Mellie0119
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 302
We are back! DS (age 3) wants to "Do it again! Do it again!"
The trip started out on an auspicious note, both kiddlets were sick with ear infections and colds (DS age 3, DD age 1), so I was dreading the flight, it was a full plane, but all went well. We stayed at the DoubleTree Castle hotel on Saturday night, not the nicest hotel I've stayed at but the cookies are good. That night we started our Disney fun with a meal at Chef Mickey's- the food was surprisingly good, and DS loved the characters, DD was not as impressed. Before we left we took a trip on the monorail to get DS a view of the Castle, he loved the "train". Had a bad night after that, DD was up all night, stuffy nose, upset tummy, and teething- be glad you weren't next door to us! LOL On a side note- the people who were next door had a VERY loud arguement with someone pounding on their door around 2 am.
The next morning we got going around 9, went to check in at AKL and get going to Epcot, left our luggage and car with the valet and had a great time. DS saw one of the autograph books at the leave a leagacy station and immediately latched on to that. We only got a few siggys the first day, but the next day at DMGM we got TONS! We had a great time, had lunch in the food court at the Land, then snacks later in France- yum! Had dinner that night at Jiko, it was okay, not overly impressed for the price- but that's my opinion on Disney dining for the most part- not bad, but nothing to write home about. KWIM?
Checked into our pool view room 3420- right off the lobby- quiet, and nice. Rooms are small- I might be wrong, but our room at AllStar Sports seemed larger. I liked the amenities at AKL, but won't be staying at that particular resort again. Transportation seems to be an issue- no matter where you are going the busses take forever, and we ALWAYS had to wait at least 15 minutes for a bus- on either side.
Day 2, (better night), went to Disney MGM Studios, not as much to do here for the little ones, but we did Ariel, Playhouse Disney, Muppet Vision and got TONS of Character autographs, the main characters were in the center by the hat, the minor characters- princesses and others were right by the entrance. We had lunch at the 50's cafe- probibly my favorite meal of the trip, I had the pot roast and it was GREAT! Dinner that night was offsite, pizza. The kids were wiped and whiney by about 4-5 pm, so we missed the fireworks and other shows everynight. Maybe next time! LOL
Day 3- MK
The kids loved MK! Pirates and Buzz Lightyear were the top 2 hits, they also enjoyed the Tiki Room, we did the story book rides, had lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus- nothing fancy- but the kids ate well. Since our kiddlets are so small, we skipped all the big line attractions, DH and I didn't want to ride alone- but I'm trying to convince him to take a grownup trip in the Spring! Dinner was takeout from Mara.
Day 4- AK
The most anticipated day of our trip, DS is a Dinosaur expert, he's got the Aladar coustume for Halloween. We started out with It's Tough to be a Bug- bad choice- it was raining, so we thought we'd go indoors- the show can't be that bad, after all DS loves "A Bugs Life". Whooops! The movie wasn't what got him, it was the wind that they blow on you and water that they spray, totally freaked him out.
We did make it to the end, and DS told me that it was "very scary". By this time had stopped raining- went over to the bird show, then on to the walking trails. The Safari was next, DD didn't enjoy that as much- she was tired and didn't like the bouncing. We did lunch at Pizzafari, then off to the Festival of the Lion King- another big hit with the kids. We got a few more autographs on the character greeting trails, then were off to Dinoland. DS had been telling us he wanted to ride Dinosaur (he is tall enough), but once he saw it, and DH explained that the ride was dark and might be scary, he decided against it. We wandered on the Cretacious Trail and saw the various dinosaurs, ended up not actually riding anything there, but spent an hour or so wandering around. The neat thing we got there was in Chester and Hester's- they have a build your own Mr. Potato Head "bar". You get a box, and basically anything you can stuff into that box is yours for $18.00. we opted not to get the actual potato body, but filled our box with parts- all Disney Exclusives according to the CM. I'm picking up a Mr. Potato Head at Walmart next trip and wrapping it up for a Christmas gift for DS. He got a latex Carnotaur, pretty good deal for $14.00. We left AK about 4pm and headed back to AKL. Once again did take out from Mara for dinner- too easy and the kids were in bed by their normal bedtimes. The one thing that I found was key was letting them sleep as long as they wanted/needed. Sure, we missed the fireworks, and never made the early openings (or even close to opening 
) but the kids were much better off for it, we'll have plenty more trips where we can try to do it all.
