Greeting from Orlando International Airport - July 5, 2006
I will start with the only super-negative part.. my flight home is delayed. I was scheduled to take off at 10:05 PM. After being dropped off by Disney's Magical Express at around 7:30 PM, we found out that all flights to the North-East had been delayed. It is now 10:38... at least I have a WiFi Signal to post my report with until we leave at a newly scheduled 2:45 AM!!!
TRIP SCHEDULE: July 2,2006 - July 5, 2006
(A rather short stay, however after my friend and I have wanted to spend the 4th at EPCOT center for some time, we were motivated to do so after another set of friends said that they wanted to as well.)
THE PLACE: Disney's Beach Club Resort.
(Originally, we were planning to stay at Port Orleans - no Annual Pass discounts were being offered - but at the last minute, they opened up some rooms to Annual Pass Holders at select resorts - We jumped ship and landed at the Beach Club for just about the price of Port... I have always wanted to stay at this hotel!!!)
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:
Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours on July 3 till 4 AM!!!!
EPCOT Extra Magic Hours on July 4 till 1 AM
Access to Sand-Bottom-Pool at Beach Club Resort
"Sneak Peak" ride on Pirates of the Carribean!!! (scheduled to open on the 7th, but it was open on the 3rd - went on it at 3 AM... how many people can say that???)
"52nd Street" played the American Heritage Theater. (Billy Joel Cover Band - as native New Yorker, I am required to love Billy Joel)
Oh did I forget the F I R E W O R K S at EPCOT on July 4th??? AWESOME!!!
Other Hightlights:
Rode Expedition Everest again. (Rode it 2x on opening day, line was actually longer this trip, but worth the wait - missed pouring rain while on cue line by only seconds before reaching covered part of line.)
Tried Mission SPACE "green." (the whimpy version) - MUCH BETTER than the regular version because it is the fun, without the sick!
NEGATIVES:
The excessive flight delays into NY (not WDW's fault)
The Crowds!!! - Of course, we expected it, but since we usually travel to WDW during the off-seasons, we saw a major difference. Rides like Soarin', Test Track, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc. had wait times in excess of 75-130 minutes! (The extra magic hours till 4 at MK helped with Splash and Big Thunder... by 2 AM, the waits were under 10 min. but even by 3:30AM, Space Mountain was still over 40 minutes. - Didn't ride that this trip.
Fireworks on the 4th...
We decided to spend the 4th of July at EPCOT. The American Adventure was a nice patriotic addition to the day. Since we love Illuminations, we figured EPCOT fireworks would be great. THEY WERE. After the regular showing of Illuminations, they did a (seemed like only 5 minutes or so) patriotic salute to america and blasted off a ton of fireworks. We didn't realize they were going to do it, but they augmented the show with blasts from above the American Adventure. There were a rediculous amount of fireworks used over the pavillion and in the center of the lake, 2 barges, noticably placed just for the additional fireworks lit-up to complement it. The finale filled the sky from 3 locations (the 2 in the lake and over America) and was very moving. I am not sure if it was any different from what they had done last year (I vaguely remember video posted here on WDWM) but it was cool viewing in person.
Other Comments:
We had dinner at Rose and Crown (England, EPCOT) - the Chicken Pasty is not bad.
Though I was told that you could see the smoke trail from the shuttle launch yesterday - we missed it.
Well, I am getting tired and I will have work tomorrow whenever I land in NY. I am going to try and curl up on a chair here in MCO and catch some sleep.:snore: :wave:
I will start with the only super-negative part.. my flight home is delayed. I was scheduled to take off at 10:05 PM. After being dropped off by Disney's Magical Express at around 7:30 PM, we found out that all flights to the North-East had been delayed. It is now 10:38... at least I have a WiFi Signal to post my report with until we leave at a newly scheduled 2:45 AM!!!
TRIP SCHEDULE: July 2,2006 - July 5, 2006
(A rather short stay, however after my friend and I have wanted to spend the 4th at EPCOT center for some time, we were motivated to do so after another set of friends said that they wanted to as well.)
THE PLACE: Disney's Beach Club Resort.
(Originally, we were planning to stay at Port Orleans - no Annual Pass discounts were being offered - but at the last minute, they opened up some rooms to Annual Pass Holders at select resorts - We jumped ship and landed at the Beach Club for just about the price of Port... I have always wanted to stay at this hotel!!!)
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:
Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours on July 3 till 4 AM!!!!
EPCOT Extra Magic Hours on July 4 till 1 AM
Access to Sand-Bottom-Pool at Beach Club Resort
"Sneak Peak" ride on Pirates of the Carribean!!! (scheduled to open on the 7th, but it was open on the 3rd - went on it at 3 AM... how many people can say that???)
"52nd Street" played the American Heritage Theater. (Billy Joel Cover Band - as native New Yorker, I am required to love Billy Joel)
Oh did I forget the F I R E W O R K S at EPCOT on July 4th??? AWESOME!!!
Other Hightlights:
Rode Expedition Everest again. (Rode it 2x on opening day, line was actually longer this trip, but worth the wait - missed pouring rain while on cue line by only seconds before reaching covered part of line.)
Tried Mission SPACE "green." (the whimpy version) - MUCH BETTER than the regular version because it is the fun, without the sick!
NEGATIVES:
The excessive flight delays into NY (not WDW's fault)
The Crowds!!! - Of course, we expected it, but since we usually travel to WDW during the off-seasons, we saw a major difference. Rides like Soarin', Test Track, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc. had wait times in excess of 75-130 minutes! (The extra magic hours till 4 at MK helped with Splash and Big Thunder... by 2 AM, the waits were under 10 min. but even by 3:30AM, Space Mountain was still over 40 minutes. - Didn't ride that this trip.
Fireworks on the 4th...
We decided to spend the 4th of July at EPCOT. The American Adventure was a nice patriotic addition to the day. Since we love Illuminations, we figured EPCOT fireworks would be great. THEY WERE. After the regular showing of Illuminations, they did a (seemed like only 5 minutes or so) patriotic salute to america and blasted off a ton of fireworks. We didn't realize they were going to do it, but they augmented the show with blasts from above the American Adventure. There were a rediculous amount of fireworks used over the pavillion and in the center of the lake, 2 barges, noticably placed just for the additional fireworks lit-up to complement it. The finale filled the sky from 3 locations (the 2 in the lake and over America) and was very moving. I am not sure if it was any different from what they had done last year (I vaguely remember video posted here on WDWM) but it was cool viewing in person.
Other Comments:
We had dinner at Rose and Crown (England, EPCOT) - the Chicken Pasty is not bad.
Though I was told that you could see the smoke trail from the shuttle launch yesterday - we missed it.
Well, I am getting tired and I will have work tomorrow whenever I land in NY. I am going to try and curl up on a chair here in MCO and catch some sleep.:snore: :wave:
