Trip Report 7/24 - 7/30

[Joe User 99]

Day 2 (Tues, July 25th):

We decided to take a different approach today, rather than go to the park with the evening Magic Hours, we would go to the one with the morning Magic Hour. In this case, the Magic Kingdom. So we headed out for the bus bright and early.

Since it was late when we got in the previous night, I didn't get any pictures of the hotel, so I figured I'd snap a few on the way to the bus.
We were in the Aligator Bayou section of Port Orleans - Riverside, mainly because that is the only section that has the trundle bed option, and with a family of 5, we had to have that option.

View from our room door

On the walkway to the bus stop

Peek down at how the "other half" lives (The Mansion Section)

We got to the Magic Kingdom entrance with about 20 minutes to spare, so while we waited for the ropes to drop, we planned what to do.

The Grand Floridian as seen from the Magic Kingdom Entrance

Unfortunately, only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland were open for the EMH so, we headed straight for Space Mountain, and grabbed fast passes.

Then while we waited, we hit Stitch's Great Escape...

I'm a bit rusty on my alien translating skills, but something happened here in 2004

Unfortunately, none of the pictures came out. It was took dark.

From there, we headed across the walk to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin...

Queue Theming

Ride Loading

I didn't take any pictures on the actual ride, I was too busy shooting everything in sight!
(Hey, I beat everyone in the family! This dad doesn't "let" the kids win...they have to earn it!)

Post ride theming

$13 for a picture of me playing a video game? And why would I need a POSTER of it?

By this time, the rest of the park was about to open, so we headed to Splash Mountain...

Splash Mountain from a distance before anyone got to it.

A bit closer
(The wife took this one while the kids and I were in the queue. Again, she won't let me use the camera on water rides, and AGAIN, I forgot the waterproof disposable! )

From there, of course, we hit Big Thunder next door...

I don't know where they came up with this standby time, the ride hadn't even been open 30 minutes by this time!

I took this one on the way out. I had been so excited after Splash Mountain, that I never go the camera back from the wife until this point.

From here, we went to check out Pirates....

What this doesn't show, is the queue line actually went all the way back to the Adventureland bridge!

The wait time only said 40 minutes, but it looked like a 40 minute wait to get to the 40 minute wait point in line! So we decided to hold off and headed to the Haunted Mansion instead.

Again with the screwed up Standby time, the mansion said 20 minutes, but was walk on. The only standing in line I did, was the few seconds to snap a couple of pics....

We walked straight into the stretching room, and they closed it up, with all of about 20 people inside (5 of them my family.)

For some reason, I remember the stretching room taking alot longer, because by the time I took this, the doors opened and we jumped on the doom buggies.
(Again, I attempted to snap some pics, but they all turned out like random blurs.)

From here, we headed to Space Mountain to use our fast passes.
My wife took the camera (since she wasn't riding anyway), so no pics.

I have to say, this has to be the most uncomfortable ride for a extra large guy like me. I sat in the very front, but the ride vehicle was so small, my legs barley made it in, with my shins rubbing against the front of the vehicle. And they REALLY need to update this ride. It is the most jerkey thing I can ever remember being on. To the point I now have a nice purple bruise across the point where my shins were rubbing.

So all "lets ride it again" requests were denied.

From here we headed to lunch. Since we still needed to ride Pirates, we decided on Pecos Bill's. Mainly because it was indoors and Air Conditioned. Again, it's a good thing we had the dining plan, I've never paid $68 for burgers!

After lunch, we went back to Pirates...and low and behold, the queue was STILL to the Adventureland bridge. But we went ahead and braved it.

The obligatory Pirates shot
(Looks like the lookout has returned)

Pirates queue theming

And again, up close
(My kid wanted a close up)

Just as we were about to make it to the inside queue (so these were long rang shots and just as my memory card got full) , look who makes an appearance...

YMCA!

STOP! In the name of love...

Mr. Smee looks a bit happy to see Capt. Jack

Anyway, being another water ride, my wife took the camera away again, with this one last shot..

I didn't take any pics of the post ride store, but they had everything you need to be a plastic pirate.

And just around the corner, we stopped at the Tiki Room...

