AffordableDisney-Trip Reports
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John and Donna Gross "The Full Mickey - At a Discount!" The Wall Street Journal
Melissa and her family visited WDW in May, 2004. She sent us this trip report: "My husband and I surprised our two children (ages 5 and 8) with our second family vacation trip to Walt Disney World! We visited from Friday, 5/21 to Thursday, 5/27. John we had a blast! The weather cooperated for our entire stay, it didn't rain the whole time we were there. The temperature was 90 degrees everyday. We had 7 days of glorious fun in the sun! Friday morning we arrived around 10 am, picked up our rental car and headed over to our resort at All-Star Movies. We checked in and surprisingly our room was ready (check-in is 4 pm at the value resorts). The lady at the front desk was very nice and friendly; as were all the cast members we came in contact with at Disney. We were excited about starting our day so we asked her to have someone take our luggage to our room (which she gladly did). We visited Epcot-Future World first. This was our first time visiting this park and we didn't care too much for it. My kids were a little disappointed because we didn't see any characters there at all. The first ride we got on was Spaceship Earth with no waiting. This was a nice ride to get on to stay out of the heat, my kids were not amused by it. After that we visited Innoventions: The Road to Tomorrow and Image Works: The Kodak "What If" Labs. We spent quite some time at these two places, the kids were having such a good time we decided to hang around for awhile. Next was Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. This was our favorite. My son didn't enjoy the python or the mice scene because of the 3D glasses, but my husband, my daughter and I enjoyed every scene. Disney's 3D movies are great! It's amazing how you feel like you're really a part of what's going on in the movie." Melissa's trip report continues below. |
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Melissa's trip report continues: "We decided not to do Mission: Space because we heard that people were getting sick or felt nauseous afterwards. We didn't want to ruin our fun so we avoided it. Body Wars was closed so we walked around a little and cooled off at the Ice Station. The kids enjoyed the Icee's and the cool mist of air. We also took pictures for a while to kill time (they have this cute little area with statues of Finding Nemo characters); then we watched the JaMMitors perform while we waited on our fast pass time for Test Track. Test Track is our second favorite ride at Epcot (you might want to put those hats and sunglasses in a safe place). By 5 pm we headed over to The Land for our priority seating reservations at the Garden Grille. They opened right at 5 pm so we were the first in line and the first to be seated. The food was mediocre and really not worth the price. For a family of four we spent about $63 (not including tip). The character experience, however, was the real treat of the restaurant. Mickey, Chip and Dale were there and since the restaurant wasn't crowded they were able to spend a lot of time with the kids. Dale made the kids laugh a lot. He placed one of their autograph pens on his nose and moved his head back and forth so the pen would rock. He danced with them and posed for the camera with them in three different silly positions. The revolving dinner floor was a nice touch. It moved so smoothly we didn't even know it was happening. We looked up once and realized that we were on another side of the restaurant. They have a section set up like a small forest, we saw live chickens running around down there. After dinner we were worn-out. The plane ride finally took its toll on us so we headed back to our resort and relaxed in our room. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the World Showcase side and we missed Illuminations. I have yet to see this fireworks show but I hear it's amazing. We went swimming later on that night at the pool for about 45 minutes, then we headed off to bed. Saturday, May 22: We got up and went to Animal Kingdom. We had priority seating scheduled at 8 am at Donald's Prehistoric Breakfastosaurus. When we arrived they assigned us a ticket and took a family portrait of us. The waiter came along and called a group of families by last name and escorted us to the restaurant. On the way there he pointed out and named popular rides and shows as well as nearby rest rooms and character spots. After we sat down with our meal we realized that we had the same waiter from when we were there in 2002. He did the same tricks with a couple of added new ones. For my son his tricks were all new because he was three last time we went and he didn't remember them. The food was still as good as ever, well worth the $50. I was extremely sad when I realized I was full. Unfortunately the character experience was much better the first time we visited. They seemed to be in a big hurry to get moving. But in their defense the restaurant was crowded so I know they had a lot of tables to visit. After breakfast we stayed in DinoLand for a while. We walked