A Relaxing Vacation – Commando Minnie Style! (Updated 8/3)

[Minnie]

Before we get started, I’d better introduce the cast of characters along on this relaxing journey so that the title of this trip report makes some sort of sense:

First off I’ll start with my mom, the oldest, ummmmm well youngest at heart, ummmm well you’ll get the idea as we move on, member of the cast. As to protect your narrator for this trip, we’ll skip the photo or the real name and call her Sleepy. Now I’m sure your going to ask me “why Sleepy” well aren’t you? Come on go ahead I know you want to…. Anyways I’m calling her Sleepy on this trip as she was truly exhausted from real life and needed this vacation. This would play a big role and the reason for the “relaxed” part of the vacation. Only one problem….. She was traveling with the one she likes to call - Commando Minnie!

Next up on the list of characters was my son age 13 and yes, he definitely likes to remind me that he is not a child but a teenager. Well sorry squirt you’ll always be my Stitch Yep Stitch, this dynamo has the energy of the little blue alien but thankfully better manners. Though you know the ride we skipped in MK? You guessed it fair reader it was Stitch as my Stitch wants nothing to do with the ride of his namesake – pretty good taste if I do say so myself.

Last up in the list is me. Now I’d like to think of myself more as Belle. A bookworm at heart (yes I finished Harry Potter in 1 day), trip planner extraordinaire, new Tour Guide Mike devotee. However, most of the trip they called me….. Commando Minnie! I guess it had something to do with the laminated touring cards and detailed itinerary but I’m not quite sure. After all this was a “relaxing trip”.

Next up… Planning is half the fun.

 

[disneygal2007]

Your 2 funny.

 

[OhMari]

Great start. I used TGM. I would say he was 95% accurate.

 

[Minnie]

Thank you both for the replies!!!!!!!!!

OhMari - I agree with your opinion on TGM totally! When he is off the 5% though... man he is off!!!!! But when he is on it is incredible

 

[tinawv]

Jumping on board. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Minnie]

Let’s just say I give a new definition to the word “indecision.” It’s just that I want everything to be just perfect for my family. The hardest decision this time was where to stay. Now we are on-site people. As my signature shows we’ve stayed in nearly every type of WDW accommodation available. From a single room at the Pop to a lavish villa at OKW we tried them all. As the trip was for a week we knew it had to be a deluxe so I joined the ranks of those hoping for AP rates for July. We waited, waited, waited, and then BAM! AP rates released for… only the Epcot deluxe WTH????? Okay we could work with this the Beach Club last year was nice. So my days went like this.

Call CRO – AP rates for BC or YC? – NO Call CRO – AP rates for BC or YC? – NO
Call CRO – AP rates for BC or YC? – NO Call CRO – AP rates for BC or YC? – NO

Eventually I began to get the idea that there were NO AP rates at the BC or YC so it was time to consider our other options.

Somehow I stumbled on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board and discovered the other side. Now you know those “off-site” people really aren’t possessed by aliens – yep really! There are some very cost efficient options that had this mouse sit up and take notice.

Eventually after much talk – poor mom eventually I think she wished she was like Crush and could pull a shell over her ears – we decided on a townhouse in Windsor Hills. If anyone is interested I wrote a review on our experience and posted it here.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1524458

The next decision was which tickets to purchase. Normally I do an analysis and with the AP savings it makes sense to purchase the AP, but this time we weren’t getting that savings so we really had to consider our options. We ended up with the AP for a reason I hadn’t done before……. Park entry (hides head and slinks off incase some from the AP rate board thread sees this).

A rental car was a must since we were staying off site. As I have an Emerald Isle card through work we went with National. Couldn’t have worked better and I highly recommend this service even if you have to pay for it. I’ve never been in and out of MCO so fast in my life!

Finally, after reading Tim and Leslie’s trip report I found a service called Tour Guide Mike. I figured the $17 (Dis discount rate) was well worth the cost for this trip planner. I’ll write more about this later, but I have to say that our trip went well using his plans. One time I thought he was wayyyyyyy off but we’ll get to that.

Next time.... Departure day and where'd they hide hotel

 

[Minnie]

Tinavw - Thank you for reading and posting

Finally, after all the planning, indecision, and waiting the day of departure had finally arrived. We had hit a speed bump though because my DF had been away for 2 weeks for work and wanted to see me before we left on vacation (he doesn’t “do” theme parks). I know, I know what the heck am I thinking…..

