DH spent 20 years in the Army to go to WDW! All wrapped up!

[Melissa_E]

Hello! Welcome to my trip report. If you are also following my dining report, this will give you overall information and everything from the dining report.

Day 1: 4a.m. wake up and Mickey! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23187504&postcount=2)
Day 2: Tusker House (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23193852&postcount=6)
Day 2: Silverbacks and Nemo! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23193852&postcount=8)
Day 2: DreamEars and Narcoosee's (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23199727&postcount=9)
Day 3: Missed Magic (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23207375&postcount=15)
Day 3: Plaza, Columbia Harbor House (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23207438&postcount=16)
Day 4: Tonga Toast and Dream Fastpasses! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23208716&postcount=17)
Day 4: Festival of the Lion King and Yachtsman Steakhouse (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23208807&postcount=18)
Day 5: Hooray for Hollywood! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23226346&postcount=23)
Day 5: Sci-Fi Drive in (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23226426&postcount=24)
Day 6: Princesses and Soarin' (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23237274&postcount=29)
Day 6: Le Cellier (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23237355&postcount=30)
Day 7: Chef Mickey's and Pilot Monorail ride (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23244769&postcount=31)
Day 7: Miyuki's Candies, Crystal Castles and Mulan (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23244848&postcount=32)
Day 7: Yachtsman take 2 and Illuminations (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23244889&postcount=33)
Day 8: The Sad Mickey Song (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23245008&postcount=34)
All wrapped up (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23245190&postcount=35)

Nuts and Bolts:

Cast:

Melissa- I’m the planner of the trip, although I turned 32 while at Disney, I’m really 10 years old in “Disney years.” I’ll be 11 Disney years next year. This is my third time at Disney. My parents took my family when I was about to go into the sixth grade, approximately twenty years ago. Back then, there was only the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, so we saw everything that those two parks had to offer. I came again when I was in college for two days with my sorority. We went to MGM, rode Tower of Terror and Star Tours. MGM has certainly grown up a lot since my last time here.

Reed- the cause for our celebration. He has spent the last twenty years serving in the Army and has a chance to retire this year. He’s 43, easy to please but tough to impress, especially when it comes to food. I spent quite a bit of time prepping him to allow his inner child to come out. This is Reed’s very first time to go to Disney. His older brother went when he was in high school with the high school band, and that same brother has taken his family to Disney. Reed has really wanted to go on Space Mountain and the Haunted Mansion for a very long time.

Katie- our fun loving and wonderful four year old daughter. She’s a really great kid that is fairly easy going as long as she isn’t hungry or super tired. Her favorite games before the trip was to act out Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion “the ghost ride.” Katie received a lot of prepping for rides that are a “little bit scary.” We role played the rides, watched videos on YouTube that were taken from the rides, and discussed what might be scary about them. These tactics REALLY worked! She wasn’t afraid at all of the Haunted Mansion and though she didn’t like the speed of BTMRR she did enjoy it.

Set:
We decided on the Pop Century Resort for a few reasons. First, we looked into Shades of Green but declined for two reasons, first it was more expensive than Pop during the value season and SoG doesn’t participate on the dining plan. Since I knew that we were definitely doing the plan this meant SoG wasn’t an option. Secondly, we tried to get into All-Star Music, but that resort had an infestation of cheerleaders for one of the weekends.

Budget:
We budgeted $3000 for the entire trip, hotel, food, and travel. The hotel plus the dining plan for two adults and one child came to $2300. The airfare was $501 total for the three of us flying Southwest from Norfolk, VA roundtrip. We actually live 30 minutes from the Richmond airport but the airfares were at least $50-100 more expensive per ticket AND the flight times were horrible. SWA has a 9:30ish flight to Orlando non-stop arriving at 11:30ish. On the way home, we decided on a 3:40p.m. flight arriving at 5:40. Since it is non-stop AND those times were perfect, we had no problem driving the two hours to get there and then back home. Especially since parking wasn’t any more expensive than flying out of Richmond.

We did think of driving, mapquest puts Orlando around 12 hours away from Disputanta. Figuring stops it would have probably taken us 14. We decided against driving for a few reasons, it would take a day off of each end of the trip and when you arrive after a drive like that you are tired and cranky. Also, the 10-12 hour mark is my cut off between driving and flying. Between the price of gas and the wear and tear on the car, plus the pain in the rear factor, flying won. Had I not been able to find flights at good times and decent prices, I think we would have thought more about driving.

Craft Services:
We decided on the Deluxe Dining Plan (DxDP). Disney offers two dining plans. The basic plan gives you one counter service, one table service and one snack a day. The Deluxe plan gives you three however you want to use them meals, counter service or table service, two snacks a day, plus the refillable mugs. Also at every counter service and table service you get appetizer, entree and dessert. The basic plan doesn't give you the appetizer.

We chose the dining plan for the convenience of it vs. trying to "make money off of it." I liked being able to look at the menu without seeing the prices and saying, "they want $20 for a hamburger?" I would rather look at a menu and decide what I wanted vs. trying to save a buck or two. What we did was make breakfast reservations, usually right before the park opened. This way we could enter the park before the ropes dropped. We also made dinner reservations for most nights. For lunch we would split a few counter service credits or just use our snacks. This worked out really well for us!

When you see the amount that we "paid" for each meal, that is just me keeping track of the amounts to see what we actually spent on the plan versus what we received in value. If you were to go and pay out of pocket, hopefully this will help you decide which restaurants that you think are a good value as well.

[Melissa_E]

For some reason I got up at 4a.m. this morning, I tried to roll over and fall back asleep but my body said, “Hey we’re going to Disney today, get up get up! We’re going to Disney!” LOL Unfortunately, I was up. I stayed in bed as long as I could and decided to take a shower at 4:30. Reed got up at 5, Katie got up at 5:30 and we were off to the airport at 6. It took about 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the Norfolk airport. The whole time driving down there I kept thinking, “why oh why did I choose this one when there is a perfectly good airport a half hour from our house?” Oh yeah, GREAT flight times and lower prices. I was also worried about the boarding procedure for Southwest, but I really had nothing to worry about.

If you haven’t flown Southwest lately, they have changed their boarding procedure so that you are called up in numerical order, you line yourselves up and board. We had A 19, 20, and 21, when we got on the flight there was really no one else and we were in the second row. When we level off, we pull out the handy dandy, nifty portable DVD player, Reed opens it and says, “I thought you were going to put a movie in here.” “umm what? I thought you were putting in the movie.” :disbelief So, our master plan of having Katie be nice and peaceful watching a movie went to pot. Sigh. She was good though, she got antsy a few times but she was so excited to go. Every five minutes she had to ask, “Are we going to Disneyworld?” LOL

When we were about to land the pilot got on and announced the local weather saying that it was going to be 85 degrees today. I looked over at Reed and said, I hope you have a t-shirt under your jacket. He said, “yes I do.” Well that meant, “I have a LONG SLEEVE t-shirt” :disbelief I told him at LEAST three times last night what I was wearing, that we wouldn’t have access to our bags for a few hours after we landed AND he should wear something that he would be comfortable in the parks in. Did he listen? NOPE! So instead of going straight to the park after getting to our resort, we had to make a pit stop for a new t-shirt, a short sleeve one. :headache:

We landed at 11:25a.m. and took the Disney Magical Express to the resort. We were on the bus by 11:50a.m. and on the road by 11:55a.m. We arrived at Pop Century at 12:35p.m. It didn’t take us long to check in, our room was ready and we were settled by 1p.m. I was in shock! :scared1:

Since Reed and Katie were hungry and Reed needed a shirt that was suitable for the park, we decided to go to the Pop Century food court and souvenir shop. We used a counter service (CS) credit to split an order of nachos with everything (pretty good), a fruit cup as the dessert, and we grabbed a bottle of water for our drink. I also picked up our free refillable mugs.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nachos.jpg
Price of CS: $12.31
Price of 3 refillable mugs: $39.91

After being watered, fed, and changed into park appropriate attire, we were ready to head to the Magic Kingdom. We walked to the bus stop and a MK bus was just pulling in continuing our perfect timing streak!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/familyparade.jpg

First look at the Castle:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/firstlookatthecastle.jpg

We headed down Main Street USA as the “Family Day Parade” was going around the entrance circle. Katie met Dale, we also saw Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket, then we saw Mary Poppins and Burt. Katie got her picture with everyone and kept saying, “I want to meet Mickey!” We decided to head towards Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, saw that there were still some fast passes, grabbed three, we had to be back between 4:05 and 5:05 SCORE! Then we headed to the Haunted Mansion. Reed was especially exited to hit this attraction and we had prepared Katie really well for it. We had about a 20 minute wait, it wasn’t bad at all. Since the parade was about to start, most people were waiting at the ropes for that.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiepinocchio.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/marypoppinsburt.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiemarypoppins.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HMhorselesscarriage.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/hauntedmansion.jpg
Reed and Katie LOVED Haunted Mansion! The improvements made the ghosts much more clear. I was quite impressed. Hopefully, we’ll be able to hit this one again when we get back to MK. After, we made our way back towards the Crystal Palace where we had 3:30 reservations for dinner. Early I know, but on a travel day, I thought that was appropriate. We got there 20 minutes early for our reservation and checked in early. 10 minutes later we were seated. Even though we missed the parade this was a great idea. The number of people waiting for the Crystal Palace after the parade was a lot at 3:30 and we would have waited much longer if we tried to get in at our reservation time.

