DISNEY!!! May 20-24

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Amy
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Amy » May Sun 24, 2015 7:06 am

Metalfan wrote:Well instead of the $75 vera Bradley bag she got one of those alex and Annie bracelets. Small victory.
Glad she found something she likes. I like a few of the bracelets too, but they aren't really something I would wear so much like she decided with the purse, I probably won't get one, even if they are cute.

Metalfan
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Metalfan » May Sun 24, 2015 10:04 pm

WE JUST GOT HOME!!!

Well, it's always sad to leave Disney but thankfully we made it home safely. Both of us are sick so we were just ready to come home. I'll post a report tomorrow of the trip. Outside of her being sick the whole trip and me the last 2 days, it was definitely a fun trip.

Metalfan
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Metalfan » May Mon 25, 2015 11:35 am

So here is my trip report for our trip to WDW this past weekend.

First off, remember my GF was sick the whole trip and I got sick towards the end so we had to leave some things on the table for next trip as to not kill ourselves. We still did a bunch of stuff and really enjoyed this trip.

We left Nashville Wednesday afternoon and flew to Raleigh. Had a quick connecting flight and were on our way to Orlando. Good thing about the flight to orlando was the flight was half full so we could stretch out. We landed at MCO at 7ish and proceeded to the Magical Express counter for our ride to Disney! We were the first ones there for our bus and we ended up having to wait quite awhile for the bus to arrive (20 minutes) and then we had to wait for the bus to leave (seemed liked 45 minutes). So already our night at DTD was being cut short. Transportation was not our friend this trip (MORE ON THIS LATER). I had used online check in so I got a message that my room was ready for us. We went to the room to drop off our carry ons and went to the bus stop to get to DTD. We arrived and went to Earl of Sandwich for dinner. Its one of our favorite places if not our favorite places on property to eat. Only had about 90 minutes until closing of WOD so we decided to go see about my GFs bag. Walked around a bit and she found the one she wanted. After looking at it and thinking about it she said she wanted to think about it some more because of the size. She carries a lot of stuff and the bag she was looking at was very small. She just wasn't sure she wanted to spring $75 on a bag she likely would never use. So we walked around and just enjoyed the next hour and then went back to Coronado Springs to get a good nights sleep for Epcot the next day!


On Thursday we slept in a bit and headed to Epcot. We had fast passes for Spaceship Earth, Soarin and a character meet. We got there and walked right on to Spaceship Earth. I knew we wouldn't be able to do everything on this trip so I wanted to give her a good mix of things. She seemed to enjoy it for what it was. Next up we headed towards the Land and were able to walk on to Living With the Land. I've always enjoyed this ride. Not sure why. It's relaxing. We still had awhile before Soarin so we thought we'd see what Test Track was like. 65 minutes at that point. Wasn't gonna happen. We hoped it would rain to maybe knock that down some. Went to Innoventions and played some games. Decided that we were hungry so ate at Electric Umbrella. Was actually really good. While we were in there it rained....for about a minute and a half. We knew that wasn't going to change much. Went over and did Soarin which she loved and I always love. Then went to the Seas and did Nemo and walked around looking at the fishies. After this we sat down and I knew my GF wasn't feeling great. It had been a REALLY hot and humid day. She said she wanted to walk around the World Showcase so we started. She was a trooper and made it through the whole thing but I could tell she as about to die. Checked TT again and it was 110 minutes. Nope. At about 5 PM we left and went to back to the hotel to get ready for MK 24 hour day on Friday. That night we also made the great mistake of eating in the Pepper Market. Hmm. Way too expensive and waay too not good. That was our only time eating in there.


Here is where me and WDW transportation had our major issue.

Friday we get a wake up call from Baymax at 4 am and start getting ready. We are really excited. Well we had called the front desk the day before to find out when buses would start running. Surely buses would run a bit earlier with all the people wanting to be there right? Was told the buses would start running at 5:15. Shocked but was ok with this. No other park is open so they can devote all the buses to taking people to MK. So, you would think 3 or 4 buses would be at resorts at 5:15 to take everyone to MK righ?. So we get out there at about 5 and there are 10 or so others waiting. At this point we are at the main bus stop. Well, 5:15 comes and nothing. 5:30 and nothing. And so on and so forth. After 6 am the bus shows up with about 5 people on it from the other bus stops and we have about 40 people at our stop.

Now, if you want to tell me that a bus came and filled up with everyone at the first bus stop I have a hard time believing it (this just comes from what people on that other bus said) but ok. However people who got picked up said they had been there since 5:30 and no bus came. So 45 minutes between buses? On a morning like this? There were LOTS of complaints to the front desk by a lot of people. Not their fault, but still.

