Disney has spoiled us

[Planning fanatic mom]

I am very nervous to start this. I really want to do a TR and have read many others. I still can't figure out what in the "World" I could say that people would want to read.

I will begin with a short description of the cast. I am a 40 year old 6th grade teacher. I tend to write like a 6th grader because that is what I read all day long. DH is a 39 year old High School English teacher. You will all be lucky if I can get him to contribute to this TR. He is an amazing writer. DD #1 is 14 and very good at it. DD #2 is 11 (Soon to be 12) and is very dramatic.

A brief description of the planning process. We went to WDW last June before I had ever heard of the DIS boards. I know BooHoo

We had a great time and stayed at POP. I had touring plans and all went well except for my husband losing his wallet only to find it hours later with all the money gone. I know you are thinking why did they go back? Well we knew we could do it better this time.

We had decided to do a driving tour of New England this summer until my husband showed up at the bathroom door while I was brushing my teeth and asked if we could please go back to Disney this summer. I was floored but all for it. Thus began another round of planning. I love to plan.

We booked the trip in Feb. and I found the DIS boards in April. My life has changed ever since. I had a great time planning.

OK on to the trip. I will promise that once I start this it will not take me long to finish it. Hey, school is out for the summer!

Sat. June 16. A week after school let out. We live in Southern PA and it should take us 16 hours to get there. We decided to stop in SC that evening and get to POR on Sunday afternoon.

9:29 We paid $36.00 for gas for the car and ice for the cooler and we were off. We hit every light leaving town. Also the first picture of the Maryland state welcome sign I completely missed. We passed 3 yard sales and DH wouldn't stop.

OK remember the lost/stolen wallet from last year, Well DH decided to buy a wallet with flames on it that has a chain to attach to his belt..It is by far the ugliest thing I had ever seen, but it made him happy to know that he couldn't lose it. I wish I had a picture. Then he decided to take out all the extra credit cards and put them in his regular wallet and hide this in one of the suitcases and then in the room safe. He never plans anything this well, so I am impressed.

I decided to pack lunches so we didn't have to stop to eat. We get south of DC and go 20 miles in one hour. I thought DH was going to sell the van right there and get a flight. He did not want to drive. We flew last year and the girls and I hated it. SO we talked him into driving. This, of course, gave him the right to say, "If we had flown, we would have been there by now." By the way, there was no reason for the back up except for a fender bender on the other side of the highway.

1:30 and we had gone 185 miles. Yes, that averages to 46 miles per hour. Here we were behind the VA beach traffic. We waved to them as we passed, and I showed them my Disney pillow that DD #1 had made for me in school.

HINT:: NC gas tax is $.31 however VA is $.18 and SC is $.16. LEsson Don't buy gas in NC. However, the speed limit is 70mph in NC

5:30 South of the Border. CHEESY People pay money to go up into the giant sombrero, we did not. We took 3 pictures and left.

We stayed at Hilton Garden INN at exit 160A in Florence SC. Had some trouble with dinner at CHick-fil-a. This resturant only has drive through and we didn't want to eat in the car. By the time we figured it out, we were trapped in the drive through line with no way out. DH was mad

We finally found a Chick-fil-a in the mall and ate. Even ended up with an extra coke because she had poured too many and told us to just keep it. Then DH had to go the Target to buy socks. He didn't like the socks that he brought.

We went back to the huge room at the Hilton where DH reminded me that by staying there we we're giving Paris Hilton money.

On that note I will take a break. When DH gets back I will ask him how to post pictures.

Thanks for reading

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I'm reading! I have 3 & 5 year old DD's - I want to know what our trips will be like in 9 years!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

I'm reading! I have 3 & 5 year old DD's - I want to know what our trips will be like in 9 years!

Thanks for reading. I first took the girls when they were 18 months and 3. We have a lot more fun now. We all enjoy the same things and they love Disney as much as I do.

 

[lonegirl]

Woo Hoo! Here we go...it stinks that yall drove and got stuck so much.....

Can't wait!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

June 17: 8:09 left Hilton after having an amazing Breakfast. The girls are not big eaters and the server couldn't understand why they didn't order more. She was very nice and called us all "honey". I love the South. We used to live there in the 90's.

We arrived at POR ar 3:40 with no more troubles today.

