got the family back to Adventureland.
We then mimicked our early morning success in terms of "rides per hour". We essentially did everything in Adventureland in one hour: First it was Pirates, then the Magic Carpet, then the Tiki Room, the Swiss Family Robinson tree house (I like that it's not Tarzan), and then the Jungle Cruise.
The Jungle Cruise is DEFINITELY more fun at night as the skippers are more relaxed and are funnier. The kids loved Skipper MIke. They loved a joke about the dancing natives losing the key to the men's room, we loved him humming "Small World" while going through the scary dark cave, and his comment that while he didn't know where the cave would take it, odds were -- being Disney -- it would end in a gift shop.
It reminded me of when Liz (my sister) and I did Jungle Cruise at night many years ago at Disneyland. We still laugh about the jokes...it was just so dry. I don't think we had ever done it at night.
At this point it was now about 8:15 and the parade was coming our way (it goes through Frontierland in Magic Kingdom, unlike Disneyland.) Kathryn found a place that sells ice cream that was just closing down, but we got ice cream, went through a passageway and saw the parade, which had many components of an Electrical Parade. We then figured we'd see the fireworks, but of course it was time for the Matthew and Sammy sleepfest.
So we made it to the Castle area and kept an eye on Sammy in the stroller and held the sleeping Matthew while Kathryn and the olders went for a better view of Tinkerbell and fireworks.
I couldn't really see it, but Kathryn said this was her favorite night time program.
Then, much to my dismay, we joined the throngs at exiting the park in mass. Matthew got heavier and heavier, and I felt my arms were losing their elastics, like a rubber band. Down the street, up the ramp to the Monorail, on the Monorail, down the ramp, onto the parking shuttle. Of course, once we get to the car he wakes up.
But a very very satisfying first full day that even got some swimming.
Hollywood Studios, here we come!!!!
Mark
I kept an eye on Sam (and Josh) in the boat and another little playground.
Kathryn encouraged us to push onward as it was now around 6:30 p.m. So I did one of my famous dashes across the park to see if I could get Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise. While there, I checked out the line for Pirates, and it was less than 10 minutes. So I sprinted back, and got the family back to Adventureland.
We then mimicked our early morning success in terms of "rides per hour". We essentially did everything in Adventureland in one hour: First it was Pirates, then the Magic Carpet, then the Tiki Room, the Swiss Family Robinson tree house (I like that it's not Tarzan), and then the Jungle Cruise.
The Jungle Cruise is DEFINITELY more fun at night as the skippers are more relaxed and are funnier. The kids loved Skipper MIke. They loved a joke about the dancing natives losing the key to the men's room, we loved him humming "Small World" while going through the scary dark cave, and his comment that while he didn't know where the cave would take it, odds were -- being Disney -- it would end in a gift shop.
It reminded me of when Liz (my sister) and I did Jungle Cruise at night many years ago at Disneyland. We still laugh about the jokes...it was just so dry. I don't think we had ever done it at night.
At this point it was now about 8:15 and the parade was coming our way (it goes through Frontierland in Magic Kingdom, unlike Disneyland.) Kathryn found a place that sells ice cream that was just closing down, but we got ice cream, went through a passageway and saw the parade, which had many components of an Electrical Parade. We then figured we'd see the fireworks, but of course it was time for the Matthew and Sammy sleepfest.
So we made it to the Castle area and kept an eye on Sammy in the stroller and held the sleeping Matthew while Kathryn and the olders went for a better view of Tinkerbell and fireworks.
I couldn't really see it, but Kathryn said this was her favorite night time program.
Then, much to my dismay, we joined the throngs at exiting the park in mass. Matthew got heavier and heavier, and I felt my arms were losing their elastics, like a rubber band. Down the street, up the ramp to the Monorail, on the Monorail, down the ramp, onto the parking shuttle. Of course, once we get to the car he wakes up.
But a very very satisfying first full day that even got some swimming.
Hollywood Studios, here we come!!!!
Mark
Disney World, Day 2 (Magic Kingdom) (part 2)
When I last posted, I was writing about the Wednesday experience at Magic Kingdom (our first full day in "the World"). We had left the park 3 hours after a gang-busters start.
I was actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got home, despite having to catch a Monorail and then walk to the car. I know Kathryn was very frustrated by this turn of events, but as I had said from the start, every moment of this trip was going to be magical for the kids....even the ones away from the parks. In their eyes, going to the pool was as big an "E ticket" as Big Thunder.
Sammy fell asleep on the drive home and mercifully transferred, so he got a GREAT nap....Josh cooled off with a cool bath and then napped, too....Kathryn caught a few zzzs too.
I took Matthew and Caroline to the pool. They loved it! We stayed for an hour or so. They had life jackets which helped. Having a huge, uncrowded, outdoor pool in springtime was really a treat to the kids.
Fortunately, we had dinner reservations at 3:45 p.m. which forced us to get back to the Park. We arrived with no hassles, even though we had to ride the parking lot shuttle and then the monorail again. We got in just as the parade was going on Main Street. It was great....we were able to see the majority of the parade (and cross that off the list...I'm not a big fan of camping out for Disney parades) without investing any wait time. I thought it would be a zoo to get up Main Street during the parade, but they did well with crowd control and we had an open path -- then we ditched under the rope and stayed to watch for a time.
