A dream trip for a first timer

[marcielm]

Whew, what an exhausting week! Not the one at WDW, of course, but the one since we’ve been back home! LOL

A link to the pre-trip report to give you some background.

A picture of us, at the front gate...

I can’t believe that it was 2 wks ago that I was stressing over getting everything packed & ready to go. I have to say, we did great and didn’t seem to forget anything except my contact solution. A quick trip to a CVS on Sunday morning fixed that (and a good thing… I’d had the dumb lenses in for about 48 hrs at that point!). I spent all day Friday before we left finishing up as much as I could for the kids to wear, and getting all the laundry done. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the iron-on t-shirts made, because I couldn’t locate an ink jet printer. My friend’s didn’t seem to be working right, so I had to forego those tees. I must say, the other shirts were great, and my kids even wore the “horrible” tie dye shirts I had made the weekend before… and we had a ton of compliments on them!

Forgive some of the quality of the images... I wasn't happy AT ALL with how they came out. Oh well, these are still raw/unedited pictures. Maybe I'll get to fixin' them up before I order any prints.

Next up... the trip begins!

 

[marcielm]

Our trip started with me staying up all.night.long on Friday night trying to get things packed. Fred & the boys had gotten home from baseball & gone to bed by 9:00pm that night, while the girls & I had finished some last minute errands. I put Meredith in her bed and Coco in bed with Fred so I could head back out to Wal-Mart for snacks & breakfast foods to take with us. I left the house at 11:00pm, with the last load of laundry going in the dryer, hoping to make it a quick 1hr. I did pretty well, and once I was back home I had the task of packing suitcases *quietly* in the hallway so as not to wake anyone up. Fred’s alarm went off at 2:30am, the time I had told him I had hoped for us to be loading kids in the car and hitting the road, and he found me still trying to finish up my packing. I asked him if he knew where the copy of Truitt’s birth certificate was, as I hadn’t found it where I thought it should be. We began a 45 minute search for it, and luckily found it! We weren’t going to just ‘give away’ that $63 gift card for his birthday, as it was part of our spending money! He helped me finish up with the last of the loading, and we had the car packed and pulling out of the driveway at 4:30am… only 2 hrs behind where I wanted to be.

After about an hour on the road, I finally fell asleep. I think I managed to sleep for about 3 hrs, waking up shortly after we crossed into Louisiana. We stopped about 8:30am at a Chick-fil-a for breakfast… only to find it incredibly busy, and slow. What I had hoped would be about a 30 minute breakfast break was a full hour, but soon we were back on the road. We continued through the drizzling rain as we crossed into Mississippi & Alabama, stopping for lunch before heading into Florida. When we crossed into FL I kept thinking “just a bit more and we will be there!” Boy was I wrong. I had it in my head that we were going to turn South at Tallahassee, and that Tallahassee was about an hour or so after Pensacola. Tallahassee is about 3 hrs after Pensacola, and then you get to drive an additional 2.5-3 hrs before heading south! We finally reached our hotel off property at 1:00am Sunday morning… not the 10:00pm Saturday night I had hoped for!

 

[OhMari]

Your kids look really cute.

Boy was I wrong. I had it in my head that we were going to turn South at Tallahassee, and that Tallahassee was about an hour or so after Pensacola. Tallahassee is about 3 hrs after Pensacola, and then you get to drive an additional 2.5-3 hrs before heading south

Gosh, this sounds a lot like Northern Michigan. When people cross the Mackinac Bridge and head to Marquette Michigan, everyone thinks they are almost there. Sure 3 hours later.

Looking forward to your report.

 

[marcielm]

We all crashed pretty hard once we arrived at the hotel, and agreed that we would get up around 8-ish, rather than super early like I had planned, and take some time getting over to ASMu to check in. Once we were up and dressed (which was very easy for the kids to do because they were so excited we were finally there), we left to grab some breakfast at the nearby McDonald’s… again a looooong line, and extremely slow. With us arriving there just after 10, and them being so slow that we could’ve ordered lunch by the time we got our food, we were in there for just over an hour. That’s not what I had wanted seeing as how I was really excited to be getting over the MK.

We finished at McD’s, loaded the car, and headed over the ASMu. All the way over I am amazed at how easy it is to follow signs & get where you need to be. Once we arrive at the guard check in, I snapped this picture… afterwards the guard was laughing at my enthusiasm.