I loved this resort from the moment that I saw it on the web sites. I love trees and this place is covered with them. I got in a very long line to register at 3:45 while the rest of the family used the restrooms and went shopping. Yes, already!! Oh, how I love teenagers.

I was registered at 4:05 and we were given building 15 Alligator Bayou on the second floor just like I had requested. Yes, I called 3 days prior to make sure that the information was still on my reservation.

We had a view of the parking lot but it wasn't even close to being full at any time this week. We also had the shortest walk to the bus stop which was a goal of mine.

At 4:45 we were on the boat to DTD. I loved this boat ride. It is so relaxing and there is even a Hidden Mickey to find. The birds are amazing. We are major bird watchers and you will hear more about this later.

I had read so much about The Earl of Sandwich on the boards that I had to try it. Because we were of early for dinner there was no wait. The DDs both got Chicken Ceasar Salad, I had the Earl's Club, and DH had THe Original. We loved this place. IT was great to start our vacation with this dinner.

Then we went shopping and DD #1 had to buy a tank top that her father did not want her to buy. Once I found one that covered all appropriate areas that she would like, he agreed and off we went to another store.

I promised the girls that they could swim tonight in the big pool with the slide. Little did I know that the slide at POR closes at 8:00 which is when they got in line. THey were so disappointed. However DH talked them into a smaller pool and they loved it so much that this is where they swam for the rest of the week.

Our first day was a success and we were headed to EPCOT the next day. DId I tell you that everyone in my family has allergy issues except for me? More on that next time.

I'm now going to figure out how to add pictures.

 

[MrOakie]

Great Start!! I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

[Ragetti]

Looking great! Why did you hate flying? Was the flight itself, or just the hassle of getting through the airport?

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

Looking great! Why did you hate flying? Was the flight itself, or just the hassle of getting through the airport?

Good morning,
I don't like the crowds of the airports and changing planes. I'm not a big fan of heights. The girls had some issues with their ears last year and we had tried all the tricks. THey just didn't like it. ALso last year our flight from Atlanta to BWI was cancelled and there wasn't another one until the next day. Luckily, my sister-in-law lives near Dulles so we were able to get a flight there and stay over night and then she had to take us to BWI. I didn't like the feeling of loss of control. I know imagine that!

I liked driving and the time with my girls. My girls are amazing in the car. They never once asked "Are we there yet?" They also get along very well.

THanks for reading,

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

As I told you last time, both girls and DH have allergy issues. Nothing life threatening but makes them uncomfortable. Like most families sleeping in the same room is an adjustment. All 3 of them took medicine and put on those nasal strips before bed, but they were still all sniffing and sneezing and snoring all niight long. Every few hours someone was up for some reason. I know DH will tell you that I can sleep through everything, but other people sneezing is not one of them. Good news, this did get better as the week went by.

I woke at 6:30 (Remember I am a teacher so this is actually sleeping in to me) Stictch woke everyone else at 6:45. OK with all the resources that Disney has, why do we have the same wake-up call every morning. Why can't there be a menu to choose from. "For Stitch press one, for Goofy, press 2" I mean really!

We ate at the Riverside Mill. The food was generally good but a little pricey. I ended up eating Bagels all week.

We were off to EPCOT and there by 8:00 for the 9:00 opening. We like being the first one in line. We have a handheld Yahtzee game that we carry for just such occassions. This is the place of the lost wallet last year, so we wanted to make sure that this visit was more positive.

They let us in at 8:45 up until the rope. We had decided that I would go to Soarin' and get 4FP while the others went to Mission Space. I really don't get the hype on this ride, so I didn't care to miss it. The characters came out and this is a picture of DH #2 with Pluto.

They were standing on the left side of the rope to head to Mission Space, and I was standing on the right to go to Soarin'. While they were meeting the characters, we were talking to CM and having fun. A CM came over and asked the family standing right next to me if they wanted to open EPCOT. OF course they said yes. I know you are thinking, "Oh, isn't that nice!" I thought so too, until it happens 2 more times on this trip. More about that later.

The rope drops and we head in 2 different directions. We meet up at Test Track and all ride. We liked this ride better this time than last year. Last year it kept stopping. This year no troubles.

