jsmla
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 4,498
(Days 1-3 on Universal Trip Reports Board)
Renaissance Orlando WorldGate
6:30 am
Liz and I are up earlly today, she to inventory her wardrobe in the car, (Sam and I wouldn't let her bring all three bags in for a stay of less than 12 hours and therefore do not love her.) and I to gather my wits and search for my errant driver's license. After a good night's sleep the hotel is looking better than I had previously thought. The room is clean, fair sized and has a refrigerator. Another bonus is the location. It's set well back from all the tat on 192 and has a back entrance onto Disney property that spits you out near the Animal Kingdom. For $35 /night it's a good deal, especially with the fridge. It would definately do in a pinch.
WDW Swan
7:30 am
We've finally made it! The lobby at the Swan is smaller than I expected and very subdued. We are more accustomed to the All Star Music. I love the All Stars and we've spent many happy nights there but the check-in area does bear a strong resemblance to a Calcutta train station for much of the day. Check-in is swift. We get our Resort ID's, parking pass and a number to call to check on our room later. Everyone was very nice and there was no mention of Hotwire. (Unlike a certain New Orleans hostelry that puts its Priceline/Hotwire customers in the room over the HVAC system even when it's half full.) I'd love to ditch the car but we'll be making a grocery run later and I need it.
Disney Studios
8:15 am
We've made it to the turnstiles. The wait is just long enough for me to get all hot and bothered over Liz's and my 10 Day WorldHopper passes. I seemed like a good idea to buy these way back in February but I'm now having second thoughts. This is the first time we've purchased admission from anywhere but Disney and I'm pretty sure that if we have any trouble at all Sam will abandon us and the people behind us in line will not be happy. There's always a certain frisson in the air just before a Disney opening. Perfectly normal people, who don't even know you well enough to dislike you, are willing to trample you underfoot should stand between them and a ride on the Tower of Terror.
9:00 am
Hooray! We've finally made it. It's seems like weeks since we left home. All my worrying is for naught. The passes work like a dream, thank goodness. I never can carry off things like this with aplomb. If the Mickey police pressed me hard enough I'd probably admit to goodness knows what.
Liz is not only smarter than Sam and I. She's also a lot faster, so we elect her to race through the crowd to get FastPasses for Rock-N-Rollercoaster while Sam and I walk to the Tower of Terror at a more leisurely pace. I love this ride. It's my favorite in all of WDW. I love the drops, but it's the theme and the feel of it that enchant me. We exit TOT excited and chattering like the rest of the crowd and head over to Rock-n-Rollercoaster. Oh nuts, this is a rollercoaster. A loop-de-loop rollercoaster at that. I have a dilemma. Only yesterday I had made certain deeply felt promises concerning rollercoasters, especially those of the loop-de-loop (how do you spell that?) variety. I've ridden RnR many, many times but, then again, I'm not as young as I used to be. Nuts. My kids are happy and smiling. Of course they are. This may be another chance for them to wangle more junk food and T-shirts out of me. I hope the rollercoaster gods zing them. Apparently the rollercoaster deities are middle-aged mothers themselves because when we rush up to the standby line, Zing!!!, RnR is not running. Nanner, nanner, nanner.
The park is awfully full of very energetic pre-teen girls today. The national jump rope competition is in town. I've been to this sort of thing before. Liz is a dancer AND a cheerleader. I'd wager money that most of the jump rope adults have never chaperoned a trip to WDW before. If they had they wouldn't be here now. 20 over-excited 12 year old girls are not fit companions for a trip to anything more stimulating than a lecture on dental hygiene. You couldn't make me chaperone middle schoolers here again without a set of ear plugs and an industrial-sized bottle of extra strength Valium.
We hit The Great Movie Ride next and grab FastPasses for Ariel. Back to RnR. It's still down so we're off to Star Tours (seems a little tired after SpiderMan and the zippy new Jimmy Neutron) and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Very good Ariel this time with a nice strong voice. Liz is dying to see how the puppets work. She has dreams of dancing at WDW one day. I, personally, have dreams of her going to medical school. Back to RnR once again. It's still not running and frankly I'm more than a little relieved. The liquid sunshine's back after a 24 hour hiatus and once again we need to dodge the rain. We decide to duck into the Beauty and the Beast theater to watch the jump rope competition. From what I can tell it's the speed jumping competition. The ropes and the girls' feet are a blur. Liz doesn't think much of a sport that doesn't include short skirts or body glitter but I'm impressed. I've never been coordinated enough to jump a normal rope, much less one moving at the speed of light. While I sit, awestruck, Liz and Sam begin a lively debate over whether the girls are in a jump roping (Sam) or jumping rope (Liz) contest. It's time to leave.
Irlo Bronson Pkwy.