Day5 - check out and MK
We had auto check out, and all was fine, so that was a breeze, took our own car to MK- decided that we were tired of waiting on buses to AKL. Hit the favorites again- Tiki Room, Buzz, Pirates, DS wanted to eat at Pinocchio's again, so we did lunch there. Finished our afternoon with a bit of shopping on Main Street and were on the way to the airport by 4pm. Had an uneventful flight back, only upset by the Houston Astro's loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The kids did great overall, they were sick at the beginning of the trip, and by the end of the trip, both DH and I had colds. Oh well.
Few major points-
- I bought a twin umbrella stroller for the trip (about $80). Best $80 I spent for the whole trip. It folds up small enough to go on any of the trains, and when DS didn't want to ride (which was rare) we put the diaper bag in his seat.
-Let the kids sleep as late as they want- you will appreicate it later on in the day when other kids are pooping out at lunch time. We also made the decision to skip the fireworks. Having the kids in bed at their normal bed times was far more important to us.
-Try to do Character Meal, DS loved the one on one interactions.
-I wouldn't pay the extra money to stay at AKL again, we were booked at All Star Sports (we had stayed there in 5-03) but got a great deal to upgrade to AKL for about $200 more, nice, but not worth it for that resort in my opinion. Next trip, we're planning on spending the extra $$ and staying at a monorail resort.
-There is a reason Disney starts charging for kids at age 3. We took DS last year right after he turned 2, didn't get it at all. This year- he got everything! It's like a switch flipped in his brain and he suddenly saw everything for the first time.
-Have fun- don't get caught up in trying to do everything, it's a vacation- relax!
The trip started out on an auspicious note, both kiddlets were sick with ear infections and colds (DS age 3, DD age 1), so I was dreading the flight, it was a full plane, but all went well. We stayed at the DoubleTree Castle hotel on Saturday night, not the nicest hotel I've stayed at but the cookies are good. That night we started our Disney fun with a meal at Chef Mickey's- the food was surprisingly good, and DS loved the characters, DD was not as impressed. Before we left we took a trip on the monorail to get DS a view of the Castle, he loved the "train". Had a bad night after that, DD was up all night, stuffy nose, upset tummy, and teething- be glad you weren't next door to us! LOL On a side note- the people who were next door had a VERY loud arguement with someone pounding on their door around 2 am.
The next morning we got going around 9, went to check in at AKL and get going to Epcot, left our luggage and car with the valet and had a great time. DS saw one of the autograph books at the leave a leagacy station and immediately latched on to that. We only got a few siggys the first day, but the next day at DMGM we got TONS! We had a great time, had lunch in the food court at the Land, then snacks later in France- yum! Had dinner that night at Jiko, it was okay, not overly impressed for the price- but that's my opinion on Disney dining for the most part- not bad, but nothing to write home about. KWIM?
Checked into our pool view room 3420- right off the lobby- quiet, and nice. Rooms are small- I might be wrong, but our room at AllStar Sports seemed larger. I liked the amenities at AKL, but won't be staying at that particular resort again. Transportation seems to be an issue- no matter where you are going the busses take forever, and we ALWAYS had to wait at least 15 minutes for a bus- on either side.
Day 2, (better night), went to Disney MGM Studios, not as much to do here for the little ones, but we did Ariel, Playhouse Disney, Muppet Vision and got TONS of Character autographs, the main characters were in the center by the hat, the minor characters- princesses and others were right by the entrance. We had lunch at the 50's cafe- probibly my favorite meal of the trip, I had the pot roast and it was GREAT! Dinner that night was offsite, pizza. The kids were wiped and whiney by about 4-5 pm, so we missed the fireworks and other shows everynight. Maybe next time! LOL
Day 3- MK
The kids loved MK! Pirates and Buzz Lightyear were the top 2 hits, they also enjoyed the Tiki Room, we did the story book rides, had lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus- nothing fancy- but the kids ate well. Since our kiddlets are so small, we skipped all the big line attractions, DH and I didn't want to ride alone- but I'm trying to convince him to take a grownup trip in the Spring! Dinner was takeout from Mara.
