My really really REAL trip report - Hotter than the face of the sun! August 2010

[LMDisneygirl]

It’s taken me until October to start my trip report. I’m not sure of all the reasons why. It’s been busy since we’ve been back for sure (school started a couple weeks after we returned), so that’s part of it. But I think it’s also because I’ve done a lot of reflecting on our trip; the good, the bad, the annoying, and the really wonderful magical moments. There were several things I would change about our trip, but a lot of wonderful times too. So here it is, my “no holds barred”, really real report on our 12 day trip to Orlando in August of 2010.

Cast of characters: My husband Greg & I, happily married. Disney fanatics. We had our honeymoon at Disney, and went back “alone” for our 10 year anniversary. We love, love, LOVE going to WDW, and spent a lot of time talking about, dreaming about, and planning this trip. Also joining us were our two sons, Jimmy (10) and Bobby (8). We have taken them to DW twice, but their last trip was 3 1/2 years ago. They weren't adventurous at all on the last trip. The “scariest” ride Jimmy rode then was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and he wasn’t really wanting to ride it again. Bobby wanted nothing to do with it. On this trip Jimmy is convinced he will be riding Rockin Rollercoaster, and Bobby says he’s willing to try Thunder Mountain. So we’ll see what happens!

Getting There
We’d been planning this trip for a year, from the minute we heard that Tupperware was holding it’s yearly Jubilee at the Coronado Springs Resort in Disney World. The plan was to leave early on Thursday 8/12 to arrive in time for the conference in the afternoon. We got a GREAT airfare, and booked the tickets to leave at 8:30am. The conference start time ended up being 10am so I was going to be a little late for that, but we couldn’t change it at that point. No worries, I’d get there eventually.

We were up LATE on Wednesday night, as is usual for us when preparing for any trip. We needed to leave for the airport at 6:30am, so sleep for Greg & I consisted of a 2:30am - 5:30am “nap”. But we woke and sprang out of bed excited for our trip. Not too much snoozing of the alarm goes on when it’s the day of a Disney trip! The boys got up pretty easily too, and we were on the road then at the airport in plenty of time. Thanks to dad for driving us so early in the morning!! The check-in process went smoothly, and after finding our gate we had time for a quick McDonald’s run. (So much for my plan to eat at home and then bring snacks for the plane) And so the reminder came that you ALWAYS spend more money on a trip than you plan to.

The arrangement of the plane was 3 seats on either side of the aisle. We had decided on a 2 and 2 configuration in rows in front/behind each other. That way there were 2 of the coveted window seats. Bobby and I sat in front, with Jimmy & Greg behind. We were on Delta, and had a really cool plane that had TV screens in the backs of the seats. Even though Bobby kept asking me when we’d be there from about the minute we were up in the air (a good reminder of why I never want to drive - if at all possible), it was great to be able to watch our progress on the monitor in front of us. We could even watch a TV show if we wanted. So we had a good flight, and once we arrived we were off to find the Magical Express. We’ve never used it before, so we were looking forward to it.

I don’t know what I expected with the ME. It was nice, but I didn’t feel quite as much “magic” as I thought I would. I SUSPECT that it was because of my lack of sleep and sheer exhaustion. The CMs were friendly, everything was organized well, and before we knew it we were on the bus and headed for WDW. It really was nice not to have to worry about our luggage - though we were toting quite a few carry ons due to the fees for checking suitcases (we had checked 3 bags, and didn’t want to check any more).
We each had a rolling suitcase and a “personal item” that we carried on, and most of it got stowed in the luggage area for our bus ride.

It’s always exciting to arrive at WDW and see the sign letting you know you are there. Hurray! We are back!! The Coronado Springs Resort was the first stop, so we got off and headed for check-in. The CM who checked us in was very nice, though I had just a little bit of trouble understanding him with his accent. When he showed me where our room was I gasped a little (the walk looked pretty far) and kindly told him that I had requested a room in one of the buildings that was nice and close to the main building. Problem was, everyone was already there for the conference, so there weren’t a whole lot of rooms left to choose from. But he did move us to a closer building, and I was thankful for that. After all, every step you save in August is one less drop of sweat! As we were about to leave the front desk he handed me an 8x10 piece of paper that said something like “Tonight only there will be a fireworks display over the Coronado Springs lake at 11pm”. Wow, I was SO EXCITED!!! Fireworks are one of my favorite things. I thought it MUST be for our Tupperware Conference. Sweet!

We went to our room and all was well. I had never stayed at CSR before, and thought it was fine. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t grab me the way that the Wilderness Lodge, or even Pop Century, did. I’ve heard that it’s not quite so “Disney” since it’s a conference hotel. Maybe that was it. I’m not sure. But I had no real complaints, and I did enjoy the nice big gift shop!

Our room was nice. One thing I LOVED was the duvet with the nice light cover. It just felt cleaner, knowing they can wash that cover. Bedspreads in a hotel just feel so icky to me! So I loved that.

After checking in we headed over to the conference. There was a sea of thousands of people, so it took me a bit to get acclimated, but eventually I found my team for lunch and my conference started. While I was there Greg and the boys headed to the pool. I joined them in the afternoon when I had a break. I think that was our favorite thing about CSR - THE POOL! It was big and fun. There was music playing and a lively fun atmosphere. The boys thought the Jaguar Slide was the greatest. They went down it over and over and over...... So much fun!

