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#1disneyfan
07-27-2003, 06:58 PM
Our Mother/Daughter Trip 2003: part three

Days 7 and 8 and final thoughts

Friday: Today was the day to do all the attractions we either wanted to do again or hadn’t gotten to yet. We started the day at MGM at 9 am opening with plans to do the Animation Tour and Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure (HISKTMSA). Well, neither of those attractions opened until 10 am. In fact it seemed that most of the park didn’t actually open until 10 am. Muppet Vision was open, so we went there. At 9:50 we were lined up for the Animation tour and then after HISTKMSA we ate an early lunch at Backlot Express. Time to head to MK for Buzz Lightyear. MK was VERY crowded. We only visited Tomorrowland and Fantasy Land, but the lines were long in these areas. While waiting to ride Buzz, we rode the Astro Orbiter. The fast pass line for Buzz was strange. The CM told us we couldn’t go yet because it wasn’t our time. According to the clock over his head it was our turn. We pointed it out and he opened another rope and said, “Oh, well I need to let these people go first because they’ve been waiting.” By the look on his face, I wondered if he knew the clock was even there. It was chaos! There was a really long line of people outside, but when you got inside, you walked right through. Since the lines were so long and it was so hot, we decided to skip the other rides and head to Epcot. At Epcot we rode Journey Into Your Imagination, Test Track twice – once standby and once with fast pass. Food Rocks (great place to rest ;-) and Living with the Land. Time for dinner. We were able to get a table near the rail at the counter service in Mexico and had a nice long dinner while we waited for Illuminations. Great view from there. We could see lightning in the distance, but decided to wait it out. The rain started during the show and quickly became a torrential downpour. We took cover in the bathroom in Norway along with about 20 or so other people. Fortunately we knew exactly where to go, because it was hard to see anything. We waited there for about 30 minutes. We joked about the Disney special ordering the lightning as a nice touch to Illuminations. On the path to the exit, the water was 6 inches deep in some places. There was still a lot of lightning which was a little scary. We stopped in Mousegears for a while and then made our way to the bus. Our last night in the parks went out with a bang!

Saturday: We enjoyed a little swimming and a pretty good lunch in the ASM food court after we packed for home. The girls played on the playground for a while and we did a little more shopping after playing in the arcade for a while. Then it was time to end our vacation and head back to the airport for our flight home. The weather was getting ugly again. The flight home was a little rough. They kept the seat belt sign on the whole flight. We were actually glad to be home.

Final Thoughts: Notes to self and notes to others –

Don’t bring an infant to WDW in the summer time if you have another option. There were so many crying, hot and tired babies. And always use the seat belt on the stoller with an infant. We were walking up to Test Track as I looked over to the side and saw a baby’s legs in the air as he fell on his head out of his stroller. It was awful. Please use the seat belt.

Do go to Chef Mickey’s. Delightful Experience. The best character meal I’ve had yet.

Do bring a mister water fan if you go in the summer months. Put a little cold water in it and add more as you need it. It get heavy when you carry it around full of water. And there’s less chance of it spilling all over your backpack. (Learned this first hand experience.)

All Star Movies was wonderful. Very nice staff. Check in CM went out of his way to make our trip special. The food court offered a lot of tasty choices. The design of the place is really cool. Preferred rooms are worth the extra 10 bucks. They are closer to the pool and main building. Especially nice in the evening when coming back from the parks.

Do bring snacks, just buy water. We realized our backpacks only got heavy after we added the water bottle. You can ask for a cup of ice water from the counter service restaurants and it tasted pretty good. Free too!

Knowing that we will be back in February made it much easier to come home. :D

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Holly

sandar
07-27-2003, 07:33 PM
hi Holly,

Thanks a lot for sharing your Disney trip! Seemed like you did a LOT in your trip. Also, glad to read that staying at ASM was a good experience for you. I really enjoyed your trip report and I hope you'll write another one in February. :D

Sandi

BetsyAnn
07-27-2003, 07:45 PM
Great trip report!

Thanks #1disneyfan! You really did a lot of things during a hot, peak time of the year!

Great tip about the mister fans!

MargaretJ
07-27-2003, 08:06 PM
Thanks for shaing your trip with us Holly. Sounds like you had nice time.

#1disneyfan
07-28-2003, 08:34 PM
Thank you for the nice comments.
I guess we really did do a lot this trip. It's my Commando spirit. I just can't go home without doing all of my favorites plus :wink:
And Emily was a real trooper on this trip (almost too much), she rarely ever complained about being tired etc. One night she took off her shoes and had blisters on her toes. I couldn't believe she hadn't said anything all day about her feet bothering her. I think she didn't want to miss anything. She's just as much of a disney fanatic as I am, maybe even more. :shock:

It was a trip filled with lots of special memories we'll treasure for a long long time. :hug:

Thanks again,
Holly

pixie
07-28-2003, 09:30 PM
Thank you for sharing your magical memories with us. What a great trip!

I really enjoyed your report, thanks again!

:tink: Barbara

Lady
08-03-2003, 10:11 AM
Enjoyed your report Holly - at times I was ready to reach for my poncho too to keep the rain off - felt like I was right there - great report : )

Shell