A trip to the very HOT place! DD arrived at WDW College Program!!

[pjstevens]

Disney in August is HOT. If you've never been there in August, you are very fortunate. We have ONLY been in August!!! What is wrong with us!!! (It's called money, it's cheaper to go then and fits in with schedules). We know that, but continue to go then. This will be my first try at a trip report after three trips in the past three years.

Our family this trip:

Patty That’s me (pjstevens). I am 43 years young (cause I don’t feel old). Disney addicted, mom to three, DS - Dale Jr. (married to a wonderful DIL Stephanie, they stayed at our house and took care of our fur babies), DD - Aubre starts the WDWCP on September 5th and DS – Tyler, also my lovely pug Abbey. Grand mommy to Snoopy, (Stephanie & Dale’s beagle.)


Dale (dh) My wonderful husband who tells everyone what a great planner I am between the Disboards and Tour Guide Mike, he lets them all know how great our trips are. He’s as much an addict. When I say, ‘no Disney’ he’s bummed out.


Aubre – (dd) is 19 and a University of Delaware student majoring in nutrition and psychology. Considering she recovered from anorexia, I find it amazing this is her goal in life now. She is taking the fall semester off to spend it with the Mouse! Aubre was a competitive gymnast until a back injury ended that dream. She loves Disney and has always wanted to work there (actually since our trip in August 2005 when learning about the program).


Tyler – (ds) a junior in a couple weeks, he hates that school is starting that soon. He loves skateboarding more than anything else, but would love to be a forensic scientist. He also swims for his school.

Trip planned for August 13th – 18th. We were arriving very early on the 13th and leaving late on the 18th to get the most bang for our buck. On a side note, I was sick (home from work) on the 10th. All I could think was I was going to be sick at Disney. I went back to work on the 11th (had a lot to finish up before going away) but still felt a bit light headed, fuzzy feeling. Fast forward to our trip.

Day one – August 13th. Had to be up around 3am to get ready for the trip to the airport. We needed to be on the road by 5am. Of course, no one slept a lot that night as we were excited and still doing last minute packing, laundry, cleaning up.

We got on the road right at 5am. Dale, Jr. picked us up and took us to the airport. We arrived right at Philly airport before 5:30. Now, we flew last year around this same time. Got to the airport just after 5am and walked right on through security. NOT this time!!! Couldn’t believe the line. We could see the line for security when we pulled up. It went across the walkway that goes over the road (for anyone that knows Philly). I’ve heard it can be a lot worse, but that was the longest we’ve seen it.

Flew Airtran direct flight to Orlando. This was our first experience with Airtran. I decided to wait and check in online 24 hours in advance and we had seats just in front of the exit row. Now problem with the flight ($49 pp, great rate). We arrived in MCO (Orlando) right on schedule around 9:30 or so. Headed straight for the ME. The line was not bad at all (one of the great things about flying in early). Within a few minutes we were directed to the ‘red carpet’ and the Disney cast members.

Up next the REAL day one!!! Our arrival, check in and first park!

 

[DisneyNotes]

Thanks for coming on to write up and post your trip report. We'll be reading!

 

[ENSOCK]

great start! can't wait to read more!

 

[pjstevens]

Magical Express!!! We actually have been very fortunate and love this service. Having always had the first drop off and not having to wait too long for the bus to take off from the airport. This is when we feel like we are on our way.

We arrived at POP with only a couple families in front of us. Now last year we arrived about an hour later and were fortunate to have our room ready. Not this time! I know I shouldn’t be disappointed, but it’s already been a long morning and I so wanted to sit and relax for a few in our nice COLD room. We had groceries delivered from the Gardengrocer.com and they arrived right when we did. We got checked in, got the number to call to check on our room later and were VERY pleased to find out we were in the 60’s building first floor, which is what I requested. Without paying for the preferred location, we had a view of the lake and no steps to climb after a LONG day in the HOT summer heat. Yea for requests that are granted!!! We checked our carry on bags in at Luggage Assistance. This is an awesome thing to have access too. Was nice to be able to drop our stuff and head off to the Magic Kingdom. Our first stop was to see the castle.