I suppose that some of my lesser exciting feelings looking back on the trip stem from my not feeling well for the first few days. I wasn’t sick, but my tummy just didn’t feel very good for the first couple days there. I think it was the anticipation, excitement, anxiety, and the lack of sleep all mixed together. I went to my conference for the evening. Eating a super yummy great dinner there helped my tummy a bit.

While I was at my evening session Greg took the boys to Disney Quest. We had 3 different resort reservations made for our trip. One for the CSR for two nights for the conference (Th & Fri, no park tix). One for one night at Pop (Sat, no park tix). And then our package at Pop which started on Sunday and included park tickets and FREE DINING! There’s no way we could go on this long of a trip without paying close attention to package dates, discounts, etc. So we took full advantage of them. Many questions and answers exchanged on the DIS told us that we could pick up our park tickets up to 3 days early. I confirmed this with the concierge at the hotel who made a call to be absolutely certain. It was a go! UNFORTUNATELY, Greg didn’t realize exactly where he needed to go to make this happen. He heard “Guest Services at any park”, and proceeded to the guest services area at Disney Quest. It was a no go. There he was with two VERY disappointed boys who were so looking forward to DQ. (Read on in the future to find out how you CAN get your park tickets early) So instead they “toured” other resorts by riding the busses to them. Not really so much fun for 8 & 10 year old boys who had planned to be in video game heaven. This was where the problem came in with me being at the conference and them being there doing other things. I’m one of those moms who wants to make sure everyone is alright all of the time (for better or worse). I was excited for Greg to take the boys off for fun, but when I got the text that they couldn’t get into DQ I knew how sad they would all be. It made it harder to just enjoy the conference and be fully plugged into it.

Eventually they were back and I left the conference just a little bit early. Greg & Bobby were exhausted, so they fell asleep. Jimmy & I were tired too, but the anticipation of a private fireworks show kept us going! We went out and found a spot in front of our building on the sidewalk next to the beach. Well, first we found a great spot on a bench, but then the sprinklers came on! It took a really long time for the fireworks to start (since they were coinciding with the end of the conference session that night), but it was worth the wait! Wow, how fabulous to be sitting there watching a special fireworks show put on just for us on our first night at WDW. Truly magical! And yes, I cried while I was watching it.

After the fireworks we went back and went to bed. Wow, it was still our first day! Next time....my conference continues while the boys head for the waterpark and try the early ticket pick up again.

 

[LMDisneygirl]

I'm not sure if I should be happy or distressed that 48 people read my first post in this thread but no one commented. Does it mean it peaked their interest, but after they read they decided to never come back? Or is this pretty typical? Either way, I'm glad someone read it! More to come soon!

 

[mousebymarriage]

Great report and pics so far, can't wait to hear more. DH wants to go to disney next August (3rd week) but, I'm not too sure because I am definatley not a summer girl.

 

[jc040404]

I'm not sure if I should be happy or distressed that 48 people read my first post in this thread but no one commented. Does it mean it peaked their interest, but after they read they decided to never come back? Or is this pretty typical? Either way, I'm glad someone read it! More to come soon!

typical. I think the TR board has lots of lurkers. It's kinda creepy in a way. I know mine got a couple hundred views in the last 24 hours and only a few comments, but I do the same thing. Don't worry. You've got readers out there already!

I'm signing on! Your boys are cuties and this sounds like it'll be fun. It's already inspired a way too long conversation between dh and I about tupperware.

I feel the same way about CSR. I don't see us ever trying that one again. It just didn't really feel like Disney to me. I think I'd have liked it a little better if we got fireworks over the lake though! Can't wait to read more!

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Friday, August 13th
On Friday the plan was for me to go to my conference all day, the boys to have a leisurely morning and then go to Blizzard Beach, and for us to spend the evening together. I headed off to my conference. The building we were in at CSR was 8B, which was just a little walk to the main building and conference area. “Little” being relative to how big the property is, but it only took about 5 minutes to walk over. There was a smaller pool right next to our building, but the boys preferred the big pool with the slide!

So while I was enjoying learning great things about Tupperware, and seeing Chef Stuart from “The Private Chefs of Beverly Hills” in person, Greg & the boys were heading to Blizzard Beach for some fun in the sun!

When they got to BB Greg explained that he wanted to pick up our tickets early and that Disney Quest told him that it was too early to pick them up (I think they didn’t understand him and they just couldn’t do it). Well.......it couldn’t be done at Blizzard Beach either. Oh no, were the boys going to be disappointed AGAIN? This was not good. The BB guest services people were so good, they tried all kinds of things to get the tix going early for them, but in the end they couldn’t do it. Ugh! Greg had all kinds of wonderful things to say about how many phone calls they made to see if there wasn’t SOME way for them to do it. In the end they suggested this: Buy the one day tickets for BB on our room card, then go to Guest Services at a MAJOR park or Downtown Disney and bring the tickets, tell them about our package starting Sunday, and they’ll take the tickets OFF our room card, issue our park passes, and “charge” us for one Water Park, Fun & More option. SOUNDS GOOD, but with the track record of things not working out in this area he was a little nervous. But with two sweating boys standing next to him he went for it.

So the boys had fun at Blizzard Beach....for about an hour.....until the rain & lightning came. Drats! While they were there they found so much fun in the slides. Bobby loved “Red Slope” the best, and couldn’t wait to go on it with me some day.

