Travel dates: Tues. April 24 - Sat. April 28, 2007
Travel method: Plane, Magical Express
Resort: Beach Club Villas
Accommodations: Studio
Ages Represented in Group: 32, 32
WDW Experience Represented in Group: 3 trips (1999, 1983, 1980), 2 trips (1999, 1993)
Comments: Returning to WDW 7 years after honeymooning there, and leaving the kids with my parents.

Cast of characters:
Steve – 32
Danielle – 32

Planning:
My wife and I decided that we wanted to plan a vacation for a few days without the kids. It had been about a year and a half since we'd gone anywhere without the kids. In September of 2005 we went to Los Angeles for a few days and left our son at home. The perfect time to visit Disneyland, right? Well, Danielle was about four months pregnant with our daughter at the time, so we decided it would be better to wait. However, we did have tickets to an Angels game so we figured that we'd swing by Downtown Disney for dinner before heading over to the game. For those of you who haven't been, Disneyland is much less spread out than Disney World. The monorail runs right through Downtown Disney, the Grand Californian hotel is right there, and there's even an entrance to the Disneyland park at the far end of Downtown Disney. After seeing the monorail, touring the hotel lobby, buying a Buzz Lightyear hat for our son at World of Disney, and just walking around Downtown Disney for an hour or two, we both decided that we need to make a trip back to Disney World! Well, our daughter is finally old enough that we're willing to leave her with my parents for a few days, so this past December I bought a copy of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and we were off and planning.

Back in December of 1999, Danielle and I spent a week honeymooning at Disney World. Now, 7.5 years later, we're finally making our return!

First we decided that we would stay for four nights. We wanted to have enough time to get to everything we wanted to, but also balance that with a minimal amount of time away from the kids. With our flight arriving in Orlando at 9:05 AM on Tuesday and the departing flight on Saturday at 12:45 PM, we'll really have a little less than four days to enjoy the parks. Because of this, we wanted to stay at a resort that was close to the parks. When we were on our honeymoon we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and really enjoyed the convenience of walking to the back entrance of Epcot and taking the boat launch to MGM. This time we were thinking of the Polynesian which is on the monorail line to the Magic Kingdom. However, the Unofficial Guide indicated that recent reader surveys regarding the Polynesian were not very good. Apparently the level of service there had dropped as of late. Not wanted to risk anything given the cost of these resorts, we opted for the Beach Club Villas. Being across the water from the Boardwalk Inn, this gives us the same walk to Epcot and boat launch to MGM that we had for our honeymoon. Also, a walking path to MGM was completed shortly after our last trip which gives us another option. To top it off, my sister and her husband honeymooned at WDW last year and stayed at the Beach Club Villas and loved them.

"New" Stuff
There are quite a few things that I'm looking forward to on this return trip. There are lots of new attractions since our last visit. I'm really looking forward to my first experiences with Mission Space, Soarin', Mickey's Philharmagic, Everest, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. On our honeymoon we kept putting off seeing Fantasmic and we finally decided that we'd see it on our final night there....then it rained and they cancelled the show for the night. So we're hoping to catch it this time around! It also looks like we'll be there just in time for the Gran Fiesta Tour to replace El Rio del Tiempo and for the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor to open. Also, since we were less financially sound on our last trip and weren't able to do so then, I'll be looking forward to experiencing some of the nicer restaurants at WDW. We've also booked tickets to see La Nouba -- we saw a Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas a number of years ago and are really looking forward to this one.

Reservations:
Tues: 6:30 PM - Flying Fish Cafe
Wed: 6:30 PM - Boma
Thurs: 12:30 PM - Restaurant Marrakesh
Thurs: 9:00 PM - La Nouba

With the short amount of time we're going to be at WDW, we didn't want to make reservations for many places too far away or we'd risk spending lots of time just getting from one place to the next. Getting to and from Boma (located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge) will probably eat up some time, but we thought it would be neat to check out the lodge and we're excited about trying the African delicacies on the buffet. The Flying Fish Cafe is located in the Boardwalk area which is very close to our resort and we'll plan to be in Epcot on Thursday for our reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh (in the Morocco pavilion).

Flights (flying from Richmond, VA):
Tues: 4/24 departs @ 7:00 AM - arrives @ 9:05 AM
Sat: 4/28 departs @ 12:45 PM - arrives @ 2:45 PM

With the early flight to Orlando, we're hoping to be in the parks around noon. We're using Disney's Magical Express for transportation to and from the airport and will be relying solely on Disney transportation within the resort itself.

Since it takes so long to write this stuff up, I'm going to be posting this trip report in pieces, probably one day at a time. So for now, all you get is the planning piece!

Day 1 – Magic Kingdom

We got up at 3:30 AM in order to make our 7:00 flight and start to wonder if we should have booked a later flight. We get to the airport and through security in plenty of time for the flight and end up eating some breakfast near our gate. They load our flight and since everyone is accounted for, they back out of the gate a little bit early. The flight was very smooth and we end up getting in to Orlando about 20 minutes ahead of schedule! We had put the Disney’s Magical Express tags on our checked luggage, so we proceed straight to the Magical Express counter. Oddly enough, very few people are using this service at 8:45 AM on a Tuesday. We end up on a bus with two other groups and pretty soon we’re on our way to WDW! We make stops at the Carribean Beach Resort and the Boardwalk Inn before making the final stop at the Beach Club. We walk in and are immediately greeted by Art, the greeter at the Beach Club Resort. We’re holding hands and Art mentions that he likes seeing that kind of romance. We head over to the front desk to check in. Once again, this early in the day the check in lines are non-existent. We end up with a Cast Member (CM) that’s seems like he’s pretty new, but he does a good job and even asks us if we have any room requests – we say “no”. Our room is not ready, of course, but we get our 5 day park hopper passes on our room keys and a business card with a phone number to call to find out when our room will be ready. We brought along a change of clothes and some other essentials including sunscreen in our carry on bag so we could hit the ground running when we arrived. So we change into our shorts and put on some sunscreen and we’re ready to go. On our way out I get Danielle to take a picture of me with Art the greeter -- he's very accomodating and tells me that he's honored that I would want a picture with him. If you ever go to the Beach Club, make sure that you say hi to Art!

We hit the International Gateway (the back entrance to Epcot and about a 5 minute walk from the Beach Club) at about 10:30! Wow – we were hoping to be in the parks around noon and we made it by 10:30 – this is good because we have a limited amount of time and lots to do! Danielle and I had discussed some strategy on the plane ride down. We wanted to hit the Magic Kingdom (MK) on Day 1, but figured that we’d get there by walking through Epcot and then catching the monorail over (which incidentally is what we did on the first day of our honeymoon). We talked about grabbing a quick counter service lunch somewhere since we had reservations for dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe. On the plane ride down we talked about getting lunch at the Sunshine Food Fair because the Official Guide said good things about it and the menu was to our liking. But now it was only 10:30 for our trip through Epcot, so that plan went out the window. We were also planning on returning to Epcot for a little while after our dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe, so we thought that we’d try to get Fastpasses (FPs) for Soarin’ on our way over that we could use after dinner. So it was off to the Land Pavilion to check the return time for FPs. When we entered through the International Gateway and were making our way through the UK and Canada, we noticed how there were very few people in the park. Everything that we read seemed to indicate that this would be a slower time of the year (as it was for our honeymoon in early December), but it was going to be creepy with this few people here. Then we got into Future World and the Land Pavilion and we found all the people! The Soarin’ FP return time was around 5:30-6:30 and our dinner reservations were at 6:30, so we decided that return time was too early and we’d have to skip the FPs. We found out later what many of you more experienced Disney travelers already know – FPs are still good even after they pass their end time. So we could have grabbed them and been fine coming back after dinner, but it would have kept us from getting any at the MK for a couple of hours, so maybe it was for the best.

