huskies90
10-08-2008, 08:27 PM
Time of Year: Summer – August 2007
Travel Method: Plane and Magical Express/Rental Car
Resort: Coronado Springs Resort (Disney) / Royal Pacific Resort (Universal Orlando)
The Cast
Jim, age 38 – husband/dad/planner/trip report writer
Cathy, age 38 – wife/mom
Jenny, age 10/11 – daughter/sister
Allie, age 8 – daughter/sister
After what felt like about a decade, we are back. Actually it was more like 20 months (that’s almost two years to you and me). This will be our third trip with our first back in November 2004:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr04/indelicato04no.htm
And the second in November 2005:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr05/indelicato05no.htm
When we last left off, we had returned the first week in December 2005 from a near perfect ten days at Disney. The last trip was so well planned I knew I had my work cut out for me planning this trip. This trip also found me in the middle of a very intense project at work so I had much less free time to plan. I was hoping our experience and general knowledge would make the planning unnecessary. This ended up being somewhat of a miscalculation but when all was said and done, looking back, things went pretty darn well.
As always, we were looking for some new things to try this time around. If you remember from last time or if you just read the last paragraph of my 2005 trip report, you would know we wanted to try some of the other Orlando parks – Specifically Universal Studios and Sea World. Also, since our last two trips were in November, it was too cold to try the Disney water parks so that was on the to-do list as well. We had a few other smaller things we wanted to do as well like mini golf, Disney Quest and Cirque du Soleil.
For our last two trips we took our kids out of school and we encountered near empty parks, perfect weather and no lines to speak of. With Jenny now in fifth grade, those days are gone. So we are now subject to school vacations. The trip was originally planned for April 2007 which would be a perfect time of year weather wise - still chilly in the Northeast but certainly warm enough for the water parks in Florida. But, with a critical project deliverable looming in May, I needed to reschedule. It was only the end of February and I had only booked the resort at this point, so it was easy to cancel.
So, now what do we do? Our choices are, summer, Christmas week, President’s week or next April. I pretty much ruled out Christmas and President’s week due to crowds and due to Jenny’s basketball schedule. So, we put it to a vote – brave the heat of summer or wait until the next April (15 months). Without blinking an eye all three ladies raised their hands for the summer. I had two main problems with summer. First, the heat – I knew nobody in my family does well in the heat; that is except for me, of course. The hottest temperatures and highest humidity do not bother me at all. In fact, living in the Northeast where we have that fluffy white stuff and sub zero temperatures in the winter, I often wonder why I live here. Which brings me to reason number, two – while I certainly don’t mind the heat, the reason my previous dozen or so trips to Florida have been in the colder months has been my one chance even for one week, to get away from the cold.
Well, with the thought of waiting 15 months, plus the value season of late August, the possibility of free dining and the added bonus of Jenny’s birthday falling in late August. The decision was made. Summer it is. Let the planning begin!!
First, we need a place to stay. Leading off, we will be starting at Disney where we’ll stay the first half of the trip. We loved Port Orleans last time maybe even a bit more than the split stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so, we figured another moderate would fit us perfectly. I’d love to get a chance to stay in all the resorts eventually (a boy can dream, right?). I have tried a few times to get a room at Coronado Springs but the rooms book up so fast. Since I am so far out, it was easy to book there. I was able to get a AAA rate at first but then a summer discount came out later and I was able to apply the difference. Alas, the free dining came but did not start until the last week in August so, we’ll miss it. Oh well.
We booked the back end of our trip at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios also with a AAA rate. Being value season there, we received an excellent rate and with the front of the line pass, we were excited about visiting there. I started searching for airfares and watched Dings very closely. Unfortunately, Dings out of Bradley (Hartford) were non existent but I was able to get $49 each way out of Providence. It is an extra half hour drive but since I was saving hundreds on the airfare, it was worth the drive. Since we had a very early flight, we ended up doing the stay and fly at the Comfort Inn, staying the night before and parking the car for the entire week. Great idea except the beds in that hotel had to be the most uncomfortable I have ever slept in.
For tickets, we bought 6 day hoppers with water park add on and for Universal the unlimited 7 day 2 park pass (a bargain at $86 each). Both tickets were purchased at our local AAA office. We also booked a rental car at Dollar with an excellent rate. We decided we would do Magical Express one way to get the luggage to the resort. The girls took the bus. I drove the rental. In case you are wondering, they beat me to the resort. I also got the folks at AAA to throw in the special parking pass even though that is typically reserved for those folks buying a package. I am not sure how much we will use it but hey, I like extras thrown in for free.
Tuesday 8/14
Day 0
Everything was packed and ready to go the night before. I was up early to get our A boarding pass from Southwest before heading to the office. Cathy would drive me into work that morning and picked me up at the end of the day with the girls. The project I was one was getting more and more intense and I barely had a day off (including weekends) for months so getting ready and out of there was not easy. I had a playoff softball game that night at the beach in Westport, CT. So we all headed down for the game and then would head to Providence. I launched a tremendous three run homer late in the game to tie the score for our team. I crushed it over the fence at a field where I had never seen anyone hit it out prior to my dinger. It was the comeback that eventually led to our team’s victory and it was an awesome start to my well needed (and deserved) vacation. After the game, we grabbed some sandwiches at Subway and jumped on I95 to Providence. We parked, checked in and set our alarm for a 7AM flight.
Wednesday 8/15
Day 1
We were up bright and early after an atrocious night sleep at the Comfort Inn. They did have a nice free breakfast. We grabbed the shuttle to the airport and headed to the A line at Southwest. The flight down was uneventful and before we knew it we were hopping the monorail at MCO and heading to the transportation area. We split up. The girls headed to Magical Express and I headed to Dollar Rental Car. For our first trip, we had a rental car and last time we relied strictly on Disney transportation. My preference is to have the flexibility of the car. Plus, we needed to be able to get to Universal and to the airport so it was easiest and most economical to just rent the car for the entire trip.
I have been to Florida about a dozen times in my life between vacations, Disney trips and visiting my grandparents when they lived down there. With the exception of one business trip to Orlando in July, I had always gone during the colder winter months. Well, we all know it was hot down there in August for sure. Personally, I loved it but I knew as soon as I stepped out of the airport and felt the heat and humidity that the weather was going to slow us down.
On the way to Coronado Springs, I stopped at the Winn Dixie to pick up a supply of water to bring to the parks and a bunch of snacks for the week to help tie us over between meals and stuff to have quick breakfasts on the way out in the AM.
After getting to Coronado Springs, checking in and not getting our room request for the fourth straight time at Disney (why bother?), we were off to our room and then to the main feature pool. The pool at Coronado Springs is awesome and felt so good. We all enjoyed the slide. After showering and changing we were off to the parks. Disney MGM studios and Rock n Rollercoaster (RRC) was first on our list. I also had an Advance Dinner Reservation (ADR) at the Sci Fi Diner for a late lunch / early dinner at 4PM.
Right away when entering the park we noticed much larger crowds than we had ever seen at Disney and much larger when we expected. Add in the heat that we were not used to and the bad night sleep in Providence and it didn’t take long to get cranky. We headed to Rock n Rollercoaster (RRC) which would be our first attraction. Since Allie is now 51” and finally tall enough, she insisted we go there first. When we arrive, however, the stand by wait time was 75 minutes. In two previous week long trips the longest wait we ever had was 25 minutes. Now what do we do?? For starters, we get Fastpasses (FP) for later then decide to see how the other side of the park looks which usually is less crowded. It wasn’t much better. We waited a half hour or so for the Muppets which was always a walk on in previous trips and we waited about 40 minutes for Star Tours which also was always a walk on. Cathy sat out Star Tours as it is not one of her favorites. After those two attractions, we decided if we are going to wait that long in line, we might as well wait at Rock n Rollercoaster. So we headed back over and got in the standby line. The wait was about 50 minutes which wasn’t too bad and before we knew it we were in our limos for the exhilarating trip around Southern Cal. It was Cathy’s first and last ride on RRC after coaxing her to try it once. She literally broke into tears as she exited to the gift shop.
We were a bit late for our dinner reservation and we were also about a half hour away from our Fastpass window to open. So I sent the girls over to Sci Fi to check in for dinner and I waited by the FP machines at Tower of Terror (TOT) for the window to open. I had some trouble with my AAA park hoppers. They were the Tyvek paper kind. I did not like these at all. I had a similar problem earlier at RRC. But I had no problems getting through the turnstiles. Needless to say, I wanted to combine my tickets with my keys to the kingdom. Luckily there was a Cast Member (CM) there who gave me a Fastpass. He was the CM you see on the Travel Channel specials when they show the Tower of Terror. I thought about asking for his autograph but I had nothing to write on. Just about 2 minutes before getting my TOT fastpasses, it started to drizzle and about 4 minutes later it started to pour. Oh my goodness it rained so much in so little time. I trekked across the park to the Sci Fi Diner and got absolutely soaked. I had heard about the passing summer Florida thunderstorms. I guess now I have experienced them. About 15 minutes later, the rain stopped and we didn’t see another drop the rest of the trip as there was a hurricane that was stalling out south of Miami sucking all the moisture away from us. It also absorbed some of the humidity but, shhhh; that will be our little secret as I don’t want Cathy to even imagine that it could have been hotter and even more humid down there.
The girls made it to the restaurant ahead of the rain and when I got there, our names were just being called. The Sci Fi was cool. It had an amazing atmosphere and I loved those B movie clips. The food was not that bad - not that great. After dinner we waited for the Great Movie Ride and then used our fastpasses at both RRC and TOT. I wanted to stick around for Fantasmic but everyone was tired. So we headed back to the resort to turn in. I had a nice walk from our room in the far reaches of the Ranchos section of Coronado Springs, around the lake and to the front desk to fix our ticket problems. On the way back I could hear Fantasmic, see some of the fireworks at Illuminations and hear Wishes in the distance. It was a beautiful warm night – a great night for a stroll.
Thursday 8/16/08
Day 2
With the heat and crowds, our rough game plan was to try to get to the parks as early as possible taking advantage of the morning Extra Magic Hours (EMH) and also try to be there at night when the sun goes down also taking advantage of the evening EMH. Then during the day the plan was to try to hit the water parks or the resort pool. The EMH in the AM was at the Magic Kingdom. We bussed it over and we were there for the park’s opening. Even the EMH was crowded at park opening and there was a 15 minute back up trying to get into Tomorrowland. We started with the Space Mountain and did Buzz which stopped for about 15-20 minutes as we were just loading. We also did the Indy Speedway and the Monster’s Inc Comedy Club for the first time. It was just OK, nothing special. We then crossed over to the other side of the park to get fastpasses and ride Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain as well as Pirates of the Caribbean which was a first for us since the large rehab with the new movie characters.
We booked out of the Magic Kingdom around 11:30AM picking up a birthday button for Jenny at the town hall then took the bus back to the resort to rest a bit, change, grab a snack and head over to Typhoon Lagoon for our first experience at a water park. We used our car to drive over, rented a locker and towels. The locker made sense, the towels really were not needed because when you leave them in one place, by the time you get to the spot you left them, you are no longer wet. The same could be said for shoes. Most water parks we’ve been to have walkways that get so hot you can’t get around without something on your feet. But Disney had little water sprays all over the walkways keeping them cool and making the shoes unnecessary. The wave pool is simply amazing except for the concrete floor. Why can’t it be sand like at the Beach Club? We hit all the slides. They were just OK nothing special. Humunga Cowabunga was the best slide. Allie and Cathy chickened out of that one. We did just about everything including Crush and Gusher, and the lazy river. We did miss the shark reef, however, thinking we’d be back and have another chance to check it out. That never happened. Oh well, it gives us something new to try next time.
We left Typhoon Lagoon at about dinner time. We headed back to shower and change then we were back in the car and off to the Boardwalk. We parked at the resort, strolled through the lobby and out to the boardwalk itself. We had ADR’s at Biergarten in the Germany pavilion. We followed the path to EPCOT and through the international gateway on our way to Germany. I loved Biergarten. Tons of food. Good basic stuff and some really good German cuisine. I can’t even describe how much I ate. The staff came over and gave Jenny a huge gingerbread cookie with a card wishing her a happy birthday. The dinner was worth every penny.