That afternoon Greg headed over to get the car we had rented for one night. We were going to be moving and wanted to go to the grocery store to stock up on water and a few other things. He rented the car from Avis I think, which is in a hotel right across the street from DTD. So he took the bus to DTD, and then just walked over. I had the kids with me and he was picking them up since my conference session was starting. At the start of each session there would be lights flashing and music playing and people were dancing and having fun. Jimmy looked in and said, “Mom, are you going to a Tupperware meeting, or a DANCE PARTY??????”. Well, a little bit of both I guess!

I got out of my conference around 6:30pm and the boys picked me up. I didn’t know what to look for when looking for a rental car, and Greg just said, “You’ll know it when you see it”. And I sure did!

It looks reddish, but it was bright orange!

We drove over to McDonald’s for dinner, enjoying having everyone stare at our car as we drove (the navy blue minivan at home just doesn’t get the same reaction). Then off to DTD where we would try an early ticket pick up again. We went to the Guest Services over in the DTD Marketplace. They were WONDERFUL! They were able to easily start our park tickets for our package that started Sunday, refund the BB tickets to our room, and did it all with ease and a smile! So, YES, YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR PARK TICKETS FOR YOUR PACKAGE EARLY. You just need to go to the right place the first time! Lesson learned.

Happy with our park passes in hand, we headed over to Goofy’s candy company. We did the “create your own treats”. Jimmy picked pretzel rods w/ mini m&ms, Bobby and I picked the mickey rice krispie treats (his with peanut butter chips, mine with white & chocolate chips). Can you say decadence?

After our time in the Marketplace area Greg took the boys to DQ for some long awaited video game playing while I went back to pack. We were moving to the Pop the next morning, and we were also going to try to get FPs for TSM BEFORE my conference since it was about to close for the rest of our trip. Much to do! Much to plan so we can see about timing it all right........ It was the end of our 2nd day at WDW and we’d not rode a ride or seen a major park icon, but that would all change tomorrow!

 

[MichMickey]

I was the DH (Greg) on this trip. I had considered doing my own report but after reading the first 2 days I think Lori is capturing the feeling that we had although at this point I will just add a little of my own color commentary to the first 2 days with a few small observations. I loved the Magical Express going to WDW it was very Magical to me! I also enjoyed the Cornado Springs Resort because of the slightly larger Rooms. I also found out after the 1st day that they had 4 bus stops at the CSR for the Disney Tranportation System and one of those stops was just outside our room! As far as the early ticket pickup goes I was a little to anxious myself to get out and get into some of the Disney Magic on that first day. When we got to DTD the first day and walked over to Disney Quest I was just a little bit overcome by Heat Prostration by the time we got to Guest Services at Disney Quest. I did not want to show the boys my disappointment so after I was told by DQ that I could not pick up our tickets I started hustling the boys back to the Lego Store. Walking through DTD between 5PM and 6:30PM in August is not exactly the smartest thing to do. The boys got hot and I was even hotter and the lack of sleep didn't help. Had I been thinking straight I probably would have called 1-800-WDISNEY and gotten directions on how to pick up our tickets early. Hindsight is 20/20 looking back I realized that we were less then 20 steps from getting our tickets early when we were at the Lego Store that first day. The Guest Services that ultimately ended up getting our tickets is right next to the Lego store. It would have solved a world of hurt that we ended up going through on that first and 2nd day had I known that.

If you are looking to pickup tickets early definitely make sure that you go to MK, DHS, EPCOT, AK or DTD Guest Services. The Water Parks and Disney Quest are apparently on a different computer system that cannot issue Park Tickets in the same way as one of the Major Parks Guest Services can. Lesson Learned

I will give a shout out here to Darlene at Blizzard Beach Guest Services. She tried everything to get our Tickets for us but in the end she just couldn't quite pull it off. She did set everything up so that we could get in and that was wonderful because at Noon Standing in front of the Ticket Office at Blizzard Beach it felt like it was 115 degrees It was so Hot that when we did get into BB after the long wait at the ticket counter I enjoyed the extreme Florida downpour that we went through on our way to the lockers!

On another personal note after the 2 small disappointments at DQ and BB the Avis Car rental was a nice surprise. I had requested a Moderate 4 door sedan but when I got to the Avis location at the Hilton in DTD area I was told they only had 2 cars left that were both 2 doors. While I started feeling a little less magical at that moment and considered fighting to get what I requested I decided to take what was offered and make the best of it. When I got out to the Avis Lot and saw the car I was glad I had not argued with the nice man behind the counter. When I first saw the car it looked like the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard. I enjoyed the car just a little to much!!! It was a brand new Dodge Challenger and all that horse power given to a guy who normally commutes to work in a Saturn was a dangerous thing. I took the Kids out onto the Wold Drive freeway that dead ends in the MK parking lot and we rode what I called the "Daddy Test Track"! We kept it under 70 but just barely. The 0 to 60 time was amazing!! I also enjoyed the comments from random people as were going to different locations. Even the security guard at the gate to the AKL commented "Nice Ride"

I feel like the moral of the story for our 1st 2 days was while it was extremely HOT but we did enjoy our time.

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Great report and pics so far, can't wait to hear more. DH wants to go to disney next August (3rd week) but, I'm not too sure because I am definatley not a summer girl.

