Got back yesterday and now I need a vacation from my vacation. This was a great time to go to the parks, but the weather was not as cooperative as I would have liked it. Stayed off site at the Westgate which was very nice and was about twenty minutes from the Disney complex. There was a Wal-Mart right up the road (on Turkey Lake Rd) where we stocked up on food.
Monday was a great day. Went to MK and the place was empty. Managed to do everything that we wanted to between 12-7. I had not been to the Park since the Fastpass went into effect and I loved it. If you know what you are doing and manage the times, you can get into the top rides really easily and if you plan to be near a ride when you can get a new Fastpass, it is possible to have three fastpasses rotating for the whole day, especially if you fastpass the busy rides first. Had reservations at Ohana for Monday night and I have to say that everything that Yankee23fan said was absolutely correct. Thanks for the heads up on the place. Seated quickly and ate and ate and ate. I had the meat sweats after pounding countless pieces of turkey and pork. The only thing that may be a turn-off for some is that the place is kid friendly...there is a floor show were kids get up and sing/limbo/march around. When it first happened I was skeptical, but quickly found myself enjoying it. To top off the experience, the place is cheap. Dinner was $27, I had four double Bombay and tonics and my companion had two pineapple drinks served in an actual hollowed out pineapple. Spent 54$ on dinner and $52 on drinks. I kept wondering what a similar dinner would have cost in the City. Then went back to MK to watch the fireworks, which were very well done. There is something about seeing the Castle lit up with the fireworks going on behind it that makes everyone reminisce about what it was like to be a little kid.
Tuesday we went to Epcot. The Orange version of Mission: Space was intense. For those of you who have done it, do you know . Test Track was a blast. My girl is not a big fan of fast rides, but she claimed this was her favorite thing that we did the whole trip. Through fastpass we managed to ride three times and enjoyed it more and more. Managed to get halfway around the countries before Reflections started which I thought was a very nice light show. Different than MK, but still very nice.
Wednesday we went to the Animal Kingdom. I had never been here and I thought that it was comparable to some of the best zoos around. The safari adventure is excellent and I am amazed that they managed to have their animals actually out it environments that no one would ever think cordoned the animals into a specific space. I hate cages and the Disney presentation is amazing. Bug's life is great for kids and Dinosaur is very intense for an inside track ride. I did not go on Everest (caused a bone of contention because someone got cold feet), but it looked like a fairly standard coaster. (However, if you are going to Disney for roller coasters, you are doing something wrong.) The park closed at 7, so we went back to the room and I made dinner.
Thursday we went back to the Magic Kingdom to hit rides that we wanted to go on again. Fairly standard day (I got to go on the Haunted Mansion twice more, for a total of four times...it is still my favorite ride), but one word of caution. We made reservations at the Crystal Palace when we arrived at the Park because neither of us felt like cooking. When we got there at 8:45, we had to wait for 30 minutes before we were seated. I had realized that it was a buffet, but the buffet was far away from the bulk of the seating, there seemed to be too few servers just to bring drinks (non-alcoholic in the Magic Kingdom) and the place was over run with crying kids. She and I looked at each other and left. Went home and ordered Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is as awesome in Orlando as it is everywhere else.
Friday we took a day off, but had a couple of adventures none the less. Our suite overlooked a lake. I got the idea that it would be fun to make lunch, rest a kayak and go eat out on the lake. I had kayaked before, but she hadn't. There was a small island that we rowed over to and I noticed that the lake was starting to get choppy. As I look up, the GF queries, "was that thunder?" Over to the west, the sky is black and I can see lightning. I start paddling pell-mell back to the dock and manage to pull up just as the skies open. We have to huddle in the rental shack for twenty minutes until the storms pass. As Florida weather is wont to do, it clears up and she and I decide to go to the Disney Boardwalk. Wander around for a little bit and then see a sign for miniature golf. If you play miniature golf for fun, DO NOT go to the fairways course. This course is a nightmare. First off, it's twelve bucks, which seems a little expensive for mini golf. Secondly, the par is 61 and the course is 1445 feet, or about the length of a par 5 on a normal golf course. Thirdly, there are numerous places where if you mi#### your ball you might as well pick up your ball and take a 6. There is nothing on the scorecard about picking up your ball and moving it a clublength from an obstacle. Because the course is faux grass over concrete, you cannot stop your ball on a downslope. Had I gone with me or a friend, we might have been up for the challenge. With a girlfriend who doesn't golf and me, who can read greens about as well as I read Sanskrit, by the ninth hole we were ready to use the putters on each other instead of the ball. But, because the course is so long there is no easy way to quit. So, I got the great idea to cut out towards Hollywood studios. I thought Disney would make it easy, but they don't want you to go off the beaten path. I eventually had to cut through the bushes to get back to a parking lot for the Swan Hotel. After this I needed a drink, so we wen to the Big River Grille and Brew House which makes its own beers. They did a pretty good job and managed to put a nice ending on an interesting day. (I'd steer clear of their quesidillas, pretty meh.)
Saturday was our last full day and we went back to Epcot. I am proud to say that we managed to go on exactly one ride; Finding Nemo. After this we had reservations at The Coral Reef. Absolutely outstanding...I may have liked it even better than Ohana. I had asked right when they opened to have a seat by the aquarium and was given a table two feet away from the windows. While the view was great, the food was even better. I highly recommend the Creamy Lobster Soup. I had the Catfish (which is raised at Disney and I had probably saw swimming around on Tuesday) wich was amazing and she picked the Crab Legs which were very well done. We decided to skip dessert to save room for a Mickey ice cream. Total was a touch over $100, still really affordable. My companion had two glasses of wine and was feeling tipsy. I wanted to catch up so we went into the countries so I could have a drink or two. Epcot makes getting drunk really, really fun. I wandered from Canada to Mexico, drinking along the way. By the time we each got a Margarita, we were stumbling, smiling and singing. We used our fastpass, got into Test Track and promptly were told that there was inclement weather. So, we wandered out of Epcot, I drove home and we wrapped up our Disney vacation.
Thanks for all the advice, this thread made the trip a lot more fun.
Monday was a great day. Went to MK and the place was empty. Managed to do everything that we wanted to between 12-7. I had not been to the Park since the Fastpass went into effect and I loved it. If you know what you are doing and manage the times, you can get into the top rides really easily and if you plan to be near a ride when you can get a new Fastpass, it is possible to have three fastpasses rotating for the whole day, especially if you fastpass the busy rides first. Had reservations at Ohana for Monday night and I have to say that everything that Yankee23fan said was absolutely correct. Thanks for the heads up on the place. Seated quickly and ate and ate and ate. I had the meat sweats after pounding countless pieces of turkey and pork. The only thing that may be a turn-off for some is that the place is kid friendly...there is a floor show were kids get up and sing/limbo/march around. When it first happened I was skeptical, but quickly found myself enjoying it. To top off the experience, the place is cheap. Dinner was $27, I had four double Bombay and tonics and my companion had two pineapple drinks served in an actual hollowed out pineapple. Spent 54$ on dinner and $52 on drinks. I kept wondering what a similar dinner would have cost in the City. Then went back to MK to watch the fireworks, which were very well done. There is something about seeing the Castle lit up with the fireworks going on behind it that makes everyone reminisce about what it was like to be a little kid.
Tuesday we went to Epcot. The Orange version of Mission: Space was intense. For those of you who have done it, do you know . Test Track was a blast. My girl is not a big fan of fast rides, but she claimed this was her favorite thing that we did the whole trip. Through fastpass we managed to ride three times and enjoyed it more and more. Managed to get halfway around the countries before Reflections started which I thought was a very nice light show. Different than MK, but still very nice.
