radar
12-11-2003, 02:22 AM
Four Birthdays, One World…
radar’s Walt Disney World Camping Report
July 25 - August 4, 2003
HOP TO ANIMAL KINGDOM
I see a number of disparaging posts concerning the Disney bus system and I used to spend quite a bit of time defending it. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are either the kind of person who likes it or you don’t. Why anyone would prefer to walk to a hot car, drive to another place arriving about the time they start feeling the air conditioner, hike from the parking lot to the gate (or even back to the room) only to have to repeat the process again in a few hours is beyond me. Why not let Disney do the driving on an air conditioned bus? So what if it takes a few more minutes? In spite of the horror stories I’ve heard, I can’t recall ever spending an hour getting anywhere on Disney transportation.
I also love taking the time to talk to the drivers (a wealth of Disney info) or other guests. It gets my mind off of the parks and by the time we arrive at our destination, I feel more refreshed than had I tried to go back and take a nap at the resort. This day, it did take a while for a bus to show up and it is quite a walk from the bus stop to the gate at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, so it was nearly 5:30 when we arrived. We headed straight for Kali River Rapids and the sign said a 50 minute wait for standby. Don’t think it was quite that long, but it definitely was closing time when we were finished. True to the word of the signs in line, we DID get wet and some of us got SOAKED! Tyson truly seems to be a water magnet on this ride and he loved every minute of it.
BACK TO MGM
So then it was back to MGM to retrieve our strollers and eat dinner. Unfortunately, when we returned our strollers were gone. Evidently some well meaning cast member had thought they’d been abandoned—or some not-so-well-meaning guest decided they wanted a free stroller rental. We thought we’d taken anything of value out, but then recalled storing our photo claim tickets and our communicator owners manual in the back flap. It wasn’t that big a deal, but we really had spent some time getting photos with characters today and at least wanted to see what they looked like.
Thinking they may have just recently been taken to stroller return, we asked if the manual had been found. No luck there, but Andrew saw the stroller name tags in the trash can and started looking through them just on the chance that all of our things might be there together. That’s when cast member Dennis stepped in. First he asked what we were doing, then proceeded to help us look through the trash can! Not finding anything, he asked about the missing items (obviously nothing of real value), and walked with Rhonda over to Cover Story (the shop that sells the photos) and then helped us figure out what time the photos were taken and we found two of the three shots. I feel that Dennis really went above and beyond to help a guest and deserved a special note written to his superiors.
(from a Passporter Newsletter)
Walt Disney had strong feelings about tipping that are still reflected in official policy at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Walt did not want guests "bribing" employees to receive preferential treatment, such as getting a table by tipping a dining room host/hostess, a better room by tipping a desk clerk, or bypassing a line by tipping a ride attendant. He wanted all guests to have the same high level of service, regardless of financial means. As a result, most Disney employees are expressly prohibited from accepting tips, and can be terminated for doing so. You can certainly express your appreciation by offering a gratuity, but expect that your offer will be very politely declined. Express your appreciation by sending a written commendation to WDW Guest Communications. These letters can do more for a cast member's career than any tip you may have given. Here's the address: Guest Communications, Walt Disney World Co., Inc., PO Box 10040, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040, or e-mail: wdw.guest.communications@disney.com
By the way, we did buy the professional photos of Stitch and the Monsters ($19.52 after discount), lost the Toy Story guys (unlikely we’d have bought that anyway). Also, they can digitally add an autograph to your pictures--so if you want Mike & Sulley's this is the only way since the characters can't sign themselves.
DINNER @ PIZZA PLANET
While Rhonda stayed to finalize the purchase, I took the rest of the crew to get a seat at Pizza Planet. In spite of his new-found love of Mickey, Tyson has been a Toy Story fan for quite some time. When we said Pizza Planet was an option, he’d have chosen eating there over any character meal or fancy restaurant we could have dreamed up. Since I’d heard horror stories online about the wait to buy food there, we decided I’d get a table to have the kids hold, then get in line to wait for Rhonda.
As it turned out, it seemed the big dinner rush was probably over. I had the kids hold a table outside, but by the time Rhonda got there we probably only had a ten minute wait for food and the upstairs seating was starting to clear out. I got $10 worth of tokens and set the kids loose in the arcade. Our table was right next to the rail overlooking the games. Since we’d brought the collapsible cooler with us, we had juice pouches, individual serve applesauce and carrot sticks to supplement the five personal-size pizzas we bought ($30.62). We spent quite a while here, the kids arcading and Rhonda and I relaxing. Finally, we decided to let Tyson choose whether he would rather stick around for Fantasmic! or go back to swim in the pool.
Tyson chose the latter so we left, but first stopped at the Sounds Dangerous show. Some obnoxious teenagers were right behind us in the dark, but none of us had experienced this attraction yet, so I’m glad we went. Unfortunately, just as we pulled into our campsite to change into our suits, the sky let loose and a DOWNPOUR ensued so Tyson didn’t get his swim. However, VERY fortunately, we weren’t in line for the late showing of Fantasmic! when that downpour came. I don’t know if it was canceled, but the wait would have been miserable.