11:30 am
Time for lunch and groceries. We cruise down 192 checking out our dining options. We're all starving so we opt for a place call the Golden Corral. For the uniformed the Golden Corral is an unfortunately named chain of all-you-can eat salad bar/hot bar places. It's not very good, but it's cheap and I can bulk-load Sam at non-Disney prices. If you don't have a teen-aged son you need to know that it takes approximately 23,000 calories per day to keep them happy. I eat a salad and Liz has the dessert bar for lunch. The pitiful bit is that I'm the buxom one. The other two look like they were pupped by Twiggy.
Next is a trip to Publix where we stock up on junk food and beer. (Mmmmmm, beer.) We have a regular ice chest for drinks and an electric one for milk and sandwich stuff. (We bought it a few years back when the Disney fridges hit $10/day.) Liz is a little concerned that the ice chests and grocery bags will lower us in the eyes of bell services at the Swan. I figure that at $1 a pop they'll be thrilled. What with all of her luggage in addition to the ice chests we'll probably be the most popular guests at the resort.
It's pouring rain.
1:00 pm
YeeHaw! the room's ready. We drive up to the parking lot and I make a difficult decision. It's absolutely pouring rain and we have a ton of stuff. We're going to have to use the pricey porters to get our luggage/grocery bags/ice chests to the room. I don't want of offend anyone but I do have a question for all you Deluxe people. Why, for heaven sakes, is luxury always so far from the dadgum parking lot? Do hotels just assume that rich people never use their cars? At the All Stars we can park just around the corner from our room. With the published rates the Deluxe resorts charge you should at least be able to park somewhere in the vicinity of the hotel. As it is it costs me $10 to get our gear up to the room and I still got the impression that I had stiffed the guy. If I paid the going rate each time our bags went in or out I would soon have more invested in their transport than this junk is worth. On a more positive note, the room is just swell. I love the muted colors. (I hate to appear snobbish, but the decor at the All Stars is just a trifle garish.) I love our view of the Disney Studios. Only a grinch would call this a parking lot view. I'll have to say, though, that my favorite is the Heavenly Bed. I adore the duvet covers. Does anyone else get grossed out by hotel bedspreads? I never can stop worrying about what the last guests may have done on them.
We all have a very good time bustling about and settling in. Drawer space is a bit tight but everything else is very, very, nice. (Just in case you ever bring Liz on a trip with you, if you call housekeeping they will let you move all of the $5 chips and stuff into the fridge cabinet to free up some space.) Sam is thrilled to realize that the resort fee includes internet access and spends his time setting up his laptop for I don't know what. He is somewhat less than thrilled to tromp the 3 miles back down to the car to retrieve the keys I left in the tail gate. He's also not very happy that the Swan charges for the Japanese language programming or that I refuse to pay $10/day so that he can watch game shows in a language none of us can understand.
WDW Swan
5:00 pm
Time for dinner and a chance to use a few of the Quick & Casual Vouchers I bought before the trip. One of the great attractions of the Swan is its proximity to Beaches & Cream. For two Q&C vouchers (around $22) we can stuff ouselves silly. Sam usually uses one and Liz and I split. Sam had a burger and fries and Liz and I share the Chicken Ceasar Salad and fries. The kids also had soft drinks and each of them devoured a virtual Mattahorn of ice cream, fudge and whipped cream. We all had plenty to eat, even Sam. Since the sundaes alone were around $8 each the vouchers are a very good deal here. The downside is that it was sometimes difficult not to head back to the room for a nice nap after a meal at B&C.
6:30 pm
Still raining but we're not ready to call it a night just yet. I really want to go over to EPCOT. On most trips we rush around the parks like maniacs trying take in each person's favorite attractions. I've had all sorts of visions of spending leisurely evenings just walking around the World Showase with no pressing need to "do" anything. The International Gateway is very conveniently located right across from the Rose & Crown Pub where I make the wisest purchase of the vacation. For $12 (I think, my reciept got a little smudged in the rain.) I got a 1/2 yard of Bass Ale. Wait, it gets even better. For $7 I could get a refill! $7 is the price I usually pay for one of those dinky little plastic cups so this is a great (for Disney) deal and I garner many envious glances as I stroll over to the American Adventure. We haven't seen this in years because it is so long and, to me anyway, kind of boring. I hate to sound so shallow but when I've only got a limited amount of time I don't want to waste it on a history lecture. No matter how snazzy the technology, you're going to need something a little more lively if you expect me to surrender my beer for it. However, I'm feeling charitable this evening so I give in to the kids when they want to go in. I don't think Liz even remembers seeing it way back when we used to go specifically in order to give her (and her dad as well) a chance to nap. After viewing the show through more mature eyes I have to say that I still think it's pretty dull. It's still raining cats and dogs when we get out so we decide to forgo Illuminations and just go tamely home. After all we do have 9 more glorious days!