Anyways, as our flight was the next morning at 6am at an airport 3 hours away we decided to stay at a park and fly hotel. As we had to wait for DF to get home and “Sleepy” decided that she’d get some extra work done (she really needed this vacation) it was near midnight by the time we finally got to the town the airport was in.

Now Sleepy had made these reservations and had map quested the directions. What we didn’t know was that she had done so to the wrong hotel! We looked all over and finally pulled into the nearest hotel we could find. The clerk said and I quote. “It’s never a good idea when the hotel doesn’t have a sign!” Uh Oh! Finally someone took pity on us and gave us the correct directions. At this point with only 4 hours till we had to be up to be at the airport I could have cared less where we stayed….. Thankfully we found the hotel (it had a sign by the way) and called it a night or morning or whatever it was at that time.

Three hours later, it was departure time so we headed for the airport. As we had a great “Ding” rate our flight was the 1st Southwest direct flight out that morning. Though we had to join the line of cattle in the “A” boarding line it all went pretty smooth and we were early into Orlando!

As we were staying in a townhouse we packed very lightly and only had carryon luggage. Well except for the not 1 but 2 laptops I had to take with me on this trip…. So we were able to go straight to the rental cars. Now I had the choice earlier of paying about $20 extra to rent from National and I jumped on it! No lines at all and we were out of MCO faster that we’ve ever been before. It was a well spent $20!

Gotta run... Next time... Sleepy says, "You want to do what??????"

 

[Minnie]

Now one negative about staying in the townhouse was that we couldn’t check in until after 4pm. Since we zoomed out of the airport so quickly we had over 5 hours to kill.

My itinerary had the following….
Stop at Epcot pick up APs and DDE (we won’t go there). Eat lunch at LeCellier do the rides in the World Showcase and then off to the Animal Kingdom to see the parade which was at 4pm.

Now I have to admit that broke just about every Tour Guide Mike principle out there. But Commando Minnie made that itinerary and was rallying the troops. However, my mom had a slightly different opinion, that 2 parks on the first day in the middle of the afternoon wasn’t the brightest idea…… So we ended up deciding on just Epcot.

We parked in the Epcot parking area and walked to the entrance as no trams were in sight. Personally, I was surprised at the close parking we found at 11am, which should have been packed to the gills park time. I guess it just a little shot of the pixie dust that would sprinkle down on us for the remainder of the trip.

Next up was what I’d been waiting for since last July… brand spanking new Annual Passes! Last year we let our expire since our plans were undecided. This would not be the last time we picked up new passes however, as for some reasons they don’t like water or cell phones…

We quickly made our way through the gates and across the lake to the countries side of Epcot. I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but this side of Epcot is our least favorite. If they’d just move Le Cellier and the French pastry shop across the lake we’d really have no further reason to venture over there….. But I had a Canada steak calling my name so off we went.

Now our ADR wasn’t until 12 so we had a little time to kill. As Mexico was close by and it was closed on our last trip, we went in to see the renovations. The boat ride with the Donald additions is darling! No wait whatsoever this early as most were still over in FW. We poked around the store area a bit and then walked back over to Canada to wait in the air conditioning for our reservations. See I’m a Midwesterner so although it gets hot and humid up here, Florida takes a bit of getting used to. Our pasty white skin was getting fried and the sunscreen was packed with the luggage so this seemed like our best option.

Thankfully, the wait was short so we were soon led down into the cellar. I just love this place, for not just for the pretzel breadsticks! I’ve started a dining review as our opinion is just a little different as I got the gene of picky eating from my mom and passed that on to my son. If you’ve got a picky eater among you then check out my dining review here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1525598

Darn gotta run, but I’ll be back next time with playing hide and seek with Windsor Hills.

 

[barbanm]

Please kkep going! I just LOVE your reveiws!

Barbara

 

[Minnie]

Please kkep going! I just LOVE your reveiws!

Barbara

I didn't think anyone was reading.... I know I'm not the best storyteller in the world like some of the greats here on the Dis.

Thank you for posting!!!!!!!

 

[Minnie]

After being stuffed to the gills, we walked out into the melting heat of Florida, but we didn’t walk far. Just around the corner was the O Canada circle vision movie that we’d never taken the time to see. We had the time so we stopped to watch the show and enjoyed everything but the fact that you stand for the entire show. I was glad to be able to see it before the changes are made and will stop by again if we are looking for an easy air-conditioned 20 minutes.