I was also glad that we’d chosen not to purchase tickets for this E-Night. We had considered Andrew and I going while Rhonda had a late-night swim with the younger kids, but we pretty much just forgot to buy tickets. There was another E-Night scheduled for our last day in the parks—we thought we might check it out then.
One final note: I’m not sure what the rain did, but as we turned in for the evening, the area by the tent flap where we normally kept our shoes was overrun with fire ants. Zach got bit a couple of times and in his tired state, it wasn’t pretty. All in all though, we got to sleep quickly after prayers. Another good day! Tomorrow would be Elizabeth’s Birthday celebration and we’d FINALLY visit the Magic Kingdom!
DAY FIVE- ELIZABETH’S "DAY" @ MAGIC KINGDOM
Frankly I would have never dreamed that we would be on the fifth day of our vacation before setting foot inside the Magic Kingdom, but the late start on our first day and pre-trip plans had just worked out that way. On the agenda for today was a trip to Epcot for the Extra Magic Hour at 9:00 and brunch at the Princess Storybook breakfast before hopping to the Magic Kingdom. At our morning pop tarts pow wow at camp, the family decided to forego early entry at Epcot, get to the Magic Kingdom early to see the opening and maybe take a quick ride on Splash Mountain (our family favorite) and then head to Epcot for our 10:10 Priority seating (the latest available). Ambitious? Yes, but we thought we were up for it…
BOAT TO MAGIC KINGDOM
Our plan may have worked, had we caught the first boat. We had awaken in plenty of time, Rhonda even washed and dried a load of laundry before breakfast and Elizabeth got a "Happy Birthday" cell phone call in lieu of our Mickey wake up (Thanks again, Howie and JimH). However, by the time we’d caught the bus up to the marina area, the first boat to the Magic Kingdom was just leaving the dock. It looked completely full, which means that it was headed directly to the Magic Kingdom. The route for these boats normally runs Ft.Wilderness-Wilderness Lodge-Magic Kingdom, but if the boat is full it skips the lodge and the next one picks up there first. So needless to say we waited a bit for the next boat. Another option for us (and one we took last summer in a similar situation) was to take the smaller launch to the Contemporary and then either walk or take the resort monorail from there. Since time was a consideration this morning, we opted for waiting for the Magic Kingdom boat.
We ended up not being too late, basically seeing the confetti from the opening shoot off as our boat pulled into the dock. So we missed the opening, but after running through the security gauntlet got through the gates just a bit after rope drop. Not stopping for lockers or strollers (we still planned on hopping to Epcot quickly), we went up the stairs to the train. Used to be that you could just about beat everyone to Frontierland by taking the train at rope drop, but now it takes them a little while to clear out all the characters from opening. However if you time it right, it IS faster to ride the train than walk.
We went to the back of the train to ask the conductor if he had an assistant yet and he said no. Since Elizabeth was wearing her Birthday button, he got a little info (name, age, where from) and introduced her over the mic. Liz then got to shout "All Aboard!" and push the numbered buttons that start the recordings as we traveled to Frontierland.
I don’t remember the standby time for Splash, but Rhonda went to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while the rest of us stood in line. Our wait wasn’t too long, and I’d guess we were humming Zip-a-dee-doo-dah by 9:30. However, one of the things I really wanted from this trip was to update our Splash family picture. We had purchased a frame some time ago and like to periodically update it, so we said if we ever got the whole family in one log without some random strangers we’d buy it. Well that was the case, so we waited for our picture ($11.04 after CM discount), got a quick snapshot of the kids with Brer Bear and zipped back up to the train.
HOP TO EPCOT
Okay, I’ll admit to not thinking this one through. We had approximately 45 minutes to get to Norway at World Showcase for our breakfast (PS at 10:10, but they stop serving at 10:30) and the train is INFINATELY slower going the other way with the stop at Toontown. We should have walked back to the gate. However Zach asked the conductor on his own if he could say "All Aboard!" and he got to assist. We realized there was NO WAY we were making our 10:10, so started trying to call the restaurant to see if they could hold some food for us. But with all my notes and travel books in my backpack, do you think I could find a way to contact the restaurant directly? Not a chance.
It seemed to take longer than I had expected at virtually every turn on the monorail trip to Epcot and somewhere along the line we lost one of our water bottles (a nice, large canvas holder with strap that we’d bought years earlier at the Disney Store—never did recover this one). It was around 10:45 when we entered the park, so we went directly to guest relations, verifying what we had expected—too late for Princess Storybook. Liz took it very well and the boys hadn’t been that excited about the "girly Princess breakfast" anyway. However Raymond, the cast member at Epcot guest relations, really went above and beyond to try to find a suitable replacement for us (prompting our second written thank you to WDW guest relations).
