Cast:
DW (me, mid forties, Disney planner and former WDW commando)
DH (spouse, late forties, "let's do something new every day" guy)
DS (12, Disney vet)
DD (9, trip planner in training)
DGM (my mom, seventies, loves Disney)
DGD (my dad, seventies, loves Disney if he is there with DD and DS)
Day 1:
We are up at 4:15 am and out of the house by 4:45 am for the nine hour drive to WDW. I know the kids are ready to go because when I wake up, I realize that the dishwasher wasn't run the night before. I mention the fact that the dishes have to be washed before we go and by the time I get dressed, the kids have washed almost all of them!!! We have a boring and uneventful trip until we hit the Florida turnpike and I try to exit at a nonexistent exit and we go almost thirty minutes out of our way trying to get to 27. Arrive at the Poly at 2:30 pm. There is no line to check in, our two rooms are ready, we get connecting rooms, yey, so much more convenient. We pick out our room and unpack quickly. It's off to explore the resort, buy refillable mugs, check out the pools, arcades and gift shops. We eat at Kona Cafe for dinner and hit the pools after dinner. Watch the electric light parade and then Wishes from the beach. DGM and DGD are due in around 10:30 pm but neither DD or DS manages to stay up. I head out to the lobby about 10:15 with a magazine and start trying to reach them on the cell phone. Turns out the flight was delayed and ME doesn't deliver them to the hotel until 12:45 am. I am now officially headed for my second night of less than five hours of sleep. I have their room key so we get them settled. Knowing how late they were originally due in, they have packed an overnight bag, assuming they wouldn't see their luggage till the morning, and that is a story for Day Two.
Day 2:
The kids are up at 6:00 am and can't wait to wake up the grandparents, we hold them off until 7 am. After the hugs, we give DGD his father's day present (a Hawaiian shirt I made) and DH and DGD open their cards. After a quick breakfast at Captain Cooks', we call about the luggage and it is to be delivered in the morning, around 10 am, so we decide to keep with the plan and head out to MK. We arrive at 9:00 am. After all the dire reports of crowds, we can't belive how uncrowded MK is. We walk onto Splash Mt and BTR, ride PoC, get fastpasses for Jungle Cruise, ride Aladdin, see the Tiki Birds, ride JC and then head to the Plaza for lunch. DGM and DGD head back to the Poly to change and unpack while we stop at the Frontierland Shooting Gallery. Back to the Poly for a swim and surprise, no luggage yet, however they inform my parents that they have located the luggage and it will be there by 3 pm. What is going on with ME? We take the kids to the pool with DGM and DGD nap and wait for their clothes. Luggage finally arrives at 3:30 pm and we discover that their luggage never even left with them. Both bags had been pulled for examination, sent on later flights and didn't even arrive in Orlando till mid-morning. Since we hadn't received the tags for their luggage until the Wed before they left, we had debated even tagging the bags for ME but DGD decided that he wanted ME to handle picking up the bags in the airport so I FEDEXed the tags to them. Thank goodness, instead of my parents having to deal with airlines and their missing luggage, ME did all the work. We change and head off to WL and Artist's Point for our Father's Day dinner. On the way back, we stop by MK, still not crowded and ride Winnie the Pooh and the Carousel (DGM's favorite) twice. It starts raining so we head back to the Poly and I finally get some sleep.
DW (me, mid forties, Disney planner and former WDW commando)
DH (spouse, late forties, "let's do something new every day" guy)
DS (12, Disney vet)
DD (9, trip planner in training)
DGM (my mom, seventies, loves Disney)
DGD (my dad, seventies, loves Disney if he is there with DD and DS)
Day 1:
We are up at 4:15 am and out of the house by 4:45 am for the nine hour drive to WDW. I know the kids are ready to go because when I wake up, I realize that the dishwasher wasn't run the night before. I mention the fact that the dishes have to be washed before we go and by the time I get dressed, the kids have washed almost all of them!!! We have a boring and uneventful trip until we hit the Florida turnpike and I try to exit at a nonexistent exit and we go almost thirty minutes out of our way trying to get to 27. Arrive at the Poly at 2:30 pm. There is no line to check in, our two rooms are ready, we get connecting rooms, yey, so much more convenient. We pick out our room and unpack quickly. It's off to explore the resort, buy refillable mugs, check out the pools, arcades and gift shops. We eat at Kona Cafe for dinner and hit the pools after dinner. Watch the electric light parade and then Wishes from the beach. DGM and DGD are due in around 10:30 pm but neither DD or DS manages to stay up. I head out to the lobby about 10:15 with a magazine and start trying to reach them on the cell phone. Turns out the flight was delayed and ME doesn't deliver them to the hotel until 12:45 am. I am now officially headed for my second night of less than five hours of sleep. I have their room key so we get them settled. Knowing how late they were originally due in, they have packed an overnight bag, assuming they wouldn't see their luggage till the morning, and that is a story for Day Two.
Day 2:
The kids are up at 6:00 am and can't wait to wake up the grandparents, we hold them off until 7 am. After the hugs, we give DGD his father's day present (a Hawaiian shirt I made) and DH and DGD open their cards. After a quick breakfast at Captain Cooks', we call about the luggage and it is to be delivered in the morning, around 10 am, so we decide to keep with the plan and head out to MK. We arrive at 9:00 am. After all the dire reports of crowds, we can't belive how uncrowded MK is. We walk onto Splash Mt and BTR, ride PoC, get fastpasses for Jungle Cruise, ride Aladdin, see the Tiki Birds, ride JC and then head to the Plaza for lunch. DGM and DGD head back to the Poly to change and unpack while we stop at the Frontierland Shooting Gallery. Back to the Poly for a swim and surprise, no luggage yet, however they inform my parents that they have located the luggage and it will be there by 3 pm. What is going on with ME? We take the kids to the pool with DGM and DGD nap and wait for their clothes. Luggage finally arrives at 3:30 pm and we discover that their luggage never even left with them. Both bags had been pulled for examination, sent on later flights and didn't even arrive in Orlando till mid-morning. Since we hadn't received the tags for their luggage until the Wed before they left, we had debated even tagging the bags for ME but DGD decided that he wanted ME to handle picking up the bags in the airport so I FEDEXed the tags to them. Thank goodness, instead of my parents having to deal with airlines and their missing luggage, ME did all the work. We change and head off to WL and Artist's Point for our Father's Day dinner. On the way back, we stop by MK, still not crowded and ride Winnie the Pooh and the Carousel (DGM's favorite) twice. It starts raining so we head back to the Poly and I finally get some sleep.
