ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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 8/2/2005 8:47:21 PM
For the first time ever, I drove to central Florida with my family for 7 nights of Disney/Universal. I'm gonna break this down into sections for each day.
Day 1: Arrival/Magic Kingdom
We allowed 3 days (2 hotel stays) driving to Florida from DC (but it seems it could have been done in 1, oh well), so as a result, our hotel room the second night was rather close to Disney World. We arrived at our hotel (Shades of Green) around 10:30, and purchased our park passes there. I wasn't about to wait for my family (they take too long), I made a mad dash for the Polynesian resort for the Monorail (Shades of Green has a bus that takes you to the TTC to hop the monorail, but I couldn't wait).
I got off at the magic kingdom and headed to space mountain. It was only a 50 minute wait, so I Fastpassed it and got went on twice and then my fastpass window opened so I did it a third time. After that I was a little hungry, but the lines for the restaurants at the park were so long, and the only place to sit was out in the sun, so I went to monorail and hit up the Food and Fun Center at the contemporary resort. I played some games for about an hour and headed back to the park. My mom (who doesn't do many rides) got me and my sister a fastpass for Splash Mountain with her ticket so I went over there. There was a long line of idiots waiting for their fast pass window to open (come on, you are missing the whole point of a fast pass!!) but our window had been open for about 10 minutes so we went on. After that my mom and sister decided to head back to the hotel. They said that they probably wouldn't return to the parks that night, so I used their tickets to get a Fastpass for both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad(I had a fastpass for splash currently hooked to my ticket, but I lost that FP). So I headed back to the hotel with them. My BTMR fastpass window closed at 8:10pm, and splash opened at 9:20 so I left our hotel to be there around 8:10 (even though they will usually let you in late, I didn't want to take any chances). I got to the park around 7:58 and since while I was waiting to enter the park I didn't see a train go by at the Main Street station, I decided that would be the best way to go, it was, and I made it for my ride at 8:05. But before I did, I decided to get another Fastpass for BTMR (since splash was out) and when I was getting my FP, I found another one on the ground for the exact same time, and the guy said I could keep it. After my ride I went to Space Mountain, and after that I started to head over to Frontierland, via fantasyland. I noticed It's a Small World was a walk on so I did that (it's part of the disney magic) and then headed to BTMR and Splash. After Splash (about 10:20) I headed back to the hotel.
Day 2: More Magic and Epcot
I used my strategy from the day before, but this time with Splash Mountain. I got a Fastpass, and waited in line twice. After that I did Space Mountain, the Caouresel of Progress, and the Tommorrowland Transit Authority (my childhood favorite). Then I proceeded to Epcot (around 2pm). I had never liked Epcot, and I probably would not have gone there if Test Track, Mission Space, and Soarin' hadn't opened since my last visit. Those rides made it an alright park. My main reason for coming to Epcot was because it was the park open late for the Extra Magic Hour (one park opens an hour early or closes 3 hours late for hotel guests only) and I had hoped to get a Fastpass for either Test Track or Soarin for around the time the park closed, no such luck with either (both were sold out) so I proceeded to Mission Space where I got (but never used) a Fastpass and jumped into the singles line which took 5 minutes (vs 40 minutes with the regular line). Then I did a singles line for Test Track (20 minutes vs 65 minutes). Both of these rides were fantastic. I saw on the tip board that the wait for Soarin' was 135 minutes, but I figured I could just do a singles for that as well. Unfortunat
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ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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 8/2/2005 8:47:51 PM
Day 3: MGM and more Magic
I hit up MGM first thing today. The waits for tower of terror and rock n roller coaster were the same on the tip board (30 min) so I got a Fast Pass for tower of terror and waited in line [about 45 minutes] for rock n roller coaster. I then went and waited in line for Tower of Terror, got another fast pass for tower of terror and went on with my first fast pass. I then proceeded to Star Tours which had a whopping 5 minute wait, and a bunch of people were getting fast passes for it  . I then visied the pizza planet arcade, and went back and did tower of terror 2 more times (once with fast pass, once without) and went back to the hotel. At about 9 I returned to the Magic Kingdom (this park was open til 2am with the EMH) and went on TTS, Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter and Stitch's Great Escape. I then did Tommorrowland Speedway, Snow White's adventures, Mickey's Phillarmagic, and I did Splash Mountain 4 times before the park had closed.
