eeyoregon
I have DDD: Disney Destination DISorder
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2006
Sorry for the gap between my trip and my report...life got crazy busy after we got home. We were at WDW from October 2-11 for free dining. Let me go on record by saying it was BLOODY HOT AND HUMID!!! More so than any of our past August trips.
Here is our background: Me, 39, DS 16 and DS 13. We have been visiting WDW once a year since 1998.
We flew into Orlando MCO from Portland, Oregon on Southwest airlines. We used the DME although I completely forgot to put the DME tags on our suitcases...thought about it at 32,000 feet! No biggie...just grabbed our own bags and made our way to the buses.
We stayed at the All Star Sports for the 2nd time. This is our favorite of the value resorts. Our room was 2nd floor on the backside of the Homerun building facing the AsMusic - extremely quiet location. It was a super short jaunt to the rental car, which we picked up 2 days later.
We were the 1st stop for the DME and arrived at 5:30pm. I went inside and spotted the online check-in area. Almost too good to be true: NO LINE! From start to finish, check-in took less than 4 minutes and we were headed for our room. The boys plopped on the beds while I went into turbo unpacking mode. Not sure where I got the energy after having been up since 3:00 AM and flying for 7 hours!?
We had an ADR at Kona Cafe. We took the resort bus to MK and then the monorail to the Polynesian. Dinner was yummy but I think we were all toooo tired to really enjoy it. While paying the bill I realized that maybe check-in was too quick. Apparently my CM forgot to put charging privelages on my KTTW card so when I tried to charge the gratuity to the room, it was declined. Our waitress was awesome, slipped away and did some magic and all was well. I stopped by the hotel desk that night and got my new KTTW printed.
DAY 1: Epcot.
Being from the West Coast and having traveled all day the day before, we got a late start, which was fine by me! Without sounding like a broken record, may I mention how BLOODY HOT AND HUMID it was?? Seriously! 98 degrees with 2000% humidity. I was dying. No spray bottle fan thingy is gone help under those conditions. We did as much indoors as possible.
Lunch ADR was at Le Cellier. This was our 1st time at this venue. I'm gonna have to be honest and tell you that I was not impressed. Honestly, the steak at 'Ohana's is MUCH better IMHO. Now, I will tell you that the pretzel bread sticks were the yummiest thing ever! It was nice and cool and relaxing inside and I think I drank 12 diet cokes!
We stopped and listened to the group Starship that was performing that day. Man did that take me back to the 80's!! I knew the words to every song which impressed my sons, LOL!
It was a hot, but great day at Epcot. When we got back to the room I was happy to see that the fridge, from the fridge swap that I was a part of, had been delivered and plugged in.
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Let me just say that this family will NEVER be at a rope drop. The 3 hour time change and late hours in the parks = you won't see the whites of our eyes any time before 10:00am! We were inside the gates by 10:30.
The minute you enter Magic Kingdom is they day that you are really at Disney. I think I may have shed my traditional tear on Main Street...or was that the river of sweat running off my forehead??? Another 95+ degree day. Sigh. I would have given my left foot for an afternoon rain storm but that didn't happen during our 9 day trip.
Around 1:00 I departed from the boys, hopped on the bus to the Dolphin and picked up our rental car. By renting at the Dolphin and returning to the airport, I saved over $200. It was an extremely easy process and I was quickly on my way back to MK in my Nissan Cube. That was the coolest/funniest rental car to date!! I LOVED it!
I caught up with the boys and we spent the day laughing, smiling and sweating. We had a 9:30pm ADR at 'Ohana's which is our #1 favorite restaurant. It didn't disappoint!! We ate, ate and ate some more. I can't believe how tender the steak is! You can cut it with a fork! Our waitress brought me a special birthday cupcake along with the to die for bread pudding.
As I was "paying" the bill, the folks at the table next to us caught my attention. There were 2 young men and 2 young woman. They asked me if we would be visiting Animal Kingdom and I told them yes. Then they asked me what day? Apparently they were all castmembers from Festival of the Lion King (my favorite show at WDW) and wanted to give us VIP seating. One of the gals wrote my name down and told me to check in at the Exit 1/2 hour before the show. I was giddy. What a great day!!
to be continued.....
Here is our background: Me, 39, DS 16 and DS 13. We have been visiting WDW once a year since 1998.
