Thursday, September 04, 2008

• Walt Disney World 2008-Hot, Hot, Hot

  Ok...so here are some details from our latest trip to Walt Disney World.  We arrived late Sunday night after leaving on a flight out of Kansas City at 3:20PM.  Disney's Magical Express picked us up at the airport and took us straight to our resort.  The only delay was that the bus waited until they knew they had almost anybody that would be coming in that late on other flights since the buses run less frequent that late at night (10PM or later). 
  
  We got checked in at the resort (Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort) around 12:00AM.  Here is a tip...if you arrive that late, go ahead and plan on not getting your bags delivered to your room until the next day and pack all necessities and your next day's clothes in a carry on.  Disney's Magical Express service picks your bags up for you at the airport if you stay at one of their resorts which saves some hassle, but they may not get into your room until 3 hours after your arrival.  That is not a big thing when you arrive during the day.  But when you arrive late at night...staying up until they get into your room can be quite exhausting.  Our bags arrived at 1:30AM.  Ugghh!!!
  
  Well after a refreshing 4 hours sleep we were up bright and early to catch the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  We made an early 8:00AM Character Breakfast reservation at the Hollywood and Vine restaurant inside the park.  This allows you early entry into the park and helps avoid the long lines that form at park opening out at the turnstiles.  I recommend making such reservations at least 90 days in advance of your trip.  They book up fast.
  
  Ok...so we also understand that park buses run less frequent early in the morning (more than one hour before the park opens) so we wanted to make sure we were at the bus stop outside our room when the Hollywood Studios bus showed up.  We might have been a tad over zealous because we were at the bus stop by 6:50AM and low and behold a bus showed up right then so we hopped on board and arrived at the park a whopping 10 minutes later.  Yes that means we are now even 1 hour early for our early breakfast.  A park worker came out and made sure we knew we were a tad early.
  
  The breakfast was great.  It was considered a table service meal so we used one of our table service credits from Disney's Dining Plan.  The Dining Plan is offered free as a part of your Disney package if you visit during the last part of August to the middle of September.  You get 1 table service credit, 1 counter service credit and 1 snack credit per person, per number of nights you stay.  We stayed 6 nights so we six each.  This also means you must plan where you will eat in advance because the credits do not carry over to any other trip...you use them or lose them. 
  
  We had reservations at the following:
  
  Hollywood and Vine (Character Breakfast)
  Hollywood Brown Derby (Fantasmic Dinner Package)
  Tutto Italia in Epcot
  Yak and Yeti (Animal Kingdom)
  Boma's (Animal Kingdom Lodge)
  
  The Hollywood Brown Derby was a 2 table service meal credit since it was a signature restaurant.  I highly recommend this restaurant. If booked well enough in advance, you can book a reservation as a part of the Fantasmic dinner package where you get a VIP entrance into Fantasmic so you do not have to worry about standing in line forever to get a seat. 
  
  Ok...on to the parks and rides.  We arrived just after Tropical Storm Fay left the State of Florida.  We had rain only one evening (the first) and then it was just hot and humid every day.  In fact, it was a heat and humidity that I had not experienced before.  The humidity was high all day long, morning and night.  You walked outside at midnight and it was still in the 80's with high humidity.  This made the lines at the water rides the longest.  The longest wait we had was a little over an hour at Kali River Rapids in the Animal Kingdom.  All of the fast passes had been distributed for the day so we had no choice but to wait in the hot line along with the hoards of others.
  
  The rest of the time...we got on every ride we wanted by either waiting in line 30 minutes or less or by using a fast pass.
  
  Here are some of our favorite rides of the trip:
  
  Best thrill ride---Mission Space
  Best overall ride---Soarin
  Best water ride---Splash Mountain
  Best 3D show---Mickey's Philharmagic
  Best surprise ride---Spaceship Earth in Epcot (ride it and you willl understand)
  Best air-conditioned attraction---Hall of Presidents
  Best air-conditioned thrill ride---Test Track
  Best new show experience---Finding Nemo, The Musical
  Best new ride---Toy Story Mania 3D
  
  To sum it up...we rode every ride we wanted to ride and more.  Most of the real popular rides we were able to ride 2 or 3 times which tells you the crowds were not too bad.  We liked the resort we stayed at, but probably will not try to book there again.  The resort is very spread out which demands you walk a long way to get anywhere unless you happen to be lucky and get a room right next to the shopping and restaurants.
  
  We made it to all 4 parks.  The last day was meant to be a day of relaxation but we ended up going back to Hollywood Studios and Epcot for some more rides and we took advantage of Epcot's extra magic hours that are available to Disney Resort guests.
  
  
  
   

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