We then went to Soarin'. Now I know I told you earlier that I am not a fan of heights but this tide doen't bother me because I know that we really aren't up that high. I had also heard that if you don't get in the front row, then the people's feet in front of you get in the way. We did not find this to be a problem. When we got off we grabbed another FP for later in the day.

LIving with the Land was next: OK
Nemo and Friends ride: OK We were surprised how uneducational this is. We thought everything at EPCOT was supposed to be educational. This ride would have fit better at MK.

Time for second Soarin' FP but they were having technical difficulties so we had to wait 20 minutes.

We went to "Honey I shrunk the Audience". I really like the 3D movies. However, I don't think some people read about the attractions. This was our first experience with crying children. There seemed to be so many of them this year. You know the part where the cat turns into the lion, well the little boy in front of me completely lost it. He cried for the rest of the show. I really wish parents would do their homework and not take kids into attractions that they won't like. More on that later.

We finished with Future World and decided to ride the Monorail to MK. This was my fifth trip to WDW but I hadn't ridden the Monorail. DH asked if we could sit up front, so we did. This was really cool.

We decided to go back to POR and swim. The neat thing that happened was that I saw a high school teacher from the same district that I work in. It truely is a "SMall World"

Thanks for reading. I still can't figure out the picture thing.

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for reading. I still can't figure out the picture thing.

Did you download your pictures to the DIS?

I stayed at POR. I hope you get the hang of posting pictures, I'd like to see what the Alligator Bayou side is, is it part of the Mansions, or on the West side of POR.

 

[winkers]

I'm loveing your report! I'm a horrible speller so please no circling my spelling mistakes with red pencil!

 

[Tinkergurl20]

Great TR so far...

We went back to the huge room at the Hilton where DH reminded me that by staying there we we're giving Paris Hilton money.

I loved this comment !!!!! Looking forward to more!!!!!

 

[DisneyLaura]

Love your report. I find it hard to post pictures too.
We drove to Disney in 2004. Our sons were 5 and almost 3. They asked many many many times "Are we there yet?" and we were still in CT. South of the Border didn't impress me either. I was so excited to go there and stop there but was very disappointed once we did. Kind of thought it was a little dirty.

 

[BriarRosie]

Great report so far! I thought you lucked out with your Alligator Bayou room,
as I prefer anything in the Building 14-18 area. Yes, it's close to the food court and first bus depot...which is why it's so popular to stay in those buildings.

I spy some foreshadowing of being overlooked for First Family a lot. Bummer!

 

[sunlver]

I am enjoying your Trip report so far

We left for FLorida on June 16th as well...we left from Va Beach ...I read about your traffic troubles there. I think we left at 8am on the 16th...Oh those dreaded "South of the border" signs. So cheesy . Unfortunately we got a flat tire right before South of the border, and my husband had to drive extremely slow before we pulled off there. That delayed us by 2 hrs
We were actually heading to the Ft Lauderdale area first(Parents live there)and not really heading to Disney until June 19th. We also stopped over night in SC, at Hardeesville(or something like that)right by the Georgia border.
So it seems we were on the road at the same time
I actually put two lime green Mickey heads in the back of the van,just incase some other Diser's were on the road

Ok..looking forward to reading more of your trip report

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

OK I'm getting the hang of this picture thing. I forget to tell you that we had a surprise when we returned from EPCOT. These little guys were waiting for us.

I left a tip everyday in an envelope and someone was always waiting for us. I love this about DIsney. Mousekeeping did a great job.

June 19th: Disney/MGM studios
Again we were at the rope drop and while we were standing there a CM from ToT came up to the family standing right next to us and asked them if they would like to be the first family to ride ToT today. Yes, that was the second time in 2 days that the family next to us got picked.
We were so bummed but not for long, read on.

DH headed to Tower of Terror and got FP while we went to RNRC and waited for him. We love this ride. Our FP for ToT wasn't ready yet, so we decided to go to The Great Movie Ride first.

BEST SURPRISE OF THE TRIP!!

We went back to ToT to use our FP. We stepped into the library and DH says that he saw the CM with the white vests but didn't say anything to me. I couldn't see them because they were standing behind him. After the preshow in the library, they made the announcement that they were members of the "Dream Team" and that everyone in the library had won Dream Fastpasses for the day. We were so excited. I had read so much about them, but never thought that we would win one. I had tears in my eyes and DD #2 had to tell the whole room but I don't care. Remember that first family on ToT? IF they had asked us we never would have won the Dream FP. It is amazing how many people talk to you when you are wearing one of these things. Everyone is so curious.