It’s sometime around noon at this point and I’m really hoping that the check-in desk is going to tell me that our room is NOT ready so we can head straight to the parks. Of course, we get up there and it is ready. *sigh* I realize at this point I’m going to have to go with the flow for the day, and enjoy the “first time experiences” of everything. We go ahead & unload our car & head up to the room. I’m very pleased with the family suite. There is more than enough room for all of us, and the kids are in love with the view of the pool.

After about an hour of being in the room, we load the girls in the stroller & head out to catch a bus to MK (FINALLY!!).

All I have to say here is the bus system at the resorts is great! I can’t imagine having to load my car & drive all over the world each day. It was so nice to go out, wait for the bus, unload the stroller, grab all the kids, and get on each time we went anywhere. It was especially nice since I was a first timer, and really didn’t have a good grasp of just how large the world really is. This was evident each time I tried to plan our leaving/arriving time for our ADR’s. I finally got the hang of this on the 3rd day LOL!

When we rolled up on the bus to MK, and the cute little fanfare started playing, I was in love. We hopped off, got the girls in the stroller, headed through the bag check area, and then through the turnstiles. Never mind that it was already pushing 2:00pm. We were there! AT LAST!!! We took the pictures there in the front (of course, see sig), found a photopass person to get us going (which I have misplaced the card… I hope to find it this weekend), and then went under the train. I was in awe of Main Street, and just stopped so I could take the castle in for a minute.

Shortly after coming under the tunnel, we spot Mary Poppins in a meet/greet spot. Now, I love MP... but my oldest son is a HUGE fan. This was his favorite movie when he was about 2.5 yrs old. We didn't have a DVD at the time, and we had to watch "chapters" of it each day. We would play a segment of the movie each night, so that we wouldn't have to watch all of it every single day! He wanted to go up and get an autograph, but I think he felt a little silly (he had been saying he wanted to see her FIRST THING, so I was suprised we actually did!). He used the excuse of "it doesn't really look like her" as a reason to not stand in line. I do wish I would've made him, mostly because we never saw her again during our trip. Anyway, here's a picture I took from afar. DS said the MP in the parade looked more like the real Mary than this one did (and he was right).

At this point, it was getting to be later and the CM’s were beginning to rope of the area for the afternoon parade. DH & I decided we would hang out on Main Street, grab a snack (at this point we were missing “lunch” but our ADR was for 5:10) and wait for the parade. The kids were okay with this, especially once they got some food in their system.

And here is a picture of the "more real looking" Mary Poppins...

The parade was fun, and the lady on the curb next to us noticed Truitt’s Birthday pin. She gave him their 3 fast passes for Buzz Lightyear & told him Happy Birthday. It was really nice, because it gave us a place to go once the parade was over! The boys & Fred rode it, while I walked around Tomorrowland (and took Meredith to the restroom). Once they were out, we hit the Carousel of Progress (which Aidan really liked). After looking around a bit, we figured we needed to head to the gate so we could catch the monorail over to the Contemporary for Chef Mickey’s and Truitt’s birthday dinner. It was about 4:30… little did I know about just how long it would take us!

 

[marcielm]

I’m in a panic once I realize we are going to be late to Chef Mickey’s. While we are on the monorail "sitting" as we wait for another train to move along , I call the dining res. line hoping to be able to transfer over to the check-in podium at Chef Mickey's or something. The CM on the phone explained to me that they hold the ADR's for about 15 minutes, so I would probably be fine. Whew! Luckily, we made it within our “15 minute” window, and once we were seated I felt calm again.

The boys loved dinner, the girls not so much! Meredith would sit with her hands folded each time a character came around (see how's she's reacting with Minnie...),

and I’ve got a great shot of Corinne spitting out her food as Mickey came up behind her (I'll spare you of that shot!).

Anyway, Donald danced around Truitt during the “Celebration” as he blew out the candles on his cake. Donald is Truitt’s favorite, so I think he really liked that!

The boys with Mickey

And Donald...

Fred with Mickey (the picture of me with Mickey came out really dark... I think because the window's were behind me & threw off the flash because there was too much back-lighting).

Corinne doing pretty much what she did the entire trip--EAT!

Again, I can say that I'm disappointed with our pictures. We borrowed a friend's camera, because our digital is sooo old. We had hoped we would get some nice, clear shots (ours doesn't do well in low light and it's only 3 mega pixel to boot), but so many of them just seem grainy. I think we didn't play with it enough before we went, and used all the wrong settings.

Once dinner was over (at almost 7:00pm) we headed back over to MK for some more time. I was really glad we did, because this was the only night we actually “stayed late”. We were able to pick up a few more rides, see the fireworks, and even jumped on Dumbo before the night was over!