Ok, now we got to the park a little after 6:30. Took some pictures and walked into the mad house. Decided to splurge and each bought the 24 hour Disney shirt. We knew we had a fast pass for BTMRR at 7:20 so we headed back that way to wait. We got there and it was a 5 minute wait so we went on. Waited about 3 minutes. Then walked onto Haunted Mansion. Went back to BTM and used our fast pass. So 3 rides down in about 30 minutes. Not bad. We knew that we were going to be leaving the park early and coming back late so we tried to hit as much early as we could. We walked into fanstasy land and Peter Pans Flight was 30 minute wait. We always see it with a huge wait on the my disney experience app so we said screw it and went on. GF walked away wondering how anyone could wait more than 10 minutes for it. Walked on to It's A Small World because, why not. So in 2 hours we had done 5 rides. Then we went over to Mickeys Philharmagic because although I don't think she really likes it, she knows I do. After that we went and did Carousel of Progress, Stitch, Buzz Lightyear (with our fast pass) and TTA. Then it was lunch time so we had an early lunch at Cosmic Rays. Spent about a hour there until it was time for our Space Mountain FP. Went on Space Mountain and decided to head towards main street. The park was starting to fill up and lines were getting longer and it was getting hotter. As we hit main street the fantasy parade was starting. We decided to watch because, why not. I enjoy that parade. After it was over we made our way to the hotel so that we could relax and get ourselves ready to head back later.

Not a terrible morning. We got to do a bunch of stuff and just had fun. After the bus issue I was just glad we were able to have some fun.

I went to MK for a bit while the GF took a nap to see the 3pm Fantasy parade and see if any of the disney people would be accessible. Some of them were after the parade so that was nice. Went back and showered and we both got ready to go to DTD for dinner. Had EOS again and then took the bus to the Polynesian to get the monorail to MK. Well, this was the part where it got insane. Had to wait 2 buses at DTD and 3 monorails at Poly. Got to the park and it was M A D N E S S. Our night was not great but this was me looking out for my GF. We got to the park just in time for Wishes. Watched and enjoyed. Then, it took us 20 minute to get to Tomorrowland. Just to get out of the madness we did Monsters Inc. At this time everything was 45 minutes or more wait. Well, then the lightning started. It was bad lightning. So, were walking around and rides are closing. Makes sense right? Well this boosted the wait times for everything indoors. I made the decision that we were calling it a night. I didn't want her being out in the rain and we didn't know when those rides would open back up and what the lines would be like. I was happy with our day and if she was healthy we would have done more but we still had 2 days left and I wanted her to be ok.

Saturday was an off day but it was also a hotel transfer day. So sleeping in really wasn't a huge option. I woke up with a scratchy throat and not feeling 100 percent. We ended up going to DTD and walking around. We always go Bowling when we are there so we did that and had lunch. It was a lot of fun. After that we walked through some stores and I got a message to see the front desk about my room assignment at Caribbean Beach. So we decided to head back get our room and plan the rest of the day. Ultimately it was a DTD day and night. We went to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner and then went back to the hotel for the night. We had bought some pins and some vinylmations and we wanted to open them. GF also bought an Alex and Annie bracelet. She was pleased. At this time we both weren't feeling well so we said, lets have a good nights rest and gear up for our last day.

Sunday we woke up early and checked out and got our bags picked up. Airline Check in was down so.....yea. We got to the bus stop and headed to the madness that was MGMHollywoodDisneyInsertNewNameHere Studios for Star Wars weekends. Always enjoy the goofyness of it. I like Star Wars but some people take it over the top. We basically both felt like garbage at this point and it was hot as anything and packed. Probably should have gone straight to Toy Story Mania at park open but we decided to go to Great Movie Ride instead. Completely forgot about Toy Story. My bad. After GMR we went over for our fast pass on Star Tours. Much fun was had. Then went over to Tower of Terror. I did not ride that. Only ride at Disney I hate. My GF seemed to enjoy it. Its 10 am and she walks off the ride and its now a 130 minute wait. After that we filled in time before our RNRC fast pass and then hit that. Again, after we were done the ride was over 100 minute wait. All this before 11 am. After that we went and saw One Mans Dream, debated the 80 minute wait for Toy Story and then went to Muppets. After that we said no mas and decided to head back to the hotel to do some stuff before we had to hit the magical express bus to the airport. As we got to the bus my GF looked at the app. Muppets had a 10 minute wait and everything else was 50 minutes minimum. ToT was 150. RNRC was over 100 and Toy Story was over 100. Great Movie Ride was 50 minutes. W T F

Our time at the hotel was uneventful. We had so long to wait before our bus we had to figure out something to do. We ate lunch at Caribbean Beach. Was ok. Then after went to Polynesian for a Dole Whip. Then monorailed to Contemporary because my GF wanted to see it. Bought some more vinylmations and then headed back to the hotel. Got back to Caribbean Beach about 20 minutes before our magical express time. Everyone in the hotel was going to be on our bus.