EPCOT was packed. We waited in line for the new Nemo ride. It was cute. I like those continuous fast loading rides because even though the line was long it moved fast. We stuck around for Turtle Talk with Crush which we all enjoy even though it is geared more toward little kids. We settled in for Illuminations after Crush. Along with Wishes, Illuminations is one of my favorite shows. After Illuminations, we got wristbands for the evening EMHs. There were obviously no fastpasses this late for Soarin’ but like RRC we really really wanted to ride it. So we headed over to the Land pavilion and got in the 70 minute line at Soarin’. It was a long wait but woth it and it ended up being closer to 55 minutes. There was a short line at the end for Living with the Land so we did that too. But after Living with the Land, it was getting late, the park was closing and we were tired. It was time to head out. The girls were too tired to walk all the way back to the car so, Cathy took them to the bus and I walked myself back through the International Gateway to the boardwalk and to the car. On the way out I saw (and heard) them discharge the remains of the inferno barge on the world showcase lagoon. Back to the resort and straight to bed. We have another long day planned for tomorrow!
Thursday 8/17/08
Day 3
It is hard to believe that 11 years have flown by since Jenny was born. We see couples now planning for their first kids or even couples with babies and can’t even remember what either of that was like. I guess it won’t be long before our daughters will be taking us to Disney. But, today’s is Jenny’s day and what a way to spend your 11th birthday - at Disney. She made it clear early in the planning process that the focus for her day was Blizzard Beach and the Magic Kingdom. Per her request, I also had ADR’s for Whispering Canyon which was the best of the many table service restaurants we sampled (on the dining plan) last time.
So, we were up early again, and off to the EMH at Blizzard Beach. It was empty when we first arrived but it got crowded pretty quick. We were able to experience just about everything in a few hours and took a trip around a portion of the lazy river. The only thing we missed was Summit Plummet and this is because only Jenny and I were brave enough to do it and half way up the stairs, Jenny decided she too was too chicken to give it a shot. I could not continue without her so we jumped off the line and did Slush Gusher again. By time we were able to meet up again with Cathy and Allie, the line at Summit Plummet was too long for me to go by myself. Again, another attraction for next time we go.
By 11:30AM we were back in our extremely hot car and on our way back to the Coronado Springs to change. No rest time though, we got right back out, jumped in the car and headed to Animal Kingdom. After going through the turnstiles, I tried to rush ahead of the group to get fastpasses for Everest. The heat didn’t bother me so moving quickly was fine. This gave everyone else the time to move slowly and rest whenever they needed. When I got to Everest, the standby was only 20 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. I even asked a Cast Member if that was correct and she said it was. I grabbed fastpasses anyway and called Cathy on her cell to let her know and I waited by the entrance thinking they were just a few minutes behind me. Well, twenty minutes later, I see the three of them coming over the bridge to Asia out of breath. I asked where they were and Cathy replies that they ‘rushed’ over but I guess must have gotten lost? I am not sure but Cathy didn’t want to talk about it and I certainly did not want them to have to ‘rush’ over. Oh well.
We did our first ride ever on Everest. To be honest, as coasters go, it wasn’t my favorite. I have been on many higher and loopier coasters but going backwards in the dark made me want to lose my lunch which I didn’t even eat yet by the way. But everyone else loved it including Cathy who is not a coaster fan to say the least.
We headed over to Dinoland and did Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. Cathy started to over heat a bit so she rested in the shade by Dinosaur while the girls and I rode Primeval Whirl again and won huge stuffed dinosaurs in the carnival games. Cathy started developing another problem at this point in the trip – blisters on her feet. We all decided that we would try Crocs for our summer trip thinking it would the most comfortable and versatile footwear for the heat, the walking and the water parks. We bought them a month in advance and wore them everywhere with no problems. The kids had owned a pair before these. Cathy wore hers all day every day. I wore mine on weekends etc. Everyone but Allie started to develop blisters. Allie had no problems. Jenny and I both brought an extra pair of flip flops that we planned to only use at the pool, but they came in handy to wear to the parks. We were able to alternate footwear and that help minimize any problems. Cathy was not that lucky. She only brought the Crocs and was stuck. She tried buying a pair of flip flops or sandals but by the time she found a pair she liked, it was too late. And then once she started wearing the sandals, she developed a whole new set of blisters from wearing brand new shoes. Somehow, with the aid of several band aids she was able to stick it out and keep up throughout the rest of the trip.
We had an ice cream snack for our lunch and then headed back to Everest to ride it again with our fastpasses. We hit It’s Tough to be a Bug on the way out of the park. Then we headed back to the car and back to the resort.
We rested for a while and the girls and I decided to go for a swim at the main pool which was very enjoyable for everyone and relaxing. We relaxed at the pool then headed back to our room and changed for dinner at Whispering Canyon. We drove over to the Wilderness Lodge and spent some time exploring the resort. Whispering Canyon was the best table service experience we had last time as our server was amazing. Our server this time was good but nearly the caliber of “Bobby the Kid.” For Jenny’s birthday, the server got all the boys in the room over to our table to sing happy birthday to her. That was cute and funny. The meal was pretty good. We ordered off the menu and not the family skillet like last time. Jenny had to “special order” a hamburger because it was not on the menu. Go figure.
We left the car at the Wilderness Lodge and hopped on a bus over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening EMH. The place was simply packed. My observations all week was that the morning EMHs are still good the evening ones are a waste. They are so crowded and even for a park like the Magic Kingdom which had almost everything open, it was way too crowded. The park closed at 11 so with the EMH’s, it stayed open until 2AM. We arrived in time to get wristbands and watch Wishes which we did from the bridge to Tomrrowland. I still much prefer the Main Street view. After Wishes, things started to melt down. Jenny was on birthday overload and became very cranky. She was unable to agree on anything the rest of us wanted to do. Plus, with the crowds and long lines there with no fastpasses left we really weren’t sure what we wanted to do. We did It’s a Small World and Mickey’s Philharmagic together and then Jenny just decided she was tired and she’d had enough and wanted to go back. Ironically, Allie who usually is the one complaining about things was much more agreeable and wanted to stay. So, Cathy took Jenny back on the bus while Allie and I stayed. In that last few hours we did Snow White, Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch’s Great Escape and Space Mountain which even after midnight had a pretty good size line. I could see Allie struggling to stay awake as we snaked through the dark queue.
After Space Mountain, we grabbed the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge which was very fun and relaxing. We both enjoyed this mode of transportation and the fresh air kept us awake. We arrived at our car, drove back to Coronado Springs and were in bed by about 1:00AM.
Saturday 8/18/08
Day 4
This is where our plan to take advantage of mornings and evenings in the parks start to backfire. After a late night at one park how do you get up early to hit a morning EMH at a park the next day?? I was sure that Cathy and Jenny would be up and ready to go but I figured Allie and I would want to sleep in after the late night. Nope. We were up too and rearing to go. So we hopped on the bus and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the early EMH. Getting there early does pay off, though, because we were able to hit several rides before we needed to leave for our ADR at Chef Mickey’s which has now become our tradition at Disney. The first year we did dinner on or first night and the last time we did the late breakfast which doubled as lunch. That was the plan today to get the last seating for breakfast and extend it as our breakfast and lunch (you know, brunch). Jenny was presented with a special cupcake and placemat for her birthday. Not that there weren’t enough sweets there. It is the thought that counts, I guess. The food here is typical for a buffet across the resort. And even though the kids are older now, we all still love hugging Mickey and his pals and getting our pictures taken with them; including the biggest kid of all – me.
After breakfast we shopped and did some pin trading at the gift shops in the Contemporary. Just like last time, I bought a ton of pins on eBay the girls would use to trade. Jenny was trying to complete the set of baby Mickey and pals dressed as the Pirates of the Caribbean that had just come out. She had been collecting them all week and needed just one more, the Goofy dressed as Davy Jones. We kept looking and kept looking but no cast member seemed to have that one. I know she could have just bought the set but what’s the fun in that?
After spending some time at the Contemporary we were ready for a spin on the monorail and over to EPCOT where we planned to spend the remainder of the day. We hit several rides including the new updated Gran Fiesta in the Mexico pavilion and Maelstrom which we skipped last time. We also did Ellen’s, Figment and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We had dinner in the Electric Umbrella after the girls decided there was nothing they liked at Sunshine Seasons which in my opinion has the best counter service food at Disney. We also did our only ride on Test Track which is one of our favorites. In fact the lines were so long that we opted to split up and hit the singles line. For fastpasses, we chose Soarin’ over Test Track mainly because we knew we could do a singles line at Test Track and couldn’t at Soarin’. After Test Track we decided to try the new “non” spinning version of Mission Space. We had bad experiences back in 2004 on our first trip with Mission Space as the spinning made all of us nauseas all day. But besides the feeling afterward, we loved the experience. So we hopped on the “Green” team line. I thought the ride would be lame without the spinning effect but I was wrong. It was actually very enjoyable and still realistic. I would equate it to Star Tours at MGM.
After we exited Mission Space, Illuminations was just starting so we hustled over to the lagoon to catch the majority of it. After our final Illuminatios viewing (I love that show) we decided it was time for another first at Disney. We wanted to play a little mini golf. Now, most of our vacation time when we are not at Disney is spent at Cape Cod and there about 4 or 5 gazillion mini golf places at the Cape. I think we have been to all but a few. We had very high expectations of a mini golf course created with the Imagineering of Disney. Of the three courses available to us, we decided on Fantasia Gardens although we considered the fairways only because it was such an unusual course. But the Gardens course most closely resembled the courses we played at the Cape.
We filed out of EPCOT and jumped on the bus back to the resort. I double checked with everyone to make sure they wanted to go back out so late, especially Allie who was up late the night before. Everyone assured me they were fine and really really really wanted to go play mini golf. I should have known better. We arrived at Coronado Springs around 10PM, jumped in the car and swung over to Fantasia Gardens. Surprisingly, it was packed and we’d have an hour wait. We decided to just hang out and wait. By the time we got on the course it was after 11PM. I was somewhat disappointed with the course. It was just OK. I have seen better designed and even better themed courses elsewhere which simply should not happen at Disney. Allie began to melt down a little when she started playing poorly. Gee, I wonder where she gets her competitiveness from? But in fairness to her, she must have been cruising on fumes by that time. Overall, we had fun as usual playing mini golf even if we were a bit disappointed with the course. Back at to the resort it was around midnight and time to get some sleep. Lights out!
Sunday 8/19/08
Day 5
We slept in a little bit today as we have had some pretty long nights and planned for another one tonight. But sleeping in is still a pretty early morning for us. This will be our last full day at Disney before, heading over to Universal Studios tomorrow. Today’s plan was to hit the Animal Kingdom in the morning, a water park in the afternoon and then back to the Magic Kingdom for the late night EMH.
We used our AAA parking pass at Animal Kingdom. It is a better location than having to park way in the back but it is still a pretty long walk and there are no trams so it is a bit of a good news bad news situation using the pass. If you are walking and not taking a tram it is closer. We glided through the turnstiles and did Everest and Primeval Whirl again but the line at Dinosaur was just way too long so we skipped it which I am not happy about because it is still my favorite and I only got to do it once this trip. We also wanted to do Kali River Rapids. My plan was to grab fastpasses then come back just before we were leaving but when we arrived, the standby line was only 20 minutes. So instead of doing the fastpasses, I trotted back to Everest and grabbed some fastpasses there for later while the rest of the clan waited by Kali River Rapids. They were fascinated by some swinging monkeys while they waited. I joined up with them and we entered the standby line which still stated 20 minutes. Well, that was way off. We waited over an hour, creeping slowly through the very detailed queue. We also noticed the fastpass line was not moving all that fast either. After the long wait we finally arrived at the front of the line only to be told that the ride was closing down. Bummer. We asked if we could get a fastpass to return and we were told that they could not do that which I know is not true because that has happened to us previous trips at Test Track. There were some very irate guests back tracking through the line and out of the attraction. A group formed at the entrance really giving the CMs an earful. I will agree that the thing to do is give the people that waited the entire time a fastpass. If you think about, that is what fastpasses technically do, they hold your place in line. But the CMs wouldn’t budge. It also didn’t help that the posted standby wait time was so inaccurate. We shrugged our collective shoulders and continued on our way.