Next we looked at what was left in the World Showcase to do and really didn’t find much. I really don’t care for the shops as when I shop in WDW I want it to be WDW merchandise and the showcase stores have very little of that. It was starting to look like a storm was brewing so it was time to get back across to Future World anyway so we could be ready to leave for Windsor Hills.

We ended up and made a deal with Stitch that we’d hit the shops mom and I like and then the rest of our time would be in Innoventions since we rarely spend any time in there. Stitch remembered the different games so he was all up for that.

First up was one of my favorite shops in all of the “world”… The Art of Disney. I was looking for one specific piece to add to my collection. The brand new Precious Moments park exclusive piece “Where Dreams Come True.” We had wanted to attend the Precious Moments event in June, but work and family issues prevented it so I was on a mission.

I scowered all the shelves and finally asked, but alas they were sold out. They suggested the DTD store location or the MK. I thought about rounding up the troops to try to find it, but this was a “relaxing trip” so I knew better that to suggest it. I have an affliction known as “tunnel vision” according to mom so I didn’t look at anything else and some how this trip I ended up not taking home a print – eek!!!!! I have at least one from each trip so I’ll have to make up for it next time!

Next up we walked into Mouse Gears, the largest shop in Epcot. This is a fun store with a little bit of everything for everyone. As we were heading out, a CM stopped Stitch and asked him to be part of the “hokey poky” game that they were starting up. Now I could tell he thought he was too old to play but mom stepped in and was part of it too and I have the most awesome picture of them together. Now as I want to live to actually graduate, I will not post that picture but it was awesome!

As promised we then went into Innoventions. I saw the signs to the Segway experience and went that direction while mom went with Stitch to play the video games. I have to tell you that little 2 minute “ride” was wayyyyyy to short so I picked up a tour guide card and while Stitch was enjoying the “build a robot” I called to see what was still available. I had the option of 3 different tours, but wasn’t sure what to do so….. I posted a thread on the Dis for help that evening and got great advice! I ended up booking the Fort Wilderness Backyard Adventure Segway tour for Friday morning. I had a whole week to wait, but I figured by that point mom would be parked out so it would be a good to plan a down day by that point. I can’t wait to share all about the Segway tour, but I have the rest of our trip yet to write about….

Anyways, while we were in Innoventions the storm that looked to be brewing earlier unleashed over Epcot so leaving was really out of the question. I did run out and grab a soda for mom as she was really exhausted and I hoped the caffeine would give her a boost. Looking back I really wish that I had focused on that moment and realized that the “plan” was not relaxing enough, but Commando Minnie was in full force and I just didn’t think. It would come back to haunt me later through the trip, but we’ll get to that.

Eventually, dropped down to a sprinkle and we headed out of Epcot. Next it was time to find Windsor Hills. Now in all the research I did prior to the trip with directions, why the heck I didn’t ask for reverse directions from the park to WH, I haven’t a clue. We ended up taking the “short cut” out but once outside of WDW it seemed as though we were playing “hide and seek” with Windsor Hills. We stopped in an Orlando Attractions shop hoping for directions, but the clerk was more confused that I was…. And that’s saying something! Eventually we drove around so much that I knew we’d gone way too far. After all WH is only supposed to be 5 minutes from WDW so something was wrong. Eventually after many stops and turns and those wonderful “legal U-turns” that Orlando tourists are famous for we found our way.

Now on the road to WH, I have to admit that cheese steak from LeCellier felt like it was about to make a reappearance. With all the driving, and the “local landscaping” it was pretty. Mom and I looked at each other and said… “This sure isn’t Disney!” The area driving to WH while not “couch and TV on the front porch” trashy is not something manicured to look at either. You know that feeling you get as soon as you get close to your Disney resort???? The OH MY GOODNESS we’re in Africa at the AKL, or now we’re in the forest at the WL, or well you get the idea. Let’s just say that on the way to WH, I felt like OH MY GOODNESS… what the heck did we do!!!!!!!!

Next time…. Check in at Windsor Hills and the hidden Wal-Mart.

 

[scrap4u]

Great updates Minnie! I'm really enjoying them!

I'm with you about the National Emerald Club. I was able to get a free membership for a year and we've used it twice and just love it. We get our luggage and walk right over to the parking deck and pick any car we want on the Emerald Aisle and then we are outta there baby! No precious park time wasted standing in line at rental car counter.

Even if we have to pay for it when it comes time to renew, we will pay it. Well worth it.

And we love TGM! I've used him for our last 4 trips and he's great!

Keep up the good work!

 

[Keyana]

Enjoying your report so far! Looking forward to the rest!
K