The BEST Disney World Trip our Family has ever done!!! (August 6-12 2016)

Lewandowski

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Hey All,
So we are a family of 4 people. 2 adults and 2 teens (12 and 16 years old). Just letting you know that this is the 16 year old posting this, because I was the planner for the whole family. My parents told me to plan everything and make this a great vacation because I really am the one that knows the most about WDW, which I did exactly that.

We have been once before back in 2011, here is the trip report for that time: http://disboards.com/threads/our-familys-first-trip-to-walt-disney-world-july-2011.3517297/

I also posted a pre-trip report for this trip about a month ago: http://disboards.com/threads/second...t-6-12-2016-hope-this-plan-works-out.3529006/

So anyway, we stayed at the All Star Movies Resort for 6 nights, and got a 6 day park ticket. We are not really park-hopper people, and my parents get tired quite easily, so we did no park-hopping.

We did NOT get the dining plan. We kind of thought that it really wasn't saving anything for us, because we usually don't get dessert at restaurants, and we like to get a few snacks per day, and the snacks we like don't count as DDP credits. We also like to tinker around sometimes and I have read that the DDP can sometimes restrict what you can get, especially when it comes to some TS places with a 3 course meal, and we also occasionally share an appetizer. So for all these reasons we just decided to pay out of pocket to each restaurant we eat it, and we don't regret at all not getting it. We did just fine with paying for each meal as we go!

Before I start the report, just letting you know we were there for 6 days, and I plan to have a separate post on here for each day. I apologize but for security reasons, this report will not have any pictures. I know you all like looking at pictures, but I am sorry, because my family doesn't want to post pictures when just anybody can see them for security reasons. I hope you all understand!

So WHO IS EXCITED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED ON THE TRIP??? I hope you all are!
 
CONTENTS

Chapter 1:
The Emptiest Day I have ever seen or heard of at WDW!
Chapter 2: The Relaxing and Easy Day
Chapter 3: The Scariest and Most Thrilling Day
Chapter 4: The Day where Everyone is Tired
Chapter 5: The Most Hot and Sunny Day
Chapter 6: The Mountain Rides Day
Chapter 7: The Day we Leave
Chapter 8: My thoughts on the Trip

It will probably take me 2-3 days to finish this whole trip report, so please be a little patient. I hope all of you follow along, because this will be an exciting trip to hear about!!! Who is Ready???
 
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Chapter 1: THE EMPTIEST DAY I HAVE EVER SEEN OR HEARD OF AT WDW


Check In:
So before we came to WDW, we were staying at a lodge about 35 miles away from the happiest place on earth. We arrived at All Star Movies Resort around 10:45am. Check In went really smooth. As expected our room was not ready, but we gave them a phone number so they could text us whenever it was. We decided to just keep our luggage in the car until we got back from the parks.

As soon as we got checked in, we headed to the bus stop at our hotel. Despite having a car, we thought it was much easier to just use the buses rather than driving to the parks, because parking and getting to the park entrance eats up a lot of time. As soon as we arrived at the bus stop, the bus for Epcot was just pulling over to let people on.

Epcot:
So we just hopped on the bus right away. We arrived to Epcot around 11:15am. We were really hungry and didn't eat breakfast, so as soon as we arrived, we went to the Mexico Pavilion to have lunch at La Catina de San Angel. We had some bad memories of that place from last time we were at WDW as the food wasn't good at all that time, but we decided to give it a second try. And boy I am glad we did. The food still wasn't the best, but it was much better than last time. My parents and I had the chicken taco's, and my sister had the nachos. I must say that the restaurant was not full at all. There was only like 3 people ahead of us in line. We got our food and ate quite fast. It was all good.

After Lunch we had a Fastpass+ for Mission Space between 12.05pm-1.05pm, so we headed there. My dad has back problems, so he and my mother rode the green team, while my sister and I rode the more intense orange team. I must say I am glad I did the orange, as the orange team didn't seem to scary for my sister and I, and we enjoyed it a lot. We met my parents at the exit, and they said they loved the ride. WHAT A THRILLING START TO OUR DISNEY TRIP!!! We all loved this ride, and my parents especially found it very cool to rocket into space. I loved the spinning on the ride as well!

We went to Ellen's Energy Adventure after Mission Space. I wasn't really sure what to expect because some people on the DIS liked it, while others thought of it as a waste of time, however my mom and sister thought it was quite cool. The show was quite funny, and then when we entered the ride, part of it was cool. I especially liked the part where they spat water on us, and when we were going through the dinosaur area of the ride. My dad as well enjoyed it.

So after we did Ellen's Adventure, we had a Fastpass+ for Spaceship Earth and it was time to ride that. My dad and I always wondered what was inside the huge ball since last time we were at Epcot, but we didn't get a chance to do it last time, so it was really exciting to try it this time. This was another ride we all enjoyed as a family, and it was fun seeing the different displays and the future of this world.

By the time we were done with all the three rides, my parents were getting tired, so we stopped at Starbucks for 30 min to have a break and to let my parents drink some coffee. During the break, my sister kept asking me: "What is next? What is next?" I told her we were going to see the world showcase next, and she jumped up in excitement because before the trip she was looking forward to seeing a lot of the countries.

After Starbucks, we made our way to the Mexico Pavilion. We all went inside the pyramid, and first we all rode the Gran Fiesta Tour together. I must say that ride was quite cool, but I think it was a little too heavy on Disney characters and a little less on Mexico. Although it was still a good ride. My favorite part of the ride was going past San Angel Inn, and I got to scare the people that were eating close to the water at SAI!!! When we finished the ride, we explored the shops and all split up. I really enjoyed looking at many shops inside the pyramid, while my mother was looking at the designs at the beginning of the pyramid. The only thing I wish I could do was climb up all these buildings and go on the second floors of the shops. Unfortunately the shops with second floors are not for the public and I couldn't go, but I sure wish I could. I really like exploring these things.

After a while, we found each other, and moved on to Norway. Norway Pavilion was really cool. We took a lot of pictures there, and my sister really liked what they had in some of the shops. As I mentioned in the title, the park seemed really empty compared to usual days in the summer. I was curious, so I stopped at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and asked if they accepted walk ins without ADR's. I was really surprised, because they told me that it is a quiet and empty day today and there is definitely loads of room for just walk ins. I honestly was extremely shocked as Akershus is quite a popular place. We weren't dining there, I just asked out of curiosity. After a good bit of exploring, it was time to ride Frozen Ever After with our Fastpass+. I must say that the wait time for the standby was only 60 min, and I was expecting it to be more like 120 min as it is a really popular ride, but anyway we had Fastpasses for it so it didn't matter to us. I didn't really know what to expect from this ride and if it was better than Maelstrom or not. I remember last time we were here we did Maelstrom and thought it was a great ride. I must say that Frozen Ever After was MY FAVORITE Ride we did so far. Seriously it was an outstanding ride. Great upgrade from Maelstrom, and my sister wanted to that ride again actually, however I told her there are no more Fastpasses available and as good of a ride as it was, my parents and I didn't think it was worth a second ride especially with a long line. However My sister and I LOVED the Frozen Ever After Ride so much. I really do not understand why people complain about it on the DIS. So after the Frozen Ride, we went into the place where you can see the Norwegian culture and some snow displays. Again I must say I was really surprised on how empty Epcot was that day. It was still full with a lot of people, but the crowd seemed more like it was the end of September, and not at all like the summer crowds.

We were pretty much ready to move on to China after that, so we started making our way though. We first went into some of the buildings and explored the Chinese Displays. From the outside it was really cool, but I must say I really wanted to climb some of those buildings, but unfortunately that wasn't open to the public. We then waited for the movie Reflections of China to start. My mother really loved Reflections of China and thought it was a great movie on the country. I thought it was ok but nothing that special. After the movie we spent about an hour looking at the shops. My mother and I got bored after 10 min, but my dad and sister really enjoyed looking at those shops. It was almost impossible to get my sister out of that big shop in China, as she really wanted a souvenir from the China Pavilion. During that time, it started to rain quite hard, but the rain only lasted for 7 min, and then it was clear again. I was the only one in the family to be out in the rain because I was trying to explore more buildings and shops. So after 45 min of looking, my sister bought a souvenir, and we headed out of the shop. My dad was quite curious to see what real Chinese food was like, so he took a look at the menu at Lotus Blossom Cafe for curiosity. By the way I must say my dad and I were both curious on what every restaurant in each pavilion served, so we kind of checked out menu's for a lot of places just to see what the real food from that country is like.

So after that, we all got each other and started making our way to Germany Pavilion, where we had ADR's at Biergarten for 6:45pm. It was around 5:30pm at that time, so we all split up and explored the German Pavilion. I must say that so far Germany was my favorite. I really loved the glass shop there. My sister spent ages looking at the glass, and my mom was very interested in the dessert shop. After I finished exploring, I talked a lot to the different cast members from Germany. It was really fun to socialize and talk with them about Germany and their culture. We also talked about the different cities and places in Germany, because it is a country I have been through in the airport MANY times, but I have never actually visited the country, and always wanted to actually visit Germany. I probably spent like a whole 15 min just chatting and socializing with the German Cast Members.

