Annie68
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2003
Hello to everyone! This is my first official post, so please bear with me. We just returned from 9 fantastic days in Florida & I wanted to share our trip. I have been a lurker for several months & enjoyed reading all the trip reports.....I felt it was only fair to post one myself!
We have been to Disney 4 times:
5/97- off site (never again!)
10/98- Shades of Green (love it!!!)
12/00- Shades of Green
08/02- POR (nice resort!)
We were able to book the Contemporary North Garden Wing for this stay, as my husband is in the Army Guard. We are anxiously awaiting the newly renovated SOG to open, it looks beautiful, but couldn't complain at being offered Deluxe resort for such a great rate.
Cast of Characters:
Myself, 34, a Disney addict...would go 2-3x/year if I had the $$!
DH, 37, enjoys Disney but only agrees to come every 2 years...mainly because of good deals offered via SOG.
DD, 11, a Disney addict in the making....getting obsessed with Disney pins!
DS, 7, loves the rides...food...swimming. Wants to live in Celebration.
Day one, 4/26 (Saturday):
We were up by 3:30am for our 7:15am flight out of Detroit Metro. We live a good 45 minutes away, so we wanted to give ourselves enough time. I was able to get the kids in bed early the night before, so at least they had had a good 7 hours of sleep. Hubby & I, on the other hand, were too excited to sleep more than a few hours. I did OK with the lack of sleep, as I work 12 hour night shifts (RN) and am used to staying up. DH was a bit crabby by the end of the day though, I think next time I'll stick to the 11am flight times.
We were all checked in & waiting at our gate by 5:30am. There were hardly any people at the Spirit counter when we arrived & security was a breeze, no line at all. The kids kept occupied with Gameboys & CD's, so the wait went quickly. The flight was a little over 2 hours, very smooth. DH slept a bit, I spent the entire flight going over my plans....turns out the Mom across from me was doing the same. We starting comparing notes & we were landing before I knew it! I could't wait to pass through the gates to Disney.
We rented a car through Dollar. I was thankful we had signed up for the Fastpass, as the regular line had at least 20 people waiting! I had used a code on Mousesavers, we got the Minivan for $199/week. It was a beautiful van, a Town & Country with only 600 miles on it. We were on our way!
We arrived at the Contemporary at 11:15am, and were pleased to find that our room was ready. I was a little disappointed that I had not faxed a room request, or paid the extra $ for the water view room, as our room faced the North Garden Wing parking lot. We did have a nice view of the monorail entering the hotel though! I would definitely pay the extra $ for the water view room if I stayed there again though, the ones by the playground area would have been perfect!! Especially for watching the Electrical Water Pageant every night. The rooms were huge, 2 queen beds with a sofa bed for 1. They had a modern look to them, I liked it but hubby thought the decor was a bit "strange". He kept thinking there was an extension cord out of place on the carpet, it has this line of orange that looks like a cord. I can't tell you the number of times he went to kick it out of the way, LOL!!
We immediately unpacked & headed off to the pool, after listening to my son ask 50 times how much longer & can he just meet us at the pool?! UGH!! We bought refillable mugs in the food & fun center on the way, definitely worth the $$! (I was very disapppointed in the small size of the food & fun center though, after staying at POR last year I was expecting something similar. The food selection was small, although everything tasted OK).
There are 2 pools, both on the lake side of the hotel. The larger pool has a fun water slide, along with 2 hot tubs. I think the deepest section was around 4 feet, and there were several life guards. The smaller pool is right next to the lake, it is a little deeper (over 5 feet in the center) and definitely warmer! There are no life guards at this pool, so not a lot of little ones. There was a nice marina area, with boat rentals & a small food area. The kids refilled their mugs here several times, along with the food & fun center. They loved the frozen coke & cherry machine, I can't tell you the number of times they had "brain freeze", LOL!!
After spending several hours playing at the pool & exploring he hotel, it was time to get ready for the Hoop De Doo dinner show. We had reservations for the 1st show, at 5pm. We headed over on the Fort Wilderness boat, which is right next to the pool area. The ride took about 10 minutes, we really enjoyed it!
This was our first time doing the Hoop De Doo, I have to admit that the price seemed a bit steep to me on previous visits. I finally decided to splurge, am I glad I did! The show was every bit as wonderful as I have heard, we were laughing throughout the entire show. We loved the food, the kids pigged out. The strawberry shortcake dessert was delicious!! If you haven't done this show, we would highly recommend it! We walked around Fort Wilderness awhile afterwards, they have a great petting Zoo near the Hoop De Doo. My DS rode the pony there & my DD fell in love with the pot bellied pigs.