The Crystal Palace was very noisy! Not only with the age of the people dining there but just the clatter of the knives and forks against the tables. The tables were very close together and the character interaction was pretty good. We saw the four advertised characters, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. The food was overall pretty good. We all LOVED the garlic mashed potatoes, they were SO good. Katie ate her weight in shrimp cocktail. I thought the roast beef was good. There was ziti with mushrooms and asiago cream sauce that was fantastic! I got some on a lark and really enjoyed it. Reed got the tomato soup and didn’t finish it, it was very salty! DH and I got iced tea, Katie got a chocolate milk. For dessert Reed tried the apple cobbler, Boston cream pie, banana bread pudding, and cheesecake. The apple cobbler was good and the best of all of them. When he came over I smelled nutmeg. I decided on the apple cobbler as well and topped mine with vanilla ice cream. YUM! I also picked up a few cookies for Katie which she really liked.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/flowerpooh.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katietigger.jpg

3 TS used cost: $86.65, we left a $10 tip, a little more than 10% which I thought was reasonable for a buffet.

After dinner it was time for our fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The fast pass line was shorter than the regular line, but probably only by 10-20 minutes, we still had a little bit of a wait. Reed liked the ride, I love this ride and Katie did NOT like the ride. It was too fast for her. I tried to prepare her for it and she just wasn’t ready for the speed of it.

We left using the big train to go to Toontown. Katie had a mission, she wanted to meet Mickey! I was determined to let her. We got off at Toontown, immediately went into Mickey’s house and had a short wait for the big guy himself. It was probably 15 minutes tops. Katie was SO stinkin excited! She ran up to him, gave him a hug, I gave him a hug, Reed gave him a hug, and we took a group picture with him. Katie didn’t want to leave and made sure she said, “Bye Mickey!” :love:

I told Reed to go to Space Mountain and I’d take Katie around Toontown. K and I visited Minnie’s house, we thought about trying to visit the princesses but there was a 30 minute wait and the line wasn’t moving. I told K that we’d see them at dinner in a few days. We hit Minnie’s at a good time because they closed the line a few people after us. Katie enjoyed playing with a little girl her age right in front of us from Brazil. They were sharing some oreo snacks and I had a good time talking with her mom. Nearing Minnie, Katie decided to give the girl her Mardi Gras beads and the girl gave Katie her 1st time pin. It was VERY cute.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katieminnie.jpg
Katie loved meeting Minnie and then I let her play at the little Toontown play area. Reed was back before 6p.m. our appointed meeting time and he rode Space Mountain. It was about a 20 minute wait or so. He really enjoyed it! I knew he would, we go on all the roller coasters at Busch Gardens and enjoy them a lot.

Since it was nearing park closing time for the Pirates and Princess Party, we decided to take the train from Toontown to Main Street USA. We thought about trying to get Katie mickey ears, but the gift shop was PACKED. So we left quickly, hopped a bus to Pop (standing room only) and headed for the pool. A very nice gentleman offered his seat to me and I declined but told him that if he saw me again later this week to ask again. LOL

It is 9:07, Reed and Katie are asleep and I’m going to hit the sack. Day 1 was a true success and we can’t wait for more! Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom and my Birthday! Woohoo!

[ENSOCK]

Great start! I am loving you report!

[chiefdragon]

Loving your report. Can not wait to read more.

[Melissa_E]

Tina and chiefdragon, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the rest of the report!

[Melissa_E]

Katie was starving when we woke up so we went to the Pop Cafeteria for some snacks. I got her fruit loops with milk (snack credit) and a fruit cup (expect to hear about these a lot). I also filled up our mugs with sludge, I mean coffee and juice for Katie.
Total: $6

Our plans for our second day centered on our dining reservations (as you will see for subsequent days). First, we had breakfast at the new Tusker House with Donald and friends. Since we had a 9:05a.m. reservation, we were able to enter the Animal Kingdom early. What I thought was great was that there was a photopass person taking pictures on the bridge leading to the tree of life. After getting our pictures taken, including the Simba shot, I went to take pictures of the tree near the fence-line. Without me saying a word, a bunch of Disney staff that were talking along the fence line moved out of my way so that I could get a better shot. I’ve been extremely impressed with how nice people are, especially the staff.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/TOLcloser.jpg
We got to our reservation early and waited until 9:15 for our table. I sent Reed to Kiliminjaro Safari’s for fast passes so that we could ride that quickly after breakfast.

On the way into the dining area, you are asked to pose for a picture near an outside wall. This picture does not work with photopass and while you are eating you will be asked if you want to purchase this picture for $30. It does come with a picture of Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiedonald.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiemickey.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiegoofy.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/reedmickey.jpg
Breakfast was good, the food was good, and the character interaction was so-so. One whole side of the restaurant received a lot more attention than us. We actually left before seeing all the characters, much to the dismay of our waitress! She said, “well, usually people stay to see all the characters.” We were full and ready to leave. The noise of the restaurant was alright, but definitely on the loud side. The food was good. There were a lot of egg options, scrambled, quiche (ham and veggies, leek, etc….), breakfast breads, Mickey waffles, sausage, fruit, and there was a carving station. Protein was definitely the center of the meal. We had their jamba juice and coffee which was much better than the stuff at the Pop Century food court.
Cost of Breakfast: $59.16
Tip: $7

Next we went on safari! I had been waiting for this since making our reservations. I watched the show on the Travel channel that described how the savanna was accomplished, the result is just amazing! I got some excellent pictures using my sports feature. The safari is themed around taking a “four week safari.” The vehicle is decked out for camping out under the stars. Along the way you are trying to help rescue a baby elephant after poachers may have gotten to the mother. Our driver was excellent today and very into character.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safari.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safarihippo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safarigiraffe.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safarielephant2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safarielephant.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safariupsidedowntree.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safariwhiterhino.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/safariwaterfall2.jpg

[Disneydd2]

Melissa_E,
I'm enjoying reading your report. It's bringing back wonderfully magical memories. I'm so glad that ya'll were able to meet Mickey!

Thank your husband for me for supporting our country in such a noble way. :thanks: Hope he enjoys his "retirement".

[Melissa_E]

Hello Disneydd2!

Since the safari lets out near the Pangani Forest trail, we did the exploration trails. These are very nice, especially if the silverback gorilla’s help out.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/silverbackrelaxing.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/silverback.jpg
The research center is neat and Reed decided he wanted this picture!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/panaganireed.jpg

Next we got fast passes for Expedition Everest. Katie is too short for this one and we only got two. We meandered over to the Nemo show to see what that was about, learned that the next show was going to be in 90 minutes or so. Then we went to dino land. Katie liked the triceratops spin. While Reed took her on the second time around, I saw a mini show by the Splat, Smudge and Dip painters. It was an acrobatic type of show and Reed and Katie got to see the end.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/smearsplatanddip.jpg

We decided to go toward the dinosaur excavation play area. I let Katie run around and Reed went to see the Dinosaur ride. Katie had a great time going up the stairs, over the rope bridges, up the rope climb and down the slides. I caught her not waiting her turn and had to correct her. Unfortunately, she understood she had to wait her turn, but didn’t understand that other people should wait for her to be done. She allowed a bunch of kids to get in front of her thinking that she was doing the right thing. LOL Finally, she had a boy get behind her that was good with lines and he moved her along. It was quite funny to watch. Reed reported about the dinosaur ride: it was “awesome, I nearly peed my pants!” There wasn’t enough time for me to go on the ride before heading to the Nemo show. If you have missed this show, you are REALLY missing something. Next to the Lion King on Broadway, this was just incredible! Absolutely worth the time to stop in the middle of your day to see this. Katie was absolutely enthralled with the entire show. I took a “few” pictures.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemobubbles.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemotank.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemomrray.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemocrush.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/nemobrucedorimarlin.jpg

After this it was time for our Expedition Everest fast passes. This is the fastest fastpass line I’ve ever been in. The ride wasn’t nearly as intense as I thought it was going to be, at all! It was also quite short. The theming was good and overall it was good, but a let down thrill seeking wise.
Along the way we used a snack credit for a frozen banana that Katie immediately scarfed down. We didn’t even get a taste.
Cost: $2.80

[Melissa_E]

As it reached 3:00 we needed to make our way to our room since we had dinner reservations at Narcoosee’s. While waiting for the bus, one of the people coming to the Pop gave us some magic. She had dream ears and decided to give them to Katie. I practically teared up because of this. It was really sweet of her to do that and we’ll definitely treasure them.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiedreamears.jpg

We decided on Narcoosee’s for dinner, or I should say I decided on Narcoosee’s because they had whole Maine lobster. I LOVE lobster, absolutely love it. Since we were doing the deluxe dining plan, spending two dining credits was just fine with me! I knew what I was going to have before we walked in. Because it was my birthday, we were seated right at the window with a good view of the dock and the Magic Kingdom. There was a wedding party there as well with the bride and groom in their full wedding gear.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/narcoosees.jpg
For our appetizer we shared the calamari. Oh the breading on this was exceptional, clearly some of the best calamari I’ve had. We all love seafood and Katie helped us eat this. I ordered the cheese plate. It was good, I just wish you didn’t get hockey pucks disguised as bread with it. If you order this, definitely try it with the toppings given, they were excellent. Reed wasn’t keen on the goat’s milk cheese but really enjoyed the brie. Katie ordered the fruit cup which she enjoyed, there were a number of raspberries and blackberries. All were fresh and ripe.

