Road Trip! Virginia to WDW...and back

[jennyraye]

We (dh 47, me 46, dd 17, and ds 6) left Virginia for WDW early Saturday morning (9/19). Our first stop was in Jacksonville, FL--stayed in the Country Inn and Suites on Commonwealth--clean, quiet, hot breakfast.

Sunday (9/20) we drove to Orlando and dh found a sports bar to watch his team (Redskins) play football. His team won, and he did too, a case of food poisoning. By 9pm he was sick. Stayed in Country Inn and Suites Calypso Cay--nice pools, quiet, hot breakfast.

Monday (9/21) We left early Monday for All Star Movies--dh was better--just weak. I checked us in around 8 am. We left our bags with the promise from the attendant that the bags would be in our room when we got there that night. I was told our room would be in Toy Story. Keep that in mind.

Drove to the TTC and took the monorail to MK. By the time I caught sight of the castle, I was in tears. Gets me every time. We were in the park just past rope drop and headed for FL after the obligatory stops on Main St for photos. We did Dumbo (longest wait of the whole trip--30+min), then Small World, FP for Peter Pan, and headed for Splash and Big Thunder--both of which were virtually walk-on. Once out of FL the crowds were more manageable. Did HM and by 2pm dh was exhausted so he headed back to our room. When he got there, they said the room was in Fantasia, but the key wouldn't work...hmmmmmmmm. He had to go back to the desk and get another key. Took a nap and met back up with us in the evening. We met Buzz and did Buzz Lightyear--twice. Watched the castle show, went to Storytime with Belle--ds was Gaston, then off to dinner at 4:30 at CP. Fun. Good food. Dh called right as we were finishing our meal. We did CoP, Buzz (again--loved this ride), Winnie the Pooh (FP), and headed for spots for Spectro and Wishes. We were on the hub on the right as you face the castle. Perfect spots--back against the wrought iron fence. Parade was okay, but Wishes was fantastic. I was a puddle by the end. Did some shopping (Mickey watch for me to replace the one I got in 1st grade and worked until about 7 years ago). Then headed out. I wanted to see Kiss Goodnight, but dh was still weak from the previous night, so we headed out around 9:30 or so. Back to our car by 10, which wasn't bad. When we got to the room, there were someone else's bags in the room and ours were nowhere to be found. The luggage people came and got the folks from Canada bags around 10:45. They finally tracked ours down in the luggage room between 11:30 and midnight. Dh went down to the desk to find out what was up, and heard that the bags were on the way to the room. Didn't even get an apology about the mix-up with the bags. I think the clerk who gave my dh the room # when he came back alone put us in the wrong room and that was when the fun began. Anyway, it got resolved and we were able to shower and get to bed by 1 am.

Tuesday (9/22) Epcot--morning emh. Didn't make it to RD, but were there by 8:15. Walked on Mission Space, tried to do TEst Track but it was down--did with FP around 11 am (standby wait was 60 min then), Soarin' 10 min wait, Spaceship Earth, 10 min wait, Nemo walk-on, Club Cool--didn't try the Italian one--really liked the ginger ale one and the Chinese one--watermelon--yumm. Honey I shrunk...no wait. Did all we wanted in FW before lunch with virtually no lines. Headed to Japan for our ADR at Teppan Edo. It was okay. Not a lot of flavor, but my filet was cooked perfectly. Loved the chocolate ginger cake.

Next stop--Pick a Pearl. You can read about our experience here. Had to be one of the most magical experiences of our trip.

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing Kim Possible--which was tons of fun! Dd and ds loved it. We wrapped up the afternoon with a snack from the bakery in France--dd and I split a Napoleon and something that looked like a cream horn with a vanilla custard cream in it--wonderful! We sat and watched no less than 5 sets of folks come through France doing Kim Possible. All ages--young couples w/out kids to retirees. Fun for everyone--highly recommended. On the way out we caught Off Kilter's show and thoroughly enjoyed it. Headed back to the room and ate dinner in the resort cafeteria. I was beat. When we got back, Maritza, our Mousekeeper, had put all ds's animals in the window of the room (check-in day there was a towel creation of Mickey's head on the bed.) We all loved it--she was great. Something different to surprise us when we got back from the park each night.

