WHere do I begin? Instead of day by day how about topic by topic?
Hotel: Sheraton Vistana Villages, 2 bedroom just incredible! We got in at 3am to a friendly desk clerk. It is so accesible but not in the fog of Jan 16~morning! Our room was inpeccable on the first floor. We had dishwasher, wash/dryer, coffee maker, blender, huge microwave, full oven and stove, firdge/freezer. King brm had a whirlpool tub in corner with another bathroom. Kids had 2 dble beds with their own full bathroom. Living room, vcr, stereo, dining set, fully enclosed and screened vernada which opened onto a waterfall. Very soundproof rooms!
Pool was on the cool side but smaller pool was around 83F. Big inner tubes available free and loaner board games for kids. Huge clean hot tub. Fully enclosed pool area and big safe play structure seperated from pool with fence. Suitable for 2 to 6 yr olds.
Meals at hotel: we bought groceries at Publix just off of International Drive. Very easy and 5 mins away. We ate two suppers offsite and 9 at hotel. Breakfast always at hotel! It saved us time and money. We love our Disney lunches onsite!
Meals mainly lunch: Because this time of the year is not as busy (but you still have big crowds and line-ups by 11:30 to noon) we went at 8:30 to the WDW parks. By noon we stopped for a great meal every time! Our favs include: Prime TIme Cafe, Hollywood and Vine (characters) , Peco Bill's for burgers, Liberty Inn (no characters for lunch buffet), Germany at Epcot for Buffet lunch, Restaurantasauros at AK (no characters for lunch)
Wimpy's burgers at Universal....
all very good! Order water if you want to save bit of money as we never can drink the huge drinks we get with our meals.
Transportation was with Avis: walked off plane to find easy to find counter in basement and then to car pick-up. Great, clean car. About $350 plus insurance for 11 days. We took our car sear for 4 yr old as it was $5 us a day for booster seat which is $55 (or $80 cdn). Didn't make sense as a new one is $35.
Very easy to drive to and from parks. That is with a map! It was very nice to leave the driving to WDW last year at Dixie Landings but then we were on site for a week and that was that. Before you leave any park, check the map!
Monorail or tram to gates of park so easy. Take a back pack to make off and on trams easy with the stroller and don't bump your head like I do on the roof!
Park by park:
Magic Kingdom...go early by 8:30 and not on an early entry day for resort guests. That was nice last year to get in early as we were onsite. WE rode Dumbo, W-poo, peter Pan, nJ-ride, Splash and Thunder mtn,with 4 and 8 ry olds. We were delighted to see 4 yr old's face on thunder mtn...he loved it! He hates Snow White because of the Witch and wouldn''t do it this year.
But he loves all fast and thrill rides this year with his new height. He was happy to get a stamp on his hand saying he can do these. He is apprehensive on Jungle ride and pirates but all right ...I did Alien Encounter which is super cool and neat . One 8 yr old loves super roller coasters which surprises me as I hate them.
MGM: I did R & R coaster! It is over so fast I couldn't even be scared! Not for weinies like me if longer but it is neat and my son was proud of me. T of T for dh and 8 yr no problem but I still won't do it. Muppet 3D great as 4 yr old keeps glasses on this year and really believes that stuff is flying at him. Kept grabbing at stuff! Same for Bug's Life at AK 3D show, and spiderman at IOA.
He believes the glasses "protect him" from harm.
Our 8 yr olds roared with delight at this!
Saw Buzz and Woody but huge line up there so no go for us. Our lunch at Holywood and Vine was great. Goofy, Pluto, Minnie and Chip and Dale were fun and we got lots of attention. The dancing was fun and they put hats on our boys!
An. Kingdom: I love this place! I love the smells, the cool, the tree of life, bug's show,
boneyard, burgers at Restaurantasauraus (load up with mushrooms and onions) ...
Kali River rapids is my fav, but 4 yr old was too short..alas. we got soaked and did it over and over again. The stink bug at Bug's life was great, and we enjoyed it more this year again.
New this year is Rafiki's Planet Watch is not our thing but some families will love it. A nice train ride takes you there and back. You can't take your stroller but there are a few strollers there you can use. Goats and llamas are available to view and you can brush the increibly clean goats. Rafiki's is Disney's bow to environmental issues but I wish they hadn't done this as we all know a swamp was drained to build WDW. On top of that they relocated foreign animals to create AK. (Albeit not from their original climate) There are some neat things like elephant poop (shellacked) that the kids can touch and bird eggs and baby spoonbills...but this isn't necessary. It just doesn't have the Disney magic. My apologies to those who love this. THese animals want for nothing though and breeding is done very well...they examine droppings and know when the females should be bred. THis was a brief hour for us as we are very thorough usually.