So we duck out of the Land Pavilion and head for the monorail. We haven’t spent enough time in Epcot to have the navigation down yet, so we take the scenic route on our way to the entrance and the monorail. The monorail from Epcot to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) is pretty much empty at this time of day. There are quite a few more people waiting with us for the monorail to the MK when we arrive at the TTC, though. We have to wait for a second monorail, but before we know it we’re into the MK. We head for Space Mountain, but decide to pick up FPs at Buzz Lightyear on the way. We grab the FPs and then notice that the standby line is only a 10 minute wait – oops! We head over to Space Mountain and the standby line is only 20 minutes, so we make it our first ride of the trip. After the first couple of twists and turns I’m thinking that Space Mountain is cheesier than I remember. But then we pick up some speed and hit some of the bigger drops and I’m enjoying it more and more. Take a cheesy little roller coaster, put it in the dark, add a spiffy space theme and you’ve got a fun ride! We decide that one ride will not be enough, but the re-ride will have to wait. We head over to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA). Danielle and I are both BIG fans of this ride. I think what I like about it is that you get to see a lot of the park and you get to relax while doing it. When we finish, we decide that we have time to do either Stitch or the Laugh Floor before our FP time for Buzz is up. Both are new for us, but we opt for the brand new over the rehash of something we’ve seen before. We both enjoyed the Laugh Floor. The technology where they’re synching up the animated character on the screen with the live voice is done very well. The show was definitely geared toward younger children, but it had a few laughs for the adult crowd as well. There’s a cool feature where you can text message your jokes to a number that they give you in the preshow area and then they use a couple of them during the show. When we came off the Laugh Floor our FP time for Buzz was up, so we head over there. Sure enough, the standby line was as short as the FP line. We enjoy this ride, but I felt as though my score was considerably lower than it should have been. Only about 64,000 points. I think something must have been wrong with my zapper, or maybe I’m losing my skill as I progress into old age. Nah, must have been the zapper.

A few rides back I’d been pushing for lunch, but Danielle would hear none of it. She was in full on ride-mode! I finally convinced her that it was time for lunch. We wanted to check out the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station because we’d heard good things about it, but we had also heard that it was generally only open for dinner lately. Sure enough, it would not open until 5:00 or so. So we decided to visit Cosmic Ray’s instead. I got a cheeseburger and Danielle got a veggie burger. We were impressed with the alternative options to fries for sides there (carrots and apples) and also by their fixins bar which comes complete with fried onions and sauteed mushrooms. We opted to sit out on the veranda which overlooks the water and the castle. It was a gorgeous day and the view was great (video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEJStAI9Yp0) - 13 sec)!

After lunch we headed over to the Haunted Mansion and found there was no line for it! After riding we felt like there was a problem with the sound in our Doom Buggy and decided that we would have to ride it again later in a better buggy. Then we headed over to Splash and Big Thunder Mountains to check on the wait times/FP situation. The standby time for Splash Mountain was 90 minutes(!) and Big Thunder Mountain was about 40, but the FP return time wasn’t too far off, so we grabbed a couple and headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates is one of Danielle’s favorites. The wait time said 20 minutes, but it was probably closer to 30 before we were in our boat. We really liked the new Davy Jones bit at the beginning and the new Jack Sparrow animatronics were very impressive! After Pirates we headed back to Big Thunder Mountain and had about 5 minutes before our FP window opened. We went over to the FP entrance and were promptly turned away to wait for another 5 minutes. This is when we found that they’re real sticklers for the start time on your FP (I think we found out that they don’t really care about the end time when reading the Unofficial Guide later that evening). We wait our 5 minutes and then blow by everyone in line and hop on our train (maybe a 10 minute wait). This FP did a lot more for us than our Buzz one from earlier in the day. We enjoyed the train ride and afterward decided to grab some FPs for Splash Mountain and then head back towards Fantasyland. On the way over I called up the number to see if our room was ready yet, but it wasn’t. They said it should be ready soon, though (it was around 2:45). We were kind of surprised, but weren’t really worried about it because we weren’t planning on heading back to the Beach Club very soon. When we got to Fantasyland the standby lines were longer than we wanted to wait at Pooh, Peter Pan, and It’s a Small World (20 min!), so we started heading over towards Stitch. That’s when we walked right past Mickey’s Philharmagic. I had nearly forgotten – this one was new since we had visited 7 years ago, so we were pretty excited about checking it out and there was only a five minute standby wait time! We both really enjoyed the movie. It was very creative and we liked the incorporation of so many different Disney characters.

After Mickey’s Philharmagic we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventures on our way over to Stitch. The Stitch show was pretty good. It definitely didn’t take too much to change this to a Stitch ride, but I did like the new Stitch animatronic. After the ride Danielle told me that there was a man sitting a few seats down from her whose shoulder harness never stopped pressing down on his shoulders for the entire ride. Ouch! I’m glad that it wasn’t one of his kids. The harness was all the way down on the seat when we left, so I’m hoping that nobody else had that experience in that seat. After Stitch we decided to grab some ice cream so we found a cart and bought a Mickey cookies and cream ice cream sandwich for each of us. Yum! Our Splash Mountain FPs were up so we headed over that way. This was a fun ride. I had forgotten how many drops there are in there. We were a bit worried about getting soaked on the ride, but we came away only slightly wet. If your timing is wrong (or right, depending on your perspective) you can take quite a drenching when you go out and around the final drop very early on in the ride.

After riding Splash I call up the number again to see if our room is ready yet and we find out that we’re in room 229. It’s getting later and I want to have some time to find our room, collect our bag that we left with the bell staff this morning, and relax a bit before heading over to dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe at 6:30, so I suggest that we head back to the hotel. Danielle, however, wants to check the line at Pirates of the Caribbean first (did I mention it’s one of her favorites). So we head over there and with a 10 minute standby time posted, decide to ride.

After Pirates we decide to head back to the hotel the same way that we came – via monorail to Epcot and on foot through the International Gateway. We thought that we could check for FPs at Soarin’ again, but when we got to Epcot they were gone for the day. We got back to the resort and wandered around a bit before finding the Villas section of the resort. We walk into room 229 and as I’m entering and noticing that there are two rooms I begin to realize that they didn’t give us the studio that we had booked. This was a full on 1 bedroom villa! So either the new CM that checked us in didn’t know what he was doing, or we’d been given a free upgrade! (I prefer to believe the latter.) This made our villa about twice the size of the studio and gave us a jacuzzi tub as well! Very nice. If you’re interested in seeing it, here’s a quick tour (video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcJUsWvsJU) - 1 min 6 sec).