We crossed the park to Africa and took a trip around the African savannah at Kilimanjaro Safari. We timed it to be back in time to be in line for the new Finding Nemo Musical show. It was different. I had heard “broadway caliber” and it was good but certainly not broadway caliber. After the show we checked the standby line at Kali River Rapids. It just re-opened so the line was not too bad so we gave it another shot. This time we made it to the front in 20 minutes and got to ride it. After Kali we took one more spin around Mt Everest and said good bye to our newest animatronic buddy, the cuddly Yeti; and then we headed out of the park for the final time on this trip.
We hoofed it to the car and it was hot. Everyone was dragging just a bit and I started thinking, hmmm, a tram would be pretty great right about now. On the drive back to the resort we debated about which water park to go back too and the majority vote was for Blizzard Beach. We knew it was going to be very crowded mid day so the plan was really to just go and relax which is what we did. This time we did the full trek around the lazy river and we spent most of the time at the Ski Patrol which is an awesome idea -- a place just for mid size kids. There is another “kiddie” area where real little kids can play but the Ski Patrol was for pre teen age older kids. The girls had a blast here playing, swimming, doing the slides and other fun attractions while Cathy and I just put our feet in the pool and relaxed. I considered going up the hill to wait for Summit Plummet but with the over hour wait it just wasn’t in the cards.
After we had enough at Blizzard Beach, it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom for one final time. We drove back to the resort and changed then hopped on the bus. I had made ADR’s for every day we were there just in case. And since we hadn’t eaten much today, we decided to go ahead and use the ADR at the Crystal Palace. We had been here before and didn’t really care about the Pooh characters, but we knew the food was pretty good and being a buffet, we figured we get our moneys worth.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and started with the train from Main Street over to Splash Mountain. We had never done that piece of the railroad. Once getting off the train I noticed the crowds weren’t quite as bad today and started realizing that it was Sunday night and kids may start going back to school the next day. We grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain and waited for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes. After Big Thunder we sang along with the Country Bears. The only other time we saw them was during the holiday overlay so this was the first time seeing the original show. We used our Splash fastpasses and then hightailed it to the Crystal Palace for dinner. We chowed down at the buffet. Oh yeah, we got our moneys worth. We got pictures with Pooh and his pals and we finished just around 10PM in time to catch Wishes which we watched from just outside the Crystal Palace.
We did much better this time with the nighttime EMH as crowds were better and lines weren’t as long. Everyone was much more agreeable and we did our last treks on Pirates, the Jungle Cruise, Pooh and Buzz Lightyear. The last attraction was the Carousel of Progress and I think all of us dozed off during the show signaling it was time to say good bye to the Magic Kingdom. We grabbed the bus and headed back to Coronado Springs for the final time. Back at the resort we already packed up and ready to check out the next day.
Monday 8/20/08
Day 6
When I originally planned this trip it was going to be 5 days at Disney and 4 at Universal with perhaps a day at Sea World squeezed in somewhere. When we started discussing all things we wanted to do and what could be “missed” at Disney, it became obvious that I needed more time there as it was unacceptable to miss any of our favorites. So I started planning for 5 ½ days at Disney and 3 ½ at Universal and it was still not easy to plan so, I ended up with 6 full days at Disney and 3 at Universal.
We checked out at Coronado Springs and had breakfast in the food court. We had an ADR for breakfast at the Kona Café at the Polynesian resort but decided to just grab something and get going. We planned to stop off at MGM prior to hitting downtown Disney and Disney Quest.
We parked in the AAA special parking lot at MGM which was in a great area close enough to walk and on the tram route so you had that option as well. We were at MGM until early afternoon and had a nice relaxing time at the park. Crowds were much more reasonable today and we heard Florida kids were already back at school. The only attraction we wanted to do that did not work out for us was the Beauty and the Beast show. We did Star Tours, the Little Mermaid and the animation studio. Last year, Jenny had a meltdown because she couldn’t draw the character very well. This time it was Allie’s turn. She would not stop crying while the instructor was trying to explain how to draw Goofy. Finally, after a barrage of “shhhhs” and “quiets”, I grabbed her and literally dragged her out of the back door which led us to an alley in the animation courtyard. I am sure I am not winning any parent of the year awards after that display but c’mon, she is 8 years old and should not be acting like she was still a terrible 2.
We calmed down and we headed over to have lunch at the ABC Commissary. Allie wanted another shot at the animation studio. You’ve got to be kidding, right? Instead, we did Rock and Rollercoster one more time. Well, Jenny and I did it as now both Cathy and Allie have chickened out of it. I am not sure what is up with Allie. She went on it twice earlier in the week and loved it. As I mentioned, the show times did not work out for Beauty and the Beast, so after RRC, it was time to head out and drive to Downtown Disney.
We started at Disney Quest which was another first for us. I thought it was cool and thought it had quite a bit to offer and really we could have spent quite a bit more time here than we did. We liked creating our own rollercoaster on Cyber Space Mountain. Only Jenny and I rode it. We also liked the Buzz Lighyear Astroblasters and the Virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. But there were a few attractions that left me scratching my head like the virtual Jungle Cruise and Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. We also did the Mighty Duck Pinball Slam which was hard to figure out but once you did it was OK. After that there were enough classic arcade games there to keep you occupied for hours and hours. We ended up spending several hours here. It was fun. If we have the water park add on again, we will definitely go back.
Next up was the World of Disney to get our souvenirs. We each bought a t shirt and some other odd items. As I was on my own in one of the cavernous sections of this giant store, I bumped into a Cast Member with a pin lanyard. I could see right away that she had the baby Goofy as Davy Jones that Jenny was looking for all week and just could not find it anywhere. I had a couple of pins attached to my classic Mickey Mouse hat and I traded for the Goofy pin and just attached it to my hat. I wanted to see if Jenny would notice. Of course, it took some hints on my part but she finally figured out that I had the pin. What a perfect way to end the Disney part of our trip!!
Now it is time to head up I4 to Disney’s main competitor: Universal Studios. As much as I love Disney, I knew I would love Universal as much. Cathy and I had been there once back in the early nineties when it had just opened and at the time, I thought Universal was better than Disney. But a lot of time has passed and while both parks have changed tremendously in 15 years I fully expected to enjoy our time at Universal. Before jumping on the highway, we stopped again at the Winn Dixie to re-stock our supply of water, snacks and breakfast food. And then we were off.
As with our first trip to Disney with kids, I did quite a bit of research on Universal to get as much out of our three days there as possible. We had the 7 day unlimited tickets which amazingly only cost $86 per person and I decided I wanted to stay onsite mainly for the front of the line benefit which in case you don’t know is an automatic fastpass for every attraction. But since we would be there during value season, the rate at Royal Pacific Resort (RPR) with a AAA discount was pretty good and the fact that both parks and City Walk were in walking distance to the hotel it made the decision a slam dunk.
Based on my research we did Disney first after reading many others recommending it because Disney can be pretty hectic and Universal should be more relaxing. For us, Disney was indeed pretty hectic especially when you try to squeeze in four parks, two water parks, Disney Quest, mini golf and several table service dining reservations into six days.
As you can imagine nobody really wanted to leave Disney on that last day and as we pulled out of the parking lot at Downtown Disney, I started to wonder if I had done the right thing splitting the trip. Would Universal be a let down? Even though I was sure we would enjoy it, I started to have some doubt as we exited the highway and started toward the Universal property. Being a smaller property, Universal definitely does not have the same “approach excitement” that you get when you reach the Disney property, but after a while, the smaller area turned out to be a huge plus.
The feeling of doubt disappeared as soon as we hit the RPR parking lot. I can’t say enough about how much I loved this resort and how much the whole family loved it. The pool was great. The girls loved that. The grounds were beautiful and the theming was well done throughout
By the time we checked in, it was early evening. The staff at RPR was extremely friendly and accommodating. They helped us with ideas for dinner, supplying menus for the restaurants around the different properties and City Walk. When talking about the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, the guy at the desk started talking in his Forrest Gump voice: “Juhhhhn-eeee. Ya wonna ee-at there?” Of course he must have looked at the reservation to know we had a Jenny in our group who, by the way, hates it when we tease her with our Forest Gump voice. So, either he was a wicked quick to pick up on that or it was a coincidence. Either way, it was very funny.
RPR was being renovated and we lucked out with a newly renovated room. In fact, at check in we were told we were the first people to stay in the new room. How awesome is that??? We also had some BIG concerns after finding out all the onsite hotels are ‘pet friendly’ as we all have bad allergies and I had images of dogs next door barking all night. So, we requested Tower 1 and made a very clear request not to be near any pets. Well, RPR more than took care of us honoring our request in Tower 1 on the 7th floor with a great view.
We decided to just go up to our room, settle in, and have dinner at one of the restaurants at RPR. We decided on Jake’s American Grill and had a lovely and relaxing dinner. We explored the resort a bit and then turned in early. I saw a dog sitting outside while we were eating inside at Jakes and that was the only animal we saw the entire trip. The pet friendly thing was totally a non factor.
Up in the room, when everyone was in bed and asleep, I stayed up for a bit. I splurged for the internet access to check in at work and made some notes from the Disney part of our trip. I also went online to purchase tickets for the Tuesday evening Blue Man Group show on the property at Universal. This was another decision point as we went back and forth between doing Cirque du Soleil at Disney or the Blue Man Group. I had seen the Blue Man Group show in Vegas and loved it. My gut feeling was that the kids would enjoy this show more and I really wanted to see it again. After about two hours of catch up time, I turned in earlier than any of the previous nights on our vacation.
Tuesday 8/21/08
Day 7
We were up bright and early after a great night sleep (for once) and we headed to the dock to take the boat to City Walk which sat dead in the center of both parks. The two parks were so close I could stand at the entrance of one park and throw a softball to someone standing at the entrance to the other. This made park hopping a breeze.
We started at the original park and we took tons of pictures throughout. The funny thing for me and Cathy is that although we had been to Universal Studios, it was a completely new park for us. There were only three attractions left from when we went in 1991. They were E.T., Earthquake and Jaws and both E.T and Jaws were closed for re-hab when we were there. Everything else is either new or has been replaced by something else. We wanted to ride the Mummy but we stopped off at Shrek first. It took a minute or two to understand how the Front of the Line (FOTL) perk worked and for a theater show, it wasn’t really that valuable but for the rest of the attractions all I can say is wow!! I don’t even know where to start. It is like theme park touring heaven. I knew it would be cool but WOW. There is nothing like not having to wait in a single line your entire trip!!! It totally made touring a snap. You just flash your room key at every attraction and BAM you go right to the front of the line. We were able to do everything in both parks easily in two days touring slowly and taking our time and taking breaks. It was so relaxing and easy and with the FOTL, three days was more than enough.
Shrek was just OK not as great as I expected it to be. It was on par with It’s Tough to Be a Bug and not as good as Mickey’s Philharmagic. While, I wish Kongfrontation was still there, I was looking forward to The Mummy. We had a bit of a problem getting Allie to agree to this one because she watched the movie and the preview on the Universal website and was scared of the mummies. Jenny and I went on first and loved it. We assured Allie it wouldn’t be that bad and she finally agreed. I like the way Universal does the free locker rental outside of each of the big attractions.
After the Mummy we continued on around the park and did Jaws. Jenny watched the movie with me over the summer and had to turn it off because she was too scared to watch it so I think, Jaws gave her a good realistic effect. I loved it. We stopped off at the Starbucks to get some breakfast and some coffee. I checked out some of the Blues Brothers show while the girls ate. Love those Blues Brothers!! We also did the Earthquake attraction which was pretty similar to when we saw it originally. They added another pre show piece. The actual attraction is pretty well done and a realistic effect. I believe it will be closing and replaced soon, too.
Next up was Men in Black which we thoroughly enjoyed. With the FOTL we were able to get off and get on several times. I lost count but it was at least 3 or 4 times. Men in Black is amazing and I am sorry to say, much better than Buzz Lightyear. It will be interesting to compare it to the new Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios.
