engineergirl2001
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 79
Ill try my best to give a good trip report because all the information I received was so valuable from this website.
I did months and months of planning and what I learned is that all the planning in the world you have to be ready to throw out the window at a moments notice with a 2 and 4 year old.
It was me, my husband and DS (4) and DD (2). Background: I am very picky when I travel and my room must be very clean. Im the type that does an inspection upon entering a hotel room. My husband could care less; as long as there is a TV and bed hes happy.
Day 1: We left Worcester Airport on Allegiant Air with no problems and arrived a half hour early at Sanford Airport. Great airport, its small, has everything you need etc. If you are renting a car note: that all the car rental agencies are right in the terminal extremely easy EXCEPT Alamo rental. And yes, we had rented from Alamo. It is a short walk that feels like forever when you have 2 toddlers, a ton of luggage, an irritated husband, its 90 something degrees and youre from New England where its still cold.
All and all, I would say we were on the road within 45 minutes of landing. We headed to the Boardwalk Villas where we were staying for 5 nights. I made the husband stop at the grocery store on the way outside of Disney on Vineland Ave. It was quite crowded [maybe because it was Sunday afternoon?] but had everything I wanted except for Diapers. They had them but just the huge mega size packages.
We arrived at BWV at 4 pm. The bellman took ALL our luggage and groceries. It was a lot. And I checked in with no problems. We got room 1024. It was perfect location. Very easy access to the kiddie pool area. To answer all those who are wondering its a VERY long walk from the elevators. So if you had to go to the lobby area it was a pain. But we didnt need to very often so we very much liked our location.
We had a one bedroom Villa that I rented from a DVC member here on this site. The place was exactly as seen on the Disney website. It was clean, lots of room perfect for us. I cooked breakfast and most lunches and found everything I needed in the room. The pull out couch was very comfortable and there was a pack and play in closet for our youngest. And as a bonus there is a high chair in the room which was great. A real nice convenience for us. Would we go back here? Yes definitely, was I wowed? Not really but it was comfortable, convenient and worked well for us. I was happy which makes DH Very Happy
We were very tired so we rested for an hour or so then headed to the Boardwalk for dinner. We chose ESPN club. Dont know what we were thinking. It was loud, table to small for a family of four and the menu choices werent that great. See my dining review for more..Basically wouldnt go back with kids.
Day 2 Monday: We chose MGM as our first day. Two reasons. First, using all the info I gathered from this site MGM was supposed to be least crowded and second, DS is a huge power ranger fan and couldnt wait to meet them. The plan: get up early and be in line when opens, race to streets of America to be there for first meet and greet of the day with the power rangers. Managed to be one of the first in line when I realized I never activated our park cards. So we had to turn around and go back. We got back to MGM and into the park a little before 9:45. We raced to Power Ranger meet and greet and it was fantastic. DS got to meet and get photos of almost all of them. Then off to the back lot tour ride, this is when we quickly found out that DD was scared of everything. I had to leave before we even got on the tram. DH and DS really liked tour and after we raced off to catch the Kermit show. I took DS to this and we enjoyed this also. After a couple of more rides we searched for somewhere to eat. We were supposed to eat at Mama Melrose but both husband and kids were not in the mood for sit down meal. We ended up at ABC Comm. Here I recommend the burgers and vegetable lo-main. Both quite good, the Cuban sandwich was terrible. We managed to get a few more things in before heading back to the hotel for swim around 3 oclock. For dinner, [note here goes all that planning out the window we had Coral Reef reservations at 4:30] because we were still at the pool that was out the window. When we eventually did head out for dinner we decided to go to Epcot anyway, thinking we would eat in one of the countries. Things just didnt go right and never found anything that any of us were in the mood for. All of sudden its 8 pm and we are starving and everything in Future World is pretty much closed. So last resort plan headed back to the boardwalk. While I went back to room and got kids in tub and pjs, husband got pizza from Spoodles take out window. Pizza was ok. Everyone to bed soon after from exhaustion.
Day 3 Tuesday: The only dinner reservation we have is Crystal Palace at 4:50 so we decide to go to the pool early and hang out at the pool have sandwiches in our room till about 1 oclock. We took the bus with no problems over to Magic kingdom. It was pretty crowded, more than MGM the day before. At MGM the day before, most rides had about 5 to 10 minute wait. Today at MK the wait was averaging anywhere from 15 mins to 45. DH and DS got a couple rides [buzz, Indy, philharmonic] in while I kept DD happy walking around and playing in Arils Grotto area. We took in the Parade which was so great and squeezed in a little shopping before Crystal Palace. I highly recommend this one. Character interaction was fantastic and food overall was one of our favorite meals of the week. This will be a definite must do again for our family. [although, we will probably not be back for several years]. We hit Toon Town after dinner hoping the crowds had thinned out. They were very heavy and we didnt do much. We took the train to the front of the park and headed out about 8 pm.