We've gone 3 times in August. We've had fun every time, but it REALLY is hot. Being able to go to the water parks is a MUST in August if you ask me. And having good strategies for cutting through gift shops and such. They help, but is sure is hot!

typical. I think the TR board has lots of lurkers. It's kinda creepy in a way. I know mine got a couple hundred views in the last 24 hours and only a few comments, but I do the same thing. Don't worry. You've got readers out there already!

I'm signing on! Your boys are cuties and this sounds like it'll be fun. It's already inspired a way too long conversation between dh and I about tupperware.

LOL about you and DH having a conversation about Tupperware after reading the start of my trip report!

Thanks to both of you for commenting. I agree with you that I have also read and enjoyed many reports without commenting. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Saturday August 14th
Today was a “changeover day” for us. The conference was ending and we were moving over to the Pop to start the “family vacation” part of our trip. We had a decision to make the day before.....move the luggage ourselves or let Bell Services do it. We decided to do a combo, having them move most of it but keeping the essentials with us in case our suitcases hadn’t arrived and we needed our bathing suits or something. Let’s face it, there isn’t enough room in even a very COOL Challenger for all of our stuff!

Another big decision we had to make was which day to try to ride Toy Story Mania. It was only open Saturday & Sunday, and then would be closed for refurb. We had originally planned to go Sunday morning (our first FULL day of fun). But thinking about it we were wondering if it would be LESS crowded (less being a relative word!) on Saturday since 1) A lot of people were starting their trip on Sunday for Free Dining and 2) DHS was closing early that night for the Last Tour To Endor party, so we thought maybe people would stay away and go to DHS another day. So we decided to try an aggressive plan. We headed over to DHS for rope drop BEFORE my conference started at 10am. We got there just after rope drop and headed right back to TSM. Greg ran ahead to get to the FP line and the boys & I followed behind (stopping to take a pic with a green army guy along the way).

There were LOTS of people trying to get FPs for TSM. Still, I think we made the right decision. FP return time was 11:30am, but CM said we could come later (I’d still be in my conference then). I bid the boys a fond farewell, and headed to get a bus to the CSR. It was SOOOOO hot! I guess I should mention now that the high temp every day that week was 95/96 degrees. I’ve had friends say, “oh, it was the same as it was at home”. Let me just assure you that being in 96 degree, 80% humidity heat, walking around a cement amusement park is NOTHING like being at home in your air-conditioned house and then walking out to your air conditioned car and driving to the air-conditioned store. NOT the same! Not that it is a contest, but BOY WAS IT HOT! It felt like it was 115 degrees every single day! Over the week I just got used to being sweaty whenever we were at a park. Sure, we used the gift shop air conditioning to it’s full potential, but eventually you have to go outside if you want to get to an attraction!

Greg & the boys stayed in the park, had breakfast at Starring Rolls (one of Greg’s faves), rode Star Tours, went to the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground, and he’ll let you know if there was anything else.

The conference ended at 1pm, they came to pick me up and we headed over to check into the Pop. Our check-in went really smoothly at Pop, and they had given us EVERYTHING we requested: Upper floor, facing the water, 70’s building (the one with the Mickey phone). We were even at the very end. We were excited!!!! Then we got to the room. As we walked up to our door we saw that it was covered with gnats. Not just a few, but a whole family reunion of them. Not good. All I could think about is how we’d be fighting them off every time we got back to our room, and how many might get inside. We went inside and our luggage arrived very shortly after. Meanwhile I called the front desk about the gnats. They said “that’s what happens in the summer”. Not so magical. Hmmmm..... Well, we were heading to the store to buy water, so I decided to buy some bug spray (sorry for the non-bug spray readers among you) and figured I could spray the door and that would help.

I won’t cover our entire shopping trip here except to say that I really tried to limit the number of snack type things we bought (since the Disney treats always seem like a more enticing choice), and we decided to buy ALOT of water!

Yep, we really bought all that water! Here’s my logic, 4 people x 4 bottles of water per day x 10 days = 160 bottles of water. We bought a styrofoam cooler too. Fill it with ice and we’ve got a perfect water fridge. So we headed back to the Pop, had to get Bell Services to haul our water, and got ready to go. While we were there I noticed that there were LOTS of gnats on our ceiling in our room. Greg also noticed a fairly large crack of light coming through the hinge of our door. Hmmmm.....seemed like an easy way in for more gnats. Not good. I "took care of" the gnats on our ceiling, but wasn't sure I wanted to come home to a new batch of them every day. More to come on that......

For now, we needed to hurry. Greg needed to return the car ASAP, and we still needed to make it back to DHS to ride TSM before it closed for the private party. The boys and I ate at the Pop Century food court. The chicken parm and the pizza were really yummy!

Greg went to return the car and we decided to head for DHS and meet him there. It took him a while since he had to go from DTD to the Pop and then to DHS. Have you ever noticed that it takes a lot longer to get around and in & out of the parks than you think it will? The bus transportation is free and so nice to have, but when you want to do things like go from one park to another it’s not always the quickest way to get around.