Reed got the surf and turf. He allowed me to try the filet and I thought it was overseasoned with pepper, and I love pepper. The lobster tail was a very good size, you won’t be disappointed with it. Katie got the mac and cheese (which she didn’t touch) and I got the lobster. This is where the trouble begins. I get this lobster, or I should say HALF a lobster and say to the waiter, “ummm, where’s the rest of my lobster?” I expected a whole Maine lobster like the menu said. I got claws and tailmeat. Are you f’in kidding me??? Also, for $58 dollars I expected a lobster at least 2 pounds or more. If this one was 1.5 pounds I’d be surprised. I was GREATLY disappointed. Had I been paying out of pocket, I would have sent it back and demanded the whole lobster. If you are a lobster lover like me, be warned!
Dessert was great, Katie got the brownie sundae, Reed and I both ordered the almond crusted cheesecake. Drool, it was excellent!
Before:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/cheesecake.jpg
After:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/cheesecakeafter.jpg
Cost: $189 Tip: $33
We decided before leaving for Narcoosees that we would hop over to the Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks from Main ST. We got there with a few minutes to spare after taking the boat from the Grand Floridian Docks.
The fireworks were pretty good, not the best I’ve seen but good. What makes the show is the music and castle lights. Tinkerbell flew and it was a great evening. We raced back to the busses and Katie fell asleep standing up. Reed grabbed her and we all passed out as soon as we got home.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/castlepink-1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/castlefireworks-1.jpg

[SaintTaris]

What a great trip report. popcorn::

[Disneydd2]

Keep it coming!

[red1der1]

Hi Melissa,

I met you on Monday night waiting in line for the bus back to Pop from Epcot. I had been there for 5 days at that point and you were the only fellow DISer I met the whole time. I was so excited to see that LGMH on your bag. I wish we could have chatted. The line was moving so I had to go on. Can't wait to read more. I haven't even started my TR yet. I think you have inspired me to get started though. Can't wait to read more!!

[Melissa_E]

Hi Melissa,

I met you on Monday night waiting in line for the bus back to Pop from Epcot. I had been there for 5 days at that point and you were the only fellow DISer I met the whole time. I was so excited to see that LGMH on your bag. I wish we could have chatted. The line was moving so I had to go on. Can't wait to read more. I haven't even started my TR yet. I think you have inspired me to get started though. Can't wait to read more!!

I have been going crazy trying to remember the rest of your name! :laughing: I knew it started with Red! LOL I'm glad you found me, I can't wait to read your report. You were the only Diser I met too and I was sporting that LGMH all week on my bag. Lime shirts and everything. I even went up to a bunch of people in lime shirts to ask if they were Disers, its a good thing I didn't do the Focker watch thing otherwise they would have thought I was nuts. :rolleyes1

[red1der1]

LOL!! I carried my bag all week with 3 LGMH and no one said anything to me. I didn't have it that night. We only went to the park for Illuminations so I decided to leave it back at the resort. Glad I was able to spot yours.

[Melissa_E]

This being vacation and all we try to spend relaxing mornings getting ready and sleeping in. Oh wait, that must be some other family because I turned over at 6 a.m. and promptly woke up. This movement got Katie up and subsequently Reed up. We planned on going to the Magic Kingdom for the whole day today, since there were early extra magic hours, this was a great plan. We were out of the room by 7, ate breakfast at the Pop Century café. Katie had pancakes, Reed and I had the western omelet. Everything was very good! I really enjoyed the omelets.
Cost of breakfast: $26


We were off to the Magic Kingdom. Well, I should say we were off to the bus line to go to the Magic Kingdom. After waiting a while I said to Reed, “We should have just taken the bus to Epcot and the monorail to the MK, that may have been faster.” Oh well, we walked in the gates around 8:15 or so. We hit Tomorrowland. I got 3 fastpasses for Space Mountain and then we hit Buzz Lightyear. Katie thought the ride was ok, but didn’t want it again. I thought it was a neat ride and Reed got the highest score. He thought it was fun.

Next we hit the transit authority. This ride was OK. Easily miss-able and you really won’t miss much. Katie liked it because it was slow. Next we tried to hit Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. I had read a lot about it and couldn’t wait to experience it. Unfortunately, the monster’s alarm clocks must not have gone off because they couldn’t get it to work right away. The good news is, we got fastpasses for any ride during the day. This turned out to be perfect!
Next we roamed over to Adventureland. I was quite disappointed that Aloha Isle wasn’t open yet because I wanted the infamous Dole Whip! We hit Pirates of the Caribbean with minimal wait. Katie and Reed REALLY liked this ride. The additions of Jack Sparrow are terrific. I really thought it was Johnny Depp! In fact, Katie kept singing the Pirate ride all day long, I was humming it too, lucky for us, this drowned out the “It’s a Small World” song later.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/piratesentrance.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/pirate1.jpg

Next was the Jungle Cruise. This ride is excellent. It had something for everyone. Katie loved the “animals,” I loved the corny jokes and Reed just enjoyed the experience. Although, Reed got yelled at. At one point in the ride to avoid the waterfall, the guide asks everyone to move to the right and Reed just sat there. The guide pointed this out and said, “Thanks for not even moving a muscle there, I’m sure you were petrified with fear.” LOL

Once again, the theming is just incredible, down to the last detail. Disney magic. Even in line the music stops and gives announcements to the people waiting in line, such as poisonous snakes above you, but you’ll be fine if you keep moving. If the line stops, the person suggests running in place. LOL
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/junglecruisehippo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/junglecruiseelephant.jpg

I ran over to use my fastpass for Space Mountain, Reed didn’t want to go on it again, so I grabbed the other two and decided to give some magic away. I found two people and handed them fast passes so they didn’t have to wait in line. One really appreciated it.  Space Mountain really isn’t a huge thrill ride, it doesn’t go very fast, but it is jerky and you don’t know what is coming up next. The whole time I’m ducking because I see the bars over my head and I don’t want to get hit. LOL It is a great ride and a can’t miss.

[Melissa_E]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/plazaentrance.jpg
We had reservations at the Plaza for lunch. I had been looking forward to this meal because of the excellent sandwiches that I’ve heard and read about. We all ordered chocolate milkshakes that were awesome! Very well done. The shakes were half finished by the time our sandwiches came. I got the Reuben, Reed got the cheesesteak and Katie got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the shape of a Mickey head. The reuben was excellent! The bread a touch dry, but still very good. The cheesecake was so-so. I didn’t taste Katie’s lunch, but she wolfed it down.
When the waitress came with the check she said that she couldn’t put Katie’s milkshake as a children’s drink on the dining plan. This none of us realized and I was pretty surprised that they limit children’s choices of drinks like that. This was resolved by having two of the milkshakes be the drinks for Reed and myself and then one of the milkshakes as a dessert under our plan. That put it right for the system.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/plazakatie.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/plazareuban.jpg