Day 4- AK
The most anticipated day of our trip, DS is a Dinosaur expert, he's got the Aladar coustume for Halloween. We started out with It's Tough to be a Bug- bad choice- it was raining, so we thought we'd go indoors- the show can't be that bad, after all DS loves "A Bugs Life". Whooops! The movie wasn't what got him, it was the wind that they blow on you and water that they spray, totally freaked him out.
We did make it to the end, and DS told me that it was "very scary". By this time had stopped raining- went over to the bird show, then on to the walking trails. The Safari was next, DD didn't enjoy that as much- she was tired and didn't like the bouncing. We did lunch at Pizzafari, then off to the Festival of the Lion King- another big hit with the kids. We got a few more autographs on the character greeting trails, then were off to Dinoland. DS had been telling us he wanted to ride Dinosaur (he is tall enough), but once he saw it, and DH explained that the ride was dark and might be scary, he decided against it. We wandered on the Cretacious Trail and saw the various dinosaurs, ended up not actually riding anything there, but spent an hour or so wandering around. The neat thing we got there was in Chester and Hester's- they have a build your own Mr. Potato Head "bar". You get a box, and basically anything you can stuff into that box is yours for $18.00. we opted not to get the actual potato body, but filled our box with parts- all Disney Exclusives according to the CM. I'm picking up a Mr. Potato Head at Walmart next trip and wrapping it up for a Christmas gift for DS. He got a latex Carnotaur, pretty good deal for $14.00. We left AK about 4pm and headed back to AKL. Once again did take out from Mara for dinner- too easy and the kids were in bed by their normal bedtimes. The one thing that I found was key was letting them sleep as long as they wanted/needed. Sure, we missed the fireworks, and never made the early openings (or even close to opening ) but the kids were much better off for it, we'll have plenty more trips where we can try to do it all.Day5 - check out and MK
We had auto check out, and all was fine, so that was a breeze, took our own car to MK- decided that we were tired of waiting on buses to AKL. Hit the favorites again- Tiki Room, Buzz, Pirates, DS wanted to eat at Pinocchio's again, so we did lunch there. Finished our afternoon with a bit of shopping on Main Street and were on the way to the airport by 4pm. Had an uneventful flight back, only upset by the Houston Astro's loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The kids did great overall, they were sick at the beginning of the trip, and by the end of the trip, both DH and I had colds. Oh well.
Few major points-
- I bought a twin umbrella stroller for the trip (about $80). Best $80 I spent for the whole trip. It folds up small enough to go on any of the trains, and when DS didn't want to ride (which was rare) we put the diaper bag in his seat.
-Let the kids sleep as late as they want- you will appreicate it later on in the day when other kids are pooping out at lunch time. We also made the decision to skip the fireworks. Having the kids in bed at their normal bed times was far more important to us.
-Try to do Character Meal, DS loved the one on one interactions.
-I wouldn't pay the extra money to stay at AKL again, we were booked at All Star Sports (we had stayed there in 5-03) but got a great deal to upgrade to AKL for about $200 more, nice, but not worth it for that resort in my opinion. Next trip, we're planning on spending the extra $$ and staying at a monorail resort.
-There is a reason Disney starts charging for kids at age 3. We took DS last year right after he turned 2, didn't get it at all. This year- he got everything! It's like a switch flipped in his brain and he suddenly saw everything for the first time.
-Have fun- don't get caught up in trying to do everything, it's a vacation- relax!
They said that our spots will air from Thanksgiving until Christmas on Texas ABC channels. 
Didn't get paid anything, but it's a neat story to tell!
