1st week of October trip report - stayed at the swan...

[bagheeramom]

Our surprise went well...dds had no idea until 10 minutes before boarding the plane Dh travels so we had told the girls we were dropping him off. When they asked why he had so much luggage he just said that he had lots of stuff to bring this week and they fell for it. He told my 11yo that he wasn't sure if he was at the right gate, could she please go check what the sign said. She came back and said "nope, that one's for Orlando". Then I told the girls, "hey, let me give you your allowances while I"m thinking about it and have cash" ( I had been "neglecting" to pay them for several weeks under the guise of not having any cash). Well I gave them each an envelope with Disney dollars. Theiir eyes got wide and I asked where we could go to spend them. My 9yo said "um, the disney store?". My 11yo then "got it". She said "when are we going?". We said "NOW!" and you should have heard the whooping and hollering. I thought my dd was going to have an asthma attack! It was so fun, and I can't believe we pulled it off.....

First day in the parks was 9/29...Magic Kingdom...no wait for anything except Dumbo (and then we just waited through 1 ride). It truly was pure Magic! October 1 the crowds picked up a little, but still we never waited more than 15 minutes on the weekdays (and using fastpasses, usually less than that). Sunday at Animal Kingdom was crowded, but probably had to do more with it being a weekend. Although at park opening we were able to ride Kali River RApids 3 times with practically no wait. The wait at the end of the day wasn't bad either. Safari was the worst, but with fast passes, no big deal.

Weather was beautiful.

Swan was nice, but is missing that Disney pixie dust - KWIM? Anyway, concierge was great...very nice staff. Heavenly beds truly are heavenly Pool was great!

I do have to mention though, the first day we arrived we went to Tubbis Buffeteria and we were starving. WE had arrived at about 4pm and had not eaten since bkfst. We went ahead and purchased the refill cups since we figured we would be back. WRONG! That was the nastiest food we had ever eaten. Pizza was worse than Chuck E Cheese - kids took one bite and that was it. Mac&Cheese for the baby - looked and felt as if it were 3 days old (I complained about this, and they brought out another bowl, but it wasn't any better). Fried chicken was all crust and no meat. Potato wedges were soggy. It was sooooo bad we didn't give it another try...so we totally wasted 50 bucks on those refill cups cuz we only went back once on the way to the pool - just because i felt somewhat obligated - LOL.

Other than that - it was a wonderful week

 

[bagheeramom]

Philharmagic was awesome!!!!! Saw it 3 times. Wanted to see it at the Halloween party, as our last thing to do - but they had technical difficulties just as it was starting and had to kick us out :-( Very disappointing.

MNSSHP was fun, although if you see the fireworks and the parade (The parade was very very slow moving! ), there's not much time left to do anything else. We only rode 3 or 4 rides. The atmosphere was great, though.

Princess Bkfst at Norway was good, and fun to get all the princess autographs done in one shot - but they charged $15.99 for the kids when I thought it would be $9.99. Thought that was a little overpriced for potatos, sausage, and bacon, when the wonderful lunch at Crystal palace was only 9.99 for them. Once again, Crystal Palace is my favorite.

We went for a real breakfast on Sunday at the Swan - had no idea that it was a character thing (only pluto and goofy, but still...). So that was a nice surprise. The waitress was wonderful...we ordered buffet for everyone, but my 5yo only ate a couple of slices of meat and the waitress noticed and only charged her for the price of a bowl of cereal. Very unusual, and very kind.

 

[Marlton Mom]

dds had no idea until 10 minutes before boarding the plane

You are the meanest Mom and Dad of all time
Will you adopt me?

Smoochies,
Marlton Mom

 

[Dixielady908]

I cant belive you kept the secret...I know that I would have spilled by guts before that....what a great surprise for the kids.

Denise

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful trip report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

What a great trip! And how about you keeping that secret until the last minute! I could NEVER do it (call me babber mouth!)

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. What did you think of the grotto pool? We loved it! But the ds say the slide ast the poly is faster and better.

 

[tc]

I tried to keep a secret from my girls, and was unable to do it. Congrats on keeping you mouth shut!!!

I am so surprised Tubbies was so bad. We eat there all the time, and love it. We get a discount for being DVC owners and make it a point to eat there. I love their breakfast. Sorry you had a bad experience there. Try it again, maybe you'll be surprised.

Mickey's Philharmagic sounds so cool. It wasn't open yet when we were there the second week of September. Hoping to catch it in March.

Thanks for the report.

 

[Donald's #1 Fan]

Thanx for a wonderful trip report.

 

[IMISSDISNEY]

Thanks for sharing your great trip report.

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

I think that is so neat! Your kids will have memories of how Mom & Dad surprised them with a trip to Disney World forever.

I agree with you about Tubbis. I ate there once with DH, DBIL & 2 nieces. All 5 of us agreed that it was garbage. The girls wouldn't eat their pizza, the pre-prepared sandwiches were old & stale looking. My husband ordered a corn dog & fries platter (I think it was $5, which is crazy for a corndog!!). I think it had been sitting under a heat lamp too long and it tasted like it had been fried it in old, rancid oil. Maybe they needed to refresh the oil in the deep fryer?

Anyway, we too were less than impressed & felt overcharged and unsatisfied. It was the first place that we ate on the first day of our trip. Rather than "ruining the mood" by complaining we just decided we'd eat elsewhere for the remainder of our trip...which worked out great.

 

[pnelson]

I didn't catch how old your kids are?? Did you say??

 

[bagheeramom]

my girls are 11, 9, 5 &1