We made it to the Crystal Palace and had a wonderful experience. Josh started saying he felt 100 percent better and the mood improved. The buffet was very yummy and Daddy got a full tummy. It was a Pooh and Friends character dinner, so we got visits at the table from Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. Some may complain that for all the money and effort you only get a brief moment with the characters, but I disagree. I liked that they came to us, and we could just be prepared to move fast and shoot our photos and get our autographs.
This is an area where Kathryn excels. It's like managing a Hollywood shoot. When the characters come, she has the autographs (bought at Target, not Disney) turned to the right page, the camera ready, etc. I think the staff learned quickly that we would respect the characters' time (even though we had 4 kids) and not monopolize them. I also like that there's plenty of time for the kids to eat BEFORE the characters come over.
I always made a point of thanking the characters....it can't be easy and I know it's hot. I like to think they don't get thanked a lot and appreciate someone appreciating their work.
I felt like we'd probably only stay another 2 hours, but Kathryn encouraged us to push onward, and we stayed the rest of the night, and it was a success. We walked right on Buzz Lightyear because I had gotten FastPasses before we left the park. That's the best trick -- they don't enforce the expiration of the Fast Pass, just the entry time. So while our pass had expired at 2 p.m., they didn't care....so we'd start stockpiling them (because you get one every two hours) and then use them when it was convenient to us.
Kathryn and I think Matthew and/or Caroline got an immediate second ride as their vehicle hadn't worked, so that was a nice bonus. Then, the little boys wanted blasters from the Toy Story gift shop. I don't know where Matthew and Sammy got into guns, but it's actually kind of cute to see them engaged in such an authentic boy behavior. It's harmless. The blasters didn't shoot anything...just lit up. Really kept them entertained. We went from there to seeing Buzz Lightyear standing in the Carosel (sp?) of Progress and got his autograph and photo -- posing with the Toy Story blasters. Then the gentle Tomorrowland Transit (people mover) which Matthew claimed as one of his favorite rides.
I had thought this may be as far as we could push it due to the morning issues, but as stated earlier, we made it the rest of the night. The rest of the day to be covered next posting.
Mark
I was actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got home, despite having to catch a Monorail and then walk to the car. I know Kathryn was very frustrated by this turn of events, but as I had said from the start, every moment of this trip was going to be magical for the kids....even the ones away from the parks. In their eyes, going to the pool was as big an "E ticket" as Big Thunder.
Sammy fell asleep on the drive home and mercifully transferred, so he got a GREAT nap....Josh cooled off with a cool bath and then napped, too....Kathryn caught a few zzzs too.
I took Matthew and Caroline to the pool. They loved it! We stayed for an hour or so. They had life jackets which helped. Having a huge, uncrowded, outdoor pool in springtime was really a treat to the kids.
Fortunately, we had dinner reservations at 3:45 p.m. which forced us to get back to the Park. We arrived with no hassles, even though we had to ride the parking lot shuttle and then the monorail again. We got in just as the parade was going on Main Street. It was great....we were able to see the majority of the parade (and cross that off the list...I'm not a big fan of camping out for Disney parades) without investing any wait time. I thought it would be a zoo to get up Main Street during the parade, but they did well with crowd control and we had an open path -- then we ditched under the rope and stayed to watch for a time.
We made it to the Crystal Palace and had a wonderful experience. Josh started saying he felt 100 percent better and the mood improved. The buffet was very yummy and Daddy got a full tummy. It was a Pooh and Friends character dinner, so we got visits at the table from Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. Some may complain that for all the money and effort you only get a brief moment with the characters, but I disagree. I liked that they came to us, and we could just be prepared to move fast and shoot our photos and get our autographs.
This is an area where Kathryn excels. It's like managing a Hollywood shoot. When the characters come, she has the autographs (bought at Target, not Disney) turned to the right page, the camera ready, etc. I think the staff learned quickly that we would respect the characters' time (even though we had 4 kids) and not monopolize them. I also like that there's plenty of time for the kids to eat BEFORE the characters come over.
I always made a point of thanking the characters....it can't be easy and I know it's hot. I like to think they don't get thanked a lot and appreciate someone appreciating their work.
I felt like we'd probably only stay another 2 hours, but Kathryn encouraged us to push onward, and we stayed the rest of the night, and it was a success. We walked right on Buzz Lightyear because I had gotten FastPasses before we left the park. That's the best trick -- they don't enforce the expiration of the Fast Pass, just the entry time. So while our pass had expired at 2 p.m., they didn't care....so we'd start stockpiling them (because you get one every two hours) and then use them when it was convenient to us.
Kathryn and I think Matthew and/or Caroline got an immediate second ride as their vehicle hadn't worked, so that was a nice bonus. Then, the little boys wanted blasters from the Toy Story gift shop. I don't know where Matthew and Sammy got into guns, but it's actually kind of cute to see them engaged in such an authentic boy behavior. It's harmless. The blasters didn't shoot anything...just lit up. Really kept them entertained. We went from there to seeing Buzz Lightyear standing in the Carosel (sp?) of Progress and got his autograph and photo -- posing with the Toy Story blasters. Then the gentle Tomorrowland Transit (people mover) which Matthew claimed as one of his favorite rides.
I had thought this may be as far as we could push it due to the morning issues, but as stated earlier, we made it the rest of the night. The rest of the day to be covered next posting.
Mark
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)