First he offered to get us in at any other Epcot restaurant for later in the day to celebrate Liz’s birthday- That wouldn’t work since we planned to head back to the Magic Kingdom anyway.
Then he promised to get us in to the Storybook Breakfast the next day- Couldn’t do that since we weren’t planning to enter the parks tomorrow, our "off day".
Finally he booked a Priority Seating for us at 1900 Park Fair for the Cinderella Gala the next day figuring we could still see the Cinderella characters and wouldn’t need entrance to the parks- I didn’t know if this would really fit into our plans (ultimately it didn’t, sorry Raymond), but by this time I wanted to agree to anything, just because this guy was trying so hard to please us. In addition, they gave Liz one of the Epcot Birthday buttons (she was already wearing a Magic Kingdom one) and told her there was a phone call for her (happy birthday from Goofy). All this for a family who just couldn’t be on time for a reservation—I’m still a fan of Disney customer service!
BACK TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM
It seems sort of silly now that we traipsed all the way over to Epcot just to visit Guest Relations, but the family just wanted to get back to the Magic Kingdom so that is what we did. We did transfer to the ferry at the Ticket and Transportation Center though just for variety and got to see Nemo and his seaweed friends while there
After clearing security for a THIRD time this morning, we got our strollers and locker and headed out onto Main Street USA. There we were greeted by the Mayor who spotted Elizabeth’s buttons and sang Happy Birthday to her in his Irish brogue. Quite an unexpected and magical moment.
TOMORROWLAND
Even though we had FastPasses to Big Thunder in hand, there was no keeping the kids from Tomorrowland. We pulled FastPasses for Buzz and headed to Space Mountain, There was quite a wait for standby at this time of day, but we had brought Tyson’s "Mousetronaut in Training" certificate from last summer. Tyson was right at the 44 inch mark this year, so the Cast Member marked "admit 6" on the back and sent us up the FastPass line. We got a great picture of Tyson being measured by the cast member with his certificate that I’ll always treasure.
We soared through Space, took in the Carrousel of Progress and rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority by the time our Buzz FP window arrived. We pulled another Buzz FP and then rode Buzz before lunch.
LUNCH @ COSMIC RAY’S
If you’ve been keeping track, you might notice that our family tries to be awfully frugal when eating. To me, Disney dining is all about the atmosphere rather than the cuisine. We order lots of kids meals and often split adult entrees to stretch our dollars as far as possible. We probably take the saving money thing to the extreme when we eat Magic Kingdom counter service. We enjoy Cosmic Ray’s for decent, reasonably-priced food, but when feeding a starving family of six that hasn’t eaten since pop tarts upon waking—sometimes we get creative. We’d missed Elizabeth’s "special" birthday meal this day, but figured to make it up tomorrow, so we needed to eat fairly cheap. We chose Ray’s for a couple of reasons,: 1) I can graze the fixin’s bar and make myself a virtual salad with the veggies, sautéed mushrooms and onions and 2) I was anxious to try out a tip I’d picked up from the budget board here at Tagrel.com (thanks SuzyQ)—ordering a double cheeseburger with an EXTRA BUN on the side (for a mere 79 cents extra!). for two burgers at nearly the price of one!
Perhaps my biggest surprise of the trip was that the cast member didn’t bat an eye as we ordered—as if people order a bun on the side all the time! All totaled up, 3 kids burger meals with drinks, two Double Burgers with fries plus extra bun and 3 cups of ice water (no charge) was $29.54 (no CM discount on counter service). And to top it all off, they gave us two free ice cream cookie sandwiches when they saw Elizabeth’s birthday buttons! We were stuffed when we left!
Our Buzz Fast Passes were now active again, so keeping with our strategy of always having a Fast Pass in hand, we decided to split up. Rhonda headed to Fantasyland for FPs to Peter Pan and/or Pooh with one communicator, I headed to the hub to scout out a good parade location, while the kids went to Buzz for another quick Space Ranger Spin (did I mention they LIKE this ride?).
I got what I thought to be a near perfect location for the parade with strollers on either side of me to help hold our place—slightly around the corner of the hub so the castle would be in the background as we snapped photos of the snow globe floats. The parade had been rained out last summer on the day we’d scheduled to see it, so I was quite anxious for the kids to get a good view. Rhonda and I had seen it during our "kidless" trip in Feb. Rhonda had snared Fast Passes to both Pan and Pooh, and quickly located my parade location speaking to me with our new 2-way communicators. It was nearing 3:00 and the Grand Marshals of the parade came rolling through so I decided I’d better try to retrieve the kids before they got trapped in Tomorrowland by the parade. We’d given specific instructions about the route to take to meet us, so I headed across the bridge with the idea of meeting them at the Buzz exit. About halfway there, the rain hit.
