Saturday, November 19, 2005
So far on this trip we've:
Learned three very valuable tips. 1)The week before Thanksgiving is a GREAT time to visit Disney World. The lines are short and the crowds are small. We never had to wait in line, even for rides like Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. And, the weather is warm but not too warm. It has been in the mid 70's all week except for Wednesday when it was a bit warm and humid. 2)Always visit FantasyLand first when you visit Magic Kingdom. The lines get pretty lengthy in the afternoon but if you go in the morning, you walk right on all the rides. And of course, when you have four very small children, that can be a lifesaver. 3)Take advantage of "preferred seating" when you want to visit a popular restaurant, like Rainforest Cafe. We arranged for "preferred seating" so we could take Noah to "Jungle Parfait" (a.k.a. Rainforest Cafe), which he's been dying to do for over a year now. They say with preferred seating you never have to wait longer than 1/2 an hour after you check in to be seated. Well, we had our table in less than five minutes after check in despite some very long lines. It was excellent!
Visited Magic Kingdom twice. We had a blast the first day in Magic Kingdom and everything went very smoothly. We didn't wait in any lines and the boys loved everything. Mark and I absolutely loved Mickey's Philharmagic, which is a must see. Hunter especially loved Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain which shocked my socks off. And Noah loved both of the same roller coasters and Splash Mountain as well. I never thought the boys would be brave enough to master any of those rides but they did and in another few short years I think Mark will have two roller coaster buddies no matter what amusement park we visit. Denver, our dare devil, was a bit more cautious and said his favorite was It's a Small World, which I still love as well. We especially had fun riding on the rides with Grandma and Grandpa the second morning we were there. Oh yeah. . . all of the boys also LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride and I think we rode that one almost ten times altogether.
Learned to NEVER take the boat to Fort Wilderness, especially if you are coming from EPCOT. The second night we were there the family was supposed to meet at Fort Wilderness for Mickey's Barkyard BBQ. Mom told us that the boat was the fastest way to get there, so we had decided that's what we would do. That started us off on the worst 2 hour excursion of the entire trip. Two monorail rides, one very long boat line, one even longer boat trip, and one long walk later we arrived in Ft. Wilderness, just in time to shovel in a hotdog and some mac-n-cheese and say goodbye to everyone who made it on time and were ready to leave. Apparently there was a shuttle straight from Epcot to Ft. Wilderness that would have saved us so much trouble. But we can't have an entirely problem free vacation and I suppose we were due for a hassle or two.
Learned that if you want to ride Soaring you need to be in Epcot early. There were three rides in Epcot that Mark really wanted to ride--Soaring, Test Track and Mission Space. So after our second morning at Magic Kingdom we decided to head over to Epcot and let Mark ride his rides. Well. . . Soaring had an 80 minute wait and all of the Fastpasses were gone at 9a.m. that morning. So, he rode Test Track and that was it. We ran out of time for Mission Space and didn't have time for Soaring. Both of us wish we had stayed in Magic Kingdom like we had originally planned, but nevermind. At least he got to ride Test Track and now we know for next time.
Learned that the Brownie Sundae at Ghirardelli is way better than the Chocolate Malt. We had decided that Friday we would visit Downtown Disney and visit Legoland and the Ghirardelli shop, instead of visit a Park. Then, the Sunday before we left for Florida, a friend at church said, "Whatever you do you have to visit the Ghirardelli shop in Downtown Disney and have a Chocolate Shake. It's sinful!" So with that said and done, we headed straight for the Ghirardelli shop, where we met Grandma and Grandpa for a Chocolate Malt. Mark decided to try the Brownie Sundae, so we could have a taste of both. Well. . . the malt was good but the Brownie Sundae was fabulous! We even went back for seconds after we finished dinner at Rainforest Cafe. And, I got some Ghirardelli brownies and hot fudge caramel sauce to take home with us, just in case we get a hankering for one of those sundaes in Connecticut.
Had our pictures taken by the infamous Issacc, played at the park and met a member of the church there, spent lots of money, gained five pounds each, walked several miles, pressed about 60 pennies and a few quarters, and had LOTS OF FUN!
posted by Shana # 6:38 AM 
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