Cost of Meal: $52.22
Tip: $7.55
When we finished we decided to give the Laugh Floor another try. This was just about the highlight of the day. We LOVED the show. Katie was chosen to be picked on during the show. She was featured on the big screen and asked what grade she was in. The monster asked if she wanted to be a “robber when she grew up.” Katie said, “Yes” he said “good because you are stealing the show!” Excellent show! This is similar to Turtle Talk with Crush, but I think it is much better done and absolutely hysterical.
We made our way to the speedway where we got on a race car and had a very frustrating drive around the track. The people in front of me stopped over and over again. Grrrrr. We went to Cinderella’s carousel, rode that. Then tried to pull the sword in the stone. It was at this point that I came up with the idea that “hey, lets see if I can get some magic made and have DH be able to pull the sword. I asked a couple of CMs and they worked on it. They gave us the go ahead and nothing happened. They said, try again and again, nothing happened. Then they said, “wait 5 or 10 more minutes.” At this point, Reed knew what was going on, which ruined the magic and Katie was freaking out because she wanted to see the Tremaine sisters. I thanked the CMs and said, “I’m sorry, but my daughter is can’t take waiting any longer.” I felt bad because they had tried to make some magic for us, but we didn’t get to finish it out.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/swordinthestoneKatie.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/swordinthestoneReed.jpg
When we made our way back to the Tremaine family the line was closed. We decided to hit the Hall of Presidents and sit for a bit. The Hall of Presidents is neat, but the show is now mostly movie and very little Presidents. I really wish there was more about the Presidents and them speaking vs. just seeing them. Granted, the animatronics are EXCELLENT, but still, there was too much movie. We headed back to the back of the castle because the Tremaine sisters were going to come back out again and I wanted to make sure Katie met them. I waited at the appointed spot while Reed took Katie to dumbo. The Tremaine’s showed up before Reed and Katie came back so I was letting people go in front of me while waiting for them. It seemed like forever, but it was great to see the characters interact. They got pretty “nasty” with Katie when she finally showed up. LOL
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/tremainesisters.jpg
Now the absolute highlight of the day. Philharmagic. This show was simply amazing. This is a 4-D show, you see, smell, and feel. It was absolutely incredible. DO NOT miss this show! I don’t want to give anything away here, but all of us walked out with looks of amazement on our faces.
Katie spent some time in Ariel’s grotto playing in the water. It was hot today and we needed a short rest and some cooling off. We didn’t meet Ariel, but she did get soaked in the play area. She had a lot of fun and we had a much needed rest.
The most annoying ride ever invented was next on our list. Yes, you guessed it, Small World! GAAA…. The dolls are terrific, they move really nicely now. Thank goodness the Pirate song is winning in my head though, I couldn’t stand singing “It’s a small world after all in my head” the rest of the trip.
We hit Peter Pan’s flight next; this is where the laugh floor fast passes came in handy. They saved us a 40 minute wait for this very short ride. This ride is terrific, especially if your child likes Peter Pan. Katie was just amazed with it. I wish the sail on the boats was smaller so you could see a bit more freely.
We were headed out of fantasy land when we noticed that the Haunted Mansion had a 5 minute wait!!!! We hopped right on and saw it again. It is great riding something a second time, you catch a lot of the things you missed the first time.
It was 5ish and time for dinner. We hit the Colombia Harbor House. This is a counter service location and it was pretty good. Katie had the mac and cheese, I had the tuna sandwich with clam chowder and Reed had the fish and chips. I really enjoyed both the clam chowder and tuna sandwich. The tuna sandwich was excellent, the perfect amount of seasoning, celery, and mayonnaise. It was on a nice piece of bread, for a simple sandwich it was terrific. Katie didn’t touch the mac and cheese but she did eat some of my clam chowder and Reed’s fish.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CHHmacandcheese.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/colombiaharborhousefishchips.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CHHtunachowder.jpg
Cost of meal: $33.68
We headed over to Aloha Isle because I was determined to get the coveted Dole Whip. I got just the ice cream and the float, for two snack credits. They were just as good as everyone says. Katie ate the whole ice cream by herself. It was excellent.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/alohaisleme.jpg
Cost of snacks: $7.33
Next we decided to stroll down Main street for some souvenir shopping. Reed wanted to get some post cards, I got a frame for my parents and Katie got a Cinderella toy cell phone. One tip. On the Casey’s hot dog side of Main Street, check out the windows. Many of the favorite Disney classics are represented, very cool. By the time that we were done shopping it was almost time for Spectromagic. We hadn’t planned on staying this late, but since it was going to start in 15 minutes we decided to stay. We had a front row seat over by the Car barn and that was a terrific spot to see the vehicles and characters come out. Katie was enthralled and I know I said, “Oh wow that is terrific” many times. I took a “few” pictures.
Afterwards it was off to our room, Katie fell asleep on the way home and I’m about ready to hit the sack. It was a very full day in Disney and we have Kona for breakfast tomorrow. Thank goodness it is 8:40 and not too early.

[Melissa_E]

When I made our park plans, I made dining reservations in each of the four parks and then had three days with no specific park plans. That way, we could visit a park on a whim and not be tied down to a large overall touring plan. Since we hit Animal Kingdom on day 2 and missed a few things, this was a great opportunity to see it again when it wasn’t so hot and there was a bit of rain. And since we had 5:30 reservations at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, it would be an early day to leave the park and get ready for dinner.
Before heading off to the Kona Café we grabbed a couple of fruit cups at the cafeteria.
Cost: $6.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/konasign.jpg
We started the day at Kona Café. I chose this breakfast because it just sounded so good and from all the rave reviews. Besides, who doesn’t want to have at least one meal at the Poly?

We got the French Press pot (no problems on the dining plan!), I had the Tonga Toast, Reed had the eggs benedict and Katie had the pancakes. I can’t describe how good the Tonga Toast was! It was phenomenal! Two huge slices of French bread with a banana in between. Then it is covered in sugar. I could have lived without the sugar coating, but it made it very good. Katie demolished her pancakes and Reed said that it has been YEARS since he had an eggs benedict that good. The French press was good, but I think we didn’t let it brew long enough. All in all a very good meal.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/konapress.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/konaeggs.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/konatongatoast.jpg
Cost of meal: $42.25
Tip: $6.50

We made our way to the Animal Kingdom by taking the bus from the Poly. As soon as we got to the Animal Kingdom, I practically ran to Dinosaur which was the big ride that I missed the first time around. Since the wait was only 10 minutes and it was literally walk on, there were no problems. This is a great ride. I really wish that there was more dinosaur and less dark areas. There was a scene, nothing, scene, nothing. I wish there was more. Yes, it is scary at the end, but well worth it.

When I finished I called Reed to tell him I was done and he had good news and bad news. The good news was, Katie and Reed won DREAM FASTPASSES! The bad news? I didn’t. LOL They were on their way to Rafiki’s Planet watch when they received the fast passes, I think around 10:30ish or so. That was very cool!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akkatierafiki.jpg
Reed and Katie stayed at Rafiki’s planet watch and had a great time, Katie didn’t really like the rainforest sound thing and frankly got scared of it. She did however like the petting zoo. When I met up with them I was ready to go on Safari again. Since it had rained and it was still overcast, I had a feeling that the animals would be more active and you never know what you’ll see a second time through. This time we had a much better view of the giraffes, elephants, and rhinos.

Next we made our way to Expedition Everest to take advantage of the fastpasses. As Reed went ahead, Katie got to meet Baloo and we saw Devine. What a terrific costume. If you’ve never seen her, she blends in with the greenery. She is on stilts and has four legs. Here are a few of the pictures I took. It was my turn for Everest and then we decided to get frozen bananas and go to Dinosaur.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akkatiebaloo.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akdevine2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akdevine.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akdevine4.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/akdevine3.jpg
Cost of the ice creams: $7.50

[Melissa_E]

When we arrived at Dinosaur, the line was practically non-existant. The fast pass line and the standby line were the same. We then saw Festival of the Lion King. Of the two big shows in the Animal Kingdom, I would have to say that Nemo is much better. I think Katie enjoyed that show more and it really put the movie together for you. The Lion King was good, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was theater in the round which really gives everyone a great vantage point.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/aksinger.jpg

At 3p.m. we started making our way home to get ready for our big steak dinner. Katie and I swam for a little bit and got ready. To get to the Yacht and Beach club, we took a bus to Hollywood Studios and then a boat to the YBC. The inside of the boat was quite stuffy.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/Yachtsmansteakhouse.jpg
Walking to the YBC I was first hit with the amount of theming that was present. I was absolutely floored with it. The hotel was classy and definitely something you would see on Cape Cod. Really just perfect. At the entrance to the steakhouse there is a platter with the different cuts of meat available, just like a really good steak house. You can watch the butcher cut up steaks and mold them. Then you walk by the dessert tray and you just want to start dinner with the end! LOL

Reed ordered the seafood salad that had lobster and shrimp with a citrus avocado dressing. I ordered the fois gras and Katie had the chicken noodle soup. The seafood salad is devine! If you are looking for a light way to start your dinner this is the perfect appetizer! I had one bite of it and now I can’t wait to order it for myself. The fois gras was incredible, but it was the opposite of the seafood salad. Rich and creamy, worth every decadent bite, but not a light way to start the meal. Katie ‘s chicken soup was very good as well. I was impressed with the amount of chicken in it, it really could have made a meal for a child.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YSfoisgras.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YSseafoodsalad.jpg
Ribeye:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YSribeye.jpg
New York Strip:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YSNYstrip.jpg
We decided to split a bottle of wine, our only one of the trip. Of course it was priced 3x the amount that it should have actually cost, but it was very good. Reed then had the ribeye with horseradish mashed potatoes. His eyes started watering with the first bite of the potatoes but they were absolutely fantastic! He just didn’t expect that much horseradish. His steak was extremely tender and perfectly cooked. I had the New York strip that was recommended by our waiter Mark. It was very good and a large steak, 14 ounces. I had potatoes au gratin which were good. Katie got the kid’s steak with mashed potatoes. Hers was cooked just right and the mashed potatoes were creamy and delicious.

After stuffing ourselves, we did order dessert, I had the crème brule, that was excellent, especially with the berries on top. Reed had the sundae which was a grouping of differed flavored gelatos. Katie had the puzzle dessert. White chocolate was made into puzzle pieces, there are three slots for colored frosting and you can paint the puzzle once you put it together. A very cute dessert.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YSpuzzle.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/YScremebrule.jpg
Cost of the meal: $161.22
Tip: $30
Wine: $36.11 for the wine and tip

At this point it was moaning time, so we headed back to Pop. When we took the boat back we decided to sit outside at the back. This is a great place to sit if you don’t mind the engine noise. We struck up a conversation with a woman next to us who said she was upgraded to the YBC from All-Star Music. I just about fainted when I heard that. I imagine it was due to the cheerleading competition, but what a lucky woman! Katie fell asleep on the bus, again. LOL Once we got home I did some laundry since some of our clothes were about to run out of the room on their own and relaxed. All in all it was a great day.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/boardwalk.jpg

[Disneydd2]

Nice report about the YandBC. It makes me want to try it out when we go back to Disney. And congrats on the DreamFP! Sorry you didn't all get one.