Jennifer
Renaissance Orlando WorldGate
6:30 am
Liz and I are up earlly today, she to inventory her wardrobe in the car, (Sam and I wouldn't let her bring all three bags in for a stay of less than 12 hours and therefore do not love her.) and I to gather my wits and search for my errant driver's license. After a good night's sleep the hotel is looking better than I had previously thought. The room is clean, fair sized and has a refrigerator. Another bonus is the location. It's set well back from all the tat on 192 and has a back entrance onto Disney property that spits you out near the Animal Kingdom. For $35 /night it's a good deal, especially with the fridge. It would definately do in a pinch.
WDW Swan
7:30 am
We've finally made it! The lobby at the Swan is smaller than I expected and very subdued. We are more accustomed to the All Star Music. I love the All Stars and we've spent many happy nights there but the check-in area does bear a strong resemblance to a Calcutta train station for much of the day. Check-in is swift. We get our Resort ID's, parking pass and a number to call to check on our room later. Everyone was very nice and there was no mention of Hotwire. (Unlike a certain New Orleans hostelry that puts its Priceline/Hotwire customers in the room over the HVAC system even when it's half full.) I'd love to ditch the car but we'll be making a grocery run later and I need it.
Disney Studios
8:15 am
We've made it to the turnstiles. The wait is just long enough for me to get all hot and bothered over Liz's and my 10 Day WorldHopper passes. I seemed like a good idea to buy these way back in February but I'm now having second thoughts. This is the first time we've purchased admission from anywhere but Disney and I'm pretty sure that if we have any trouble at all Sam will abandon us and the people behind us in line will not be happy. There's always a certain frisson in the air just before a Disney opening. Perfectly normal people, who don't even know you well enough to dislike you, are willing to trample you underfoot should stand between them and a ride on the Tower of Terror.
9:00 am
Hooray! We've finally made it. It's seems like weeks since we left home. All my worrying is for naught. The passes work like a dream, thank goodness. I never can carry off things like this with aplomb. If the Mickey police pressed me hard enough I'd probably admit to goodness knows what.
Liz is not only smarter than Sam and I. She's also a lot faster, so we elect her to race through the crowd to get FastPasses for Rock-N-Rollercoaster while Sam and I walk to the Tower of Terror at a more leisurely pace. I love this ride. It's my favorite in all of WDW. I love the drops, but it's the theme and the feel of it that enchant me. We exit TOT excited and chattering like the rest of the crowd and head over to Rock-n-Rollercoaster. Oh nuts, this is a rollercoaster. A loop-de-loop rollercoaster at that. I have a dilemma. Only yesterday I had made certain deeply felt promises concerning rollercoasters, especially those of the loop-de-loop (how do you spell that?) variety. I've ridden RnR many, many times but, then again, I'm not as young as I used to be. Nuts. My kids are happy and smiling. Of course they are. This may be another chance for them to wangle more junk food and T-shirts out of me. I hope the rollercoaster gods zing them. Apparently the rollercoaster deities are middle-aged mothers themselves because when we rush up to the standby line, Zing!!!, RnR is not running. Nanner, nanner, nanner.
The park is awfully full of very energetic pre-teen girls today. The national jump rope competition is in town. I've been to this sort of thing before. Liz is a dancer AND a cheerleader. I'd wager money that most of the jump rope adults have never chaperoned a trip to WDW before. If they had they wouldn't be here now. 20 over-excited 12 year old girls are not fit companions for a trip to anything more stimulating than a lecture on dental hygiene. You couldn't make me chaperone middle schoolers here again without a set of ear plugs and an industrial-sized bottle of extra strength Valium.
We hit The Great Movie Ride next and grab FastPasses for Ariel. Back to RnR. It's still down so we're off to Star Tours (seems a little tired after SpiderMan and the zippy new Jimmy Neutron) and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Very good Ariel this time with a nice strong voice. Liz is dying to see how the puppets work. She has dreams of dancing at WDW one day. I, personally, have dreams of her going to medical school. Back to RnR once again. It's still not running and frankly I'm more than a little relieved. The liquid sunshine's back after a 24 hour hiatus and once again we need to dodge the rain. We decide to duck into the Beauty and the Beast theater to watch the jump rope competition. From what I can tell it's the speed jumping competition. The ropes and the girls' feet are a blur. Liz doesn't think much of a sport that doesn't include short skirts or body glitter but I'm impressed. I've never been coordinated enough to jump a normal rope, much less one moving at the speed of light. While I sit, awestruck, Liz and Sam begin a lively debate over whether the girls are in a jump roping (Sam) or jumping rope (Liz) contest. It's time to leave.
Irlo Bronson Pkwy.
