It's a tad long since I wrote this to give to our family first and foremost! But a good read (IMHO)!
Cast of Characters: Me, my husband Mike and our daughters Elissa (4) and Kira (21 months).
Destination: 3 nights at Disney World, 4 nights aboard Disney's cruise ship, The Wonder.
THURSDAY, May 27th, 2006 ARRIVAL DAY
4:30am is way too early to get out of bed, especially when I went to bed at 12:30am, but it was the start of our vacation and being a mom, I don't get much sleep anymore anyway! Mom was at the house to pick us up at 5am she was borrowing our car for the week. We arrived at the airport, checked in with American Airlines and got our new seat assignments on the outbound flight. They had switched flights a month or so prior and split our seats up. We ended up with Kira and I in an isle and middle seat and Mike and Elissa were behind us. After my daily dose of Starbucks, and getting the girls out of their PJs and into their clothes, we boarded our plane and took off right on schedule. The girls did well, even though the portable DVD player we borrowed from some friends wasn't working. We just had to be more on top of our distraction techniques throughout the flight (like the old days before technological conveniences). Kira became restless and wanted to go back and forth between Mike and I. I was tired after that flight! Our layover was in Dallas, and we boarded soon after we got to the gate. This time Elissa and I were on the 2-seat side and Mike and Kira were across from us. In the window seat next to Kira was a grandmother who befriended Kira. She was our lifesaver. Kira was content "playing" with whom she called "Mimi" the entire way! We couldn't believe both kids were still awake after being up since 5am.
Off the plane, into the double umbrella stroller and Kira was fast asleep. The minute we stepped in the airport, it brought back so many memories of our trip back in '03! We found a little food court and sat down for a bite and nearing the end of our lunch, we noticed a boy covered in chicken pox (I couldn't imagine what else it could be). We quickly left the area (as the kids aren't vaccinated for it yet) and headed downstairs to collect our luggage and get onto Disney's Magical Express (a bus that takes you to your hotel). As usual, the porters were right there insisting to help us find our way (okay, there are signs everywhere and we could've managed a rolling suitcase, a rolling duffle bag, a car seat, a rolling cooler, a backpack, a diaper backpack, a double stroller and two kids . No prob!). This was the first of many people we'd be tipping on this trip [I believe we spent more in the payout of tips than the whole trip J].
Kira woke up moments before the bus pulled up (perfect timing). We sat down on the bus and the bus driver explained that she had "contraband" onboard: a movie by Warner Bros., not by Disney! She proceeded to play Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the recently released remake of Willy Wonka featuring Johnny Depp. It's PG, but should be PG-13. Johnny Depp's portrayal of Willy Wonka is creepy to say the least. Our entire 45 minute ride to the hotel was spent with more distraction techniques so that Elissa wouldn't watch this disturbing movie. Oh right, our little toddler, Kira who I assumed wouldn't understand what was going on I looked over and she was nervously twisting her hands as she was watching the scene where Veruca Salt got attacked by squirrels. Swell! We were the last hotel stop, but we had finally made it . and no nightmares as a result on the entire trip, yeah!
We stepped off the bus into a tropical paradise, Disney's Polynesian Resort! I felt like we were in Hawaii and the smell of gardenias were everywhere. Mike said when we got home we had to plant tons of gardenias in our backyard! We headed to the front desk to check in. They had us in the Tahiti building (a good distance from the lobby and pools, though it was secluded) and on the 3rd floor with a balcony. Being a well educated (sort of) Disney board reader, I knew to ask for a better room. They explained that there were no more rooms available since we were checking in so late (early evening), but one would open up tomorrow on the ground floor in the Samoa building with all remodeled rooms. "Great, we'll take it," I said! Mike was rolling his eyes and making known his disapproval of having to re-pack tomorrow morning and call the bellman to retrieve our luggage to put in storage (more tips) and re-check-in tomorrow afternoon and re-deliver the luggage to our new room (more tips). I didn't think it was that much of a hassle because we had to come back anyway for the girls to take naps.
