"Do you want to go to Disney today?" Another KOTS report

[swillis]

First let me begin with a little introduction, and background. I am Sunni, and this is my second trip to Disney with my kids. It was a SURPRISE trip, that I had been planning since about September 2006. The kids knew NOTHING!

Me: aka Sunni, Mom. Turned 34 the day before our trip, so I was considering this a nice little birthday gift to myself

Edie: aka Mom's best friend, Momma Edie (as she became known on this trip) She is my age, single and no kids (not by choice, just hasn't met the right guy)

Maddie: She is 12, and we have the typical love/strangle relationship. SHe loves Minnie Mouse, and despises all things pink.

Kellen: He is 11, and is a typical boy. Loves sports, and driving his Mom crazy with noises. Whistling, squeaking, you name it, he does it! Edie said she would be glad to be home and away from the "dolphin" for a little while.

Fri June 15th:
Well the video says it all...check it out: www.bostonbands.com/disney
Pardon our terrible Boston accents The kids have been asking when we could go back to Disney, and I just kept saying it was such an expensive vacation, that we couldn't afford to do it again so soon.
My DH did not go on this trip (or our last) He just doesn't have any interest, and that was just fine with me. He would have cramped our touring style anyway

So our flight was uneventful, landed and got our rental car. No problems with check in at the Fort. The castmembers everywhere at Fort Wilderness were very nice. This is our cabin:

Pardon the messy rooms, I had almost forgotten to take pictures of the rooms, so I did them on our last day!
The cabins are great! They are very homey, and extremely well kept. They are so quiet on the inside too. You can't hear anything. The campgrounds were very pretty, and well kept. I really loved it there. the only cons...and of course there are always a few. The lighting inside is really dim. Hard to get ready in the morning in such dim light. And while it's great to have a picnic table to sit at, it would be nice to have more comfy seating for outside.

Our Mousekeeper's name was Santa. She was very nice, and did a great job, especially having to pick up after my 2 kids! One day we got back to the cabin as she was still there cleaning, and my son told her how much he loved the towel animals. She actually stayed and made a few towel animals for him, and then made sure that we always had a few extras waiting for us when we got back each day.

Anyway...that night we went to the Hoop De Doo dinner show. It was a fun show! The food was good. My daughter absolutely loved it, but my son begged me not to take him to anymore singing dinners! It was not something I would ever go and see again, especially since it's the same each time, but I am glad we did it.

Day 2 coming up...I will keep writing tonight, just in different pages, so I won't run out of space.

 

[swillis]

Day 2, Sat:
We toured the parks according to Tour Guide Mike. We used his services last year, and once again he didn't let us down. We were at the parks early each day, and this day would be the MAGIC KINGDOM

We took the ferry from the campground to the Magic Kingdom. This was the only time we used Disney's transportation. The ferry was a relaxing way to get to and from the Magic Kingdom. I don't know if it was the fastest way, but the fact that it brings you right to the gates of the park would lead me to think that it is the fastest way.

We toured the park until about 1:30pm, and then came back to the cabin for a swim and a rest.

After our rest we went back to the Magic Kingdom for dinner at Liberty tree Tavern. Dinner was great, and character interaction was fast and fun!

We did Spectro and Wishes tonight.

The park was super crowded all day today. Tomorrow is MGM.

Day 3 Sunday:

MGM today, and it's Star Wars Weekend. Now I am not a big SW fan, and my kids could take it or leave it, but Edie is a very big fan, so I made sure that she got to see and do everything she wanted to while we were here today. Our first disappointment was that RRC was down! So we got a FP for TOT, and went to do other stuff. Becasue it was SWW, this park was crazy crowded today. But we managed to do most everything we wanted to do. My son was going to try to get picked for the Jedi training, but it was so hot and crowded, that even he didn't want to stand in the sun for the small chance of getting picked.
I did meet Luke and Leia

And Kellen got to have a light saber fight with a CM at the Star Wars store

That night we ate dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. It was ok. We had an good server, who did the normal stuff, but the food was just ok, and the place was just a little too loud for me.

 

[swillis]

Day 4, Mon:
Today was Epcot, but just the future world section. We wanted to spend a good amount of time touring Epcot, so we broke it up into 2 different days.

We were planning to take this morning slowly anyway, but Kellen got sick the night before, so we really took it slow. I think it was dehydration, since he got sick only once, and then felt much better, and had no lingering effects the next day.

We got there early, and did Soarin, TT and Mission Space. Well Edie and Maddie did Mission Space, Kellen and I sat that one out. We didn't get to do the new Nemo ride, as the wait time was well over an hour every time we checked. Oh well.

We did check out the Club Cool, Beverly was a big hit!

We did lunch at Sunshine Seasons, which was really good. I will be posting short dining report for anyoe who is interested on the Dining Boards.

Later that night we came back to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier and Illuminations. Both were FANTASTIC!!

Day 5, Tues:
Today was a rest day. We slept late, and had breakfast at the Trails End restaurant in the campground. It was good, and kept us going until dinner time.
We went to Blizzard Beach around 2pm, and the kids did a few slides. The a big thunderstorm rolled in. Needless to say, my kids thought I had planned this! They know I hate water parks Well they closed the rides, and told people they did not know if the park would reopen. We were able to get a "raincheck" on our tickets because it had been less than 4 hours since we entered the park. We never did go back because that would have meant giving up something else already planned. Quite a big waste of money I have to say.

So we salvaged the rest of the day by going to Downtown Disney. We tried to use our voucher for Planet Hollywood, but the wait was 2 hours! We trekked all the way over to Rainforest Cafe, and the wait was an hour there. We got a little pixie dust though, because a hostess pulled us out of line, and said she had a table for 4 on the deck if we didn't mind not sitting inside! Of course!!!
It was raining, hard all through dinner, but it was light enough after dinner to do some shopping.