We were back in our rooms around 9p, everyone showered & fell into bed by 9:30p. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the vacation!!
Hope I'm doing OK, not rambling too much ; ).
We have been to Disney 4 times:
5/97- off site (never again!)
10/98- Shades of Green (love it!!!)
12/00- Shades of Green
08/02- POR (nice resort!)
We were able to book the Contemporary North Garden Wing for this stay, as my husband is in the Army Guard. We are anxiously awaiting the newly renovated SOG to open, it looks beautiful, but couldn't complain at being offered Deluxe resort for such a great rate.
Cast of Characters:
Myself, 34, a Disney addict...would go 2-3x/year if I had the $$!
DH, 37, enjoys Disney but only agrees to come every 2 years...mainly because of good deals offered via SOG.
DD, 11, a Disney addict in the making....getting obsessed with Disney pins!
DS, 7, loves the rides...food...swimming. Wants to live in Celebration.
Day one, 4/26 (Saturday):
We were up by 3:30am for our 7:15am flight out of Detroit Metro. We live a good 45 minutes away, so we wanted to give ourselves enough time. I was able to get the kids in bed early the night before, so at least they had had a good 7 hours of sleep. Hubby & I, on the other hand, were too excited to sleep more than a few hours. I did OK with the lack of sleep, as I work 12 hour night shifts (RN) and am used to staying up. DH was a bit crabby by the end of the day though, I think next time I'll stick to the 11am flight times.
We were all checked in & waiting at our gate by 5:30am. There were hardly any people at the Spirit counter when we arrived & security was a breeze, no line at all. The kids kept occupied with Gameboys & CD's, so the wait went quickly. The flight was a little over 2 hours, very smooth. DH slept a bit, I spent the entire flight going over my plans....turns out the Mom across from me was doing the same. We starting comparing notes & we were landing before I knew it! I could't wait to pass through the gates to Disney.
We rented a car through Dollar. I was thankful we had signed up for the Fastpass, as the regular line had at least 20 people waiting! I had used a code on Mousesavers, we got the Minivan for $199/week. It was a beautiful van, a Town & Country with only 600 miles on it. We were on our way!
We arrived at the Contemporary at 11:15am, and were pleased to find that our room was ready. I was a little disappointed that I had not faxed a room request, or paid the extra $ for the water view room, as our room faced the North Garden Wing parking lot. We did have a nice view of the monorail entering the hotel though! I would definitely pay the extra $ for the water view room if I stayed there again though, the ones by the playground area would have been perfect!! Especially for watching the Electrical Water Pageant every night. The rooms were huge, 2 queen beds with a sofa bed for 1. They had a modern look to them, I liked it but hubby thought the decor was a bit "strange". He kept thinking there was an extension cord out of place on the carpet, it has this line of orange that looks like a cord. I can't tell you the number of times he went to kick it out of the way, LOL!!
We immediately unpacked & headed off to the pool, after listening to my son ask 50 times how much longer & can he just meet us at the pool?! UGH!! We bought refillable mugs in the food & fun center on the way, definitely worth the $$! (I was very disapppointed in the small size of the food & fun center though, after staying at POR last year I was expecting something similar. The food selection was small, although everything tasted OK).
There are 2 pools, both on the lake side of the hotel. The larger pool has a fun water slide, along with 2 hot tubs. I think the deepest section was around 4 feet, and there were several life guards. The smaller pool is right next to the lake, it is a little deeper (over 5 feet in the center) and definitely warmer! There are no life guards at this pool, so not a lot of little ones. There was a nice marina area, with boat rentals & a small food area. The kids refilled their mugs here several times, along with the food & fun center. They loved the frozen coke & cherry machine, I can't tell you the number of times they had "brain freeze", LOL!!
After spending several hours playing at the pool & exploring he hotel, it was time to get ready for the Hoop De Doo dinner show. We had reservations for the 1st show, at 5pm. We headed over on the Fort Wilderness boat, which is right next to the pool area. The ride took about 10 minutes, we really enjoyed it!
This was our first time doing the Hoop De Doo, I have to admit that the price seemed a bit steep to me on previous visits. I finally decided to splurge, am I glad I did! The show was every bit as wonderful as I have heard, we were laughing throughout the entire show. We loved the food, the kids pigged out. The strawberry shortcake dessert was delicious!! If you haven't done this show, we would highly recommend it! We walked around Fort Wilderness awhile afterwards, they have a great petting Zoo near the Hoop De Doo. My DS rode the pony there & my DD fell in love with the pot bellied pigs.
We were back in our rooms around 9p, everyone showered & fell into bed by 9:30p. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the vacation!!
Hope I'm doing OK, not rambling too much ; ).
. Thank you for reading them!
.