It was 6:00pm when we finished all of that, and our ADR wasn't until 6:45pm, so we didn't really know what else to do. I went over to Biergarten and asked if we could check in early for our ADR, and they said sure, especially since this is an empty day and not many people have ADR's. So we all went to Biergarten to check in. We waited like two minutes and then it was time to get seated. We actually waited a few more minutes for the other parties to come and join us. We were paired with 2 couples. One couple was Korean-American, and the other was fully American. The German Hostess introduced all the parties together and told us how the Biergarten works as it was our first time dining there, and we were pretty much seated immediately after that. Again as I mentioned in the title of this day, it was quite empty. I saw about 6 empty tables at Biergarten, and honestly most of them stayed empty the whole time I was at the restaurant. As soon as it was time to head to the buffet, I have to say everything looked good, so I really had to try everything. The food was extremely delicious. I must say I really went crazy with the food that night. Literally I ate a RIDICULOUS amount of food. I filled up my plate EIGHT TIMES, and I mean really filling it up until it starts to spill. After my third plate, I pretty much just filled it up with my three favorite dishes over and over again. My favorites were the baked macaroni & cheese german style, the bratwursts with saurkraut, and the roasted potatoes. I kept filling up my plate with those three dishes over and over again. I stuffed myself. Literally the food was just so good. I have never ever been to a buffet with better food quality than Biergarten. I had no room for dessert at all. My parents and sister also stuffed themselves a bit but not nearly as much food as I ate. I also adored the band a lot there, and after I finished, my sister and I went to the floor to dance to the Band Music. Honestly it was a great night for Oktoberfest. The band started for a second time at 7pm, and although we finished our food around that time, we decided to stay until the band was over. I was really tempted to get even more food, but what stopped me was I could hardly walk to the buffet after stuffing myself. We also had a great chat with the other parties during our meal. Honestly I just LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE BIERGARTEN!!! What a way to end our first day at WDW. Biergarten was my favorite word for the rest of the day until we slept.

So after dinner, it was around 7:30pm and we started to exit the park and head back to our hotel. We got a message that our room was ready during dinner. I must say the buses were really convenient because just as we came, the bus pulled in at the same time we arrived to our hotel's bus stop.

Night at the Hotel:
So as soon as we arrived back to All Star Movies Resort, I went to the front desk to find out our room number and to get a hotel map to find where it is. So as soon as we found out our room number, we went into the car and started to drive there so we could park close to our room. We started loading all our luggage into the hotel room, but when we found our room, Oh No a Trap. Our Magic Bands did not work as a room key. Thankfully housekeeping was on that floor anyway, so the one of the staff let us in our room. As soon as we got in our room, I called the reception in order to fix the magic bands. That worked quite well, because they sent a cast member over to our room to collect our magic bands in order to make them work. It took about 10 min, and the cast member was testing out the magic bands to make sure they were working and they all were. As soon as we got our magic bands to work, we were all tired and had to wake up early, so we went to bed.


Well that concludes our first day at Disney World. Honestly what an amazing start to our Disney Vacation. Some great rides, then dinner at the Biergarten!!! I will continue this report tomorrow, so enjoy reading about Day 1 until I get the rest of the days posted!
 
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Chapter 2: THE RELAXING AND EASY DAY


First Things:
So we all woke up around 6:30am, took showers, and had some breakfast in our rooms. We planned to be at the Magic Kingdom Park by rope drop but we were a little late. We arrived at our bus stop around 8:40am but as soon as we were walking out of the cinema hall, the bus was loading people on, so we were able to go straight onto the bus. I must say that this whole vacation, we had INSANE LUCK with buses.

Magic Kingdom:
We arrived at the park around 9:00am just when they open. As soon as we entered the park, we went straight to the Big Thunder Mountain. The wait time was posted 15 min, so we just went on, and it was actually only a 5 min wait. The line was moving the whole time, and we were never stopped until the area where they load the people on the ride. We had a lot of fun on the Big Thunder Mountain, although I must admit that it didn't seem as thrilling as I remembered it from five years ago, but that saying it was actually my very first roller coaster five years ago, and within those five years, I have ridden roller coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure, like Nitro, Kingda Ka, Bizarro, and El Toro, so it is understandable why it wasn't as thrilling to me as I remembered. However I still enjoyed the ride, and I am glad we did this first thing, because the next day they started renovations on the BTMR.

So after that we went into Fantasyland and rode Under the Sea--Journey of the Little Mermaid which was surprisingly a walk on. I wasn't too impressed with that ride, but my sister loved it. I am probably a little old for that ride anyway. So then we went to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The wait time was posted 20 min, and that's about how long we waited. Now Winnie the Pooh was a great ride, I must say I especially love that ride because Winnie the Pooh is my favorite Disney Movie, and the characters from Winnie the Pooh are my favorite Disney characters, so I will probably always enjoy that ride. My parents were pretty much dying after that, and were getting really tired, so we took a break at Starbucks and got some coffee. While my dad was at Starbucks in line, and the rest of us were under an umbrella sitting, it started to POUR RAIN really hard. We all squished under the umbrella, but the rain only lasted 5 min, and it was sunny again. My dad didn't even notice as he was in the Starbucks line the whole time, LOL. When my parents finished their coffee, we headed over to Mickey's Phillarmagic. I must say OMG, much better show than I expected. I loved the 3D glasses and how many characters on objects came close up to our eyes. My parents and sister were also extremely fascinated by that show. It was actually my plan to skip it, but we were way ahead of schedule and had time, so we did Mickey's Phillarmagic, and I am so glad we did. Such an underrated show and not talked about much on these boards, but it is really a must do. That show is just so COOL. By this time, we were starting to get hungry, so we headed over to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe to have lunch. I was honestly shocked how empty that place was. I was at Cosmic Ray's five years ago and it was jammed packed full. So anyway my parents and i got the rotisserie chicken, and my sister got a burger. The food was good and quite a generous amount to last us for the next few hours.

We had a Fastpass+ for Peter Pan's flight at 12:55pm-1:55pm, but it was about 12:30pm when we finished lunch, so we decided to Ride It's a Small World first. The wait for that ride was posted 15 min, and it was pretty accurate. I must say that I love the song It's a Small World, and probably like most of you guys, that song got stuck in all our heads for a while. My mother and I were trying to guess the countries we were going through, especially ones that were not so obvious. We love that ride. When we finished It's a Small World, it was time to Ride Peter Pan's Flight. The wait was posted 80 min, and my mother and sister thanked me so much for choosing Peter Pan as one of our Fastpass Rides. We waited about 3 min in the FP line. Peter Pan was an amazing ride by the way, no wonder it is so popular. It feels like your flying through the rooms, and everything. As soon as we were done it started to rain again. Although the rain was not hard or anything, it was still raining.

I found out that we were extremely ahead of schedule, so we went on to do Dumbo the Flying Elephant, which was also a ride I only intended to do if we had the time. The new Dumbo was a great upgrade from the old one they used to have right in front of the castle. It was quite a fun ride to do to kill time. It was still raining when we finished, so my mother went on to do the Prince Charming Carousel because she really loves Carousels, while the rest of us went to Storybook Treats for my dad to grab some coffee, and my sister and I to have some ice cream. The ice cream was a great way to cool off. After the break, the rain cleared up a bit. It was still sprinkling a little, but we were able to walk through. My dad was still tired and needed a second cup of coffee, while my mother, sister, and I decided to ride the Barnstormer to kill time. The wait was posted 30 min, and while I wouldn't normally wait that long for the Barnstormer, we had to kill time, and since we haven't ridden it before, I thought why not try it. However it was a really short ride, and my sister kind of got a little mad that we waited 30 min for a ride that is only 30 sec long. Anyway I wouldn't normally do that, but we had to kill time and we were waiting for a Fastpass+ window to open. By the way when we were in line for the Barnstormer, the Walt Disney World Railroad pulled in about three times, and the sound was extremely loud, it scared my sister when the horn honked. After the Barnstormer, the rain stopped completely.

We had a Fastpass+ window for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train from 2:25pm-3:25pm but the ride was experiencing technical difficulties, so we couldn't use it. However I asked the cast member what we can do with the Fastpass, and he said that if they re-open today, 7DMT will accept it at anytime. Our next Fastpass+ was between 4:10pm-5:10pm so we had loads of time. The original plan was to go to Adventureland after we did those two rides with FP+ but since we had loads of time, we decided to walk over to Adventureland, and come back for the next FP+. We first rode the Jungle Cruise which was about a 20 min wait. I was actually getting tired myself, and wasn't paying much attention to what the guide was saying, but I did enjoy looking at the scenery of the lake. My mother really liked our guide and thought she made really funny jokes. After that we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride my mother was looking forward to the whole day). I must say I was shocked again, Pirates of the Caribbean was a WALK ON (no wait at all). I was thinking to myself "Are you actually kidding me???" So anyway we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean, and I must say that was our favorite attraction we did so far today. I liked the drop at the beginning, and some of the pirates were a little scary. My mother also said it was better than she thought. Our whole family was kind of getting tired, so we decided to relax and see the Enchanted Tiki Room. The Enchanted Tiki Room was a really cool show, and I fell in love with the music. In fact I am listening to the Tiki Room Song now on YouTube, as I am writing this report. After that show, the Tiki Room song was stuck in my head and we were done with It's a Small World song, LOL. So we had like 5 min before our Fastpass+ at 4:10pm, so we decided to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. I wasn't sure if that was worth riding, but I am glad we rode it. The Magic Carpets of Aladdin was faster than Dumbo, and I loved feeling like we were on a flying carpet.

So after Aladdin, we went back to Fantasyland to do our 4:10pm Fastpass for the Enchanted Tales with Belle, and to see if the 7DMT is back running yet. When we were going to the Enchanted Tales with Belle, I saw the wait time posted 10 min, and AGAIN another shocking moment. Enchanted Tales with Belle used to be the most popular ride in the whole park a few years ago, and it was only a 10 min wait. I was thinking to myself "We are having INSANE luck this trip, I wonder when all this is going to end and become more reality." Anyway it didn't really affect us because we had a Fastpass for it. Now here is the funny thing: my 12 year old sister thought it was lame, but I really loved it while I'm a 16 year old boy, and wish I asked to be part of the scene. I wanted a picture with Belle. I honestly really wanted that picture with Belle, but I was like "Oh Well" and just sucked it up. So after that, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was back up and running, so we used our Fastpasses to ride that. 7DMT was another of those great rides we did today, and I liked how they put theming and a roller coaster together in one ride. Really interesting. So after 7DMT it was around 5:00pm and we were done with the day, TWO HOURS EARLIER than expected. Again INSANE LUCK with waiting times. So we started heading back to our hotel. The bus just started to leave as we got to our hotel's section of the bus stop, but thankfully I was able to run and ask the bus driver to stop for us so we could get in, and the driver did just that. We arrived at our hotel around 5:35pm.