We were so glad to be at the Studios, all checked in to the Pop, and starting our family vacation. Our trip so far had seemed a bit frazzled and fragmented. We were hoping things would go smoothly from here on out. The boys and I had our first (of many) Mickey Ice Cream Bars, and then ran across a dance party by the hat in DHS. The boys danced with Goofy and Chip N Dale. So fun! LOVED that little chunk of time! Greg caught up with us shortly after and we headed for TSM. It was about 6:30pm, and the park was closing at 7pm, so we didn’t have much time to spare. But a CM assured me that as long as we were in line before 7pm we would be fine.

TOY STORY MANIA.....Loved it! We all loved it! I knew it was going to be at least a little bit like Buzz Lightyear at the MK. I liked this ride even more than Buzz. One reason was because it was fun to STOP at each game and then play it, and then move on to the next one. The other reason was because on this ride you actually can see what you are directly aiming for, and you can see whether you hit it! On Buzz I’m always shooting, but I never can tell which little red dot is mine and if I”m aiming right. The whole family loved this ride. We look forward to riding it more times next time we go back.

When we came out of TSM (with big smiles on each of our faces) it was 6:55pm. 5 Minutes left before the park closed. We had to quickly decide if there was one more thing we could do. So Greg asked Jimmy if he wanted to run across the park and see if they could ride Rockin Rollercoaster. You have to understand here that all Jimmy talked about before we went was how he was going to ride RR. Up til now he has never been a very adventurous rider, and he’s never been on any rollercoaster. Well, he was up for it, so off they went! Or should I say, ran. In the meantime Bobby and I went on The Great Movie Ride. I wouldn’t call it a favorite of our family, but it was a nice enough time for Bobby and I to sit down in some A/C and chill for an enjoyable ride.

I was so anxious to hear if they got to ride RR, and how Jimmy liked it. Well, they did get to ride, and he LOVED IT! I was so glad for him. And that is precisely when our adventurous rider was born.

The park was officially closed to the public for the Last Tour To Endor party by then, so we headed out. Since it was only 7pm we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. That is always our very first park we go to, but we had gone to DHS so we could ride TSM. So we couldn’t wait to get there and gaze on the castle and all the “magic” it represented for our upcoming week!

Next time.....our crazy night at the MK, a special surprise, and “Hey mom, is the pool still open?”.

 

[TinkHappy]

I'm here, I'm here
Love it so far and love, love, love the pictures

 

[LMDisneygirl]

So we left DHS on a bus headed for the TTC, on our way to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. Who doesn’t LOVE the feeling of being on their way to the MK? It’s so exciting!! We took the monorail to the MK, and got to hear the comforting sound of “Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas.” (Also seen on the monorail t-shirt we bought at the Pop Century gift shop).

After a quick trip through the bag check and then the turnstiles we were THERE! Hurray!!!! No time to stand around appreciating where we were though. The standby line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad said it’s only 15 minutes long on Undercover Tourist on our Iphones, so we were heading right over. Bobby was a little nervous since this was the “big ride” he was going to do this time. Also, since it was getting dark it made it a bit more daunting for him.

BTMRR has always been a favorite of mine, so I was super excited to ride! Wow, was it ever FAST this time! I don’t know if I’m just getting old or what, but it seemed much faster and bouncier than in the past. I’m guessing that it was because it was one of our FIRST rides on this trip. Sometimes how a ride feels is relative to what else you’ve ridden that day. But it sure was fast! Bobby didn’t exactly love it, but he wasn’t traumatized either. I’ll take that! After we rode we were all hungry for dinner. We tried to go to Pinnochio’s pizza haus, but it was closed. Drats! No, not gnats, drats. We ended up at Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland. It’s very “WDW” to us, so it was a good second choice. But by this time our family was starting to get hot and a bit crabby. We’d been doing a lot of running around all day from here to there and then there and then over there. And we only enjoyed a couple of things at each stop. It had been a lot of hurry, hurry, rush for the payoff of riding just one ride or two at each stop. Same thing with rushing over to Frontierland to ride BTMRR and then walking all the way over to Cosmic Rays. I won’t go into details, but I will say that the heat had started some “chafing” on members of our family, and since we hadn’t unpacked at the Pop yet I didn’t have everything with me that I needed to help my ailing family. Powders & cream/ointment is a must for an August trip to Disney. And make sure you bring them with you to the park! So hot and kind of crabby “us” had just finished dinner when DH realized that he didn’t have his fanny pack with him. The black one with Mickey on front that is part of his Disney “uniform”. (See every non-water-park pic of him in this report to see what I’m talking about (love you honey!)) He must have left it on BTMRR WAY across the park! So he headed off to find it while I sat with the boys who were complaining about their hot spots and worried about the fanny pack. At about this time the fireworks started.

I LOVE to watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. And this was the last night of the Summer Nightastic fireworks and I was so excited to see it. But sitting at an umbrella table behind Cosmic Rays watching little snippets of it over our heads while everyone worried about Daddy’s fanny pack was not exactly a magical moment. Still better than not being at Disney at all, but you know what I mean. After it finished and after multiple cell phone calls to Greg we sweated our way, I mean walked up, to City Hall. That was where the BTMRR people thought they had sent it. He asked several times. Nope, no dice. Ugh! We knew we could get our tickets replaced, but it wouldn’t be easy and we were just in the mood to have some fun.

