WDW 2009 Trip Report (Part 3 - final!)

Tues 5/5 – Hollywood Studios

We opened and closed this park today (9-7).  Started the morning with the thought that we would pull passes for Toy Story and ride like is recommended for Soarin in Epcot, but it only half worked today.  Toy Story is sooo nutty!  Even the fast pass distribution station had a line!  And by the time Pete got those, the wait was already well past the 30 minute mark - within minutes of park opening!  But no worries.  We wandered around a bit and then started with the Backlot Tour that we fund very cool.  Then we checked out Narnia (just a movie trailer basically, but I really liked the movie) and then used our passes to ride Toy Story finally. From there we thought we might catch Voyage to the Little Mermaid before lunch, but ended up bailing on that idea not only due to close timing for a lunch ressie, but a lot of babies and little kids were in the waiting space for that show and they were already cranky– wouldn’t have been fun.  Lunch @ Sci Fi Diner was just as wonderful as we remembered.  Boys were entertained and it was relaxing for everyone.  I had 3 vanilla cokes, which says a lot when I haven’t been drinking pop at all lately. From there we went to Indiaina Jones immediately followed by Beauty & the Beast -  both as good and fun as we remembered.  Then we split up – Ben & Dad to ride the thrill rides (R N' Roller & T of T) while Andrew & I found a good spot for the Parade. The Parade here, although named the same, is different from the one in California. It was fun, but it was much shorter, didn't have as much Pixar goodies in it (no Cars, Ratatouille or some of the cool floats we saw in Disneyland) and I wasn't as big of a fan of the setup.  They stopped the parade in sections, and depending where you were, you got up close and personal with a piece of the parade.  The rest of it flew by when they moved on. It was fun to see, but not your traditional parade.  Then when we met up – we headed over to Lights, Motors, Action where we found the stadium only half full.  The park really quieted after lunch today – not sure why, maybe the low ninety degree temps?  That was our guess, but any way we weren’t complaining.  After that we had an ealry dinner at Pizza Planet before they closed @ 5:30 (the restaurants close early here it seems - you can't procrastinate!). Then off to Mermaid with a half full theater – different show this time – last year we didn’t see the misting water & laser effects above our heads – really added some fun to this.  We strolled through Animation Studios hoping to find some new characters but Bolt & the incredibles were leaving as we arrived – bummer we didn't get a photo op there.  So we ended with the great movie ride and found ourselves walking out as the park closing music was playing.  A very full day, but we missed nothing. We got back to the hotel before 8, proceeded to take refreshing showers and hung out in the room.  Boys were asleep around 9 and I wrapped up writing @ 9:30 and planned to read for a bit yet - the last one awake as always! We hooked up internet connection tonight so we would have it to be able to check in with Southwest tomorrow and prepare for our departure Thursday. Had over 200 emails to sort through!  Ah – life back at home.  Sore feet were better today, thankfully.  But they will be happier piggies once the all day walking tours are done, that’s for sure.  

Wed 5/6 – Typhoon Lagoon & Epcot

Later morning again today since the water park doesn’t open until 10am.  We were there just ahead of park opening and found some semi shaded spots in between the wave pool & shark reef.  We are veterans to this park, so we knew what we wanted to do.  Andrew was too tall for the kids area now, but tall enough for all the slides, and the wait times were never more than around 15 minutes, but usually less for all the slides, with the exception of the family slides.  We never did ride that one today, but the boys did nearly all the rest at least once. They did a lot of things without mom today, which worked well for everyone.  But I would have to say our family favorite today was the trip down the lazy river… always  fun & relaxing time.  And to my surprise, Ben was satisfied with only one trip through the shark reef on snorkel! We left this park around 2:30 knowing we needed to get back to the hotel to sign in for our flight online by 4:30 and get a little afternoon break.  Andrew took a nap, and we got boarding passes in the A range for a flight.  That's always stressful.  But all good.  Around 4:30 we headed out to Epcot.  We knew we wouldn’t have much time here tonight with the park closing @9pm and dinner reservations in China, but we hoped to fit a couple rides in there.  Pete went first thing to get passes to Test Track and then we met up to take a ride in the big sphere of Spaceship Earth.  This turned out to be a whole new experience – the ride broke down while we were on it! We ended up losing a ton of time here and had to be escorted out of the ride walking down the side aisles with all the lights turned on.  Not sure I'll be able to really see this ride like it was meant to be again after that.  Kind of a bummer.  After finally escaping that trek, we headed straight for Nine Dragons in China.  Our ressie was for 6:15, but they seated us within minutes of our 6pm arrival.  Another wonderful meal here with multiple courses including soup, appetizers, beautiful main entrees and dessert.  Yummy! From there we walked to France to catch the one last show we had missed in the world showcase and we saw a beautiful 180 degree view movie of some landmark areas and places in France.  Beautiful!  Tres bon!  By this time it was nearly 8:30 and we had passes to Test Track, so that woud be our finishing harrah in Epcot this time.  We made a beeline for the ride, and left there just as the park began closing and the fireworks show beginning.  We caught the bus back to All Star Sports after some frustrating moments and lingering conversation about those people in the ECVs with special priveledges. (They stopped loading the bus with people who had been waiting for the one lady who pulled up in her ECV to load.  She took up 4 seats herself. Now we don’t want to be predjudice or anything, but seriously. Take your turn for one, and for two it seems to us this should require different handling.  It puts so many other people in inconvenience.  I don’t know.)  So here I am writing after 10:30pm.  Did most of the packing when we got back and we’ll check out tomorrow before we leave for one last taste of Disney.  Magical Express comes to take us away @ 1:30 tomorrow – time to go home.  This time was better than the first in many ways, but we are still ready to get home. (Pete was more reasonable this trip and wasn't headstrong about all the thrill rides all the time, and we adopted the attitude that this was our vacation and we were bringing the children along in order to curb the occassional whiney tendency) So off to do some reading.  Pete is still up – that worries me.  Hope he's not cranky tomorrow - the man needs his beauty sleep!

5/7 Thursday - Animal Kingdom & Home

We ended our last day in Animal Kingdom.  Arrived in time for opening ceremonies yet again and also as before headed straight for Everest. This time with no intention to pull the fast pass thinking we wouldn’t have time to use the later. But as luck happened, Ben & Daddy were able to ride it a second time immediately with very little wait.  From there we went across the park to Camp Minnie - Mickey to see the Festival of the Lion King show. It was wonderful!  So glad we made time to see this amazing show - so many people and the costumes were spectacular!  Definitely a must see.  Of course it came with more scooter frustration where we had to change seats last minute due to a blocked view from a scooter moved right in front of us - grrr. But all ended well. We left there to ride Dinosaur one last time and then it was off to our final meal of the trip at the Yak & Yeti. It doesn’t happen often that I clean my plate, but this meal was worthy.  Some of the best salmon I’ve ever had, followed with a most delightful slice of Mango pie. Yummy!  (Pete had Steak & Shrimp and cream cheese wontons - equally as good).  We had some of the most fabulous eats on this trip and we were feeling it!  From there on out everything about the travel home was uneventful.  We caught the Magic Express around 1:30 and we were back home by 7:30.  Our house looked and felt huge after living in such a small hotel room space for a week and we were all tired and delighted to see our comfy beds again.  We also came home to a pan full of Grandma Maria’s brownies and a hanging pot of flowers in honor of Mother’s Day.  Ahhh.  Good to be home.