Day 4 Wednesday: Plan: lunch at leCellier in Canada and Animal Kingdom late afternoon for extended evening hours. This is the only day we stuck with our plans. We had lunch in Canada which was good and then headed over to animal kingdom. Note: There was a bus stop at Epcot that took us directly to Animal Kingdom. Got there about 2 oclock. We had some great character interaction in front of the entrance absolutely no lines at all. We headed right over to Camp Minnie Mickey. DD wanted nothing to do with the shows so I missed out on the Pocahontas and lion king show, DH said lion King was awesome, so Im sad that I missed it. Although me and DD did catch the parade. Which was good but not great compared to MKs the day before. After Safari ride headed over and had dinner at Flame tree BBQ. That was pretty good. We headed into Dino land and the kids played in the bone yard over an hour before heading back to the Boardwalk. We washed up and headed to the Boardwalk and grabbed a bench to watch the fire works. We saw some but not a lot.
Day 5 Thursday: Plan: MK for early morning extra hours, pool mid day and MGM for 5:00 parade. DH was tired and we ended up staying and hanging out at the pool all day. We got to MGM about half hour before the parade and grabbed some great shaded seats on the steps of the abc building. Parade was great and the boys ran to the stunt show after while DD and I had great character interaction with wizard Mickey in a building near the Who wants to be a millionaire show. There were no one in there and we must have had Mickey to ourselves at least 10 mins. Had dinner reservations at Mama Melrose. The food was good but expensive. It is loud and very cool with AC in there. We actually like it being loud so people cant hear our kids acting up. We headed back right after dinner to pack up. We were checking out the next morning to go to Sea World for the Day and then off to the Caribe Royale Hotel.
I already posted my review of the Caribe under other Hotels, and will post Sea World and more detailed dining review later under those headings.
Sorry so long everyone, just tried to give back a little of the great info I got from everyone on this site. I can answer any questions if anyone has them.
I did months and months of planning and what I learned is that all the planning in the world you have to be ready to throw out the window at a moments notice with a 2 and 4 year old.
It was me, my husband and DS (4) and DD (2). Background: I am very picky when I travel and my room must be very clean. Im the type that does an inspection upon entering a hotel room. My husband could care less; as long as there is a TV and bed hes happy.
Day 1: We left Worcester Airport on Allegiant Air with no problems and arrived a half hour early at Sanford Airport. Great airport, its small, has everything you need etc. If you are renting a car note: that all the car rental agencies are right in the terminal extremely easy EXCEPT Alamo rental. And yes, we had rented from Alamo. It is a short walk that feels like forever when you have 2 toddlers, a ton of luggage, an irritated husband, its 90 something degrees and youre from New England where its still cold.
All and all, I would say we were on the road within 45 minutes of landing. We headed to the Boardwalk Villas where we were staying for 5 nights. I made the husband stop at the grocery store on the way outside of Disney on Vineland Ave. It was quite crowded [maybe because it was Sunday afternoon?] but had everything I wanted except for Diapers. They had them but just the huge mega size packages.
We arrived at BWV at 4 pm. The bellman took ALL our luggage and groceries. It was a lot. And I checked in with no problems. We got room 1024. It was perfect location. Very easy access to the kiddie pool area. To answer all those who are wondering its a VERY long walk from the elevators. So if you had to go to the lobby area it was a pain. But we didnt need to very often so we very much liked our location.
We had a one bedroom Villa that I rented from a DVC member here on this site. The place was exactly as seen on the Disney website. It was clean, lots of room perfect for us. I cooked breakfast and most lunches and found everything I needed in the room. The pull out couch was very comfortable and there was a pack and play in closet for our youngest. And as a bonus there is a high chair in the room which was great. A real nice convenience for us. Would we go back here? Yes definitely, was I wowed? Not really but it was comfortable, convenient and worked well for us. I was happy which makes DH Very Happy
We were very tired so we rested for an hour or so then headed to the Boardwalk for dinner. We chose ESPN club. Dont know what we were thinking. It was loud, table to small for a family of four and the menu choices werent that great. See my dining review for more..Basically wouldnt go back with kids.