Right about this time the Mainstreet Electrical Parade was starting. So we sat down in front of City Hall to watch. I was looking forward to it. I remember how wonderful and exciting it was to watch it as a kid. I knew the boys would love it, and I was ready to feel all nostalgic. So we watched, and then Greg and I agreed.......we miss SPECTROMAGIC!!!! At the risk of sounding like a big ol’ whiner (I said it was a really really REAL trip report - don’t worry, there were lots of good times ahead), I didn’t like it. I know many people prefer it, but I am not one of them. Compared to Spectromagic it felt outdated and boring. There weren’t as many of the characters I love. There were no sweeping melodies and singing about magic nights. We agreed that we didn’t need to see it again. Bummer. Greg went in to check for his fanny pack ONE last time before we left, and they found it! (Insert rousing rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" here!) When the ride had closed and they checked all those little bags someone found it and took it to City Hall. Phew!!!! That was great news. So fanny pack around waist we headed for the bus back to the Pop. It had been a day of a lot of walking and running, but not doing much each time we got somewhere. We were all hot and tired, and it was standing room only on the bus. Blah. But as we rode we suddenly looked out the window and saw something, “Hey, what’s that???”. It was the super fireworks spectacular for the Last Tour To Endor Party! And we could see it perfectly as we drove down that stretch of road. And to make it more exciting, the grand finale came just as we were crossing an overpass, and we could see the fireworks PERFECTLY framed by the bus window. THAT was an unexpected, out of the blue, totally wonderful magical moment! Isn’t it like that on our trips to WDW so many times? Just when you’re feeling hot and grumpy and unsatisfied, some wonderful little thing happens out of the blue that turns your mood right around! It was spectacular!

After the impromptu wonderfulness of the DHS fireworks we got back to the Pop. I had decided to go to the front desk to talk about gnat festival that would surely be waiting for us in our room. The very nice CM gave us a new room. He told us if we liked it just go ahead and move to it. Problem was, it was 12:30am and we were at the end of a LONG day. Bell Services wasn’t able to move our luggage. I’m not sure why. Maybe their hours don’t allow it. We were able to borrow a cart though. So my wonderful husband loaded up ALL of our luggage, carry-ons, misc. items, snacks, AND the cooler and 168 bottles of water. He moved it all over to our room, unloaded it all, and then took the cart back. Wow, what a ton of work after a long sweaty day! Thank you, thank you, thank you Greg!!!!! By this time it was about 1:45am and he was completely worn out and he fell asleep. But what did I hear from the boys? Nope, not snoring. I heard, “Mommy, is the pool still open? Can we go swimming?”. Hmmmm........sure! So the boys and I headed off to the pool at about 2am. WOW, did it feel AMAZING!!! Not only did it feel good because it’s great to get into a pool when you are hot and tired, but it felt amazing on my legs and feet after a long day of walking. JUST what the doctor ordered! Yet another unexpected magical moment! We haven’t used the resort pool that much on previous trips. We were missing out! We stayed for probably 1/2 hour or so, just floating and relaxing. Afterward we went to our room, the boys went to sleep and I unpacked a little (yes, at 2:30am because I like to get “settled” into the room), then went to sleep around 3am anticipating a trip to Epcot the next day.

 

[LMDisneygirl]

I thought I'd take a little break from the day by day commentary to comment on a few generic things. This was our first trip to WDW after discovering the Disboards. We were thrilled to find the message boards, and loved including them in our planning obsession! It was so good to know we were not alone in being totally nuts! The only bad thing was some of the worries I got after reading the boards. So I thought I'd report what my concerns were, and what happened on our trip in regards to them.

Tour Groups - Didn't see even one. I think that's more of a July thing from what I've read

Rude People - I can't really remember encountering any off the top of my head.

People berating their kids or spouses, and other behavior that makes others around them just plain uncomfortable - Not an issue. There was one time that a women got on the bus with us and I was facing her and she was wearing a CLEARLY provocative and NOT family oriented shirt. It bothered me just to look at her on the bus the whole time - she was straight across from me. But then we parted and I never saw it again.

CM's who didn't care about us - Don't really remember any of those either

Bed Bugs - This was a biggie for me, and I know it's a concern around the country. But I didn't see any, and I'm pretty sure we didn't bring any home with us (unless they are still hiding after 2 months)

Mosquitoes, Bees, and other pests - Well, we did encounter the gnats in our one room at the Pop, but that was about it. My DH said there was a bee once in a pop machine. That was an isolated incident. We didn't need to wear bug spray in the parks or anything.

Rain - Typically we need a rain poncho from the moment we step onto the Disney property, particularly for our 3 trips we've had in August. This time we did have rain once during the conference I was at, but then we didn't have rain again until the day before we left (stay tuned to know how much rain we encountered that day).

Family Illness - I'm thinking that most moms, or at least many of us, have at least a small fear of someone in the family getting sick the very week of our long-awaited vacation. Fortunately, none of us did. Jimmy had an issue one day which may have been from too much time in the sun, or possibly fighting off a virus, but it never turned into much other than him being tired and feeling warm and not eating well for about 24 hours. We didn't have to slow down TOO much.

So there they are, the list of things I worried about at least a little before we went that didn't happen! I know that some of them do happen to some people some of the time, but I hope this will be an encouragement to you that you can do Disney without terrible things befalling you!

 

[LMDisneygirl]

I'm here, I'm here
Love it so far and love, love, love the pictures

Hi Tracy! Glad you're here, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the journey!

 

[DisneyYahoo]

Fun report....