Our Magical Express bags that we had checked with the airline were ready and waiting for us in the room which was very nice. We collected our carry on bag from bell services and then got showered and changed for our dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe (FFC). Per the Official Guide book, the FFC is one of a handful of restaurants on property with minimal dress codes. Things along the lines of a collared shirt for men – even “dress shorts” are allowed. Well, I was wearing a polo shirt and a pair of khakis and my wife was wearing a jean skirt and a blouse and we were the nicest dressed people there. There were plenty of diners in t-shirts and shorts -- apparently they didn’t get the memo. None of this bothered us though and it turned out to be the most enjoyable meal of our trip! I started with the “Peeky Toe” Crab Cake and had the Char Crusted New York Strip Steak for my entree. Danielle had the halibut and some kind of warm, exceedingly rich chocolate creation for dessert.

After our meal we walked over to hang out a bit in the lobby at the Boardwalk Inn and call home to see how the kids are doing (very well, they don’t miss us at all). Dinner lasted longer than we expected and after our early morning start we decided to call it a night and head back to the room. After reading Kathleen O’Neil’s trip report (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=69235), I thought that we might be able to see some of Illuminations from our balcony and sure enough we could! We couldn’t see any of the ground level stuff, but the fireworks were easily visible (video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFL6kA_cVTg) - 1 min 24 sec). We went to bed that night anxious to start our Wednesday with rope drop at MGM!

Picture of the Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/483320845/)

Enjoying your trip report! Looking forward to day 2....

awesome...waiting for more!

Hey Tina & Kathy -- I'm happy that you're enjoying my trip report -- here's day 2...

Day 2 – MGM and Animal Kingdom

Our plan for Day 2 was to start the day with rope drop at MGM (or Disney Studios or Disney MGM Studios or whatever they’re calling it these days) then make our way over to the Animal Kingdom lodge for our 6:30 reservation at Boma and then off to the Animal Kingdom for extra magic hours until 10:00 PM.

As she would every day but one of our trip, Danielle got up early to go run on the treadmill at the Beach Club’s fitness center. I maintain that she’s crazy especially given that my legs are already tired from our 1st day in the parks. I got up around 7:00 and once we were both ready we headed down to the Marketplace in the Beach Club for breakfast. I got a blueberry muffin and Danielle tried the fruit and yogurt parfait. The parfait was made with vanilla (or was it plain?) yogurt, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and granola. AND it was made to order, so if you didn’t like any of that stuff you could have them leave it out. Danielle got everything, though. She really enjoyed it and it looked so good that I thought that I might have to try one later in the week (it would not happen, though).

After eating breakfast we hit the walkway to MGM. It’s really nice to have the option of walking to MGM from the Beach Club; however, the trip is not a short one (Art the greeter’s estimate was 20-25 minutes) and there’s little shade. Even that early in the morning it was a bit warm on the path. We got to the entrance a little before 8:45 AM and they had yet to start letting anyone through the turnstiles, but we only had a couple of minutes to wait before they started letting everyone in. We waited at the rope with Sorcerer Mickey’s huge hat staring us in the face. This was the first time that we saw this in person and Danielle immediately said that she didn’t like it. She preferred the previous view of Mann’s Chinese Theater. I’m neutral on it. A few minutes later they start a little rope drop show with some of the streetmosphere performers. It was plenty cheesy and involved the “first family”, but it did pass the time. (Anyone know how you become the first family? Is it literally the first family that shows up at the turnstiles that day?) When the rope dropped we headed straight for the Tower of Terror (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/484444302/) (ToT). The Tower of Terror is my favorite ride in all of WDW. It combines heavy theming with a great thrill ride! So when we got to the end of the street we grabbed FPs for the ToT and jumped into the standby line. Our first ride was great! When the elevator was in position I’m sitting there waiting for it to drop and instead it whips us further up the shaft as its first move! This was awesome and totally unexpected by either of us. Also new for us was seeing the image of the elevator’s occupants on the screen halfway through the drop sequence. Neither of us remember that from 7 years back, so we’re assuming that they only starting doing that some time in the last 7 years.

After the ToT we head over to the Rock n’ Roller Coaster (RnRC) and find the line all the way out to the upside down car at the entrance to the area. Uh oh. I start heading towards the front of the line to see what kind of wait they’re calling for when I bump into a Cast Member (CM) who's saying that the ride is down for mechanical reasons and they don’t know when or if it will open. We’ve got some time to go before our ToT FPs are good, so we head back up the street towards The Great Movie Ride. We wait maybe five minutes before becoming the last two to load on the ride vehicle. As we start out of the entrance area and they’ve told us that flash photography is prohibited, I pull out my camera and promptly take a flash picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/484476877/). Oops! Apparently with my camera if you turn off the flash and then turn off the camera it still defaults back to using the flash when you turn it back on. Okay, now I know. I took some more pictures throughout the ride – all without the flash! The ride was good, but nothing spectacular and I wasn’t incredibly impressed with our guide (our gangster was a bit better). This pretty much matches what I remembered from our last experience with The Great Movie Ride.

Time is up on our ToT FPs, so we head back and ride and then head over to RnRC to check out the line. Well, they’re running it now and the standby line says 10 minutes, but it sure doesn’t look like a 10 minute line. So we decide to grab FPs and go elsewhere. As you’ll see, we spent a good portion of our day going up and down the street to either the ToT or the RnRC.

Whenever my mother talks about MGM she always raves about The Little Mermaid show. We didn’t catch it on our honeymoon, so we thought that we’d check it out this go round. When we got there the show time was a ways off, so we continued to wonder. We ended up at One Man’s Dream which was on our list of things that we wanted to do, so we went in. The place was basically empty and the movie at the end had all of about a dozen people in it. We enjoyed learning a bit more about Walt and overall found the exhibit and movie very interesting. After the movie our RnRC FPs were active so we headed back down the street to ride. The RnRC was a lot more fun than I had remembered! We decide that we should ride again and grab FPs as soon as we get off.

When we entered the park we grabbed the show schedule and saw that there was an 11:30 Indiana Jones Stunt Show and an 11:50 Lights, Motors, Action show. We wanted to see one of those and since we saw the Indiana Jones show on our last trip, we opted to head for the Lights, Motors, Action show. When we got to the entrance for the show it seemed to take forever to walk all the way around the set and then they took us all the way to the far end of the seating which was rapidly filling up. We ending up sitting pretty high up and most of the way to the one side of the bleachers, but the seats were fine. The show was great! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/484477173/) We were very impressed with how close the cars would get to one another and how intricately choreographed everything was.

It took about as long to get into our seats as it did to get back out of the show area. It was lunchtime and we had decided that we wanted to check out the ABC Commissary based on what we had read in the Unofficial Guide. We made our way over there and got into a pretty big line. It moved pretty quickly, though. There wasn’t much in the way of available seating inside and the tables were all very close together so we opted to sit at one of the outside tables. I was a little concerned that it would be too hot out there, but there was a bit of a breeze and it was very pleasant. Danielle had the tebouleh wrap and black bean salad and I had the cuban sandwich and fries. It was all good!

