The Schools out for Summer Trip! - Completed About This Page:

[TheGoof]

Schools Out for Summer Celebration Trip


When: Wed 6/22 – Wed 6/29
Who: TheGoof (40) 17th trip
MaxGoof (10) 13th trip



Wed 6/22 – The Trip Begins

This was one of those last minute deals that could not be passed on. School was winding down, and I was looking for a possible way that MaxGoof and I could take a few days and head down to the World to start off the summer. Disneyphile’s Wife had categorically ruled out any possibility of joining us. She tolerated the trip in April, but June would be too hot and crowded for her tastes.

I found an unbeatable bargain on Expedia that got Max and I down and in a hotel, round trip airfare and a week at a Hampton Inn in Kissimmee for $659.00. That was certainly a price that was hard to beat, a rental car and park admission for Max later and we were set.

I booked this about 3 weeks ahead so, we did not have a long time to anticipate, and the day finally arrived. I had taken Wed off, Max had to go to school for the morning. I spent the day packing up and making sure we were ready to leave as soon as Max got home on the bus.

I finished up just about the time I heard him come on in, roughly 2pm. He got cleaned up, and we headed out. We needed to stop for a couple of things, we hit the supermarket for some breakfast bars, and we hit Burger King for a quick lunch.

Then we decided to skip the stop for new sneakers that we both desperately need, and drove to the airport. On our way the skies opened up and we drove through some pretty strong downpours.

We made it to the off-site parking garage with plenty of time however, and dropped off the car. The shuttle took us over to the Laguardia and we soon were checked in. When we got to the gate, we settled in. The gate area was very crowded, but we found a couple of seats. As we got closer to our time, we had gotten there very early for our 6:30 flight, I got up and checked the departure board, only to discover that our gate had been changed. They had not announced it, but we headed over to the new gate. A little bit later I finally did hear an announcement about the gate change. More importantly however, our flight was now delayed.

As time went on, they announced that our plane was on its way, and when it got there we would hopefully be on our way quickly. Then they announced that it had been cleared to land. A few minutes later, they apologized and told us it had been diverted to Newark NJ, and we were now unsure as to when it would be getting to Laguardia, if at all. Several other flights were now being cancelled, so it was beginning to look like we might not get out tonight.

Fortunately, our plane did eventually find it’s way to Laguardia, and we boarded and took off about 9:30pm, only about 3 hours late.

Disneyphile’s Wife had picked up a small portable DVD player for Max to give me for Father’s day, and with this, Max and I watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkiban. This plane did not have its own video.

The movie was not quite over when we landed in Orlando about 11:30pm. We headed over to baggage claim, got our bags and off to National Rent a Car. Grabbed our car from the Emerald Aisle and onto the highway toward Kissimmee.

We made good time, since there was little traffic, and despite some misgivings as we found we had to deal with a detour for 192, we got to our Hotel about midnight. The Hampton Inn was nice enough, and for the price we paid, you won’t hear me complain. The room was fine, 2 double beds was ok with just the boys. It was big enough, and it had wired high speed internet. It was certainly clean. If I have any complaint it was that the air conditioner worked, but the room never got cold. It would be cool, but I like a cold room for sleeping, and it did not work well enough for that.

It also did not have a refrigerator, which would have been nice. Many Hamptons do, but this one did not. Again, it was perfectly comfortable and was well worth the price I paid for it.

We settled in as quickly as possible. I got Max Goof to go to bed, and I unpacked our bags, and was soon in bed myself.

I called down for a wake up call for 6:30am and was soon asleep.



Thursday 6/23

We got up around 7:15 and were out the door by 8:15am. I had really hoped to get to Magic Kindgom in time for opening ceremonies, but we did not quite make it. By the time we parked, picked up Max’s MYM pass, crossed Bay Lake on the Monorail, and in the front gate it was 9:30am.

We headed straight back to Max’s favorite, Splash Mountain. We grabbed a Fast Pass for 10 – 11, and hopped on the ride while it still had a 5 minute wait.

We then headed over to Big Thunder Mountain.

It was now time for our first Fast Pass for Splash, so we grabbed another one for 11 – 12, and then used the original one.

Max begged me to go over to Tom Sawyers Island, so off we went over to the island. Max played in the fort for a while, until it was time for us to head back for our 2nd Fastpass.

We rode Splash and Max lost his hat. Max was already starting into the “I wants” so he and I were having a “discussion” when a cast member named Claire asked him what was the matter. He mentioned the lost hat, and she gave us a “No Strings Attached” voucher for a brand new floppy hat. I told her I wasn’t sure when we had bought it, wasn’t even sure it was from here, although I think it was.

We then headed over to Crystal Palace for our lunch with Pooh and his friends. Max is at that age where the characters don’t mean much to him, but I like Crystal Palace, it is a buffet and a decent meal for the price.

After lunch we went over to Tony’s Town Square to confirm the time for our dinner reservation. Then we stopped at the Chapeau and picked up a new hat, which would have been $22. (Unfortunately we managed to lose it as well by the end of the week. Max swears he had given it to me, and I lost it, I don’t remember )

We stopped in the Candy Store, and while I spoke to Disneyphile’s Wife on the cell phone, Max made an 18 inch Goofy’s Sour Powder Stick. For those of you that remember Pixie Sticks, this is basically a tube filled with colored, flavored powdered sugar. The difference here is that you get to fill it yourself, and the tube is clear, so you have a multi-layered Pixie Stick.

