CJK
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2001
- Messages
- 7,619
The Cast:
Goofy Gal (me) - Obsessive Disney Planner
Goofy Guy (my husband) - Tolerant of the Obsessive Disney Planner
Dapper Dad (my dad) - A fellow Disney lover!
Fanlover (my mom) - Fan of Disney, not fan of the heat
ToT Sis (my sister ) - Likes Disney, but Tower of Terror? Not so much...
Cocoa Bil (my bro-in-law) Likes Disney, especially their hot chocolate
Splashboy (my nephew) age 6 Never been to Disney, excited to try the big rides
Boomer (my nephew) age 4 Never been to Disney, age 4 going on 14
Dining Report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=901786
Introductory Report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=903652
Day 1
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=904193
Day 2, Part 1
To those of you who know me, I am NOT a morning person by nature. In fact, my college roomies continue to share stories about my Jekyll to Hyde personality come early morning. However, Im pleased to report that while on vacation in Florida, Mr. Hyde never does rear his ugly head. Despite our lack of sleep these last couple nights, we were up and at it at 7am. After showering, I dawned my Disney finest. Yup, my Mickey/Minnie earrings and my Disney charm bracelet. After all, its always important to make a good first impression when youre visiting the mouse.
Cocoa BIL phones at 7:30am to tell us to come meet them downstairs for breakfast. I couldnt believe my family actually made it out the door before us! I must be losing my touch.
We grab our bags and open the door. Just breathe it in, I yelled. You just cant beat that Florida smell, morning dew, with a bunch of palm trees in the horizon. Goofy Guy, wonderful guy that he is, usually indulges me at times like this, but today, he had nephews to see. The hotel room door slams in my face.
We make it to the motel lobby and theres my glorious family! After 2 years of planning, all the sweat and tears (mainly my tears), our trip was actually upon us. As if like in a Disney movie script, Splashboy and Boomer run over to us and give us gigantic hugs. I couldnt have written a better script myself. Splashboy LOVED my earrings! I knew I loved that little guy!
All the adults exchange some hugs and some excited talk ensues. I anxiously wanted to hear about their trip so far and they wanted to hear about our weddings from a couple days earlier.
In between all the chatter, I somehow managed to have a muffin and orange juice. The continental breakfast was quite good. I was very pleased since we were staying here again the night before we fly home. Home? How can I even think such a horrendous thought just yet? Snap out of it! Within minutes, we pile into our vans. Goofy Guy and I go with Dapper Dad and Fanlover (its going to take me a while to remember these names but watch me call my mom fanlover the next time I see her .
) and ToT Sis and family went in the other. We were off!
I had forgotten about all the tolls we go through on the way to WDW. Dapper Dad knew the exact change for the tolls so we were rolling through the tolls very quickly. That is, until we went through one that had a serious attitude problem. Dapper Dad threw in the correct amount of money and waited for the light to turn green. We waited . and waited. Nothing. At the off chance he made a mistake counting his change, he threw some more money in for good measure. Nothing! He proceeded to drive away anyway (cant waste time waiting for lights to turn green when weve got a brunch date with Mickey and the gang we can always wait for green lights at home). Just then, an alarm started and lights were flashing. Its official; we were now fugitives on the run.
Who knew your love of Disney could turn you into criminals. Since we were usually law-abiding citizens, we slowed the car down and looked for anyone who could help us. Again, nadda, zip, nothing. Feeling a bit like Thelma & Louise, we held our breath and burned some rubber towards Disney World. After a few seconds, we realized no one was chasing us, so we all sighed with relief. So much for a nice, easy drive to Disney! Our minds quickly returned to the happiest place on earth as we notice all the fancy Disney billboards around. I could just feel all my visions of jail time slipping away.
We pull into the All Star Movies Resort and I; I mean the boys, jump around with excitement! The men check-in while the rest of us enjoys the movies playing on the TV in the lobby. We all check in with no problem and we clutch our hotel key/park ticket/dining plan ticket with such awe and respect. Its amazing how one little plastic card can hold so much power. Lets all share in a moment of silence please. Since we had a little time to spare before heading over to the Polynesian, Goofy Guy decides to get our Hoop Dee tickets. No problem right? After all, we booked the show 2 years ago.
We interrupt this trip report to bring you another pre-planning bit of info. Dapper Dad secretly paid for all of our Hoop Dee Doo tickets prior to this trip. Even after he found out about the free dining plan, he still insisted he pay for this dinner show so as to save some table service credits for later in the week. Im nominating him for father of the year. We now return you to your regularly scheduled trip report.
After a few minutes at guest services, Goofy Guy asks Dapper Dad to come join him at guest services. Hmm, this was taking too long. I decided to investigate. It turns out, Disney said they refunded Dapper Dads credit card when we rebooked our trip with the dining plan. Dapper Dad had no record of this refund. The guest services CM made some phone calls, about 15min. worth, but she could do nothing to help us. Not wanting to waste any more time, Dapper Dad lays down his credit card and pays for the dinner again. He decided to wait and deal with the problem at the end of the trip. Besides, threatening the poor CM didn't seem like a very Disney thing to do. Okay, so our check-in didnt go as smoothly as planned, but if this is our worst problem all trip, we could manage. Our stomachs were starting to growl anyway.
Since it was only 9am, our rooms werent ready. We checked our bags and were assured our bags would be in our rooms when we returned later that day. You just have to love that kind of service. Well, almost everyone did. Fanlover just couldnt fathom how all 8 of our bags would be put into the correct room without us foreseeing the whole transfer. We tried to reassure her, but it became abundantly clear that there would be no believing on her part, until she saw with her own eyes. I was up for the challenge. Mental note please Disney show Fanlover the magic youre so renowned for
We still didnt need to leave for breakfast quite yet, so we decided to go to Andys playground. The boys were like kids in a candy store. They were running around loving the enormous Buzz and Woody. Cocoa BIL was one of our official photographers (with Goofy Guy being the other) so he was snapping pictures at every direction. He even went up to the third floor of a nearby building to take our picture. I hope I didnt have any cranberry from my muffin in my teeth.
There were some pretty big toy blocks in Andys playground. We thought it would be a great place to put the boys to take, you guessed it, another picture. Thank goodness for digital cameras or wed be out of film already. Just as we lifted the boys onto the blocks, a kind cast member (CM) came over to us and asked us very politely not to put people on the blocks. It was their policy so as to prevent people from falling. We quickly lifted the boys off the blocks no problem. None of us wanted to repeat our criminal behaviour from earlier this morning. However, this particular CM was full of Disney magic. He then started to talk to the boys sounding just like Donald Duck! The look on the boys faces was priceless. Donald Duck had transformed into a 60yr old man right before our eyes! Its easier being law-abiding citizens when Donald Duck is so friendly. We were back on track.
It was time to leave for breakfast! Fanlover bid farewell to her luggage, utterly convinced shed never see it again. I said another silent prayer to the gods of Disney. We hopped back into the vans and headed to the ticket and transportation center. Hopes were high for a great day, but little did we know a Mickey Mouse balloon, a string and a broom could bring so much magic to a 6yr old boy. Stay tuned!
Goofy Gal (me) - Obsessive Disney Planner
Goofy Guy (my husband) - Tolerant of the Obsessive Disney Planner
Dapper Dad (my dad) - A fellow Disney lover!
Fanlover (my mom) - Fan of Disney, not fan of the heat
ToT Sis (my sister ) - Likes Disney, but Tower of Terror? Not so much...
Cocoa Bil (my bro-in-law) Likes Disney, especially their hot chocolate
Splashboy (my nephew) age 6 Never been to Disney, excited to try the big rides
Boomer (my nephew) age 4 Never been to Disney, age 4 going on 14
Dining Report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=901786
Introductory Report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=903652
Day 1
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=904193
Day 2, Part 1
To those of you who know me, I am NOT a morning person by nature. In fact, my college roomies continue to share stories about my Jekyll to Hyde personality come early morning. However, Im pleased to report that while on vacation in Florida, Mr. Hyde never does rear his ugly head. Despite our lack of sleep these last couple nights, we were up and at it at 7am. After showering, I dawned my Disney finest. Yup, my Mickey/Minnie earrings and my Disney charm bracelet. After all, its always important to make a good first impression when youre visiting the mouse.
Cocoa BIL phones at 7:30am to tell us to come meet them downstairs for breakfast. I couldnt believe my family actually made it out the door before us! I must be losing my touch.
We grab our bags and open the door. Just breathe it in, I yelled. You just cant beat that Florida smell, morning dew, with a bunch of palm trees in the horizon. Goofy Guy, wonderful guy that he is, usually indulges me at times like this, but today, he had nephews to see. The hotel room door slams in my face.We make it to the motel lobby and theres my glorious family! After 2 years of planning, all the sweat and tears (mainly my tears), our trip was actually upon us. As if like in a Disney movie script, Splashboy and Boomer run over to us and give us gigantic hugs. I couldnt have written a better script myself. Splashboy LOVED my earrings! I knew I loved that little guy!
All the adults exchange some hugs and some excited talk ensues. I anxiously wanted to hear about their trip so far and they wanted to hear about our weddings from a couple days earlier. In between all the chatter, I somehow managed to have a muffin and orange juice. The continental breakfast was quite good. I was very pleased since we were staying here again the night before we fly home. Home? How can I even think such a horrendous thought just yet? Snap out of it! Within minutes, we pile into our vans. Goofy Guy and I go with Dapper Dad and Fanlover (its going to take me a while to remember these names but watch me call my mom fanlover the next time I see her .