[Mandylynne]

Hey Melissa :flower3: Just popping in from another board to check out your trip report :surfweb: It sounds like you had a good time. I'm amazed at some of the rides that Katie got on. We had to take Tyler on Pirates when he was sleeping, other wise we would have missed the ride :lol: Can't wait to see more pictures.

[Melissa_E]

Hey Melissa :flower3: Just popping in from another board to check out your trip report :surfweb: It sounds like you had a good time. I'm amazed at some of the rides that Katie got on. We had to take Tyler on Pirates when he was sleeping, other wise we would have missed the ride :lol: Can't wait to see more pictures.

Hello there!!!! I think we just prepared Katie well enough where she wasn't scared. I had her watch the YouTube videos of Haunted Mansion, BTMRR, and POTC. In fact, she LOVED Pirates of the Caribbean! She's still singing the song. :rotfl: And she loved the display at the World of Disney store. She also loved HM, in the stretching room we had her concentrate on finding the guy in his underwear, she thought that was hysterical!

Day 5 is coming up!

[Melissa_E]

Nice report about the YandBC. It makes me want to try it out when we go back to Disney. And congrats on the DreamFP! Sorry you didn't all get one.

If I had the money to try out YandBC I would. The pools looked terrific, there were movies on the beach at night and roasting marshmallows. Although, I did find out you had to pay for the marshmallows. :eek: :sad2: There were deck chairs all along the porch, it was quiet, you had a great view of the boardwalk. Just a great looking resort. Of course, I didn't see the rooms. :laughing:

It turned out alright that all three of us didn't get fastpasses. There were a lot of rides that Katie is just too short for, Expedition Everest for one. Also, I wouldn't let her go on Dinosaur, it is just too scary for her. So, someone (uhhh me) got to use the fastpass for them. :woohoo:

[Melissa_E]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/DHShat.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HVsign.jpg
There has been something that has been bothering my sleep for the past few nights. It sounds like the people next to me leave their shower or sink on all the time. It is quite annoying and I can’t figure out what the heck it is. It woke me up around 5:30 this morning and I’m exhausted from it.

Our Hollywood day got started on the wrong foot. I didn’t look at our dining reservation sheet to remind myself what time our breakfast was scheduled. So we were running for the bus at 7:45 when we had an 8:05 reservation at Hollywood and Vine. Oops! We were a few minutes late, especially after receiving bad directions from a CM. It turned out to be OK because Reed grabbed two fast passes for Tower of Terror and one fast pass for Rockin’ Roller coaster. The beauty part of having a ticket for a person who won’t ride certain rides is that you can get a fast pass to avoid the lines using her ticket!

This was Katie’s special breakfast. The characters from the Little Einsteins and JoJo’s circus would be there. When June came to our table, Katie wouldn’t let go! She was amazed to finally meet her. Lucky for her, it was dancing time when June was about to leave, so she invited Katie to dance with her. The look on Katie’s face during this meal made all of the noise completely bearable.

The look on her face is just PRICELESS!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HVkatiejune.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HVkatieenthralled.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HVkatiejune2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/HVkatiejojo.jpg
Cost of the meal: $62
Tip: $10 I think, I can’t find this receipt.

After breakfast, Reed made me go on Rockin’ Rollercoaster first, then we would use the fastpasses for ToT. The opening theming of Rockin’ roller coaster is amazing. I took this picture on the way. Then you see a studio session where Aerosmith is told they are late for a gig and they want to take you along! If you can get by the first 2.5 seconds, this ride is a piece of cake. The acceleration is the hard part, it literally took my breath away, but after that, it was just great. It really wasn’t a great idea to do this right after breakfast, but everything stayed down. LOL
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/RRCcar.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/RRCcar2.jpg

Reed went on ToT next and I took about 20 pictures. LOL He LOVED ToT. Next it was my turn and it was everything that I remembered it to be except that the queue seems to be much shorter now. That is something that I am noticing about many rides, is fastpass helping out the standby lines thin out because people are getting their fast pass, going about their business and then coming back? I’m sure during stupid busy times that the fastpass isn’t going to help out the standby lines much, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the lines! Even when Hollywood Studios had a “busy” day today with the cheerleader competition.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/ToT.jpg

After ToT we saw one of the three side shows that I noticed going on. This was one of the “In the can” movie productions. The producer was making a movie and it was cute, especially with audience participation. In many of the parks there are small street performers. It is really worth while to stop and see them. We always enjoy the corny jokes and distractions. The evening production with the joke telling was especially good. I’m still trying to convince Reed that taking a job down here would be cool as a bass player. His responses have varied from, “yeah, it is fun for the first month, but then you are stuck” to “yeah, I’d play bass at night but then I’d be stuck in a Goofy costume all day.” LOL

Today, we really tried to concentrate on things for Katie, we went to see Lighting McQueen and Mater, then we wanted to see the backlot tour, but for some reason it was shut down in the morning. We saw Star Tours. That wasn’t the ride I remembered, and there is a similar ride at Busch Gardens called Cork Screw Hill. But still it was nice to see. I took Katie to see the Playhouse Disney show. This was cute, in order to make Minnie Mouse’s birthday nice, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang need help from Handy Manny, the Little Einsteins and Tigger and Pooh. The show was good, unfortunately, in order to see it you HAVE to sit on the floor. They really need seats in there, even if they are short bench type of seats. They should add seats like they have for Turtle Talk with crush it would help those of us with joint problems.

These are Handy Manny’s tools:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/tools.jpg

In the middle of all that walking, I let Katie have a Mickey Mouse ice cream.
Cost: $2.50

We got hungry so we shared 2 CS credits at the Toy Story Pizza Place. It was decent pizza, nothing great. Noisy especially with the arcade right there.

Cost of meal: $25ish with tax.

[Melissa_E]

Next we saw Muppet’s in 3D. This was another fantastic 4D show, not as good as Philharmagic, but it was certainly along the same lines. If you grew up in the late 70’s early 80’s and remember the Muppet Show being on TV, this is definitely for you and your children will like it too. The staging area for the show is as if you were backstage of the Muppet theater! There are prop cases, doors for the stars and the pigs in space spaceship!

When you enter the theater, it is made to look exactly like the Muppet theater. The only beef I had was that they didn’t have the rock band with Animal, Dr. Teeth and that lady. There was a penguin orchestra which was cute enough, but it wasn’t “authentic.” Waldorf and Statler were up in the balcony and interacting with the show with the mocking jokes. The Swedish Chef runs the movie. I was extremely impressed with the surrounding nature of the show and the 3d. I just wish the story line of the actual movie was better.

Next we did the backlot tour, always a good ride and then Katie played in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids garden. She really enjoyed that.

We originally had plans for 1900 Park Fare for dinner and canceled them this morning. We were tired of running out of a park to go to a resort that wasn’t our own for dinner. So we decided to wing it and ate at the Sci-Fi Drive In. I had wanted to eat here but when you stay 7 nights, there are only so many meals that you can plan for. I ran down the options to Reed and he said that the drive in sounded good.

The ambiance is terrific here. You really feel as if you are in a drive in theater. There is a skyline with twinkling stars, a fence with trees. Even license plates on the cars!!! I was impressed with the theme! Unfortunately, the restaurant really missed the mark on its offerings. Spinach and artichoke dip? Steak? Ribs? I really think this place needs to offer similar foods as the Plaza in the Magic Kingdom. Maybe they don’t offer those types of food because people will balk at “spending” a TS credit for what they can get at a CS location elsewhere? I don’t know, but Reed and I both had the reuban and they were fantastic.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/scifidrivein.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/scifihamburger.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/scifireuban.jpg

There was a TON of corned beef, a good amount of sauerkraut and the bread was good. I got a chocolate shake that was more like a Wendy’s Frosty than a shake. Katie had the kid’s hamburger that was good. The chocolate shake was included on the dining plan, but they would not allow me to get the souvenir cup with the glow light. We did snag one though because they messed up on Katie’s order and I suggested instead of fixing it he give us a Tinkerbell glow thingy. She was very happy at that. Although, she’s on a Captain Hook kick and probably would have liked that too.

Cost of Meal: $70.29
Tip: $10

After dinner I decided to walk around to look for an Aurora necklace for a friend, when I ran into the “In the Can” production again. This one was a group of aspiring Hollywood wanna-bes that are trying to get their break through comedy. It was corny but entertaining. I enjoyed sitting on the curb watching them and enjoying the night.

Although this park doesn’t have a lot to offer ride wise, this is one that I would love to wander around and check out the themes. From the Singing in the Rain lamp post to the subway, to the upcoming Chicago Skyline. Sure you can rush through and be done in 3-5 hours, but I guess I just like to savor this stuff while I’m here.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/DHSsinginginrain.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/DHSsnowwhite.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/DHSannieleo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/DHSjunequincy.jpg

[TLC371]

Hi Melissa....I followed your link over from the HOLU board...I usually lurk in that thread but just posted a ton of pictures in the picture journal over there the other day. Anyway, I didn't realize that you were in Virginia...I'm in Virginia Beach, and about 5 minutes from the airport in Norfolk.

I need to go back now and read properly...

[Mandylynne]

It turned out to be OK because Reed grabbed two fast passes for Tower of Terror and one fast pass for Rockin’ Roller coaster. The beauty part of having a ticket for a person who won’t ride certain rides is that you can get a fast pass to avoid the lines using her ticket!