While the boys & I were riding Goofy's Barnstormer, the Space Shuttle took off... this is the picture Fred was able to get, and also the last one for the night because the camera battery went dead right after this one!

In summary of our first day, I think I can easily say my favorite attraction was PhilharMagic. I had very little knowledge of just what the “magic” was at Disney that everyone always talked about. I had been reading the UG, and knew what rides we wanted to do & such, so I knew this was a “must see” for us, but I was totally blown away by the 4D effects. The smell of the pie, the bursts of air blowing past me, the gems… it was all amazing! Meredith is still talking about how Donald got “stuck up there” (as she points to the ceiling). I think it was during this attraction that I really got the "magic" of Disney.

We headed back to the room around 10:00pm that night. Staying later made it a long day, but it was definitely a great First Day at Disney! It also made us sleep a little longer the next morning than I had hoped, and totally made me throw our park plans off. But hey, we were still learning at this point!

 

[LD NURSE]

Your family's so cute with the matching shirts. I love your daughter's face at CM. You could tell she was not having any of those characters. Can't wait for more!!!!

 

[Skyw]

Hi. Great report so far!

Ahhh, the magic of Disney!!!! I agree that the "effects" of the shows and rides are it for me. I try to tell people that have never been, that it is more then just rides. They use all of your senses to tell a story. I can't do many rides anymore because they make me sick!!!! So now I really love Disney.

 

[marcielm]

So we wake up Monday morning much later than I had planned. Mostly because it was so late Sunday night once we got everyone one in bed. My initial plans had been to get up early & go to AK that morning for the EMH. Once we were up and out the door, it was already 9:00am, and when I saw the line for the buses to AK, I figured it wasn’t worth fighting the crowds to get there and not have that extra time. Because of this, I made the quick decision to head over to Epcot for the day. The problem with this was I hadn’t even glanced at the tour guides in the UG for Epcot. I had no idea what to do & where to try to go. Not to mention, arriving at almost 10 with a hungry husband doesn’t make it work so well!
The “big golf ball” as the boys kept calling it:

The obligatory picture of the kids in front of the big golf ball.

When the kids were getting dressed that morning, Meredith pulled out her Mickey Tie-dye shirt and insisted that she wear it.

I had brought them “just in case” or so maybe the boys could sleep in them or something. I really wasn’t happy at all with how they turned out… but they liked them none the less. I was shocked at the number of people who told us they were neat, and that they looked great. At least that made me feel a little better about the time & money I spent on them!

We did the Nemo ride, and the kids loved the shark display they had.

We also did Turtle Talk with Crush. That was really neat, and of course the boys walked around saying “Dude” for a while afterwards. Thanks Crush!

For lunch we went to the Sunshine Seasons in The Land. I wasn’t thrilled with what we ordered… more because DH didn’t get the ½ chicken so that he would have plenty of food, and also because we went during the mad rush for lunch. We were lucky to find a table for all of us, but in the end it was good. Again, it was a learning experience for how our counter service meals were going to work, and as the week went on we got much better at maximizing our 4 meals for 6 people with these!

The boys did the Kim Possible activity, which was neat. We got to cruise around Germany, looking for things we probably wouldn’t have taken the time to see otherwise. I was a little bit disappointed that it was a scam to get you into the shops, but the boys still enjoyed it.

Some of the topiaries that Epcot had already placed out. I really enjoyed seeing them start to add the stuff for the Flower & Garden Festival. Each day when we would go back over, there would be more things out.

After some time at Epcot, we chose to head back to the resort and clean up a bit before our ADR for dinner at Tony’s. This was the night they didn’t have our ADR down at the podium.

 

[marcielm]

So once again, we are running late. And then to get there and have them tell me we didn't have an ADR just added to my stress. I think even morese, I was a little upset that I had forgotten my book with all of the ADR numbers at our quick stop at the hotel, but with some luck she was able to pull up our entire list & see that we did indeed have an ADR for 6 at 6:35. Unfortunately we were now going to have to wait quite a while, until they could fit us in. The kids enjoyed watching Lady & the Tramp on the TV in the waiting area, and eventually we got seated.

We really enjoyed this meal, and had more food than we could’ve possibly finished! I think it certainly made up for Fred & Aidan not feeling like they had gotten to eat enough at lunch, and the fact that we had to wait a bit for our table. Fred had the NY Strip Steak (he was impressed that he could order anything off the menu with the dining plan) and I had the Chicken Parmigiana. Both boys had spaghetti with meatballs… of which Truitt gave Aidan his meatballs (he doesn’t eat beef, at all). Meredith & Corinne shared with me, and Fred even finished off the chicken that I couldn’t eat.