Also ToT broke down after we had done all of our drops so they let us ride again right away. DD#2 and I chose to sit out this time.

For Lunch this day I had chosen to ADR 50's Primetime Cafe. I know some people on the DIS boards don't care for this place, but DH and I had gone there on our HOneymoon and we liked it so we thought we would take the girls. It was so fun. The food was great and we love the playful atmosphere. Here is a picture of "Brother Robert" trying to get DD#2 to eat her greens.

Here is the fish sandwich that I ate.

We really played along and had a great meal on a very hot day.

This was a fun day and we felt so special because of all the extra attention.

It started to rain around dinner time and we held out till about 7:30. Boy, did the park empty. We watched Fantasmic in the rain last year and decided not to do it again.

Tomorrow Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

Did you download your pictures to the DIS?

I stayed at POR. I hope you get the hang of posting pictures, I'd like to see what the Alligator Bayou side is, is it part of the Mansions, or on the West side of POR.

Alligator Bayou is the west side of Riverside. It has only 2 floors with lots of trees. I don't have a great picture but I did put one in.

DH thinks he would like to stay somewhere else next time, just for the variety, but I would come back here.

 

[jcc0621]

is Hanover. Near York? We usually drive from Philly, and just for the traffic reasons you dexcribes we usually leave at night. DS sleeps all night in the car and wakes up just in time for us to stop for breakfast

Can't wait for the next installment

Janet

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

is Hanover. Near York? We usually drive from Philly, and just for the traffic reasons you dexcribes we usually leave at night. DS sleeps all night in the car and wakes up just in time for us to stop for breakfast

Can't wait for the next installment

Janet

Yes, it is just SW of York. In fact the other teacher that we met there, did just that. My husband I and are not good without sleep and that would have been hard to recover from.

Thanks for reading

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

June 20

Magic Kingdom DAY
We were held at the Mickey flowers until the opening show. We were standing to the right of the flowers in the front to be the first through the archway. 2 times families pushed their way to the front to "ask a question" and then just stayed there. There was some grumbling from the people around us, but luckily no one made a scene. We knew that once we got in, we could pass them without any problem. This seems to be a trend. I would like to know if anyone else has noticed this type of behavior.

We hit Space Mountain first of course. Is it me or are the "ships" new??? My daughters like this one too. In fact we love all coasters.

We made our way into Fantasyland and there was no line for Cinderella's Carousel. I love this one. The girls were just too cool for it.
So, I made a deal they go on the Carousel and I'll ride Stitch. Everyone agreed!!

We also dragged them on "Small World". They wouldn't go last year and we said that the only way you are allowed to pick on the ride was to actually ride it. Of course we got caught in one of the rooms and they hated it. Although I think that deep down inside, they were glad we made them go.

Haunted House was closed We love this ride. Oh well, now we'll have to go back and see what they have done to it.

Had ADR for lunch at Crystal Palace. Once they started seating, we were the first one in and the buffet was amazing. I definitely recommend it if you have a picky eater like my DD#2. We got pictures with Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. We were all at the buffet when Pooh got to our table except DD#1. So she got to hug him but no picture. This one is my favorite.

My only complaint was the small children waiting on the porch looking in at you while you are eating. DH decided to play with them instead of getting mad. Try to get a seat on the inside instead of at the window.

Back to Stitch. I do not understand the attraction with this character. The movie wasn't even that good. Now, when this ride was Alien, I loved it. I was scared out of my mind. Now, it just seems silly. Well a promise is a promise, so on I went. It actually wasn't so bad this time. However, I will only use a FP because this ride is not worth any kind of wait.

Laugh Floor is really funny, however I thought is was a little short. Go and See it.

We rode Transit Authority and the neat thing was that Space Mountain was broken down, so when we went through, the lights were on the the kids got to see what the coaster looks like. They couldn't get over how tame this really is. Actually Space Mountain breaking down seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the week.

Went back to POR for dinner, we were a little disappointed with the selections, but ate anyway. We walked to French Quarter for dessert and rode back on the boat.

We were asleep by 9:00. We were getting tired.

Thanks again for reading, I'm having a good time writing this.

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom, my favorite park.