The AutoTrain, Disney World, and MORE report! Picture-heavy. **Final Update 1/5**

Ok so when I saw the early pics of you all leaving to hit the parks I saw your DD's shoes and thought "NO WAY!!". I am such a wimp when it comes to that, I ALWAYS wear my running shoes to the parks. Then I had to laugh out loud at the pic of your DH carrying her, too funny!

I agree, your pics are great! I need a new camera and was thinking of the Canon powershot, so happy to hear that's what you used!!!
 
we were at WDW in April...the 11-17th...and the weather was awesome, upper 70s during the day and lowers 60's at night... my husband and I went back a couple weeks later (unplanned quick trip) from May 6th-10th and it was record high heat, in the 90's....we too made good use of the pools!
 
Your pictures are great.The flowers were so pretty. We need to get a new camera before our next trip in Aug 2011.
 
Did you ever have any trouble with the buses at French Quarter? We have thought of staying there but I always wondered if everyone lining up at one stop would be a pain.
 


Enjoying your TR, fantastic pictures. Will be there in Oct. Hope I can take great pictures like yours
 
I am really enjoying reading your trip report. The pictures are just fabulous. I am going down on the 24th of September and cant wait.

Thank you!! Oh, your trip is right around the corner!

Ok so when I saw the early pics of you all leaving to hit the parks I saw your DD's shoes and thought "NO WAY!!". I am such a wimp when it comes to that, I ALWAYS wear my running shoes to the parks. Then I had to laugh out loud at the pic of your DH carrying her, too funny!

I agree, your pics are great! I need a new camera and was thinking of the Canon powershot, so happy to hear that's what you used!!!

Yeah, DD "forgot" her Crocs and only had one pair of sneakers with her. We had gone to Walmart the night before, but didn't find anything she liked except for these water shoes. She swore she'd be fine in them. Um. Not so much! And thanks! I am really very happy with my camera. This is the third Powershot I've owned. I started out with the Powershot SX1.

we were at WDW in April...the 11-17th...and the weather was awesome, upper 70s during the day and lowers 60's at night... my husband and I went back a couple weeks later (unplanned quick trip) from May 6th-10th and it was record high heat, in the 90's....we too made good use of the pools!

We enjoyed being at Disney in May, but the heat was just too much! Especially since it had SNOWED the day before we left home.

Your pictures are great.The flowers were so pretty. We need to get a new camera before our next trip in Aug 2011.

Thank you! DD's camera (the Powershot A470) is a simple-to-use camera, fits in a pocket and takes great pictures. Mom's Kodak Easyshare was pretty good, too.

Did you ever have any trouble with the buses at French Quarter? We have thought of staying there but I always wondered if everyone lining up at one stop would be a pain.

There are actually two bus stops at French Quarter, but they're right next to each other. One bus stop is for Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios, and the other is for the rest. We really had no problems with the buses at all.
 


After spending time in the pool, we headed back to the room to clean up and get dressed for dinner. Tonight, we had a reservation at ‘Ohana! Our reservation was for 6:40. We headed to the French Quarter bus stop a little before 6:00.

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We only waited a couple of minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. I don't think it was even five minutes. From there, we were planning to catch the monorail to the Polynesian. Should be easy-peasy, right?

Think again. We got to the Magic Kingdom easily enough. We got to the ramp for the Resort Monorail. No problems yet. We got in line. Hmm.. Seems like a really big line for the resort monorail. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. FOUR monorails had come and gone on the other side (park monorails). Then an announcement was made that one of the monorails had to be taken “off line” and we would be seeing a train shortly. So everyone waited. And waited. And waited some more. By now, it was 6:45, and our ressie was for 6:40. I wasn’t concerned, just a little ticked. It was hot and sticky, and there were a whole lot of tired people in line, waiting for a monorail train. We all waited some more. And then waited a little more. FINALLY, after waiting in line for the monorail for over 45 minutes, we get a train. Boy, did they pack that train!!! We were packed in like sardines. Which was bad enough, but the train stayed in the station for ten full minutes before it pulled out, after the doors were closed. Talk about hot and stuffy!!!

When we FINALLY made it to the Polynesian, it was about 7:15. More than a half-hour after our ressie time. I checked in, and figured that we’d have to wait a while. Nope! They had us seated at a table within five minutes! Yay!!! We were stuck in a corner a bit, but we were happy enough with the spot. Now, on with the food porn.

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DD got a cupcake, as I had mentioned that we were celebrating her birthday when I made the on-line ADR.