After lunch we headed over to Muppet Vision 3D. On our last trip we didn’t see the preshow, but we caught it this time around. Very creative and very entertaining! The show itself was good, but it seemed like some of the 3D elements weren’t so good. After Muppet Vision we headed for the Backlot Tour. Apparently at least some of the backlot tour was leveled to build the Lights, Motors, Action show. And the tour definitely seemed to be a bit short. When Danielle and I went to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago we toured the Warner Brothers lot and Paramount Studios – I think having done those tours made this one seem a bit more lackluster. We did end up right smack dab in the middle of the tram which was good for Catastrophe Canyon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ADCTEkOjcU) (video 59 sec).

After the Backlot Tour we headed back over to The Little Mermaid to see when the next show was. It wasn’t for some time, so we grabbed FPs and headed back down the street (once again!) to use our (now very stale) RnRC FPs. Another fun ride! Now back up the street for The Little Mermaid. We only waited five minutes or so before they let us into the loading area (can you call it that for a theater?) where we waiting for maybe another 10 minutes before entering the theater. We ended up two rows back from the front and far to the left so we were only about 5-6 feet away from Flotsam and Jetsam when they poked their heads out of the wall. If you have smaller children you might want to try to sit a bit further back. The stage is raised and it can be hard to see some of what’s going on from that far front. The show was good and Ariel was very talented. She sounded very much like Ariel and had a great singing voice.

After The Little Mermaid it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for our 6:30 reservation at Boma. We saw a little bit of the High School Musical Pep Rally in front of the hat on our way out. When we left the park we just missed one of the boats and ended up waiting 20 minutes for the next one (it was too warm and we were too tired to take the walking path!). We got back to the hotel, showered, changed and were ready to head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL). If you were paying attention, you know that we did not rent a car and were relying solely on Disney transportation to get from place to place. Well, getting from one resort to another is one of the tougher things to do using Disney transportation. We decided to walk through Epcot and then hop a bus back to the AKL. This may not have been the fastest way to go either, but it was a pleasant little jaunt through Epcot and we only waited about 30 seconds before an AKL bus arrived! We got to the AKL some time before our reservations which was by design because we wanted to check out the lodge a bit and call home to check on the kids. So when we got there we found a place in the lobby to call home. Danielle talked to our son for about a minute, but that’s all he really cared to chat with us. Apparently he had other things to do. Needless to say, the kids are doing just fine without us. Back to the lodge. I had previously seen pictures of the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the lobby is as impressive as it looked in the pictures (and then some). This place is cool. We went out the back of the lobby to check out the animals. There were a few of them wandering around including a couple of giraffes. We learned from a CM there that all three giraffes are female and all three are pregnant! (They must be getting out for parties or something…) And they’re all due at about the same time next February. I had read online that over at the Animal Kingdom park a giraffe had been born just a couple weeks prior. I asked the CM if the baby was out for the safari yet. She replied that she was and she was already out there walking in front of the ride vehicles and everything. This was something that we were looking forward to seeing on the safari (which as you will see in the upcoming days we didn’t end up riding).

It was only about 6:00, but we were done touring the lodge so we thought that we’d head down to Boma and check in. They checked us in and indicated that while they couldn’t guarantee that we’d be seated before 6:30, we should be seated within 10-15 minutes of that time. As we waited one of the CMs pulled out a traditional African drum and began to play it in the waiting area. When she was done playing, she invited some of the kids who had been dancing around her to come up and play the drum as well. It was a little bit eerie the next morning when I turned on the news and saw our president doing much the same thing as the three year olds we saw that night! Anyway, we were seated around 6:35 which wasn’t too bad (it seemed VERY busy). Danielle ordered a flight of wine to go with her meal and our waitress asked for ID. She was kind of surprised and then quickly upset because she knew she didn’t have it on her. But then she remembered and asked if I had it on me. I did! She had given it to me to put in my wallet to make it easier to pull out when we got on our flight down and I still had it. The waitress looked at the card and she seemed very surprised as she discovered that Danielle is a full 11 years over the legal drinking age (I think she was just fishing for tips…). We both really enjoyed the buffet and as you’re supposed to do with all buffets, we ate too much! While we enjoyed quite a few things on the buffet, my favorites were the pepper pot stew and the ribs and Danielle’s favorite was the coconut curry soup. We both very much enjoyed the zebra domes and the banana bread pudding for dessert (although we tried almost everything!).

After dinner we made our way back out to the bus stop and waited only about 30 seconds for a bus again! Nice! The driver made an announcement on the way over to the Animal Kingdom that it would be closing at 9:00 that evening. Wait??? 9:00? The guide that was given to us when we checked into our hotel said that Extra Magic Hours at AK went until 10:00 this night. We figured that maybe she had some bad information, but as we made our way into the park we asked the CM and got the same reply – 9:00. So now instead of two hours, we were down to only one hour. This was a bit annoying, but we decided that we’d make the most of it. We had already decided that we wanted to try to ride Dinosaur and Expedition Everest. After getting our bracelets, we made our way over to Dinosaur first. Danielle really liked this ride and I enjoyed it as well. I didn’t remember it being quite so short, though. After Dinosaur we made our way over to Expedition Everest. The standby line said 10 minutes and it was right. We both really enjoyed this ride. The massive animatronic yeti in the final scene is very impressive. I was surprised at the length of the trains – 17 rows! That’s huge for a roller coaster. To compare, the Rock n’ Roller Coaster only has 12 rows. I liked the added detail of the caboose on the train letting out some steam when it comes to a stop. The theming on this ride and the queue is great! We got off of our first ride and got right back in line. After our second ride it was around 8:55, so we decided to head for the exit. As we were walking out we decided that we might duck into the one gift shop to see what they had for sale, but as we approached it a CM said to us, “Sorry, we’re closed.” Wow. I was really surprised that they wouldn’t keep the gift shops open a bit longer than the park itself – I guess with Extra Magic Hours they like to close on time. We get back to the bus stop and wait (you guessed it!) only 30 seconds for a bus. As you’ll see in later days, our luck with the buses did not hold out.

We hit the sack early that night with visions of rope drop at Epcot dancing in our heads!

Picture of the Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/484444452/)

Day 3 – Epcot and Downtown Disney

The plan for Day 3 was to get to Epcot early for rope drop and then head over to Downtown Disney in the early evening for some shopping and a quick dinner before La Nouba at 9:00 PM.

Danielle got up early to go running again and we were ready to go around 8:00. (Danielle’s review of the fitness center – it was nice. No problem getting a treadmill at 6:30 AM, but don’t expect to be able to run on the treadmills and watch TV because the treadmills are too close to the TVs to do so. Towels were readily available.) We decided that for breakfast today we would head over to the Boardwalk Bakery. On our honeymoon we ate breakfast there pretty much every day and thought that it would be nice to go back. When we got there the line was out the door. There were probably 10-12 people in front of us and it probably took 15 minutes before we were up and ordering. I got a cheese danish and orange juice and Danielle got a fruit cup and coffee. We sat outside at one of the tables next to the water which was nice. We finished up our breakfast and headed over to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. By the time we got in the park it was only about a five minute wait for the rope to drop.