Queue Theming

Inside the Tiki Room

From there, we wandered around adventureland, choosing to pass on the 50 minute wait for Jungle cruise. We wandered through the stores on main street for a while, and through Fantasyland. We headed back to the hotel room and took a shower, changed, and a short rest before heading back over to the Contemporary for dinner. (btw...for anyone who doesn't know, you can't take a bus from hotel to hotel. You have to take one from your hotel to a theme park, and then transfer to another bus (or in this case monorail) to the other hotel.)

Obligatory Space Mountain shot from the resort monorail on the way to the Contemporary

Concourse at the Contemporary

From what I had heard, the Concourse Steak House was a great place to eat, so we tried it out.

We started out sampling the various appetizers... Lobster Bisque, Honey Sesame Chicken Wings, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad, and Ceaser Salad.

Followed by various cuts, including the prime rib, sirloin, and the Chipotle rib eye. all were wonderful.

Desert included a non menu item, the Mickey Sundae...

(The Mickey face was in fact chocolate, and the Mickey in the back was a brownie.)

Our server was great (I think her name was Kim.) Anyway, the bill totaled out about $225, and we added a bit extra to the 18% included in the dining plan.

After dinner, we took the monorail all the way back around to the Magic Kingdom for Spectromagic and Wishes...

Spectromagic

Float Theming

After Spectomagic, we waited around for Wishes. It was crowded as anything, so I grabbed these from way back at the train station...but by the time Wishes rolled around I had lost my spot, and my fireworks shots have nothing but fireworks, no castle, so I didn't bother posting any of them. (I tried to get the castle in all the colors that the lights were cycling through.)

From this point, we called it a day, and headed back to the hotel.
Hope everyone is enjoying this. And thanks for all the feedback.
Stay tuned for day 3 tomorrow!

[geekzapoppin]

So how long did the wait for Pirates turn out to be? It's amazing how the addition of three AA's and a mist screen will turn a walk-on into a wait! Let's not give Disney any ideas that we want Eddie Murphy added to the Mansion, though. That would be clobberin' time!

[Joe User 99]

Originally Posted by geekzapoppin

So how long did the wait for Pirates turn out to be? It's amazing how the addition of three AA's and a mist screen will turn a walk-on into a wait! Let's not give Disney any ideas that we want Eddie Murphy added to the Mansion, though. That would be clobberin' time!

I didn't time it, but I would guess between 45min to 1hr. It wasn't bad once we got out of the sun and into the shade of the "real" queue.

Yeah, the mist screen was nicely done. It was nicer than I thought it would be. The rest didn't really impact me any.

My kids did mention how Capt. Jack looked really lifelike.

I thought the timing of the cannon shots was poorly done, as we didn't get a single shot as we passed by. They were all before or after we passed. I was eagerly awaiting the feel the rush of air as a shot went over our heads, but NO!

[DonDuck]

Fantastic pictures and report! More please

BTW, It definitely looks like the dining plan is working out for your family.

[Kaye]

Your pictures are awesome. thanks for sharing

[Hamlet Schmalzbach]

Great report. Love the bits of humor. Thanks for sharing.

[Joe User 99]

Day 3 (Wed, July 26th):

Before we left home, I checked the forecast for Orlando for the week we would be there, and every single day had at least a 30% of rain, if not higher.

Everyone said "Don't buy the Disney rain poncho's, they run about $15. Buy the disposable walmart ones and just throw them away."

Well, we did that. Before we left, we picked up about 35 of the disposable ponchos...We ended up using 2 of them (My wife used both) .

Anyway...Day 3 was one of only 2 days that we were affected by the weather.

We headed to MGM. Yes, it was scheduled for the evening Magic Hours,
but it was the park the kids were looking forward to the most, so we didn't know how long we would end up there.

Basically, all day.

We arrived right before it opened,

The backside of Tower Of Terror

The Swan as seen from the entrance

Everyone waiting for the official opening

Once the opening skit was over, everyone headed down the street towards TOT.

Since my boys are thrill ride seekers, their plan of attack was simple.
Head straight for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and fast pass it, then hit Tower of Terror next door.

Tower Of Terror as seen from Sunset Blvd.

Obligatory TOT shot

Here is a tip...Don't use mist as an effect on a hot and humid Florida morning.

I didn't get any ride shots, I was too busy screaming my head off!

Since we had grabbed our Fast Passes for Rock 'n' Roller Coster right at opening, as soon as we finished TOT, we went straight over.