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I don’t have pictures of the meat skewers. I was too busy eating when they came around!! Everything was absolutely delicious! I could not find one bad thing to say about any piece of this meal. Honestly. The bread was fresh and warm. The salad was wonderful with a very tasty dressing. The wings… I’m still drooling over the wings. The potsticker things were tasty, too. We loved the broccoli and noodles. Especially DD. The server was a bit surprised, I think, when DD asked him to refill the broccoli! All of the meats were very tasty. We had beef, pork, chicken and shrimp. The beef was done perfectly, in my opinion. Not over-cooked or dry. The pork and chicken were nice and moist too. And very tender. The shrimp was delicious. I think you all get the point – WE LOVED THIS MEAL!!! Oh, yummy. Total cost here for four, with drinks (non-alcoholic) was $132.02 plus tip.

Oh, Mom and I never did end up ordering our Lapu Lapu or Pina Colava! We had talked about it, but never got to it. We were too distracted by the yumminess that kept coming our way. Oh, well. Something to do next time, right??

By the time we finally finished our meal, it was about 8:45. We wandered out toward the boat dock. We were going to take the boat over to Magic Kingdom and go into the park for a little bit. Big mistake, but I’ll get to that later. I don’t know what I was thinking…

Anyway, we had to wait a few minutes for a boat at the dock.

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By the time a boat came along, there were a few of us waiting to board. We all got loaded and the captain was just about to leave when we were told that we’d have to wait a few minutes. We got a bonus!! I had forgotten all about the Electrical Water Pageant! We had a fairly nice view.

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I also have a couple of shaky videos of the Pageant.

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Now on to my stupidity. What on Earth was I thinking, going into Magic Kingdom at 9:30 on an evening when Spectro was showing??? We didn’t want to see Spectro, but did want to catch a ride or two and maybe see Wishes.

Actually, getting INTO the park wasn’t too bad. We were able to make our way up the sidewalk on Main Street and around toward Splash Mountain. This was our main objective. DD and Mom really wanted to do Splash Mountain at night. Oh. My. We got stuck in the crowd after Spectro ended. Cast Members were not letting us walk down the main walkway in Frontierland. They were funneling everyone down the bridge area toward Tom Sawyer Island. Talk about crowded and congested!!! We finally made it to Splash Mountain, though. There was a little wait time – I’m thinking it was about fifteen minutes… We loved the ride again, of course.

By the time we made it off, though, it was late. As in Wishes had already started late. We made our way – along with the rest of the mob – toward Main Street. Very slowly. We would stop and watch the fireworks here and there, but were pretty much getting pushed around too much to view it comfortably. This blurry shot shows the crowds as we were heading out.

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This is where I got a little disgruntled. When did Disney World get so disorganized???? The bus stop was a pure joke. Simply MOBS of people. No cast members directing traffic. Our bus stop was at the end of the line. We finally found ONE cast member trying to direct people, but no one was really listening. We found that our line was half-way down the bus stop! Wow. It took us almost an HOUR to get a bus back to the French Quarter! Everyone was hot and tired and grumpy. I’ve never seen Disney World so disorganized and chaotic. We had left at park closing on our last trip, and don't remember ANYTHING like this chaos. We were definitely NOT seeing the magic at this moment.

We finally did get a bus, though. Mom and I had a seat, while DD stood next to me. DH stood also, and ended up helping a woman and her son keep upright. The bus driver was none too gentle going around the corners, and this poor woman and her son – he was probably DD’s age, around 11 or 12 – kept almost falling over. Neither one was really tall enough to properly hold on to the overhead bar. DH would kind of help steady both of them, and finally got people jostled around enough so that those two could hold one of the upright poles instead of the overhead ones.

When we finally made it back to our room, we just crashed! It wasn’t long before we were all asleep. Overall, we had a pretty good day. We got to see quite a bit of the World Showcase that we had missed last time. We had some down time just vegging in the pool. We had a WONDERFUL meal at ‘Ohana. We saw the Electrical Water Pageant. There were a few bumps in the road – the overcrowding of kids at Liberty Inn, the chaos at Magic Kingdom. The good outweighed the bad, and we were all happy and tired.
 
Let's see....what did I want to comment on.....

We were very surprised by the movie in France. We loved it. Well, let me rephrase that. Mama, Hunter and I loved it. Hubby slept the entire time.:laughing:

Too bad there were such crowds in the Liberty Inn. Thankfully, we've never experienced big crowds there. Even still though, it's always seemed loud. I don't know why.:confused3

Every time I read something about the Friendship boats, I question why we never taken them. Sure would save some walking for us. Smart you for doing that.

Yay for getting in a swim that afternoon. Isn't it amazing how a nice refreshing swim can give you more energy to get up and go?