We wanted to do some of the more popular rides in Future World this morning, so we decided to follow The Unofficial Guide’s touring plan for Epcot at least for the first few rides. So when the rope dropped, we headed straight for Soarin’ to get Fastpasses (FPs). On the way over Belle from Beauty and the Beast was hanging out outside of the Character Connection. Since Danielle is a big Belle fan, we headed her way and were the first ones to greet her this morning. We got a quick picture and then ran off to Soarin’ for the FPs. One thing that I noticed is that it takes less time to get to Soarin’ (and probably any ride in Future World) from the front entrance rope drop than from the International Gateway. No big deal though because the crowds are so light this early anyway. We get our FPs for Soarin’ and head to the other side of Future World to ride Test Track. This was one of our favorites from our last visit. There was virtually no line and we were quickly into the preshow area. You know, going 65 in my car on the highway to work is never this fun. I guess what I really need is a convertible and some heavily banked turns!

Next up was Mission Space. Danielle had made the decision that she would not ride Mission Space, but she wanted me to ride if I was interested. And I was, so we split up and I headed for Mission Space and she went back to Test Track for another ride. I would classify myself as having a very minor case of claustrophobia, so I was a little worried about how I would take being locked down into the ride vehicle. There was no line for this so I zipped right through that queue and was soon paired up with three fellow astronauts. We were an interesting crew. I am 6’ 4” tall and 32 years old. Every member of my crew was probably at least two feet shorter than me and at least 20 years younger. The looked like they were siblings and I don’t think that they spoke more than a word or two of English. My crew and myself were soon loading into our ride vehicle. I was seated on the far left and pulled down my overhead restraint. Then they slid the doors closed. If you’ve never been on mission space before, there’s a monitor in front of each person along with a couple of buttons and a control stick. When you load the ride the control panel is probably two feet away from your face. Then they move it into place – maybe a foot in front of your face. The good news is that after they move this into place, the ride starts pretty quickly. Once the ride started I was fine. Experiencing the G forces during various parts of the ride was pretty cool. I tried to reach my hand forward during one period of sustained G forces and it definitely took some effort! I managed to push my two buttons at the right time, but I think that the language barrier was making it harder for my crew to do the same, so I heard “Computer Override” (or something along those lines) a number of times throughout our flight. I had heard that this ride can make some people feel off-balance or dizzy for hours afterwards, but luckily I did not experience any of this.

I met up with Danielle after her ride on Test Track which she enjoyed and we headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. This was a cute ride and the effect at the end where the characters are swimming in the tank with the real fish is very impressive. After this ride we checked out Turtle Talk with Crush. This show is similar to the Laugh Floor in that the animated character interacts with the people in the audience. It was very well done and definitely geared toward the younger kids, but with a few laughs for the parents.

Our FPs for Soarin’ were now active so we headed over to The Land Pavilion. With our FPs we waited about 10-15 minutes to get on the ride. We ended up in the third row on the far right. This ride was definitely cool. If anything, it seemed a bit short. In the bottom row you end up seeing feet above you and the bottom curve of the movie screen below you, so we decided that we should ride this again and hope for a row a little higher up. So we got FPs for a 2nd ride on the way out. Since we were already there, we hopped on Living with the Land. The biggest difference that we noticed since we rode this last is that the live CM on the boat has been replaced with a recorded narration. This change removes the possibility of asking questions about the various things you see on the ride (and probably increases attendance of the Behind the Seeds tour which costs a little bit of $$$). Danielle really likes this ride and I enjoy seeing the unique growing techniques. I also liked the Mickey pumpkins (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485655138/).

After Living with the Land we headed next door to the Imagination Pavilion and hopped on Jouney into Imagination. Afterwards we went over and got in line to see Honey I Shrunk the Audience. It seemed like we spent a long time in the waiting area even before the Kodak commercial started. The show itself was fun and afterwards we found ourselves only five minutes away from our 12:30 reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh.

We knew that we’d be a little late for our reservation, but weren’t concerned about it as we headed off to Morocco (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485655450/). We got there at about 12:40 and were seated immediately. The restaurant was only about one quarter full. We started with the appetizer for two which included some each of three other appetizers on the menu.

Beef Brewat Rolls - layers of thin pastry stuffed with seasoned minced beef, fried and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
Chicken Bastilla - baked layers of thin pastry stuffed with minced chicken and almonds, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
Jasmina Salad - an assortment of fresh vegetables served on a bed of lettuce.

The mix of the savory with the sweet was interesting in the beef brewat rolls and the chicken bastilla. The jasmina salad was similar to Greek salads that I’ve had in the past. It was all pretty good, but the chicken bastilla was my favorite. For our entrees, Danielle got the chicken couscous and I got the chicken kebabs. I was less impressed with my main dish because it didn’t seem very authentic to me. There was little to no seasoning on the kebabs and it was served over a very simple tomato sauce (but what do I know, maybe this is authentic). Danielle enjoyed her chicken couscous but was unable to finish it due to the sheer amount of food served in that dish. By far the best part of the meal was the entertainment. They have live music and a belly dancer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT9MSEDAuKo) (video - 9 sec)! Not that I’m a belly dancing expert or anything, but I must say that this girl was very talented.

After lunch we started working our way around the World Showcase. First to Japan where we bought some koala and panda cookies for the kids and had them sent back to our resort. Then on to the good old USA where the Fife and Drums Corp was out and performing. We checked the time for the show and it was a good ways off, so we continued on to Italy and Germany. Then we proceeded to The Outpost. Can anyone tell me what this is? Is it space for a country that has yet to be filled? The Outpost didn’t really seem to serve any purpose to me. On to China where we checked out the circle vision movie. We really liked this movie and Danielle said that for the first time she’s interested in visiting China. Norway was up next and the wait for Maelstrom was a solid 30 minutes so we moved on. Next up was Mexico (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485688693/) where we rode the recently revamped El Rio del Tiempo which was rehashed and is now called the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. We enjoyed the ride. The last time I rode this I believe was in 1983, so I can’t really say how this new version rates versus the previous one.

We headed back into Future World and went over to check out the butterfly garden. The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival was in full swing when we were there and this was part of that event. On the way over to the butterfly garden we saw the monorail (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mfiIv4lSz4) pass by (video - 11 sec). The butterfly garden was basically a tent that they set up along one of the walkways. If I recall correctly, the description for this attraction said something to the effect of, “Imagine 1000’s of butterflies flying all around you!” Well, there may have been 100 butterflies in there…maybe. Part of the problem may have been the entrance and exits to the tent. It was a bunch of chains hanging down kind of like beads in a doorway. Whenever someone came in or left the tent you’d see a butterfly or two escape! So we weren’t very impressed with the butterfly garden.

Up next for us was Ellen’s Energy Adventure. This was a fun ride (and long!). We ended up seated in the very first row and all the way to the right. This gives you a pretty good view of some of the dinosaurs. The Jeopardy stuff in this ride is getting pretty dated. Alex’s mustache is gone now, the values of the questions have doubled, and the set looks completely different. And what ever happened to Bill Nye the Science Guy? He was on top of the world 10 years ago and now I couldn’t tell you what he’s up to. These thoughts bounce around in my head as we make our way over to Club Cool (formerly Ice Station Cool – which I believe is what the Epcot map is still calling it.) My favorite was the Mezzo Mix from Germany which is an orange flavored cola drink. This is a great place to get some free drinks if you don't mind your shoes sticking to the floor a bit.