After a LONG and grumpy 5-10 minute walk with our 6 bags, double stroller, and 2 kids (we decided to save a few dollars and not use bell hop service, go figure), we reached the smoke smelling lobby of our building, went up the elevator and into our room. It was a nice big room with a Polynesian flare with 2 queen beds and a single couch bed, but we noticed there wasn't a crib like we requested in our reservation. Mike called about the crib. He was told by guest services that cribs were a rare commodity and that all of them were being used, but they would see what they could do. We also noticed within minutes that Kira's socks were soaking wet and then I stepped in it! A puddle (yes, a full blown puddle that splashed when you stomped on it) was right in the middle of our room. There was a smaller one near the balcony door. So Mike was on the phone to guest services again (high maintenance people in room 3001!). I wanted to call our travel agent to expedite some sort of resolution to getting a room change then, but Mike wouldn't have it. He wanted to fix this himself (that's a man for ya!). He had them get some bath mats to put over the puddles and $100 credit for breakfast the next morning and our crib showed up.
By this time it was 6:00pm (but really only 3:00pm), so we decided to head over to Epcot to see if it was a park the kids would enjoy and then we'd go back for a full day later on. We walked to the monorail station (at least that was close by) and headed to Epcot. We talked with another couple onboard who gave us some recommendations for good places to eat for dinner, but then explained that people book reservations months in advance. NO ONE (not our travel agent) told us this or I would've been on top of that during the planning stage. So we headed through Epcot and got to the "worlds." We tried to get into a restaurant that was fully booked. I was directed to use the phone behind them to call the Disney reservation help line. I called and the only place they could get us into was the Biergarten (Beer Garden) Restaurant in the German pavilion at 8:30pm. So we circled the lagoon and arrived at our reserved time (this gives you an idea of how long it takes to get from place to place in this massive place called Disney World (it really is a world of its own). We walked in and everyone was seated at long picnic tables, and in the center of it all were dozens of people dancing around with bull horns on their heads. We had bratwurst, etc and of course a beer. It reminded Mike of festivals in Wisconsin when he was a child. It was a lot of fun and the kids had fun running on the dance floor after dinner. We left there at 9pm just as the nightly firework show, Illuminations, was starting. The kids were not too happy about the fireworks and the park closed at 9pm anyway, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Cast of Characters: Me, my husband Mike and our daughters Elissa (4) and Kira (21 months).
Destination: 3 nights at Disney World, 4 nights aboard Disney's cruise ship, The Wonder.
THURSDAY, May 27th, 2006 ARRIVAL DAY
4:30am is way too early to get out of bed, especially when I went to bed at 12:30am, but it was the start of our vacation and being a mom, I don't get much sleep anymore anyway! Mom was at the house to pick us up at 5am she was borrowing our car for the week. We arrived at the airport, checked in with American Airlines and got our new seat assignments on the outbound flight. They had switched flights a month or so prior and split our seats up. We ended up with Kira and I in an isle and middle seat and Mike and Elissa were behind us. After my daily dose of Starbucks, and getting the girls out of their PJs and into their clothes, we boarded our plane and took off right on schedule. The girls did well, even though the portable DVD player we borrowed from some friends wasn't working. We just had to be more on top of our distraction techniques throughout the flight (like the old days before technological conveniences). Kira became restless and wanted to go back and forth between Mike and I. I was tired after that flight! Our layover was in Dallas, and we boarded soon after we got to the gate. This time Elissa and I were on the 2-seat side and Mike and Kira were across from us. In the window seat next to Kira was a grandmother who befriended Kira. She was our lifesaver. Kira was content "playing" with whom she called "Mimi" the entire way! We couldn't believe both kids were still awake after being up since 5am.
Off the plane, into the double umbrella stroller and Kira was fast asleep. The minute we stepped in the airport, it brought back so many memories of our trip back in '03! We found a little food court and sat down for a bite and nearing the end of our lunch, we noticed a boy covered in chicken pox (I couldn't imagine what else it could be). We quickly left the area (as the kids aren't vaccinated for it yet) and headed downstairs to collect our luggage and get onto Disney's Magical Express (a bus that takes you to your hotel). As usual, the porters were right there insisting to help us find our way (okay, there are signs everywhere and we could've managed a rolling suitcase, a rolling duffle bag, a car seat, a rolling cooler, a backpack, a diaper backpack, a double stroller and two kids . No prob!). This was the first of many people we'd be tipping on this trip [I believe we spent more in the payout of tips than the whole trip J].