11:30 am
Time for lunch and groceries. We cruise down 192 checking out our dining options. We're all starving so we opt for a place call the Golden Corral. For the uniformed the Golden Corral is an unfortunately named chain of all-you-can eat salad bar/hot bar places. It's not very good, but it's cheap and I can bulk-load Sam at non-Disney prices. If you don't have a teen-aged son you need to know that it takes approximately 23,000 calories per day to keep them happy. I eat a salad and Liz has the dessert bar for lunch. The pitiful bit is that I'm the buxom one. The other two look like they were pupped by Twiggy.
Next is a trip to Publix where we stock up on junk food and beer. (Mmmmmm, beer.) We have a regular ice chest for drinks and an electric one for milk and sandwich stuff. (We bought it a few years back when the Disney fridges hit $10/day.) Liz is a little concerned that the ice chests and grocery bags will lower us in the eyes of bell services at the Swan. I figure that at $1 a pop they'll be thrilled. What with all of her luggage in addition to the ice chests we'll probably be the most popular guests at the resort.
It's pouring rain.
1:00 pm
YeeHaw! the room's ready. We drive up to the parking lot and I make a difficult decision. It's absolutely pouring rain and we have a ton of stuff. We're going to have to use the pricey porters to get our luggage/grocery bags/ice chests to the room. I don't want of offend anyone but I do have a question for all you Deluxe people. Why, for heaven sakes, is luxury always so far from the dadgum parking lot? Do hotels just assume that rich people never use their cars? At the All Stars we can park just around the corner from our room. With the published rates the Deluxe resorts charge you should at least be able to park somewhere in the vicinity of the hotel. As it is it costs me $10 to get our gear up to the room and I still got the impression that I had stiffed the guy. If I paid the going rate each time our bags went in or out I would soon have more invested in their transport than this junk is worth. On a more positive note, the room is just swell. I love the muted colors. (I hate to appear snobbish, but the decor at the All Stars is just a trifle garish.) I love our view of the Disney Studios. Only a grinch would call this a parking lot view. I'll have to say, though, that my favorite is the Heavenly Bed. I adore the duvet covers. Does anyone else get grossed out by hotel bedspreads? I never can stop worrying about what the last guests may have done on them.
We all have a very good time bustling about and settling in. Drawer space is a bit tight but everything else is very, very, nice. (Just in case you ever bring Liz on a trip with you, if you call housekeeping they will let you move all of the $5 chips and stuff into the fridge cabinet to free up some space.) Sam is thrilled to realize that the resort fee includes internet access and spends his time setting up his laptop for I don't know what. He is somewhat less than thrilled to tromp the 3 miles back down to the car to retrieve the keys I left in the tail gate. He's also not very happy that the Swan charges for the Japanese language programming or that I refuse to pay $10/day so that he can watch game shows in a language none of us can understand.
WDW Swan
5:00 pm
Time for dinner and a chance to use a few of the Quick & Casual Vouchers I bought before the trip. One of the great attractions of the Swan is its proximity to Beaches & Cream. For two Q&C vouchers (around $22) we can stuff ouselves silly. Sam usually uses one and Liz and I split. Sam had a burger and fries and Liz and I share the Chicken Ceasar Salad and fries. The kids also had soft drinks and each of them devoured a virtual Mattahorn of ice cream, fudge and whipped cream. We all had plenty to eat, even Sam. Since the sundaes alone were around $8 each the vouchers are a very good deal here. The downside is that it was sometimes difficult not to head back to the room for a nice nap after a meal at B&C.
6:30 pm
Still raining but we're not ready to call it a night just yet. I really want to go over to EPCOT. On most trips we rush around the parks like maniacs trying take in each person's favorite attractions. I've had all sorts of visions of spending leisurely evenings just walking around the World Showase with no pressing need to "do" anything. The International Gateway is very conveniently located right across from the Rose & Crown Pub where I make the wisest purchase of the vacation. For $12 (I think, my reciept got a little smudged in the rain.) I got a 1/2 yard of Bass Ale. Wait, it gets even better. For $7 I could get a refill! $7 is the price I usually pay for one of those dinky little plastic cups so this is a great (for Disney) deal and I garner many envious glances as I stroll over to the American Adventure. We haven't seen this in years because it is so long and, to me anyway, kind of boring. I hate to sound so shallow but when I've only got a limited amount of time I don't want to waste it on a history lecture. No matter how snazzy the technology, you're going to need something a little more lively if you expect me to surrender my beer for it. However, I'm feeling charitable this evening so I give in to the kids when they want to go in. I don't think Liz even remembers seeing it way back when we used to go specifically in order to give her (and her dad as well) a chance to nap. After viewing the show through more mature eyes I have to say that I still think it's pretty dull. It's still raining cats and dogs when we get out so we decide to forgo Illuminations and just go tamely home. After all we do have 9 more glorious days!
Jennifer
