After a cold fall, it has warmed back up a bit out here.  We have been getting a few hours of work done nearly everyday at the crib.  The highlights include:

• The front bin has been removed.
• Fresh sub-floor covering the greenhouse sides, the front bin, and the opposite side up to where the stairs are planned.
• Bunch of structural repairs and reinforcements
• Two lost windows covered with plywood for the winter
• Still trying to evict the pigeons.
• A new pit cover in the greenhouse.

I want/hope to make a big swoop of progress to finish up a bit this weekend, and get some pictures taken again.  The next big steps will be:

• Framing for windows on the front wall.  Probably install them in the Spring anyway
• A Staircase!
• Electrical on the 2nd floor.  An outlet or two will be better then these extension cords.
• Cover that last window.
• Add solid sheathing between greenhouse and ‘house’

The size and shape of the main room has really become apparent.  It looks pretty cool.  All this floor to walk around on – amazing.  What else could you do up here?

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Ok more melodramatic then it sounds.  Going back over our trip, you heard all the highlights, nothing bad besides a few lines…..well, here’s the dirt.

First off, the trip was designed to be as cheap as possible.  Knowing that you do not go to Disney for the hotel experience, we picked the cheapest level, the value resorts.  The rooms were clean, beds comfy.  The maids kept setting up displays in the windows containing any balloons, stuffed animals or other souvenirs they came across.  Cute.  We did pick the most Disney themed value hotel, All-Star Movies.  Huge decorations, but well done to every detail.
The hotel bad side…We did pick the standard room, not the preferred rooms.  I knew this would mean a further walk to the food and bus stops. In reality, the walk wasn’t that far.  The cafeteria was another issue.  This was the last week of the free food plan.  Which means everyone was there.  The single cafeteria could not keep up at peak volume, and definitely could not sit everyone.

A odd thing to note about the free food plan, which runs every year.  They make you use all parts of each meal.  Breakfast included a meal, a drink, and either a 2nd drink or a fruit.  Since we bought the bottomless coffee mug (probably unneeded after all) we had to keep getting an extra juice, or keep loading up on fruit.  However, we would pack mule these extra into the park for a snack later on.  They do make sure the size matches the eater, so we had to shuffle large drinks onto the adult trays and swap back at the table.  The same thing for dinner, a meal plus desert.  Just try to tell them you’re not hungry and to skip desert.

The buses were an issue here.  Besides having long lines in most of the queues, non-prime times ran combined buses.  This meant they stopped at all the All-Star resorts, Sports, Music, then Movies.  This meant catching a midday bus a challenge, if there was room, you had to stand.  We always new where the bus stop was….it always had the longest line by two-fold.  After a large night time event, 4 buses would fill up and leave before you got a chance.  Coming or going, Movies was a cattle call.  Most buses, expect to stand.  Oh yeah, Value resorts are the furthest away, so the rides are longer.
Food and reservations.  I only booked reservations for the character meal ahead of time, which was still difficult a week before.  If you are going during a free dining plan period…plan plan plan.  I stopped at the concierge desk every morning and night, just looking for a sit down place to eat.  This was a major factor in decided which park we went to, since we did not do park hoppers.  On a day where we could not get reservations, I checked in at a couple of restaurants, and they were so busy that they were not even accepting walk-ins.   We did use our entire allotment of meals in the end, but the last night, we picked Mason up a counter-service meal (cheese pizza) then we used 2 sit down meals for in-room pizza delivery.  At least you got a 2-liter and a pair of deserts with it.  During the week we laughed at pizza service, but it wiped out our account later on.  Reagan actually ate the cheese pizza, and Mason and I split the new pepperoni one.
Use the weekly park schedule.  The Extra Magic Hours are good to know about.  We never got the extra hour in the morning benefit…slept late, no alarm, body used to the next timezone over.  The longer we took in the morning, the worse the breakfast line was.  We did use the evening hours to our benefit.  TIP:  Go to Epcot on an Magic Hours night, watch Illuminations, then find something else to do.  You have to show your room keys to get into rides.  You will see the masses pouring out to the buses.  Wait an hour or two, get some rides with no wait time, then get a chance for a seat on the bus.

