1st try at trip report-hold on tight!

[TK Brown]

Alright. I have read many of the trip reports posted here, but I have never attempted one of my own until now.
There were only three of us on this trip. Me (38), DW (39) and DS(4). Now I am the planner of the group. Of course I bounce all of my idea's off DW , but she goes along with most of them. This was also our first trip to our home DVC resort, Animal Kingdon Villas. We were also celebrating our 15th anniversary. It was back in October, but this was when we wanted to celebrate it.

So we wake up at the crack of 3am. Ouch! Not fun at all. We have 705am flights our of Raleigh on Southwest to get to. Now I was planning on just sticking DS in the car and letting him sleep all the way to the airport. But he was the one that woke us up! So im guessing he was just a little excited. He should be because I had been using our Disney Christmas countdown clock as a Disney vacation countdown clock.

It was a pretty uneventful ride to Raleigh. DS did fall asleep again and we got there in plenty of time. Got there so early that SW ticket counter wasnt even open. Made it through secuirty, even thought they had to swab DS drink cup. I guess he looked like a terrorist, he is a bit wild .

Flight down was great. I do have to give it to SW, they are awesome. Nice seats, friendly people...low prices, i'm pretty sure they are going to be our Disney airline. The most fun on the plane was when DS announced that he had to go to the bathroom. Those things are small enough for 1, but its really cramped when dad has to go with DS!!! I cuold barely get the door closed !

So we landed, got our bags and that was when I first noticed...MCO was empty! Went to get our rental car and there was no one there. Not 1 person at any of the car rental counters. Got our car and headed to the store to get some food for the room. DS pitched a fit! All he wanted to do was to go see Mickey, not get any food. Was able to smooth that over and we were back on our way.

We pulled up to AKV and it was awesome! I'd post some pictures, but im not quite sure how to do it! So if anyone has any instructions, let me know and ill add some! I could not get over the view in the lobby. Its not as big, from what I remember, as WL, but it was just as nice. Our room wasnt ready, so it was off to MK!!

Now me and DW were hungry. DS, even though he had not eaten much either, demanded to go on the "people mover" before we did anything else. So we gave in, went on it and Buzz Lightyear and then ate. Thats when we realized just how crowded MK was. Went to Cosmic Rays and it was a madhouse. Had to fight to get in line to order, fight your way back out with your food and then search for a table. Then I remembered that it was the last day of the Pop Warner football thing going on.

Ill just add this here as it fits just as good here. I am NEVER going on any of the days of Pop Warner. Now I know I am just judging the few people I saw, and heard, but holy cow! I heard more "F Bombs" that day than ever before at Disney. The kids I saw were rude, pushy and very unbehaved. OK. Feel better. Rant over!

So we finished eating and hit some more rides until dinner. We had 525 ressies at O'Hana. Ill just say this...............IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! The service was great and the food was out of this world. And of course, the dessert was awesome as well. Well worth the money and we were most definately full. Even DS liked it. I was very surprised when he ate the pork over the steak and shrimp.

Afterwards, went back to MK for a few more rides and then we went to see what our room looked like.

We were in 5274, a 1 bedroom villa. It was awesome. First of all, any room that has not 1 but 2 plasma TVs so I can watch ESPN whenever I want, is tops with me! Now ill say that the rooms were a little on the dark side, but it was just from the woods that were used inside. I had read that people thought the rooms were very dark and I was a bit concerned. But they were very, very nice rooms. Big jetted tub, DS enjoyed that, a huge balcony, nice bed and bedding. DW and I liked how it looked. DS, however, had fallen asleep on the way back and wouldnt get to see it until the morning.

And that sounds like a good place to stop. DAY 2, Animal Kingdom, is next. C-YA!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Those airline bathrooms really are small. Try being pregnant and taking your four year old in there. (of course I realize that would set some sort of World Record if you actually were pregnant)

I don't blame DS for pitching a fit when you wanted to get food instead of visiting the parks. I'm totally with him on this one. I'd rather pop back out at night for supplies because I can't wait any longer to get to the parks.

 

[DARuss]

TK that is a cool start. I've heard some horror stories about the pop warner days. I don't think I've heard a single good story.
Glad to hear how good dinner was.

As far as the pics go. You can open a free account at photobucket.com upload your photos to that site then copy them and post them here. You might need to shrink your photos before you upload them to photobucket. I did this by opening the pic with paint and shrink them and save them as the same title with .sm in the title. I hope this helps.

 

[TK Brown]

http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/qq192/tkbrown364/

 

[TK Brown]

Well that sure didnt work. Im still working on how to get pictures added.

 

[TK Brown]

Alright! I got it to work. Little things do make me quite happy. This is a pic of DS at MCO. See how sweet he looks!