Evening:
So as soon as we arrived back at All Star Movies Resort, we went straight to the World Premier Food Court to have dinner. I liked the variety they had at that food court, something for everyone. After dinner, we headed back to our room, and talked a little bit about how the trip was going so far. My parents and sister really gave me a huge THANKS for planning all of this and taking charge of this trip. They honestly couldn't believe all the work I have done to reserve ADR's, FP+, and make plans for every single day. So that night was basically our night to sleep early and get a great night sleep before the next day, because we had a tough day the next day, which you will hear about in a few hours.


So there we have it. That was Day 2 for us. I will complete Day 3 in a few hours!
 


Chapter 3: THE SCARIEST AND MOST THRILLING DAY


First Things:

Same as the day before, we all woke up around 6:30am, had a light breakfast in our room, took showers, and were at our bus stop around 8:35am. We waited about a minute for the bus, and it was there. Again as I have said especially with buses, we have had INSANE LUCK all trip.

Hollywood Studios:

We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 9:00am. As soon as we finished security and everything, our plan was to Ride RnR first. My dad has back problems and couldn't ride, so we dropped him off at Starbucks to drink coffee so he could get an early start to the day, and then the rest of us headed to Rock N Roller Coaster. The wait was already posted 30 min long which was pretty accurate. My mother was quite scared to ride RnR but she kept her eyes closed and she was fine. Oh my though I LOVED the Rock N Roller Coaster. It was fast, went upside down, and it was very thrilling. My mother went to join my dad at Starbucks after the ride, while my sister and I rode it a second time. To save time we decided to split up and use the single rider line. We waited about 15 min the second time. I rode first, and my sister came on the ride after me. Again it was so fun, and my sister and I were really glad we got to ride it twice.

So after RnR we went to meet my parents at Starbucks and they were just about finishing up their coffee. We then went to Ride the Great Movie Ride. It was about a 20 min wait. Now I must say my mother really liked that ride, and I thought it was extremely cool as well. There are some scary parts to it, especially the gun shots area. I also enjoyed the wizard of oz part as well. My dad also loved seeing the movie scenes come to life, as he is very interested in those kinds of stuff. It was around 11:30am when we were done, and we planned to see the 12:00pm Indiana Jones Show, so we made our way to the theater, and after about 10 min, it opened up for us to find seats. Before the show started, it started to rain but thankfully the show still performed as there was no thunderstorms at all. We all loved that show, and some parts were just amazing, like the sharp objects popping out of the floor and the enormous rock chasing a person. My sister and I thought that Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular reminded us of the computer games we sometimes play, and it does to be honest. I loved hearing all the stunts and then closer to the end, it was fun watching the people fighting. I must say though that I was quite surprised that none of the people were hurt, because they dived to the ground many times. I suppose they are just well trained and professionals at being careful not to get hurt.

After Indiana Jones, it started to rain harder, so we decided to have lunch at the ABC Commissary. I have to say that it was a huge mad house. There were long lines, and we waited about 15 min to order and then another 10 min to get our food. Anyway this was understandable because it was a peak time for lunch and it was also raining. My sister and I had the burgers, while my mother got chicken nuggets, and father got salad. It was a good place and filled us up. After lunch the rain stopped and we rode Star Tours. The wait time was posted 30 min but we only waited about 20 min. Star Tours was also a really cool ride. My DAD LOVED STAR TOURS. It was his favorite ride we have done so far in the trip. All of us actually loved that ride, but especially my dad. I really liked the Star Wars theming in the ride a lot as well. After Star Tours, we had a Fastpass+ for the 2:30pm Frozen Sing Along Show. I got a little board in the beginning of that show, but it was amazing when Elsa came out in the end and sang Let it Go, and especially when she froze us all and the snow came on all of us. My sister really loved that show a lot actually.

When the Frozen Show ended, we had a Fastpass+ for Toy Story Mania around 3:25pm but it was only 3:00pm, so we decided to Re-Ride Star Tours again because we liked it and especially for my dad. We waited around 25 min for it, and I am glad we rode it a second time. Star Tours is really a fascinating ride, and I really like how it puts the Star Wars theming, and the thrill together. It makes the ride extra fun. By that time it was time to Ride Toy Story Mania, so we used our Fastpasses and rode it. I did like TSM but honestly I was embarrassed on that ride. My sister beat me by like 20,000 points, and my parents were even a lot higher. My dad won, mom second, sister third, and I last. I was completely humiliated on that ride. My mother even said before the ride that she isn't that good at shooting, and then I'm like: "Well you beat me and my sister." However it was a great ride, and I definitely tried my best. This is what I told my family after we finished TSM: "Watch out, I will get revenge on you when we do Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in a few days." My family laughed, but they also didn't know how the Buzz Lightyear Ride worked at that moment.

After TSM, we all went to Starbucks again for my parents to have some coffee. We were on our way to Beauty & The Beast--Live on Stage Show. We planned to see the 5:00pm Show, and were there by 4:45pm. The line was way out of the door, and extremely long, however as soon as the theater opened up, we all walked in and there were still plenty of seats left. Now I must say Beauty & The Beast Show was a lot better than I expected. I didn't expect it to be that good, but they really did a great job. It was a great show. When Beauty & The Beast was done, it was around 5:35pm, and we had a Fastpass+ for ToT around 5:55pm. So within that time I went to Hollywood Scoops to grab some ice cream. I also went to check Tower of Terror standby line because I was thinking maybe we could ride it standby and then use FP+ for a second time, but Nope, the wait was 95 min. So we just hung around and relaxed until it was time to ride ToT. We Rode Tower of Terror when it was time, and my sister actually got a little scared, despite having already done it five years ago. I really loved the dropping because the stomach feeling is just great. Also we were all screaming which made it more fun. After ToT, we went to have dinner at Rosie's All American Cafe and Catalina Eddie's. My sister got pizza from Catalina Eddie's, while my parents got a salad from Rosie's All American Cafe, and I got a cheeseburger. It was a little peaceful in that area, and not too many people were at that area of the park. After dinner it was 6:45pm, and we planned to see Fantasmic at 9:00pm. So My sister and I planned to ride Tower of Terror a second time, and my parents just waited outside. The standby line was posted 85 min, but I thought since we have a lot of time, and I don't know what else to do with it, let's just wait 85 min patiently and Ride Tower of Terror again, so that's what we did. We talked to some people in the line that were also waiting which made the time go faster. My sister and I rode it again, and again we all screamed when it was going up and down. Honestly on ToT, screaming makes the ride more fun.

When we finished ToT, we met my parents outside the exit of the ride, and they seemed to have made new friends with a group of people from Massachusetts. I said a quick hello to them, and then we moved on. It was around 8:10pm, so we decided to stop at the bathrooms, and then make our way to the Hollywood Hills Theater for Fantasmic. It seemed like we waited forever in the theater for the show to start, but they did have some games about determining how many people would be entering the theater next. I also helped a family sitting right behind me get fastpasses for later days on their iPhone. So Fantasmic started at 9:00pm, and I must say those waterworks and fireworks were INSANE. It was for sure worth being in the theater almost an hour early. My parents normally didn't want to stay up that late, but we convinced them, and they were glad they did, because they were fascinated by Fantasmic, especially my dad. Fantasmic was probably the best part of the whole day to be honest, but all the attractions we did that day were pretty good. Most of them were scary in one way or another. Fantasmic was by far the ultimate of the day though. Those waterworks were just INSANE and extremely fun to watch. After Fantasmic we left the park and started to heard home, and again as always the bus arrived the same time we did.

Evening:
We arrived at All Star Movies Resort around 10:00pm, and went straight to bed, because we had to get up early the next day.


So there is Day 3 for you. I will have Day 4 and 5, and hopefully 6 done by tomorrow evening.
 
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Loving your report! Great detail on everything and it's awesome how many walk-ons and short waits you had. I'm looking forward to reading more!!
 
Chapter 4: THE DAY WHERE EVERYONE IS TIRED


First Things:

So we woke up a little late today at 7:00am. When we left our room, it was already raining hard, and I got quite worried because we were going to the worst park for rain and thunderstorms. We really couldn't change plans because of FP+ and ADR's. So of course we just went ahead and decided to see how the weather goes. We were a little late for the bus, and arrived to the bus stop around 8:50am.

Animal Kingdom:

We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 9:10am. Now my dad seemed just extremely tired, and he really couldn't move. We tried to convince him but he couldn't, so we dropped him off at Starbucks on Discovery Island, and we decided to go to Kilimanjaro Safaris without him. The wait for that ride was posted 5 min, but it was ANOTHER WALK IN, YES A WALK ON for KILIMANJARO SAFARIS, unbelievable if you ask me. I know it was just after rope drop, but still a walk on around 9:30am for the SAFARI in the summer is honestly beyond belief. As soon as we entered the line, the rain stopped which was great news. I must say we really saw a number of animals during our safari ride. The guide was really explaining the animals quite well, and I think since it just rained, and there was no sun, and early in the morning, we saw quite a bit of animals. The giraffe's were my favorite animal. One of the giraffe's almost came up so close to the train, but we moved like 3 secs early so it didn't. My mom and sister really loved the elephants. This ride was quite fun, and I am glad we did it first thing in the morning, because last time we were here 5 years ago, we did it around 3:00pm in the afternoon and didn't see nearly as much animals. As soon as we finished the ride, I looked at the standby wait time out of curiosity and it was already 60 min, and was thinking to myself "WOW, that line filled up extremely fast."