After the little bit of refreshment we headed over to Spaceship Earth. This was good, but we somehow ended up splitting up a group of young teenagers so we had some in the car in front of us and the rest in the car behind us. They were loud to begin with, but then they felt the need to yell back and forth to each other a number of times throughout the ride which took away a bit from the experience. The new exit area for the ride must have just opened when we were there because the last I had read about it online it had not yet opened. We looked around a little bit and played a 3D game where you assemble a body bone-by-bone and organ-by-organ. It was fun little game and Danielle and I totally kicked butt!

By now we’d pretty much hit everything we wanted to in Future World, so we headed back to Soarin’ with our FPs. We were hoping for the 1st or 2nd row, but as they started to fill up the ride they came back to the queue area and asked if there were any parties of two. We were the first party of two, so we went in and sure enough ended up in the 3rd row again. Oh well. It’s still a fun ride!

We were ready to head back to the hotel, but were looking for a snack first. Danielle decided that she wanted to try a crepe in France, so we headed that way. Danielle ordered a chocolate crepe, took a couple of bites and decided to pitch the rest of it. It was that bad. On thought on why it wasn’t good is that they weren’t making them fresh. The girl selling the crepes had a stack of pre-made ones that she was just heating up on the little crepe maker. Not sure if it was that or something else, but apparently it was no good.

We headed back to the Beach Club and went over to Beaches and Cream and each got a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream in a waffle cone. These were much better! We sat outside at a table overlooking the pool area as we ate our ice cream. After the ice cream we headed back to our room and got ready for our trip to Downtown Disney and La Nouba. We hopped the bus to Downtown Disney and had about an hour before we wanted to be at La Nouba. We wanted to get some shopping done and figured this was the place to do it. After grabbing a quick free sample at the Ghirardelli shop (dark chocolate filled with caramel – YUM!) we headed into the World of Disney store. We wanted to get gifts for our three year old son, our one year old daughter, my parents (who were watching the kids while we were away), and souvenirs for the two of us. After combing through the World of Disney store we ended up buying a Mickey shirt for our son and an Ariel stuffed toy for our daughter and had them shipped back to our hotel.

When we left World of Disney I went over to a food stand and ordered a hot dog while Danielle checked out the Team Mickey store. When I had finished eating she had found a Grumpy shirt that we purchased and had sent back to the hotel. We were running out of time before the show and we wanted to find something for Danielle to munch on before going in. She ended up getting a California roll from Wolfgang Puck Express. She said it wasn’t bad for being pre-made and sitting in the fridge there.

When Danielle had polished off the California roll we made our way over to La Nouba. As I mentioned earlier in this report we had seen a Cirque Du Soleil show when we went to Las Vegas years ago and really enjoyed it, so we had high expectations for the show. Well, we were not let down. This is an amazing show! Here are a few more adjectives…frenetic, intense, awe-inspiring, funny….just go see it.

After the show we exited and starting heading for the bus stop at the far end of Downtown Disney. Not many people were heading that way, so we figured one of us knew something that the other one didn’t. Unfortunately, when we got to the bus stop we found a sign that said if you wanted to catch a bus you had to go back to the Planet Hollywood bus stop to do so. So we schlepped our way all the way back to that bus stop and then JUST missed our bus. We waited another 10-15 minutes and then got on a bus that was already nearly full. We ended up standing for the trip back to the hotel and decided to get off at the Swan (our first stop) and walk the rest of the way back to our hotel.

When we got back to the room we were still a bit hungry so we checked out the room service menu. They’ve got 24 hour room service – sweet! Danielle ordered a tomato and mozzarella sandwich and I got a “cheese quesadilla”. I put this in quotes because the first ingredient in this “cheese quesadilla” was chicken. That’s not a problem for me, but if it were up to me I would have called it a CHICKEN quesadilla. Anyway…the food was very tasty! (If you haven’t noticed by now, one highlight of our vacations is food!)

We went to bed that night with full stomachs and a plan to not start the next day at Animal Kingdom as per the original plan.

Picture of the Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485655680/)

Bonus Picture of the Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485688095/)

Day 4 – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, Epcot

As I mentioned at the end of my Day 3 post, before we hit the sack that night we decided that we were not going to start our day at Animal Kingdom as previously planned. We knew that there were a lot of things at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot that we had yet to ride that we wanted to ride. Since this was our last full day, we knew that this meant that we would miss the safari, It’s Tough to be a Bug, and the Finding Nemo Musical, but we thought that we would miss the other stuff more. So the new and improved plan for the day was rope drop at Magic Kingdom, then Epcot, then Fantasmic at MGM, and then back to Epcot which had evening extra magic hours until midnight!

Danielle was up early and off to the fitness center to run as usual. I slept in as usual. Due to our late night snack the previous night we just ate a small breakfast in our room and then headed off to the bus stop. We were soon waiting for rope drop with a view much like this (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/483288996/). The opening of the Magic Kingdom made the MGM rope drop show look small and insignificant. The opening is effectively a mini-show and great stuff for the kids. It really gives a sense of excitement as you enter the Magic Kingdom. After the show we all poured in and were soon waiting at a secondary rope at the entrance to Tomorrowland. We waited another few minutes and they let us in. We went straight to Space Mountain for Fastpasses (FPs). We had a bit of a FP malfunction, though. One of our tickets worked fine and the machine spit out a FP, but the second one didn’t spit out anything. When I rescanned it I got an invalid one (since the machine thought I already had one). So we found a nearby cast member (CM) and he was able to get a second one for us.

Now that the FP situation was set, we headed over to Fantasyland and hopped on a bunch of rides that were too crowded for us on Day 1. First up was Pooh, then Peter Pan, and finally It’s a Small World. The lines were short to non-existent this early and we enjoyed these classics (Pooh being a recent classic). After these rides we headed over to the Haunted Mansion for a re-ride with the hope of getting a better sounding ride. Unfortunately, no such luck! Our conclusion after this ride is that the sound on this ride needs a major overhaul! (I think the Haunted Mansion is due for a pretty long renovation period soon, so hopefully they’ll address the sound issue.)

After the Haunted Mansion we headed over to Adventureland to see if the Dole Whip stand was open. Neither of us had ever experienced a Dole Whip, but based on the online reviews, we were anxious to try them out! The Dole Whip stand was not yet open, so we headed over to Splash and Big Thunder to see what the standby lines were like. Splash was 20 minutes and Big Thunder was 10, so we hopped in the Big Thunder standby line and rode. Afterwards we checked the FP time for Splash, but it was too late so we headed over to the Jungle Cruise. We waited about 20-25 minutes for our boat. It was a good ride and our skipper did a good job. After the ride we checked out the Dole Whip stand again – not open yet.

Promising ourselves we would return for our Dole Whip, we headed back towards Tommorrowland. We picked up FPs for the Space Ranger Spin and then decided that it was time for lunch before using our Space Mountain FPs. We really enjoyed our lunch at Cosmic Ray’s on Day 1, so we decided to return. I had chicken fingers with apple slices and Danielle got the veggie wrap. Both were tasty and we were soon on our way back towards Space Mountain. Having just eaten lunch we opted for a quick ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) before riding Space Mountain.