And this is him after a day at MK. Even with a lollypop as big as he is, he still got wore out!

 

[TK Brown]

Seeing as I now have the hang of this picture thing....let me add a few more before I forget how.

Here are some room pics....1st is of the kitchen area....

Next is living room....see little guy still asleep in his sleeper chair?

Nice, comfy bed...

And of course....plasma tv!!!!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Glad you figured out the posting picture things. It took me a while too.

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

great start, can't wait for day two!!!!

 

[TK Brown]

Day 2..........

I thought the idea of a vacation was to sleep in and relax some. I guess I never really explained this to my DS. He woke up at the crack of 615 and was ready to go. I was able to keep him form waking DW up for a while, but when he got wild, it was time to head out for a bit. I told him that he could get a toy from the gift shop when we went to get milk. Boy that got him moving. But when we arrived at the shop, we were just a little early, as it didnt open unti 730.

So we went out and looked at the savanah. That was cool! We got to see giraffe, zebra and ankoli(?) cattle right there in front of us. DS was all excited, because he could climb all over the rocks and still see the animals.

Back to the shop, where instead of picking a nice $4 car, little man picks out a $16 remote controlled monorail. After much negotiating, he won out. So back up to the room for breakfast. By 830, DS cant take it anymore so I let him wake up DW. She never heard us leave or come back.

Now its off to AK. We waited for the bus, but after 15 minutes, I grew impatient so we just drove.

DW loves EE so we made our plan of attack for the day. We got FP for Dinosaur and I sent DW to go in the single rider line of EE. DS and I rode Triceratop Spin. He loves it and normally gets to ride it a bunch while DW and I go on the big rides.

So we head over to EE and meet DW. Its now my turn to go. DS is always happy to wait by EE, because he gets a Mickey Bar while he is waiting. He is sssooooooooooooooooooo spoiled! EE is simply great! I miss the Yeti not swinging wildly around, but its still a great ride.

So I sent DW for her trip on Dinosaur, while DS and I head to grab FP for Kilamanjaro Safaris. But on the way back, hunger pains kick in and DS now needs popcorn. So I grab a box, 1 snack credit used, and we are off again.

DW is wondering what is taking us so long, but I se eher just as she is calling me on the phone. She sees DS with more food and just shakes her head. Alright, it smostly me who spoils DS, but Im allowed!!!!

Dinosaur was awesome as always. It felt bouncier to me, but thats just better!!! Lunch comes next. Now its back across the park to KS. Now DS is really getting excited. Once we are on, he is all smiles. We saw a whole lot of animals, including the cheetas and the male lion was up walking around. Sweet!!

When we got off, DS wanted to go right back on. He said that he wanted to help chase the bad guys all over again. He wanted to know where the jail was at Disney and could we go there and punch the bad guys in the nose for trying to take the elephants. Now im thinkin that we should really cut back on the amount of COPS that he watches!

I told him we would come back after doing some other things. We saw the Lion King and Nemo, which were both super. DS then began demanding to go back on KS. So we ran across the park and got back on. It mad ehis day and he still wanted to know where the jail was. Talk about your one track mind!

So we closed AK down and left to go eat. Coral Reef here we come!! We had a little bit of a wait after we go there. I overheard CM's telling people that they were completely booked for today and tomorrow. Whew! Glad we had those ADR's.

DW and I both got the steak and DS got pizza. I had the shrip cocktail as an appetizer, which was awesome! It is really a great restaurant. There must have been at least 8 divers in the tank while we ate. It was reaaly cool seeing all of them swimming aorund. Some of them really got into waving at people and posing for pics. Another thumbs up for dinner!!

Did a few rides after dinner. Nothing calms a full stomach better than Soarin and Test Track! Soarin is just plain old cool. Every time I ride I like it even more. DS was a tad apprehensive when it started, but was all smiles about 30 sec in.

Next it was TT. DS has never rode TT at night. Long story short, he said he liked it, but did not want to go back on again. Oh well...maybe next time.

Thats about all for Day 2. Stay tuned!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Sounds like a fun day for DS! Has the remote control toy held up?

 

[TK Brown]

Sounds like a fun day for DS! Has the remote control toy held up?

Yes it has! Once we got home, I put batteries in and it worked quite well. DS is having blast with it.

 

[TK Brown]

Sorry for the long interruption. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is ready for the New Year!

Before I go into the rest of the trip, I wanted to share my experiences with the DDP.

We have used it before, both the old plan (app and tip incl) and the new plan. But what I have never done, although I tried, was to see what the savings really were. this time, I succeded!