We got into MK around 11 or so (may have been 11:30). Boy is it crowded at that time. We stopped at Casey’s for lunch. We are not on the dining plan this year, so we kept track of EVERY food purchase to see how we did. Having done the dining plan two years in a row, we felt it was well worth it for all the food you get, but we don’t normally eat like that and it takes a LOT of time to do a sit down every day! So that being said we didn’t do it this time. We had a nice lunch and got a table in the shade. The ducks walking around looking for food are so cute and it is tempting to not feed them, but we obeyed the signs. Sometimes I wonder how, how people can sit there with signs all around and totally ignore them (feeding the birds)?

Went to get some fast passes for Splash and/or BTMR, whichever worked better. At that time, I think the stand by was an hour or so for Splash and BTMR was closed temporarily for technical difficulties. (Honestly don’t remember and you’ll find out later why I didn’t bother to write this stuff down). Grabbed our fp for Splash and walked towards the raft ride for Tom Sawyers Island as ds loved going there a couple years ago. Needless to say, a LONG line there, so kept on walking. Walked around to Adventure Land and found Pirates to have a 20 minute wait. Having followed TGM last summer, we never waited more than that in a line and I was tempted to not do it now, but we had also always gone to the park at rope drop. Honestly if we had waited 20 minutes, it moved for the most part so it didn’t feel that long and it was out of the very HOT sun!!! I cannot stand line cutters. Everyone else waits patiently but you have to have the one person (or group) that tries to wiggle by. Right as we got inside the building (and the air) a family started heading out the door quickly. Thought, what’s going on with them. Well 20 feet or so, we found out. One of their family members lost their lunch right there in the ‘tunnel’!!! EEWWWW!!! I do not handle that well, but fortunately the line moved quickly past there.

We love Pirates. It is a nice cool ride and it was not scary. After Pirates we walked over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. The next show was starting in a four minutes!!! So another good choice. This show is ‘ok’ but it is out of the heat and it was a place to sit for a few. After this, we called to check on our room…. And it WAS ready!!!! Yippeee, we can go get moved in!!! Had to stop for Dole whips on the way out!!! I actually had the root beer float, dh had the pineapple one and ds got the slice of pineapple. This was refreshing as we started our walk out of the park.

Caught the POP bus back to the resort and honestly I think we all fell asleep on the bus, the exhaustion was starting to hit. Got back to Pop, went to retrieve our carry on bags and a fridge that I managed to get in on swap with a group from Tour Guide Mike. Also wanted to pick up our groceries (we had some cold items that were being kept cold until we got back). Well, unfortunately, they couldn’t find our groceries!!! Started to panic, but after several trips by the CM, it was found out that they had been delivered to our room with our luggage. WHAT!!!??? They delivered our cold groceries to an empty room with no fridge yet?? The cm talked to a manager and they were looking into finding out what happened and to see about getting a replacement for those items. In the meantime, we found out they had JUST been delivered. Kids were on their way to the room and called to tell us yes, they had just come and everything was cold!!!

We got into our room, our bags were there, got our fridge plugged in and stocked and started on decorating our window and door.

We layed down and took a nap (a very much needed nap). Then it was time to head back to MK as we had ADR at the Crystal Palace (a must eat for us, the POOH fan here !!!). The bus back to MK took forever to arrive. We must of gotten to the stop right after it left as only a couple people were in line. Seemed every other bus came, some twice in the time we were waiting. Now I know if you follow some guides they say to check in early and you may be seated early. We found this did not work and we sat longer. We were LATE for our ADV and found the line to check in was soooo long and for ten minutes the same gentleman was in the front of the line talking with the person you check in with. Finally when he moved away, several cm’s came out to do check ins via a portable system. This moved the line along a lot quicker. Got checked and started to wait.

Side note: dh had a shirt made somewhere on line and it says something like ‘before you abuse, accuse or criticize, walk a mile in a soldiers shoes’ then support our troops under that. Had a couple of people come up to him to ask about it. Got several compliments on it. All the work I do on making my Disney shirts for us to wear and he got more compliments on that shirt!! I’m proud of him and his support for our troops, so that’s ok.

Within a few minutes of checking in, we were called in!!!! Yea, for once, being late paid off. We got in, got seated and enjoyed a yummy dinner with Pooh and his friends. As the biggest Pooh fan in the family and the photo taker, we didn’t’ do any autographs this trip and no other character photos, but a couple to share:

After dinner we used our fp for Splash

We stopped by BTMR for a fp fefore getting on splash. After splash we walked back over towards the raft for Tom Sawyers Island and saw NO LINE!!!! Then we saw the sign, ‘closed at dusk’. Oh, well, over the bridge and a walk down Frontierland. Saw the sign that the Country Bear Jamboree was starting in five minutes. In the several times we’ve been to Disney we never did this. It was ‘cute’. A cool relaxing place to rest and wait for our fp time for BTMR. It was time for that and we then decided that we were all too exhausted to stay for the parade or fireworks (there were actually two parades and I can’t believe we didn’t’ stay), but be good to yourself, get some rest and there is always tomorrow.