Booking:  Only tip I remember is that the passes default to park-hoppers, and for all days that you are scheduled to be there.  This includes the day to arrive and the day you leave.  Our flights landed at 4pm and left at 7am.  We would not need a park ticket on those days.  Double check this, plan on some hotel pool time or go to Downtown Disney and save 2 days of tickets.
Fast-pass.  Use them.  What is a fast-pass…a ticket for standing in line.  You can walk up to a crowded ride, find the fast-pass machine, swipe your hotel card, and you get a ticket for what time to come back.  You need one for each person of course, so bring all the hotel keys.  We found a huge benefit by having one person run over to another ride and get passes.  Then meet up again for another ride or two, perhaps lunch.  When you get back to your ride, there is a separate line that takes you right to the front.  Do it quickly, as they limit the number of passes allotted each day on rides.  They could be gone before noon.

Epcot.  We refer to World Showcase as the Epcot death march.  Really, it is so big that if you go here first, you will be amazed how small the other parks seem.  Since the Food and Wine festival was happening this week, there were some good wine samples around.  You also can’t pass Germany without a local beer, pretzel, and some kind of worst/schnitzel.  We found a two-drink minimum let you forget your feet for the day.  However, I kept shaking my head at people who had too many and argued with their kids that they needed the the All-Star Music bus, not this one that says all-star “resorts”.  2 should also be the limit.  Interesting side note:  There is no alcohol at the Magic Kingdom, yet that is where people are the most grumpiest.  Connection?

Meals.  Before, we tried to keep costs down and did snacks and counter service meals.  Budgeting $75 per person a day was not hard to stay under.  Since we had the meal plan, we were introduced to more sit-down restaurants.   They are so worth it.  Yes, we picked some expensive ones, and ordered the most expensive plate most of the time.  There are some reasonable places to choose from.  Sitting down, in air-conditioning, being served, refills; wow.  The relaxation, full belly, and a break for the feet are worth it.

Could we beat the true cost of a meal plan?  Yes, skimp save a couple of bucks.  The extras we pocketed from breakfast saved us from getting a snack just hours later.  Getting used to sit-down was the hard part, but I will never go back.  Our estimate, at least $700 eaten. This trip, we probably came out ahead to the advertised cost vs what we ate.
Bonus:  Chase Disney rewards card.  I cashed in $275 ‘Disney Dollars’ in to use for tips, more snacks, and whatever toys we picked up on the way.  I really used it for the ‘drinks’ the plan did not cover.  We used this up on the last day.  We also brought $200 cash, and for a few little things, but mainly tips, we came back with over $100.

What would I change….

Staying at a value resort.  Dunno.  If it meant being able to afford a Disney trip or not.  I would stay here again.  Cost of a closer room, possibly worth it.  The moderate resorts do have multiple dining choices and extra bus stops.
Free meal plan…oh yes, and I’ll have the Steak and Shrimp please.  Would I buy a meal plan…..hmmmm.  I dunno.  You could eat cheaper then face value, but you enjoy the food more when you try to use it up.
Time of year.  About perfect.  Few hot muggy days, some perfect days.  Halloween was a good temp, early December was a little cool, but it’s empty.  School was in, so it was little kids only.  No middleschool/teenagers to be seen.  Just families with small kids.  Homeschooling is cool.
Kids.  Diapers and Disney are probably not a good mix.  Strollers too big for lines and buses.  Plenty of scares.  I have never seen so many kids in the hotel pool wearing life jackets.  Get a few years on them.  I bet 4 is good starting age, they can walk.

Airlines….First, the Disney luggage/transfer thing was really cool.  Didn’t have to pick up your bag at the airport, it showed up in your room.  Didn’t even have to check them back into the airport.  Even better, the hotel prints your boarding pass.  You only have to walk through security.

However the airlines get worse.  Now they charge per bag.  Then they forget to load it on the plane….and they only “guarantee a best effort to get you bags to the destination within 24 hours of your flight.”  Nice service you pay for.  I also noticed that the flight crew is there “primarily for your safety” now, and will only “try to help if you need anything during the flight”….like a $4 snack.
Repeat as is, definitely.   Hopes…move up a hotel bracket.  Dreams….Go for deluxe hotel/plans

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Our last day of fun brought us the the newest of Disney Parks, Animal Kingdom.  Just after our last trip, stories of a new roller coaster being built surfaced.  From what we kept hearing, it was a great one.  That was the plan, get through the gates, head towards Asia, and get the line out of the way before the crowds really packed in.