We then did E.T. which I thought was really neat. I think the girls were a little bored by it. I thought it was a Universal classic. I hope they never take it down. Unfortunately, E.T. did not have a locker outside of it and as we exited the ride to the outside, I realized I did not have my backpack which had among other things, my phone, camera and my wallet with all the tickets, ID stuff and oh yeah, money. I went back in the back way while Cathy and the girls went to the front to report it. The Cast Members at Universal were very helpful trying to contact the front to see if it was picked up when the bikes made there way to pick up new passengers. The information I was getting was that there was no sign of it. Which means one of two things: either someone took off with it, or it is still sitting in the basket underneath the seat. I stood at the ride unload area and checked each bike that came by until after about 20 minutes, I recognized my bag on one of the bikes. I delivered a sigh of relief and a thank you to the cast members at the ride exit, grabbed my phone out of the bag and called Cathy to let her know I had it.
Allie wanted to ride the Woody Woodpecker coaster (don’t ask me why) so she and Jenny rode it. Then we decided it was time to check out Islands of Adventure (IOA). All that meant for us was walking out of one park, crossing City Walk and then walking into the next park; piece of cake. We stopped at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville for lunch. No ADR’s are needed. We just walked in although I believe during crowded times, using your resort key gives you priority seating automatically. After eating we strolled over to the IOA park entrance and through the turnstiles.
Upon entering Islands of Adventure, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I expected. I expected a park focused on thrill rides and I thought it would be a glorified Six Flags. Yes, there were thrill rides, but the park was extremely well themed; much more than I expected. The Port of Entry, The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park and Seuss Landing were especially cool. All the attractions were really well done. And of course, the thrills were kicked up a notch!! I also like the way the park was laid out in a condensed circular fashion. Things were close together and it was easy to walk to around the lake from one land to the next. Transitions to each area are very well done.
We started in The Marvel section where Jenny and I rode both the Hulk and Dr. Doom then we caught up with Cathy and Allie and did Spiderman. Hulk instantly became both Jenny and my favorite coaster we have ever been on. It was very smooth and fun, was thrilling but not over done. I love the launch into the first roll and drop. Very nice. Spiderman has been called the best theme park attraction in Florida and perhaps anywhere in the world. I am not sure if it is the best but it certainly did not disappoint. The theming and effects were amazing. Personally, I would have liked a little better or at least a coherent story to the ride but the effects were so cool, it is hard to argue.
Before calling it a day, we did Dudley Do Right’s flume ride, the Jurassic Park River Adventure and the Cat in the Hat. The flume ride was certainly not in the same league as Splash Mountain but it was not a run of the mill flume either. We all enjoyed it.
As I am sure you know from previous trip reports and the fact that Dinosaur at Disney is my favorite ride, I love dinosaurs and thus, I was very much looking forward to Jurassic Park. The movie Jurassic Park is one of those movies that every time it comes on regardless of which sequel, I always watch it. Well, the River Adventure, was a bit of a disappointment for me. It just didn’t seem as realistic as even Dinosaur. I think they really put a lot into this attraction and it just didn’t scare me because it didn’t seem feasible. For example, coming to the climax, at the top of the hill as you approach the giant T Rex, it takes too long to get there and the T Rex just stays in one place moving his head and roaring. Would that really happen? Maybe I am missing something but it would have been better if he pops out just as you get to the crest of the hill instead of just sitting there stuck in one place. Of course the drop is cool. Another strike against this attraction is that it is not dark enough. Even in the movies, the best and most realistic scenes are filmed in the dark while it is raining. There is a reason for that. The dinos will look more realistic in the dark. Dinosaur got that part right, too.
The theming around this area though, including the giant entrance and the music throughout was extremely well done and the small discovery center is very cool. We stopped in for a bit and explored then we headed out. We were ready to call it day so we skipped past the Lost Continent and stopped in at the Seuss Landing on the way out. The only attraction we did was the Cat and the Hat which was a cute dark ride in the Winnie the Pooh / Peter Pan genre.
Because of the FOTL pass we were able to see so much in such a short time. It was still only early afternoon. So we strolled back to the resort and changed into our swimsuits for some pool time. After a nice swim we started to get ready for the Blue Man Group show. We decided since we had a big lunch we would eat after the show which started at 8PM.
We changed and got to the theater early for the show. We had good seats - not great seats but in a small theater, they were all good. The show was almost identical as the Vegas show with a few pieces cut out and a few additions. They seemed to spend more time in the audience in this show which was cool. I wondered how my daughters would react to it and the answer was that they loved it. Every time I looked over they were either smiling or laughing hysterically. It is a unique show and very well done. I highly recommend it.
After the show, we had our pick of which restaurants we wanted to visit and we decided on the NBA City. We had a pretty basic meal of burgers, chicken fingers, etc. and a couple of drinks. Then we walked back to the resort to turn in for the night.
Wednesday 8/22/08
Day 8
We slept in this morning. The pace has slowed down considerably from the beginning of the trip at Disney. We were getting up after 9AM and taking our time to get the parks. We started today at Islands of Adventure. We did just about every attraction here and some like Dueling Dragons several times. I loved the queue at Dueling Dragons. And Jenny and I did both Fire and Ice and then went back one last time to do Ice again even though I insisted that Fire was the better ride. Allie and Cathy rode the Flying Unicorn while Jenny and I were on Dueling Dragons.
We started the day in the Toon Lagoon section and did the Dudley Do Right again as well as the Popeye and Bluto raft ride. We got absolutely soaked there and in retrospect, we should have ended here not started. I was smart enough to bring a spare shirt to change into. Everyone else was just wet.
We did the Jurasic Park River Adventure again and the girls wanted to do the Pteranodon Flyers which for some reason is the only attraction that does not allow FOTL privileges AND the wait was over an hour for what looked to be about a 20 second ride. So, we ended up skipping it. And that would be only IOA attraction we missed. We spent some more time in the Discovery Center and were able to see a raptor being born. The baby dino was named Jenny and would be out in the attraction in about 4 years according to the scientist. He gave Jenny a copy of the baby dinosaur’s birth certificate for future reference.
After Jurassic Park, we spent some time in the Lost Continent where the theming was extremely well done. We did the coasters mentioned above as well as the Sinbad show and the Poseiden Adventure. The Sinbad show was a bit lame but the girls seemed to really enjoy it for some reason. The Poseiden attraction was certainly different and we needed a second shot at it, I think, to fully appreciate it. Unfortunately because of how it was set up, even with the FOTL there was a pretty significant line here and I think outside of Shrek, the only line we waited in the entire time at Universal. Needless to say, I could not convince anyone to do it again.
For lunch, we decided to eat at Mythos which was certainly a treat. It is a beautiful restaurant and it was hard to believe we were dining in a theme park. I highly recommend this restaurant. The food was excellent as was the service and they have a very diverse menu so there was something for everyone in every price range.
After lunch we circled to the Seuss area were the girls did the Caroseussel and the One Fish Two Fish ride while Cathy and I rested in the shade. We did the Cat in the Hat one more time and in the gift shop, we bought the girls Thing One and Thing Two shirts to wear on our final day and flight home. And finally, we arrived back at the Marvel Super Hero section again and did the Hulk, Spiderman a few times. The girls did the Storm Force which appeared to be the tea cups attraction on steroids.
It was still pretty early in the day but everyone was done and wanted to go to the pool. It is amazing that we could do so much in one day and still have so much time to relax. I decided that while I was fine with everyone taking it easy, I wanted to do something I have never done and always wanted to do -- tour a park by myself. So, Cathy took the girls back to RPR for some swimming and I turned left at City Walk and got in line to Universal Studios. I found touring by myself to be very enjoyable and not a bit “weird” as I thought it might be. I did the Twister attraction which I thought was pretty good. The pre-show really set the tone for this and the fact that it was done in the dark and raining help make it more realistic (hint to Jurassic Park). I also did another spin on the Mummy and then headed over to the Terminator. Here is another attraction that got great reviews but I left there scratching my head. I did not quite follow it. I seemed to be just watching a movie for quite some time before anything interesting happened and then it just kinda ended with a bang. Oh well. After exiting, I figured it was time to head out and back to the resort. I walked through the Lucy Tribute on the way out then I walked back to the resort.
The girls were still in the pool when I arrived and I told Cathy I would go up and change to relieve her from her kid watching duties. When I came back down she went upstairs to shower and change and rest. I swam and relaxed with the girls for another hour or so and then we all came up to shower and change. We had some discussions about where to go for dinner and just decided we’d eat at Jake’s again at the resort. On the way down to the restaurant, we stopped by the front desk to print our A boarding passes for the flight on Southwest tomorrow. We had another relaxing meal at Jake’s and then headed upstairs to pack and get ready for trip back to sunny Connecticut.
Thursday 8/23/08
Day 9
It sure is tough to check out of your hotel knowing that it’s your last day of vacation. The good news is that our flight is not until 9PM so we have a full day of park time to take advantage of. We got all our stuff packed and into the car and headed off to Universal Studios to finish up some of the attractions we missed the first day and to do some favorites again. I took the clan back to Twister. Allie was scared and did not like it. Jenny was not crazy about it either. We also did the Universal Horror Make Up Show which was not what I expected to be but it was very funny and we all enjoyed it. And finally, we did Jimmy Neutron which was the Hanna Barbera ride when we were there 15 years earlier. It is the same ride but with a different cartoon. We also hit the Mummy, Men in Black, E.T. and Shrek one more time before taking off.
We stopped off at the Hard Rock Café for lunch before heading back to Islands of Adventure. We only wanted to do a few our favorites here and we stayed away from anything that could get us wet. Jenny and I did the Hulk, Dr. Doom and Dueling Dragons again while Cathy and Allie did the Flying Unicorn and the Cat and the Hat again.
And then it was time to call it day. We walked back to the RPR parking lot, jumped in the car and headed off to the airport for our flight home. The disadvantage of having such a late flight is that we did not land until almost midnight. We had to shuttle back to the Comfort Inn and then drive an hour and a half to get home. An interesting set of events occurred when getting the shuttle. We exited the plane and called for the shuttle right away while we were getting our luggage. The front desk said the driver was already on his way. When we got our bags and headed out to the shuttle area we saw the van parked across the street and waiting. So we rolled our bags over there and told the driver we were ready to go. He replied that he was sorry, but he was waiting for some other group that was coming in on a different flight. He could not take us back to the hotel. My jaw hit the driveway. Before we could start to argue with him, another group of business men and women strolled up with their luggage, jumped into the van and took off. The driver told us he would be right back to get us. I wasn’t too happy about and I called the front desk. They said there was nothing they could do. So, we had to wait about another 20 minutes or so for the guy to come back and take us to the hotel to get our car. I wasn’t his friendliest passenger of the day, I am sure about that. The ride home was long and it was late, but we got home and settled in to dream about Orlando until next time.
Final Thoughts
Going in the summer was fine. We did OK in the heat; even my fair skinned wife and daughter (Allie) did OK. Jenny is a bit darker like me and has more of my side (Sicilian). I would be willing to go back in the summer especially at the end when it is value season and some of the kids are back at school. The next time I go to Disney during a school vacation, summer or otherwise, I will definitely be better prepared for the crowds and have some more attraction to attraction strategy as well as having a better idea of which parks will be most crowded on which day taking into account Extra Magic Hours, etc. Although now that we have been three times, it will be easier to skip some stuff. We did a couple of new things like Disney Quest, Both water parks and mini golf. We probably won’t do mini golf again but assuming we get the ticket add on, we would do the water parks and Disney Quest again for sure. For resorts, Coronado Springs did not disappoint. I think we will be happy at any of the moderates from now on. The rooms were comfy and the pool was awesome. We would have preferred to be in the Cabanas section as requested. I don’t think I’ll request a room location next time.
We obviously loved Universal and the Royal Pacific. The resort was on par with a Disney deluxe resort and you can’t beat the location. Having a newly renovated room in Tower 1 was super special. The front of the line benefit is a slice of theme park heaven. I can’t imagine visiting Universal without staying onsite and having that benefit. The parks themselves are great and very impressive. Disney still does it just a bit better, but Universal holds it own and is certainly in the same league. The size and location of the parks along with the Front of the Line perk make Universal a more relaxing experience so if you do a split stay, definitely do Disney first. And don’t forget about the Blue Man Group. It is a total hoot and highly recommended.
Overall it was a great trip and although it was hectic at times and relaxing at other times, it was always fun. That is the best way to describe our trips to the “make believe” worlds of Orlando, FL, we always have oodles of fun and we escape from the day to day grind of the “real world.” I mean isn’t that what vacations are all about?