As we were getting to the loading area of the TTA we noticed a CM yelling at a teenage boy who was on the other side of the ride vehicles and looking like he didn’t know where he should be going. Apparently he exited on the wrong side of the vehicle or exited on the right side and then jumped the track, because you’re really not supposed to be on that side of the ride. He looked like he was looking for a way out and there’s a set of stairs on that side of the ride, but I believe they only go up! So the CMs made a quick decision and stopped the ride. This stops every car on the ride. The kid made his way back across and the CMs were basically chiding him for going over there. They wanted to have a more in depth conversation with the kid, but he quickly headed down the exit ramp and was gone. Well, apparently it takes about 8 CMs and an act of Congress to get the ride up and running again. Actually it only took about five minutes, but stopping the ride apparently meant that they had to call in backup. Once we got on the ride, it went off without a hitch!

Next we put the FPs for Space Mountain that we had collected first thing in the morning to good use. While in line we took notice of the TTA as it made its way through. After Space Mountain we headed back over to Buzz Lightyear where our FPs were now active. As you may recall from Day 1, I had a defective laser the first go round and only scored around 64,000 – this time around I did a little better – 84,000. We enjoyed this ride enough to get another round of FPs when we got off. We headed over to the Carousel of Progress next. I hadn’t been on this ride since one of my trips in the early 80s, so I was anxious to see it again. Our theater had maybe 20 people in it. It was a fun show. Danielle and I really liked the comment about the “car phone” in the final scene. Despite updating things, it’s still a bit off…

We headed right back over to Buzz with our FPs after the Carousel of Progress. Best score of the trip – 130,000! (I know, not amazing for some of you regulars, but I felt better about myself…) After Buzz we were looking to wrap up our visit to the Magic Kingdom. We were certain now that the Dole Whip stand would be open…and it was! We both got a vanilla and pineapple swirl. They were very tasty! We will be back. Our last destination on our trip was shopping on Main Street. We had yet to buy gifts for either of my parents and I wanted to get something for myself as well. I ended up getting a red WDW t-shirt with Mickey on it and we got a Mickey coffee mug for my Dad and a red drinking glass with mouse ears etched on it for my Mom. (Can you tell we’re not big shoppers? We walk away from this trip with three t-shirts, a mug, a glass, and a stuffed toy.) The CM at the register asked us what resort we were staying at. We told him the Beach Club and he asked if we were enjoying it. We told him that we were and then he responded that they have a really nice pool area (which they do) and that CMs are allowed to use any of the on-site resort’s pools….except for the Yacht & Beach Club pool. Interesting…I guess this is because it would be too popular with the CMs and would get crowded.

Since we would be leaving early the next morning and it was already afternoon , we couldn’t have the items shipped back to our hotel, so we decided to take the bus back to the Beach Club before heading over to Epcot. On the bus ride back we ended up in some traffic and eventually came upon a Disney transportation bus that was involved in an accident. There was a pretty beat up SUV and the bus had a cracked window. Everyone seemed fine, though. There was a woman standing on the median strip smoking a cigarette and wearing a “1st Visit to WDW” pin. Danielle and I were guessing that she wasn’t exactly having a spectacular first visit.

When we got back to the Beach Club we wanted to pick up our three packages that we had shipped back to the hotel from the previous day. It took us a little while to find this (it’s inside the Marketplace), but once we did, they retrieved our packages very quickly. Either not many people are using this service or they have a good system for storing the packages for retrieval. We dropped all of our packages in the room and then headed for the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. We thought about a repeat ride on Test Track, but the standby wait was 50 minutes and the single rider wait was 40 minutes! The FP time wasn’t going to work for us, so we headed for Norway and picked up FPs for Maelstrom. We then wanted to head over to the USA to check out The American Adventure. On the way we were looking for something to munch on and I grabbed the orange chicken at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China (not bad) and Danielle ended up picking up a HUGE pretzel in Germany.

We got to the USA pavilion and the next show was in about 30 minutes and we decided to wait for it. The Voices of Liberty a cappella group entertained us while we waited (they’re very good!). Either our vacation was catching up with us or The American Adventure isn’t as compelling as we’d hoped because we both end up nearly dozing off during this one. We were definitely both tired. This was apparent as we made our way back to Norway not remembering that we had passed through so many other countries on the way to the USA. We got back to Norway and rode Maelstrom, which was fun. We skipped out on the movie, though (sorry!) and as we passed through the theater heard another couple arguing over whether they should stick around for the movie or not. (For the record, we did stick around for the movie on our honeymoon visit.)

Now we were ready to head back to the room again, but here we were almost directly opposite the International Gateway. In fact we debated which way would be shorter – through Future World or World Showcase. We decided that it was about the same and since we had just come through a bunch of the World Showcase, we went through Future World. When we got back to the room we threw a load of laundry into the washing machine and then took about a one hour nap. We felt this was necessary given that we were planning on making a late night of things with the Extra Magic Hours at Epcot.

We woke up somewhat refreshed and headed over to the Boardwalk to grab some pizza on our way to MGM for Fantasmic. We wanted to get to Fantasmic about an hour early so we wouldn’t miss the show. We got our pizza and ate it at a table out on the boardwalk. The pizza was surprisingly good – the sauce was exceptional! After our pizza we headed for the walkway to MGM. We had plenty of time and arrived at MGM around 7:45 which was an hour and 15 minutes before the 9:00 Fantasmic show. This was great and we figured that we wouldn’t have a problem getting into the show. Then we heard an announcement about the 8:30 Fantasmic show. OOPS! I’m not sure how we got it in our heads that the show was at 9:00, but that’s what we were going with. The good news is that we still got into the show, the bad news was that we ended up in the standing room only section. Fantasmic was pretty cool – definitely ambitious! The standing room only view wasn’t that bad, but I can imagine that the show is even more spectacular when you’re closer to it. I don’t recommend the standing room only area for families with small children – seeing the show becomes an issue.

We followed the masses as we exited the theater and as we left the park we headed for the walkway back to the Boardwalk area and walked our way all the way back to Epcot. We got our Extra Magic Hours bracelets upon entering and headed over to Test Track. The standby line was showing 50 minutes, but the single rider line was only 20, so we did the single rider line. The wait time was about right and we were soon chasing each other around the test track (Danielle was in the car in front of me which I somehow didn’t realize until the ride was over). After Test Track we opted for a re-ride of The Seas with Nemo and Friends. After this, we were ready for a beer. So we headed to the UK, ordered a pint each, and sat on a bench while we watched the people go by. After the beer we were looking for something to eat (yes, this was our big eating day!), but nothing in the park seemed appealing so we headed back to the Beach Club and straight to Beaches and Cream. Unfortunately, we got there just a few minutes after 11:00 and it was closing (“We’re closed,” was the quote from the CM waitress who was very obviously ready to be done with work for the evening.) That left us with only one option – room service again! This time Danielle got chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and I got the chili and cheese chips. We watched some of the late Illuminations show from our balcony and enjoyed our room service before hitting the hay.

The next day was our last day and we had a 9:40 AM appointment with the Magical Express bus, but MGM had early extra magic hours starting at 8:00 AM and we put an extra day on our park hopper passes just for this occasion. So we set our alarm early so we could do our best to squeeze every last drop of fun out of our vacation!