I was thinking the bugs were the Love Bug thing but then I remembered your trip was in August. I think the Love Bugs come in September....and if you haven't seen them, they are EVERYWHERE!!

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Fun report....

I was thinking the bugs were the Love Bug thing but then I remembered your trip was in August. I think the Love Bugs come in September....and if you haven't seen them, they are EVERYWHERE!!

I've heard of those Love Bugs, and I don't think I'd like to go when they are there. I'll have to remember to look up when they are coming if we ever plan a fall trip!

 

[MichMickey]

I am elbowing my way in again to DW's report. She downplayed my frustration when I "misplaced" my fannie pack! I am sorry to say I really freaked out which led to my kids being freaked out. That was just wrong on my part but Lori being Lori she was able to provide quite a bit of distraction from my distress and provided the kids with little bits of magic! I know hind site is 20/20 but I really over reacted on the loss of the fannie pack!

On the subject Cast Members and there treatment of guest I noticed a few threads on the boards suggesting that CM's may be slipping in their treatment of guest. I just want to say that every cast member I interacted with was absolutely wonderful. One cast member told me as we were talking that he took pride in putting on his uniform everyday! Now I am sure if you aren't feeling well, or you are suffering from heat stroke or you are just plain unhappy with life that maybe a CM might seem to be wrong but I am here to tell you that Walt's Spirit is alive and well in WDW. I talked frequently with Bus Drivers, Ride Operators, Folks at the counter service restaurants and gift shops as well as Hotel Desk clerks. I felt like a well respected guest at all times. If there are any CM's out their lurking on the boards I hope you will read this and take some satisfaction from the fact that you made our family trip better.

I will agree with Lori about the little bits of Magic after a long hot and harried first day, seeing the fireworks at DHS for the last tour of endor really made things better!

 

[CinderelliT]

Great report so far!

I love the pic of your boys with the army man. So cute.

I am also glad that you are writing a really, real report b/c let's face it. There is good, bad, and ugly - even at Disney. I totally understand your 1st couple of days there, b/c it was similar to ours.

Can't wait for more.

Oh, and I live in FL - and I'll take lovebugs any day over gnats. Eeewww...

And temps - I don't care what they crazy weather people say. I have a thermometer on my porch and one in the minivan - and in August - we were in triple digits every day.

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Great report so far!

I love the pic of your boys with the army man. So cute.

I am also glad that you are writing a really, real report b/c let's face it. There is good, bad, and ugly - even at Disney. I totally understand your 1st couple of days there, b/c it was similar to ours.

Can't wait for more.

Oh, and I live in FL - and I'll take lovebugs any day over gnats. Eeewww...

And temps - I don't care what they crazy weather people say. I have a thermometer on my porch and one in the minivan - and in August - we were in triple digits every day.

Thanks for joining in! I think it's time for me to get back to work and post another update soon!

Love bugs don't sound like fun. I hope I never experience them. But I'll take your word for it that they are better than gnats!

I hope to get another post out there tomorrow!

 

[davebon23]

I'm not sure if I should be happy or distressed that 48 people read my first post in this thread but no one commented. Does it mean it peaked their interest, but after they read they decided to never come back? Or is this pretty typical? Either way, I'm glad someone read it! More to come soon!

Just found your trip report now. So I'm here, but still reading. Not caught up yet

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Hard to believe after all this typing that we are just now arriving at our first FULL day of family Disney fun! No conferences, no gnats, no moving, no car return. Just a day enjoying our favorite place!

Since we were up pretty late the night before, we planned to sleep in a little on Sunday and just get to EPCOT whenever we got there. Greg got up early to go down to the front desk to check us out and then check us back in for our package with FREE DINING! We’d never been on a dining plan before (free or paid) so we were excited to try it out. If any of you don’t know, the Counter Service Dining Plan comes with 2 counter service meals (including meal, drink, and dessert) and 2 snacks per person per day. Plus, we each got a refillable drink mug. (Side note: We knew that the icee machines had been removed from Pop, but we still really missed them. It was one of the boys favorite things at Pop on our last trip.)

Last time we went to WDW we bought the Photopass CD, so this time I ordered it in advance. Since we knew we were going to get it, I was fully intent on getting our pics taken with just about every photographer we saw. At first my family was not embracing my wonderfully well thought out idea, but as the week went on they knew what was coming when they saw a CM with a camera.

Jimmy does not love looking into the sun while getting a picture taken.

We had headed off to Epcot sometime after noon. It was pretty late, but we figured if we couldn’t get on any of the “rides” we’d just go to the World Showcase and walk around. We were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived! There were lots of people walking around, but we didn’t find the lines to be long at all. Greg & Jimmy headed over to Mission Space (mild version) while Bobby & I headed straight over to Soarin’ for fast passes. Our return time was 4:57pm. Not too bad considering we had arrived after noon.
Bobby and I walked right on to:
Livin In The Land - so calm, relaxing, and interesting

Journey Into Imagination with Figment - First time I can remember seeing it, and thought it was fun!