Thanks for reading. Hopefully it took you less time to read it than it did for me to write it. Please feel free to contact me or post with any questions or comments
Jim
huskies90@yahoo.com
Travel Method: Plane and Magical Express/Rental Car
Resort: Coronado Springs Resort (Disney) / Royal Pacific Resort (Universal Orlando)
The Cast
Jim, age 38 – husband/dad/planner/trip report writer
Cathy, age 38 – wife/mom
Jenny, age 10/11 – daughter/sister
Allie, age 8 – daughter/sister
After what felt like about a decade, we are back. Actually it was more like 20 months (that’s almost two years to you and me). This will be our third trip with our first back in November 2004:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr04/indelicato04no.htm
And the second in November 2005:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr05/indelicato05no.htm
When we last left off, we had returned the first week in December 2005 from a near perfect ten days at Disney. The last trip was so well planned I knew I had my work cut out for me planning this trip. This trip also found me in the middle of a very intense project at work so I had much less free time to plan. I was hoping our experience and general knowledge would make the planning unnecessary. This ended up being somewhat of a miscalculation but when all was said and done, looking back, things went pretty darn well.
As always, we were looking for some new things to try this time around. If you remember from last time or if you just read the last paragraph of my 2005 trip report, you would know we wanted to try some of the other Orlando parks – Specifically Universal Studios and Sea World. Also, since our last two trips were in November, it was too cold to try the Disney water parks so that was on the to-do list as well. We had a few other smaller things we wanted to do as well like mini golf, Disney Quest and Cirque du Soleil.
For our last two trips we took our kids out of school and we encountered near empty parks, perfect weather and no lines to speak of. With Jenny now in fifth grade, those days are gone. So we are now subject to school vacations. The trip was originally planned for April 2007 which would be a perfect time of year weather wise - still chilly in the Northeast but certainly warm enough for the water parks in Florida. But, with a critical project deliverable looming in May, I needed to reschedule. It was only the end of February and I had only booked the resort at this point, so it was easy to cancel.
So, now what do we do? Our choices are, summer, Christmas week, President’s week or next April. I pretty much ruled out Christmas and President’s week due to crowds and due to Jenny’s basketball schedule. So, we put it to a vote – brave the heat of summer or wait until the next April (15 months). Without blinking an eye all three ladies raised their hands for the summer. I had two main problems with summer. First, the heat – I knew nobody in my family does well in the heat; that is except for me, of course. The hottest temperatures and highest humidity do not bother me at all. In fact, living in the Northeast where we have that fluffy white stuff and sub zero temperatures in the winter, I often wonder why I live here. Which brings me to reason number, two – while I certainly don’t mind the heat, the reason my previous dozen or so trips to Florida have been in the colder months has been my one chance even for one week, to get away from the cold.
Well, with the thought of waiting 15 months, plus the value season of late August, the possibility of free dining and the added bonus of Jenny’s birthday falling in late August. The decision was made. Summer it is. Let the planning begin!!
First, we need a place to stay. Leading off, we will be starting at Disney where we’ll stay the first half of the trip. We loved Port Orleans last time maybe even a bit more than the split stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so, we figured another moderate would fit us perfectly. I’d love to get a chance to stay in all the resorts eventually (a boy can dream, right?). I have tried a few times to get a room at Coronado Springs but the rooms book up so fast. Since I am so far out, it was easy to book there. I was able to get a AAA rate at first but then a summer discount came out later and I was able to apply the difference. Alas, the free dining came but did not start until the last week in August so, we’ll miss it. Oh well.
We booked the back end of our trip at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios also with a AAA rate. Being value season there, we received an excellent rate and with the front of the line pass, we were excited about visiting there. I started searching for airfares and watched Dings very closely. Unfortunately, Dings out of Bradley (Hartford) were non existent but I was able to get $49 each way out of Providence. It is an extra half hour drive but since I was saving hundreds on the airfare, it was worth the drive. Since we had a very early flight, we ended up doing the stay and fly at the Comfort Inn, staying the night before and parking the car for the entire week. Great idea except the beds in that hotel had to be the most uncomfortable I have ever slept in.
For tickets, we bought 6 day hoppers with water park add on and for Universal the unlimited 7 day 2 park pass (a bargain at $86 each). Both tickets were purchased at our local AAA office. We also booked a rental car at Dollar with an excellent rate. We decided we would do Magical Express one way to get the luggage to the resort. The girls took the bus. I drove the rental. In case you are wondering, they beat me to the resort. I also got the folks at AAA to throw in the special parking pass even though that is typically reserved for those folks buying a package. I am not sure how much we will use it but hey, I like extras thrown in for free.
Tuesday 8/14
Day 0
Everything was packed and ready to go the night before. I was up early to get our A boarding pass from Southwest before heading to the office. Cathy would drive me into work that morning and picked me up at the end of the day with the girls. The project I was one was getting more and more intense and I barely had a day off (including weekends) for months so getting ready and out of there was not easy. I had a playoff softball game that night at the beach in Westport, CT. So we all headed down for the game and then would head to Providence. I launched a tremendous three run homer late in the game to tie the score for our team. I crushed it over the fence at a field where I had never seen anyone hit it out prior to my dinger. It was the comeback that eventually led to our team’s victory and it was an awesome start to my well needed (and deserved) vacation. After the game, we grabbed some sandwiches at Subway and jumped on I95 to Providence. We parked, checked in and set our alarm for a 7AM flight.
Wednesday 8/15
Day 1
We were up bright and early after an atrocious night sleep at the Comfort Inn. They did have a nice free breakfast. We grabbed the shuttle to the airport and headed to the A line at Southwest. The flight down was uneventful and before we knew it we were hopping the monorail at MCO and heading to the transportation area. We split up. The girls headed to Magical Express and I headed to Dollar Rental Car. For our first trip, we had a rental car and last time we relied strictly on Disney transportation. My preference is to have the flexibility of the car. Plus, we needed to be able to get to Universal and to the airport so it was easiest and most economical to just rent the car for the entire trip.
I have been to Florida about a dozen times in my life between vacations, Disney trips and visiting my grandparents when they lived down there. With the exception of one business trip to Orlando in July, I had always gone during the colder winter months. Well, we all know it was hot down there in August for sure. Personally, I loved it but I knew as soon as I stepped out of the airport and felt the heat and humidity that the weather was going to slow us down.
On the way to Coronado Springs, I stopped at the Winn Dixie to pick up a supply of water to bring to the parks and a bunch of snacks for the week to help tie us over between meals and stuff to have quick breakfasts on the way out in the AM.
After getting to Coronado Springs, checking in and not getting our room request for the fourth straight time at Disney (why bother?), we were off to our room and then to the main feature pool. The pool at Coronado Springs is awesome and felt so good. We all enjoyed the slide. After showering and changing we were off to the parks. Disney MGM studios and Rock n Rollercoaster (RRC) was first on our list. I also had an Advance Dinner Reservation (ADR) at the Sci Fi Diner for a late lunch / early dinner at 4PM.
Right away when entering the park we noticed much larger crowds than we had ever seen at Disney and much larger when we expected. Add in the heat that we were not used to and the bad night sleep in Providence and it didn’t take long to get cranky. We headed to Rock n Rollercoaster (RRC) which would be our first attraction. Since Allie is now 51” and finally tall enough, she insisted we go there first. When we arrive, however, the stand by wait time was 75 minutes. In two previous week long trips the longest wait we ever had was 25 minutes. Now what do we do?? For starters, we get Fastpasses (FP) for later then decide to see how the other side of the park looks which usually is less crowded. It wasn’t much better. We waited a half hour or so for the Muppets which was always a walk on in previous trips and we waited about 40 minutes for Star Tours which also was always a walk on. Cathy sat out Star Tours as it is not one of her favorites. After those two attractions, we decided if we are going to wait that long in line, we might as well wait at Rock n Rollercoaster. So we headed back over and got in the standby line. The wait was about 50 minutes which wasn’t too bad and before we knew it we were in our limos for the exhilarating trip around Southern Cal. It was Cathy’s first and last ride on RRC after coaxing her to try it once. She literally broke into tears as she exited to the gift shop.
We were a bit late for our dinner reservation and we were also about a half hour away from our Fastpass window to open. So I sent the girls over to Sci Fi to check in for dinner and I waited by the FP machines at Tower of Terror (TOT) for the window to open. I had some trouble with my AAA park hoppers. They were the Tyvek paper kind. I did not like these at all. I had a similar problem earlier at RRC. But I had no problems getting through the turnstiles. Needless to say, I wanted to combine my tickets with my keys to the kingdom. Luckily there was a Cast Member (CM) there who gave me a Fastpass. He was the CM you see on the Travel Channel specials when they show the Tower of Terror. I thought about asking for his autograph but I had nothing to write on. Just about 2 minutes before getting my TOT fastpasses, it started to drizzle and about 4 minutes later it started to pour. Oh my goodness it rained so much in so little time. I trekked across the park to the Sci Fi Diner and got absolutely soaked. I had heard about the passing summer Florida thunderstorms. I guess now I have experienced them. About 15 minutes later, the rain stopped and we didn’t see another drop the rest of the trip as there was a hurricane that was stalling out south of Miami sucking all the moisture away from us. It also absorbed some of the humidity but, shhhh; that will be our little secret as I don’t want Cathy to even imagine that it could have been hotter and even more humid down there.
The girls made it to the restaurant ahead of the rain and when I got there, our names were just being called. The Sci Fi was cool. It had an amazing atmosphere and I loved those B movie clips. The food was not that bad - not that great. After dinner we waited for the Great Movie Ride and then used our fastpasses at both RRC and TOT. I wanted to stick around for Fantasmic but everyone was tired. So we headed back to the resort to turn in. I had a nice walk from our room in the far reaches of the Ranchos section of Coronado Springs, around the lake and to the front desk to fix our ticket problems. On the way back I could hear Fantasmic, see some of the fireworks at Illuminations and hear Wishes in the distance. It was a beautiful warm night – a great night for a stroll.
Thursday 8/16/08
Day 2
With the heat and crowds, our rough game plan was to try to get to the parks as early as possible taking advantage of the morning Extra Magic Hours (EMH) and also try to be there at night when the sun goes down also taking advantage of the evening EMH. Then during the day the plan was to try to hit the water parks or the resort pool. The EMH in the AM was at the Magic Kingdom. We bussed it over and we were there for the park’s opening. Even the EMH was crowded at park opening and there was a 15 minute back up trying to get into Tomorrowland. We started with the Space Mountain and did Buzz which stopped for about 15-20 minutes as we were just loading. We also did the Indy Speedway and the Monster’s Inc Comedy Club for the first time. It was just OK, nothing special. We then crossed over to the other side of the park to get fastpasses and ride Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain as well as Pirates of the Caribbean which was a first for us since the large rehab with the new movie characters.
We booked out of the Magic Kingdom around 11:30AM picking up a birthday button for Jenny at the town hall then took the bus back to the resort to rest a bit, change, grab a snack and head over to Typhoon Lagoon for our first experience at a water park. We used our car to drive over, rented a locker and towels. The locker made sense, the towels really were not needed because when you leave them in one place, by the time you get to the spot you left them, you are no longer wet. The same could be said for shoes. Most water parks we’ve been to have walkways that get so hot you can’t get around without something on your feet. But Disney had little water sprays all over the walkways keeping them cool and making the shoes unnecessary. The wave pool is simply amazing except for the concrete floor. Why can’t it be sand like at the Beach Club? We hit all the slides. They were just OK nothing special. Humunga Cowabunga was the best slide. Allie and Cathy chickened out of that one. We did just about everything including Crush and Gusher, and the lazy river. We did miss the shark reef, however, thinking we’d be back and have another chance to check it out. That never happened. Oh well, it gives us something new to try next time.
We left Typhoon Lagoon at about dinner time. We headed back to shower and change then we were back in the car and off to the Boardwalk. We parked at the resort, strolled through the lobby and out to the boardwalk itself. We had ADR’s at Biergarten in the Germany pavilion. We followed the path to EPCOT and through the international gateway on our way to Germany. I loved Biergarten. Tons of food. Good basic stuff and some really good German cuisine. I can’t even describe how much I ate. The staff came over and gave Jenny a huge gingerbread cookie with a card wishing her a happy birthday. The dinner was worth every penny.