Off to Boneyard but the brushes are gone!!! What happened?
Dh and sons love "Dinosaur" (Countdown to Extinction) We went to "Tarzan Rocks"! WE loved it this year and hated it last year!We even walke d out on it last year. WHy? We got the video and CD after our trip and fell in love with Phil Collins' music. We sang along with the loud rock show and I had tears this year! The lead singer is great~!Tarzan is a hunk. Jane is so fit too.
Epcot....COLD! 'ruddy cold...brrr. Loved Germany rest. for buffet our waitress was on her last shift after one year and on her way back to Germany next week. It was neat to learn she was in an Epcot residence with other workers.
THey really party she said, like 5am the night before. We were so cold we went back to hotel by 3pm. Kids wanted to see Tapestry of Nations at 8:15 and Illuminations at 9pm. We did with lots of warm clothes. Both excellent! Best fireworks.It was worth the cold and wait to do this. We didn't do it last year.
Our 4 yr old loved Test Track and Spaceship Earth.
Souvenirs: None~ just our usual PVC characters which weren't abundant this year. We now have 44 Disney ones. We went to Bargain World but their PVCs don't have the same quality as Disney's. Also you can tell the quality diff between Disney and knockoffs but the price is huge diff...8.95 for a youth shirt to 19.00 at WDW. I believe quality is worth it but we still didn't buy much this trip. Our 4 yr old bought a $6 Cap. Hook hat.
Autograph books were the year 2000 ones from last year.
Character meets: everywhere~! Belle, Beast, Goofy, Aladdin, Baloo, Chip and Dale, Donald, Tigger, Meg (Hercules), very rarely Mickey,...
Magic MOments parade was a great photo op for all characters.
Age difference of 3 to a 4 yr old: Huge! He can do almost everything this year! And what fun. No more baby swaps...He has guts..
My Universal report and other details in part Two....
Hotel: Sheraton Vistana Villages, 2 bedroom just incredible! We got in at 3am to a friendly desk clerk. It is so accesible but not in the fog of Jan 16~morning! Our room was inpeccable on the first floor. We had dishwasher, wash/dryer, coffee maker, blender, huge microwave, full oven and stove, firdge/freezer. King brm had a whirlpool tub in corner with another bathroom. Kids had 2 dble beds with their own full bathroom. Living room, vcr, stereo, dining set, fully enclosed and screened vernada which opened onto a waterfall. Very soundproof rooms!
Pool was on the cool side but smaller pool was around 83F. Big inner tubes available free and loaner board games for kids. Huge clean hot tub. Fully enclosed pool area and big safe play structure seperated from pool with fence. Suitable for 2 to 6 yr olds.
Meals at hotel: we bought groceries at Publix just off of International Drive. Very easy and 5 mins away. We ate two suppers offsite and 9 at hotel. Breakfast always at hotel! It saved us time and money. We love our Disney lunches onsite!
Meals mainly lunch: Because this time of the year is not as busy (but you still have big crowds and line-ups by 11:30 to noon) we went at 8:30 to the WDW parks. By noon we stopped for a great meal every time! Our favs include: Prime TIme Cafe, Hollywood and Vine (characters) , Peco Bill's for burgers, Liberty Inn (no characters for lunch buffet), Germany at Epcot for Buffet lunch, Restaurantasauros at AK (no characters for lunch)
Wimpy's burgers at Universal....
all very good! Order water if you want to save bit of money as we never can drink the huge drinks we get with our meals.
Transportation was with Avis: walked off plane to find easy to find counter in basement and then to car pick-up. Great, clean car. About $350 plus insurance for 11 days. We took our car sear for 4 yr old as it was $5 us a day for booster seat which is $55 (or $80 cdn). Didn't make sense as a new one is $35.
Very easy to drive to and from parks. That is with a map! It was very nice to leave the driving to WDW last year at Dixie Landings but then we were on site for a week and that was that. Before you leave any park, check the map!
Monorail or tram to gates of park so easy. Take a back pack to make off and on trams easy with the stroller and don't bump your head like I do on the roof!