I called Greg (if you are going with a family and you are wondering, you DO need your cell phones. You just plain do! They were so helpful) and told him & Jimmy to come over to ride with us since there were no lines.
We WALKED RIGHT ON to:
- Captain EO - I liked it fine, but didn’t love it. It was more of a “Star Trek battling the Borg” feel than I anticipated. I wanted a little more MJ dancing and singing!
- Figment (Bobby & I sat in back this time to watch G & J’s reactions at certain parts)
- Nemo
- Turtle Talk with Crush - It was our first time, and we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately Greg missed it to go to get another set of Soarin’ fast passes (that we didn’t end up using)
- Spaceship Earth - Our first time on it since it was updated.

What a nice surprise to walk on to all of those! Greg was SO excited to get the trip really going, that he got in line for Spaceship Earth about 15 people in front of us (planning to wait to board until we walked up there). I was so put out by this that it led me to tears, and I spent the first minute of Spaceship Earth crying about how my husband didn’t want to be with me on our vacation. Then I remembered hearing that they would be taking our photo, so I had to pull it together! I know, a bit dramatic on my part, but we had had a lot of ups and downs to our trip so far. Like Greg, I was excited to just have the fun going. But I wanted to walk into the big golf ball TOGETHER. Oh well, it isn’t a true Disney trip until I cry.

I was so excited to ride Soarin’. All of us were. It had become one of my favorite rides on our past 2 trips. So we headed in, watched the great pre-show, and boarded for our flight. Front row and so excited! And somehow, I don’t know how, I didn’t LOVE it. I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t GRAB me the way it had in the past. More than anything, this worried me. Was I in for being “underwhelmed” the whole week? That would be awful! I sure hoped that would change. I really think it was an indication that we hadn’t gotten over the first few days and into the flow of the trip yet. It was almost like we needed to undo some of the stress of the start of our trip in order to be back at the “excited about starting our trip” level we were when we arrived. Maybe putting the conference and vacation together with the moving and the one night rental car pick up and drop off wasn’t the greatest idea when it is hotter than the face of the sun (or maybe ever).

We headed off to the World Showcase, starting with Canada. Greg really wanted to see “Oh Canada”. We had never watched it before. The rest of us weren’t that excited to go, especially since there are no seats. But we knew it would be air conditioned so that seemed like a good enough reason to go!

I was concerned about motion sickness since I heard that the movie surrounds you. I was so pleasantly surprised! It wasn’t very crowded, so we actually did sit down on the ground to watch (standing problem solved!). It was really a nice movie. Very beautiful and just plain enjoyable. No motion sickness problem for me at all either. I would definitely go back on our next trip.

We stopped at the UK and shared an order of Fish N Chips. They were fabulous! I decided to try having us buy one meal or snack to share at different locations around the world showcase. That way we could try lots of things without getting so filled up. The boys decided to try the Kim Possible World Showcase mission thing. They did missions in Germany & China. They liked it, but it would help the parents if the kids could each hold their own Kimmunicator and maybe they could be linked together so the members of the family would see the same thing at the same time. But I digress..... they had fun going through and finding the different tasks for their mission.

We stopped in China at the Lotus Blossom Cafe, where I battled the counter service CM to get what I wanted. I didn’t think I was being that ridiculous. They have orange chicken with rice OR sesame chicken salad. I wanted sesame chicken with rice. I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. The CM just plain didn’t want to do it. In fairness to her, maybe she was told she couldn’t. But this is Disney, so I figured it wasn’t a big deal for them to do. Just put the sesame chicken on the plate instead of the orange chicken. Anyway, she told me they couldn’t do it a few times, but I was persistent (I really am a nice person, and I think I was pretty nice when we were going through our back and forth, but I just wanted what I wanted) and she finally did it for me. Greg & I shared it, and it was worth it! SO YUMMY!!!!!!

Our family also shared a hot pretzel and a super duper ruper zuper yummalicious shaved ice at Japan. YUM! The person serving it wasn’t very friendly, but it sure was refreshing on an August day at Disney. Not sure if I’ve mentioned it today, but it was HOT!

The Japanese gift shop is one I’ve never really been interested in. I’ve walked through pretty quickly before, but have never been interested to spend much time there. DIFFERENT STORY for our family on this trip. The boys discovered that it was POKEMON CENTRAL! They were in heaven. They loved it. Even bought a birthday present for a friend there.

We continued the walk around the World Showcase. It must have rained at some point, but we missed it. But we did see the awesome rainbow!!!

We ended up walking all the way around the rest of the World Showcase and back to the UK pavilion. Earlier in the day Greg had talked to a CM outside and she said we could come back later to go down this little walkway and watch Illuminations. It wasn’t where the people from Rose & Crown watch, but it was next to it. The nice thing about it was that we didn’t have to arrive too early to get a spot. I mostly remember that the heat coming off of the concrete wall was OPPRESSIVE. Oh my goodness, it was SO HOT! Not sure if I mentioned it yet, but I completely stopped thinking about wearing any kind of makeup the whole week. So all of my pics are au natural! Why bother putting it on when you're just going to sweat it off???

So there we were at the end of a BIG day at EPCOT. Tired, tired, tired, and hot, hot, hot. And did I mention.....oh, yes I did. We were tired from all the walking around in the oppressive heat. And so we decided, of course..............to head to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours! Yep, we did. Crazy? Probably. But we hopped on the monorail and headed over. It was the first night of Wishes, and I just couldn’t resist! Come back soon to see night #2 at the MK was more magical than night #1 had been.

 

[debf]

Enjoying your report.We go in August too and boy it is HOT. MY 14 year old DD would love your rental.