EPCOT was packed. We waited in line for the new Nemo ride. It was cute. I like those continuous fast loading rides because even though the line was long it moved fast. We stuck around for Turtle Talk with Crush which we all enjoy even though it is geared more toward little kids. We settled in for Illuminations after Crush. Along with Wishes, Illuminations is one of my favorite shows. After Illuminations, we got wristbands for the evening EMHs. There were obviously no fastpasses this late for Soarin’ but like RRC we really really wanted to ride it. So we headed over to the Land pavilion and got in the 70 minute line at Soarin’. It was a long wait but woth it and it ended up being closer to 55 minutes. There was a short line at the end for Living with the Land so we did that too. But after Living with the Land, it was getting late, the park was closing and we were tired. It was time to head out. The girls were too tired to walk all the way back to the car so, Cathy took them to the bus and I walked myself back through the International Gateway to the boardwalk and to the car. On the way out I saw (and heard) them discharge the remains of the inferno barge on the world showcase lagoon. Back to the resort and straight to bed. We have another long day planned for tomorrow!
Thursday 8/17/08
Day 3
It is hard to believe that 11 years have flown by since Jenny was born. We see couples now planning for their first kids or even couples with babies and can’t even remember what either of that was like. I guess it won’t be long before our daughters will be taking us to Disney. But, today’s is Jenny’s day and what a way to spend your 11th birthday - at Disney. She made it clear early in the planning process that the focus for her day was Blizzard Beach and the Magic Kingdom. Per her request, I also had ADR’s for Whispering Canyon which was the best of the many table service restaurants we sampled (on the dining plan) last time.
So, we were up early again, and off to the EMH at Blizzard Beach. It was empty when we first arrived but it got crowded pretty quick. We were able to experience just about everything in a few hours and took a trip around a portion of the lazy river. The only thing we missed was Summit Plummet and this is because only Jenny and I were brave enough to do it and half way up the stairs, Jenny decided she too was too chicken to give it a shot. I could not continue without her so we jumped off the line and did Slush Gusher again. By time we were able to meet up again with Cathy and Allie, the line at Summit Plummet was too long for me to go by myself. Again, another attraction for next time we go.
By 11:30AM we were back in our extremely hot car and on our way back to the Coronado Springs to change. No rest time though, we got right back out, jumped in the car and headed to Animal Kingdom. After going through the turnstiles, I tried to rush ahead of the group to get fastpasses for Everest. The heat didn’t bother me so moving quickly was fine. This gave everyone else the time to move slowly and rest whenever they needed. When I got to Everest, the standby was only 20 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. I even asked a Cast Member if that was correct and she said it was. I grabbed fastpasses anyway and called Cathy on her cell to let her know and I waited by the entrance thinking they were just a few minutes behind me. Well, twenty minutes later, I see the three of them coming over the bridge to Asia out of breath. I asked where they were and Cathy replies that they ‘rushed’ over but I guess must have gotten lost? I am not sure but Cathy didn’t want to talk about it and I certainly did not want them to have to ‘rush’ over. Oh well.
We did our first ride ever on Everest. To be honest, as coasters go, it wasn’t my favorite. I have been on many higher and loopier coasters but going backwards in the dark made me want to lose my lunch which I didn’t even eat yet by the way. But everyone else loved it including Cathy who is not a coaster fan to say the least.
We headed over to Dinoland and did Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. Cathy started to over heat a bit so she rested in the shade by Dinosaur while the girls and I rode Primeval Whirl again and won huge stuffed dinosaurs in the carnival games. Cathy started developing another problem at this point in the trip – blisters on her feet. We all decided that we would try Crocs for our summer trip thinking it would the most comfortable and versatile footwear for the heat, the walking and the water parks. We bought them a month in advance and wore them everywhere with no problems. The kids had owned a pair before these. Cathy wore hers all day every day. I wore mine on weekends etc. Everyone but Allie started to develop blisters. Allie had no problems. Jenny and I both brought an extra pair of flip flops that we planned to only use at the pool, but they came in handy to wear to the parks. We were able to alternate footwear and that help minimize any problems. Cathy was not that lucky. She only brought the Crocs and was stuck. She tried buying a pair of flip flops or sandals but by the time she found a pair she liked, it was too late. And then once she started wearing the sandals, she developed a whole new set of blisters from wearing brand new shoes. Somehow, with the aid of several band aids she was able to stick it out and keep up throughout the rest of the trip.
We had an ice cream snack for our lunch and then headed back to Everest to ride it again with our fastpasses. We hit It’s Tough to be a Bug on the way out of the park. Then we headed back to the car and back to the resort.
We rested for a while and the girls and I decided to go for a swim at the main pool which was very enjoyable for everyone and relaxing. We relaxed at the pool then headed back to our room and changed for dinner at Whispering Canyon. We drove over to the Wilderness Lodge and spent some time exploring the resort. Whispering Canyon was the best table service experience we had last time as our server was amazing. Our server this time was good but nearly the caliber of “Bobby the Kid.” For Jenny’s birthday, the server got all the boys in the room over to our table to sing happy birthday to her. That was cute and funny. The meal was pretty good. We ordered off the menu and not the family skillet like last time. Jenny had to “special order” a hamburger because it was not on the menu. Go figure.
We left the car at the Wilderness Lodge and hopped on a bus over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening EMH. The place was simply packed. My observations all week was that the morning EMHs are still good the evening ones are a waste. They are so crowded and even for a park like the Magic Kingdom which had almost everything open, it was way too crowded. The park closed at 11 so with the EMH’s, it stayed open until 2AM. We arrived in time to get wristbands and watch Wishes which we did from the bridge to Tomrrowland. I still much prefer the Main Street view. After Wishes, things started to melt down. Jenny was on birthday overload and became very cranky. She was unable to agree on anything the rest of us wanted to do. Plus, with the crowds and long lines there with no fastpasses left we really weren’t sure what we wanted to do. We did It’s a Small World and Mickey’s Philharmagic together and then Jenny just decided she was tired and she’d had enough and wanted to go back. Ironically, Allie who usually is the one complaining about things was much more agreeable and wanted to stay. So, Cathy took Jenny back on the bus while Allie and I stayed. In that last few hours we did Snow White, Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch’s Great Escape and Space Mountain which even after midnight had a pretty good size line. I could see Allie struggling to stay awake as we snaked through the dark queue.
After Space Mountain, we grabbed the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge which was very fun and relaxing. We both enjoyed this mode of transportation and the fresh air kept us awake. We arrived at our car, drove back to Coronado Springs and were in bed by about 1:00AM.
Saturday 8/18/08
Day 4
This is where our plan to take advantage of mornings and evenings in the parks start to backfire. After a late night at one park how do you get up early to hit a morning EMH at a park the next day?? I was sure that Cathy and Jenny would be up and ready to go but I figured Allie and I would want to sleep in after the late night. Nope. We were up too and rearing to go. So we hopped on the bus and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the early EMH. Getting there early does pay off, though, because we were able to hit several rides before we needed to leave for our ADR at Chef Mickey’s which has now become our tradition at Disney. The first year we did dinner on or first night and the last time we did the late breakfast which doubled as lunch. That was the plan today to get the last seating for breakfast and extend it as our breakfast and lunch (you know, brunch). Jenny was presented with a special cupcake and placemat for her birthday. Not that there weren’t enough sweets there. It is the thought that counts, I guess. The food here is typical for a buffet across the resort. And even though the kids are older now, we all still love hugging Mickey and his pals and getting our pictures taken with them; including the biggest kid of all – me.
After breakfast we shopped and did some pin trading at the gift shops in the Contemporary. Just like last time, I bought a ton of pins on eBay the girls would use to trade. Jenny was trying to complete the set of baby Mickey and pals dressed as the Pirates of the Caribbean that had just come out. She had been collecting them all week and needed just one more, the Goofy dressed as Davy Jones. We kept looking and kept looking but no cast member seemed to have that one. I know she could have just bought the set but what’s the fun in that?
After spending some time at the Contemporary we were ready for a spin on the monorail and over to EPCOT where we planned to spend the remainder of the day. We hit several rides including the new updated Gran Fiesta in the Mexico pavilion and Maelstrom which we skipped last time. We also did Ellen’s, Figment and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We had dinner in the Electric Umbrella after the girls decided there was nothing they liked at Sunshine Seasons which in my opinion has the best counter service food at Disney. We also did our only ride on Test Track which is one of our favorites. In fact the lines were so long that we opted to split up and hit the singles line. For fastpasses, we chose Soarin’ over Test Track mainly because we knew we could do a singles line at Test Track and couldn’t at Soarin’. After Test Track we decided to try the new “non” spinning version of Mission Space. We had bad experiences back in 2004 on our first trip with Mission Space as the spinning made all of us nauseas all day. But besides the feeling afterward, we loved the experience. So we hopped on the “Green” team line. I thought the ride would be lame without the spinning effect but I was wrong. It was actually very enjoyable and still realistic. I would equate it to Star Tours at MGM.
After we exited Mission Space, Illuminations was just starting so we hustled over to the lagoon to catch the majority of it. After our final Illuminatios viewing (I love that show) we decided it was time for another first at Disney. We wanted to play a little mini golf. Now, most of our vacation time when we are not at Disney is spent at Cape Cod and there about 4 or 5 gazillion mini golf places at the Cape. I think we have been to all but a few. We had very high expectations of a mini golf course created with the Imagineering of Disney. Of the three courses available to us, we decided on Fantasia Gardens although we considered the fairways only because it was such an unusual course. But the Gardens course most closely resembled the courses we played at the Cape.
We filed out of EPCOT and jumped on the bus back to the resort. I double checked with everyone to make sure they wanted to go back out so late, especially Allie who was up late the night before. Everyone assured me they were fine and really really really wanted to go play mini golf. I should have known better. We arrived at Coronado Springs around 10PM, jumped in the car and swung over to Fantasia Gardens. Surprisingly, it was packed and we’d have an hour wait. We decided to just hang out and wait. By the time we got on the course it was after 11PM. I was somewhat disappointed with the course. It was just OK. I have seen better designed and even better themed courses elsewhere which simply should not happen at Disney. Allie began to melt down a little when she started playing poorly. Gee, I wonder where she gets her competitiveness from? But in fairness to her, she must have been cruising on fumes by that time. Overall, we had fun as usual playing mini golf even if we were a bit disappointed with the course. Back at to the resort it was around midnight and time to get some sleep. Lights out!
Sunday 8/19/08
Day 5
We slept in a little bit today as we have had some pretty long nights and planned for another one tonight. But sleeping in is still a pretty early morning for us. This will be our last full day at Disney before, heading over to Universal Studios tomorrow. Today’s plan was to hit the Animal Kingdom in the morning, a water park in the afternoon and then back to the Magic Kingdom for the late night EMH.
We used our AAA parking pass at Animal Kingdom. It is a better location than having to park way in the back but it is still a pretty long walk and there are no trams so it is a bit of a good news bad news situation using the pass. If you are walking and not taking a tram it is closer. We glided through the turnstiles and did Everest and Primeval Whirl again but the line at Dinosaur was just way too long so we skipped it which I am not happy about because it is still my favorite and I only got to do it once this trip. We also wanted to do Kali River Rapids. My plan was to grab fastpasses then come back just before we were leaving but when we arrived, the standby line was only 20 minutes. So instead of doing the fastpasses, I trotted back to Everest and grabbed some fastpasses there for later while the rest of the clan waited by Kali River Rapids. They were fascinated by some swinging monkeys while they waited. I joined up with them and we entered the standby line which still stated 20 minutes. Well, that was way off. We waited over an hour, creeping slowly through the very detailed queue. We also noticed the fastpass line was not moving all that fast either. After the long wait we finally arrived at the front of the line only to be told that the ride was closing down. Bummer. We asked if we could get a fastpass to return and we were told that they could not do that which I know is not true because that has happened to us previous trips at Test Track. There were some very irate guests back tracking through the line and out of the attraction. A group formed at the entrance really giving the CMs an earful. I will agree that the thing to do is give the people that waited the entire time a fastpass. If you think about, that is what fastpasses technically do, they hold your place in line. But the CMs wouldn’t budge. It also didn’t help that the posted standby wait time was so inaccurate. We shrugged our collective shoulders and continued on our way.