We did this also. It really came in handy with the fast passes :rotfl2:





We originally had plans for 1900 Park Fare for dinner and canceled them this morning. We were tired of running out of a park to go to a resort that wasn’t our own for dinner. So we decided to wing it and ate at the Sci-Fi Drive In. I had wanted to eat here but when you stay 7 nights, there are only so many meals that you can plan for. I ran down the options to Reed and he said that the drive in sounded good.

Another thing that we did. I forgot where we were supposed to eat, but we canceled it to stay inside the park and thankfully got seating at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We were just sick of all the traveling times. But we did love Pop's food court.

[Melissa_E]

We did this also. It really came in handy with the fast passes :rotfl2: It almost makes it worth bringing the little buggers. :lmao:

Another thing that we did. I forgot where we were supposed to eat, but we canceled it to stay inside the park and thankfully got seating at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We were just sick of all the traveling times. But we did love Pop's food court.

We did too. We did realize that it is much busier at 8a.m. than 7a.m!! Woah nelly!

[Melissa_E]

Hi Melissa....I followed your link over from the HOLU board...I usually lurk in that thread but just posted a ton of pictures in the picture journal over there the other day. Anyway, I didn't realize that you were in Virginia...I'm in Virginia Beach, and about 5 minutes from the airport in Norfolk.

I need to go back now and read properly...

Hello and welcome!!! I didn't realize you were so close by! We should meet up sometime!

[Melissa_E]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/epcotball2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/epcotballcloseup.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/epcotlookingatfrance.jpg

Our time at the parks are coming to a close and we decided that the last two days would be devoted to EPCOT. There are a number of attractions that I’ve never been on and have seen information about through Modern Marvels or from Samantha Brown Specials. Specifically Soarin.

This morning we began with a breakfast at Norway, the Princess Breakfast at Akershus. We were seated not long after our ADR time and as we entered, I took Katie’s picture with Beauty. We were able to munch on the buffet while our eggs and bacon were brought to us. The buffet included melons, pineapple, strawberries, lox, cream cheese, breads, Danish, and cheese. The fruit was perfectly ripe and the eggs that came out were fine. I loved the lox and chive cream cheese on a croissant. I liked the set up of this restaurant, it was half buffet half plated family style, we were offered more eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns if we wanted them. We didn’t because what we received and the fruit on the buffet were enough.

We were practically done with breakfast when the princesses came around. This was fine with us because they came in rapid succession. We saw: Aurora, Arielle, and Mulan. They were all wonderful and interacted quite a bit with Katie, especially Mulan!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiebelle.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiearielle.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiejasmine.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiesleepingbeauty.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/katiemulan.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/norwaybreakfast.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/norwaybreakfast2.jpg
Cost of meal: $62.81
Tip: $10

As we finished up, Reed ran to get fast passes for Soarin. On the way over there we stopped at the Seas to see the Nemo and Friend’s ride. This was really nicely done. Definitely not something to wait more than 30 minutes for, but it moves quickly. We walked right onto the ride. You exit at the aquarium portion near Turtle Talk with Crush. Katie LOVED this! She thought it was great that Crush was talking right to the audience and she thought the whale was funny. I just wish it was a little longer and a little more like the laugh floor which is similar in many ways. While looking at the aquarium, I found a hiddlen Mickey!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/hiddenmickey.jpg

[Melissa_E]

It was finally time to ride Soarin which I had been hearing about for a very long time! I warned Katie that she might get a little scared and if she did to close her eyes. She got a bit nervous and said she didn’t want to go, but I told her she would be fine. We get on, she’s fine, we get up in the air and she had an absolute fantastic time! As soon as we got off she said, “I want to do that again!!!” LOL

As we were exiting I found a fastpass for Soarin' on the ground! I looked around to see if anyone was coming back for it and no one was. The other ride we wanted fast passes for was Test Track, so I used one card to get a fast pass for Soarin so Katie and I could go on it and then Reed went over to Test Track to get fastpasses for the two of us.

Katie and I went on the Living with the Land tour which Katie got a huge kick out of. She loved seeing all of the fruit and vegetables that are grown in many different ways and how they make Mickey head pumpkins and watermelons.

Next we saw the Circle of Life movie. That was OK, it was a bit preachy and only something to do if you have time and need a place to sit for 20 minutes. Next we were off to Test Track. I had heard a lot of interesting things about this ride as well. It certainly lived up to its reputation! I expected it to be a little more intense than it was, but in all it was a decent ride.

Next we went back to Soarin for our fast pass time. Reed decided to do the Living with the Land ride that he missed before. Katie couldn’t wait for our turn, she kept pulling me towards the entrance and was practically ready to eat through the bars to get in there. After we finished the second time around she said, “Can we go again?” ROFL!

In the middle of our fast pass redeeming we had two pretzels and frozen lemonade. They were pretty good. The frozen lemonade came free because the CM was having a hard time with the computer registering snack credits.
Cost of Snacks: $10ish of value for two snack credits.

We had an early (4p.m.) dinner at Le Cellier. Since I’ve heard the rave reviews of this place, I had to check it out. The ambiance is absolutely terrific. You do feel like you are in a wine cellar of a castle, it is well-marked in Canada (I heard it wasn’t before, but there is a huge Le Cellier sign at the beginning of the path to it). We were seated practically at our ADR time. Our appetizers were an easy choice, I knew I had to get the cheese soup. During this trip I would recommend things that I heard about on the boards to Reed but never told him any of the must do’s. He actually tended to pick the must do’s on his own and he ordered the duck confit. Katie had the carrot sticks and celery.

Our appetizers were brought out promptly and to our dismay we found out a little too promptly. The cheese soup was good, there was more of a white wine flavor than I expected and not as much cheese flavor. But it did taste great with the pretzel bread. My favorite was the multigrain bread though. Reed’s duck looked fantastic, his first few bites were fantastic, then he reached the frozen center. EWWWWW I don’t know if they just didn’t let it thaw before cooking or if it was pre-cooked and then re-heated or what, but the center of that duck was rock hard! We signaled our waitress and told her of the problem, she quickly remedied it by offering a new plate of the duck or another appetizer. Reed not wanting to chance it twice chose the Caesar salad with fried cheese. This was a GREAT salad! The Caesar dressing was to die for and the addition of the fried cheese just topped it off wonderfully.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/celliersmoothie.jpg

Cheddar Cheese soup!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/celliersoup.jpg

Duck
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/cellierduck.jpg

Mommy take a picture of my food so I can eat!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/cellierkatie.jpg

I ordered the 8oz filet minion which was excellent. It was beautifully cooked and just melted in your mouth. The potatoes were extremely creamy and complimented the meat well. Even though I’m not a fan of the barbeque sauce on a terrific piece of meat, it didn’t overwhelm the flavor of the filet, I only really noticed it when I had the potatoes.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/cellierfiletminion.jpg

Reed had the 14oz New York Strip. His steak was good, I don’t think it was as good as mine a few nights earlier at the Yachtsman though. I didn’t get to taste his potatoes. Katie got the spaghetti with sauce which she ate almost all of.

For dessert, Reed ordered the crème brule. Comparing it to the brule that I had at the Yachtsman, I think Le Cellier does a much better job! Their crème under the brule was much creamier than the Yachtsman’s. It was a perfect combination of creamy and hard burned sugar. An excellent dessert. I ordered the Chocolate “Moose.” What a CUTE dessert! It comes out shaped like a moose with a tongue, eyes, nose, and antlers. Katie got a huge kick out of this dessert and we both loved the flavor. We got Katie’s fruit cup to go.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/celliercreme.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/celliermoose.jpg

Cost of meal: $123.94
Tip: $18.50

Katie wanted to do Turtle Talk with Crush again so we headed over to the Seas. We walked onto the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk. Katie wanted to see Bruce again then Reed wanted to go to Mission: Space. I didn’t realize that this was a 44” ride and we did Rider Swap, but we really didn’t need to since it was a walk on. Reed experienced the orange side and I did the green side. This was a good experience. I’ll probably try the orange side in the future, but I wanted to relax by the end of the day.

At this point my feet were beyond tired and I was ready to just head home and go to sleep. Our last full day at Disney was a big one, breakfast at 7:20 at Chef Mickey’s and then I wanted to see Illuminations at 9p.m. I doubt that Katie will make it to the fireworks, but we’ll see.

When we came into our room, there was a bouquet of balloons on the bed with a card from Chip and Dale! It was a “Happy Birthday” card to Katie????? I don’t know why she would get one; it was my birthday on the trip. But at least her name was spelled correctly. See all through this trip, Melissa has been spelled incorrectly on all of our dining reservations. Every.single.one. Most of the time they say “Malissa.” When we went to Narcoosee’s I corrected it on their reservation, they gave me a birthday button and on the button it was spelled Mellisa. Then when we went as a walk-in to Sci-Fi drive in it was spelled “Melisssa.” I mean give me a break here! LOL

In the middle of all of this we did go to Club Cool and tried the different coke products. I just wanted to share my Beverly pictures! If you've never had the Beverly it is a completely vile drink that is beyond description. Since I had heard how bad it was, of course we had to taste it ourselves.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/beverlyreed.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/beverlyme.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/beverlykatie.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/epcotnight.jpg

[Melissa_E]

Sunrise from the Contemporary:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/contemporarysunrise.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/contempsunrise2.jpg

This is our last full day in the parks and we decided to start off with Chef Mickeys, our breakfast was at 7:20 which meant that we needed to be on the first bus around 7a.m. ugh…. We got to the bus stop at 6:45 thinking that there might be an early bus, the bus did start up at 6:55 and took us straight to the Contemporary. We didn’t wait long to check in, they brought us to the plate for a family picture (aka the $30 picture shot) and we were seated almost immediately.