Next up, Day Two – The cost of getting sick while on vacation at Disney!!!

 

[DisneyNotes]

Really cute room decorations! I like them!

Glad you had a good experience with Magical Express, too.

 

[MousekaMaddi]

ready for more........

 

[pjstevens]

Thanks for joining along in our adventure. Unfortunately, I am back to the REAL world today I have to go to work!!!

I have started on Day two and will definately post it this evening along with more photos.

 

[DisneyNotes]

Thanks for joining along in our adventure. Unfortunately, I am back to the REAL world today I have to go to work!!!

I have started on Day two and will definately post it this evening along with more photos.

Good. That will give me something to look forward to at the end of Monday.

 

[HockeyMomR]

I am in! Will be looking for your next post

 

[pjstevens]

Day two – NO FAIR!!!!

(ok, had a little down time to work on this while at work, sssshhhh, don’t tell the boss).

Well, to continue, if you read the end of day one, you’ll probably guess what happens next. Both Aubre and I work up SICK Tuesday morning. Sick as is sore throat, fever, head cold, sinus drainage!!! Remember the other day I said, I felt like I was getting a head cold, well, guess what? I WAS!!! Now I am sick and at the most magical place in the world. That is so not fair. We stopped in the store at POP and paid top dollar for some cold medicine. Only enough pills for four doses, this is not good and considering two of us were taking them it was $4something for two doses each. Oh, well, we are at Disney, can’t be too bad.

Day Two was a trip to MGM.

We really like this park. We arrived right before rope drop and got to watch the street action. Boy, do I wish we were the ‘special family’ that got to ride down Sunset Blvd before everyone else. But, we weren’t. That’s ok, cause we saw lots of magic and so enjoyed the day. We made a beeline right to Tower of Terror.

Now, mind you, dh does NOT do elevators and I tried to explain this is NOT an elevator, but NO WAY, he was NOT doing it. So, we gave him our passes and while we were on Tot, he got fp for Rock & Rollercoaster. By the time we got to the entrance of ToT it said 10 minute standby. We walked right in. No wait at all (except for people who walk SLOW). Only kidding, it was really quick. Had a GREAT cm who helped us into the elevator and so played the part!

We are in the middle row on the right side. My son, me, my daughter!

After ToT we walked back down Sunset Blvd towards the HAT. Oh, love that hat!!! Stopped to take a couple pictures of the MGM walkway sign.

Saw very short wait for the GMR so got in line to do that (out of the sun and heat). We wanted to do the Back lot tour, but got turned around, so we ended up over at Star Tours. I’ve read several times of the Dream Team being at this ride. There was maybe a 10 minute wait, and honestly, that is a long estimate, we pretty much walked right onto this also. I don’t think we ever did this ride before. I liked Star Wars and all, but didn’t get into the ‘craze’. As we were coming off of Start Tours, what do we see, but the Dream Team! No, they weren’t waiting for us, unfortunately, but someone was going to get some magic when they got off. Probably those special fast passes I kept seeing. After this we walked right into the Muppets 3d thing. Another out of the sun and sit and relax. Now the day was getting very HOT. Like 95ish and humid. Decided we’d go back to the hotel for a swim and nap (very much needed nap for those that are sick).

Took a dip in the pool, layed down for a bit and walked a LITTLE around the resort, mainly the Generation Gap bridge. Love looking in the water there at the wildlife. Saw a REALLY big fish then we peeked through the bushes at the unfinished Legendary Years. Maybe some day, they’ll be done as suites (have heard so many different rumors over the past few years).

Walked passed a few windows with adorable towel animals and such. We were never fortunate enough to have one of those show up in our room but were blessed this trip to arrive to a room with one in the window. These are a few we saw on our walk.

Sorry to end here, but got to get some work done today. Will work on the rest of day two when I get home this afternoon/evening. Again, thanks for coming along on this adventure with us.

 

[DisneyNotes]

I'm glad you were able to get up and out of the room even while ill.

 

[pjstevens]

Day two continued….