From there we headed up Main Street and stopped in the Main Street Cinema. This is now the home of the Virtual Magic Kingdom game. Gone is Steamboat Willie, which is a shame, and in its place is video about the new game. There are about 6 terminals set up for logging into the new game and creating your own character. Characters that are created here get a special tag that says “Born in Park.”

In addition you can pick up Quests for the game, which are basically trivia scavenger hunts through Fantasyland, Frontierland and Adventureland. The Quests are a series of multiple choice questions with the answers having a scratch off mark. There are 3 levels for each land, and completing the level will get you a trading card with a unique unlock code printed on it. This code can be entered in the VMK game to give your VMK character Virtual Prizes.

But the best thing is that if you finish all 3 quests, you are entitled to take part in a special VMK tour of the Magic Kingdom. The tour is open to all guests that complete the VMK Quest cards, you must successfully complete the quest and then you can sign up for one of the tours.

I’ll discuss the tour further when we get to Wed 6/29.

Anyway, after we got MaxGoof signed up for VMK, and grabbed the Quest information, we headed over to Tomorrowland. We grabbed a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear, and then rode the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority or what I will always call the WedWay People Mover.

Mostly we enjoyed relaxing on this ride, although I got a little tired of Max using the Pixie Stick like a laser gun.

From here we went and watched the Carousel of Progress. Then it was time for our Buzz Lightyear ride. After shooting lots of targets, we went over to Space Mountain and got a FastPass for between 7 and 8pm.

We had a little bit of time now before dinner, so we started to do the Fantasyland Quest. This brought us through Fantasyland, and we had to ride the Snow White’s Scary Adventure ride to get one of the answers. When we had found all of these, we headed into Liberty Square and hopped on Haunted Mansion. This has always been a favorite of mine, and I used to have to practically drag Max on it, but although its not one of his favorites, he doesn’t mind it now.

As Max and I left with our Hitchhiking Ghost, we headed back to Main Street and on to Tony’s Town Square for our dinner reservation. We were soon seated and Max wasted no time ordering his favorite Spaghetti. I personally do not care for Italian Food, so Tony’s would not be my first choice. Max on the other hand loves their Spaghetti and he had asked for dinner here. I had a plain NY Strip steak, which was fine.

After an enjoyable dinner including dessert, we rushed back to Space Mountain and made it just before our Fast Pass had expired.

On the way out, Max and another similarly aged young man, got into a bit of a shoving match/race to see who would be first on the ramp. It was in fun, not angry, so I would not have objected, but they were bumping into the people ahead of them, so I had to put a stop to it. Eventually I had to grab my son, the other boy I did not know and his parents were not with him, and pull him away. This got a little out of hand, and I had to sit him down once we got off the ramp. As the two of us worked through this, we ended up outside of Space Mountain, where we were finally able to talk about proper manners.

When we completed that chore, we discovered that my Cell Phone had gone missing, and we headed back to the exit of Space Mountain. Fortunately, a very nice lady, noticed me looking for something and asked me if I was missing a cell phone? She directed me to the CM she had turned it in to. He then managed to get hold of the manager that was in the process of bringing it to Lost and Found. Soon, reunited with my brand new Cell Phone, we moved on.

We called Disneyphile’s Wife and had a chat with her, then stopped at the Tea Cups and took a spin. Then over to Adventureland and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was coming up on time for Wishes, so we went over to the Carousel and Max rode that while waiting. We then watched from right by the ropes to the left of the carousel, when facing toward the Castle. I find this to be a very unique area to watch from, and it is definitely cool to look straight up and be able to see the fireworks from both sides.

I found it amusing, because prior to the start, there were many people lining up to watch from there, and invariably they all look towards the castle. It is a common misconception that the fireworks are over the castle. It was always fun to be back in this part of the park, when Fantasy in the Sky was about to be performed. People would argue with you about it, saying they were sure they were shot off from the castle. Now of course, Wishes does have some that are from there, but the majority of them are still actually set off behind the Magic Kingdom.

Anyway, Wishes is designed to be seen from the front of the castle, but this is still a fun way to view them, particularly if you are not partial to crowds.

When Wishes was over, we made our way back to Splash Mountain, and managed to ride it 2 more times before the park closed. On our way out, a CM noticing that we were a little damp, asked us how many times we had ridden Splash Mountain. We told her that it was 5 times, 3 times earlier today with 2 fast passes, and 2 tonight. She then asked if we would be coming back, and we said definitely. She then reached into her pocket and gave us 3 rider switch passes, which could be used to go on Splash Mountain through the Fast Pass lane for up to 3 guests. She said, “This way you can save your Fast Passes for something else,” with a smile. What a magical end of the day!

We stopped at Casey’s on Main Street and grabbed a couple of Hot Dogs.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a Walgreen’s, picked up some soda, water, a Styrofoam cooler, a small fan and some other basic stuff for the room.

We got back to the room, spent a little time winding down, and got into bed. It was about 1:40am.