Awesome is all I have to say.  I knew there was some illusion to a set of broken tracks a head of you.  But I won’t tell you what happens next.  I have never seen any coaster do this before.  There is a huge, steep drop that leads into a smooth banked turn.  Fun Fun Fun.  Do it.  Worth it.  Just watch out for that pesky yeti.

From there, we headed to Dino-land.  It is the Midway style area.  There is a little fun coaster there, that does unlock the car at some point from the wheels, letting you spin after each sharp corner.  The main attraction here is the Dinosaur ride.  A wacky scientist wants to transport a dinosaur back with you after sending your jeep through an adventure to find it.  When Mason was 5, he asked us when the ride stopped if we got our dinosaur.  Since there are monitors all around showing it wondering hallways and dented walls, we told him yes.  Then we spotted him peering around every corner.  He still loved the ride this time.

The Tree of Life is amazing to look through and find animals, but under it houses another 4D show, It’s Tough to be a Bug.  It is on par with Philharmagic for how good the 3D and 4D effects are, but I think the characters that appear, the fogger, air blasts, and water all build a better audience side experience.  There are those stinging wasps, spiders, and grubs to watch out for.

We had another great lunch at the Yak and Yeti Restaurant.  I thought the chicken sounded good, but since I was still set on getting my fill from the free food plan, steak and shrimp.  After lunch, we wondered around the Asia exhibits.  A good chuck of the park is a zoo.  However, Disney does a great job of not making it look like a zoo.  Instead of concrete walls, there are ruins that separate animals.  On the Africa safari, the clever mounds block the pits, and you can not see anything between you and the lions.  You’ll also notice that you will have a hard time finding the fences.  Luckily for us, there was a tiger roaming around, right near us.  Mason loves tigers.

There are two stage shows here, One for Nemo, and another for Lion King.  While a theatre is a good break from the heat and walking, we actually passed on these.  We were actually spent and looking for a short day.  We decided there wasn’t enough in Africa worth doing, nor did we want to take the time to go to Rafiki’s area.  These were things we had seen before.  We told Mason, that if we could leave early, we would hit the hotel pool.  That kid is part fish after all.  I got to test the underwater functions of our new digital camera.

Our bus to the airport would be leaving around 5.  7am flight.  Ugh.  The best part, is we would be in Des Monies before 4, and have time to eat and shop before heading home.  We did get a nice 2.5 layover in Dallas….I think.  Our luggage liked it so much, it decided to stay longer and take the next flight home.  There was a line of people missing bags from that flight.  Finally, American had it delivered around 11:00 that night.  I read their website…the will try to deliver your luggage within 24 hours of your flight.  That is their guarantee/service level??!?!  You pay $15/bag for this.

Anyway…awesome trip.  Reagan begs me for a return almost every week.  Oh yeah, that shock to the system?   It was 80 degrees when we got in the plane.  It was 38 when we got out.  We had some strange looks at the Target parking lot in Iowa.  We were the only ones wearing shorts and T shirts.  Everyone else had their winter parkas on.  We didn’t plan on you people messing up the weather while we were not looking.

I’ll add one more post….all the tips/complaints/insights/breakdowns next.  Might be handy…and how much did we eat?

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Before we arrived in Florida, we already had reservations for a character lunch on Wednesday at the Crystal Palace.  Obviously, this was a day we needed to be at the Magic Kingdom.  It is still just an amazing place to be.  Since we tried to get up and out early, we cut straight through the middle to reach Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain first.  Thunder Mountain is Mason’s all time favorite ride.

After seeing what Frontierland had to offer, We went over to Tom Sawyer island to explore for a bit, then landed in Liberty Square, where we hit the Haunted Mansion and a few other dark rides.  Finally, it was time for our late lunch, which we didn’t even get seated until another 40 minutes past our reservation.  The whole gang from the Hundred acre wood was there.