AND THE RAIN RAIN RAIN CAME DOWN DOWN DOWN…
I guess the Florida liquid sunshine gods just do not want my kids to see this parade! The sky opened up and I’ve never seen so much water. Unless you were under cover, you were instantly SOAKED. When the kids got out, we took refuge outside the Carrousel of Progress building. Rhonda somehow got both strollers back to Cosmic Ray’s and I met her there to get the backpack with the ponchos. I’m not quite sure how, but we still had three unused FPs for Buzz, so the boys wanted one more ride while Liz wanted to do some shopping at her favorite WDW store, Tinkerbell’s Treasures behind the castle. I went with the boys and we all met again in Fantasyland to use our Fast Passes for Pooh and Pan, also getting a poncho-clad picture of the kids at the Sword in the Stone as the rain started to let up. We also spent a little time playing at Ariel’s Grotto, but didn’t wait in line to see Ariel herself. Additionally we snapped some photos of Bert and Mary from Mary Poppins while they rode the carrousel. I love it when you see characters on the rides!
LIBERTY SQUARE AND THE SEARCH FOR "NAKED PRESIDENTS"
After a quick ride with some hitchhiking ghosts at the Haunted Mansion, we headed to Liberty Square. The Hall of Presidents was a must-do this trip as we had seen few Audio-Animatronic attractions last summer and Andrew had made the statement one evening before our trip that he thought the figures would be more interesting "without clothes"-- so you could see the mechanical workings. Well he’d been taking a lot of good natured ribbing from the rest of the family about that statement and wanting to see "naked presidents" so here we were. We watched the show and it was quite a bit more entertaining than I’d remembered—it even held the attention of the little boys.
GOOFY’S JAMBOREE & ANOTHER LOST ITEM
We spent a little time in the shop outside the Hall and then headed over to check out the "new do-ins" over at the Diamond Horseshoe. The new Goofy’s Jamboree show had just recently started and I’d read rather mixed reviews about it. In short, I thought it to be cute, high-energy and pretty fun. Rhonda thought it was over-crowded, impossible to get good pictures and not worth the time. Andrew got trampled by Goofy. So I guess we’d give a rather mixed review also. I think that I read they might be re-vamping this show already? I’d give it a shot next time.
Here’s a tip: Remember the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fast Passes we got way back early this morning? Don’t pitch your FPs if you miss the return time window. We pulled them out and the cast member waved us on through saying that since they were shut down for a while by rain, any time FP was good even if it had expired. No wait at all in the FP line!
It was about here that we realized one of our nice, new Disney 2-way communicators was MISSING! We racked our brains trying to figure out when we had last used it/who had it and figured it was most likely back at the Hall of Presidents or the shop afterward. We decided to meet at Casey’s Corner for dinner and I sprinted over to Liberty Square while everyone else headed to Adventureland to get Fast Passes for the Jungle Cruise. The shop had already closed and the cast member said nothing had been turned in at lost and found. I was distraught as I met the rest of the family by Casey’s. Rhonda was downright steaming—seems in my haste, I’d taken off with all the park hoppers and she’d been unable to get the Jungle Cruise FPs. Then she said "You mean you didn’t even go into the theater to LOOK for it?" Well, I quickly gave her the park tickets and sprinted back down Main Street to the theater (amazing how my wife can motivate me, I hadn’t sprinted this much in years). Long story short, I went into the theater, started searching about where I thought we’d been sitting, started describing to all the people around what I was looking for and then someone said "Is this what you’re looking for?" I saw the red communicator and nearly kissed the guy!
DINNER @ CASEY’S CORNER/ADVENTURELAND/FRONTIERLAND & FANTASY IN THE SKY
We spent $21.03 at Casey’s for two adult meals (Grand Slams) and four kids meals (Great Americans). I think the ONLY difference between the meals was the size of the hot dogs. We then cashed in our Jungle Cruise FPs, rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and headed over to Splash Mountain for one final ride. Unfortunately, in line for Splash, Elizabeth realized she’d left her backpack on the Carpet ride! (I forgot to mention also that the previous day, Elizabeth had not been able to locate her pin lanyard anywhere and she finally gave in this afternoon and bought a new one and several pins) How many items were we going to lose this trip??!! Rhonda volunteered to go back and get the backpack while the rest of us held our place in line.
Rhonda returned with the backpack just as we were about to get on Splash. I think this was actually the first time we had ridden this ride at night. I LOVE the side view of the castle as come around the back of the mountain! We then had time for one last ride on Big Thunder (gotta’ love how non-busy these rides are during SpectroMagic) and viewed the fireworks from the boardwalk across from Tom Sawyer Island. That was a view we’d never seen before.
At the end of the day Elizabeth had counted her "Happy Birthdays" from cast members and beat Andrew by seven with 34. By the time we caught the boat and bus back to our campsite, we were WASTED. What an incredibly full day of experiences (and incredible luck, retrieving lost items!). Thankfully, tomorrow was a sleep-in day with not much scheduled outside of exploring Ft. Wilderness. I think the entire family was asleep within a minute of hitting the tent floor…
radar’s Walt Disney World Camping Report
July 25 - August 4, 2003
HOP TO ANIMAL KINGDOM
I see a number of disparaging posts concerning the Disney bus system and I used to spend quite a bit of time defending it. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are either the kind of person who likes it or you don’t. Why anyone would prefer to walk to a hot car, drive to another place arriving about the time they start feeling the air conditioner, hike from the parking lot to the gate (or even back to the room) only to have to repeat the process again in a few hours is beyond me. Why not let Disney do the driving on an air conditioned bus? So what if it takes a few more minutes? In spite of the horror stories I’ve heard, I can’t recall ever spending an hour getting anywhere on Disney transportation.
I also love taking the time to talk to the drivers (a wealth of Disney info) or other guests. It gets my mind off of the parks and by the time we arrive at our destination, I feel more refreshed than had I tried to go back and take a nap at the resort. This day, it did take a while for a bus to show up and it is quite a walk from the bus stop to the gate at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, so it was nearly 5:30 when we arrived. We headed straight for Kali River Rapids and the sign said a 50 minute wait for standby. Don’t think it was quite that long, but it definitely was closing time when we were finished. True to the word of the signs in line, we DID get wet and some of us got SOAKED! Tyson truly seems to be a water magnet on this ride and he loved every minute of it.
BACK TO MGM
So then it was back to MGM to retrieve our strollers and eat dinner. Unfortunately, when we returned our strollers were gone. Evidently some well meaning cast member had thought they’d been abandoned—or some not-so-well-meaning guest decided they wanted a free stroller rental. We thought we’d taken anything of value out, but then recalled storing our photo claim tickets and our communicator owners manual in the back flap. It wasn’t that big a deal, but we really had spent some time getting photos with characters today and at least wanted to see what they looked like.
Thinking they may have just recently been taken to stroller return, we asked if the manual had been found. No luck there, but Andrew saw the stroller name tags in the trash can and started looking through them just on the chance that all of our things might be there together. That’s when cast member Dennis stepped in. First he asked what we were doing, then proceeded to help us look through the trash can! Not finding anything, he asked about the missing items (obviously nothing of real value), and walked with Rhonda over to Cover Story (the shop that sells the photos) and then helped us figure out what time the photos were taken and we found two of the three shots. I feel that Dennis really went above and beyond to help a guest and deserved a special note written to his superiors.
(from a Passporter Newsletter)
Walt Disney had strong feelings about tipping that are still reflected in official policy at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Walt did not want guests "bribing" employees to receive preferential treatment, such as getting a table by tipping a dining room host/hostess, a better room by tipping a desk clerk, or bypassing a line by tipping a ride attendant. He wanted all guests to have the same high level of service, regardless of financial means. As a result, most Disney employees are expressly prohibited from accepting tips, and can be terminated for doing so. You can certainly express your appreciation by offering a gratuity, but expect that your offer will be very politely declined. Express your appreciation by sending a written commendation to WDW Guest Communications. These letters can do more for a cast member's career than any tip you may have given. Here's the address: Guest Communications, Walt Disney World Co., Inc., PO Box 10040, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040, or e-mail: wdw.guest.communications@disney.com
By the way, we did buy the professional photos of Stitch and the Monsters ($19.52 after discount), lost the Toy Story guys (unlikely we’d have bought that anyway). Also, they can digitally add an autograph to your pictures--so if you want Mike & Sulley's this is the only way since the characters can't sign themselves.
DINNER @ PIZZA PLANET
While Rhonda stayed to finalize the purchase, I took the rest of the crew to get a seat at Pizza Planet. In spite of his new-found love of Mickey, Tyson has been a Toy Story fan for quite some time. When we said Pizza Planet was an option, he’d have chosen eating there over any character meal or fancy restaurant we could have dreamed up. Since I’d heard horror stories online about the wait to buy food there, we decided I’d get a table to have the kids hold, then get in line to wait for Rhonda.
As it turned out, it seemed the big dinner rush was probably over. I had the kids hold a table outside, but by the time Rhonda got there we probably only had a ten minute wait for food and the upstairs seating was starting to clear out. I got $10 worth of tokens and set the kids loose in the arcade. Our table was right next to the rail overlooking the games. Since we’d brought the collapsible cooler with us, we had juice pouches, individual serve applesauce and carrot sticks to supplement the five personal-size pizzas we bought ($30.62). We spent quite a while here, the kids arcading and Rhonda and I relaxing. Finally, we decided to let Tyson choose whether he would rather stick around for Fantasmic! or go back to swim in the pool.
Tyson chose the latter so we left, but first stopped at the Sounds Dangerous show. Some obnoxious teenagers were right behind us in the dark, but none of us had experienced this attraction yet, so I’m glad we went. Unfortunately, just as we pulled into our campsite to change into our suits, the sky let loose and a DOWNPOUR ensued so Tyson didn’t get his swim. However, VERY fortunately, we weren’t in line for the late showing of Fantasmic! when that downpour came. I don’t know if it was canceled, but the wait would have been miserable.
I was also glad that we’d chosen not to purchase tickets for this E-Night. We had considered Andrew and I going while Rhonda had a late-night swim with the younger kids, but we pretty much just forgot to buy tickets. There was another E-Night scheduled for our last day in the parks—we thought we might check it out then.
One final note: I’m not sure what the rain did, but as we turned in for the evening, the area by the tent flap where we normally kept our shoes was overrun with fire ants. Zach got bit a couple of times and in his tired state, it wasn’t pretty. All in all though, we got to sleep quickly after prayers. Another good day! Tomorrow would be Elizabeth’s Birthday celebration and we’d FINALLY visit the Magic Kingdom!
DAY FIVE- ELIZABETH’S "DAY" @ MAGIC KINGDOM
Frankly I would have never dreamed that we would be on the fifth day of our vacation before setting foot inside the Magic Kingdom, but the late start on our first day and pre-trip plans had just worked out that way. On the agenda for today was a trip to Epcot for the Extra Magic Hour at 9:00 and brunch at the Princess Storybook breakfast before hopping to the Magic Kingdom. At our morning pop tarts pow wow at camp, the family decided to forego early entry at Epcot, get to the Magic Kingdom early to see the opening and maybe take a quick ride on Splash Mountain (our family favorite) and then head to Epcot for our 10:10 Priority seating (the latest available). Ambitious? Yes, but we thought we were up for it…
BOAT TO MAGIC KINGDOM
Our plan may have worked, had we caught the first boat. We had awaken in plenty of time, Rhonda even washed and dried a load of laundry before breakfast and Elizabeth got a "Happy Birthday" cell phone call in lieu of our Mickey wake up (Thanks again, Howie and JimH). However, by the time we’d caught the bus up to the marina area, the first boat to the Magic Kingdom was just leaving the dock. It looked completely full, which means that it was headed directly to the Magic Kingdom. The route for these boats normally runs Ft.Wilderness-Wilderness Lodge-Magic Kingdom, but if the boat is full it skips the lodge and the next one picks up there first. So needless to say we waited a bit for the next boat. Another option for us (and one we took last summer in a similar situation) was to take the smaller launch to the Contemporary and then either walk or take the resort monorail from there. Since time was a consideration this morning, we opted for waiting for the Magic Kingdom boat.
We ended up not being too late, basically seeing the confetti from the opening shoot off as our boat pulled into the dock. So we missed the opening, but after running through the security gauntlet got through the gates just a bit after rope drop. Not stopping for lockers or strollers (we still planned on hopping to Epcot quickly), we went up the stairs to the train. Used to be that you could just about beat everyone to Frontierland by taking the train at rope drop, but now it takes them a little while to clear out all the characters from opening. However if you time it right, it IS faster to ride the train than walk.
We went to the back of the train to ask the conductor if he had an assistant yet and he said no. Since Elizabeth was wearing her Birthday button, he got a little info (name, age, where from) and introduced her over the mic. Liz then got to shout "All Aboard!" and push the numbered buttons that start the recordings as we traveled to Frontierland.
I don’t remember the standby time for Splash, but Rhonda went to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while the rest of us stood in line. Our wait wasn’t too long, and I’d guess we were humming Zip-a-dee-doo-dah by 9:30. However, one of the things I really wanted from this trip was to update our Splash family picture. We had purchased a frame some time ago and like to periodically update it, so we said if we ever got the whole family in one log without some random strangers we’d buy it. Well that was the case, so we waited for our picture ($11.04 after CM discount), got a quick snapshot of the kids with Brer Bear and zipped back up to the train.
HOP TO EPCOT
Okay, I’ll admit to not thinking this one through. We had approximately 45 minutes to get to Norway at World Showcase for our breakfast (PS at 10:10, but they stop serving at 10:30) and the train is INFINATELY slower going the other way with the stop at Toontown. We should have walked back to the gate. However Zach asked the conductor on his own if he could say "All Aboard!" and he got to assist. We realized there was NO WAY we were making our 10:10, so started trying to call the restaurant to see if they could hold some food for us. But with all my notes and travel books in my backpack, do you think I could find a way to contact the restaurant directly? Not a chance.
It seemed to take longer than I had expected at virtually every turn on the monorail trip to Epcot and somewhere along the line we lost one of our water bottles (a nice, large canvas holder with strap that we’d bought years earlier at the Disney Store—never did recover this one). It was around 10:45 when we entered the park, so we went directly to guest relations, verifying what we had expected—too late for Princess Storybook. Liz took it very well and the boys hadn’t been that excited about the "girly Princess breakfast" anyway. However Raymond, the cast member at Epcot guest relations, really went above and beyond to try to find a suitable replacement for us (prompting our second written thank you to WDW guest relations).