After our ‘refreshing’ break at POP, it was time to head back to MGM for our dinner at Prime Time Café. This time, the bus came a little quicker (we still had fast passes to use on Rock & Roller coaster). Got back in to the park and saw the photographers. You know, they don’t seem to care if you get pics taken or not. It seems when it started years ago, they asked if you’d like your pictures taken. But now, you can walk on by and they don’t even say hi (not all of them). We did find one who took some pics of us (of course I’m still working on those photos, so I can’t share them yet).

We headed straight for the R&RC. Walked right in with our fast pass (and grabbed another for later). It was now time for our dinner at Prime Time. We had a 5:30 ADV and arrived a little early. Sat for a little while (not long this time) and soon were called back to our table. While eating dinner, I noticed someone came in looking like they just got off a ride that they got wet. I’m thinking, what ride gets you wet in MGM? NONE, it was raining, not just raining it was pouring!!! After dinner, we hung out in the doorway with several other families waiting for it to slow down. After probably 20 minutes we had a break and ran to one of the shops. Boy does that air feel cold when you are wet.

After dinner we headed back to Pop for a breather and to dry off some. (Seems we spent a lot of time going to and from places, huh)? Oh, well, that’s us. We were debating going to the Boardwalk and walking around and seeing Fantasmic.

We headed back to the MGM and then took the boat to the boardwalk. The line was long, but luckily they were able to fit everyone on the boat. After a few stops we were at the boardwalk. It was already a little after 9pm and we wanted to get back in time for the last Fantasmic show at 10:30 (had to be in the park before 10am, closing time), and not knowing if we’d have to wait 20 minutes for a return boat, we just did a quick walk along the boardwalk and check out a few places. Nothing great (as we live in Delaware, we have a boardwalk at the beach, and several beaches within two hours drive of home).

Headed back over to MGM and people were pouring out of the place. The first Fantasmic was over and it was almost 10pm, so people were heading out of the park. Absolutely no one was going in at that hour. We strolled down to Fantasmic and waited for the show to start. We sat all the way in the back (and almost smack middle). A wonderful place to see everything from. I had gotten a new camera for my bday a couple months ago (and this was my main reason, this trip). Needless to say, we also took the video camera but did anyone bring that tonight for the show, NO!!! So, I thought I’d see how my camera did on video. Actually not bad had I been prepared and changed the batteries before realizing they were almost dead. So I spent five minutes digging in my bag and finally got my camera up and running again. I managed to get two short videos shot and a few pics (not that great). I’ll load a link when I get the video online in case you want to see it.

After Fantasmic, we did something we have never done!!! Here is a tip I learned right here on the DIS and it is soooo true. Take you time leaving, why rush, everyone else is going the same way. Let the crazed rush out and sit a while, then get up and STROLL out.

I have an awesome picture of how empty the park was at that hour. It’s a beautiful site. A look down Sunset Blvd (missing a few people)

(I had planned to do this in each park this week, except you’ll see in tomorrows report, I only got sicker).

 

[pjstevens]

This is a short clip of the bubbles at Fantasmic. My first attempt at a video with my camera.

 

[LMO429]

Great Tr!

 

[DisneyNotes]

I think I'll wait for the crowd to leave Fantasmic, too. The empty street is so beautiful!

 

[KorieDWnut]

I just got home about 3 hours ago. I just wanted to say that I stayed 2 floors up from PJStevens and I took a picture of their door. lol I signed my name on the sign and knocked on the door once but they weren't there
I walked by a lot and never saw them.

Didn't see a single other DISer.

Oh well

 

[pjstevens]

Korie,

Thanks so much for signing our door. It's amazing how few 'disers' I saw this trip. I wore my lgmk on my back pack most the trip. My dh tells everyone how great I plan our trip with all the tips I get here an tgm. He loves that we decorate our room window. I tried to 'locate' those that signed our door on here, but the search thing never works right for me. Sorry we didnt' get to meet. Hope you had an awesome trip.

I just got home about 3 hours ago. I just wanted to say that I stayed 2 floors up from PJStevens and I took a picture of their door. lol I signed my name on the sign and knocked on the door once but they weren't there
I walked by a lot and never saw them.

Didn't see a single other DISer.

Oh well

 

[pjstevens]

Day Three – Epcot

Well awoke this day feeling worse than yesterday. So hard to breath and it is going to be a HOT one. DH and Tyler were doing the Segway around the World at Epcot. DH and I did this last summer and it is so worth it. Makes you want to own one of those machines.

