3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again"

[eandesmom]

YUCK for plumbing and sewer issues, no fun at all.

 

[natebenma]

Thank you everyone for your concern and compassion! You know it has been a bad week when you are happy that Roto Rooter and a backhoe are in your front yard! We are relieved (pardon the pun) to have working bathrooms again!

I have finally written my next update, our first day visit to MK, but I need to upload some pictures to photobucket, and it is WAY past my bedtime, so I will post my update in the morning.

I am also looking forward to catching up with everybody's trip reports!

sorry to hear about your situation, I'm glad you are on the upswing now, hopefully it won't eat too much $$ that Disney could've had instead

Thanks for caring!

Hi Dee! Thanks for visiting my TR! I am loving your TR so far, I like that it is like 2 TRs (for 2 trips) in one! We love Epcot too! You guys are so lucky to stay in the Beach Club! We stayed at the Swan last year and loved the location. Being able to walk to our favorite park is so awesome. Your pictures are great too! Hope everything is ok with the plumbing issue. Sounds like it is!
Looking forward to more!

Welcome!!! Thanks so much for following! I'm glad to finally get to this year's trip! The Beach Club is incredible! The pool complex is amazing, the CMs are wonderful, but you had me at "steps from EPCOT".

Plumbing issues, uuuggghh What a way to spend Labor Day. Glad you got it all taken care of.

By golly my next trip I am going to remember to take even MORE pictures! I wouldn't have thought to take airport pic's I like the yacht club pic's, what a pretty resort. We've been to the beach club for a meal at cape may's but have not had the chance to stay there. Those queen size beds look like heaven compared to the dinky doubles we had over at ASMusic

You know you have taken too many photos when your pictures start appearing in other peoples trip reports! Let me know when you are ready for Tonga Toast!

I hear you on the double beds! That's what we had in the hotel we stayed at the couple of nights this week when we were without water. We are a close family, but we don't need to be THAT close!

YUCK for plumbing and sewer issues, no fun at all.

Fortunately, not much damage. About 5 feet or so of carpeting in the basement is ruined, but I don't think the wall suffered any water damage to the wall as far as I can tell.

 

[natebenma]

A special thank you to kldmom2000 who took a photo of the luggage lockers ($1 per rental) outside of Hollywood Studios during her trip at the end of August. I have posted it on page 7 of my TR if anyone wants to see what the building looks like.

I'll repost the photo when I get to that point in this year's trip report, since that is when we actually discovered them.

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

You know you have taken too many photos when your pictures start appearing in other peoples trip reports! Let me know when you are ready for Tonga Toast!

Right on!!! You know I'm counting on you

P.S. It's going to be the day after AK & we're there now on my TR

 

[natebenma]

After the brief distraction of checking out our room and having a quick snack in the lounge, we started our journey to the MK. We walked to the bus stop and waited about 15 minutes for a MK bus to show up. I think this was the longest we waited for any bus at the BC during our trip. But while we waited, we enjoyed watching some large fish and turtles in the water and some little lizards climbing the nearby trees.

During the 15 minute or so ride, it was exciting to get our first view of the monorail, the Contemporary Resort and Space Mountain getting larger and larger as we approached.

Before we left home, we asked the boys where they wanted to go on our first day. They both said Magic Kingdom. I think that is so sweet! It would have been much quicker and simpler to walk next door to EPCOT, but the boys were right. There is no better way to start a WDW vacation than to walk up (down) Main Street USA towards Cinderella’s Castle.

So, left or right? Do we head towards Adventureland classics like Pirates and Jungle Cruise? Or do we scope out Tomorrowland? Space Mountain and the People Mover were both closed for renovations during our trip last summer, so we were eager to check out those rides.
We decide to follow the beating drums.

We head to Pirates, with Mark making a quick detour to get FP for the Jungle Cruise.

There was a short queue for Pirates. After the ride, we walked over to Frontierland it was already time for another FP, so we pulled one for Big Thunder Mountain.

At this point, it was probably around 1:00, time for lunch. We enjoy Pecos Bill, and it is conveniently located between the two attractions for which we are holding FPs. We arrived at the order line and had our first encounter with the touch screen ordering. It was a little confusing at first, but one of the cashiers helped us out, and we soon had our food and were allowed to enter the seating area. The CMs prevent you now from sitting at a table until you have your tray of food and are ready to eat. For the record, I’m in favor of this policy which minimizes the amount of time you have to spend trolling around for an empty table looking for signs that a family is getting ready to leave.

Appetites satisfied, it was time for Jungle Cruise. The personality of the skipper really makes or breaks the enjoyment of this ride. We had Skipper Blake- he was excellent! We especially liked when he quoted Willie Wonka as we were entering the Asian tunnel.

Have you guys seen Weird Al’s Video, Skipper Dan (on the Jungle Cruise Ride? OMG, I find this so funny! And a little sad. Here is a link to it on Youtube. If you view it, let me know what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C56rvOr9cmA&feature=related


I’ll save Jungle Cruise photos for a later post.


After disembarking from the cruise, we decide to stick with the boat theme and rode Pirates again, then cashed in our FP for the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! This is probably our family’s favorite ride. Maybe individually we each have different favorite rides, but if we combined our rankings this one would be at the top!

Here’s a couple of pictures of the boys during Big Thunder Mountain. They rode together. They did that a lot during this trip, which was a very nice change. In past trips the boys would argue about who would ride with Daddy, but this year, I was often the one who got the prize!

Today our goal was to hit the classics. Next up: Haunted Mansion. Ben often asks to skip the Stretching Room. He doesn’t like it when people scream when the lights go out. They take you into a hallway and through the handicapped entrance to the ride. Once Ben and I skipped it, another time Mark and Ben did and then we made him go through the whole experience once or twice during the trip. I don’t remember which one we did this time. Ooh, that’s another tip! If you have young kids (or apparently 9 year olds) you can skip the stretching room at HM.

We started to make our way to the exit via Fantasyland. It was hot and really crowded. We walked by Peter Pan, another family favorite, but the only time we ever do the standby line is first thing in the morning. We started to wait in line for It’s a Small World, but we were too tired to spend any time at all in a line, so we bailed. We never did make it back to IASW during our subsequent visits to MK. Mark is a little sad that we skipped it during this trip, but I think the rest of us are ok with that.


Entering Tomorrowland:

The FP time for Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin was about 30 minutes, so we pulled a FP for that, and decided to spend our wait time with a relaxing ride on another of our favorites. The People Mover! We love the views you get of the Tomorrowland attractions.

Unfortunately, our relaxing ride was not as peaceful as we hoped. There were 4 obnoxious teenage girls in the car adjacent to us who literally SCREAMED during the whole ride. You know that fake “Let’s pretend we’re scared on this ride that goes 5 MPH!” scream. We had headaches by the time the ride was over.


In the Buzz Light Year FP line, we chatted with CM Vickie, who was very friendly. I can’t remember who got the most points, but I know it wasn’t me. It is never me.

We ended our MK afternoon with smoothies from Auntie Gravity’s (Orange Pineapple and Tropical, I think) and headed out the turnstiles, past the CMs with the huge waving Mickey hands and onto the monorail.


Time: 4:30 PM


Next stop: EPCOT

 

[jmskinner]

So sorry to hear about the plumbing troubles, but that you have bathrooms again.

Looks like a great day at MK. And you were using the FP's fantastically. I never think to grab one for JC. Always do for Buzz though.

I would have been about those girls on the People Mover. It's one we ride because it is so nice and quiet.

My little DC tip: When getting on the Metro, when you walk up to the track you are normally at what will be the center of the train, walk down the track a ways towards the front or back of the train. Most people don't seem to want to walk anymore. We use to laugh at everyone packed in those middle cars like sardines, while we would be in the last car and sometimes the only people in the car. Hope you have a fantastic time. I really miss the area.