So after the Safari, we went to Starbucks to collect my dad, and we strolled through the Gorilla Forest Exploration Trails. My sister honestly loved the Gorilla's and had so much fun looking at some of the animals. Unfortunately we had to speed up a little because we wanted to catch the 11:00am Lion King Show. My sister was kind of disappointed about not being able to look longer, but we all had a great look at the animals. So around 10:50am we started heading the the theater for Festival of the Lion King. Honestly I was quite surprised again to see one whole section of seats was almost empty, so we found good seats to see the show. Again more INSANE LUCK this trip. I must say I LOVED LOVED LOVED Festival of the Lion King. The music and show was just amazing and out of this world. I actually underestimated that show a bit before as I have never seen it before and am normally not a fan of shows, but I cannot go to AK again without FOTLK. The rest of my family also couldn't get an eye of the stage, while the show was happening. Its that good of a show. Those four huge animals they put at each corner is so cool, and the music is amazing.

When we finished FOTLK the weather was starting to get extremely hot and humid, and we were all getting tired, so we went to have lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue. My mother and sister shared the full rack of ribs, while I got the half chicken, and my dad got a salad. They serve good food and quantity is quite large. I must say that some animals were trying to attack our food a lot, and we really couldn't get up to get something until we finished. It was really frustrating. My sister found the animals picking at her french fries after getting straws. After lunch, we went to Dinoland, and while we were all aware ahead of time that DINOSAUR was closed for refurbishment, we were all bummed because from last time DINOSAUR was such a great ride. Anyway we rode Primeval Whirl with a 20 min wait. I think Primeval Whirl is underrated a bit and I have read that some people say its not even worth it. I honestly disagree, it's a great ride, and is quite a bit scarier than it looks, especially the jerky part of the ride. Its not the best ride in the park at all, but it is something worth trying though. My dad and sister started to get more tired, so we left them at one of the air-conditioned shops in Dinoland, while my mom and I rode Primeval Whirl again with another 20 min wait. I have to say PW is a great ride and is good to do if you are waiting for something like an FP+ or show, because the wait times are never too long.

The weather started to get even more humid and hot, but we had Fastpasses for the 2:00pm Finding Nemo Show, so we started to get in line for that since it was 1:30pm. We were all tired and started to find it a little miserable to wait in the line, and thankfully they opened the doors of the theater like 10 min later. My mother fell asleep while we were waiting for the show to start, but the loud noises woke her up. I must say Finding Nemo--The Musical was ok, but not as good as I thought it would be after reading about it on these forums. Definitely not worth getting in line for 30 min early without an FP+. My sister really loved it, especially the bubbles that came after the show, but to be honest the best part of it for me was just relaxing in the AC during a hot and humid day. I must say again that I am also not a huge fan of shows at all, but for a fact so far I did enjoy all of them at DHS and especially FOTLK that we saw earlier that day. However I am glad we tried it at least, because my sister did really like it, and it was a good time to be indoors during the heat.

After the show, we decided to go back to Starbucks for my parents to get some more coffee, because for some reason, they were just extremely tired. My sister was also quite tired and got some coffee for herself. I went to the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck to get some ice cream which was quite a LOONNNGGG walk, but worth it. Anandapur Ice Cream Truck is my favorite ice cream I have had at WDW, but just to be clear I have only gotten ice cream at the theme parks, and never went to B&C or Ghirardelli's although I am sure they are both better. While I was coming back to Starbucks from Anandapur Ice Cream Truck, it started to rain again. We had Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids at 3:25pm-4:25pm, and I was saying to myself "Oh Shoot, I was looking forward to riding KRR in this extreme heat." My parents didn't plan on riding Kali River Rapids because they don't like getting wet, so the plan was that my sister and I would go ride, and then ride a second time using my parents' fastpasses. When my sister and I went to KRR, despite having fastpasses, we still waited about 10 min. I mean its not really surprising because that ride is extremely popular in the summer. When we got loaded on, it was raining hard, so we were all getting wet regardless. I was a little disappointed in Kali River Rapids though. It is a good ride, and I do love the splashes and sudden moves it does, but it is a little too short of a ride though. I was expecting the ride to be quite a bit longer. When we went back to Starbucks to collect my parents' fastpasses, my sister was tired and decided she didn't want to ride again, so I planned on just going myself, however it was 4:15pm and we planned to see the 4:30pm Flights of Wonder Show, and I was thinking, no way we will make it if I ride KRR again, so I just sucked it up and only rode that time. Anyway KRR wasn't as good as I expected while it was raining as well, so it wasn't that big of a blow at all. So we all started to make our way to Flights of Wonder. We were in the theater by 4:25pm and at that time it just stopped raining. I must say the Flights of Wonder Show was CUTE and quite INTERESTING. I loved the birds and how they all trained the bird. I also must say I really really liked the people who tell the birds what to do and everything. One thing that was so cool was the bird took a $20 bill from someone that volunteered and then he gave it back a minute later. Just sensational. After the show was done, the cast members that were training the birds told all of us that we could come up and asked questions. I went up and asked how they were able to train the birds to do all of that? It was quite interesting. I had quite a discussion with the lady that was playing with the birds while instructing them during the show. At the end I gave her a hug, and we took a picture together with the birds. She and the birds just made my day!!!!

When we finished with Flights of Wonder, we strolled through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The tigers were interesting, and it was honestly a little disappointing. We liked the Gorilla Trails in Africa better and thought the African one was more interesting. However my mother did like the Maharajah Jungle Trek. My sister and I sort of liked it, but we didn't see much animals. I think a lot of it was to do with the time of day as it was around 5:15pm when we were there. Also my sister especially was starting to get really tired, which was another reason she didn't seem to enjoy it as much. After we were done with the trek, we went back to Discovery Island to See It's Tough to Be a Bug. Before the show, it felt just great being inside the Tree of Life. The whole family was wondering what is inside and how fun it would be to go in the Tree of Life, so it was fascinating. My sister didn't really want to see It's Tough to Be a Bug, but she had no choice so we made her, although she felt better when we were inside the Tree of Life. I must say that It's Tough to Be a Bug Show was AWESOME and quite scary actually. The sprays and water really freaked out my dad and sister quite a bit. I think during the time of the spraying and while we couldn't see anything, my sister was just extremely scared and held on to me and my mother. And if that's not enough, before we left, they announced we have to let the bugs leave first, which all of us thought they meant the CM's or something, but suddenly the benches felt awkward and the bugs crawling on the bench scared my sister again. We were all like OH MY GOODNESS. Now that was a show on the next level. I am extremely glad we didn't miss that show, as it was just BRILLIANT!!! I never thought a show could be that scary, and nor did any of us.

After It's Tough to Be a Bug, we had Fastpasses for Expedition Everest at 5:35pm-6:35pm so we started making our way towards Asia for that. My dad couldn't ride due to back problems, and my mom got really scared when she rode it five years ago, so my parents decided to wait for us outside the exit, and that would give a chance for my sister and I to go a second time using their fastpasses. My sister was looking forward to EE the whole day as she was not tall enough to ride when we were here five years ago. I must say Expedition Everest really made our day. We didn't feel like we were having that good of a day since lunch time, with all of us tired, and the weather. But It's Tough to Be a Bug all lightened us up, and got my sister and I ready for EE. We rode Expedition Everest, and it was just AWESOME and BRILLIANT. I rode it before but kind of underestimated how good of a ride it was especially after BTMR disappointed me, but to be honest EE is like 100 times more thrilling and intense than BTMR. I wasn't scared at all but was kind of screaming parts of it. As soon as we hit the part where the track was broken, my sister got scared, and I was screaming: "Hey Katy, what do we do??? The track is broken." I didn't want to spoil it for her so I didn't say anything about what was next. We suddenly just went backwards quite jerky and my sister actually got scared. Then when she saw the Yeti breaking our tracks, I was screaming: "HELP HELP, he is breaking our tracks, what do we do??" It makes the ride more fun really when you do all of that. Then we had the drop and the rest of the ride was amazing. So when we were done, we collected our parents FP+ to ride a second time. Again my sister and I just loved the ride, and I screamed those words again. When we were done the second time, it was around 6:15pm with a 45 min wait and our ADR wasn't until 7:00pm, so my sister and I decided to get in line and ride a third time. We actually only waited like 20 min, and again it was just FUN FUN FUN. Expedition Everest seemed to be THE BEST RIDE we did of the whole trip so far. I must say I LOVE LOVE LOVE EVEREST. Its by far THE BEST attraction at AK, and you need to ride it at least twice, preferably more if you can. My sister and I rode Everest a total of three times!!!

It was around 6:50pm when we finished EE the third time and we had an ADR at Yak & Yeti at 7:00pm so we decided to start making our way there, but on our way, we stopped to by my sister a souvenir which was a stuffed elephant. We checked in to Y&Y about 2 min early, and waited about 15 min to get seated. My mother and I really loved the type of building Yak & Yeti is in, and it looks quite cool from the inside. I must say that so many dishes at Yak & Yeti look yummy, and it was hard for me to choose what to get. I was debating between either the Baby Back BBQ Ribs, or the Bhaktapur Duck. My dad and sister both got the Chicken Tikka Masala, while my mother got the Sweet and Sour Chicken. I asked the waiter if they recommended if I get the ribs or duck. He said that they are both really good but the duck was fancier and the ribs you can get at many more places, so I went for the Bhaktapur Duck. We all really enjoyed our food and thought it was extremely yummy. My sister said it was her favorite place we ate at so far during the trip. My dad also really enjoyed his food, as he LOVES Indian food. I must say I am glad I chose to get the duck, because it was really good, especially with the jasmine rice. While we were having dinner, I was debating whether we should stay for the Jungle Book Night Show or not. I honestly was bummed to hear that Rivers of Light was postponed, as that looked really cool. Since we were all tired and we stayed late for Fantasmic the day before, I just thought it really wasn't worth it. No doubt the Jungle Book Show is a good show, but according to what people say here, it's not a must do or anything like that. My parents were all really tired, and I told them: "You'll thank Disney for having to postponed Rivers of Light." So we all just went back to the hotel after dinner in order to sleep a little earlier and to sleep well before tomorrow. When we arrived back at our hotel, we just went straight to bed. I was so tired I couldn't even get on my computer. Although the middle of the day was extremely tiring, I must say we had a great day, especially from Flights of Wonder and on.