Day 2 Monday: We chose MGM as our first day. Two reasons. First, using all the info I gathered from this site MGM was supposed to be least crowded and second, DS is a huge power ranger fan and couldnt wait to meet them. The plan: get up early and be in line when opens, race to streets of America to be there for first meet and greet of the day with the power rangers. Managed to be one of the first in line when I realized I never activated our park cards. So we had to turn around and go back. We got back to MGM and into the park a little before 9:45. We raced to Power Ranger meet and greet and it was fantastic. DS got to meet and get photos of almost all of them. Then off to the back lot tour ride, this is when we quickly found out that DD was scared of everything. I had to leave before we even got on the tram. DH and DS really liked tour and after we raced off to catch the Kermit show. I took DS to this and we enjoyed this also. After a couple of more rides we searched for somewhere to eat. We were supposed to eat at Mama Melrose but both husband and kids were not in the mood for sit down meal. We ended up at ABC Comm. Here I recommend the burgers and vegetable lo-main. Both quite good, the Cuban sandwich was terrible. We managed to get a few more things in before heading back to the hotel for swim around 3 oclock. For dinner, [note here goes all that planning out the window we had Coral Reef reservations at 4:30] because we were still at the pool that was out the window. When we eventually did head out for dinner we decided to go to Epcot anyway, thinking we would eat in one of the countries. Things just didnt go right and never found anything that any of us were in the mood for. All of sudden its 8 pm and we are starving and everything in Future World is pretty much closed. So last resort plan headed back to the boardwalk. While I went back to room and got kids in tub and pjs, husband got pizza from Spoodles take out window. Pizza was ok. Everyone to bed soon after from exhaustion.
Day 3 Tuesday: The only dinner reservation we have is Crystal Palace at 4:50 so we decide to go to the pool early and hang out at the pool have sandwiches in our room till about 1 oclock. We took the bus with no problems over to Magic kingdom. It was pretty crowded, more than MGM the day before. At MGM the day before, most rides had about 5 to 10 minute wait. Today at MK the wait was averaging anywhere from 15 mins to 45. DH and DS got a couple rides [buzz, Indy, philharmonic] in while I kept DD happy walking around and playing in Arils Grotto area. We took in the Parade which was so great and squeezed in a little shopping before Crystal Palace. I highly recommend this one. Character interaction was fantastic and food overall was one of our favorite meals of the week. This will be a definite must do again for our family. [although, we will probably not be back for several years]. We hit Toon Town after dinner hoping the crowds had thinned out. They were very heavy and we didnt do much. We took the train to the front of the park and headed out about 8 pm.
Day 4 Wednesday: Plan: lunch at leCellier in Canada and Animal Kingdom late afternoon for extended evening hours. This is the only day we stuck with our plans. We had lunch in Canada which was good and then headed over to animal kingdom. Note: There was a bus stop at Epcot that took us directly to Animal Kingdom. Got there about 2 oclock. We had some great character interaction in front of the entrance absolutely no lines at all. We headed right over to Camp Minnie Mickey. DD wanted nothing to do with the shows so I missed out on the Pocahontas and lion king show, DH said lion King was awesome, so Im sad that I missed it. Although me and DD did catch the parade. Which was good but not great compared to MKs the day before. After Safari ride headed over and had dinner at Flame tree BBQ. That was pretty good. We headed into Dino land and the kids played in the bone yard over an hour before heading back to the Boardwalk. We washed up and headed to the Boardwalk and grabbed a bench to watch the fire works. We saw some but not a lot.
Day 5 Thursday: Plan: MK for early morning extra hours, pool mid day and MGM for 5:00 parade. DH was tired and we ended up staying and hanging out at the pool all day. We got to MGM about half hour before the parade and grabbed some great shaded seats on the steps of the abc building. Parade was great and the boys ran to the stunt show after while DD and I had great character interaction with wizard Mickey in a building near the Who wants to be a millionaire show. There were no one in there and we must have had Mickey to ourselves at least 10 mins. Had dinner reservations at Mama Melrose. The food was good but expensive. It is loud and very cool with AC in there. We actually like it being loud so people cant hear our kids acting up.
We headed back right after dinner to pack up. We were checking out the next morning to go to Sea World for the Day and then off to the Caribe Royale Hotel.I already posted my review of the Caribe under other Hotels, and will post Sea World and more detailed dining review later under those headings.
Sorry so long everyone, just tried to give back a little of the great info I got from everyone on this site. I can answer any questions if anyone has them.