) and ToT Sis and family went in the other. We were off!I had forgotten about all the tolls we go through on the way to WDW. Dapper Dad knew the exact change for the tolls so we were rolling through the tolls very quickly. That is, until we went through one that had a serious attitude problem. Dapper Dad threw in the correct amount of money and waited for the light to turn green. We waited . and waited. Nothing. At the off chance he made a mistake counting his change, he threw some more money in for good measure. Nothing! He proceeded to drive away anyway (cant waste time waiting for lights to turn green when weve got a brunch date with Mickey and the gang we can always wait for green lights at home). Just then, an alarm started and lights were flashing. Its official; we were now fugitives on the run.
Who knew your love of Disney could turn you into criminals. Since we were usually law-abiding citizens, we slowed the car down and looked for anyone who could help us. Again, nadda, zip, nothing. Feeling a bit like Thelma & Louise, we held our breath and burned some rubber towards Disney World. After a few seconds, we realized no one was chasing us, so we all sighed with relief. So much for a nice, easy drive to Disney! Our minds quickly returned to the happiest place on earth as we notice all the fancy Disney billboards around. I could just feel all my visions of jail time slipping away.
We pull into the All Star Movies Resort and I; I mean the boys, jump around with excitement!
The men check-in while the rest of us enjoys the movies playing on the TV in the lobby. We all check in with no problem and we clutch our hotel key/park ticket/dining plan ticket with such awe and respect. Its amazing how one little plastic card can hold so much power. Lets all share in a moment of silence please. Since we had a little time to spare before heading over to the Polynesian, Goofy Guy decides to get our Hoop Dee tickets. No problem right? After all, we booked the show 2 years ago.We interrupt this trip report to bring you another pre-planning bit of info. Dapper Dad secretly paid for all of our Hoop Dee Doo tickets prior to this trip. Even after he found out about the free dining plan, he still insisted he pay for this dinner show so as to save some table service credits for later in the week. Im nominating him for father of the year. We now return you to your regularly scheduled trip report.
After a few minutes at guest services, Goofy Guy asks Dapper Dad to come join him at guest services. Hmm, this was taking too long. I decided to investigate. It turns out, Disney said they refunded Dapper Dads credit card when we rebooked our trip with the dining plan. Dapper Dad had no record of this refund. The guest services CM made some phone calls, about 15min. worth, but she could do nothing to help us. Not wanting to waste any more time, Dapper Dad lays down his credit card and pays for the dinner again. He decided to wait and deal with the problem at the end of the trip. Besides, threatening the poor CM didn't seem like a very Disney thing to do. Okay, so our check-in didnt go as smoothly as planned, but if this is our worst problem all trip, we could manage. Our stomachs were starting to growl anyway.
Since it was only 9am, our rooms werent ready. We checked our bags and were assured our bags would be in our rooms when we returned later that day. You just have to love that kind of service. Well, almost everyone did. Fanlover just couldnt fathom how all 8 of our bags would be put into the correct room without us foreseeing the whole transfer. We tried to reassure her, but it became abundantly clear that there would be no believing on her part, until she saw with her own eyes. I was up for the challenge. Mental note please Disney show Fanlover the magic youre so renowned for
We still didnt need to leave for breakfast quite yet, so we decided to go to Andys playground. The boys were like kids in a candy store. They were running around loving the enormous Buzz and Woody. Cocoa BIL was one of our official photographers (with Goofy Guy being the other) so he was snapping pictures at every direction. He even went up to the third floor of a nearby building to take our picture. I hope I didnt have any cranberry from my muffin in my teeth.
There were some pretty big toy blocks in Andys playground. We thought it would be a great place to put the boys to take, you guessed it, another picture. Thank goodness for digital cameras or wed be out of film already. Just as we lifted the boys onto the blocks, a kind cast member (CM) came over to us and asked us very politely not to put people on the blocks. It was their policy so as to prevent people from falling. We quickly lifted the boys off the blocks no problem. None of us wanted to repeat our criminal behaviour from earlier this morning. However, this particular CM was full of Disney magic. He then started to talk to the boys sounding just like Donald Duck! The look on the boys faces was priceless. Donald Duck had transformed into a 60yr old man right before our eyes! Its easier being law-abiding citizens when Donald Duck is so friendly. We were back on track.
It was time to leave for breakfast! Fanlover bid farewell to her luggage, utterly convinced shed never see it again. I said another silent prayer to the gods of Disney. We hopped back into the vans and headed to the ticket and transportation center. Hopes were high for a great day, but little did we know a Mickey Mouse balloon, a string and a broom could bring so much magic to a 6yr old boy. Stay tuned!