 

[DrMomof3]

Plumbing problems are NOT fun! Glad the bathrooms are working again.

Love your pics! They're awesome.
What a fun day at MK.

Amanda

 

[chunkymonkey]

Haha, we do the same rides at MK! Love BTMRR. Think it is my favorite ride in MK. Really. I'm so glad space mountain and Peoplemover were open again. I loved the peoplemover. It actually moved at a faster pace than I remember. I thought it was really really slow before.

Looking forward to Epcot!

 

[momof3cuteboys]

What a fun way to start the trip. I loved seeing how much older your kids looked in this year's photos, very handsome boys. We always seem to start in Epcot since it's so close to the BC. Can't wait to read more.

Jill

 

[eandesmom]

Appetites satisfied, it was time for Jungle Cruise. The personality of the skipper really makes or breaks the enjoyment of this ride. We had Skipper Blake- he was excellent! We especially liked when he quoted Willie Wonka as we were entering the Asian tunnel.

We had Skipper Blake too, he was a lot of fun. UGH on the screaming teens, very uncool.

Auntie Gravities is the perfect stop on your way out, we did it more than once!

What a great day so far!

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

I'm with you about the counter service seating. Having little experience with CS dining & last month being our first time on DDP, I have to agree that the CM's preventing people from table hogging until they have food in tow is a great policy. We didn't have to wonder around like the Israelites in the desert for 40 years trying to find a place to sit down & eat. That would have surely been a huge turn off for my DH.

Ya know, I love young people & their enthusiasm too, but being subjected to screaming teen girls on the speedway would've gave me a headache too. Sooo annoying! When DS was less than 5 years old, he used to like riding this "Viking ship" ride at Kings Island but unfortunately, we got on the ride from hell with a bunch of screaming teens & he refused to EVER ride it again.

I guess I should be thankful I've never been subjected to the chanting tour groups.......


BTW, your 2 boys on BTRRM are so cute. What handsome boys. And isn't it nice they like to ride together now so you get DH all to yourself

 

[natebenma]

So sorry to hear about the plumbing troubles, but that you have bathrooms again.

Looks like a great day at MK. And you were using the FP's fantastically. I never think to grab one for JC. Always do for Buzz though.

I would have been about those girls on the People Mover. It's one we ride because it is so nice and quiet.

My little DC tip: When getting on the Metro, when you walk up to the track you are normally at what will be the center of the train, walk down the track a ways towards the front or back of the train. Most people don't seem to want to walk anymore. We use to laugh at everyone packed in those middle cars like sardines, while we would be in the last car and sometimes the only people in the car. Hope you have a fantastic time. I really miss the area.

Thanks so much for the Metro advice!!! I will definitely add it to the mental, and actual, lists!

We were very successful with Extra Magic Hours (early) and FP during the whole trip. Mark is an awesome FP fetcher. As soon as our window opened up for another one- BAM! he was on it.

Yes, I was giving the girls the stink-eye for a few minutes then I decided it was probably best to ignore them. I wonder what would have happened if I turned around and started taking photos of them?

Plumbing problems are NOT fun! Glad the bathrooms are working again.

Love your pics! They're awesome.
What a fun day at MK.

Amanda

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Haha, we do the same rides at MK! Love BTMRR. Think it is my favorite ride in MK. Really. I'm so glad space mountain and Peoplemover were open again. I loved the peoplemover. It actually moved at a faster pace than I remember. I thought it was really really slow before.

Looking forward to Epcot!

We were very pleased we were able to hit so many of our favorite rides on our "bonus" arrival day. Gonna try to get the EPCOT update posted sometime tomorrow (but first I have to write it and upload the pics)

What a fun way to start the trip. I loved seeing how much older your kids looked in this year's photos, very handsome boys. We always seem to start in Epcot since it's so close to the BC. Can't wait to read more.