Park by park:
Magic Kingdom...go early by 8:30 and not on an early entry day for resort guests. That was nice last year to get in early as we were onsite. WE rode Dumbo, W-poo, peter Pan, nJ-ride, Splash and Thunder mtn,with 4 and 8 ry olds. We were delighted to see 4 yr old's face on thunder mtn...he loved it! He hates Snow White because of the Witch and wouldn''t do it this year.
But he loves all fast and thrill rides this year with his new height. He was happy to get a stamp on his hand saying he can do these. He is apprehensive on Jungle ride and pirates but all right ...I did Alien Encounter which is super cool and neat . One 8 yr old loves super roller coasters which surprises me as I hate them.
MGM: I did R & R coaster! It is over so fast I couldn't even be scared! Not for weinies like me if longer but it is neat and my son was proud of me. T of T for dh and 8 yr no problem but I still won't do it. Muppet 3D great as 4 yr old keeps glasses on this year and really believes that stuff is flying at him. Kept grabbing at stuff! Same for Bug's Life at AK 3D show, and spiderman at IOA.
He believes the glasses "protect him" from harm.
Our 8 yr olds roared with delight at this!
Saw Buzz and Woody but huge line up there so no go for us. Our lunch at Holywood and Vine was great. Goofy, Pluto, Minnie and Chip and Dale were fun and we got lots of attention. The dancing was fun and they put hats on our boys!
An. Kingdom: I love this place! I love the smells, the cool, the tree of life, bug's show,
boneyard, burgers at Restaurantasauraus (load up with mushrooms and onions) ...
Kali River rapids is my fav, but 4 yr old was too short..alas. we got soaked and did it over and over again. The stink bug at Bug's life was great, and we enjoyed it more this year again.
New this year is Rafiki's Planet Watch is not our thing but some families will love it. A nice train ride takes you there and back. You can't take your stroller but there are a few strollers there you can use. Goats and llamas are available to view and you can brush the increibly clean goats. Rafiki's is Disney's bow to environmental issues but I wish they hadn't done this as we all know a swamp was drained to build WDW. On top of that they relocated foreign animals to create AK. (Albeit not from their original climate) There are some neat things like elephant poop (shellacked) that the kids can touch and bird eggs and baby spoonbills...but this isn't necessary. It just doesn't have the Disney magic. My apologies to those who love this. THese animals want for nothing though and breeding is done very well...they examine droppings and know when the females should be bred. THis was a brief hour for us as we are very thorough usually.
Off to Boneyard but the brushes are gone!!! What happened?
Dh and sons love "Dinosaur" (Countdown to Extinction) We went to "Tarzan Rocks"! WE loved it this year and hated it last year!We even walke d out on it last year. WHy? We got the video and CD after our trip and fell in love with Phil Collins' music. We sang along with the loud rock show and I had tears this year! The lead singer is great~!Tarzan is a hunk. Jane is so fit too.
Epcot....COLD! 'ruddy cold...brrr. Loved Germany rest. for buffet our waitress was on her last shift after one year and on her way back to Germany next week. It was neat to learn she was in an Epcot residence with other workers.
THey really party she said, like 5am the night before. We were so cold we went back to hotel by 3pm. Kids wanted to see Tapestry of Nations at 8:15 and Illuminations at 9pm. We did with lots of warm clothes. Both excellent! Best fireworks.It was worth the cold and wait to do this. We didn't do it last year.
Our 4 yr old loved Test Track and Spaceship Earth.
Souvenirs: None~ just our usual PVC characters which weren't abundant this year. We now have 44 Disney ones. We went to Bargain World but their PVCs don't have the same quality as Disney's. Also you can tell the quality diff between Disney and knockoffs but the price is huge diff...8.95 for a youth shirt to 19.00 at WDW. I believe quality is worth it but we still didn't buy much this trip. Our 4 yr old bought a $6 Cap. Hook hat.
Autograph books were the year 2000 ones from last year.
Character meets: everywhere~! Belle, Beast, Goofy, Aladdin, Baloo, Chip and Dale, Donald, Tigger, Meg (Hercules), very rarely Mickey,...
Magic MOments parade was a great photo op for all characters.
Age difference of 3 to a 4 yr old: Huge! He can do almost everything this year! And what fun. No more baby swaps...He has guts..
My Universal report and other details in part Two....