We crossed the park to Africa and took a trip around the African savannah at Kilimanjaro Safari. We timed it to be back in time to be in line for the new Finding Nemo Musical show. It was different. I had heard “broadway caliber” and it was good but certainly not broadway caliber. After the show we checked the standby line at Kali River Rapids. It just re-opened so the line was not too bad so we gave it another shot. This time we made it to the front in 20 minutes and got to ride it. After Kali we took one more spin around Mt Everest and said good bye to our newest animatronic buddy, the cuddly Yeti; and then we headed out of the park for the final time on this trip.
We hoofed it to the car and it was hot. Everyone was dragging just a bit and I started thinking, hmmm, a tram would be pretty great right about now. On the drive back to the resort we debated about which water park to go back too and the majority vote was for Blizzard Beach. We knew it was going to be very crowded mid day so the plan was really to just go and relax which is what we did. This time we did the full trek around the lazy river and we spent most of the time at the Ski Patrol which is an awesome idea -- a place just for mid size kids. There is another “kiddie” area where real little kids can play but the Ski Patrol was for pre teen age older kids. The girls had a blast here playing, swimming, doing the slides and other fun attractions while Cathy and I just put our feet in the pool and relaxed. I considered going up the hill to wait for Summit Plummet but with the over hour wait it just wasn’t in the cards.
After we had enough at Blizzard Beach, it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom for one final time. We drove back to the resort and changed then hopped on the bus. I had made ADR’s for every day we were there just in case. And since we hadn’t eaten much today, we decided to go ahead and use the ADR at the Crystal Palace. We had been here before and didn’t really care about the Pooh characters, but we knew the food was pretty good and being a buffet, we figured we get our moneys worth.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and started with the train from Main Street over to Splash Mountain. We had never done that piece of the railroad. Once getting off the train I noticed the crowds weren’t quite as bad today and started realizing that it was Sunday night and kids may start going back to school the next day. We grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain and waited for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes. After Big Thunder we sang along with the Country Bears. The only other time we saw them was during the holiday overlay so this was the first time seeing the original show. We used our Splash fastpasses and then hightailed it to the Crystal Palace for dinner. We chowed down at the buffet. Oh yeah, we got our moneys worth. We got pictures with Pooh and his pals and we finished just around 10PM in time to catch Wishes which we watched from just outside the Crystal Palace.
We did much better this time with the nighttime EMH as crowds were better and lines weren’t as long. Everyone was much more agreeable and we did our last treks on Pirates, the Jungle Cruise, Pooh and Buzz Lightyear. The last attraction was the Carousel of Progress and I think all of us dozed off during the show signaling it was time to say good bye to the Magic Kingdom. We grabbed the bus and headed back to Coronado Springs for the final time. Back at the resort we already packed up and ready to check out the next day.
Monday 8/20/08
Day 6
When I originally planned this trip it was going to be 5 days at Disney and 4 at Universal with perhaps a day at Sea World squeezed in somewhere. When we started discussing all things we wanted to do and what could be “missed” at Disney, it became obvious that I needed more time there as it was unacceptable to miss any of our favorites. So I started planning for 5 ½ days at Disney and 3 ½ at Universal and it was still not easy to plan so, I ended up with 6 full days at Disney and 3 at Universal.
We checked out at Coronado Springs and had breakfast in the food court. We had an ADR for breakfast at the Kona Café at the Polynesian resort but decided to just grab something and get going. We planned to stop off at MGM prior to hitting downtown Disney and Disney Quest.
We parked in the AAA special parking lot at MGM which was in a great area close enough to walk and on the tram route so you had that option as well. We were at MGM until early afternoon and had a nice relaxing time at the park. Crowds were much more reasonable today and we heard Florida kids were already back at school. The only attraction we wanted to do that did not work out for us was the Beauty and the Beast show. We did Star Tours, the Little Mermaid and the animation studio. Last year, Jenny had a meltdown because she couldn’t draw the character very well. This time it was Allie’s turn. She would not stop crying while the instructor was trying to explain how to draw Goofy. Finally, after a barrage of “shhhhs” and “quiets”, I grabbed her and literally dragged her out of the back door which led us to an alley in the animation courtyard. I am sure I am not winning any parent of the year awards after that display but c’mon, she is 8 years old and should not be acting like she was still a terrible 2.
We calmed down and we headed over to have lunch at the ABC Commissary. Allie wanted another shot at the animation studio. You’ve got to be kidding, right? Instead, we did Rock and Rollercoster one more time. Well, Jenny and I did it as now both Cathy and Allie have chickened out of it. I am not sure what is up with Allie. She went on it twice earlier in the week and loved it. As I mentioned, the show times did not work out for Beauty and the Beast, so after RRC, it was time to head out and drive to Downtown Disney.
We started at Disney Quest which was another first for us. I thought it was cool and thought it had quite a bit to offer and really we could have spent quite a bit more time here than we did. We liked creating our own rollercoaster on Cyber Space Mountain. Only Jenny and I rode it. We also liked the Buzz Lighyear Astroblasters and the Virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. But there were a few attractions that left me scratching my head like the virtual Jungle Cruise and Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. We also did the Mighty Duck Pinball Slam which was hard to figure out but once you did it was OK. After that there were enough classic arcade games there to keep you occupied for hours and hours. We ended up spending several hours here. It was fun. If we have the water park add on again, we will definitely go back.
Next up was the World of Disney to get our souvenirs. We each bought a t shirt and some other odd items. As I was on my own in one of the cavernous sections of this giant store, I bumped into a Cast Member with a pin lanyard. I could see right away that she had the baby Goofy as Davy Jones that Jenny was looking for all week and just could not find it anywhere. I had a couple of pins attached to my classic Mickey Mouse hat and I traded for the Goofy pin and just attached it to my hat. I wanted to see if Jenny would notice. Of course, it took some hints on my part but she finally figured out that I had the pin. What a perfect way to end the Disney part of our trip!!
Now it is time to head up I4 to Disney’s main competitor: Universal Studios. As much as I love Disney, I knew I would love Universal as much. Cathy and I had been there once back in the early nineties when it had just opened and at the time, I thought Universal was better than Disney. But a lot of time has passed and while both parks have changed tremendously in 15 years I fully expected to enjoy our time at Universal. Before jumping on the highway, we stopped again at the Winn Dixie to re-stock our supply of water, snacks and breakfast food. And then we were off.
As with our first trip to Disney with kids, I did quite a bit of research on Universal to get as much out of our three days there as possible. We had the 7 day unlimited tickets which amazingly only cost $86 per person and I decided I wanted to stay onsite mainly for the front of the line benefit which in case you don’t know is an automatic fastpass for every attraction. But since we would be there during value season, the rate at Royal Pacific Resort (RPR) with a AAA discount was pretty good and the fact that both parks and City Walk were in walking distance to the hotel it made the decision a slam dunk.
Based on my research we did Disney first after reading many others recommending it because Disney can be pretty hectic and Universal should be more relaxing. For us, Disney was indeed pretty hectic especially when you try to squeeze in four parks, two water parks, Disney Quest, mini golf and several table service dining reservations into six days.
As you can imagine nobody really wanted to leave Disney on that last day and as we pulled out of the parking lot at Downtown Disney, I started to wonder if I had done the right thing splitting the trip. Would Universal be a let down? Even though I was sure we would enjoy it, I started to have some doubt as we exited the highway and started toward the Universal property. Being a smaller property, Universal definitely does not have the same “approach excitement” that you get when you reach the Disney property, but after a while, the smaller area turned out to be a huge plus.
The feeling of doubt disappeared as soon as we hit the RPR parking lot. I can’t say enough about how much I loved this resort and how much the whole family loved it. The pool was great. The girls loved that. The grounds were beautiful and the theming was well done throughout
By the time we checked in, it was early evening. The staff at RPR was extremely friendly and accommodating. They helped us with ideas for dinner, supplying menus for the restaurants around the different properties and City Walk. When talking about the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, the guy at the desk started talking in his Forrest Gump voice: “Juhhhhn-eeee. Ya wonna ee-at there?” Of course he must have looked at the reservation to know we had a Jenny in our group who, by the way, hates it when we tease her with our Forest Gump voice. So, either he was a wicked quick to pick up on that or it was a coincidence. Either way, it was very funny.
RPR was being renovated and we lucked out with a newly renovated room. In fact, at check in we were told we were the first people to stay in the new room. How awesome is that??? We also had some BIG concerns after finding out all the onsite hotels are ‘pet friendly’ as we all have bad allergies and I had images of dogs next door barking all night. So, we requested Tower 1 and made a very clear request not to be near any pets. Well, RPR more than took care of us honoring our request in Tower 1 on the 7th floor with a great view.
We decided to just go up to our room, settle in, and have dinner at one of the restaurants at RPR. We decided on Jake’s American Grill and had a lovely and relaxing dinner. We explored the resort a bit and then turned in early. I saw a dog sitting outside while we were eating inside at Jakes and that was the only animal we saw the entire trip. The pet friendly thing was totally a non factor.
Up in the room, when everyone was in bed and asleep, I stayed up for a bit. I splurged for the internet access to check in at work and made some notes from the Disney part of our trip. I also went online to purchase tickets for the Tuesday evening Blue Man Group show on the property at Universal. This was another decision point as we went back and forth between doing Cirque du Soleil at Disney or the Blue Man Group. I had seen the Blue Man Group show in Vegas and loved it. My gut feeling was that the kids would enjoy this show more and I really wanted to see it again. After about two hours of catch up time, I turned in earlier than any of the previous nights on our vacation.
Tuesday 8/21/08
Day 7
We were up bright and early after a great night sleep (for once) and we headed to the dock to take the boat to City Walk which sat dead in the center of both parks. The two parks were so close I could stand at the entrance of one park and throw a softball to someone standing at the entrance to the other. This made park hopping a breeze.
We started at the original park and we took tons of pictures throughout. The funny thing for me and Cathy is that although we had been to Universal Studios, it was a completely new park for us. There were only three attractions left from when we went in 1991. They were E.T., Earthquake and Jaws and both E.T and Jaws were closed for re-hab when we were there. Everything else is either new or has been replaced by something else. We wanted to ride the Mummy but we stopped off at Shrek first. It took a minute or two to understand how the Front of the Line (FOTL) perk worked and for a theater show, it wasn’t really that valuable but for the rest of the attractions all I can say is wow!! I don’t even know where to start. It is like theme park touring heaven. I knew it would be cool but WOW. There is nothing like not having to wait in a single line your entire trip!!! It totally made touring a snap. You just flash your room key at every attraction and BAM you go right to the front of the line. We were able to do everything in both parks easily in two days touring slowly and taking our time and taking breaks. It was so relaxing and easy and with the FOTL, three days was more than enough.
Shrek was just OK not as great as I expected it to be. It was on par with It’s Tough to Be a Bug and not as good as Mickey’s Philharmagic. While, I wish Kongfrontation was still there, I was looking forward to The Mummy. We had a bit of a problem getting Allie to agree to this one because she watched the movie and the preview on the Universal website and was scared of the mummies. Jenny and I went on first and loved it. We assured Allie it wouldn’t be that bad and she finally agreed. I like the way Universal does the free locker rental outside of each of the big attractions.
After the Mummy we continued on around the park and did Jaws. Jenny watched the movie with me over the summer and had to turn it off because she was too scared to watch it so I think, Jaws gave her a good realistic effect. I loved it. We stopped off at the Starbucks to get some breakfast and some coffee. I checked out some of the Blues Brothers show while the girls ate. Love those Blues Brothers!! We also did the Earthquake attraction which was pretty similar to when we saw it originally. They added another pre show piece. The actual attraction is pretty well done and a realistic effect. I believe it will be closing and replaced soon, too.
Next up was Men in Black which we thoroughly enjoyed. With the FOTL we were able to get off and get on several times. I lost count but it was at least 3 or 4 times. Men in Black is amazing and I am sorry to say, much better than Buzz Lightyear. It will be interesting to compare it to the new Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios.
We then did E.T. which I thought was really neat. I think the girls were a little bored by it. I thought it was a Universal classic. I hope they never take it down. Unfortunately, E.T. did not have a locker outside of it and as we exited the ride to the outside, I realized I did not have my backpack which had among other things, my phone, camera and my wallet with all the tickets, ID stuff and oh yeah, money. I went back in the back way while Cathy and the girls went to the front to report it. The Cast Members at Universal were very helpful trying to contact the front to see if it was picked up when the bikes made there way to pick up new passengers. The information I was getting was that there was no sign of it. Which means one of two things: either someone took off with it, or it is still sitting in the basket underneath the seat. I stood at the ride unload area and checked each bike that came by until after about 20 minutes, I recognized my bag on one of the bikes. I delivered a sigh of relief and a thank you to the cast members at the ride exit, grabbed my phone out of the bag and called Cathy to let her know I had it.