We spent the afternoon in Adventureland.  We had mixed feelings after hearing the Pirates of the Caribbean had been updated to include the movie themes.  Hmmm, you can’t mess with Reagan’s favorite ride.  There was an awesome new effect with Davey Jones starting the ride, and you could hear them looking for Jack Sparrow a few times, and could spotting him hiding around twice.  There was a room at the very end with him sitting amongst the treasure and talking and singing…..”and really bad eggs”.  Otherwise, the ride had not changed.  It was good.

Mason ended up doing the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse a 2nd time by himself as we had a snack at the bottom.  Took in the show at the Tiki room, and went for a Jungle Cruise.  We did a short loop catching Snow White and a ride on the Astro Orbiter.  We also took in seconds on Thunder Mountain and Pirates.  We found some food and waited in Liberty Square for the night time parade,  Spectromagic.  Very cool parade.  Everyone was wearing white, and hundreds of bulbs.  The giant demon float from Fantasia stopped, spewed smoke, and spread it’s wings right in front of us.   We went to a site next to the castle for the fireworks.  Had an excellent view of the castle, and of Tinkerbell, but most of the fireworks were behind the tree we were under.  The sprinklers were going next to us to hose off the building they were launching from, and we kept finding firework casing all around us.  How can you be that close and not see much?  Before retiring for the night, we did fly with Peter Pan, and Reagan and I kept catching some of the smallest details that we never noticed before.

Day 2.  The return.  We had been setting out to cover each park in a day, but realized that our extra day would be best served at the Magic Kingdom.  We could take our time and enjoy things more.  Just because it had been updated, we gave It’s a Small World a try.  Nice and fun still does not excuse getting that song stuck in your head.  Mickey’s PhilharMagic was next.  It is about the most amazing 4D experience here. It was Reagan’s pick.  The show has Mickey has a conductor, but Donald gets a hold of his magical wand and makes a mess of things and starts bouncing from most classic Disney films.  There are great special effects, fun 3D sights, and winds that shift along with the action.  Very cool!

We had lunch reservations at the Kona Cafe, which is at the Polynesian Resort across the lake.  We could re-enter the same park on our tickets, so this was no big deal.  We got to take a ride on the Monorail, which Mason had ranked nearly as cool as any of the regular rides.
Tomorrowland keeps getting the most updates.  Space Mountain was closed, again!  I think it was closed 5 years ago too!  Buzz Lightyears Space spin is a great game/ride.  Mason got the high score this year.  We did manage a couple of rides, but the lines were too long to keep trying to best each other.  Stitch’s Great Escape is a great dark experience.  Just don’t eat chili dogs before you go, hehe.  The newest thing was the Laugh Floor, from Monsters Inc.  We heard it was the monsters telling jokes and that it was interactive.  You could text in your own jokes for them to use. I will not give away how interactive this one really was.  Luckily, none of us got picked…or picked on.  We all like the Carousel of Progress, but it needs another new update, as the last one seemed a little to 1990.

We finally wrapped up the day by going back deeper into the park and seeing Ariels Grotto and Pooh’s spot, which are both for little kids, and wandered around the Toontown fair for a bit.  We took the easy way, by hopping one the big train and riding it back to the front gates.  We used our extra time this afternoon by taking a bus to the Boardwalk, to have diner and drinks there, then took their bus directly to Downtown Disney to finish our shopping.  Mason came home with….Legos.

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After flying in on Sunday and visiting Downtown Disney, we had started to create our battle plans.  EPCOT would be first come Monday morning.  This was due to the facts that there would be a fireworks show, and open stay until Midnight.

After waiting on a full bus, our first stop was Spaceship Earth.  Most of the ride was the same, but there were a few recent updates.  There is a fun interactive video screen in the vehicle.  After that we got a Fastpass to Test Track, then went a rode Mission:Space.  Since we went last time, there is a easier version that doesn’t spin.  The ride and experience is the same, but does not have quite the G-force as the regular version.  Test Track is still just an awesome ride.
After that, we headed to World Showcase.  There is a new  Kim Possible adventure, where you pick up a ‘Kim-unicator’ which tells you of a plot to take over the world happening in a given country.  Our first mission was to save the Jade Monkey in China.  It led us into shops and museums where – what you thought were artifacts – would interact with you.  Very clever and well done.  The videos on your Kim-unicator would give clues and not tell you what was next until you found where to be.  We did a 2nd mission in Germany.