Obligatory Rock 'n' Roller Coaster shot

I have to say, this was a MUCH nicer coaster than Space Mountain. It was such a smooth ride. And I like how the ride exit shop has things like drum sticks and guitar picks. Also, items that were purely Aerosmith, and not really ride related. (I don't know about the fake mullets though. That's just not right. )

From there, we took a bit of time just wandering the shops along Sunset Blvd.

Friggin' Pirates is EVERYWHERE!

"It's not a toomah."

From there, we stopped in at the Great Movie Ride.

"Singing In The Rain..."

"Chim Chiminey..."

"The way I figure, there's really not too much future with a sawed-off runt like you."

"That'll be the day."

"You have no power here! Now begone, before somebody drops a house on you!"

"Follow the yellow brick road."

"Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz. I said come back tomorrow."

Ok...enough of that!

On to Star Tours!

I don't know, in Jedi, the trees on Endor looked so much BIGGER!

So THAT's how Imperial Walkers work!

And why was the alliance always looking for pilots? R2D2 was the only navigator droid they had anyway!

And I thought the Buzz Lightyear pictures were bad! Here they would insert your face into one of these templates....for $35!

From here, we headed off for lunch. The kids of course, wanted Pizza Planet, so we figured we'd give it a try.

Now I admit, I've never been to MGM before. But was this intentional, or was it a set for something else previously? (Why does it say Metropolis Department of Water and Power?)

After lunch, we went next door to MuppetVision 3D.

Not much a wait time...

"So Real, You'll Think You're Here!"

Notice the Star Wars Spoof.

From there, we walked around doing odds & ends.

"Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" Movie Set Adventure
(Basically, a playground.)

Yeah, how many kids today actually know what a Tinkertoy is?

Back outside, we stopped to see the Power Rangers.

and up the street, other characters, like Kim Possible

Then too the Backlot Tour...
(I let one of my teens take the pics here in the queue)

"Harbor Attack"

The Tram portion of the tour

The Bone Cage

BlueThunder! What have they done to you!

Catastrophe Canyon

How it works

The plane Walt used to scout the land for WDW

Can't they take better care of these things?

From there, we tried to get to the Stunt Show, but it was too long a wait, so we hit Indy instead.

After Indy, we walked around seeing what was left to do...

The Brown Derby
(Nope...didn't eat there.)

The packed queue at Journey Into Narnia

The view from Narnia

Stopped off at Millionare...
(Got in the top 10. Stupid person who made it to the hot seat didn't even know the answer, she just randomly pressed the buttons.)

Took these before they told us no pictures.

From there, we went to dinner.
We were on the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood & Vine.

Being on the Fanstasmic package allowed us to use this "secret" entrance to Fantasmic while the rest of the poor schmucks were stuck in the crowd down on Sunset Blvd.

Front Row at Fantasmic

This is where the weater affected us. They ended up cancelling the show less than 10 minutes before the start time. After sitting there for over an hour!

I knew it was too good to be true!

Oh well... we took that as a sign to call it a night.
So we grabbed a bus and headed back to the hotel to prep for EPCOT on Day 4.

Hope everyone is enjoying. Again, thanks for the responses.

[Hamlet Schmalzbach]

really enjoying your report. Man, I have not been to MGM in a long time (last visit to WDW I was not there long enough.) I realize I messed that up. Thanks for sharing.

[figment1986]

nice TR.... i think the area around muppets is left over from a different project that never actually got off the ground... or because they did have something else there.. for the tram tour way back when...

[Joe User 99]

Day 4 (Thurs, July 27th):

Having sucess with our MGM experience of going at opening in order to beat the lines at the popular attractions, we decided to do the same for EPCOT.

My wife is not one for thrill rides, so she was hesitant to go on almost everything at EPCOT, so we decided to send her straight to Misson Space for Fast Passes as soon as we got in the gate, and the boys and I headed for Soarin'. I told her I thought she would be ok on it, but she didn't want to risk it. And having never been on it before, I didn't know what to expect, so I put away the camera when we boarded.

We were really looking forward to seeing Crush, but the entire Living Seas pavillion was closed.

Since my wife was so quick to grab the fast passes, our return time for Mission Space was pretty early, so we went straight over there. And my wife decided to go ahead and ride it also.

We got queued in seperate teams, but it was cool anyway. My wife got 2 of the boys, and I got the older one. For some reason, they didn't stick a fourth member on her team, so they had one empty slot.

Now, I know it says in the warning announcement to keep your head back, and such, but when the pre-story movie played and everyone was told they would have to push buttons, one of the boys figured he'd push the buttons on the missing spot on his team. SO...naturally, he moved around to push them, and got pretty queasy from doing so.

The stand-by line looked much longer inside than 20 minutes

So when we finished, we grabbed fast passes for Test track, and figured we'd go do something less intense to let his stomach settle. So we headed to Spaceship Earth.

After that, we did a little shopping at Mouse Gear, then over to lunch at the Electric Umbrella.

After lunch we headed to Club Cool to sample the free sodas. Everything was pretty good except for the bitter one from Isreal.

After filling up on soda, we headed over to Honey I Shrunk The Audience.

Then back over to Test Track to use our Fast Passes.

Post Ride Displays

Then BACK over to where we just were, to do Journey Into Imagination.

Afterwards, my wife wanted to make a quick trip to the Magic Kingdom to do a little shopping, and that portion of the monorail was broke, so we had to take the ferry.

The Grand Floridian as seen from the Ferry Launch

The Polynesian as seen from the Ferry Launch

The shopping put us pretty close to our dinner reservation back at EPCOT, but luckily the monorail was working again by then, so we sped back to Nine Dragons at the China Pavilion for dinner. I wasn't really impressed with the food, and neither was the rest of the family.

We started with the Chicken and Shrimp Shao Mai, and Scallion Fragrant Shrimp for appetizers.

Then we tried the General Tso's chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork, and my wife had the Xinjiang style Lamb chops. I think she was the only one that liked their meal.

And it's impossible to get a regular glass of ice tea in that place! You have your choice of the Sweet (Extremely sweet) Rasberry Ice tea. Or the Jasmine Green Tea. I tried both, and did not care for either. If the Rasberry wasn't so sweet it may have been ok, but it was like syrup.

And for dessert, we tried the red bean ice cream, and cheesecake.

Afterwards, we strolled around the rest of the World Showcase shopping.

Germany

Italy

Some of the Statue from the Italy Pavillion

America

Japan

My wife did a TON of shopping at the Japan pavillion. They must sell everything ever made in Japan at that store.

We finished up the World Showcase and called it a night at that point, choosing to skip the Illuminations show. (My wife decided she had seen enough fireworks by that point.)

Alot of walking back and forth across the park that day, but not a bad day altogether. I wasn't concerned, I was concentrating on Friday already!

Day 5 coming soon!

[aimster]

Now I admit, I've never been to MGM before. But was this intentional, or was it a set for something else previously? (Why does it say Metropolis Department of Water and Power?)

That builsing was something else before it was Pizza Planet... but for the life of me I can't remember what! I do have pics years ago (early 90's) before the Toy Story decorations/theming went up.

[DiRTyBuNNy]

Was that the name of the building Will Smith went to in Men in Black?

--Mr. DB

[MickeyMania]

Originally Posted by Joe User 99

Obligatory Space Mountain shot from the resort monorail on the way to the Contemporary

Concourse at the Contemporary

I want desktops of these (1280x1024 or bigger) pleeeeez...

Sounds like a great trip. And actually, the farther back you go in a Space Mountain rocket the more roomier it gets. I'm not suprised a front row seat gave you bruises.

R&RC a nicer coaster than Space Mountain, I'm not suprised, but in what way? Just smoothness or something else? Because a big thrill ride chicken I could do Space but RNRC is literally the last ride I would step on at WDW (I'd do Mission Space orange first!) Maybe it's the Gs, the banked turns, but mostly the upside-down action that freaks me out.

As for that mysterious MGM building, I can't find any information about what used to happen there, but I did find a post on newsgroups of someone complaining about it back in 02.

[Joe User 99]

Originally Posted by MickeyMania

I want desktops of these (1280x1024 or bigger) pleeeeez...

Every picture I have posted here I have in the original size of 2048x1536.
They are all .jpg and run about 1.5mb a piece.

You are welcome to have copies, just let me know where to send them.
All I ask is that if they end up posted on a web site that I am credited for them.