We flew into Orlando MCO from Portland, Oregon on Southwest airlines. We used the DME although I completely forgot to put the DME tags on our suitcases...thought about it at 32,000 feet! No biggie...just grabbed our own bags and made our way to the buses.
We stayed at the All Star Sports for the 2nd time. This is our favorite of the value resorts. Our room was 2nd floor on the backside of the Homerun building facing the AsMusic - extremely quiet location. It was a super short jaunt to the rental car, which we picked up 2 days later.
We were the 1st stop for the DME and arrived at 5:30pm. I went inside and spotted the online check-in area. Almost too good to be true: NO LINE! From start to finish, check-in took less than 4 minutes and we were headed for our room. The boys plopped on the beds while I went into turbo unpacking mode. Not sure where I got the energy after having been up since 3:00 AM and flying for 7 hours!?
We had an ADR at Kona Cafe. We took the resort bus to MK and then the monorail to the Polynesian. Dinner was yummy but I think we were all toooo tired to really enjoy it. While paying the bill I realized that maybe check-in was too quick. Apparently my CM forgot to put charging privelages on my KTTW card so when I tried to charge the gratuity to the room, it was declined. Our waitress was awesome, slipped away and did some magic and all was well. I stopped by the hotel desk that night and got my new KTTW printed.
DAY 1: Epcot.
Being from the West Coast and having traveled all day the day before, we got a late start, which was fine by me! Without sounding like a broken record, may I mention how BLOODY HOT AND HUMID it was?? Seriously! 98 degrees with 2000% humidity. I was dying. No spray bottle fan thingy is gone help under those conditions. We did as much indoors as possible.
Lunch ADR was at Le Cellier. This was our 1st time at this venue. I'm gonna have to be honest and tell you that I was not impressed. Honestly, the steak at 'Ohana's is MUCH better IMHO. Now, I will tell you that the pretzel bread sticks were the yummiest thing ever! It was nice and cool and relaxing inside and I think I drank 12 diet cokes!
We stopped and listened to the group Starship that was performing that day. Man did that take me back to the 80's!! I knew the words to every song which impressed my sons, LOL!
It was a hot, but great day at Epcot. When we got back to the room I was happy to see that the fridge, from the fridge swap that I was a part of, had been delivered and plugged in.
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Let me just say that this family will NEVER be at a rope drop. The 3 hour time change and late hours in the parks = you won't see the whites of our eyes any time before 10:00am! We were inside the gates by 10:30.
The minute you enter Magic Kingdom is they day that you are really at Disney. I think I may have shed my traditional tear on Main Street...or was that the river of sweat running off my forehead??? Another 95+ degree day. Sigh. I would have given my left foot for an afternoon rain storm but that didn't happen during our 9 day trip.
Around 1:00 I departed from the boys, hopped on the bus to the Dolphin and picked up our rental car. By renting at the Dolphin and returning to the airport, I saved over $200. It was an extremely easy process and I was quickly on my way back to MK in my Nissan Cube. That was the coolest/funniest rental car to date!! I LOVED it!
I caught up with the boys and we spent the day laughing, smiling and sweating. We had a 9:30pm ADR at 'Ohana's which is our #1 favorite restaurant. It didn't disappoint!! We ate, ate and ate some more. I can't believe how tender the steak is! You can cut it with a fork! Our waitress brought me a special birthday cupcake along with the to die for bread pudding.
As I was "paying" the bill, the folks at the table next to us caught my attention. There were 2 young men and 2 young woman. They asked me if we would be visiting Animal Kingdom and I told them yes. Then they asked me what day? Apparently they were all castmembers from Festival of the Lion King (my favorite show at WDW) and wanted to give us VIP seating. One of the gals wrote my name down and told me to check in at the Exit 1/2 hour before the show. I was giddy. What a great day!!
to be continued.....
The biggest impact of her not feeling well is that we didn't do any late evening activities since she would conk out by 10 or so. No problem. We loved Magens beach at St Thomas. We didn't do any excersions, saved lots of money this way. Met a great family that we toured with, old hands since it was their 7th cruise. Castaway Cay was awesome!!! Would love to go back to hang out there.
! Actually we have our best family time at WDW and I am so gratefuly that my two boys still enjoy the magic with old mom. We did discover that 2 six feet tall "boys" don't fit in a double bed togther! Ordered a roll away for the last 3 nights.