First he offered to get us in at any other Epcot restaurant for later in the day to celebrate Liz’s birthday- That wouldn’t work since we planned to head back to the Magic Kingdom anyway.
Then he promised to get us in to the Storybook Breakfast the next day- Couldn’t do that since we weren’t planning to enter the parks tomorrow, our "off day".
Finally he booked a Priority Seating for us at 1900 Park Fair for the Cinderella Gala the next day figuring we could still see the Cinderella characters and wouldn’t need entrance to the parks- I didn’t know if this would really fit into our plans (ultimately it didn’t, sorry Raymond), but by this time I wanted to agree to anything, just because this guy was trying so hard to please us. In addition, they gave Liz one of the Epcot Birthday buttons (she was already wearing a Magic Kingdom one) and told her there was a phone call for her (happy birthday from Goofy). All this for a family who just couldn’t be on time for a reservation—I’m still a fan of Disney customer service!
BACK TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM
It seems sort of silly now that we traipsed all the way over to Epcot just to visit Guest Relations, but the family just wanted to get back to the Magic Kingdom so that is what we did. We did transfer to the ferry at the Ticket and Transportation Center though just for variety and got to see Nemo and his seaweed friends while there
After clearing security for a THIRD time this morning, we got our strollers and locker and headed out onto Main Street USA. There we were greeted by the Mayor who spotted Elizabeth’s buttons and sang Happy Birthday to her in his Irish brogue. Quite an unexpected and magical moment.
TOMORROWLAND
Even though we had FastPasses to Big Thunder in hand, there was no keeping the kids from Tomorrowland. We pulled FastPasses for Buzz and headed to Space Mountain, There was quite a wait for standby at this time of day, but we had brought Tyson’s "Mousetronaut in Training" certificate from last summer. Tyson was right at the 44 inch mark this year, so the Cast Member marked "admit 6" on the back and sent us up the FastPass line. We got a great picture of Tyson being measured by the cast member with his certificate that I’ll always treasure.
We soared through Space, took in the Carrousel of Progress and rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority by the time our Buzz FP window arrived. We pulled another Buzz FP and then rode Buzz before lunch.
LUNCH @ COSMIC RAY’S
If you’ve been keeping track, you might notice that our family tries to be awfully frugal when eating. To me, Disney dining is all about the atmosphere rather than the cuisine. We order lots of kids meals and often split adult entrees to stretch our dollars as far as possible. We probably take the saving money thing to the extreme when we eat Magic Kingdom counter service. We enjoy Cosmic Ray’s for decent, reasonably-priced food, but when feeding a starving family of six that hasn’t eaten since pop tarts upon waking—sometimes we get creative. We’d missed Elizabeth’s "special" birthday meal this day, but figured to make it up tomorrow, so we needed to eat fairly cheap. We chose Ray’s for a couple of reasons,: 1) I can graze the fixin’s bar and make myself a virtual salad with the veggies, sautéed mushrooms and onions and 2) I was anxious to try out a tip I’d picked up from the budget board here at Tagrel.com (thanks SuzyQ)—ordering a double cheeseburger with an EXTRA BUN on the side (for a mere 79 cents extra!). for two burgers at nearly the price of one!
Perhaps my biggest surprise of the trip was that the cast member didn’t bat an eye as we ordered—as if people order a bun on the side all the time! All totaled up, 3 kids burger meals with drinks, two Double Burgers with fries plus extra bun and 3 cups of ice water (no charge) was $29.54 (no CM discount on counter service). And to top it all off, they gave us two free ice cream cookie sandwiches when they saw Elizabeth’s birthday buttons! We were stuffed when we left!
Our Buzz Fast Passes were now active again, so keeping with our strategy of always having a Fast Pass in hand, we decided to split up. Rhonda headed to Fantasyland for FPs to Peter Pan and/or Pooh with one communicator, I headed to the hub to scout out a good parade location, while the kids went to Buzz for another quick Space Ranger Spin (did I mention they LIKE this ride?).
I got what I thought to be a near perfect location for the parade with strollers on either side of me to help hold our place—slightly around the corner of the hub so the castle would be in the background as we snapped photos of the snow globe floats. The parade had been rained out last summer on the day we’d scheduled to see it, so I was quite anxious for the kids to get a good view. Rhonda and I had seen it during our "kidless" trip in Feb. Rhonda had snared Fast Passes to both Pan and Pooh, and quickly located my parade location speaking to me with our new 2-way communicators. It was nearing 3:00 and the Grand Marshals of the parade came rolling through so I decided I’d better try to retrieve the kids before they got trapped in Tomorrowland by the parade. We’d given specific instructions about the route to take to meet us, so I headed across the bridge with the idea of meeting them at the Buzz exit. About halfway there, the rain hit.