Jill

What a great observation about the boys. Ben has changed big time in the past couple of months. He has the same teacher this year, and when she saw him she was shocked at how different he looked. I love with Nate that his haircut has become shorter and shorter with each trip.

Your trip is getting SOOOOO close! I'll try to get cranking on my report so you can see a few more installments before you leave. But then it occured to me that I still have 3 MORE POSTS before I end our first day in the World.

We had Skipper Blake too, he was a lot of fun. UGH on the screaming teens, very uncool.

Auntie Gravities is the perfect stop on your way out, we did it more than once!

What a great day so far!
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Skipper Blake rocks! I tried to be really good about remembering names of extra special CMs, and Blake was one of the CMs I mentioned in a letter to guest communications.

UGH indeed on the teens, hopefully karma caught up with them on the trip!

I'm not sure if I have any pictures of our smoothies. I must have a photo of Nate with one. I love the Cappuccino, the Orange-Pineapple is excellent, but the Tropical was disappointing to me. Not as good as it sounded.

I'm with you about the counter service seating. Having little experience with CS dining & last month being our first time on DDP, I have to agree that the CM's preventing people from table hogging until they have food in tow is a great policy. We didn't have to wonder around like the Israelites in the desert for 40 years trying to find a place to sit down & eat. That would have surely been a huge turn off for my DH.

Ya know, I love young people & their enthusiasm too, but being subjected to screaming teen girls on the speedway would've gave me a headache too. Sooo annoying! When DS was less than 5 years old, he used to like riding this "Viking ship" ride at Kings Island but unfortunately, we got on the ride from hell with a bunch of screaming teens & he refused to EVER ride it again.

I guess I should be thankful I've never been subjected to the chanting tour groups.......


BTW, your 2 boys on BTRRM are so cute. What handsome boys. And isn't it nice they like to ride together now so you get DH all to yourself

We have been lucky with the chanting tour groups. Last year the only time they were obnoxious was when we were in the queue for Pirates and their chanting echoed off the walls. They chanted at Fantasmic, but that was ok. This year, we encountered several tour groups, but didn't really hear any chanting. I wasn't going to mention it, but the 4 screaming girls looked like they may have been part of one of the groups...

Thanks so much for your comments about the boys. They are really growing up! Mark and I so enjoyed being able to ride together for a change.

 

[heaven2dc]

Entering Tomorrowland:

Next stop: EPCOT

OMG!! What's with all the people with the red shirts?!!! I definitely wouldn't want to be behind them in line. Also shouldn't there be a dress code in the Magic Kingdom (I'm referring to the girl on the right with the cropped top)? (I hope I'm not offending anyone - I just get amazed at how skimpy the clothes girls wear now and esp at WDW).

 

[natebenma]

OMG!! What's with all the people with the red shirts?!!! I definitely wouldn't want to be behind them in line. Also shouldn't there be a dress code in the Magic Kingdom (I'm referring to the girl on the right with the cropped top)? (I hope I'm not offending anyone - I just get amazed at how skimpy the clothes girls wear now and esp at WDW).

I didn't even notice all the red shirts until you pointed them out! I haven't really "gone through" my pictures carefully. I just posted this one because it gave a good indication of the crowds.

At first I thought maybe they were the Pampered Chef people with the red shirts, but I think their trip was earlier in the summer. Then I saw the yellow flag, so they must be some sort of group, but they do not fit the typical profile of the tour groups with the teens from Latin America.

Also didn't notice the girl with the cropped top who takes the term "fanny pack" a little too seriously.

Thanks for taking such a careful look at my photos and helping me to actually see what's in them!

 

[wlake]

Hello! I'm still back on pg. 3 but I just had to comment on your Lego issues! We bought wonderful cabinets with drawers from Lego themselves several years ago. I thought all those little compartments would help the boys find the type Lego they're looking for, but no luck! They're a mess! It's a bit disheartening to realize I can't blame it on their ages!