So that's Day 4. I plan to finish Day 5 and 6 within the next couple days.
 


He All, Sorry for the LOOONNGG Delay, I was traveling to another country recently, and did not have time. I'll get the rest posted in the next few days if all goes well.
 
I'm enjoying your report! You are all having so much fun! Look forward to hearing what's next.
 
Chapter 5: THE MOST HOT AND SUNNY DAY


First Things:

We woke up quite late today around 7:15am. Because of what happened yesterday, I took a quick shower first, and then went down to the World Premiere Food Court to get my parents coffee so they wouldn't be so tired in the beginning of the day. That seemed to have worked well, as they weren't as tired as yesterday. We stepped out of our room at 8:45am and it was HOT and SUNNY. It was expected to be a beautiful day with no rain. We were running quite late so we arrived at our bus stop by 8:55am but thankfully the bus was just pulling in when we arrived at the bus stop.

Epcot:
We arrived at Epcot around 9:10am. We went streight to Test Track, and it seemed that the ride was opening a little late. There was no wait time posted, but the line was all the way out the door shifting to the right of one of the standings. My dad and sister didn't want to wait that long, so they decided to skip it although I did tell my sister I planned to ride it a second time with her after the first time, so what we did was my mother and I decided to wait in line to ride it, while my dad and sister went to Starbucks to get a second cup of coffee. Test Track actually opened the ride at 9:20am, and pretty much after that the line started to move. We waited about 60 min for the ride. To tell you the truth Test Track was a fun ride, especially the time when it went really fast, but my mother and I were quite disappointed that it wasn't better especially considering how long we waited. So after the ride we met my dad and sister outside the exit, and I was about to go again with my sister. But it was 10:30am at that time, and the line was posted 80 min when we had an Fastpass+ for Soarin 10:50am-11:50am, and I was worried we would miss the FP+, and plus as I just said it was a little disappointing and not really worth waiting 80 min for at all, so we decided to finish there with TT. My sister was a little disappointed but after my mom and I told her that it wasn't that good of a ride, she didn't care that much.

So before it was time for Soarin, we went to the Imagination Pavilion and Rode Journey into Imagination with Figment. Figment Ride was a walk on and was a little boring in some parts, but other parts we thought were cute. After the ride, we stopped to take a look at Image Works (the place that Figment loads out before going outside). Image Works was quite cool actually. My dad and sister really enjoyed the part where you can jump and the movie records you in some cool way (don't remember exactly what happened, but it looked cool). So after that we headed to the Land Pavilion because it was time for our Fastpass+ for Soarin. The standby wait was 60 min, but we waited around 5 min with a Fastpass. Now I must say Soarin Around the World was just AMAZING and FASCINATING. We all LOVED that ride. I especially liked the part where we could smell the grass, and we were soaring over the egyptian pyramids as well as the icelandic mountains. I think Soarin was by far our favorite family ride on this whole trip. It seemed so real, and the feeling of flying was amazing. So after Soarin, we planned to have lunch and then do Living with the Land. Now let me say, we probably did the stupidest/most bravest thing EVER!!! I was thinking we should just eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons because it was convenient, but we all really wanted to go to Tangierine Cafe. And I will tell you, we did it, in that HOT and SUNNY day, we walked all the way to Morocco Pavilion just to have lunch at Tangierine Cafe. My sister didn't think it was worth it at first, but I am glad we did it. Moroccan food is not something you can get just anywhere, and Tangierine Cafe is SOO GOOD we remembered from 5 years ago, so we ate there. My sister and I got the chicken shwarma platter, and my parents got the kofta sandwiches. I must say that Tangierine Cafe is really the best counter service place in all of WDW.

After we finished lunch, yes we went all the way back to the Land Pavilion because we had Fastpass+ for Living with the Land. I must say you really need to LOVE Moroccan food to be able to walk all the way from Future World to Morocco and Back again just for lunch in the EXTREME HEAT and HUMIDITY. So Living with the Land standby was posted 20 min, but we waited like 2 min with FP+. Now Living with the Land was really good for my dad and sister, but my mom and I didn't enjoy it as much. I really LOVED the indoor part, but the outdoor part with the hydroponics wasn't very interesting. However my sister really loves science, so she thought it was really fascinating. After Living with the Land, we went to the Seas Pavilion and Rode the Seas with Nemo & Friends. That Ride was also a walk on, but honestly wasn't that interesting to any of us. We had a FP+ for Turtle Talk with Crush at 2:00pm but it was 1:30pm when we finished the Seas with Nemo & Friends, so I went to a Fastpass Kiosk to try and make it earlier. I got a time for 1:45pm to see Turtle Talk with Crush, so I changed it for earlier. When we were waiting, we all took a look around the Aquarium which my sister really loved, but the rest of us just enjoyed being in the air-conditioned room. At 1:45pm we went and Saw Turtle Talk with Crush. My sister sort of thought Crush was cool, but the rest of us thought it was kind of lame. I honestly wasn't that interested but I am glad we all gave it a try. At least it was fun watching the little kids talk to Crush. After the show, I went back to the Fastpass Kiosk to see if I could get an additional FP+ to Ride Soarin again, but as I expected they were all gone, so we thought maybe we will check the standby line at 8:00pm.

So it was 2:15pm and we started to tour the rest of the World Showcase from Canada to Italy. The Canada Pavilion was quite cool, especially the waterfall. We took a few pictures there as well. I must say that Canada along with many other pavilions had so many cool buildings from the outside but I wish I could go INSIDE all of them, but most of them are just to look at from the outside. We saw O Canada which was a good movie, and it was good to get back in the air-conditioning again, because it was extremely hot and humid.

We pretty much moved onto the United Kingdom after the movie. Now the UK had a band playing at the time, so my parents went to the back of the pavilion to watch the English performers play music, while my sister and I explored the pavilion. I have been to England around five times in my life, so it was quite fun talking to the cast members from the United Kingdom about many places in England. I had a huge discussion with one of the cast members from Sunderland, England about the Premier League and English Football (Soccer). We were discussing our favorite clubs in the BPL and our predictions which was quite fun. I also went to Rose & Crown Pub and asked if they offered discounts to people who have visited the UK over five times. Of course the answer was no, but I was just asking for fun and curiosity anyway. So after that my sister and I went to join my parents to watch the rest of the English Band. The music was a little fun to hear.

At around 3:25pm my parents told me they were ready to move to France, so we did that. The first thing we did was found a seat at Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie to have some snacks and coffee. My sister and I went to the kiosk called Crepes de Chefs de France to get some ice cream, while my parents tried the french pastries. My parents said that those pastries were really good. They stayed a little longer at the Patisserie to drink some coffee, while I went on to explore the pavilion. The France Pavilion honestly has some really cool displays, especially the Eiffel Tower. Again I have to say that its a shame you can't go inside these things because it would just be so much better if we could actually go inside the Eiffel Tower. I used to take french when I was in middle school, so I practiced my french a little bit with some of the cast members at the shops. After I interacted with them a bit, I realized I forgot quite a bit of french, but it came back to my mind. I was able to refresh my memory and learn some new words in french. Out of curiosity I stopped at Les Chefs de France just to look at the menu, and also find out if they accepted walk ins at that time. I was there between lunch and dinner time, so they weren't accepting anyone until 4:00pm I think it was, but they said walk ins are possible that day. We weren't planning to eat there or anything, I was just asking out of curiosity. So after that I met up with my parents and sister again, and we went to see the Impressions de France show. Impressions de France was the best show I have seen at the World Showcase so far. Better than Canada and China for sure and it was really interesting.

So after the show, we moved onto Morocco. So as I think I mentioned before, we used to live in Egypt, and I speak a little arabic, so it was fun interacting with all the Moroccan cast members in arabic. The displays in Morocco Pavilion are just gorgeous, especially the arches, and the indoor building. Morocco is a really unique pavilion, and is different from the others by quite a bit. As I said before, we ate lunch here at Tangierine Cafe earlier which had very good food. I also checked out the menu for Marrakesh, and some of the foods there seemed like dishes that would be great to try some day. My mother was exploring this pavilion like crazy and took tons of pictures of the arches and displays. My dad was watching one of the music bands playing at the time, and was recording it. The funny thing is my dad could understand a lot of it because he also speaks good arabic.

It was about 4:55pm at the time, and my sister said she was ready to move to Japan especially because Japan was the pavilion my sister was waiting to see the whole time we were at Epcot, as she thought it would be her favorite. Now I will say the same thing about Japan. There were a number of great buildings on display, and I was just so wishing to actually go inside them. Especially the Pagoda, I just wanted to actually climb all the way to the top. However there were a number of places in the Japan Pavilion to go and explore, in fact I think Japan had the most places to explore of the whole world showcase. I had some fun looking at the shops, and I also went to Teppan Edo and Tokyo Dining just to see how they looked like. I also checked out the menu for those two places for curiosity. My sister did spend a good 25 min looking at the shops, but she was quite disappointed with the Japanese Pavilion. I think she expected more displays and again she also really wished she could climb the Pagoda Tree. At this time the weather was getting better, and there was a good breeze blowing so it wasn't as humid, and it was cooler. We were ready for a small break, so we sat down for awhile and watched the japanese band perform right in front of the Pagoda Tree.

So after our break, we moved onto The USA Pavilion. The United States was extremely interesting in terms of history and there was a lot of quotes from presidents displayed. We planned to see the American Adventure Show which the next one started at 6pm, so we decided we would hang around and explore, see the American Adventure at 6pm and then go to Italy because we had an ADR at 7pm for Tutto Italia. Anyway it was quite fun exploring all the historical quotes from our previous presidents. My mom was really fascinated with the displays. The USA is just different from any other pavilion because there are no shops but are so big on the history of the country which is something my mom really loved. At 6:00pm we saw The American Adventure Show. I must say that it was a great show, but my mom was the only one that got everything from it. There were many parts of the show my sister and I didn't actually understand completely but we still enjoyed the show.