All in all, it was kind of a bummer of a day, but it was a learning experience.

 

[jcc0621]

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I loved your daughters reaction when you woke her up. Worth the price of the trip alone

Janet

 

[swillis]

Day 6, Wed:

Today was Epcot World Showcase. Since that section doesn't open until 11am, we were able to sleep in today. We got there around 11:30am. We started in Canada and worked our way to Mexico.

This was interesting...on our first day of Epcot we saw the last of the flowers from the flower and garden festival.

And then on this day...it was all gone!

We met trolls

And Alice in Wonderland

And made a few phone calls

After touring, we made our way back to France for dinner at Chefs De France. This dinner was great! And we had such a young, charming waiter. The kids tried escargot, and loved it! This was one of those times when I really loved being on the DDP.

Day 7, Thurs:

Today was Animal Kingdom. We did EE, Dinosaur, and Primevil Whirl (in that order) so by the time we got to Safari I was not surprised when Maddie said she wasn't feeling good. I ended up having to take her back to the cabin in the middle of lunch because she was looking really green

While I was gone, Edie and Kellen stayed and rode Kali River Rapids. I came back and picked them up. Maddie, at this point was down for the count. I also think she let dehydration get the best of her. She had a headache, and was nauseous, but never actually got sick.

I was really torn because our plans for tonight was dinner at Hollywood and Vine and Fantasmic. Although Maddie was feeling a little better, she just didn't want to go. So after much debate, her insisting she would be fine just chilling out in the cabin, I decided to leave her there while we went. We both had our cells, and were texting back and forth all night, so I wasn't concerned for her safety, but really bummed that she was missing Fantasmic.

The show was great, I loved it, and so would have Maddie. It was pretty scary though...I think that if I had young children with me I would have been angry at not knowing how scary the show was at times. I heard lots of crying kids, and saw quite a few parents leaving the theater with them.

 

[swillis]

Day 8, Saturday:

Today everyone is feeling great, and decided that they wanted to do Magic Kingdom again as the one park they wanted to do again!

I had promised the kids that we could visit the barber shop for some "cool" hairdos! I had wanted to start early today, but they didn't...so...against my better judgement, we didn't get to the park until 11:30 am.

So we went straight to the Barber Shop, and there was only a short wait.

Kellen got a haircut, and some "cool" green gel

Maddie got an updo, and then had pixie dust, and gel added

They got lots of compliments from other guests, and some strange stares too!

We rode the Liberty Boat, which the kids thought was boring, but it was a great place to take pictures. We got FP for Space, and rode little things with short waits like the carousel, and Small World.

We had dinner ressie at Crystal Palace. The food was ok, I think the breakfast is better than dinner. But the characters were great!

We did some shopping, and then said a sad goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. I have to say...I got a little teary eyed

Day 9, Sunday:

The plan today was that my sister in law, and my neice were coming to the campground to get Maddie, who is staying with them in Florida for another 10 days. We havent seen them in a few years, so it was nice to spend the day together.
They left around 4pm, and after some tearful goodbyes to Maddie (yeah right, she couldn't wait to go!) we had dinner that night at O'Hanas in the Poly. I had been to the Poly once when I was a kid, but it is a beautful resort!!

Kellen wasn't sure he was going to like the food, but he was very wrong! The food was good, and the drinks were yummy too!

 

[swillis]

Summary:

So this was a great trip. The kids were truely surprised, and that was such a wonderful feeling. Funny thing though...as the shock wore off, and it finally sunk in that we were actually there, both kids said that next time they would want to know in advance. They said that planning the trip is half the fun, and that they wished they had a chance to say goodbye to the dogs, and friends before we left.

We didn't get any "Dreams" while we were there. In fact, I didn't even see any CM's giving them away. We did see the big white Excursion that said "Cinderella Castle Guest Suites" on the side of the truck parked at a cabin a few doors down from us. I was wishing so hard that they were parked at the wrong cabin

The CM's were for the most part very friendly, and helpful. I found that the CM's that were in charge of herding people into the right lines to board a ride were the ones with very little patience or "pixie dust" flowing.

The parks were extremely crowded during our stay. So much so, that if I plan another trip in the next few years, I will not go during the same time. We could handle the heat ok, but when you add the crowds to the mix, it gets aggravating. At one point, someone rammed into Maddie so hard, that she actually had a bruise on her arm the next day.

The Fort Wilderness cabins were great. We really loved it, but found that we really need more space in order to keep the peace. I have not shared a bedroom with my kids since they were babies, and found out real quick that I don't sleep that well when I can hear every little noise they make throughout the night. Maybe next time we'll go back to an offsite hotel like the Marriott Grande Vista (where we stayed last year) or maybe a vacation home.

We used the Disney Dining Plan, and while it afforded us the opportunity to try some new places, and different foods, it just wasn't worthwhile for us. I found that it was too much food, and we had several counter services credits, and many snack credit left over at the end. The food we tried with a few exceptions was just "ok", and not worth the prices we paid, whether on the plan or paying out of pocket.

And my last observation for the smokers out there...They allow you to smoke on the porches of the cabins. Both Edie and I smoke, and we would have changed our ressies to offsite if we couldn't smoke on the porch. I found that the smoking sections in all the parks were numerous, and easy to find with a park map. The good part, was that most were off the beaten path, so that you didn't offend non smokers as much.

SO we will go back, but probably not for a few more years. My sister wants to take her kids in a few years, so maybe we will be ready to join them. I love Disney, and look forward to going back.

Thanks for reading!