Ah, the Pick a Brick wall. Their favorite place in the entire world.

 

[kldmom2000]

OMG!! What's with all the people with the red shirts?!!! I definitely wouldn't want to be behind them in line. Also shouldn't there be a dress code in the Magic Kingdom (I'm referring to the girl on the right with the cropped top)? (I hope I'm not offending anyone - I just get amazed at how skimpy the clothes girls wear now and esp at WDW).

Not to hijack natebenma's post, but we were there the week after and the parks were absolutely inundated with the tour groups from Brazil... every time you turned around, there was a sea of yellow... or orange.... or blue......


Natebenma-we LOVE the Peoplemover too and Thunder Mtn. is my almost 8 year old DD's FAVORITE ride. Your experience on the Peoplemover with the 4 girls was similar to our very last ride on Thunder Mtn. on our July trip. Mind you, my DD LOVES this ride more than any other and we were sure to save our fastpass to ride it last and at night when it's the best time to do it . Of course, as we were going down the platform to the trains, we heard lots of fraternity style hootin' and hollerin'.... my DD looked at me and asked if they were going to be on our train. I told her I didn't think so..... but when they sent us down the ramp, wouldn't you know, they took up most of our train.... they were obnoxious and rambunctious beyond belief. As the ride ended, the tears were just flowing from my DD.... she'd been looking forward to that last ride on our last night The FP's were all gone for the night and it was a 60 min. wait so re-riding was out of the question.

I was sooooo glad we were able to swing a 4 night Mother/Daughter trip in August so she could have a re-do (time and time again! LOL!)

Loving your TR and the photos to go along with it!!!!

 

[dtr_angel]

we love to start our trips off at MK too!

Do they enforce that at other CS locations too? We usually eat at Pizza Planet at DHS for our CS meal there, but trying to find a seat is terrible. On our last trip, we ended up standing up and eating because so many people were hogging tables and not even eating yet, and we already had our food!

 

[Queila]

The 3 mountains and an island turned out to be a tough one. We had 11 am breakfast reservations for Kona, and if I missed out on Macadamia pancakes, there was gonna be a major eruption!

Barcelo in the Riviera Maya was great! We have already booked again for Feb 2011. We are Caribbean lovers, but it definitely satisfies our tropical craving. FANTASTIC beach, Great snorkeling, decent and abundant food. And there is a great unofficial resort website- kind of like DISboards lite. I even associate certain personalities of frequent posters to DIS celebrities. (Phil from Ottawa is like Robo). OK, who spends too much time on trip boards???

That was a typo on my last post. We were looking into Barcelo for Feb. 2011. So who knows... we might make it at the same time.

Thanks for the tip on the boards. I might check it out!

Q

 

[Queila]

All caught up now. Sorry to hear about the plumbing problems. At least it got fixed fairly quickly.

Your trip seems to have had a magical start with no airport delays or check- in drama. Man I am drooling over these Beach Club pictures. It is on the top of my list of hotels we want to stay.

I like to start my trips with MK also but it hasn't happened in a while. Maybe next time...

I love the pictures from Magic Kingdom. You guys cover a lot fast. It is impressive. The boys riding the Thunder mountain together are adorable.

We ate at Pecos Bill last May and we loved it but it was a hassle to find a table. I am glad to hear they are trying to fix the problem.

Cannot wait to read more,
Q

 

[natebenma]

Hello! I'm still back on pg. 3 but I just had to comment on your Lego issues! We bought wonderful cabinets with drawers from Lego themselves several years ago. I thought all those little compartments would help the boys find the type Lego they're looking for, but no luck! They're a mess! It's a bit disheartening to realize I can't blame it on their ages!

Ah, the Pick a Brick wall. Their favorite place in the entire world.

