Kevin & Family - January 2006

Cast Of Characters: myself (Kevin, 37), DW (Heather, 30), DS(Nate, 8) and DD (Natalie, 4)
Date: January 28 & 29, 2006 - Expedition Everest Passholder Preview Weekend

I have a mini trip report from this last weekend...We just got back from a quick trip for the annual passholders preview for Expedition Everest. As soon as it was announced, I contacted Laura at TMFL and she got us booked at the POP for a great rate. We arrived about 9:00 PM from Jacksonville (left after work), and checked in with no problems. Our room was in the 50's section, room 3108 (I think...it was first floor by the pool)

Saturday - January 28, 2006
Saturday morning was a beautiful, sunny, warm Florida January day. We (we - myself (Kevin, 37), DW (Heather, 30), DS(Nate, 8) and DD (Natalie, 4) got up and ate at the food court at the POP. Food was OK, nothing special, but better than "fast food".

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom right at 9:00...about 10 minutes later than we wanted to be. We went straight over through Asia to Everest...and had to wait in line just go get in. Disney was checking annual passes or DVC cards, and picture ID had to match to get into the area. BTW, there was a couple in line in front of us, right in front, and the guy had a The Magic for Less bag over his shoulder! (more on that one...I think it may have been Jessica and Chris, if I remember their names, because I heard someone call her that when they were talking later). My son and I took our passes and got in the fast pass line (only Heather and I were riding. Nate is a bit of a ride whimp, and Natalie is only 38 inches tall). I went and got our pins and lanyards (oops...don't think we were supposed to get those until after we rode!), then we decided to head over to Dinoland.

We let the kids play in the boneyard ( I think that's what it's called) and we rode Triceratops Spin, then it was time to line up to get back into the area where Everest is. Waited about 15 minutes, walked right up. We were a bit early, so we looked around some more (it was a bit less crowded than earlier, but the stand by line was longer). At exactly 10:25, I walked into the fastpass cue...and walked right onto a train. No chance to chicken out! The ride itself was just, well, incredible. There were people in my train that started screaming as soon as the train left the station, but the beginning of the ride was pretty cool. Nice curves, small hills.....then the big lift. The view at the top of the lift hill was pretty cool. Then the train stops....ripped up tracks....oh, no....backwards into the dark! That was pretty intense...stopping...wait, the Yeti is behind us and ripping up the track....we're moving forward...oh no, straight down, 80 ft drop into the curve, back into the mountain, more dark hills and curves....then the Yeti himself! Yikes!....then back into the station. Everyone was talking about how cool it was. Heather had the exact same experience ( no wait at all with the fast pass), but said she screamed the entire way down the drop hill and halfway up the next! Neither of us wanted to ride it again right then (it is pretty intense...we'll ride it again, but once a day in enough!), but we both were really impressed with the ride. It's intense without being too scarey. About what I'd expect from a disney rollercoaster, and I mean that in a good way!

One other thing about Everest. It was probably the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden. It's not jerky, and there's something scary about the silent lift hill....but it's really, really smooth.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom until a bit after three (I think Everest will make it a full day park for more people now), then over to MGM for Lights, Motors, Action which was pretty cool, too. Then Natalie wanted to see Beauty and the Beast, then it was time for Fantasmic!.

Sunday - January 29, 2006
Sunday morning was the Magic Kingdom. We had a great day there, did everything we wanted to by the time we left at 3:00 PM. At 1:30, we decided to ride either Pirates or the Jungle Cruise, since we were running out of time, so we walked on to Pirates, off of Pirates, onto the Jungle Cruise, and off of the cruise, all by 2:00! We couldn't believe that by the time we left, we had ridden 7 rides and seen Cinderellabration, and taken our ride around the Magic Kingdom on the train. We left the park right at 3:00, stopped for gas, and were on our way by 3:30.

Overall, a really nice trip for a last minute, unplanned (except for Everest) weekend.

Kevin

Middleburg, FL.