Nik's Mom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2001
- Messages
- 6,447
Hi all,
We returned one week ago and it's been so busy that I'm barely doing this!
This is my first attempt at a trip report, so bare with me 
.
It was me, DH and my 2 ds's (Nikolas turned 6 and Noah turned 3 at WDW).
We took our trip with a heavy heart, having lost my Father to cancer on 3/29. But to celebrate Dad's life, we decided to go on with our trip as planned.
We left late Friday 4/29. I cried while packing up, but knew my Dad wanted us to go on our trip, so wiped away my tears and vowed to make this a great trip for my family.
Because our shuttle was so late, we barely made it to LAX in time for our flight. I was about to have a nervous breakdown right there in front of the TSA agent. Luckily, the security line moved smoothly. We got to the loading gate just as they were boarding the last section of the plane. My poor oldest handled it pretty well. He's autistic and does not like to be rushed. We vowed never to use a suttle service again and will hire a town car next trip!
Day One: Saturday 4/30
We arrived at MCO on 4/30 at 6:30 am. None of us slept on the plane! Normally we prefer red eye flights so the kids will sleep through, but that just wasn't in the cards this time. We got to AKL at 8:00am. We were immediately impressed with the beautiful lobby! Of course, our room wasn't ready, but they said within a few hours it would be! So we took a leisure stroll around the grounds of the hotel and decided to head on over to MGM!
We got there before the gates opened. Surprisingly, there wasn't a large crowd there. We went to guest services and got a GAC for my son, then waited at the turnstiles. As we waited for the gates to open, it hit me how tired I was. I could barely keep my eyes open. So we headed to the Little Mermaid show so I could sleep (I know, it's terrible, but I couldn't help it). As soon as my butt hit the chair in the theater, I was out! DH tapped me when it was over and said the kids loved it. After that, we headed to Star Tours. DS loved it and was full of energy after that! Unfortunately, I was not. So we went back to the hotel to see if the room was ready. Thank God it was!
We had room 3548, on the Urusha Savanah. My boys immediately went to the bunk beds. I didn't even get a chance to sit before there was a knock on the door and a bellman with a gift basket from Feralpeg (she rocks!). My boys were on cloud 9! As we munched on our meal from Mara, we watched the animals from our balcony. DH was amazed at the animals and proclaimed me a hero for convincing him to change our ressies to AKL!
Shortly after our meal, we all hit the beds for a "quick nap". Well, that quick nap ended up lasting the rest of the day! Boy, were we tired! We spent our evening exploring AKL. It is truely an amazing hotel! The smells coming from the Restaurants are incredible!
Day Two: Sunday May 1
After we basically slept most of yesterday, we were ready to hit MK early! We were there at 8:15am. We chatted with the friendly cms and others in line! Before we knew it, the gates were open! We headed straight to Buzz Lightyear. Our ds's went crazy over the ride, so we rode it 5 times in a row. There was no wait at all! After that, we headed to Fantasyland and did Peter Pan, Pooh, Carrousel, It's a Small World and Philharmagic. We never waited more than 5 minutes for any ride! I couldn't believe it! There had been so much speculation on crowds for that week. Boy, were we happy.
At 10am, we headed to Haunted Mansion. We walked right on. Then headed to Pirates, another walk on. After that, it was time for the Magic Carpets and the longest wait for the week. It was a 15 minute wait. Even then, we thought it wasn't bad of a wait, considering it was already 11am. DS's both love the ride, especially the spitting camel!
Once we were done with the Magic Carpets, we headed over the Cosmic Rays for one of our family traditions (we have to eat there for every trip). There were plenty of tables and service was quick. We enjoyed watching Sunny Eclipse while we munched on lunch!
On our way back to the hotel, we grabbed a Buzz fastpass. We had decided on bus service, rather than driving. This was such a great choice! Bus service was excellent! The mid day break allowed the kids to rest for a while, take a dip in the pool, etc.
We headed back to MK, and went straight to Buzz. We rode that a few more times. The line was pretty short, only 10 minute wait. And one time we used fp. It was great! After Buzz, we went to Fantasyland to ride It's a Small World again, the Pirates again.
I could tell the kids were getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel at 6pm and had dinner at Mara (love those refillable mugs)! Since we had an 8am ps the next morning, we went to bed early!
Stay tuned for my day 3 and 4 reports
We returned one week ago and it's been so busy that I'm barely doing this!
This is my first attempt at a trip report, so bare with me .It was me, DH and my 2 ds's (Nikolas turned 6 and Noah turned 3 at WDW).
We took our trip with a heavy heart, having lost my Father to cancer on 3/29. But to celebrate Dad's life, we decided to go on with our trip as planned.
We left late Friday 4/29. I cried while packing up, but knew my Dad wanted us to go on our trip, so wiped away my tears and vowed to make this a great trip for my family.
Because our shuttle was so late, we barely made it to LAX in time for our flight. I was about to have a nervous breakdown right there in front of the TSA agent. Luckily, the security line moved smoothly. We got to the loading gate just as they were boarding the last section of the plane. My poor oldest handled it pretty well. He's autistic and does not like to be rushed. We vowed never to use a suttle service again and will hire a town car next trip!
Day One: Saturday 4/30
We arrived at MCO on 4/30 at 6:30 am. None of us slept on the plane! Normally we prefer red eye flights so the kids will sleep through, but that just wasn't in the cards this time. We got to AKL at 8:00am. We were immediately impressed with the beautiful lobby! Of course, our room wasn't ready, but they said within a few hours it would be! So we took a leisure stroll around the grounds of the hotel and decided to head on over to MGM!
We got there before the gates opened. Surprisingly, there wasn't a large crowd there. We went to guest services and got a GAC for my son, then waited at the turnstiles. As we waited for the gates to open, it hit me how tired I was. I could barely keep my eyes open. So we headed to the Little Mermaid show so I could sleep (I know, it's terrible, but I couldn't help it). As soon as my butt hit the chair in the theater, I was out! DH tapped me when it was over and said the kids loved it. After that, we headed to Star Tours. DS loved it and was full of energy after that! Unfortunately, I was not. So we went back to the hotel to see if the room was ready. Thank God it was!
We had room 3548, on the Urusha Savanah. My boys immediately went to the bunk beds. I didn't even get a chance to sit before there was a knock on the door and a bellman with a gift basket from Feralpeg (she rocks!). My boys were on cloud 9! As we munched on our meal from Mara, we watched the animals from our balcony. DH was amazed at the animals and proclaimed me a hero for convincing him to change our ressies to AKL!
Shortly after our meal, we all hit the beds for a "quick nap". Well, that quick nap ended up lasting the rest of the day! Boy, were we tired! We spent our evening exploring AKL. It is truely an amazing hotel! The smells coming from the Restaurants are incredible!
Day Two: Sunday May 1
After we basically slept most of yesterday, we were ready to hit MK early! We were there at 8:15am. We chatted with the friendly cms and others in line! Before we knew it, the gates were open! We headed straight to Buzz Lightyear. Our ds's went crazy over the ride, so we rode it 5 times in a row. There was no wait at all! After that, we headed to Fantasyland and did Peter Pan, Pooh, Carrousel, It's a Small World and Philharmagic. We never waited more than 5 minutes for any ride! I couldn't believe it! There had been so much speculation on crowds for that week. Boy, were we happy.
At 10am, we headed to Haunted Mansion. We walked right on. Then headed to Pirates, another walk on. After that, it was time for the Magic Carpets and the longest wait for the week. It was a 15 minute wait. Even then, we thought it wasn't bad of a wait, considering it was already 11am. DS's both love the ride, especially the spitting camel!
Once we were done with the Magic Carpets, we headed over the Cosmic Rays for one of our family traditions (we have to eat there for every trip). There were plenty of tables and service was quick. We enjoyed watching Sunny Eclipse while we munched on lunch!
On our way back to the hotel, we grabbed a Buzz fastpass. We had decided on bus service, rather than driving. This was such a great choice! Bus service was excellent! The mid day break allowed the kids to rest for a while, take a dip in the pool, etc.
We headed back to MK, and went straight to Buzz. We rode that a few more times. The line was pretty short, only 10 minute wait. And one time we used fp. It was great! After Buzz, we went to Fantasyland to ride It's a Small World again, the Pirates again.
I could tell the kids were getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel at 6pm and had dinner at Mara (love those refillable mugs)! Since we had an 8am ps the next morning, we went to bed early!
Stay tuned for my day 3 and 4 reports