At the Tusker House, Chef Mickey’s and I’m sure a few more restaurants they bring you to a place to take your picture. This picture does NOT work with Photopass, they want to sell this separately for around $30. I refused to buy them on principle.

Anyway, the breakfast was good! There were a lot of options, fruit, lox, cream cheeses (strawberry, regular, etc…) eggs, donuts, breads, etc… The character interaction was great, we had a chance to eat and then the characters came out in rapid fire, much like the Norway Princess breakfast. It was really terrific.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CMfruit.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CMgoofy.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CMpluto.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/CMmickey.jpg

Cost of Meal: $62.81
Tip: $9

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/monorail.jpg

We hopped on the monorail to make our way to EPCOT. That meant we went over to the ticket and transportation center, and at TTC we asked to sit in with the driver/pilot for the trip into EPCOT. This was the perfect location to sit with the driver going into EPCOT. You actually go around Spaceship Earth before you hit the monorail stop. I got some FANTASTIC pictures from that. Katie and Reed really enjoyed the view and we just had a blast.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/monorailkatiepilot.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/monorailRK.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/monorailball.jpg

We made it to rope drop where I had people that were not able to get through the turnstile quickly arg! But we were all held up before the rope into the different sections and weren’t far behind the Segways leading to the Land for Soarin. This would be the third time that Katie rode it in two days and on our way out we got fastpasses to ride it before 11. This ride is just that amazing that riding it four times doesn’t make you tired of it!

After our fastpasses, we moved over to World Showcase. We didn’t hit any of this the first Epcot day. We learned that the EPCOT passport book was $9.95, so we decided to just make the masks instead. Unfortunately, we found out that you weren’t supposed to make a new mask at every station until we were pretty far into World Showcase. That would have saved us a lot of time, but Katie had a fantastic time learning about the different countries, getting her name written in Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese. We hit every kidcot place and got all of the tags. Reed forgot to ask if there was a prize at the end, but I think the masks are prize enough.

We started in Canada where we watched the Circle vision show. Martin Short is your narrator and it is different from the one I remember many years ago, but still informative and entertaining. In the theater you stand and the room is round, all around you are movie screens. It is much like being in a really good IMAX except you are complete surrounded. The “movie” talks about all parts of Canada, from New Brunswick to the Yukon. You almost expect a Tourism Canada stamp at the end with a phone number to make reservations.

When we made it to England there was a road show going on about Sir Galahad and the quest for the Holy Grail. Katie wanted to stop and watch, she really enjoys these small productions. I do too, they are truly a part of the Disney magic.

We were hungry and decided to go to France for lunch. We got cake! We figured, we’re on vacation. I really wanted to get a sandwich but for some reason, even though they are under $4 they don’t work as a snack credit. I was bummed, but not enough to not order cake. I had the strawberry tort. The crust was amazing! It was like a sugar cookie crust. There could have been more cream but it was topped with huge and perfectly ripe strawberries. Excellent. Katie had the chocolate cake which was extremely moist and just overall wonderful. Reed had the Napoleon. This was terrific as well; the layers had a very nice philo between them. Since we were in France I had to get a crepe. They cheat and use premade crepe and chocolate in a bottle. It certainly wasn’t as good as the one that I had on the streets of Paris, but it was still good. I also got to practice my French and found that I was quite rusty!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/leftbank.jpg

Cakes, soda, and crepe: $15ish

Morocco is next. I just loved the theming of this area. The open air covered shops just put you in Morocco. There was incense burned, music going, you felt like you were in Morocco. Katie got her name in Arabic and we enjoyed the scenery.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/morocco.jpg

[Melissa_E]

Japan was next and we got there while Miyuki was making her candy animals. Watching her work is a treat enough, but we were lucky to actually have a hummingbird that she made. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it back home in one piece, luckily I do have pictures though! That’s what really counts. You can go up, watch and she will ask for suggestions, then you receive the candy you suggested. Even if you don’t want the candy, watch, you will be amazed!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/miyuki.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/miyukiwoolf.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/miyukihummingbird.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/miyukiowl.jpg

If I was smart, I would have gotten some sushi from Japan, but I wasn’t and I didn’t. Katie stopped at the kidcot and got her name written in Japanese. We enjoyed seeing all of the items for sale and the overall ambiance. For us, World Showcase is very much like walking through Hollywood Studios, you go for more than just the shopping and food, you go to immerse yourself into the magic, art and sometimes culture.

The American Adventure was our next stop. Where there I met a cast member that was on a Segway and the majority of my time was spent talking to him about the Segway and hoping he’d ask if I wanted to give it a try. No luck for me, but it was cool to see it up close. We did a quick walkthrough of the shops and were off to Italy.

By this time it was really getting crowded in the parks, and there was an actual line for the kidcot stuff. We had just missed a mime show and didn’t want to wait for the next showing. Katie got her mask from Italy and I found the mask shop. What I didn’t realize was that the majority of the masks were made out of paper mache! I couldn’t believe the detail that went into the masks and for it to be made out of paper. The smallest paper mache mask was $30, but we got a larger porcelain one for $35 that we love. I saw this huge mask and didn’t even bother to ask how much it was.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/italybigmask.jpg

Germany was next on the list and we were hungry for real food. We split two CS lunches. We got two brats with sauerkraut, a slice of chocolate cake, a pretzel and a coke with a water. The brats and sauerkraut were everything I wanted them to be and so was the Black Forest Cake. It was just plain terrific.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/germanylunch.jpg

Cost of 2 CS meals: $24.98

While in Germany, I went through the store and saw this jaw dropping, eye popping Cinderella’s Castle that had crystals all over it. I was just in AWE over this thing. I had to go get Reed just to show him it. It was an absolutely beautiful rendition of Cinderella Castle but it was also $37,XXX!!!! I almost dropped right there. I was talking to a woman about it and said, “Boy, I could come here 10 times or I could buy the castle.” She said, “Yeah, I could come here twice for that.” At that point I thought, wow, does she ever know how to stay here. Then her daughter ran up and said, “Holy crap, 37 thousand!” The woman said, “37 thousand, I thought that said, 37 hundred!” ROFL They did have a smaller Cinderella for $500 though.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/crystalcindycastle.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/crystalprice.jpg

Our next stop was the outpost. This place doesn’t have a kidcot location and I’m not sure why. I heard didjuridoos but didn’t see any for sale. It was themed nicely, but you can get that type of theming in abundance at the Animal Kingdom.

As we entered China, there was an acrobat show going on. We made our way to the back of the Chinese Pavilion and caught Mulan. Since everyone was watching the show, there was a little girl with her and she got a lot of attention. Then it was Katie’s turn and she also got a lot of attention from Mulan. I asked if Mushu would be coming out and they said “in a few minutes.” As we turned to walk away after our pictures, guess who was coming up! Yep, Mushu. The acrobat show was just getting over and we hit the line again for both Mulan and Mushu. Katie had a great time making her “War face.”

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/china-1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/chinaentrance-1.jpg

Katie showing Mulan her mask:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/mulankatie.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/mulankatie2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/mulankatiemushu.jpg

I spent some time in China looking for Beijing Olympics items. I was disappointed that the majority of the items that appealed to me were extremely overpriced. Nearly $30 for a t-shirt?? I love the Olympics, but I’ll just get something when they are closer. Oh well.

[Melissa_E]

We entered Norway which we visited yesterday for the Princess Breakfast. We didn’t do the Maelstrom. By this point in the trip, we were completely rided out. Besides my feet were absolutely killing me at this point and I had already taken two courses of Tylenol arthritis. We finished up in Mexico, didn’t go on the boat there either, but we did enter the shopping area. This area was beautiful! I loved the indoor scene marketplace. I was surprised that they didn’t sell beaded items like we found when we visited Mexico made by the Huichol Indians.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/norwaytroll.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/mexico.jpg

This concluded the amount of walking that I could take for the week. I told Reed that he could go wherever he wanted, but I was going to find a bench in a shady spot and sit there for a while. We had forgotten to hit the kidcot in England. He took Katie there to pick up the icon and stamp. I sat on the bench while talking to my dad about getting our boarding passes for Southwest. We ended up with A-44 through 46. Not bad for being 10 minutes late. I had to update my parents for two days of their “Daily Disney” since we didn’t talk to them the day before.

We sat on the bench for an hour. Then we made our way to the international showcase boat dock for our dinner at the Yachtsman. We had a pleasant ride and relaxed for a bit more before our seating at 5:30. We had a great spot at the window again. This time I chose the seafood salad and it was absolutely fantastic. Everything that I wanted it to be, the dressing was amazing. I actually took some of the bread and made sure to get every drop of it off the plate; if I could have I would have licked the plate clean. Reed had the diver scallops. We were shocked to see that we only received TWO! Yes, TWO!