The sets are great when they are first opened, and the boys put them together. Then they get played with and the pieces all get mixed in with the other pieces, so even with the directions if you can't find a certain piece you can't recreate the model. This REALLY messes with an OCD personality! Once in awhile we will dump all of the mixed up Legos onto a towel and have a "sorting party"

I see you have a trip to DC coming up. You'll like it here. Lots of people with helpful tips for a trip to Washington.

Not to hijack natebenma's post, but we were there the week after and the parks were absolutely inundated with the tour groups from Brazil... every time you turned around, there was a sea of yellow... or orange.... or blue......


Natebenma-we LOVE the Peoplemover too and Thunder Mtn. is my almost 8 year old DD's FAVORITE ride. Your experience on the Peoplemover with the 4 girls was similar to our very last ride on Thunder Mtn. on our July trip. Mind you, my DD LOVES this ride more than any other and we were sure to save our fastpass to ride it last and at night when it's the best time to do it . Of course, as we were going down the platform to the trains, we heard lots of fraternity style hootin' and hollerin'.... my DD looked at me and asked if they were going to be on our train. I told her I didn't think so..... but when they sent us down the ramp, wouldn't you know, they took up most of our train.... they were obnoxious and rambunctious beyond belief. As the ride ended, the tears were just flowing from my DD.... she'd been looking forward to that last ride on our last night The FP's were all gone for the night and it was a 60 min. wait so re-riding was out of the question.

I was sooooo glad we were able to swing a 4 night Mother/Daughter trip in August so she could have a re-do (time and time again! LOL!)

Loving your TR and the photos to go along with it!!!!

We have gone the same week two years in a row, the second week in July. We think we were very lucky with weather and crowds- there were tour groups, but they only impacted our vacation a couple of times. We have a race with them coming up later my report.

I'm sorry to hear about the obnoxious kids on Big Thunder. Glad you got to have a "do-over". I bet if you had mentioned it to the CM as you exited they would have let you ride again.

The one good thing about seeing out of control kids is that it makes you appreciate the ones that you have! Sometimes I need that reminder.

we love to start our trips off at MK too!

Do they enforce that at other CS locations too? We usually eat at Pizza Planet at DHS for our CS meal there, but trying to find a seat is terrible. On our last trip, we ended up standing up and eating because so many people were hogging tables and not even eating yet, and we already had our food!

I can't remember if they were doing it at Columbia Harbor House-there were plenty of open tables when we ate there. I believe people have reported they have seen this policy at Pinnochio Haus, and probably Cosmic Rays. Yay to this! I didn't think about commenting about how much I liked it in my letter to Guest Communications, but I just may send them another e-mail!

That was a typo on my last post. We were looking into Barcelo for Feb. 2011. So who knows... we might make it at the same time.

Thanks for the tip on the boards. I might check it out!

Q

How cool would that be!!!

We loved the Barcelo! They have waterparks at two of the resorts (Palace and Colonial) that would be PERFECT for Beatriz. Plus at one of the beaches, you can go out forever and the water is still pretty shallow. I prefer the deeper water with waves, and you can get that too in other locations. Definitely check out the website. We fell in love with the resort before we even stayed there.

All caught up now. Sorry to hear about the plumbing problems. At least it got fixed fairly quickly.

Your trip seems to have had a magical start with no airport delays or check- in drama. Man I am drooling over these Beach Club pictures. It is on the top of my list of hotels we want to stay.

I like to start my trips with MK also but it hasn't happened in a while. Maybe next time...

I love the pictures from Magic Kingdom. You guys cover a lot fast. It is impressive. The boys riding the Thunder mountain together are adorable.

We ate at Pecos Bill last May and we loved it but it was a hassle to find a table. I am glad to hear they are trying to fix the problem.

Cannot wait to read more,
Q

We cover a lot of ground once we hit the parks. It is absolutely incredible how much we did in the first couple of hours when utilizing the Extra Magic Hours. We sacrifice a lot of shows, though.

I can't tell you how much I love the Beach Club. When they say "Welcome Home" it is really true. And I didn't see any yellow flies! (Too soon?)