AND THE RAIN RAIN RAIN CAME DOWN DOWN DOWN…
I guess the Florida liquid sunshine gods just do not want my kids to see this parade! The sky opened up and I’ve never seen so much water. Unless you were under cover, you were instantly SOAKED. When the kids got out, we took refuge outside the Carrousel of Progress building. Rhonda somehow got both strollers back to Cosmic Ray’s and I met her there to get the backpack with the ponchos. I’m not quite sure how, but we still had three unused FPs for Buzz, so the boys wanted one more ride while Liz wanted to do some shopping at her favorite WDW store, Tinkerbell’s Treasures behind the castle. I went with the boys and we all met again in Fantasyland to use our Fast Passes for Pooh and Pan, also getting a poncho-clad picture of the kids at the Sword in the Stone as the rain started to let up. We also spent a little time playing at Ariel’s Grotto, but didn’t wait in line to see Ariel herself. Additionally we snapped some photos of Bert and Mary from Mary Poppins while they rode the carrousel. I love it when you see characters on the rides!
LIBERTY SQUARE AND THE SEARCH FOR "NAKED PRESIDENTS"
After a quick ride with some hitchhiking ghosts at the Haunted Mansion, we headed to Liberty Square. The Hall of Presidents was a must-do this trip as we had seen few Audio-Animatronic attractions last summer and Andrew had made the statement one evening before our trip that he thought the figures would be more interesting "without clothes"-- so you could see the mechanical workings. Well he’d been taking a lot of good natured ribbing from the rest of the family about that statement and wanting to see "naked presidents" so here we were. We watched the show and it was quite a bit more entertaining than I’d remembered—it even held the attention of the little boys.
GOOFY’S JAMBOREE & ANOTHER LOST ITEM
We spent a little time in the shop outside the Hall and then headed over to check out the "new do-ins" over at the Diamond Horseshoe. The new Goofy’s Jamboree show had just recently started and I’d read rather mixed reviews about it. In short, I thought it to be cute, high-energy and pretty fun. Rhonda thought it was over-crowded, impossible to get good pictures and not worth the time. Andrew got trampled by Goofy. So I guess we’d give a rather mixed review also. I think that I read they might be re-vamping this show already? I’d give it a shot next time.
Here’s a tip: Remember the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fast Passes we got way back early this morning? Don’t pitch your FPs if you miss the return time window. We pulled them out and the cast member waved us on through saying that since they were shut down for a while by rain, any time FP was good even if it had expired. No wait at all in the FP line!
It was about here that we realized one of our nice, new Disney 2-way communicators was MISSING! We racked our brains trying to figure out when we had last used it/who had it and figured it was most likely back at the Hall of Presidents or the shop afterward. We decided to meet at Casey’s Corner for dinner and I sprinted over to Liberty Square while everyone else headed to Adventureland to get Fast Passes for the Jungle Cruise. The shop had already closed and the cast member said nothing had been turned in at lost and found. I was distraught as I met the rest of the family by Casey’s. Rhonda was downright steaming—seems in my haste, I’d taken off with all the park hoppers and she’d been unable to get the Jungle Cruise FPs. Then she said "You mean you didn’t even go into the theater to LOOK for it?" Well, I quickly gave her the park tickets and sprinted back down Main Street to the theater (amazing how my wife can motivate me, I hadn’t sprinted this much in years). Long story short, I went into the theater, started searching about where I thought we’d been sitting, started describing to all the people around what I was looking for and then someone said "Is this what you’re looking for?" I saw the red communicator and nearly kissed the guy!
DINNER @ CASEY’S CORNER/ADVENTURELAND/FRONTIERLAND & FANTASY IN THE SKY
We spent $21.03 at Casey’s for two adult meals (Grand Slams) and four kids meals (Great Americans). I think the ONLY difference between the meals was the size of the hot dogs. We then cashed in our Jungle Cruise FPs, rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and headed over to Splash Mountain for one final ride. Unfortunately, in line for Splash, Elizabeth realized she’d left her backpack on the Carpet ride! (I forgot to mention also that the previous day, Elizabeth had not been able to locate her pin lanyard anywhere and she finally gave in this afternoon and bought a new one and several pins) How many items were we going to lose this trip??!! Rhonda volunteered to go back and get the backpack while the rest of us held our place in line.
Rhonda returned with the backpack just as we were about to get on Splash. I think this was actually the first time we had ridden this ride at night. I LOVE the side view of the castle as come around the back of the mountain! We then had time for one last ride on Big Thunder (gotta’ love how non-busy these rides are during SpectroMagic) and viewed the fireworks from the boardwalk across from Tom Sawyer Island. That was a view we’d never seen before.
At the end of the day Elizabeth had counted her "Happy Birthdays" from cast members and beat Andrew by seven with 34. By the time we caught the boat and bus back to our campsite, we were WASTED. What an incredibly full day of experiences (and incredible luck, retrieving lost items!). Thankfully, tomorrow was a sleep-in day with not much scheduled outside of exploring Ft. Wilderness. I think the entire family was asleep within a minute of hitting the tent floor…