When we finished the show, it was 6:35pm so we thought we should move on to Italy, so we have time to explore the pavilion before our ADR at 7:00pm. Now ITALIA is my favorite pavilion in the World Showcase. I think part of it is because I just love Italy the country, but I really like just talking to italians, they are just so cool with their culture and everything. So first thing I did when we went to Italy, was explore the shops. Then I talked to MANY of the italian cast members. It was really fun to interact with them as well because I really love soccer and its a huge sport in italy. Not to mention I follow the Champions League and Serie A a lot and my favorite team is Juventus (an italian team). I had tons of fun talking to the italians about the Serie A and also the Italy National Team which is who I always support in the World Cups and European Cups. We were talking about which players should be promoted to the senior team, and also a lot of the italians there were Napoli fans, and as a Juventus fan, Juve and Napoli are rivals in Italy especially recently when both are the top teams competing for the title. I must say I had a little fun mocking them because a week before our WDW trip, Higuain (arguably Napoli's best player) betrayed the team and moved to Juventus, so it was fun mocking them a bit. They were all funny though and great to speak to!!! After that I took a lot of pictures in various places throughout the italian pavilion. I took a lot on the fountain. It is actually against the rules to go inside or climb the fountain but I did that without knowing it wasn't allowed to get pictures taken. The fountain was very special to look at actually. I also took some pictures in front of the entrance of Tutto Italia and many other places in the pavilion. Then we saw an italian performer show his talent with the soccer ball and we watched that until dinner. So at 7:00pm we made our Dinner ADR at Tutto Italia. Now our waiter at Tutto Italia was named Andrea and he was amazing to talk to. I must say he was a Roma fan in soccer, and I kind of mocked him as well because Roma is quite a rival of Juventus, and I teezed him a bit with Andrea Pirlo who now plays for NYCFC but he used to be a star at Juventus, and since his name was Andrea it was quite funny. He said he didn't like him obviously because Pirlo was at Juventus and he was a roma fan. My mother said "Uh Oh son, now he is gonna burn our food." It was just fun to talk to him. So now back to Dinner: My dad got one of the chicken dishes and my mom got the Ravioli. I must say my sister and I were both stuck between the Lasagna and the Ravioli, so what we decided to do was My sister and I got both Lasagna and Ravioli and than we would split both in half so we could try two things. The bread and breadsticks at Tutto Italia were so fresh and hot, it was incredible. After about 15 min our dinner arrived. Honestly my mom, sister, and I FELL IN LOVE with the food quality there. It was honestly the BEST ITALIAN FOOD WE HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! My mom wished she could order a second dish but it was a little pricey for that. However we all enjoyed our food, and after the meal my sister and I were really glad we decided to get both Lasagna and Ravioli and split it so we could try both. I must say the portions there are not Huge but they are a good size and EXTREMELY HEAVY AND FILLING. At the end of our meal when we were waiting for the check, our waiter stopped over and taught us some italian phrases. They were quite fun to learn. The one I remember well is "Boun Apetito" meaning Bon Apetit in french meaning have a good meal. I also have to mention that the atmosphere at Tutto Italia is really gorgeous with all the italian paintings. The food was just SOO GOOD, my mother and sister cried when we left the restaurant.

So after dinner, my parents were getting tired so they went back to the hotel, but my sister and I planned to Ride Soarin a second time, and stay for Illuminations. So we started making our way back to Future World. We arrived at Soarin around 8:10pm and the standby line was posted 30 min, so we decided to wait and ride a second time. Quite surprisingly we only waited 15 min. I will say again, Soarin is really our Family Ride in WDW. I was disappointed that my parents were too tired to ride a second time, but my sister and I enjoyed it for the second time. Soarin Around the World is just something else. It really is a great ride. When we were done with Soarin, it was around 8:50pm so my sister and I were looking for a place around the World Showcase Lagoon from the Future World side to watch Illuminations. I was considering going all the way back to Italy Pavilion because I expected it to be less crowded and a better view, but at the same time I was thinking ABSOLUTELY NOT because I didn't want to be trapped in crowds after the fireworks and Italy is at the completely opposite side of the park, so we decided to just stay in front of the border line between Future World and the World Showcase Lagoon. So we saw Illuminations: Reflections of the Earth at 9:00pm. It was quite fun, and the fireworks sound were quite loud and a little scary at times. After the fireworks we paced back to the entrance because there were crowds behind us that we didn't want to be trapped in, especially without our parents.

As soon as we exited the Epcot, we RAN to the All Star Movies Bus Stop. We waited about 10 min for the bus to come. While we were waiting one of the cast members was telling us that the driver that will take us to All Star Movies is his friend, and his name is Colin and he is from London. It was quite funny. So anyway we got on the bus and arrived back at All Star Movies Hotel around 9:45pm. When we arrived, we went streight to bed in order to get up early for our last day.


So thats Day 5. I again apologize for the long wait, but it has been a busy week for me, and I had to catch up on tons of stuff which delayed this. I hope you are all still reading this. I will have Day 6 posted within the next few days!
 
I'm loving this so far! It sounds like you all had a great time and it seems like you did a really, really good job planning something for everyone!

(I also highly identify with your parents' need for coffee.)
 
Chapter 6: THE MOUNTAIN RIDES DAY


First Things:

It was our last day at Disney World. We woke up around 6:45am. Yesterday worked very well, so I did the same thing. I took a shower first and then went by myself to the World Premiere Food Court to get my parents coffee. We left our room about 8:45am. Now here is what really annoyed me. We were in the Cinema Hall, and the bus for the Magic Kingdom just departed a minute before we arrived at the bus stop. We had to wait about 20 min for the next bus to come. So we left the Hotel around 9:05am. I was sort of worried that it might interfere with wait times in the park. However I must say we were lucky that this is the first time something like this has happened to us on our whole trip.

Magic Kingdom:
We arrived at Magic Kingdom around 9:30am. We went streight to Tomorrowland, and the plan was to ride Space Mountain, but I was a little worried the wait would already be over 30 min. However as soon as we arrived at Space Mountain it was only a 15 min wait, so we went on and rode it. Now I was a little worried about my dad because he has back problems, but I thought one ride on it wouldn't hurt him so we all did it. Now Space Mountain is such a great ride and is actually a lot more intense than people describe it or say on here. Its quite jerky and makes sudden twists, turns, and drops. My Sister and I LOVED that ride. It was fun never knowing which way we were gonna go. Space Mountain is one of many of the great rides at WDW that you just got to do more than once. It was already planned that we will do it a second time because we had a Fastpass+ for it later in the day.

So after Space Mountain we went to Ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Now as I said earlier in the report, I kept telling my family that I will get revenge on Buzz Lightyear's from losing horrible to all of them at Toy Story Mania. I kept talking about it the whole trip. From time to time I was like "I can't wait to humiliate you in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin." So it was about a 15 min wait, and then we were on the ride. Now Buzz Lightyear is a good ride, but its not as good as Toy Story Mania I have to say. My sister was really confused because she didn't understand how to aim for the Z's. I was able to get total revenge over my sister, but both of my parents still beat me. My dad was the winner like in TSMM, and my mom came in second. Then I was third, and my sister was the one to be humiliated and came in last. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed not to be the family winner, but its all a game. It sure was fun though, but I would have gone berserk if I won in the family because of all the times I have been mocking them since we finished TSMM on the third day. So after Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, we went to ride Astro Orbiter. Now Astro Orbiter was sort of a fun ride, because it went up really HIGH. We could see the whole park from the top when we were riding Astro Orbiter. Definitely the best out of the four rides like that: Dumbo, Tricera Top Spin, and Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

After Astro Orbiter my parents were starting to get tired, so we went to Starbucks to get some coffee for them. I must say that the whole park didn't seem that crowded at all, I mean there was still tons of people, but it seemed emptier than usual. So after my parents finished their coffee, we went back to Space Mountain because we had Fastpass+ for it. My parents didn't want to ride a second time, so they waited for us outside the ride. My sister and I rode a second time, and again Space Mountain is such a great ride. When we were done, we used my parents Fastpasses to ride even a third time. My sister and I kind of fell in LOVE with Space Mountain. Its like a scary ride in the dark. I mean what more can you ask for. Also it is a longer ride than say Rock N Roller Coaster and many of the other thrill rides, which was a plus. So after all that fun my sister and I had on Space Mountain, we were considering riding Tomorrowland Speedway, but it was a 30 min wait, and I didn't think Tomorrowland Speedway was worth a long wait. By the way what do you think guys? Is Tomorrowland Speedway a really good ride? Do you think it was a bad idea to skip it? It honestly didn't look that good. So instead we decided to just move on to Stich's Great Escape. I wasn't sure what kind of attraction that was because it has a description on the map but it also says you have to be 40 in to ride it. Now I must say Stich's Great Escape is really a TERRIBLE ATTRACTION, I MEAN TERRIBLE. Does this attraction even have a point??? First of all you are sitting in seats that look like it will move, but it doesn't move at all. Its just a show with extremely awful smells and that is something I will never do again. My sister really hated it as well. My parents thought it was ok but not that good. Also does anyone have any idea what the 40 inches minimum height is for? That makes no sense for the kind of attraction it is.

So anyway after that horrible ride, we went to Ride the Carrousel of Progress. Now I must say that the Carrousel of Progress is a really interesting show, and I LOVE how it spins around. My mother loved the show and the history of it A LOT. She was extremely interested. I loved the spinning the best, but the music was also cool. When we finished the Carrousel of Progress, it was around 12:55pm and we were pretty much done with Tomorrowland, and were ready for lunch, so we went to Fantasyland in order to take the Walt Disney World Railroad to Frontierland. I am not sure if the Railroad was worth waiting for, but it was good to at least experience it once. Also it saved us from having to walk from one side all the way to the other side of the park. The sound that the railroad makes every time it stops at a station scared my sister a bit. So as soon as we got off the railroad, we had lunch at Peco's Bill Cafe. My mom and sister got the tacos, I got the burrito, and my dad got a salad. I must say that mexican food at Peco's Bill was a good change to what we have been eating most of the time at the parks. However I got to say the cafe was a mad house, and it was hard to find a table inside but we were able to find one in the air-conditioning.