Originally Posted by MickeyMania

R&RC a nicer coaster than Space Mountain, I'm not suprised, but in what way? Just smoothness or something else? Because a big thrill ride chicken I could do Space but RNRC is literally the last ride I would step on at WDW (I'd do Mission Space orange first!) Maybe it's the Gs, the banked turns, but mostly the upside-down action that freaks me out.

Mainly, it was such a smooth ride. If I remember correctly, the loop was straight out of the gate, and I would guess we were completely upside down, with gravity pulling on me before I even noticed. I don't know...it was just a much nicer experience. Although it seems alot shorter.

But it was so nice, I rode it multiple times.

Same with Everest. A nice smooth ride. Even when you go backwards in the dark. I don't know, maybe it's the advancements in coaster design or something, or the age and wear and tear over the years on Space Mountain, but the other two were just better in my opinion.

[Joe User 99]

Day 5 (Fri, July 28th):

Friday we had plans for Downtown Disney. But in the evening, and there was no way it was going to take up a full day, so we started out making it a make up day. We decided to park hop, trying to catch all the rides we had missed on previous trips to the various parks before heading to Downtown Disney in the afternoon.

Since we had missed Everest on the first day, we hit Animal Kingdom at opening and went straight over and got Fast Passes. Then while we waited, we took the Jungle Safari.

Queue

Hungry Hungry Hippos

By the time the Safari was finished, it was time for Everest. Since my wife wasn't going to go on it with us, I handed her the camera and the boys and I headed to Asia.

Everest was great, and had the stand-by line not been so long, I would have gone a few more times. The line was up to 50 minutes, and even the single rider line was at 40. But no biggie.

We did a little bit of shopping, and left for the Magic Kingdom.

Previously we had missed out on a lot of the Fantasy land rides because we were concentrating on the thrill rides, so we hit the Dumbo's, Teacups, and then back over to Small World.

Dumbo

Teacups

Is it REALLY?

By that time, everything was a long line, so we headed out for MGM.

Nice backside...

At MGM we decided to do the same as Magic Kingdom and concentrate on what we had missed previously....but not until after doing Rock 'n' Roller Coaster again!

Afterwards, we headed to Voyage Of The Little Mermaid, but it was really dark, so not many of the pictures came out...but here is a good one.

Then we headed over to "The Magic of Disney Animation"

Photo Op Time...

At the end of the exhibit, there is a section of concept art for various movies

Tink Concept Art

Buzz Lightyear Concept Art

Woody Concept Art

From there, we headed to Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show.

Notice the hand on the driver of the red car. It's backwards!
(It's because the stunt car was built with the body on backwards for "backwards" stunt driving.)

Whew! On our 3rd park of the day, and it's only just lunch time! We stopped at the ABC Commissary for lunch.

From here, we headed back to the hotel room to rest up for the afternoon, shower, change, etc, etc.
Then on to Downtown Disney. We started at the Marketplace end, and shopped our way to Pleasure Island. The kids enjoyed the Lego Store. We pretty much skipped pleasure island, as we had reservations at Planet Hollywood.

Dinner was good. we started with Potato Skins, Buffalo Wings, and Blackened Shrimp for appetizers. Followed by the Classic Cheesburger, L.A. Lasagne, and the 14oz Ribeye for the main course.
For Dessert, we went with Banana's Foster Cheesecake, Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie, and the "Super" Chocolate Cake. A good stuffed feeling was had by all. It totaled out about $220, so another good use of the dining plan.

From there, we walked off dinner

What I hadn't told anyone, was that I knew there was a House Of Blues here, and I had previously checked the event schedule, and found out that Bowling For Soup was playing that evening. So I took my 14 year old, bought tickets (Only $15 a piece!) and took him to his first ever concert.

Ticket Booth

HOB Water Tower Sign

It was great. I got him a tour shirt, and the CDs being offered by the opening acts. (Army Of Freshmen, Punchline, Lucky Boys Confusion).

All 4 bands were great, and we had a good father son bonding moment.

The only thing I didn't like was that HOB wouldn't let us bring ANYTHING inside. No Camera's, no camera phones, not even the sharpie I had brought so we could get autographs!

Meanwhile, my wife and the other two spent the evening across the way at Disney Interactive.

It was getting late by the time we got out of the show, and my wife and the other two boys had already taken the bus back to the hotel, so we did the same, and called it a night. A good night.

Winding down in day 6 & 7...stay tuned!