I hear you on the story of waiting on the monorail. That happened to us a few trips ago and I thought we were never going to get on a monorail and then we sat there too. We were also late for our ADR. At least when you arrived at Ohana's, you didn't have to wait long before being seated. Speaking of Ohana's, the food looks absolutely delish.

I hated to hear about your bad bus experience that evening. We learned many years back to just sit back and people watch for at least 45 minutes after park closing before even attempting to get in the bus line. Crowds are horrible!

Ummm, we've had a few of those wild bus drivers too. Seemed like they were going to sling everybody from one side of the bus to the other. Your hubby was a kind man for trying to help the other guests stand steady.
 
Let's see....what did I want to comment on.....

We were very surprised by the movie in France. We loved it. Well, let me rephrase that. Mama, Hunter and I loved it. Hubby slept the entire time.:laughing:

We really enjoyed the movie. We would have been happy just to be in the air conditioning, though. :lmao: And after reading your other reports, I'm not surprised that your hubby slept through it.


Too bad there were such crowds in the Liberty Inn. Thankfully, we've never experienced big crowds there. Even still though, it's always seemed loud. I don't know why.:confused3

It was crowded and loud, but not unmanageable. We were just hot and tired, so it was a bit annoying.

Every time I read something about the Friendship boats, I question why we never taken them. Sure would save some walking for us. Smart you for doing that.

We were beat. There was no way we were walking the rest of the way around the World Showcase. That boat was a lifesaver!

Yay for getting in a swim that afternoon. Isn't it amazing how a nice refreshing swim can give you more energy to get up and go?

That time at the pool was JUST what we needed. It felt wonderful!

I hear you on the story of waiting on the monorail. That happened to us a few trips ago and I thought we were never going to get on a monorail and then we sat there too. We were also late for our ADR. At least when you arrived at Ohana's, you didn't have to wait long before being seated. Speaking of Ohana's, the food looks absolutely delish.

Not sure what was up with the whole monorail thing. It was just weird. But the dinner at Ohana made up for it, that's for sure.

I hated to hear about your bad bus experience that evening. We learned many years back to just sit back and people watch for at least 45 minutes after park closing before even attempting to get in the bus line. Crowds are horrible!

I know. That's part of what I meant by "what was I thinking"?? I know better - really I do. I just went dumb, I guess. :rotfl2:

Ummm, we've had a few of those wild bus drivers too. Seemed like they were going to sling everybody from one side of the bus to the other. Your hubby was a kind man for trying to help the other guests stand steady.

It was late and everyone was tired. I think even the bus driver just wanted to get home. :lmao:
 
love your pictures from 'Ohana...that is our favorite place to eat and the first one we book every trip...our favorite server there is Gary and we hope to get him when we eat there the 24th of this month! wooo hooo only 2 more weeks!
your story of the bus driver taking the corners none to easy reminded me of a funny story...

when we went to Disney in April for my daughters 25th birthday, on the 14th which is her birthday, we hopped on board the bus from our resort at AKV Kidani to DTD for dinner at T-Rex... we had a new bus driver (we know he was new because he had another driver standing next to him). no problem we've had new drivers before. Anyways our driver went what we call the "back way" to DTD....we call it this because it takes what seems like forever, and at night (which it was alreay dark) the road is dark and winding...you pass the tree house villas and the back side of SSR... ok so like I said our driver was new, and going really slow, I mean REALLY slow... and people on the bus started commenting about how he needed to speed it up and how he sucked... and telling the other driver to trade places with him so we could get where we were going... I said I didn't see what the big deal was, at least he wasn't flinging guests all over the bus, and everyone has to learn sometime and just give the guy a break... well as we approached the upcoming street where they turn right I happened to look behind us and all I could say was "Holy Crap!) there was a line of busses behind us and I'm not kidding it was at least 25 long...:rotfl: I pointed it out to my family and we just all burst out laughing it looked like a convoy of busses... when we unloaded we made sure we walked out at the front and starting my my daughter we thanked the bus driver and told him he did a fine job and keep up the good work! not everyone else was so appreciative, and I'm sure the other busses (drivers and guest alike were just happy to not be behind us anymore!:lmao:
 
love your pictures from 'Ohana...that is our favorite place to eat and the first one we book every trip...our favorite server there is Gary and we hope to get him when we eat there the 24th of this month! wooo hooo only 2 more weeks!
your story of the bus driver taking the corners none to easy reminded me of a funny story...

