Hanging with the Mouse . . . Mickey, that is.

I'm not going to write a wrap-up like I did for Universal, because we've been touring Mouseland yearly for seven years.  This was only our second year going to Universal.  We waited to go to the Universal parks because my kidlet is a rollercoaster fiend and she wasn't tall enough for Universal's coasters until last year.  Plus some of those rides are seriously dark and scary (The Mummy--wicked cool, but a dark ride.  Spiderman--dark 3-D ride.)

We tend to go to Disney World in September for numerous reasons: 

1) It used to be less crowded, but the crowds have increased due to international marketing by Disney.  Tons of people arrive in large groups from numerous South American locations and the United Kingdom. How do I know this?  When you go on the Epcot silver ball ride (forgot the name) you input your location, and at the end there is a world map and it pinpoints locations. It's still less crowded than summer.  I think the longest wait we had was ten minutes long.  Now, this was EXCLUDING the majority of the Fantasyland rides, which could have a wait of 45-60 minutes or Toy Story at Disney Studios.  THAT's the time to get a Fast Pass and move on to another ride. In fact, we did this with the Peter Pan ride.

2) Disney had a deal that you can get the Disney food plan for 'free'.  In the past, the food plan was a better deal, but it's still beneficial considering the prices they charge at most amusement parks.  The food plan offers one counter service (meal, drink & dessert), one snack, and one dinner (entree, drink & dessert) per night of Disney hotel occupation.  They used to offer an appetizer and include tip, but that disappeared last year.  It was a HUGE amount of food.  We stayed in a hotel for five nights, but played in the parks for six days.  We would split a monster breakfast between the three of us (bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes AND a biscuit, plus two drinks)--Yeah, it was enough food to fill three of us up!  We'd split the two other counter services over lunch (we ate a lot of pizzas--some of the meals came with a side salad). For dinner, I had made reservations at various 'countries' in Epcot, which is why we went to Epcot four out of the five nights: Japan, Italy, Morocco, and Mexico.  One one of the other nights we ate at the Yak and Yeti in Animal Kingdom.

3) Early September is pre-lovebug season.  The last few weeks of September are 'lovebug' season--trust me, we went there numerous times during lovebug season. Now, these creatures don't bite or hurt you, but seem to seriously swarm.  Slightly smaller than lightning bugs, they are butt-butt breeding and are EVERYWHERE.  They are a serious nuisance to drivers, plugging up a car's air intake, cementing themselves to your windows, and I think they can even ruin a car's paint job if they aren't removed promptly.

4)  Since we've gone to WDW so much, we know where everything is and the most efficient way to get there. Sometimes it pays off not to have to stand around with a map in your hand trying to figure out where to go next.  We also hit the rides we like the most numerous times, skipping the other rides (Snow White, Toon Town) or only riding them once (Peter Pan and Pooh).

This time around we didn't spend much time in Fantasyland.  There is some serious renovation going on.  From what I hear, they are building a Nemo ride, similar to the one at Disneyland. Plus revamping many entrances and building a new counter service restaurant.  

Here's a list of Margaret's breakdown of 'must-see' at each park.  Disclaimer, what you enjoy might differ from my opinion, also varies depending on age of child(ren) going with you:

MAGIC KINGDOM: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain (will get seriously wet if they have the water cannons locked and loaded), Stitch, Monster's, Inc, Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Mickey's Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Pooh.

DISNEY STUDIOS: Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story, The Muppets, Star Tours (closed for revamp), Little Mermaid show

ANIMAL KINGDOM: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, (Kali River Rapids--wet ride, we don't usually ride, but it's a good ride), It's Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur, .

EPCOT: Test Track, Soarin', Nemo (goes into The Seas and aquarium), Mission Space, And ALLthe countries. For little kids, they have a mask they take to each country to get a doo-dad attached.  Trust me, this makes it easier for the parent to get the kids to walk to the 'boring' countries.  For older kids (6 + to adults) they have a Kim Possible Secret Agent mission for many of the countries.  It's pretty fun, too!

TYPHOON LAGOON: Fun water rides, but must ride the Crush 'n' Gusher watercoaster!  Wicked fun!

BLIZZARD BEACH: not my fave water park, but there are some good rides. This park kills my ankles while climbing the stairs to the water flumes.

These rides are simply a smattering of the fun available at WDW.  If you think you might want to go, then check out THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD.  And if you have little kids, well, I still have my spreadsheet about all the rides (dark, wet, height requirements, scary, etc.) and I'll be happy to send it to you.

That's it for now.  Hopefully, I'll be in a writing mood next week

Write on!