We started day seven at Epcot, again wasting our time by going to the Extra Magic Hour: Test Track and Mission Space both had waiting times of 30 minutes almost within 10 minutes of the park opening. We were able to take in Ellen’s Energy Adventure… but that is the only attraction we were able to see during the first hour in the park.
I was sorely disappointed in the Living Seas attraction. They throw you in this waiting room (waste of time) that counts down when the next movie will be shown… and you can choose to skip the movie if you want. We skipped it because we’ve already seen it and I really wanted to ride underneath the large aquarium. So we are loaded into the Hydrolators (waste of time) and the next thing I know we are in the exhibit hall (In my opinion, waste of time). I don’t know if they are revamping the part of the attraction that takes you through the water ‘scenes’… but without that running… this whole land is just worthless to me.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t particularly enjoy Mission: Space. The ride was very short… very cartoonish… and I REALLY found it hard for my eyes to focus on anything. Many people have said that they deal with bouts of nausea from this ride… I didn’t struggle with that at all. I just did not think that the ride was as good as it has been advertised. In fact, it’s not even in my top five favorites at Epcot. It’s too bad.
My favorite three rides at Epcot: Test Track, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and the American Adventure. My least favorite attraction: Living Seas (one of the biggest wastes of time in all of WDW).
We had decided before we left that we wanted to experience a couple of different Disney resorts… so we decided to stay at a moderate resort for our last two nights. We checked into the Caribbean Beach Resort around 3:00PM, but our room wasn’t ready until 4:00PM. I’ll write more about this resort later.
We spent our evening at Magic Kingdom. We made priority seating arrangements at Cinderella’s Royal Table. I had never eaten here before… in fact, I had never even seen this restaurant before this particular trip. We walked in and the hostess led us directly to a table next to a window that gave us a fantastic overview of fantasy land. As I looked around the restaurant, I really thought it would be cool to take a tour of all the nooks and crannies of Cinderella’s Castle. The thing is huge. Our experience at the Royal Table was amazing. I was glad we were able to go. Cinderella’s Royal Table was our most romantic meal… but in a more enchanted fairy tale way. It was a blast!
We also saw the WISHES fireworks show from the ground for the first time. It was excellent! We got a good place on a bridge from the hub to Tomorrowland. Tinkerbell ‘flew’ right over us. It was pretty neat.
DAY EIGHT: Thursday - June 17th, 2004
We started our last full day at WDW in my favorite all around park: The Magic Kingdom. I am always so impressed with the scope and creativity of this theme park. This was the only time that we went to an Extra Magic Hour that we thought was worth it. I think the difference has to do with how many attractions the Magic Kingdom has open for their Extra Magic Hour… many more than the other parks. We were able to get about four attractions done before the hour was up.
I have always loved Space Mountain, but this was the first time I had ever been able to ride in the front row. With everything so dark and all the metal supports looking so close… it was a little bit more thrilling. I am a bigger guy… so I kept thinking that those supports would smack me on the real tight turns.
We were able to experience Micky’s Philharmagic for the first time. What a creative and nostalgic show! Melissa said that is her new favorite 3D attraction. I’m not sure if it was my favorite 3D show… BUT it is definitely one of my very favorite attractions at Magic Kingdom. This is a great addition to fantasyland. Another ride that I experienced for the first time was the Liberty Square Riverboat. Loved it! Reminded me of the Mark Twain books I read as a kid.
My favorite three rides at Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain, Micky’s Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion. Honorable mentions: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. Least favorite attraction: Snow White ride.
In the afternoon, we went back to our resort for some rest. Here are my impressions of the Caribbean Beach Resort. We loved our room. It was very spacious and the colors were much ‘warmer’ than at All-Star Music. We were in a room that looked overlooked the lake in the middle of the resort. We were able to snag a king sized bed, which made it much more comfortable than the smaller All-Star bed. The resort itself is nice… but very big. We decided that we were glad we were only there for two nights. Walking to get anywhere useful was terrible. (Of course, by this time in our trip, we were sick of walking ANYWHERE!) Our bus stop was close by, but we were half a resort away from the food court. We were not all that happy with the service. Checking in and out was a mess. I think Melissa agrees with me: We prefer Dixie Landings (Riverside) to the Caribbean Beach Resort.
We finished our trip by visiting MGM studios one last time. We tried getting fastpasses for Tower of Terror or Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, but nothing was available. We took in Beauty and the Beast… and we tried getting into The Little Mermaid… but we missed the last show of the night by about 50 people.
We ended up going and getting some ice cream and sat down to rest our feet. I had about four blisters that were just killing me at this point, so we ended up leaving pretty quickly after we got there.
DAY NINE: Friday - June 18th, 2004
We checked out of our hotel and drove to the airport. In all my reading about Orlando International… nobody warned me about how early I needed to arrive. It was a Friday morning… we got into the ticketing line for Southwest exactly an hour before our flight. Without exaggerating, there were about 350 people in front of us… and even with 20 Southwest people handling the counter… it took about 35 minutes to get through the line. Once we got through security, caught the shuttle to our terminal, and ran to our gate… we walked on our plane exactly two minutes before we took off. It was a close call. The moral of the story: Arrive at Orlando International about two hours early.
I saved the rest of this post to communicate several odds and ends things that I wanted to comment on that didn’t really fit anywhere else.
Lessons and Observations:
-Take supplies to help combat painful blisters. I didn’t. I was an idiot. More specifically, I was an idiot in a lot of pain.
-If you are in a hurry, try not to get behind people that have just unfolded their map…
-If you are in a hurry, try not to get behind a large family filled with cranky kids…
-Don’t be afraid to take long afternoon naps.
-Extra magic hour was only beneficial for us at Magic Kingdom. At all the other parks, there were only four attractions open and the crowds just overwhelmed them immediately. Hopefully, by the time we go again, Disney will have started their night-time extra magic hour(s). We absolutely loved the theme parks at night.
-At Universal: Islands of Adventure... be sure to check out the talking fountain by the Sinbad Stunt Show. It shoots water and makes fun of little kids. The fountain has video and audio feeds to the person controlling it... so these little kids would banter back and forth with the fountain. Very funny stuff. Just don't get too close or you'll get soaked.
-Utilize fastpass… there is nothing better than walking in the fastpass line while waving at the poor souls waiting an hour in the stand-by line.
-I loved the concept of the surprise fastpass. We received them for Primeval Whirl and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. This was a great idea by Disney.
-When you leave a small child at home, limit the number of character meals you participate in… it really makes you miss your child(ren).
-For us, nine days/eight nights was way too long.
-Take as many pictures as you can. We didn’t do as good at that this time as we have in the past.
-Keep your eyes open… you’ll never know what you are going to see. And you don’t know when you’ll have a chance to go back.
-Be willing to change your plans if something better comes up, or if you are just plain tired out. Make adjustments based on what you want.
-Have a great time!
Coming up next week: I will be reviewing the new U2 album: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. In the meantime... I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!
1 comment:
Hi J,
Thanx about the blister boo-boo
tip.
L
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