Allie wanted to ride the Woody Woodpecker coaster (don’t ask me why) so she and Jenny rode it. Then we decided it was time to check out Islands of Adventure (IOA). All that meant for us was walking out of one park, crossing City Walk and then walking into the next park; piece of cake. We stopped at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville for lunch. No ADR’s are needed. We just walked in although I believe during crowded times, using your resort key gives you priority seating automatically. After eating we strolled over to the IOA park entrance and through the turnstiles.
Upon entering Islands of Adventure, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I expected. I expected a park focused on thrill rides and I thought it would be a glorified Six Flags. Yes, there were thrill rides, but the park was extremely well themed; much more than I expected. The Port of Entry, The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park and Seuss Landing were especially cool. All the attractions were really well done. And of course, the thrills were kicked up a notch!! I also like the way the park was laid out in a condensed circular fashion. Things were close together and it was easy to walk to around the lake from one land to the next. Transitions to each area are very well done.
We started in The Marvel section where Jenny and I rode both the Hulk and Dr. Doom then we caught up with Cathy and Allie and did Spiderman. Hulk instantly became both Jenny and my favorite coaster we have ever been on. It was very smooth and fun, was thrilling but not over done. I love the launch into the first roll and drop. Very nice. Spiderman has been called the best theme park attraction in Florida and perhaps anywhere in the world. I am not sure if it is the best but it certainly did not disappoint. The theming and effects were amazing. Personally, I would have liked a little better or at least a coherent story to the ride but the effects were so cool, it is hard to argue.
Before calling it a day, we did Dudley Do Right’s flume ride, the Jurassic Park River Adventure and the Cat in the Hat. The flume ride was certainly not in the same league as Splash Mountain but it was not a run of the mill flume either. We all enjoyed it.
As I am sure you know from previous trip reports and the fact that Dinosaur at Disney is my favorite ride, I love dinosaurs and thus, I was very much looking forward to Jurassic Park. The movie Jurassic Park is one of those movies that every time it comes on regardless of which sequel, I always watch it. Well, the River Adventure, was a bit of a disappointment for me. It just didn’t seem as realistic as even Dinosaur. I think they really put a lot into this attraction and it just didn’t scare me because it didn’t seem feasible. For example, coming to the climax, at the top of the hill as you approach the giant T Rex, it takes too long to get there and the T Rex just stays in one place moving his head and roaring. Would that really happen? Maybe I am missing something but it would have been better if he pops out just as you get to the crest of the hill instead of just sitting there stuck in one place. Of course the drop is cool. Another strike against this attraction is that it is not dark enough. Even in the movies, the best and most realistic scenes are filmed in the dark while it is raining. There is a reason for that. The dinos will look more realistic in the dark. Dinosaur got that part right, too.
The theming around this area though, including the giant entrance and the music throughout was extremely well done and the small discovery center is very cool. We stopped in for a bit and explored then we headed out. We were ready to call it day so we skipped past the Lost Continent and stopped in at the Seuss Landing on the way out. The only attraction we did was the Cat and the Hat which was a cute dark ride in the Winnie the Pooh / Peter Pan genre.
Because of the FOTL pass we were able to see so much in such a short time. It was still only early afternoon. So we strolled back to the resort and changed into our swimsuits for some pool time. After a nice swim we started to get ready for the Blue Man Group show. We decided since we had a big lunch we would eat after the show which started at 8PM.
We changed and got to the theater early for the show. We had good seats - not great seats but in a small theater, they were all good. The show was almost identical as the Vegas show with a few pieces cut out and a few additions. They seemed to spend more time in the audience in this show which was cool. I wondered how my daughters would react to it and the answer was that they loved it. Every time I looked over they were either smiling or laughing hysterically. It is a unique show and very well done. I highly recommend it.
After the show, we had our pick of which restaurants we wanted to visit and we decided on the NBA City. We had a pretty basic meal of burgers, chicken fingers, etc. and a couple of drinks. Then we walked back to the resort to turn in for the night.
Wednesday 8/22/08
Day 8
We slept in this morning. The pace has slowed down considerably from the beginning of the trip at Disney. We were getting up after 9AM and taking our time to get the parks. We started today at Islands of Adventure. We did just about every attraction here and some like Dueling Dragons several times. I loved the queue at Dueling Dragons. And Jenny and I did both Fire and Ice and then went back one last time to do Ice again even though I insisted that Fire was the better ride. Allie and Cathy rode the Flying Unicorn while Jenny and I were on Dueling Dragons.
We started the day in the Toon Lagoon section and did the Dudley Do Right again as well as the Popeye and Bluto raft ride. We got absolutely soaked there and in retrospect, we should have ended here not started. I was smart enough to bring a spare shirt to change into. Everyone else was just wet.
We did the Jurasic Park River Adventure again and the girls wanted to do the Pteranodon Flyers which for some reason is the only attraction that does not allow FOTL privileges AND the wait was over an hour for what looked to be about a 20 second ride. So, we ended up skipping it. And that would be only IOA attraction we missed. We spent some more time in the Discovery Center and were able to see a raptor being born. The baby dino was named Jenny and would be out in the attraction in about 4 years according to the scientist. He gave Jenny a copy of the baby dinosaur’s birth certificate for future reference.
After Jurassic Park, we spent some time in the Lost Continent where the theming was extremely well done. We did the coasters mentioned above as well as the Sinbad show and the Poseiden Adventure. The Sinbad show was a bit lame but the girls seemed to really enjoy it for some reason. The Poseiden attraction was certainly different and we needed a second shot at it, I think, to fully appreciate it. Unfortunately because of how it was set up, even with the FOTL there was a pretty significant line here and I think outside of Shrek, the only line we waited in the entire time at Universal. Needless to say, I could not convince anyone to do it again.
For lunch, we decided to eat at Mythos which was certainly a treat. It is a beautiful restaurant and it was hard to believe we were dining in a theme park. I highly recommend this restaurant. The food was excellent as was the service and they have a very diverse menu so there was something for everyone in every price range.
After lunch we circled to the Seuss area were the girls did the Caroseussel and the One Fish Two Fish ride while Cathy and I rested in the shade. We did the Cat in the Hat one more time and in the gift shop, we bought the girls Thing One and Thing Two shirts to wear on our final day and flight home. And finally, we arrived back at the Marvel Super Hero section again and did the Hulk, Spiderman a few times. The girls did the Storm Force which appeared to be the tea cups attraction on steroids.
It was still pretty early in the day but everyone was done and wanted to go to the pool. It is amazing that we could do so much in one day and still have so much time to relax. I decided that while I was fine with everyone taking it easy, I wanted to do something I have never done and always wanted to do -- tour a park by myself. So, Cathy took the girls back to RPR for some swimming and I turned left at City Walk and got in line to Universal Studios. I found touring by myself to be very enjoyable and not a bit “weird” as I thought it might be. I did the Twister attraction which I thought was pretty good. The pre-show really set the tone for this and the fact that it was done in the dark and raining help make it more realistic (hint to Jurassic Park). I also did another spin on the Mummy and then headed over to the Terminator. Here is another attraction that got great reviews but I left there scratching my head. I did not quite follow it. I seemed to be just watching a movie for quite some time before anything interesting happened and then it just kinda ended with a bang. Oh well. After exiting, I figured it was time to head out and back to the resort. I walked through the Lucy Tribute on the way out then I walked back to the resort.
The girls were still in the pool when I arrived and I told Cathy I would go up and change to relieve her from her kid watching duties. When I came back down she went upstairs to shower and change and rest. I swam and relaxed with the girls for another hour or so and then we all came up to shower and change. We had some discussions about where to go for dinner and just decided we’d eat at Jake’s again at the resort. On the way down to the restaurant, we stopped by the front desk to print our A boarding passes for the flight on Southwest tomorrow. We had another relaxing meal at Jake’s and then headed upstairs to pack and get ready for trip back to sunny Connecticut.
Thursday 8/23/08
Day 9
It sure is tough to check out of your hotel knowing that it’s your last day of vacation. The good news is that our flight is not until 9PM so we have a full day of park time to take advantage of. We got all our stuff packed and into the car and headed off to Universal Studios to finish up some of the attractions we missed the first day and to do some favorites again. I took the clan back to Twister. Allie was scared and did not like it. Jenny was not crazy about it either. We also did the Universal Horror Make Up Show which was not what I expected to be but it was very funny and we all enjoyed it. And finally, we did Jimmy Neutron which was the Hanna Barbera ride when we were there 15 years earlier. It is the same ride but with a different cartoon. We also hit the Mummy, Men in Black, E.T. and Shrek one more time before taking off.
We stopped off at the Hard Rock Café for lunch before heading back to Islands of Adventure. We only wanted to do a few our favorites here and we stayed away from anything that could get us wet. Jenny and I did the Hulk, Dr. Doom and Dueling Dragons again while Cathy and Allie did the Flying Unicorn and the Cat and the Hat again.
And then it was time to call it day. We walked back to the RPR parking lot, jumped in the car and headed off to the airport for our flight home. The disadvantage of having such a late flight is that we did not land until almost midnight. We had to shuttle back to the Comfort Inn and then drive an hour and a half to get home. An interesting set of events occurred when getting the shuttle. We exited the plane and called for the shuttle right away while we were getting our luggage. The front desk said the driver was already on his way. When we got our bags and headed out to the shuttle area we saw the van parked across the street and waiting. So we rolled our bags over there and told the driver we were ready to go. He replied that he was sorry, but he was waiting for some other group that was coming in on a different flight. He could not take us back to the hotel. My jaw hit the driveway. Before we could start to argue with him, another group of business men and women strolled up with their luggage, jumped into the van and took off. The driver told us he would be right back to get us. I wasn’t too happy about and I called the front desk. They said there was nothing they could do. So, we had to wait about another 20 minutes or so for the guy to come back and take us to the hotel to get our car. I wasn’t his friendliest passenger of the day, I am sure about that. The ride home was long and it was late, but we got home and settled in to dream about Orlando until next time.
Final Thoughts
Going in the summer was fine. We did OK in the heat; even my fair skinned wife and daughter (Allie) did OK. Jenny is a bit darker like me and has more of my side (Sicilian). I would be willing to go back in the summer especially at the end when it is value season and some of the kids are back at school. The next time I go to Disney during a school vacation, summer or otherwise, I will definitely be better prepared for the crowds and have some more attraction to attraction strategy as well as having a better idea of which parks will be most crowded on which day taking into account Extra Magic Hours, etc. Although now that we have been three times, it will be easier to skip some stuff. We did a couple of new things like Disney Quest, Both water parks and mini golf. We probably won’t do mini golf again but assuming we get the ticket add on, we would do the water parks and Disney Quest again for sure. For resorts, Coronado Springs did not disappoint. I think we will be happy at any of the moderates from now on. The rooms were comfy and the pool was awesome. We would have preferred to be in the Cabanas section as requested. I don’t think I’ll request a room location next time.
We obviously loved Universal and the Royal Pacific. The resort was on par with a Disney deluxe resort and you can’t beat the location. Having a newly renovated room in Tower 1 was super special. The front of the line benefit is a slice of theme park heaven. I can’t imagine visiting Universal without staying onsite and having that benefit. The parks themselves are great and very impressive. Disney still does it just a bit better, but Universal holds it own and is certainly in the same league. The size and location of the parks along with the Front of the Line perk make Universal a more relaxing experience so if you do a split stay, definitely do Disney first. And don’t forget about the Blue Man Group. It is a total hoot and highly recommended.
Overall it was a great trip and although it was hectic at times and relaxing at other times, it was always fun. That is the best way to describe our trips to the “make believe” worlds of Orlando, FL, we always have oodles of fun and we escape from the day to day grind of the “real world.” I mean isn’t that what vacations are all about?
Thanks for reading. Hopefully it took you less time to read it than it did for me to write it. Please feel free to contact me or post with any questions or comments
Jim
huskies90@yahoo.com