Of course this day, the Epcot bus was the latest one to arrive. DH and Tyler left to go to the stop around 7:30 am as they needed to check in at Guest Relations in Epcot at 8:15 am. The bus did not arrive until a little after 8 am, but, luckily we were dropped off at the CLOSEST bus stop so DH and Tyler made it to Guest Relations around 8:20. On a side note, as soon as they went through the gate, I had them hand over their tickets so we could get fast passes for them.

Aubre did not want to stand in line for 40 minutes to wait for rope drop, so we decided a monorail trip was in order. We ‘wasted’ 20 minutes, but it was cool and relaxing. When we got back at Epcot we got in line waiting to be let in. Boy was it HOT already. We finally got in and waiting by innoventions for rope drop.

Aubre and I headed straight toward the Land and Soarin. We were actually in the line that walked all the way in (as soon as they opened the door), but there were sooo many people doing the same thing by the time we got through it was already a 20-minute wait. We got fast passes for all of us. Aubre and I went over to Living with the Land and walked right on. Enjoyed the cool relaxing ride.

After this, we headed over to Imagination. Walked right into Figment (I love Figment).

Sent some email photos in the Kodak lab to each other.

We then walked right into Honey I Shrunk the Audience. There were so few people we got to sit smack in the middle without anyone around us!!! So nice.

Right as we were leaving I Shrunk the Audience, DH called to say they were done their tour. Told them to meet in the Land so we could use our fast passes on Soarin. Thank goodness we had those, the stand by was now over an hour. We love Soarin. After this decided on an early lunch at Sunshine Seasons. They have a nice selection and plenty of room to eat. While we were finishing up lunch we saw THEM!!!!! The Dream Team, a LOT of them, walking with a family, following them with a video camera (like a BIG tv type). They announced something, but we weren’t close enough to hear what they won. They sat the family at a table and showed them something on a portable dvd player. Then they started with all the paper work. They were taping all of this. I have no idea what they won but it must have been something big. If anyone was there that day, let me know.

After this little bit of excitement, it was time to go get fast passes for TT and head around the world. As we started to head over, I felt so very sick, weak, dizzy, lightheaded, (and couldn’t breath on top of that). I actually sat down and started to cry I felt so bad. It was time to split up. I left my family in Epcot and I went back to POP to sleep. I did stop in Mousegear and get myself a visor. I cannot wear sunglasses (or any glasses) so got a cute visor to keep some of that sun out of my eyes. I traveled back to POP so lonely without them, but I needed it. I slept for a couple hours and the family came back around 3:30. They walked all around the world and did Maelstrom. DH got his troll he’s been wanting for a year.

After everyone got back, they all took a nap and then we took a dip in the pool. Had dinner at Pop and then headed back to Epcot.

We love that they have signs posted telling you the time of some of attractions and how long the stand by is and the fast pass. So we headed right to TT to use our fp. Then it was time to walk around the world. I was feeling a tiny bit better and the family really wanted me to go along. Tyler couldn’t wait to show me the hidden Mickey he’d found out about on the Segway tour.

We had to go to Germany (and always stop for us) and it was there the DH couldn’t wait to show me something he’d found. We have a pug who is like my daughter, she LOVES me so much. They had a Steiff pug there. Her name was Mopsy and this is a pic of her….

We finished our walk around the world and left before Illuminations as I couldn’t handle too late of a night. Have some nice photopass pics but as mentioned before, they are still being worked on and I haven’t ordered the cd yet.

Up next, back to the Magic Kingdom at rope drop (or so we thought).

 

[KorieDWnut]

Korie,

Thanks so much for signing our door. It's amazing how few 'disers' I saw this trip. I wore my lgmk on my back pack most the trip. My dh tells everyone how great I plan our trip with all the tips I get here an tgm. He loves that we decorate our room window. I tried to 'locate' those that signed our door on here, but the search thing never works right for me. Sorry we didnt' get to meet. Hope you had an awesome trip.

I had my LGMHs on my pink baggallini. My mom thought I was nuts until we got to your door. lol I said SEEE!!! I am not making this up!!! lol

I put a couple in my window but I was up on the 3rd floor where not many people walk by. Let me tell you I was happy to be on the non pool side because people were still swimming at 2am and making noise. I loved our view.

 

[DisneyNotes]

I stinks to be sick on vacation! I'm ready for the happy part of the story!