When we were done with lunch, it was around 2:30pm, so we went on the rafts to see Tom Sawyer Island. Now Tom Sawyer Island was the attraction my mother was waiting for and looking forward to most in the whole trip. I was kind of looking forward to it as well, and I must say I loved exploring the island. Its probably the quietest place you could be in all the four theme parks. There were two caves there that we all went through and they were excellent. One thing I was trying to make sure of is that we explored the whole island and saw everything there. I honestly could probably spend hours just going for a walk on that island enjoying the scenery and all the cool sites. We also saw the waterwheel and the watch tower. It was really just cool to look at all of those sites. My dad however was quite tired, so we sat him down for him to relax, while my mom, sister, and I went to explore more. We crossed the bridge to the other side of the island and spent about 25 min at Fort Langhorn. It was a really cool settlement, and my sister and I enjoyed playing with the imaginary guns there. I honestly think that Tom Sawyer Island gets overlooked a lot, and it really is one of the BEST attractions in Magic Kingdom, especially if you love to explore places, which is one of my favorite things to do. Its also a great way to relax from all the loud noise and crowd in the parks. I really LOVE Tom Sawyer Island, and honestly if I was going to MK for a day by myself, I'd probably be on that island from 1pm-3pm. I could just take ONE MILLION PICTURES of that island. Its probably my third favorite attraction in Magic Kingdom. We spent about an hour there, and then we took the raft back.

It was around 3:45pm at this time, and we were ready for a break, so we decided to go to Starbucks to get some more coffee for my parents, and I also got some ice cream from the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor. During the time we were having our snacks, it started to sprinkle a bit of rain. We had Fastpasses for the Haunted Mansion around 4:10pm, so when we finished our ice cream and coffee, we went and rode the Haunted Mansion. The standby line was a 25 min wait, but we had Fastpass+ and waited about 5 min. When we were about to load onto the ride, it was dark and kind of congested, and I must say it was a miracle that we didn't lose each other. We kept putting our hands on each others shoulders in order to make sure we didn't separate, as it was dark and very easy to lose each other. Now to be honest the Haunted Mansion was a great ride, but it wasn't as scary as I expected. I expected it to be more frightening and scary, but it was still good. My sister really loved it though and laughed a lot during the ride. After the Haunted Mansion, we went to see Country Bear Jamboree. We got to the show about 5 min before the next show was about to start so we were in great time. Now my mom and sister loved Country Bear Jamboree a lot. I thought it was a good show, but I did prefer the Enchanted Tiki Room. The bears were cool though.

So when we were done with Country Bear Jamboree it was 5:10pm, and we had Fastpasses for Splash Mountain at 5:35pm-6:35pm. I was extremely worried because the sky looked really threatening, and it looked like thunderstorms were close and would hit us any minute. As you all know Splash Mountain is not opened during thunderstorms for safety. However I thank Disney a lot that they will accept Fastpass+ anytime in the day if the ride shuts down for any reason during an FP+ return time. We were all hanging around in Frontierland until our FP+ was ready. My parents were not gonna ride anyway because its a little too thrilling for my dad and none of them like getting wet. So anyway I went to Splash Mountain at 5:20pm and the ride was already closed. The cast members told me that there is lightening in the air and its about to strike any minute. So we decided to wait under the roof where the bathrooms in Frontierland are close to where the Walt Disney World Railroad station is. By 5:25pm I started to hear thunder and saw lightening strike. It also suddenly started to POUR RAIN like crazy. Splash Mountain was the only thing we had left to do before our Dinner ADR's at 7:00pm, so we decided to just hang out under the roof in Frontierland, because not many people were there and it was close to Splash Mountain. My sister was really worried as well because it was the ride both she and I were looking forward to most during the whole trip. However the good news was even if we had to eat dinner first, we could ride it after dinner. Unfortunately the thunderstorms lasted about 2 hours, so we were waiting under the roof for a LOONNG time.

At around 6:50pm we decided to make our way to the Crystal Palace for our ADR, and ride the Splash Mountain after dinner. So we had Dinner Reservations at Crystal Palace for 7:00pm and arrived about 5 min early. We waited about 15 min, and then we were seated. Now I must say the Crystal Palace was really an unforgettable experience. First of all they had some good food, and it was of all great quality. Meeting the characters was really special. We met Piglet, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, and Eeyore. With all the characters each of us took a personal picture with them, and we also did a family picture with each character. It was really so fun. Winnie the Pooh is my favorite disney story and movie, so it was really fun meeting all those characters. The food there was also good. I ate quite a lot of food there. Now I'll let you know that I did not go crazy like I did at Biergarten the other day, but I ate about 4-5 full plates of food. I really liked the salmon especially. Also the soft serve ice cream machine had really good ice cream. My mother thought is was extremely special to meet the characters as well. When my sister and I finished eating, we just waited for Eeyore to come who was about 5 tables away, and then after we met Eeyore, my sister and I left to go back to Splash Mountain, while my parents paid the check and we agreed that my parents would meet us just outside of Splash Mountain when we finished riding it. My sister and I were sprinting to Frontierland and talking about Splash Mountain. When we were passing the Diamond Horseshoe area, a cast member came to my sister and I and asked us if we were riding Splash Mountain because he heard us talking about it. We said we were, and than he asked if we had a Fastpass for it. My sister and I said we did, but regardless, he gave us another paper Fastpass so we could ride Splash Mountain twice. Now I must say that was AMAZING. So when we arrived at Splash Mountain, we saw the Fastpass line backing up, and it was understandable due to the thunderstorms lasting for two hours, so we did wait about 15 min to get on the ride. My sister and I rode Splash Mountain, and it was even better than we expected. The theming, thrill, and water combined is just something you can never beat. By far the best Ride in all of Disney World. The drop was also really fun and scary.

So after we finished Splash Mountain, we met my parents outside the entrance. It was around 8:20pm, and my parents and sister went back to the room, because the next we had to wake up early and start our long drive back to Pennsylvania. However I decided to stay by myself for the parade and fireworks. First of all though, I rode Splash Mountain a second time to use the extra Fastpass+ I got from the cast member. Again this is THE BEST RIDE on WDW property. This time I was sitting in the front row alone which was really fun, because you will actually get the most wet in the front. During the huge drop, I got splashed, it was just SOO FUUNN. When I finished Splash Mountain, it was 8:50pm so I was getting ready to watch the parade. I really wanted a third ride on Splash Mountain, so I went to a Fastpass+ Kiosk to see if I could get an additional Fastpass, and I was like "YESSSSSS". I got a Fastpass+ starting from 10:25pm which was right after Wishes. That was a miracle. So I found a place in Frontierland near the Diamond Horseshoe Restaurant and watched the 9:00pm Main Street Electrical Parade. I must say that the Parade was quite cool especially with the sounds and music. I have never seen a better parade in my lifetime. I normally am not actually a fan of parades, but MSEP was great. When the Parade was done, I started making my way to the roundabout in front of Cinderella's Castle to see Wishes. I found a good spot on the roundabout around 9:45pm. Wishes started at 10:00pm. Now the music and fireworks from Wishes is just spectacular, and it really feels like dreams will come true. Great way to end the Disney Vacation if you ask me. When Wishes was over, I started to cry a bit because the Disney Vacation was coming to an end, but I reminded myself that I still have one more ride on Splash Mountain before leaving the park. By the way that night was an 11:00pm closing time. So in order to avoid crowds, I decided to hang around the roundabout for 10 min extra to let people leave first. Main Street was seriously backing up like crazy, and I was so glad I was going to Frontierland and not leaving the park right away. I started making my way to Frontierland at 10:20pm. So at 10:25pm I rode Splash Mountain one last time. Again this ride is the Ultimate at WDW. I just LOOOVVEEE that huge drop, and also the theming is just amazing. I must say I was so glad to get one last ride on Splash Mountain before leaving the park.

After I was done with Splash Mountain, I went to the Walt Disney World Railroad because I planned to take that to Main Street, but I was told it closed earlier in the day. I was honestly shocked, but it didn't matter too much. I started making my way back to Main Street to exit the park. I was running quite fast because I didn't want the second Parade at 11:00pm to trap me. As soon as I exited the park I started to cry because the Disney Vacation was pretty much over :( :( :( I caught the bus at about 10:50pm and arrived back at All Star Movies at 11:10pm. When I entered the room, my parents and sister were sleeping, so I pretty much went to bed soon after that.


So thats Day 6 (Last Day) for you. I apologize for the long wait again. I will have the last day, and my final thoughts posted later today or tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed this report!!!
 
Thank you for your wonderful trip report. Sounds like you did a superb job of planning and that you all got to do everything you wanted. I'm glad you had a wonderful trip and even managed to get a bit of pixie dust with the extra FastPass. Splash Mt. is my favorite ride too, but I usually avoid that wet front seat!
 
Thank you so much for the thorough and insightful report! I'm sure your family must have appreciated all the work you put into planning. It seems so many positives things happened but you are obviously positive people and got the most from your experience! Hope we have as great a time on our Trip the last week of September!
 
Thank you so much for the thorough and insightful report! I'm sure your family must have appreciated all the work you put into planning. It seems so many positives things happened but you are obviously positive people and got the most from your experience! Hope we have as great a time on our Trip the last week of September!

I hope you will! And yes I did tons of work planning this. I had FP+ times in my head to book, and I went at the 60 day mark and got times around the times I was looking for. Also when I was planning this, I was kind of well prepared and assumed every day that something will go wrong if not more than one thing such as a ride breaking down, a thunderstorm, or longer lines than expected. After I made these plans, I plugged them into touring plans to make an educated guess on wait times, but I made sure the free time was at least 2+ hours.
 