When dinner was over, the evening parade had started and I was able to try and grab a couple of shots of some of the floats that passed as we were on our way out.

Mary Poppins was also in the light parade, but I managed to miss a good shot of her. Aidan was really funny each time we saw anything Mary Poppins related. We have a few pics of her, to say the least.

We again had a bit of a late night once we made our way out of MK and caught the bus back to ASMu. The kids wanted to hang out by the pool and watch the movie they were showing on the big blow up screen, but we insisted that they go to bed because the next morning we HAD to be up and out of the room early for our 8:20 ADR at O’hana. I had previously asked the front desk for the best way to get there, and they let me know that I needed a good hour for travel. So THAT’S why we’ve been 10-15 minutes late to each ADR! Now I’m beginning to see just how long it takes to commute between the resorts and parks, and really starting to learn the transportation system.

 

[marcielm]

Thanks! I was really suprised in the end at how long it took us to get there, even though I knew it was supposed to be 18 hrs or more.

 

[marcielm]

Thank you! I really enjoyed the matching shirts, as it sure made it easy to find them when I was looking for them! There was a few days they didn't match, and I could never remember what the boys were wearing.

 

[marcielm]

I was so happy the little girls were able to do so much. I was dreading having one of us always standing off to the side with the stroller while the boys and the other parent was off having fun. Luckily, this wasn't the case for most of the trip! And when they bigger kids did do something (like Splash Mt) the girls & I were able to walk around and look at some other things that were neat for them (or make a potty break... which always seemed to be taking up precious time!)

 

[marcielm]

So Tuesday morning became our big test. Would we make it to an ADR on time? And better yet, one that was at 8:20 in the morning???? Luckily, we did! I was very happy with our family. We were up early, and out the door by 7:15. However, I became very nervous as we stood out waiting for the bus to MK (so we could catch the monorail to the Poly) as we saw this in the sky….

That’s right… a beautiful front line coming right at us. We had left our rain ponchos back in the room, and at this point we’d been waiting about 15 minutes for our bus. I didn’t dare have one of us leave & dash back for the ponchos, I just prayed that it wouldn’t start raining until after we had gotten on the bus! Luckily, it didn’t rain a single drop, and we were safe without the ponchos all day.

We did make our ADR in time this day, and the kids really enjoyed Lilo & Stitch (well the boys did, anyway). Here are some fun pictures from this yummy breakfast. Fred LOVED the big skillet of food, and was surprised that it was more than enough for our breakfast loving family without getting seconds!

Lilo & the gang (clearly the girls are NOT thrilled about this!)

Stitch and the boys

Pluto with a happier Corinne

Mickey & the boys

Mickey & a not-so-happy Meredith (she STILL didn’t like the characters!)

Here is the best “happy” look I could get from Meredith!

This was a really fun breakfast, & I loved the Mickey waffles. Like I said, Fred was lovin' all the meat & eggs we got, as did the boys! I think next time we go, we will definitely do another character breakfast, as it was so much food we managed to skip lunch (other than a quick snack) and hold out for dinner (which didn't happen until almost 7:00!)

 

[ty_n_cy]

So far, it looks like you all had a great time. I'm loving the pictures, and the details. We're preparing for our first ever Disney World trip... so reading your experiences is getting us more and more excited!

 

[marcielm]

Thanks! You are going to have a blast! I really learned a lot on this first trip, and I'm ready to go back for a second. My 2yo keeps asking each morning "Mommy, can we go to Disney World today and see [insert fav. character of the moment here]?" So despite all the glum looks, she really did enjoy the trip!

 

[marcielm]

So once breakfast was over, and our tummies were nice and full from all the great food, we hopped over to the transportation center to catch a bus out to Animal Kingdom.

This was due in part to Day Two’s revamp of my schedule, as I had originally planned to go to Epcot on Tuesday. Again, I hadn’t really planned out our route for the day, but I had a good idea of what we wanted to try and do. By the time we made it over to AK, it was pushing 11:00am, and the park was getting busy so my first task, go grab Fast Passes for the Safari!

At first we were all trying to weave our way back to the Africa section, and we came across a few characters. I told Fred to hang back with the kids, grab some autographs & pictures, and that I would go get the FP’s. I knew I could move quicker than all of us together, and that way we wouldn’t be wasting precious time. He and the boys hopped into the queue for Terk and Fred snapped this picture (of course Meredith wouldn’t join them… it was a character after all!).