Wednesday we went to the Animal Kingdom. I had never been here and I thought that it was comparable to some of the best zoos around. The safari adventure is excellent and I am amazed that they managed to have their animals actually out it environments that no one would ever think cordoned the animals into a specific space. I hate cages and the Disney presentation is amazing. Bug's life is great for kids and Dinosaur is very intense for an inside track ride. I did not go on Everest (caused a bone of contention because someone got cold feet), but it looked like a fairly standard coaster. (However, if you are going to Disney for roller coasters, you are doing something wrong.) The park closed at 7, so we went back to the room and I made dinner.
Thursday we went back to the Magic Kingdom to hit rides that we wanted to go on again. Fairly standard day (I got to go on the Haunted Mansion twice more, for a total of four times...it is still my favorite ride), but one word of caution. We made reservations at the Crystal Palace when we arrived at the Park because neither of us felt like cooking. When we got there at 8:45, we had to wait for 30 minutes before we were seated. I had realized that it was a buffet, but the buffet was far away from the bulk of the seating, there seemed to be too few servers just to bring drinks (non-alcoholic in the Magic Kingdom) and the place was over run with crying kids. She and I looked at each other and left. Went home and ordered Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is as awesome in Orlando as it is everywhere else.
Friday we took a day off, but had a couple of adventures none the less. Our suite overlooked a lake. I got the idea that it would be fun to make lunch, rest a kayak and go eat out on the lake. I had kayaked before, but she hadn't. There was a small island that we rowed over to and I noticed that the lake was starting to get choppy. As I look up, the GF queries, "was that thunder?" Over to the west, the sky is black and I can see lightning. I start paddling pell-mell back to the dock and manage to pull up just as the skies open. We have to huddle in the rental shack for twenty minutes until the storms pass. As Florida weather is wont to do, it clears up and she and I decide to go to the Disney Boardwalk. Wander around for a little bit and then see a sign for miniature golf. If you play miniature golf for fun, DO NOT go to the fairways course. This course is a nightmare. First off, it's twelve bucks, which seems a little expensive for mini golf. Secondly, the par is 61 and the course is 1445 feet, or about the length of a par 5 on a normal golf course. Thirdly, there are numerous places where if you mi#### your ball you might as well pick up your ball and take a 6. There is nothing on the scorecard about picking up your ball and moving it a clublength from an obstacle. Because the course is faux grass over concrete, you cannot stop your ball on a downslope. Had I gone with me or a friend, we might have been up for the challenge. With a girlfriend who doesn't golf and me, who can read greens about as well as I read Sanskrit, by the ninth hole we were ready to use the putters on each other instead of the ball. But, because the course is so long there is no easy way to quit. So, I got the great idea to cut out towards Hollywood studios. I thought Disney would make it easy, but they don't want you to go off the beaten path. I eventually had to cut through the bushes to get back to a parking lot for the Swan Hotel. After this I needed a drink, so we wen to the Big River Grille and Brew House which makes its own beers. They did a pretty good job and managed to put a nice ending on an interesting day. (I'd steer clear of their quesidillas, pretty meh.)
Saturday was our last full day and we went back to Epcot. I am proud to say that we managed to go on exactly one ride; Finding Nemo. After this we had reservations at The Coral Reef. Absolutely outstanding...I may have liked it even better than Ohana. I had asked right when they opened to have a seat by the aquarium and was given a table two feet away from the windows. While the view was great, the food was even better. I highly recommend the Creamy Lobster Soup. I had the Catfish (which is raised at Disney and I had probably saw swimming around on Tuesday) wich was amazing and she picked the Crab Legs which were very well done. We decided to skip dessert to save room for a Mickey ice cream. Total was a touch over $100, still really affordable. My companion had two glasses of wine and was feeling tipsy. I wanted to catch up so we went into the countries so I could have a drink or two. Epcot makes getting drunk really, really fun. I wandered from Canada to Mexico, drinking along the way. By the time we each got a Margarita, we were stumbling, smiling and singing. We used our fastpass, got into Test Track and promptly were told that there was inclement weather. So, we wandered out of Epcot, I drove home and we wrapped up our Disney vacation.
Thanks for all the advice, this thread made the trip a lot more fun.
GB the language filter.And no... you don't crash. 