Ok fun story and I'll apologize ahead if any of the members of this party are on this board. So, the Magical Express bus gets to CB. And of course, it's already half full. There's about 45 people waiting to get on this bus. We knew we had some time so we weren't pushing. I think there were 10 of us who didn't get on the bus. A family of 6 and then 2 other pairs (including us). Now, we know Magical Express picks up about 3 hours before your flight. So we all have time. They called and another bus was on its way. No biggie. Well, this one lady from this party lost her mind. They all thought 100 percent they would miss their flight. Our flight was at 8:10. These people are losing their ever loving minds. Their flight was at 8:30. I was listening and when they said that I said I should be stomping and screaming then because our flight was earlier. Ultimately we're just not like that so we waited. Another bus came and took us to the airport. I like to have a couple hours before a flight because I don't like flying and it takes me a bit to calm down. Well we got through security with 40 minutes until boarding. Another mention of that family. After they checked their bags they said "OMG I can't believe we made it!" I chuckled. People are amazing sometimes. So back to us, we grabbed a quick snack and waited for our flight. Half full fight and we headed home.

All in all it was a great trip besides the sicknesses. Probably the worst weekend to go really just because of the insane crowds. But we were able to have fun and do almost everything we wanted to do. We'll be heading back, likely in September. Hopefully this time everything goes right.
Last edited by Metalfan on May Mon 25, 2015 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Amy
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Amy » May Mon 25, 2015 3:56 pm

Sounds like you were able to have fun even though you weren't 100%. Also sounds like you managed to get to experience a lot of shows and attractions despite the large crowds. I'm guessing between the 24 hour day and Star Wars Weekends there were a ton of people there!
I'm surprised at the Magical Express not being more prepared for the amount of people that were going to the airport. We rarely have any other guests waiting at the hotel with us when we are getting ready to depart, and the bus generally isn't full at all. I suppose it was due to the higher crowd levels again. That is too bad those people were so freaked out ~ maybe they aren't frequent travels who know they will have LOTS of time at the airport because they pick you up so early.
Glad you have another trip planned ~ if you can both be healthy for that one, I think it might be your best one yet!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us :D

Metalfan
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Metalfan » May Mon 25, 2015 4:17 pm

The Magical Express thing was a bit shocking. When you know you have x amount of people taking the bus at 5:25, you probably should make sure that there's x amount of seats available.

As for the people, i understand it and I understand their frustrations. It just was kinda funny how they were reacting.

Hopefully next trip will be even better. But I'm thrilled this one went well.

Amy
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Amy » May Mon 25, 2015 4:31 pm

Metalfan wrote:The Magical Express thing was a bit shocking. When you know you have x amount of people taking the bus at 5:25, you probably should make sure that there's x amount of seats available.......
Yeah, that is what surprised me too! How long did you end up having to wait for the second ME bus? If it was super close in time, maybe they just had gotten separated in traffic, or one had more guests to drop off before they came to pick up at your resort?

Metalfan
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Metalfan » May Mon 25, 2015 4:43 pm

It took about 20ish minutes for another one to show up. It was one they had to call and have sent to us. It had others on the bus so it was stopping elsewhere as well.

Amy
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Amy » May Mon 25, 2015 5:55 pm

Metalfan wrote:It took about 20ish minutes for another one to show up. It was one they had to call and have sent to us. It had others on the bus so it was stopping elsewhere as well.
Hmmm, very curious ~ glad it all worked out anyhow.

Metalfan
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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Metalfan » May Mon 25, 2015 5:59 pm

Thanks! Yea like I said, we were never worried. However I was a bit more concerned when I realized we only had 40 minutes. Cut it a little closer than I expected. But still we had no issues.

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Re: DISNEY!!! May 20-24

Post by Mark walter » Feb Fri 03, 2017 3:39 am

hi there I'm going with my wife and 4 years old son( hope they will enjoy it). I went to Sverige at the first time 5 years ago ( Sweden only) and I have to say that City is Dirty, the Luvre was close for few days. I don't recommend staying in Paris but i heard Disney World is amazing especially for young alla kids. I hope i won't be dissapoited. PLease forgive me utan konto my English ( it's not the first language)

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