[buzz2001]

Day 4: (Part 2)
We decided to go to the final American Idol show to see what that was like. This show was a chance for the 7 winners of the day to perform to see who got the golden FP to the real American Idol show. There was 7 good contestants but three stood out among the crowd. It was a tough decision but the audience choose a 14 year old girl that had a great voice. She can't go to the real show until she is 16 but when that happens, she probably will be even better.

At this point we decided to head over to MK since it was open until midnight and plus the 3 magic hours...3:00am! As we got there, the crowds were boring in, but I think they were there to see Spectro Magic and Wishes. We worked our way to Buzz and got a FP. My daughter wanted to ride the cars so she went on that while we stand and watched Wishes from there. It started to sprinkle a bit so we sat in the grand stands of victory lane for aboiut 20 mins and then it stopped. We got lucky because they talked about rain for the day but all we got was that 20 mins worth (and that was it for the whole trip).

No one moved from there parade spot after Wishes because Spectro was starting up at 10p. So then we rode Buzz, Space Mtn was a 90 min wait so we went to Mickey's Philharmagic (10 min wait), HM (10 min wait), Big Thunder Mtn (20 min wait). Still feeling the Kali effects from the day before, we did want to get wet again so no Splash Mtn for us this day. By now, the parade was ending so we cross over to Adventureland and went on PoC (no wait). At this age, my DD did everything she wanted (except for Space Mtn) so now she needed some candy so we made a pit stop at the candy store on Main Street USA.

After that we called it a night. It was around midnight. We walked to the bus stop for CSR (first one at MK). A bus was waiting there and we boarded and rode back to the resort. There were only 7 people on the bus.

It was a long day!!

[evansfmly5]

You're the first report that I've seen about American Idol. It looks really cool. Did they have the song list posted? Were all the singers really good or can a prima donna like me try out... lol

[buzz2001]

Originally Posted by evansfmly5

You're the first report that I've seen about American Idol. It looks really cool. Did they have the song list posted? Were all the singers really good or can a prima donna like me try out... lol

I think they are pretty strict on the singers. We went to two shows and the final show had the winners of all 7 shows and they were all good but the top 3 were fantastic!

[buzz2001]

Originally Posted by Dopey

Thank you for the report and pictures.
Did you not find that the walls in that room are kind of "naked"? they are so white.

So buzz, did you send a picture of that menu to allearsnet.com? They always say that they are looking for the most up to date menus over there.

Yes, I'll be sending the to Deb.

[buzz2001]

Day 5:
We were able to sleep in this day since we did two parks on Sunday. We started this day by hanging out at the pool for the morning. The temps started to drop a bit on this day but it was still warm enough to sun bath. My DD's priorities are changing with age. It used to be slide time and now it sunbathing time. It was very relaxing. We got a table and a few lounge chairs by Siestas. We stay here until around 2pm and went back to the room for showers and a nap (well I napped).

Around 7pm my DD wanted to ride her 2 favorite rides again so we headed back to MGM for the EMH's to ride ToT and RnR. Now it was cold. I don't know the exact temps outside but it felt around 50º. I had to wear a sweatshirt for the first time ever at WDW. And I almost didn't pack any for the trip because it's never been cold for us in FL.

As we got to the entrance to DHS, the crowds were pouring in for everywhere, the boat launch, the tram, the buses and the parking lot. It was packed!!

I wanted to try Toy Story again but the FP's were sold out and the line was 90 mins. Only certain rides had FP available during EMH's and Toy Story was not one of them.

We got in line at RnR (40 min wait) because we thought we could get on before the EMH's started at 8pm. At that point, you need a room key to enter any rides, no more wrist band. By the time we got off, the line for RnR FP's was starting to go up the ramp entrance from Sunset Blvd. It was CROWDED to say the least. I don't know if it was because it was Presidents Day, school vacation week or a combination but it was way more crowded than anything we experienced last year during vacation week. So my DD went on ToT (again, 30 min wait and then we grabbed a burger at Rosie's. I grabbed a few FP's for ToT before we ate so that by the time we finished, my DD could ride it again three times. The crowds for ToT were not as big as Toy Story or RnR. Then we walked around the shops and while my DD shopped for some clothes. It was a good day, I just wish I was able to get back on Toy Story once again. It was around 10:30pm so we headed back to the resort.

[softychik]

Pepper Markets food looks good

[buzz2001]

Day 6:
We slept in again on Tuesday. Then we decided to have breakfast at the PM. I had the skillet breakfast which was scambled eggs, potatoes, sausage with a corn muffin. The coffee at the PM is very good. My DD had the Mickey head waffles and DW had coffee and a muffin.

Then we used some of this day to tour some of the other moderate resorts. We visited CBR so we took a bus to DHS and then over to CBR. The bus turned in and we got off at the first stop. The resort seemed nice. We walked towards the pool and food court on the main path. This place is definitely larger than CSR. The food court seemed like something at a mall with the burgers, pizza and regular fast food stuff. The store was in the food court and was small. We walked out by the pool. It was surrounded by a tall, iron wrought fence. From pictures, it looked huge but in person, it was small. It would fit inside the Dig Site pool. The hot tub was smaller than CSR’s too. One thing I didn’t care for was that the pool wasn’t visible from all areas. Some chairs are behind structures limiting your view of the pool and your kids. The new pirate ship area was cool but it wouldn’t interest my DD or older kids. I expected more beach area but they had a few small areas around the lake. It looks like a nice place but nothing that would sway me away from CSR

After our visit, we took a bus to DtD to have some lunch. We had a $15.00 voucher at Planet Hollywood with a free keychain voucjer so we decided to take advantage of both. We haven’t been to Planet Hollywood since 2000 so it was nice to revisit it. I had the turkey club sandwich. It was good, your avg club sandwich. My DD had the bruschetta. This came with garlic bread and a spread. It was very good. My DD got the potato skins and they were also very good. None of use were starving so we all shared bits of each others. Over all, the lunch was worth the trip to DtD. My DD want to check out some of the stores while we were downtown so we spend a few hours shopping.

After DtD, we went back to the resort. We decided to head to the Magic Kingdom for the night. We did a few of the mtns, HM and Mickey's Philharmagic! It was a bit on the chilly side this evening. The crowds were there again but we just did like the other night and hit the rides while everyone was watching the fireworks and parade.

Day 7:
We only hung out by the pool on day 7. It was a beautiful day. I saved the last two days of our passes and added 3 more and non expiring to give me 3 five day passes for our next trip. I was able to do this for $660.00. Cheaper than $1092.69 to buy them new on the next trip. And that's without any increases. I saved about $430! I'll take it.

We ate lunch at Siestas. Anyone who is going, definitely try the nachos and/or fries with cajun spice and cheese! Yummy! The buffalo chicken sandwich was good too. A couple of corona's with lime and I was set for the day.

I never got a chance to see Francisco on this trip. He must have been on vacation or sick for a few days.

Day 8:
Not much to say about day 8, we woke up, went to the ME stop and cried...

[Dana]

This picture is ADORABLE!