Wednesday 9/23 Hollywood Studios 9am opening
There for RD--but back a ways. At RD half headed down toward ToT and half for TSM--we were in the TSM group. FP lines quickly backed up, so we went on standby. Were able to do the ride twice by 10 am, and then got a FP for after 1:10. Great Movie Ride--walk on. Headed for RnR--dd did this single rider as a walk on. Then did Beauty and the Beast. After that--lunch at Starring Rolls--very good sandwiches. Then Indy, Star Tours (10 min wait), Jedi Training--ds didn't get picked --Star Tours again, MuppetVision, Lights Motor Action, TSM, met Buzz and Woody, Narnia, and headed out.

Went to DTD for shopping and dinner. Got a very nice white canvas tote for $10 with purchase of over $50. I'll use the tote for my knitting projects. Huge, roomy tote. Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express--I got the chicken alfredo--yumm, dh spaghetti and meatballs--yumm, dd the 4 cheese mac--yummm, ds--pizza. To top it off, dd and I had the creme brulee--perfection! More shopping and ds played in the mickey head water spouts.

Thursday 9/24 Magic Kingdom--morning emh. There moments after rope drop. Hit the rides we hadn't done on Monday and redid favs. CROWDED!!!! HOT!!!!!! The streets were anyway. We used FP for Buzz, BTMRR, Peter Pan--but didn't really need for anything else. Rode Buzz, Splash, BTMRR multiple times with little to no wait. Didn't do parade or Spectro. I don't know what all those people in the streets were doing, but they didn't seem to be on the rides. Lunch at Liberty Tree--dh had the turkey and I had the pot roast, which was tender, juicy, and delicious. As it started to get dark we bought two of the light sticks (look like light sabers) for the kids and then headed to Tomorrowland. I love the lights in there at night. We did TTA, Buzz, and then let the kids get out the light sabers. Ds had a ball for about 1/2 an hour just playing with his light saber in this big open area between Buzz and CoP. Dh and I just sat and watched him have fun being a kid in WDW. After all, that's what it's all about!

Wishes was jammed. We watched from second level of train station and slipped out right as it ended. I was a puddle, again. We walked right on a monorail and were at TTC within minutes of Wishes ending. I'll see the kiss goodnight one day, I hope.

Friday 9/25 Last day. Animal Kingdom--our first time in this park. We loved it! There for rope drop--headed for Safari--did walk-on and got FP for later. Then did the walking trail. Headed for Asia--did Kali--walk-on, EE--walk-on as single rider for dh and dd, I got a frozen chai--yummm--had one as we left, too. LOVED Nemo and Festival of Lion King. Lunch at Yak and Yeti counter service. Dinner at Flametree--ribs were awesome! Evening emh--had the park virtually to ourselves--did EE and Kali mulitple times--no wait. Out of park by 7pm. I gotta tell you, I think the Disney theming is at its height in this park--it's not just in the buildings or rides, but all along the streets. Amazing.

Saturday 9/26 breakfast with Chef Mickey. Fun--especially Minnie, Donald, and Pluto. The first two characters to our table were Goofy and Mickey (we had first service of day) and they were duds, but the other three were awesome! Bfast was at 7:15. We shopped a bit after the meal and were in the car and on the road by 8:30. Home last night before 9pm--including pit stops and one meal. Not bad. Very thankful for portable dvd players.

Didn't pull the ponchos out once, only saw 3 love bugs, it was HOT--sweating in the shade hot! Ds did fantastic. Walked the whole way, and didn't ask to be carried once. We went in with a plan, thanks to all that I've read here on DIS (dole whips were amazing!) but were flexible enough to go with the flow. We did everything we wanted and then some. Much better than our trip in '97 when I felt at a loss and like we missed out on a lot even though our stay was nearly twice as long. I like the mid-day ADRs as you get an hour or so break in a/c without having to leave the park. Refreshing and rejuvenating.

Free dining--way too much food for the heat. We had 1 snack, 3 counter service, and 4 table service meals left.

We had an awesome time! I can't wait to go back and hope that it won't be another 12 years.

[wdwmickey]

Sounds like you hade a great trip

[Al and Kate's Mom]

Thanks for the report - glad you had a great time!