Picture of the Day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8173949@N08/485655596/)

Day 5 – MGM (Final Day)

We got up very early on our last day because we needed to finish our packing before we headed over to MGM for morning extra magic hours (opening at 8:00 AM). We got ready quickly and ate a small breakfast in the room once again due to our late night room service snacking. We got all packed up, grabbed our suitcases, and headed down to the lobby. We walked up to the Magical Express check in desk and in very quick order had our boarding passes for our flight and didn’t have to worry about our checked bags until we picked them up in the Richmond airport. Nice!

We headed over to MGM via the walking path and got there around 7:40 – they hadn’t started letting people through the turnstiles yet. We waited about 10 minutes and then they started letting people in. We were quickly a few people deep of the rope. Right on time they dropped the rope and we were off towards the Tower of Terror (ToT). We knew that we had to catch our Magical Express bus at 9:40 back at the resort so the plan was to ride ToT and the Rock n’ Roller Coaster (RnRC) at much as we could in that one hour. We were debating whether Fastpasses would work for us given that we’d only be there for an hour. So we decided to check on the ToT FP before we went anywhere. Sure enough, the start time for the ToT FP was 8:40, so we grabbed a couple and headed towards the RnRC. We were on that fairly quickly (fun!) and then headed back towards the ToT around 8:20. Our FP time of 8:40 was not yet up, so we went the standby route. On this ride the first movement of the elevator was down! I was hoping that the first move was random like the rest of the ride (both of our rides on Day 2 started in the UP direction). It was around 8:45 when we got finished with this ride. I was ready to head back to the hotel figuring that it would take too long to go on another ride, but Danielle insisted that we ride again. So we cashed in our FPs and headed back to the elevator! We got off the ride around 9:05 and starting high-tailing it back to the Beach Club. We decided that if we saw a boat that we would take it and otherwise we would take the walking path. As we exited the park (kind of strange exiting a part a little after 9:00…) we saw a boat pulling up to the dock, so we rode back to the resort in style. We were definitely pushing the 9:40 time, though (and the Magical Express stuff said to plan on arriving 15 minutes before your pick up time). We rushed back to the room, grabbed our carry on, and headed out to the bus stop. We arrived at the bus stop at almost exactly 9:40. No bus yet, but there were others that were clearly waiting for the Magical Express bus. It arrived a couple minutes later and after two more resort stops, we were on our way back to the airport. They get you back to the airport plenty early for your flight. We had about two hours before our flight when we got there and since we already had our boarding passes, we didn’t need to spend time checking our luggage. We ended up sitting down and eating lunch at the Outback Steakhouse in the airport. The flight home was uneventful and we were soon home. The kids were happy to see us (and I think my parents were too – although they definitely enjoyed the time with the grandkids).


Trip Summary
Overall we had a wonderful trip and managed to do almost everything that we wanted to do in the four days that we had!

Weather
The weather was absolutely gorgeous while we were there. We didn’t have any rain and the temperatures were in the high 80s every day. I was a little worried that this would be a little on the warm side for me, but it really didn’t get uncomfortable until the late afternoon and so many attractions are indoors or at least have covered queue areas that it wasn’t an issue.

Things We Didn’t Get To Experience Due to Time Limitations

Since we only spent an hour in Animal Kingdom there were a number of attractions there that we would have liked to have experienced including – the safari (including the newborn giraffe), It’s Tough to be a Bug, and the new Finding Nemo musical.
Some things that we didn’t get to in the Magic Kingdom were the Tiki Room and The Hall of Presidents (we didn’t see either of these on our honeymoon either, so it’s been a long time!).
We felt like we didn’t spend enough time in the World Showcase area of Epcot on our honeymoon and we definitely spent more time there on this trip; however, we still missed the movies in France and Canada.
As for MGM, we missed the Indiana Jones Stunt Show and Sounds Dangerous. Also, I noticed while we were there that the Disney Animation attraction was featuring Meet the Robinsons which my son (3 years old) and I had very recently seen as his first movie at the movie theater. So I think I would have enjoyed that as well.
When we went on our honeymoon we did the Leave a Legacy thing, but other than in a blurry picture taken by my parents, we’ve never seen our little etching. Unfortunately, we’ve lost the “address” for our picture so we didn’t see it this time either. There was some signage nearby about asking a cast member if you don’t remember where your picture is located, but we generally didn’t see any cast members hanging around that area. We’ll have to see it next time.
We had originally planned on doing one night at Pleasure Island (mainly for the Comedy Warehouse), but decided that we didn’t really have the time for it.


Tips

Being at the parks at rope drop (opening) is the way to go if want to get lots done in a short amount of time.
Disney’s Magical Express is a great thing, especially if your airline is included such that you can check your luggage and get your boarding pass for your return trip in the hotel lobby. Just remember to pack a 3 oz. or less tube of sunscreen in your carry on if you’re planning on hitting the parks before your checked luggage arrives (also a change of clothes and anything else you can’t live without for a number of hours).
Use the Fastpass system wisely! Make sure you check the standby wait time and the Fastpass return time before you get one!
Fantasmic starts at 8:30, not 9:00.


The Stuff that we Enjoyed the Most

Free room upgrade to a 1 bedroom villa!
Lunch on Day 1 on the veranda of Cosmic Rays!
The Tower of Terror!
The Rock n’ Roller Coaster
La Nouba!
Late night room service!
Space Mountain!
Test Track!
Dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe!
Disney’s Magical Express!
Dole Whip!
Five minute walk to Epcot!
Tomorrowland Transit Authority!



Sometime on our trip (I think around Day 2), Danielle and I started talking about taking our kids (currently 1 and 3) on a future trip. We feel that right now our older son would really enjoy quite a few of the attractions, so we figured that if we wait until our daughter is three, then that might be a good time to go. So right now we have tentative plans to return with the kids in about two years! That trip will be a VERY different one from this last one, so I hope that you check back to read the trip report…

The Calendar on the disney website says Fantasmic starts at 9:00 is this incorrect?

Loved the report!!! Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the report!

As for Fantasmic, I don't know. I just took a quick look at a schedule that showed the park closing at 8:30, but Fantasmic starting at 9:00. That seems a bit strange.

If you're not planning on heading over to MGM just to see Fantasmic, then I'm sure you can get the correct time when you arrive at the park and plan accordingly. If you're planning on getting there just in time to see the show, then I guess you should give yourself some extra time in case it goes off early!

We actually have the dinner package. We will be eating at Mama Melrose's. I know they will give us the right time. I just really wanted to know for planning purposes. As we all know that is the best part. :)

Thanks for taking the time to write your trip report. I really enjoyed it.
Ellen

Loved the last half of the report as much as the first half! I agree with the 3yo scenerio. We took our youngest son on his first trip when he turned 3 (on his b-day, no less). Our oldest son went on his first WDW trip when he was five. Although the rides we went on were slightly different for the 5 yo and the 3 yo, both trips were just great. 3 was fine for us--

Looking forward to the next report in 2 years!:p

Must agree! This must have taken you a lot of time to write. You seem like you really enjoyed your trip! I can't wait to read another trip report in 2 years! Thank you for writing this!