Last minute Disney Trip

We usually take at least one Disney trip in the winter during January or February and with annual passes and other membership cards expiring, we decided to go the last weekend in February. I had also thought it may be a slower weekend since Valentines/President’s Day week is usually very busy. Kellie had a Dr appointment at 7:30 Friday morning so as soon as we were done with it we headed south. We got in to Orlando just after 1:00PM at Disney’s Old Key West, one of our favorite places to stay, checked in and grabbed a bite to eat at Olivia’s for lunch. We stayed at OKW on our last trip to Food and Wine Festival in October and actually got the same room both times, studio 3316, by chance.A new show had opened the week before at Hollywood Studios, the American Idol Experience, and the previous ride opening was there also, Toy Story Midway Mania, so I knew the crowds would be bad there, but against my better judgment, we went anyway. Something I typically do before we go to Disney is a little research on what’s going on, ride closures, etc, I didn’t do that this time. When we got there just after 2:00 it was CRAZY. It was ESPN weekend and there were tons of people, sports celebrities, and sports shows going on. The whole front of the hat was blocked from view down Hollywood Blvd by a stage with tv cameras and a jumbo tron. We detoured around it and headed back to TSM but as predicted the wait was 90 minutes. When we got back around to where the American Idol Experience was, there was a Block Party going on in the street, similar to a parade, so we stopped to watch it and then headed out to EPCOT.

EPCOT was probably not the greatest choice either because Friday was Evening Extra Magic Hours meaning there would be more people there since the park was open late for resort guests only. We rode the Seas Nemo ride for Kellie, Spaceship Earth, and went to Mexico since she likes to ride the Three Caballeros ride there and see if there was ANY chance of getting a reservation for San Angel in. Fat chance, and the ride was backed up further than I’ve seen it in years so we decided to head to the Boardwalk area and eat at Spoodles. Afterward we decided to head back to the room to retire early so we could get to the park for Rope Drop Saturday morning.

Kriss and I both woke up early Saturday and got dressed and grabbed a bite to eat at Olivia’s again, our Dining Experience card, 20% discount, was expiring that day so we used it whenever we could. We got to Hollywood Studios right after 8:00, the park opened at 9:00, so we thought we were doing good until we saw what we thought was a full parking lot. Fortunately it was because people were there before the 7:00 start of the ESPN 5k run and apparently there were no parking attendants and they were just scattered around. We got a very good spot and headed to the entrance to get in. As usual they opened the turnstiles about 10-15 minutes before 9:00 and let us go to “the rope” which was moved forward towards the hat and I was right on it. After a few minutes out walks the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders who posed for pics and signed autographs before helping countdown to the park opening/rope drop and then scurried out of the way before being run over.

We got to ride Toy Story Mania thanks to me getting fastpasses when we first got there, a short standby line when the park opens, and no one there to take our fastpass when we went to ride the second time so we got to go again. Kellie also likes to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show so we went there next and then to Magic Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom seemed crazy at first but it really wasn’t too bad. I went straight to Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger spin and got fastpasses. While we waited we so the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor Comedy Club which we hadn’t been to in a while. We had actually seen it by luck a while back when it was open for a preview before the official opening. There was still a little time left before we could ride Buzz so Kellie and I went to ride the Teacups, she loves to spin. I also grabbed some Winnie the Pooh fastpasses so we could ride it later, the machine also spit out surprise passes for Mickey’s Philharmagic 3D show, not the first time that’s happened either. After Buzz we went to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. We usually eat there because they had a really good sandwich but now there is pretty much only fried foods and a tuna sandwich. Their kids menu is terrible too, choices are a salad or mac and cheese. Kellie doesn’t eat any kind of pasta and salad as one of two choices on a kids menu? What Imagineer dreamed that brilliant idea up? So you have to buy the adult version of chicken nuggets for the kids, that’s the whole plan I believe on their part. We did get to ride the Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Winnie, and Mickey’s Philharmagic. I wanted to go to the Tiki room and Kriss wanted to make a pit stop so we were going to shoot around the castle through Liberty Square and stop at the restrooms between there and Adventureland. When we popped out at Liberty Square there was a wall of people, guess what time the 3 o’clock parade started today? So Kriss had to wait a little bit longer but we had a really good spot to watch it. They are doing the Block Party thing at Magic Kingdom too and the float with Mickey and Minnie stopped right in front of us for the performance. After that we went to the Tiki room and then wanted to go to Downtown Disney for a while so I grabbed some fastpasses for Jungle Cruise because we found out last year that its more fun at night and we had planned on coming back after dinner. We rode the boat back to the TTC from Magic Kingdom and went to Downtown Disney. Weather was real nice all day, low 80′s.

I have been using shampoo bars from Basin for years now and always get them here since they offer a discount to annual passholders. I try to time when to buy them by how many I have left and when we are going back but had misjudged for the first time in over 4 years and had to use Kriss’ shampoo for the week before we left. Then there is the obligatory stop at Ghirardelli for free chocolate samples before checking out the stores for some window shopping. We also put our name in at Rainforest Cafe, 90 min wait, but we actually waited this time instead of bolting to hard Rock. Dinner was good but we were feeling the effects of the day by the time we were done eating so we headed back to Old Key West and after a quick stop at the Gurlging Suitcase, they accept the 20% discount there too, went to the room for bed. Kellie had passed out in the car on the way even.

I had considered getting up to go to Hollywood Studios again for a few minutes before leaving town but the weather was not sounding like good park weather so had kind of planned to sleep in a bit Sunday morning. However the people in the room next to us apparently had other plans at 6:30AM when we kept hearing a baby, which I can understand, but the boy that was screaming DADDY at the top of his lungs over and over for an hour and the mother that talked louder than a Baptist preacher on top of the slamming of doors, drawers, and cabinets was enough to hurry us out of the bed and start packing. If you were in room 3315 you know who you are! Not everyone goes to the parks daily or wants to get up early every single day of their trip guys, don’t act like you’re the only ones around.

After another breakfast at Olivia’s we headed back home because the storms were supposed to be bad, possible snow in Savannah Sunday night on top of high winds and temps dropping low, so we wanted to get on the road and get home. Plus it was bike week in Daytona so there were lots of bikes on I-95 plus all the sissies that trailer their bike to Daytona. Silly yuppies, trailers are for boats!

Spaceship Earth

Kellie, Kriss, and the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders