IvyandLace
Certified pixie dust user
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2000
Bio:
Pixie #1: Me! Quasi-manager of this tour and distinguished DIS junkie; been 'round the World four times; celebrated my 27th BD on the 13th of Sept. but continued to celebrate it on tour (more about this in later reports!); "day" job: labor and delivery night nurse; leaving DH at home due to school responsibilities. Favorite Disney character: Tinkerbell
Pixie #2: "Princess Pumpkin" (i.e. Pun'kin) 'Lil sis and best friend of Pixie #1; been 'round the World six times; slowly becoming indoctrinated in the DIS culture; 24; "day" job: social worker in emergency department (but still a fan of ER); leaving cat at home due to fear of flying. Favorite Disney character: Eeyore
Pixie #3: "Mommy Mouse" (i.e. "MM") Disney mom of above Pixies, has been 'round the World 9 times, 54; "day" job: secretary for family business. Lover of all things Disney-we have her to blame-I mean, thank for our obsession! Leaving Pops (DH) at home due to fact that he's not a fast walker and would slow us down. Favorite Disney character: Mickey of course.
Schedule for the day: Arrive at MCO at 12:15pm and meet up with MM and Pun'kin; take Mears to ASMu; free day with hopes to resort hop and fill up on pressed pennies.
The music continues...
We arrived at ASMu at 2pm and, after checking our bags, waited about 15 minutes to check-in. While waiting in line, we received Mickey and Minnie hand stamps from a CM who merely looked at us and grinned when we stuck out our hands. Already we feel years younger! Check-in was, as always, a little confusing since we have a "Earning my Ears" employee working with us. Ended up with charging privileges on my card since I prepaid for everyone else and have a credit in the system. We are placed exactly where we have requested to be-Calypso 10! We are in awe as we take in the beauty and brightness of our resort how fun! Our third floor room (#658) has a beautiful view of the main guitar-shaped pool. Cool! Our room was so convenient to the food court and bus stops that we are now permanently spoiled. All I can say is that we love the All-Star Resorts especially for $60.00 a night. Our bags even made it the room before we did! What service!
As you can imagine, we are now on a Disney high! We take time to unpack and the two northern pixies change into summer clothes before we head out to the AKL. We have all decided to start with this resort as we have heard so much about it. Taking a bus to AK and transferring to an AKL bus was easy and fast and we are soon heading into AKL! It was huge and very unique and impressive with lots of wood and open spaces in the lobby. We wandered around aimlessly feeling "out of our league" even as The Pixie Chicks! Big pool. Enjoyed seeing some longhorns from the viewing savanna. Cool touches include fire pit with smoke smell, African music throughout resort, lush landscaping, artwork, etc. We all agreed that it didn't feel "as fun" as ASMu but had a more refined adult-like quality about it. Spent $2.00 in the arcade after challenging Pun'kin to the infamous car racing arcade game that we love but lost! Revenge will be mine. We borrowed the three musketeers' favorite phrase from last tour-"We've been waiting here an hour!"-as we wait for a bus to MK from AKL. I wonder if that is the usual bus time for AKL (?). We have time to reminisce on the bus about "our" musketeers and are a bit sad that they are not with us this trip since we had such a wonderful time with them last trip oh, well. After drying our eyes, it's time for a trip on the monorail!
One of our favorite things to do last trip was riding in front of the monorail (just one of the many tips DIS provided me!) and so we head for the front. We received co-pilots' licenses without even asking! We got off at the Poly. After wandering around, we all decided that we would like to stay here sometime! I liked this resort so much better than I had thought I would! I especially liked the new pool with volcano slide neato! After touring GF (MM and Pun'kin had never been there), we decided to skip afternoon tea and got more pressed pennies instead! GF was, of course, gorgeous with a jazz/swing band playing to a very empty hotel. Pun'kin and I entertain quite a few CMs at the front desk when we start to dance/swing in the lobby! J Surprise character greeting with Eeyore (how appropriate!) in the lobby too our first picture with character! It was at this time that MM became obsessed with finding THE perfect pin-Mickey head with American flag background everyone was out of them! She, however, was determined.
We then took the monorail to MK and decided to hop to WL by boat. I decided to buy my very first pin-Tink!-upon arriving and really enjoyed the charging privileges on my card. I could get very used to this! I liked WL but not as much as I had thought; I especially did not like the bus system. It was even worse than AKL! We must have waited 30 minutes for a bus. I find it hard to believe that TTC does not have transportation to resorts only to parks! This was a major gripe for the tour! We were rerouted from the TTC (first bus we caught at WL) to MGM cuz the MK was closing for the night. It was on the bus ride from TTC to MGM that we noticed Pun'kin nodding off as she only had 11/2 hours of sleep the night before due to work and packing! Group decision: head back to ASMu instead of going to CBR or PO as previously discussed. Dinner was at the ASMu food court which we noticed was not as extensive as ASMo. Had chicken quesadillas ($7.00) with our refillable mugs (from last trip) providing the free beverages. Love those! MM had banana split for dinner! Guess that is just one of the benefits of going without kids! Bought a Mickey bar ($3.00) to enjoy by the pool briefly before hitting the sack ~9pm. Heard some quieter shrieks from the pool but nothing that kept the other pixies or me awake. We needed our beauty rest as tomorrow we would be up on stage...
Tip(s) for the day: Buy the refillable mugs! They are so worth it! MM especially enjoyed viewing the resorts. She made a good point when she said, "Sometimes you read about other resorts and you wonder what they are like or if you should have stayed there instead." Touring allows you to see other resorts and make comparisons for yourself. If you have time to do this, I would highly recommend it!
Stay tuned for The Pixie Chicks World Tour-Day 2: Volcano, Chickens Dancing, and Where is Jiminy?
Pixie #1: Me! Quasi-manager of this tour and distinguished DIS junkie; been 'round the World four times; celebrated my 27th BD on the 13th of Sept. but continued to celebrate it on tour (more about this in later reports!); "day" job: labor and delivery night nurse; leaving DH at home due to school responsibilities. Favorite Disney character: Tinkerbell
Pixie #2: "Princess Pumpkin" (i.e. Pun'kin) 'Lil sis and best friend of Pixie #1; been 'round the World six times; slowly becoming indoctrinated in the DIS culture; 24; "day" job: social worker in emergency department (but still a fan of ER); leaving cat at home due to fear of flying. Favorite Disney character: Eeyore
Pixie #3: "Mommy Mouse" (i.e. "MM") Disney mom of above Pixies, has been 'round the World 9 times, 54; "day" job: secretary for family business. Lover of all things Disney-we have her to blame-I mean, thank for our obsession! Leaving Pops (DH) at home due to fact that he's not a fast walker and would slow us down. Favorite Disney character: Mickey of course.
Schedule for the day: Arrive at MCO at 12:15pm and meet up with MM and Pun'kin; take Mears to ASMu; free day with hopes to resort hop and fill up on pressed pennies.
The music continues...
We arrived at ASMu at 2pm and, after checking our bags, waited about 15 minutes to check-in. While waiting in line, we received Mickey and Minnie hand stamps from a CM who merely looked at us and grinned when we stuck out our hands. Already we feel years younger! Check-in was, as always, a little confusing since we have a "Earning my Ears" employee working with us. Ended up with charging privileges on my card since I prepaid for everyone else and have a credit in the system. We are placed exactly where we have requested to be-Calypso 10! We are in awe as we take in the beauty and brightness of our resort how fun! Our third floor room (#658) has a beautiful view of the main guitar-shaped pool. Cool! Our room was so convenient to the food court and bus stops that we are now permanently spoiled. All I can say is that we love the All-Star Resorts especially for $60.00 a night. Our bags even made it the room before we did! What service!
As you can imagine, we are now on a Disney high! We take time to unpack and the two northern pixies change into summer clothes before we head out to the AKL. We have all decided to start with this resort as we have heard so much about it. Taking a bus to AK and transferring to an AKL bus was easy and fast and we are soon heading into AKL! It was huge and very unique and impressive with lots of wood and open spaces in the lobby. We wandered around aimlessly feeling "out of our league" even as The Pixie Chicks! Big pool. Enjoyed seeing some longhorns from the viewing savanna. Cool touches include fire pit with smoke smell, African music throughout resort, lush landscaping, artwork, etc. We all agreed that it didn't feel "as fun" as ASMu but had a more refined adult-like quality about it. Spent $2.00 in the arcade after challenging Pun'kin to the infamous car racing arcade game that we love but lost! Revenge will be mine. We borrowed the three musketeers' favorite phrase from last tour-"We've been waiting here an hour!"-as we wait for a bus to MK from AKL. I wonder if that is the usual bus time for AKL (?). We have time to reminisce on the bus about "our" musketeers and are a bit sad that they are not with us this trip since we had such a wonderful time with them last trip oh, well. After drying our eyes, it's time for a trip on the monorail!
One of our favorite things to do last trip was riding in front of the monorail (just one of the many tips DIS provided me!) and so we head for the front. We received co-pilots' licenses without even asking! We got off at the Poly. After wandering around, we all decided that we would like to stay here sometime! I liked this resort so much better than I had thought I would! I especially liked the new pool with volcano slide neato! After touring GF (MM and Pun'kin had never been there), we decided to skip afternoon tea and got more pressed pennies instead! GF was, of course, gorgeous with a jazz/swing band playing to a very empty hotel. Pun'kin and I entertain quite a few CMs at the front desk when we start to dance/swing in the lobby! J Surprise character greeting with Eeyore (how appropriate!) in the lobby too our first picture with character! It was at this time that MM became obsessed with finding THE perfect pin-Mickey head with American flag background everyone was out of them! She, however, was determined.
We then took the monorail to MK and decided to hop to WL by boat. I decided to buy my very first pin-Tink!-upon arriving and really enjoyed the charging privileges on my card. I could get very used to this! I liked WL but not as much as I had thought; I especially did not like the bus system. It was even worse than AKL! We must have waited 30 minutes for a bus. I find it hard to believe that TTC does not have transportation to resorts only to parks! This was a major gripe for the tour! We were rerouted from the TTC (first bus we caught at WL) to MGM cuz the MK was closing for the night. It was on the bus ride from TTC to MGM that we noticed Pun'kin nodding off as she only had 11/2 hours of sleep the night before due to work and packing! Group decision: head back to ASMu instead of going to CBR or PO as previously discussed. Dinner was at the ASMu food court which we noticed was not as extensive as ASMo. Had chicken quesadillas ($7.00) with our refillable mugs (from last trip) providing the free beverages. Love those! MM had banana split for dinner! Guess that is just one of the benefits of going without kids! Bought a Mickey bar ($3.00) to enjoy by the pool briefly before hitting the sack ~9pm. Heard some quieter shrieks from the pool but nothing that kept the other pixies or me awake. We needed our beauty rest as tomorrow we would be up on stage...
Tip(s) for the day: Buy the refillable mugs! They are so worth it! MM especially enjoyed viewing the resorts. She made a good point when she said, "Sometimes you read about other resorts and you wonder what they are like or if you should have stayed there instead." Touring allows you to see other resorts and make comparisons for yourself. If you have time to do this, I would highly recommend it!
Stay tuned for The Pixie Chicks World Tour-Day 2: Volcano, Chickens Dancing, and Where is Jiminy?
