Disney World vacation - May 2011

Everyone’s first time to Disney World. The trip down there wasn’t too bad with kids and nothing too excited to report. This will be a little longer of a recap, so I will just get to the good stuff.

Day 1 (Magic Kingdom)
The bus was a little crowded in the morning getting there but we only had to wait maybe 15 mins for it. We get there ready for feel the 'magic' and Laura wants to hit up the first thing when we get it. So, we go into the theater building to see Mickey and Minnie backstage. It was pretty cool. Lucas was really excited and Allison was excited to them from a far but then freaked out when we got close to them. Got our pictures and moved on. Walked around for a bit to check stuff out and then headed to Tomorrowland for some rides. We hit up the Monsters Inc show (Allison had a mini-meltdown waiting in line), the Bus Lightyear ride, and a couple of other ones. Lunch and then to fantasyland for the classic rides. We waited the longest for Dumbo which really isn't that great of a ride. The kids really liked "It's a small world". The plan was to go to MK also on Wed so we headed back to the hotel after dinner which wasn't that great. We get back to the hotel and for some reason the kids just went wild. About 8 hours in the heat at Disney did nothing to their energy level I suppose. They were wild and crazy for about an hour and then finally settled down before bedtime.

Day 2 (Hollywood Studios)
So, the plan for Hollywood Studies was to go early for a while and then come back to take a nap and then go back later so that we could all stay up for the Fantasmic show at 9pm. We get there around 10 or so and start headed to the new Toy Story ride to get a Fast Pass. We get over there around 10:30 or so and the Fast Pass is already up to 6:30 (dang!). So, we go ahead and get one cause waiting in line with the kids for like 20 mins is almost torture and can't image 3 times that. There aren't a ton of actual rides at HS, more of the show type stuff. The kids liked the Disney Jr thing and the Little Mermaid wasn't too bad. I really liked the Muppets 3D show. I almost forgot how funny the Muppets were/are. The Indiana Jones live stunt thing was pretty good but kids were bored with it. We hit up Pizza Planet for lunch. It is a cool place that kind of likes like the movie, etc but the pizza was pretty crappy. We did go back for a nap and the kids actually did sleep for an hour or so. But, we have to get back to get our Toy Story Fast Pass. That ride is really cool and Lucas really liked it. So, we had over the "Honey, I shunk the kids" play area and let the kids run around and blow off some energy. Then the decision came to eat dinner at our reservations place which was at some Italian sit down place or eat somewhere quick and then head over to Fantasmic to get a decent seat. I was looking forward to the Italian sit down place cause the food wasn't great so far and I figured it would be a good place, but we probably would of been too late to get to the show. We decide to skip it and ate somewhere quick. It wasn't horrible and then headed to the show. It was pretty packed already by the time we got there which was around 8:20 ish. The show was pretty cool though it was maybe a little scary for Lucas. Allison didn't seem to care really but it freaked Lucas out a bit. We thought the bus ride back to the resort would be rough after the show, but it actually wasn't and got back without much wait. Kids didn't have as much energy this time when we got back.

Day 3 (Animal Kingdom)
Since AK closes pretty early the plan was to stay there most of the day with no breaks. We get there and didn't really have much of a plan for AK. We know we wanted to do the Safari thing but no real plan. We do the Bugs 3d thing which again kind of freaked out the kids. After many 3d shows at HS, this wasn't anything too exciting. We do a couple of other things and then head back to the Safari ride to get a Fast Pass. After getting the fast passes I then release that one of them didn't work cause it doesn't see one of our cards as valid. So, I head up front to see what happened but I wisely went to the Guest Services area instead of trying to leave and get back in. They told me it didn't accept it and then it pretty much makes that card obsolete which would of sucked if I did leave the park. But, they hooked us up with some extra Fast Passes to use for the inconvenience. We then headed over to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch which was a really cool place and the food was actually pretty good (better than most we had down there). After lunch, we then finally hit up the Safari ride which was really cool. We also saw the Lion King show which was also pretty good. It was pretty hot that day at AK. A lot of trees there so not a lot of breeze going on there. It pretty much felt like a July day in Cincinnati. We left around 5 or so and then we had dinner reservation in downtown disney. So, we did the bus thing again and went to this seafood place called Capt'N Jacks which was really good. I recall the kids both ate their food and our meals were probably the best we had all vacation. We also went to the disney store down there which is supposedly the largest disney store and that place is crazy. It is huge but it felt like I cannot move ... and, I didn't really find a cool disney shirt to buy. Headed back, day 3 in the books.

Day 4 (Magic Kingdom)
The plan for the last day at the parks was to do the nap midday so that we can stay late for the 9pm fireworks show. My only goal for the last day was to ride one ride that I wanted and that one ride was Space Mountain. I didn't think Lucas could handle it but I figure I would see what transpired for the day. We get there and take a couple of the typical tourist pictures, etc. Then, just like our first trip to MK, we hit up the Meet the Princesses thing in the same building as the Mickey/Minnie. We wait about 10 mins or so and then the line just died, we waited about 5 mins without moving and almost jumped out of line but then it started moving again. We get into this room with Sleepy Beauty, Cinderella, and Princess Belle and Allison was going nuts. She loved meeting all of them (Lucas did also). So, we tried to hit up the rides that we didn't do the first time. Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, It's a small world (again), and the mini Indy cars (again). We also had a character lunch with Winnie the Poo and gang which wasn’t that great. It was a buffet place and even with reservations took a while to get a table. The buffet food wasn't that good either. Lucas totally digged the characters though, so he was super excited to see them. Allison was not. We pretty much had to leave the table with her when the characters got near. So, went back to the hotel mid afternoon to take naps and this time we were not so lucky. No one napped this time and we just kind of chilled for about an hour or so before heading back over there. We head back there around 5 ish or so and have dinner at some Inn type place that was pretty good actually. At least it was different than the usually burgers and fries. I recall even Allison ate a decent amount there. We had some time to kill before the 9pm fireworks show and walked around a bit and then I decided I was going to hit up Space Mountain before the fireworks. I decided not to take Lucas with me. I didn't want to risk the possible meltdown if he didn't like it. So, Laura took the kids with her and I waited in line. It took about 25 mins or so to get on. The wait was kind of cool and it was actually a nice peaceful 25 mins without having to drag the kids thru the line. The ride was pretty awesome... better than I expected. It was cool how you couldn't really see where you were going most of the time and the visuals/sounds with the ride were cool. I digged it. Laura and the kids had their spot picked out for the fireworks and I get there around 8:45ish and Laura says she is taking Allison and going the restroom. She gets back like 5 til 9 and then Lucas then says he needs to go (of course). So, about 3 mins after the fireworks start I take Lucas to the restroom but we didn't miss too much of it. The fireworks show was pretty cool as well as the light show they do with the Cinderella castle before it. After the show was over, we start heading for the bus stop thinking it may be the longest wait we would have. We get there and it is a decent line but we probably only waited about 15 mins or so. I think we were actually in bed by like 10pm or something that night. Last day in the parks was over and the buses were awesome and no major meltdowns.

Day5 (trip back)
We were going to maybe hit up the pool before our flight which was like around 2 ish or something. But, we decided against it and just hung out and headed to the airport. The flight back and stuff was pretty good with the kids. They actually did really well the whole trip. I think we ended up getting home around 6 ish or so. I thought it was a great trip. The parks/resorts were very clean and well done. The crowds were not awful (though I have nothing to compare it to). I think the kids had a blast. We would go back again... but at least not for a couple of years.