The plan for our trip (6 nights) cost $515. 2 adults and 1 child. We used each sit down meal for dinner. We ate at O'hana's, Coral Reef, Teppan Edo (Japan), Chef Mickey's, 50's Prime Time and Mexcio. We used our counter services for lunch every day excpet one and it was used for breakfast at the resort.

Our counter services were pretty much all right at $35. Our snacks all were right about $2.50. So counter services came out to be $210 ($35 X 6 days) and snacks were $45 ($2.50 X 18 credits). So that comes out to $255 so far.

Now for sit downs, we did not try and order the most expensive thing on the menu. We ordered what we wanted and did not go by prices. Im sure we could have spent a whole lot more had we gone by prices, but thats just not us.

I saved the reciepts for each dinner and the total for all 6 came to $528.75. So the total we would have spent for the week was $783.75. Take out the $515, for what we paid for the DDP, and our savings was $268.75! I was really surprised how much money we have saved. I knew we were going to save some, but thats a big chunk of change for me!

Obviously, it would have been an even greater savings on the old plan, but ill take it!!

Its time for work. I hope to get back to the rest of the trip report soon.

 

[luckylady]

All caught up on your report. Sounds like ya'll are having a great time so far. BTW let me say hi neighbor.

 

[TK Brown]

All caught up on your report. Sounds like ya'll are having a great time so far. BTW let me say hi neighbor.

A fellow Tar Heel!!! Glad to see you? Where is NC are you?? In case you dont know, Pleasant Garden is just on the outskirts of GSO.

 

[TK Brown]

I thought today would be the day we all got to sleep in. I guess is should have told DS that. He was up again at about 630. So we again went off in search of things to do while DW was sleeping.

My goal was to eat and find the Mara, but DS found the pool first. Any one with kids knows, they are drawn to large bodies of water like magnets!! Im glad I had his cros on, because as he was asking if he could "touch" the water he was already up to his ankles.

So I got him out, still mostly dry, and again went to eat. But now he found the arcade. I told him we would go there AFTER we ate. Daddy's a big guy and he needs food!!

Breakfast at the Mara was pretty good. It was a little strange that you couldnt get to it from inside of the hotel, but who knows. After food, it was onto the arcade. We must have spent a good 45 minutes in there. Then we waled around the pool and found the playground. It was very nice. Great place for a wild boy to use up some energy.

So back to the room about 9 and DW is still asleep. I had promised DS he could go swimming. So he bounded up onto his moms bed and woke her up. She got up, sorta, and followed us down to the pool.

Im not sure if that pool is heated, but it wasnt working that day if it was! It wasnt freezing, but certain parts of me were not happy! Of course DS ran right in.

Right before 10, the life guards aksed if everyone in the pool would like to help open up the slide. So 7 kids, and 1 "adult" went to the top of the slide. Basically, it was letting the kids make a whole lot of niose before the water would flow down the slide. Then all of them got go go down first.

But DS annouced he did not want to go. After long deliberations, I asked him if he would go if I went first. He did, so I did. And then he did! And he went over and over and over and over again. He must have gone at least 20 times. No one else wanted to go.

So while we were swimming, DW went back to the room and got ready. Today was EPCOT!

We got there around noon. We made a plan on the way over. It was to FP either TT or Soarin and then standby the other. DS announced he did not want to do TT again, so we just FP'ed Soarin. We had just a little over an hour, so we did the Land and then ate at the Sunshine Food Fair.

That place rocked! Just the right amount for lunch. So we did Soarin, then the movie with Timon and Pumba, Imagination, SSE and Ellen's Ride.

By then it was time to head towards dinner. JAPAN!! Oh yeah! Now I love this place. Everytime we go, its superb. there was no letdown this time! Really, really, really good. Even DS got full.

After dinner, DS wanted to do Soarin again. So we braved a 45 min wait and went again. To tell the truth, he didnt have to ask to much, we all enjoy it. We wandered around a bit and then amde our way to the lagoon for Illuminations.

By now, DS is tarting to run down some. We had asked him to take a nap, and promised him we would not miss anything, but he refused. So right after we found a good spot to watch from, he fell asleep!

DW was worried the first explosions would really make him up and scare him. They didnt. Not a bit. He flinched once and if I wasnt watching him, I would have missed it. But he slept through the whole thing. Afterwards, people walked by and were shocked that he slept through it all. It was a great show and they added a little bit at the end for the holidays, Very nice.

And a good shot to go home on!

 

[TK Brown]

I discovered that i had a fireworks setting on my camera about 10 minutes before Illuminations started.
Just a few shots I got off.....of the 1160 I took all week!!!

 

[luckylady]

A fellow Tar Heel!!! Glad to see you? Where is NC are you?? In case you dont know, Pleasant Garden is just on the outskirts of GSO.

I'm a couple hours SE of you in Fayetteville.One of my good friends lives around you.