I got back just as they finished up with FP’s for 1:30 in hand. From there, we headed down to the Camp Mickey Minnie section, to see if we could catch the Lion King show, and maybe spot a few other characters. There, we found Chip and Dale and Koda, but opted to forgo Mickey & the gang since we had seen them early in the week at Chef Mickey’s (ah, the beauty of the character meals!).
Chip and Dale

Koda the bear

We hopped into line to see the Lion King, and soon it was time to enter the show. We were seated near at the top of one of the sections, which was nice because Truitt & Meredith stood on the seat so they could see over everyone. Fred tried to take a few pictures, but without being able to use the flash we didn’t get many that were very good. Not long into the show (just after the monkeys that do the trapeze act) the lights came on & the CM’s came out and announced that everyone was going to have to leave the auditorium. They ushered us out by sections, and as ours was leaving the EMT’s brought in a stretcher. Apparently one of the performers had become injured at some point in the show (not sure who, or where it happened). We never heard any more details, but hope the person was okay!

Once we were out of the Lion King, we had a little extra time to kill before heading over for the safari. We were beginning to get a little hungry, and decided to grab a snack (using some of our snack credits) to tide us over until we were going to grab some lunch. We ate some popcorn & pretzels & had Diet Coke, making some of us much happier, and then went to ride the safari. The fast passes were really nice, as it was so much easier than always having to wait in line with the little ones. We walked right up, and got to have a front row spot on our safari! We saw all kinds of animals, including Meredith’s favorite, a baby Elephant!

The rhinos:

Here’s a picture of our driver, once we unloaded. He was great, and the ride was really entertaining.

After we got off the safari, we rode the train out to the Rafiki’s Animal Watch, but we didn’t get off. The boys decided they weren’t very interested, after hearing about it on our way over there. The train ride was nice, as it gave us a chance to read the guide book and plan some of our next actions.

We headed over to the Asian section, to see if there was any FP’s left for Mt. Everest. Aidan wasn’t going to ride it (he’s my non-roller coaster kid), but Truitt wanted to, as did Fred & I. We got over there, and they were gone for the day (go figure, it was almost 2:30 at this point). I had wanted to eat at Flame Tree BBQ, because several people had recommended it, but no one was really hungry so we decided to skip over it and head to the dinosaur area. We walked through the kid section, but we weren’t impressed (very Houston Rodeo Carnival feeling) and at this point the kids are getting tired, I’m feeling lost, and Fred just wants to “go”. On our way back, I said we needed to go do the Tough to be a Bug show, so we did get into that. We enjoyed, and the kids thought it was funny that they had sprayed us with the “acid”. Meredith didn’t care for the fog, but she seemed okay. We all had a good laugh at the bugs that left the theater before us.

Now, Fred was really ready to “go” so we decided to head out of the park. I was disappointed that we didn’t see the Nemo show, but have since decided that when we go back again we will hit that part of the park first thing. The girls feel asleep on our way back to the hotel room, and took a nice long nap. The guys all went to play miniature golf at Wintersummerland, and Truitt loved it! He wanted to get a chance to go again the next day… but we had too much to do the rest of the week to go a second time.

Truitt taking a shot:

Aidan tees off:

A fun angle that Fred took of one of Aidan’s shot.

Once the girls woke up, I grabbed some postcards & got those mailed off. I was very thankful to have done my address labels before hand, or it would’ve taken me a lot longer to fill them all out! Once the guys were back, we loaded up and decided to drive over to Epcot for dinner. This was our first driving adventure (besides the guys going to play miniature golf), and it was great for Epcot. Because we were arriving at the park so late, we were able to park really close to the gate. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it at all! We decided to go cruise around the world showcase & see what sounded good. We ended up eating at the counter service restaurant Tangierine Care in the Moroccan section. It was really good, and we had a ton of food (once again!). We took the baklava back to the room with us, and enjoyed it later that evening. We didn’t stay and “watch” the fireworks this evening so much as we observed them as we walked our way back to the front of the park. It was nice, and we definitely wanted to head out before the crowd got to be too bad. Not to mention, we had gotten up pretty early that morning, and I was hoping for a repeat the next day when we were heading to Hollywood Studios!

 

[bob6sims]

Really enjoying your TR so far

looking forward to reading more

 

[marcielm]

Thanks! I'm slowly getting it added. If only work wasn't getting in the way!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

I am very much enjoying your first visit to Disney! What a great looking family you are! That is one LONG ride by the way!

 

[deanie]

Your kids are so cute!! It sounds like you had a great first trip!