This was a really cool idea, because it made kids interested in going around different countries, and got us into places you would never notice.  Awesome idea.  The EPCOT food and wine festival was also going on, so we ended up tasting wine from Australia and German beer.

We had some time before our lunch reservations, so we went back to Future World before going to lunch in China.  This was far too much backtracking, as your feet would tell us later in the day.  We had a great sit down meal, eating up another $100.  Sit down meals are a great break while at Disney.

After lunch, We had to check out the rest of the big attractions.  The Wonders of Life place has shut down, and it was acting as the convention center headquarters of the Food and Wine festival.  The shows, signings, and demos were here with a few vendors.  We then took in the Imagination pavilion doing both the ride and the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D show.  Disney has several 3D, if not 4D movies.  The whole theater moves and shakes, bubbles float by, things run around under your seats, and water sprays during the 3D movie.  Out of the 4 like this, I would probably rank this one last.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still awesome.

We stopped by the land, and there wasn’t much to catch our fancy at the moment.  The new ride, Soaring, had a huge line, and we didn’t feel like doing a show.  The Living with the Land boat ride was actually being redone.  However, I caught at the desk that the ‘Behind the seeds’ tour had openings for the tour starting in 20 minutes.  Each Disney park has a few premium tours that you do have to pay extra for.  I think this one was around $15.  During the tour, you get to walk through all the greenhouses for 75 minutes and see how they actually work and all the odd things they manage to grow.

The Living Seas has been converted into Nemo-land.  There were a few attractions there 5 years ago, but this is now the main theme.  I’m glad, I never really enjoyed the original version.  The ride was cute, and amazing on how they got the animation inside the real tanks.
After this Reagan went back to the hotel to crash, while Mason and I got on Mission:Space and Test Track again, followed by a trip to the other side of World Showcase for English Fish and Chips.  We camped out on a great lakeside spot ate and relaxed for an hour for the firework show.  IllumiNations has got to be one of the best firework/laser/fireball/light show I think I’ve seen.

After the show, there were hordes of people making their way out of the park.  I was about 9pm, and the park was open until midnight.  We watched the Circle of Life show and went back and hung out in the Seas area some more.  When we finally left, the bulk of the crowd had thinned out.  We only missed Ellen’s energy adventure, thinking we could do it during the late night, but it stops early.
Day 2 – Hollywood Studios

If we didn’t take Mason to the Star Tours stuff first, he would have exploded.  After that, we were around the corner from Muppet Labs.  We caught the 4D type show here which is very funny, has a live actor, and the theater ends up very damaged from a battle between the shotgun toting Swedish chef in the projection booth and the orchestra penguins that somehow gotten their flippers on a cannon.  This one is the oldest interactive 3D movie here, but does a great job surrounding you with action. 3rd on my list.

We wrapped around the back of the park quickly, taking in a show on Disney animation.  Since we have an older boy, we got to skip: Narnia, Little Mermaid show, Playhouse Disney show, and the Beauty and the Beast show.  If Mason was younger, or was a girl, we would have had to figure out how to fit all these in.  Luckily, he’s a 10 year old boy which means…..

Next stop, Rock N Roller coaster.  The limo needs to get across town to the Aerosmith show.  Mason was way too short 5 years ago, so he went on this time.  Me and him got the front row.  I forgot it started with a massive loop, then had an inverted corkscrew thing later on.  I don’t think Mason minded too much, since he did really notice or believe me when I said he was upside down.  He has since told everyone that he was upside down – twice.  We had some bribing to do to get him on the Tower of Terror.  Listening to people scream on it all day doesn’t help little nerves.   I know it was recently re-programmed to be more random.  It still starts out cool, but it went through 4 main drops, not just the 2 it used to.
We watched the Indiana Jones stunt show and the great movie ride. Before calling it a day.  We didn’t stay for Fantasmic, nor did we have a chance to see the new Lights Motor Action stunt show.  Sounds Dangerous was being redone, and we skipped the backlot tour.  We had no cares about seeing American Idol.  Easy day.

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