right on to TriceraTop Spin. The kids liked it so we rode it again. We took pictures by a couple of dinosaur statues, then a couple of T-Rex characters came out and took pictures with the kids. We took a 2-3 minute video of one of the dinosaurs playing with my five year old. When my son walked away the dinosaur would put his claws up and tiptoe behind him; then when my son turned around the dinosaur would freeze in his tracks. My son would start walking again and the dinosaur would continue on behind him. It was really funny to watch. After that we walked down the greeting trails and met with Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. We then walked over to the Tree of Life, we took a few pictures then saw It's Tough to be a Bug! Again, another spectacular 3D movie with awesome effects. When the spiders came down from the ceiling my son was terrified and tried to run out of the theater! After that experience we decided to do something a little calming and relaxing so we got a fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was only 15 to 20 minutes so we sat in the shade and cooled off. There's a small hut right outside the safari entrance and on the other side of it was a fenced in area where they kept these very loud birds. They were not afraid of human contact and walked up towards the fence quite often. They were extremely loud and the sounds they made were annoying. The safari was quite enjoyable this time around. The temperature wasn't as hot so more animals were out and about. I took great shots of giraffes (they were everywhere), gazelles, elephants, zebras, hippos and flamingos. Unfortunately the lioness was cooling off between the large rocks (she was positioned in that same spot the last time we visited). We saw Pocahontas and her Forest Friends, which was a cute little 12 minute show. It was educational for the kids. The canopy they had up was useless, the sun beamed right through it and made the experience a little uncomfortable. The first three rows of the middle section were designated for kids only, so my kids got a great view of the show. We taped Festival of the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks! from beginning to end on our 2002 trip so we decided to skip them this time around. The DINOSAUR ride was closed (after the spider incident at the Tree of Life I don't think my son would have been able to take it). It was still early in the day and we did everything we wanted to do except see the Jungle Parade. Even though we've never seen it before we decided we didn't want to wait for it so we skipped it this year. It was still early so we headed back to our resort, threw on our swim clothes and headed for Blizzard Beach. We only did two things here but the kids were so overjoyed to be in the cool water all afternoon it didn't really matter. For the evening we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not! on International Drive. We took a lot of pictures there and found it to be quite entertaining. My kids were amazed by the tall man, the giant chair and the huge anaconda skin hanging from the ceiling. I loved the penny portrait made of President Lincoln. The first time we visited Disney we did not rent a car so we were stuck on Disney's property. It felt great to just get out and see the city. There's so many things to see and do off Interstate 4 we just couldn't believe it. Buffet restaurants were everywhere with affordable pricing. We ate at Sizzler's, using a coupon I got from floridabrochures.com. The cashier also honored our Orlando Magic card with an additional 10% off (even though she wasn't supposed to). The food was filling, we were stuffed when we left. Right next door was a discounted Disney souvenir store so I dragged my family over there. They also honored the Orlando Magic card (and I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the place). I cleaned up with souvenirs there. I spent $40 total and left with three bags full of goodies. The later it got the busier International Drive became (getting out of the parking lot was hectic). We drove around for a little while to see what else was there because we knew we were definitely coming back to International Drive again! Sunday, May 23 We got up that morning and cancelled the rest of our priority seatings, we decided to save money and eat off of WDW's property. The only thing I regretted was canceling breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, I think I just got caught up in the savings. My daughter, the little princess that she is, would have loved the experience. The good thing is my kids didn't know we were going there so it all worked out anyway. We went to MGM Studios wearing our Disney tee-shirts and we were immediately approached to take a family portrait. The pictures came out lovely so I couldn't resist purchasing a package. We went over to Star Tours and walked right in. The wait was only 5 minutes so we rode it again. It was Star Wars Weekend at MGM. I found that this can be a good thing and a bad thing. It's good if you're not quite a Star Wars fan (which I am a fan of the first 3 episodes but I didn't mind missing out this time) because they keep the attention of the majority of the guests so we were able to get on a lot of rides with little or no waiting. It's a bad thing if you are a true fan of Star Wars because it was extremely crowded wherever they were located. I stayed around long enough to get a great shot of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fighting on stage during the children's training session. We visited the Jim Henson's Muppet Vision 3-D, which was definitely a kids attraction. The Great Movie Ride was still as wonderful as ever. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set was closed for refurbishing. We finally got to see The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! in its entirety. It rained last time we visited so they had to stop the show. I was a little disappointed with the Backlot Tour, it was shortened to make room for the new stunt show they have coming soon. We skipped the Motor Cars Parade because we taped the whole thing at our last visit. We left for lunch and an afternoon break, then we returned around 6:30 pm for evening entertainment. The 7 pm Beauty & the Beast Show was cancelled for some reason so we missed it for the second time. I heard that you can't do MGM without seeing this show. There's always next time right? My husband's the big thrill seeker of the family so I took the kids for ice cream while he waited in line for the Tower of Terror. We also took this time to visit the Villains Store. I love Disney's villains (Jafar, Ursula, Cruella are my favorites). This was a neat store! I collect themed pens/pencils and mugs, and I found a black mug with all the major villains on it, it's great! We headed back towards Tower of Terror to pick up my husband and then we walked over and waited for The Fantasmic Show. We had an hour and 30 minute wait so we danced and sang to the Disney music they played. We snapped a few silly pictures and we participated in the wave a few times with the crowd (my kids liked that part). Fantasmic was the best experience we've ever had at WDW. The colors were beautiful, the pictures were lovely, the whole experience was just phenomenal. I've never seen my kids so amazed! This show was well worth the wait! Monday, May 24 We went to Magic Kingdom. This is a very overwhelming park because there's just so much to do. We started to the left side of every park this time around and it really paid off at MK. After visiting with Snow White and Peter Pan we went to the Agrabah Bazaar store and loaded up on Aladdin and Jasmine souvenirs (my daughter is a huge fan). Our first ride was the Jungle Cruise, which was a relaxing boat ride, aside from the lame jokes the tour guide insisted on telling. The Pirates of the Caribbean was too dark, we could barely see a thing. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was quite exciting, while we killed time for Splash Mountains fast pass. Splash Mountain was a fun water ride, the animatronics of Brer Bear, Fox and Rabbit were cool. The hill of the ride was something but we didn't get as wet as I expected. Our photo was hilarious so we purchased it. We got the fast pass for the Haunted Mansion, which was kind of a let down, I expected more. Somewhere in between there we rode the Disney Railroad roundtrip (which is a must for tired feet). It's a Small World closed without notice (this was one of my favorite rides at MK). We skipped the parade here too due to video-taping. We left for a break then came back for the evening. We got on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, which is always an adventure! The wait was only 15 minutes. Next we went to Toontown and rode the Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm (this ride was too short!) I videotaped the kids playing in Minnie & Mickey's Country Houses and Donald's Boat. Our last attraction was Mickey's PhilharMagic. This was a wonderfully put together 3D movie with great special effects and delicious smells. After we left PhilharMagic we found a spot on a couple of benches to view the new "Wishes" fireworks show. The fireworks were breath-taking! Getting out of the park after the fireworks was a real drag. Overall MK is still my favorite theme park, there's still so much that I haven't done or seen yet. Tuesday, May 25 We slept in and got a late start at the Downtown Disney Marketplace. When we arrived we went to the AMC Theater to see Shrek 2, which had a great storyline in comparison to the first movie. After the movie we killed some time at DisneyQuest for about an hour before heading over to Planet Hollywood for lunch. I arranged for priority seating at 3 pm for this restaurant and we were seated immediately upon entering. We received a coupon for this restaurant for 25% off our meal from Disney. This was provided as part of our package deal along with two pins and lanyards. This restaurant is a nice place that displays statues, props and paraphernalia from scenes of popular movies. We took loads of pictures and great footage of all three levels of the restaurant. The food was quite tasty too! We walked around and visited several stores. We then returned to DisneyQuest for the rest of the afternoon. Now the question is, what didn't we do at this place? With four levels of video games that don't require coins for usage we were all in heaven! I spent most of my time on Pac Man, Mrs. Pac Man, and Centipede. You can really lose the day at DisneyQuest, by the time we checked our watches it was almost 8 pm. We basically spent the whole day there! We returned to our resort and played in the Fantasia and toddler pools until about 10:30 pm. The kids had a great time and made quite a few friends that evening. Wednesday, May 26 We went to Universal Orlando - Islands of Adventure. I like that they had a parking garage, the car wasn't steaming hot when we returned to it. I really enjoyed this park, it's a totally different type of fun and excitement from Disney. The first thing we got on was the Spiderman 3D ride. This was my favorite ride of the whole park, I begged my family to get on it again before we left. You felt more effects with this ride because of the moving cart we were in. I felt like we were really riding through the city and being attacked by villains. My favorite part is when you think you're being pulled high up into the sky and the villains drop the cart; at the very last second Spiderman spins a web and the cart bounces into it and lands on the ground to safety. That was an amazing adventure, we clapped and cheered when it was over! After that we stopped at character land and took pictures with Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oil, Bullwinkle, Broom Hilda, Woody Woodpecker and Betty Boop! We walked down Comic Strip Lane and took lots of pictures. This park had a lot of water rides, which we gladly got on to beat the heat. We got soaked on most of them and were completely dry in about two hours. The best water ride was Jurassic Park River Adventure! The giant T-Rex head at the top of the hill really fools you for what lies ahead. You're too busy screaming from the T-Rex's giant mouth and vicious teeth that when the hill approaches you're completely terrified. The hill was so steep! We went to look at our pictures afterwards and almost died laughing, we pull them out a lot when we want a good laugh. We visited lots of stores and my husband and I took a rest while the kids played on Popeye's boat. We taped the superheroes coming and going on their motorcycles for autographs, the lines were too long to wait so we skipped it. My kids and I waited in the video game area while my husband rode The Hulk roller coaster and Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. We had a great time in Seuss Landing, I believe we rode everything there. My son is a big fan of Dr. Seuss, his favorite was the storybook ride. We walked over to see the Sinbad Show and cooled off in the little waterfall right outside the main entrance. The show was quite hilarious! It's amazing the types of jobs stunt people will take, I don't know if I would let someone light me on fire. I watch the travel channel a lot and they did a segment on Universal Orlando and they explained how this stunt was performed. I don't care if the suit is fireproof or how many ice packs are attached to my body, I would never be able to do that stunt. His entire body was on fire! After we left the show we rode the Spiderman 3D movie ride again before leaving the park. What I liked about Universal in comparison to WDW is their fast pass system. Disney makes you wait until the very exact time that's printed on your ticket. We got to test track a minute before we were supposed to get on and they made us wait, which was no big deal at all, but at Universal we got the fast pass for Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls, we walked over about seven minutes early just to wait by the entrance. The lady asked us what time was on the ticket, we told her and she said go right on up. It was like that for many of the rides we got the fast pass for at Universal; all the fast pass rides we got for WDW's made us wait. Later that evening we went to T.G.I.Friday's for dinner on International Drive. The food was awesome. We got a chance to celebrate a little because that was the night that Fantasia Barenno won the American Idol contest. I was extremely happy to hear this because I'm a great big fan of Fantasia's. There were TVs everywhere and everybody was celebrating! We had a good time. The next morning we got up, checked out and headed for the airport because we had an early flight home. Overall this was our best family vacation yet! Due to the package deal we got from Disney I expected the parks to be loaded with guests, but that wasn't the case. We took advantage of the "kids stay and play for free" deal, which was available for the months of April, May and June. Every park we went to we didn't have to wait long for any ride or attraction. John I have to tell you, we love the weather and excitement of Florida so much that we have decided to relocate there the summer of next year! Well, I feel like I just wrote a novel here, but thanks for letting me share my vacation experience in Florida." Thank you, Melissa, for your wonderful trip report. It was fun visiting WDW and Universal again through your eyes.
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