They are seared but I found them to be a bit raw in the middle. I don’t know if that is what they meant to have happen. The fried topping was good, but this wasn’t their best appetizer available.

Reed got the New York Strip which was good. We got the steak again for Katie and she was actually hungry enough to eat some of it today. I had the seabass, I really enjoyed that! It came with a spinach and crab meat ravioli. The ravioli was good, but it was the bass and the crustacean sauce that made the dish. The bass was seared on one side to a crisp and cooked all the way through but not over cooked at all. Delicious!

For dessert, Katie got the puzzle again, she really enjoyed painting it and this time she ate the chocolate and we brought the cupcake with us back to EPCOT so she could eat it while we waited for Innovations. I had the warm chocolate cake with the mint chocolate chip ice cream. I thought the cake was fantastic but the ice cream was an odd choice. The cake has a warm chocolate center that oozes out when you cut it open. It was warm, decadent and a great chocolate cake. I would have preferred vanilla bean ice cream with it though. Reed had the Grand Marnier Strawberries with a shortcake. He thought they were great.

Cost of Meal: $145.46
Tip: $25.00

We decided early in the day that we would stay to watch Innovations. So after dinner we made our way back to Epcot, grabbed the stroller and staked out a position. We were at the top of Showcase Plaza right in front of the mechanical area at the top of the hill. This was a terrific place to watch. Since the hill is like stadium seating, everyone could watch.

While waiting, I went around and took a few pictures of Spaceship Earth at night, took Katie to the potty, and just relaxed before the show. Innovations was just spectacular! The music, the lights on the globe and the fireworks were amazing. I highly recommend watching them. Getting out of EPCOT wasn’t that bad after Innovations. I had to stop at the package pickup to gather the mask and a mug that I bought after riding Soarin for the fourth time. Reed dropped off the stroller and we made our way to the bus line. It went quick and I met my first Dis’er in the line! Woohoo!!! She saw my lime green Mickey paint chip attached to my bag and asked me about it! LOL
Katie zonked out while we were waiting in line for the bus. We got back to Pop by 9:45 and both zonked quickly afterwards.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/illuminations.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/illuminatinos.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/captain_hug99/Disney/epcotatnight.jpg

[Melissa_E]

Our last day was a relaxing one. I actually slept until 6:30. We gradually woke up, packed up the room. We didn’t get to breakfast until 8:15 or so, HO BOY is there ever a difference between a 7a.m. breakfast vs. 8:15. The cafeteria was packed! We just got simple foods, pancakes for Katie, French toast for me, Reed had the breakfast platter.

Cost of Meal: $22ish

Then we hopped a bus for Downtown Disney. We had the WORST driver for that. He didn’t even go to the right stopping area at the Pop Century for D’town Disney. He had a heavy foot on the brake and it was the worst bus ride of the whole trip (well except for the one to the airport, but that was just because of where we were going LOL).

DTD was surprisingly busy. It was going to be a rainy day so I guess people wanted to go shopping, or that it is just so small compared to the parks that it feels like a lot of people when there aren’t many. We shopped at the Christmas shop, World of Disney, and the Lego Store. We used up our snack credits at Goofy’s Candy shop. All 20 of them! I was disappointed that the fudge wasn’t included even though it was only $4 a piece. But we got brownies, cookies, and other goodies. They are all chilling in the refrigerator.

Cost of snack credits: $66

We spent our last credits at Earl of Sandwich. This was EASILY the best counter service meal that I had the whole trip. The bread is just fantastic, similar to Panini bread without all of the seasoning. Then they top it with really fresh meats. I had the Full Montegu, it was excellent. Reed had the original sandwich which I liked but I enjoyed mine much better. Katie had the PB&J which was good too! We got drinks and chips instead of a dessert. I will definitely hit this place a couple of times next time we go to Disney. Just fantastic!

Cost of lunch: $26.26

We raced back to the room, gathered our belongings, stuffed our new purchases into our luggage and went to the Magical Express. We were the last passengers picked up so all we had to do was go to the airport.

There was a different video on the way to the airport than from the one to the resort. I thought it was really classy that they sang the goodbye song from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I looked over to Reed and he had a tear in his eye, Katie kept asking if we could go to downtown Disney tomorrow.

We had a great flight back and even though we had A-44 to 46 we had a front row seat with the open seating at Southwest. Katie fell asleep at 6:30 in the car; we were home by 8p.m. We’re still putting the house back together, but who cares when I have a trip report to write!

We had a fantastic time at Disney. Obviously we couldn’t do everything, but we did a lot. I think we fit pretty much everything that you could in an 8 day 7 night vacation. There were long days, a child that fell asleep on the bus more often than not, but everyone had a terrific time. We got tired but never felt rushed and I don’t think it was a horribly commando approach to touring. Busy yes, but not breakneck.

[Melissa_E]

When you get your photopass card, take a picture of the back of it. In case it gets lost, you’ll have a record of the lengthy number on the back.
We never had to ask for a special photopass picture. Everytime we saw a photopass photographer at the special locations, they suggested the poses for the extra magic. We will have to see how it turned out when I download the cards.

If you want a great picture of the sorcerer’s hat without any people in your way at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, wait for just before the High School Musical float. The photopass people are still out and they will take your picture up until the float comes out. Everyone is cleared to the sides right before HSM.

At dusk, photopass photographers are set up at the Tower of Terror and the Sorcerer’s Hat. I didn’t get my family there in time, but the ToT shot would have been awesome! Especially since we had a bit of a cloudy day.
Car or no car. This is a hard decision to make. Going to the parks is very easy, you just hop a bus. If you are in the park and want to go to a resort restaurant, that is also easy, you just hop a bus. But going from one resort to another is hard, you have to hop a bus to a park and then hop another bus to the other resort (or monorail/boat/walk, etc….). I have to admit that there were a couple of times that having a car would have made life much easier than using the Disney Transportation System.

If you find that a large group is in your hotel, such as pop warner or a cheerleading group, watch for these groups and when they are leaving the parks. We found that they often travel in packs and when they leave a park they made the lines for the busses VERY long. So if you see a group of cheerleaders or Pop Warner athletes leaving at once and you are also leaving, boogy!

Pop Century- we chose this resort based on our budget and availability; also, we tend to not spend a lot of time in our hotel room during vacation. Even on a relaxing beach vacation, we’re out at the beach, pool, or just plain lounging. We wanted a clean place to sleep. That’s exactly what we got. Our room was clean but VERY small. When you enter the door you have to watch out for the foot of the bed! We have a room with two standard sized beds, a table with two chairs, an entertainment center, a small closet area and a bathroom. The bathroom is incredibly small. If you are a large person, you may have problems getting in and out unless you are stepping over the toilet! The members of the Dis boards recommend bringing your own expandable shower curtain rod with a shower curtain to make a changing area for the room and I highly recommend this! There just isn’t any room in the bathroom to change.

The hotel is nicely laid out with the huge characters and century icons. The pools were refreshing and there were plenty of life guards around. The food court was sufficient. They had CS meals, snacks/dessert options, beer and wine.

The busses ran very well. We only had one or two 15-20 minute waits. We had one or two instances where we couldn’t get on a bus and had to wait for the next one. Yes, I will admit that loading of ECVs were annoying and time consuming.

We chose the deluxe dining plan because we like to eat a good breakfast and a good dinner. This worked out really well for us. Most mornings we had breakfast in the parks with a few with breakfast at a resort. I recommend getting reservations at each park, either before the park opens or as close to the opening time as possible. If your ADR is for 9:05, they WILL let you in before hand, you can grab a stroller, a number of pictures without much traffic. In the Animal Kingdom there were photopass photographers ready, but there weren’t any at EPCOT. We didn’t have an early ADR at the Magic Kingdom, so I can’t comment on that. At Hollywood Studios we were so perplexed I didn’t notice.

The cost of two adults and one child on the plan for seven nights was: $1119.79
The value that we received from the meals was: $1451.88.

That amount doesn’t include all of the refilling of the mugs practically every morning and every night. Obviously if you are going to compare it to the 2007 dining plan, we didn’t get as much of a value, but over $300 is significant AND I didn’t have to look at the menu and think “gosh, do we really want to spend $32 on an entrée after spending $62 for breakfast?” The convenience of it and not worrying that I was going to go broke by eating made the deluxe dining plan MORE than worth it for us.

If you are going to spend the whole day in the park, I recommend dinner reservations for the same park you are visiting. This worked well for us at Hollywood and Epcot. Also we had one day at the Magic Kingdom without any dinner reservations and just got a counter service which was very good. This way you aren’t trying to figure out, “OK I have to leave the park by XYZ to hop the bus/boat/monorail/car to get to …….”

The people on the bus were extremely nice. Reed was offered a seat because he was carrying Katie who had fallen asleep twice. I was offered a seat on our first bus ride back to the hotel. We only ran into really nice people. There were a few out for themselves that almost ran us over but the people with manners far outnumbered those without manners.

[Disneydd2]

Great report! Great pics! Great, that ya'll got to ride up front on the monorail! It sounds like you had a GREAT time! Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup2

[Melissa_E]

Thank you for reading! I had a great time writing it!

[le9397]

Melissa - Great report.....thanks for taking the time to write it. :)

[creativeamanda]

Melissa--awesome report. Your pictures were beautiful!