Kira woke up moments before the bus pulled up (perfect timing). We sat down on the bus and the bus driver explained that she had "contraband" onboard: a movie by Warner Bros., not by Disney! She proceeded to play Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the recently released remake of Willy Wonka featuring Johnny Depp. It's PG, but should be PG-13. Johnny Depp's portrayal of Willy Wonka is creepy to say the least. Our entire 45 minute ride to the hotel was spent with more distraction techniques so that Elissa wouldn't watch this disturbing movie. Oh right, our little toddler, Kira who I assumed wouldn't understand what was going on I looked over and she was nervously twisting her hands as she was watching the scene where Veruca Salt got attacked by squirrels. Swell! We were the last hotel stop, but we had finally made it . and no nightmares as a result on the entire trip, yeah!
We stepped off the bus into a tropical paradise, Disney's Polynesian Resort! I felt like we were in Hawaii and the smell of gardenias were everywhere. Mike said when we got home we had to plant tons of gardenias in our backyard! We headed to the front desk to check in. They had us in the Tahiti building (a good distance from the lobby and pools, though it was secluded) and on the 3rd floor with a balcony. Being a well educated (sort of) Disney board reader, I knew to ask for a better room. They explained that there were no more rooms available since we were checking in so late (early evening), but one would open up tomorrow on the ground floor in the Samoa building with all remodeled rooms. "Great, we'll take it," I said! Mike was rolling his eyes and making known his disapproval of having to re-pack tomorrow morning and call the bellman to retrieve our luggage to put in storage (more tips) and re-check-in tomorrow afternoon and re-deliver the luggage to our new room (more tips). I didn't think it was that much of a hassle because we had to come back anyway for the girls to take naps.
After a LONG and grumpy 5-10 minute walk with our 6 bags, double stroller, and 2 kids (we decided to save a few dollars and not use bell hop service, go figure), we reached the smoke smelling lobby of our building, went up the elevator and into our room. It was a nice big room with a Polynesian flare with 2 queen beds and a single couch bed, but we noticed there wasn't a crib like we requested in our reservation. Mike called about the crib. He was told by guest services that cribs were a rare commodity and that all of them were being used, but they would see what they could do. We also noticed within minutes that Kira's socks were soaking wet and then I stepped in it! A puddle (yes, a full blown puddle that splashed when you stomped on it) was right in the middle of our room. There was a smaller one near the balcony door. So Mike was on the phone to guest services again (high maintenance people in room 3001!). I wanted to call our travel agent to expedite some sort of resolution to getting a room change then, but Mike wouldn't have it. He wanted to fix this himself (that's a man for ya!). He had them get some bath mats to put over the puddles and $100 credit for breakfast the next morning and our crib showed up.
By this time it was 6:00pm (but really only 3:00pm), so we decided to head over to Epcot to see if it was a park the kids would enjoy and then we'd go back for a full day later on. We walked to the monorail station (at least that was close by) and headed to Epcot. We talked with another couple onboard who gave us some recommendations for good places to eat for dinner, but then explained that people book reservations months in advance. NO ONE (not our travel agent) told us this or I would've been on top of that during the planning stage. So we headed through Epcot and got to the "worlds." We tried to get into a restaurant that was fully booked. I was directed to use the phone behind them to call the Disney reservation help line. I called and the only place they could get us into was the Biergarten (Beer Garden) Restaurant in the German pavilion at 8:30pm. So we circled the lagoon and arrived at our reserved time (this gives you an idea of how long it takes to get from place to place in this massive place called Disney World (it really is a world of its own). We walked in and everyone was seated at long picnic tables, and in the center of it all were dozens of people dancing around with bull horns on their heads. We had bratwurst, etc and of course a beer. It reminded Mike of festivals in Wisconsin when he was a child. It was a lot of fun and the kids had fun running on the dance floor after dinner. We left there at 9pm just as the nightly firework show, Illuminations, was starting. The kids were not too happy about the fireworks and the park closed at 9pm anyway, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Great report! 
I thought your trip report was great! 
....(we were right in the lobby area as the bus passed by). The next one was 2 or 3 hours later...Oh well the good thing was that my kids got to enjoy the pool and waterslides at the hotel since we always left the hotel right after breakfast each day and returned really late at night each time.