when we went to Disney in April for my daughters 25th birthday, on the 14th which is her birthday, we hopped on board the bus from our resort at AKV Kidani to DTD for dinner at T-Rex... we had a new bus driver (we know he was new because he had another driver standing next to him). no problem we've had new drivers before. Anyways our driver went what we call the "back way" to DTD....we call it this because it takes what seems like forever, and at night (which it was alreay dark) the road is dark and winding...you pass the tree house villas and the back side of SSR... ok so like I said our driver was new, and going really slow, I mean REALLY slow... and people on the bus started commenting about how he needed to speed it up and how he sucked... and telling the other driver to trade places with him so we could get where we were going... I said I didn't see what the big deal was, at least he wasn't flinging guests all over the bus, and everyone has to learn sometime and just give the guy a break... well as we approached the upcoming street where they turn right I happened to look behind us and all I could say was "Holy Crap!) there was a line of busses behind us and I'm not kidding it was at least 25 long...:rotfl: I pointed it out to my family and we just all burst out laughing it looked like a convoy of busses... when we unloaded we made sure we walked out at the front and starting my my daughter we thanked the bus driver and told him he did a fine job and keep up the good work! not everyone else was so appreciative, and I'm sure the other busses (drivers and guest alike were just happy to not be behind us anymore!:lmao:

Ohana was one of our favorites. The bus rides can be an adventure!
 
I love food porn :love: Ohana is on my list, have to go there!! And I love that you include meal prices, thanks for that! Gives me a bit of a benchmark. We are trying to decide if we should try a dining plan. Have you ever done it?
 
I love food porn :love: Ohana is on my list, have to go there!! And I love that you include meal prices, thanks for that! Gives me a bit of a benchmark. We are trying to decide if we should try a dining plan. Have you ever done it?

Thanks! We absolutely adored Ohana. We haven't done the dining plan. I did some major research and decided that it really would not end up saving us money. Not when I considered what we would really want to eat. Sure, it's a good value if you work it right. It just wouldn't "work right" for us.
 
As you might imagine, we all slept in a bit today after such a full day yesterday. Mom and I got up and around before DH and DD. We went to the food court to fill up our mugs and get some goodies to go along with the breakfast foods we had in the room. I got a bit of sticker-shock. I had forgotten just how pricey Disney food could be. I got a ham & cheese omelet with potatoes, a cheese omelet with potatoes and one side of sausage. The total cost for this was $17.01. The food was tasty, but MAN! $7.00 for a smallish omelet and some potatoes! And $1.99 for three little sausage links. Ouchie. But the food was good, so we were happy.

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It was shortly after 10:00 am when we finally made it to the bus stop. We were heading to Hollywood Studios today! The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was going to be shut down on Saturday for a refurb, so if we wanted to ride – it had to be today.

The bus stop was a little busy, but not horribly so.
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We waited less than ten minutes for a bus, then we were on our way to Hollywood Studios.
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The park was a little busy, but again, not horrible.
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The picture’s a little crooked, but it shows how busy Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was. Our total time here, including wait time, ride time and gift shop time, was about 45 minutes. Not too bad, considering we weren’t using Fast Pass or anything.

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I didn't even get to redneck our ride picture. It was gone before we could get a look at it.

After Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, DD and I wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. Mom and DH sat out. Mom was going to ride, but decided it was just too hot to stand in line. She was going to wait with DH in the shade. DD and I waited about twenty minutes total. Again – great ride! We loved it!

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We bought DD a T-shirt in the dump shop. Total cost $19.12. You can see the back of it in this picture.

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By now, it was about 12:30. And it was HOT! Not sticky or anything. Just. Plain. Hot. We stopped at Fairfax Fare and got some drinks. DH and I each got a large Coke, DD got a large Root Beer and Mom got a bottled water. They also gave her a cup of ice water, which was nice. She drank that and saved the bottled water for later. Total cost here was $10.46.

We walked back up Sunset and stopped at the Beverly Sunset sweet shop. We had fun looking around here a little bit. DD got a Gummy Burger and I got a marshmallow stick – 3 marshmallows on a Mickey straw, dipped in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. You can see them in the picture below. I had it wrapped to take back to the room. Total cost here was $4.13.

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We stopped in another gift shop on the way, just to browse. I thought this bank was cute.

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We decided that it was just too hot to stay at the park, so we headed out.

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We only waited a few minutes again for a bus. So far, with the exception of Magic Kindom that one night, we’ve had good luck with buses.

I think we'll go ahead and stop here for now. All in all - a pretty good day so far!
 
I have never been in the Beverly Sunset sweet shop. I'll be sure to stop there on our next trip. Yummy. :)
 
I have never been in the Beverly Sunset sweet shop. I'll be sure to stop there on our next trip. Yummy. :)

It was our first time stopping in there. They had some absolutely YUMMY looking stuff. We'll definitely be stopping in again.
 
Good for you getting to ride both Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror first thing. I really enjoyed looking at your TOT pics. I never think to take my camera in.

Those treats sure do look good right now!
 

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