Day 4: More Epcot, and the Downtown Disney Disaster.
I visited Epcot that morning, ran and got a Fastpass for Soarin', and waited in line for it. Since it was so far out, I then did Mission Space and got in line for Test Track. I was near the front of the line when bad weather hit. So they gave me a special pass that I could use to enter through the Fastpass line anytime before the end of the month with up to 6 people. I returned to Soarin' and I decided that I would return to that park that night, so I got another fast pass for soarin' after my ride. My family and I had dinner at downtown disney that night, which has no direct transportation to the parks. I finished dinner over an hour before my fastpass window would close, so I decided to hop the first hotel bus that came, Swan/Dolphin, HUGE MISTAKE. After making it's stops at Typhoon Lagoon, and Pleasure Island, it made it's way to the hotels, where I learned that there is no bus to Epcot, but a boat. A little annoied, I waited in line 20 minutes for a boat to come (I learned that a boat screwed up and never came to the hotel dock). After making stops at the Boardwalk and the Yacht Club, it went to the World's Fair entrance to Epcot. Extremely annoied I went to Soarin' and they let me on with my Fastpass, even though I was 20 minutes late. After that I did Test Track, and returned to Soarn' for another ride, and that ended that day.
Days 5-8 below
Message updated 8/2/2005 9:45:49 PM by ABR
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ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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8/2/2005 8:49:17 PM
Day 5: Islands of Adventure
This park has always recieved good reviews, I've even heard it called "The Holy Grail of Theme Parks" so I decided to do this one instead of Universal Studios (which I didn't really care for on my last visit, although I would have liked to have done Mummy). Upon entering, we decided to do Hulk first... 130 minute wait, ouch. After seeing that, we went and got those Universal Express plus passes, which let you use the express lines anytime, as a pose to your reservation time. We decided to do Hulk last. We did Spiderman first which I thought was amazing. Very unsuspecting twists on that ride  . We then did a counterclockwise circle around the park. We stopped at Ripsaw Falls which I was very uncomfortable in. We then hit up the flying unicorn (at the insistance of my sister and her friend who lives in Florida) that ride was alright actually. Then, came the dragons. We did Ice first, and then Fire. We all agreed that fire was the better one. We then continued to do that show where you are in a temple and a guide is leading you who is looking for his professor (forget the name). My sister and her friend then dragged me onto the Dr. Suess merry go round. Then I went off on my own. I decided to do another circle (I was back where I started). I spent a few minutes in the arcade, and went through the single rider line on Hulk. I continued onto Dr. Doom's fear fall, and did Spiderman again. I did Ripsaw falls again, and then I went on the Jurassic Park river adventure. I then made my way back to a restaurant and had dinner with my family. After that I went to the arcade by the parking garage, and went back in to do Hulk, and Fear Fall again. That ended day 5.
Day 6: sleep in and do epcot and a late magic kingdom.
Maic Kingdom was the park open late today. I decided not to go there until the last minute, since it's so crowded. I did my 3 favorite rides at Epcot, then took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I did Space Mountain 3 times, TTA twice, and Splash Mountain 4 times. Not much else to say about today!
Message updated 8/2/2005 9:39:29 PM by ABR
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ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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8/2/2005 8:49:50 PM
Day 7: Sleep in and Epcot
I went to Epcot around 6. I did Test Track a few times, hit up mission space, and dashed across the park and got in line for soarin' 3 minutes before the park closed. I only waited 20 minutes for it.
Day 8: A farewell, Epcot Style
My sister hadn't been to Epcot yet, so I took her. We got there at around 9:10. We went and got Fastpasses for Soarin' which were for 10:15. We waited in line 5 minutes for Mission Space, and then used my pass to get on Test Track. We finished it off with Soarin' and hit the road.
Message updated 8/2/2005 9:43:00 PM by ABR
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Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2005 12:41:56 PM
Good tr. How was the florida soarin?
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ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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8/3/2005 11:32:03 PM
I thought it was fantastic. I haven't been to California, but I've heard it was the exact same ride, but in CA, the seats are lifted a tad higher.
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Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/4/2005 11:25:32 AM
You should try the CA version. I always think that the first model is the best. Tot in florida is great, while the one in ca is mediocre. Make sense?
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