Arrived at MCO about 11:40 am. About 50 people (one person per family) in line ahead of me for check in at ME counter. I was at the counter in about 7 minutes.
Got in line for ASMus bus line and two bus loaded of people left ahead of us before we got on our bus. Our total wait for a bus was about one hour. We arrived at ASMus about 1:20 pm. Check in was quick and we were on our way to MK, arriving there about 2 pm. Funny now but not at the time...our first stop was to the First Aid station. We arrived during a parade and DD4 turned around head first into the sign outside of Casey's. GOOSE EGG! But then we were off the enjoy the rest of the day. However, the poor kids looks like someone beat her up in every picture.
Resort
ASMus was a nice place to stay. I thought it was a great deal for $89/night. The rooms have just been redone and the pool areas were great for DD6 and DD4. The food court was just okay but then again it is just a food court. We ate lunch there twice. We had only one problem with getting a bus but other than that they came very quickly. We were just looking for a place to sleep since we were gone all day at the parks, so it fit the bill. I could not have seen paying more money for just a room. The beds were comfy enough. It has been a long time since DH and I have slept in a double together but it was fine.
MNSSHP
This was fun but I am not sure it was worth the expense for our family. We felt it was geared more towards families with older kids and adults. The candy stations were cute but got old quickly. The only place "characters" were handing out candy was the walk way from Toon Town to Tomorrowland and that was just the cards from Alice in Wonderland. We did get to meet a lot of unusual characters. The fireworks were amazing and the shows were great but a little intense for small kids and our kids are not afraid of much.
We did ride some of the rides at night, which was fun. The best part of the evening was our dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The characters were also dressed in Halloween costumes and we had a lot of time with each. The kids loved it and the food was good. Anyone can do this even without tickets to the party as long as your dinner reservations are before 7 pm. One other thing we noticed was there were a lot of people without wrist bands still in the park. They were being turned away from the candy stations but not much more.
Free dining and meals in general
Free dining was, of course, great. We did not feel that it was too much food except for maybe dessert twice a day. We did table service at the Crystal Palace, O'hana, Coral Reef, Wolfgang Puck, Hollywood and Vine, Liberty Tree, CRT. All were good except the atmosphere and service at Coral Reef was not what we expected. It was LOUD and full of families with very little kids. The food was good but the service was VERY SLOW. Our server was nice and even brought a difference appetizer for the kids when they didn't like the first one. So no major complaints. The server at Wolfgang Puck was very accomadating for the kids meals too.
We did counter service at our resort twice, Flame Tree BBQ, Sunshine Season Food Court, Pinocchio's, Pizza Planet, and Cosmic Ray's. The food was good at all except Pizza Planet. That place was a big disappointment overall. Our kids were really excited about eating there, which is the only reason we chose it. The pizza did not taste fresh made, which they claim it is. We would not recommend eating there.
We had a tough time using our snack credits. The things we would have wanted for snacks usually were not covered. I wish they would just say anything under $4 and be done with it. We had a case of water shipped from Staples, so we did not need the credits for drinks. We used a few for fruit but most are only $1 per piece so it seemed a waste to use credits. We did get doughnuts and juice twice from the resort gift shop for breakfast stuff in the room. A large box of doughnuts was only one credit and it lasted us two mornings. We had three credits left during the MNSSHP and used them to buy a few lollipop flowers to take home. But believe me we were not complaining about anything as far as the dining plan because after all it was free. I think we would recommend purchasing it though for people who do not go during free dining. It would have cost us about $800 and we ate about $1200 worth of food.
Overall
We had great weather, 90 everyday. It rained a little every day but it was certainly manageable. We enjoyed all of the parks, although MGM was our least favorite. The Hollywood and Vine meal was great and DH got meet Darth Vadar and a Storm Troop, so that was exciting. The best part of the week was just getting to spend a whole week together as a family and we enjoyed every minute. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Got in line for ASMus bus line and two bus loaded of people left ahead of us before we got on our bus. Our total wait for a bus was about one hour. We arrived at ASMus about 1:20 pm. Check in was quick and we were on our way to MK, arriving there about 2 pm. Funny now but not at the time...our first stop was to the First Aid station. We arrived during a parade and DD4 turned around head first into the sign outside of Casey's. GOOSE EGG! But then we were off the enjoy the rest of the day. However, the poor kids looks like someone beat her up in every picture.
Resort
ASMus was a nice place to stay. I thought it was a great deal for $89/night. The rooms have just been redone and the pool areas were great for DD6 and DD4. The food court was just okay but then again it is just a food court. We ate lunch there twice. We had only one problem with getting a bus but other than that they came very quickly. We were just looking for a place to sleep since we were gone all day at the parks, so it fit the bill. I could not have seen paying more money for just a room. The beds were comfy enough. It has been a long time since DH and I have slept in a double together but it was fine.
MNSSHP
This was fun but I am not sure it was worth the expense for our family. We felt it was geared more towards families with older kids and adults. The candy stations were cute but got old quickly. The only place "characters" were handing out candy was the walk way from Toon Town to Tomorrowland and that was just the cards from Alice in Wonderland. We did get to meet a lot of unusual characters. The fireworks were amazing and the shows were great but a little intense for small kids and our kids are not afraid of much.
We did ride some of the rides at night, which was fun. The best part of the evening was our dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The characters were also dressed in Halloween costumes and we had a lot of time with each. The kids loved it and the food was good. Anyone can do this even without tickets to the party as long as your dinner reservations are before 7 pm. One other thing we noticed was there were a lot of people without wrist bands still in the park. They were being turned away from the candy stations but not much more.
Free dining and meals in general
Free dining was, of course, great. We did not feel that it was too much food except for maybe dessert twice a day. We did table service at the Crystal Palace, O'hana, Coral Reef, Wolfgang Puck, Hollywood and Vine, Liberty Tree, CRT. All were good except the atmosphere and service at Coral Reef was not what we expected. It was LOUD and full of families with very little kids. The food was good but the service was VERY SLOW. Our server was nice and even brought a difference appetizer for the kids when they didn't like the first one. So no major complaints. The server at Wolfgang Puck was very accomadating for the kids meals too.
We did counter service at our resort twice, Flame Tree BBQ, Sunshine Season Food Court, Pinocchio's, Pizza Planet, and Cosmic Ray's. The food was good at all except Pizza Planet. That place was a big disappointment overall. Our kids were really excited about eating there, which is the only reason we chose it. The pizza did not taste fresh made, which they claim it is. We would not recommend eating there.
We had a tough time using our snack credits. The things we would have wanted for snacks usually were not covered. I wish they would just say anything under $4 and be done with it. We had a case of water shipped from Staples, so we did not need the credits for drinks. We used a few for fruit but most are only $1 per piece so it seemed a waste to use credits. We did get doughnuts and juice twice from the resort gift shop for breakfast stuff in the room. A large box of doughnuts was only one credit and it lasted us two mornings. We had three credits left during the MNSSHP and used them to buy a few lollipop flowers to take home. But believe me we were not complaining about anything as far as the dining plan because after all it was free. I think we would recommend purchasing it though for people who do not go during free dining. It would have cost us about $800 and we ate about $1200 worth of food.
Overall
We had great weather, 90 everyday. It rained a little every day but it was certainly manageable. We enjoyed all of the parks, although MGM was our least favorite. The Hollywood and Vine meal was great and DH got meet Darth Vadar and a Storm Troop, so that was exciting. The best part of the week was just getting to spend a whole week together as a family and we enjoyed every minute. I would be happy to answer any questions.