Chapter 7: THE DAY WE LEAVE


Overview:

So our plan that day was to check out early in the morning and get on the road as soon as possible, because we had to drive all the way back home in West Chester, PA (Suburb of Philadelphia), and we planned on stopping to sleep somewhere on the way. We checked out around 8:30am, and started to get on the road at around 8:45am. I must say that after that long trip at WDW, we were all extremely tired. I slept for around 2 hours streight in the car, and my mom and sister also slept for a looong time.

We stopped to eat a brunch at IHOP in the beginning of Georgia, and then moved on continuously. We arrived that night in Chester, VA and stayed at a hotel there to spend the night. When we arrived at our hotel for the night, my sister and I were in TEARS because our Disney Vacation was over. We honestly had such a great time, and I hope we will do a trip like this again. We tend to do a WDW trip every five years. However one thing we were all happy about is to get back into our normal sleeping schedule and not have to worry about getting up early. My mother said that one more day of getting up so early would probably have killed her.

So anyway we will probably do our next family trip there in 5-7 years, but before that I plan to go myself and take some friends from school that never got to go when they were younger.
 
Your planning skills are impressive. I'm so glad you guys had such a great time, and I really enjoyed following along.

(OT aside: I graduated from WCU! You live in a beautiful area.)
 
Chapter 8: MY THOUGHTS ON THE TRIP


Theme Parks:
I must say overall I think we did really well, and pretty much saw the best of every park. We did miss almost all of the character meet & greets, but they weren't really a priority for us. Back in February when I was planning, I also wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table, but the price appears to have risen within the past years, and we all just thought it was way overpriced even for the experience, so we just thought we would skip the princesses, but we did have a great time meeting Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet though. Those were really the characters we wanted to meet the most because Winnie the Pooh is BY FAR our favorite Disney Movie, and we all LOVE Winnie the Pooh. I am 17 years old now, and I still have a bunch of Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals.

We also missed a few attractions at each park, so here is the list of things we missed:

Bold: We skipped the attraction this trip, but we did it last time we were at WDW five years ago.
Underlined: Attraction was closed for refurb.
italic: I will definitely check it out next trip.

Magic Kingdom:
1. Town Square Theater (Character Meet & Greet).
2. Swiss Family Treehouse (I honestly really wanted to do this, but I was bummed because it was CLOSED the whole trip).
3. A Pirate's Adventure--Treasures of the Seven Seas.
4. The Hall of Presidents (This wasn't a priority for us at all, and I didn't think it was that interesting or worth doing, especially since we did The American Adventure at Epcot).
5. Liberty Square Riverboat (Again just a relaxing boat around the river, not worth doing).
6. Ariel's Grotto (Character Meet & Greet).
7. Pete's Silly Slideshow (Character Meet & Greet).
8. Casey Jr. Splash N Soak Station (Looked like just a place to get wet for smaller kids).
9. Mad Tea Party (This Kind of Ride can be found anywhere, no need to waste time waiting for a ride like this at WDW).
10. Fairytale Garden (Character Meet & Greet).
11. Princess Fairytale Hall (Character Meet & Greet).
12. Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (I am not sure if I regret this or not. Overall the plan was to skip it because I didn't think it was our thing, but maybe we should have checked it out).
13. Tomorrowland Speedway (We planned to do this, but the ride didn't look like it was worth a 30 min wait).
14. Tomorrowland Transit Authority (Again didn't look like this was worth doing).
15. Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade (Didn't really blend in with our schedule).

Epcot:
1. Project Tomorrow (Didn't think it was interesting).
2. Advanced Training Lab (Looked like a waste of time).
3. Innoventions (Looked like something worth checking out but I didn't think it was that important).
4. Sum of All Thrills (This is a ride I will do someday, but as a family it probably wasn't very interesting, and I am the only one who would really like it).
5. Agent P's World Showcase Adventure (This is another thing I will probably do next visit, but it didn't seem like something our family would enjoy much when we really just wanted to explore the world showcase and tour at our own pace).
6. Epcot Character Spot (Character Meet & Greet).
7. The Circle of Life (I wasn't sure about this show, but on the DIS it seems like it isn't important at all, so we skipped it).
8. Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival (Again, I was not sure about this show either, but it didn't seem important or that interesting by the looks of it or by what I read here on the DIS).
9. Royal Summerhus (Character Meet & Greet).

Hollywood Studios:
1. Star Wars: Path of the Jedi (Didn't look interesting, and we didn't have time).
2. Celebrity Spotlight (Character Meet & Greet).
3. Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple (Didn't look interesting, and we didn't have time).
4. Muppet Vision (We planned to do this if we had time, but it wasn't a huge priority).
5. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream (Another thing that looked worth trying, but we just didn't have the time).
6. Voyage of the Little Mermaid (We saw this 5 years ago, and it wasn't a show that was really important to us).
7. Star Wars Launch Bay (Didn't look interesting).
8. Disney Junior--Live on Stage (Preschool Show, Looked Lame for us).
9. Mickey & Minnie Starring in Red Carpet Dreams (Character Meet & Greet).
10. Star Wars Fireworks (Too Late for all of us to stay up for).

Animal Kingdom:
1. Oasis Exhibits (We actually did see it for 5 min, but it wasn't all that interesting).
2. Wilderness Explorers.
3. Discovery Island Trails (Closed during our trip).
4. Wildlife Express Train (Did this 5 years ago, but we didn't have time this trip).
5. Habitat Habitat (Didn't have time).
6. Conservation Station (Didn't have time).
7. Affection Section (Did this 5 years ago, but we didn't have time this trip).
8. The Boneyard (This is more for smaller kids).
9. Fossil Fun Games (Just games that cost extra, not worth wasting your time with).
10. Tricera Top Spin (Not worth a wait, especially since we did Dumbo and Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Also did this 5 years ago).
11. DINOSAUR (At least we did this 5 years ago, but I was so BUMMED about this. Its a Great Ride, but unfortunately closed for refurb).


So those were the attractions we didn't do on our trip, and most of them I didn't even care for. The only ones I sort of regret are: Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Sum of All Thrills, and Rafiki's Planet Watch. Also of course DINOSAUR and Swiss Family Treehouse but they were closed. I was bummed for both, especially DINOSAUR.

One thing I will probably not do in the future is use FP+ for shows. Seriously I don't think they save much time, because you have to be at the show at least 20 min early regardless.

I also must say the luck we had on this trip with lines and walk ons was INSANE, I mean seriously INSANE. I couldn't believe our luck at times. Especially walk ons for Pirates of the Caribbean at around 3:30pm, and Kilimanjaro Safaris at 9:15am.


Restaurants:
We did four TS meals, and the rest counter service. I must say I LOVED the 4 table service meals we did though. We did: Biergarten, Yak & Yeti, Tutto Italia, and Crystal Palace. All of them were amazing experiences. I think I must say Biergarten was my favorite, because the food quality was so good and it was unlimited in addition to the band. Tutto Italia actually had the BEST food quality of all the places we ate. Also meeting the characters at Crystal Palace was very special.


So that is the Trip Report. I hope you all had a great time reading it. Also if you want me to help you plan any future WDW vacation, please ask me!!! I would love to do that. Its honestly one of my favorite things to do. I must say I feel sorry for many people I see just go and don't plan. I have met some people on the bus this trip and asked which rides they got Fastpasses for, and they didn't even know what that was or what they were going to do. Anyway Feel Free to Ask me to help you with any WDW Planning!!!
 
I apologize for the long wait again. I will have the last day, and my final thoughts posted later today or tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed this report!!!

I used to live in Philly...back in 1988 :) Thank you for sharing about your trip in such a wonderful way! I have gone to WDW about 20+ times since 1980 and every time the trip ends, I get depressed. But I return...over and over. I have never done the Stitch attraction, but I had heard it's pretty bad. It used to be a different attraction called "Alien Encounter" (or something like that) and it was a bit frightening for many people so they ditched it. I liked it and it was a bit freaky. And I think, before that, it was where the Mission to Mars attraction was housed. Oh, the memories.... Since I heard the rumor that the Stitch attraction will be gone, I figured I will do it at least once when I go in October. I also loved your recounting of Tom Sawyer's Island. As a 12 year old, I found it extremely boring (I wanted desperately to go on the now defunct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride). Now, as an adult, I can't wait to go and 'escape' for a bit in the afternoon and explore the island.
We could see the whole park from the top when we were riding Astro Orbiter.
There used to be a ride called Skyway. It was a gondola lift attraction that took you from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland above the park. I used to LOVE it, because, like the Astro Orbiter, you could see the park from above..and rest a little.
At around 6:50pm we decided to make our way to the Crystal Palace for our ADR, and ride the Splash Mountain after dinner.
I have to say, Splash Mountain is the one attraction I have never done, mostly because I hate getting wet and I have always seen some people come out of it drenched. Since they added more attractions, the Aladdin Carpets is another ride I never did. I always saw it as kind of another Dumbo ride, and Dumbo was enough for me once when I was 12 and I never went on it again.
So I found a place in Frontierland near the Diamond Horseshoe Restaurant and watched the 9:00pm Main Street Electrical Parade. I must say that the Parade was quite cool especially with the sounds and music. I have never seen a better parade in my lifetime. I normally am not actually a fan of parades, but MSEP was great.
I am SO with you! I am not a parade person, but the MSEP has been my favorite since the first time I saw it in November of 1980. I was lucky to catch it again in 2011 and was looking forward to seeing it again in when I am there in October, when they suddenly announced it would be gone. I was crushed. I am SO glad you got to experience the MSEP. It is so incredibly magical and something to experience.
As soon as I exited the park I started to cry because the Disney Vacation was pretty much over
I think that describes many of us when we leave! But I will now make it a point to go back yearly. Luckily, I now live in Atlanta and drive there with ease and be there in about 5 1/2 hours or so.
:tigger:
 

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