20 min wait for Living with the Land, and other stuff - halfway through trip report

[azcavalier]

Halfway through our Oct. 3 - 11 trip and stay at POR. Some notable things:

On the way in to town, we had some time to burn, and so stopped at one of the outlet malls so the DW could buys ome good shoes. When we went to get back in the car, the power locks worked.....and then it died. Nothing. No lights, no horn, nothing. Couldn't get it to start. Hello, AAA. They dispatched a tow truck, and I grabbed a taxi for the family to get to POR. The taxi left, the tow truck showed up, and the tow truck driver asked to look under the hood. He jiggled a battery cable, and Voila! It worked! I tipped him everything I had in my wallet (approx $9), called my wife and had the taxi drop them where they were (about four blocks away), and we proceeded to POR.

LESSON LEARNED - Always jiggle the battery cable before calling the tow truck.

Ate dinner at Boatwrights. Had the Jambalaya.

LESSON LEARNED - Don't get the Jambalaya. Ugh.

The meal was fine for the rest of the family.

First day in the parks was Oct 4th, my birthday. Since we had already paid for admission, I had three choices:

1. Birthday Gift Card for $79.
2. Family Fastpasses to six attractions in the park that day (we were at Epcot).
3. Free admission to a park anytime in the next year.

The fastpasses were tempting, but I chose the giftcard. I did get one of those "Happy Birthday" buttons, and had a LOT of people wish me a happy birthday. I wonder how many times a day a cast member says that these days.

Living with the Land opened from refurbishment that day. The queue was full, and even stretched out to the walkway in the middle of The Land. It was over a 20 min wait for LWTL! I have never, ever, seen it have more than ten people in line before. It was nuts. Even the cast members working the ride were in awe. So, we haven't ridden on it yet. I like it, but not enough to wait in a line for it.

LESSON LEARNED - when something opens after refurbishment, no matter the attraction, it's gonna have a line.

Tried the Kim Possible Adventure, which was very interesting. They basically give you GPS enabled phones that have been locked down to only run the Kim Possible program. They send you to a country on a scavanger hunt-type mission, and each mission includes an educational aspect to it, such as you have to find a bit of historical information and answer a question to move to the next part of the mission. It took us into places in the pavilions that we had never been, such as the Stave Church in Norway, or the Tomb of the Soldiers in China. The older kids loved it. They had to do quite a bit of refurbishment to various parts of the pavilions to make them interactive. I was impressed.

The 5th, we started at Animal Kingdom and finished at the Magic Kingdom. My DW kicked up the pin trading a notch. We have dubbed her "Crazy Pin Lady". She has all three D-kids scouring every cast member for "alphabet" series pins. She *has*, however, managed to find 17 of 26 alphabet pins in just 3.5 days, which I think is very impressive. A little girl in the Toy Story Mania line had the "F" pin, which she is missing, and she almost tried to finagle that one away from the little girl. Showed good restraint, though.

Anyway, at AK, we tried the Picnic in the Park for lunch, and it was very nice. Lots of good food, found a table off the main thoroughfare, and had a quiet lunch with the family.

At the MK, we decided to try the "do something nice for the cast members" thing that someone else had a thread about. We bought those cheap little glow bracelets from the dollar store to give out. While my DW and older kids were riding Splash Mountain and BTMRR, the DD4 and I gave out the wrist bands. The cast around Splash Mountain LOVED it. Asked us over and over if we had ridden it yet, and if we wanted fast passes. They gave us fast passes to Peter Pan, but we didn't use them. We then found some cast members selling popcorn and some more setting up the parade route, and they all acted excited to get them. They really made my daughter's night. However, when the DD9 tried to give some away later at Pirates and other places, she was rejected as often as she was accepted. One mentioned that they weren't allowed to take tips. We told him it was a gift, not a tip. He then took it and danced away. But she was disappointed to find so much rejection.

LESSON LEARNED - the cast members love to get stuff from cute little girls. Bigger kids, not so much.

Spent the day yesterday in DHS. Nothing new to report here. Toy Story Mania, as always, is just mind boggling. The theming is amazing. And it's such an original ride. The Imagineers really did a great job on this one.

We did, for the first time ever, stop to listen to one of the street bands. Mulch, Sweat, and Shears. They were fantastic. Highly recommended.

Alright. Spent the morning at Downtown Disney. RECORD heat. It's early October, and we've hit about 94 degrees. This is crazy. We *almost* pulled the trigger and upgraded our tickets to include the water parks. Almost. We're definitely spending the afternoons IN the pool.

Except for me. I'm doing laundry.

Off to O'hana for dinner!

[disneymom15]

Sounds like you're having a great time. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

[SBETigg]

Great report so far! I loved all your lessons learned. But I had to laugh at the 20 minute wait for LWTL seeming long. I remember when that line was routinely 40 minutes or so and it hardly seems it was that long ago. Now I feel old.

[disneykid@hrt]

Thanks for the "live" update. Wish I were you right now.

[coneygoil]

Yay for giving stuff to CMs!!! You arrived on our last day there! We got over 500 pictures with the CMs on this trip. I'm sure you came across many that we met during our stay! Did you come across a black CM named Jesus at BTMRR? He was hilarious to hang around!

[princessgirls]

Great trip report!

Glad you and your family are having such a great time!!

Thanks for sharing!

Julie

[KylesMom]

First off, glad that the towtruck driver was a friendly sort who helped you out. He could have very easily towed the car on AAA's dime without saying anything.

If you think the LWTL line is long, can you imagine what Space Mountain is going to be like when they come out of refurb?

Sounds like you're having a marvelous time - minus the heat of course. Thanks for sharing!

[faline]

Clearly there is fun! fun! fun! going on with your family (minus the tow truck, of course!)!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[ChipDale]

Sounds like your family is having a great time. Thanks for sharing with us!