Dream trip, that almost did not happen! completed...full of pics

[marconat]

We are just back from a 2 weeks dream vacation to Orlando... It was beautiful, dreamy, wonderful... oh! yeah, first, all the bad luck that happened just before, we left!!!!

My Sister and I were planning this trip for about a year, we were to leave on Dec. 31st 2006. She lives in Gatineau, Québec, Canada... and I have to drive to her place from my little town of Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, a 6 hours drive and then stay at her place for 3 days and then drive to Syracuse, NY for 1 night and take the plane from there.

Around Dec. 14, we decided to change the shocks on our van, because we were going to be 6 people in the van going to Syracuse NY... all goes well, but were told that the breaks needed to be changed soon... a few days after, the windshield cracked because of the cold weather (it already had a small crack that was there for already 2 winters) . A few days later I find that the van is making a lot of noise... it was doing it for a while now, but got worse... we bring it in... that they find out that the timing belt was slowly slipping and now was a total mess. The garage that installed it 3 years ago, did a poor job, so we got that change...and did not take any chances with the breaks and got that changed as well... In all it came close to 2000.00$ (money we could have used on our trip ha).

OK, now the van is in perfect order... ha! ha! In Gatineau, my sister has similar problems... it was really slippery one day and her husband slipped and hit the curb and had to replaced the tire of the car.

So now we are driving down to Gatineau and all is fine... On Dec. 30th, we all hop in the van (me, hubby, son, daughter, sis, bil) and head for Syracuse, NY... it was snowing a bit and the road we a bit slippery, so we were taking it easy... when a van and a car zoomed by us... all of a sudden not even a minute later all the cars in front of us came to a halt... so we slowly pushed over and continued on our way at a turtle pace... when we noticed the 2 cars had crashed into some other cars... In the 3 hours that took us to get to NY, we saw 4 accidents...

But we got to our hotel safe and sound... ha!
We got up the next morning all excited to get to Disney... We took our plane from Syracuse to Philly... got on our plane in Philly for our final flight to Orlando. When there was an announcement that the food cart had hit the end of the wing and they were checking it to see if it was safe to take off... (get me off this plane now haaaaaa!) We were then told that we had to get off the plane, wait for an other one...
So, we all got off and waited for 1 hour (which was good) to get an other plane and we were off.... and YES we arrived in Orlando (almost 2 hours late) but in one piece..... HAAAA! When I sat down in the Magical Express... I felt all the stress of the pass few days vanish... I'M going to Disney... and my vacation started

Next... my pictures and what we did.

 

[BriarRosie]

Wow, and I thought travel was stressful for me! I have nothing on you, girl!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

[marconat]

So we got to Orlando and took the Magical Express bus to the Coronado Springs... Everything went well... The resort is beautiful. We decided not to go in any parks that evening... we were told that MK was at capacity with 65,000 guests ha! ha! OK, so we went to Rainforest Café and celebrated our first night in Disney!!

We walked around in DTD, my son made a lightsaber in Once upon a toy, he was so excited.... it's really fun and the person helping him was really nice. We then came back to our room and went to bed early, because we wanted to hit MK first thing on New Year's day!!!

At 12:00, I jumped out of bed startled with the fireworks and the guests screaming Happy New Year outside our room... OK, once or twice is fun... but this girl kept on screaming Happy New Year for half an hour.... but then all went quiet and we all had great dreams.

 

[marconat]

DAY 1:
After a good night sleep, we got up and got ready bright and early... We had breakfast at Pepper Market, the waffles were very good and HUGE. We arrived at MK around 9:15 am... the place was deserted!!! We had the entire park to ourselves... It's was pretty amazing...
I guess everyone else was still snoozing from a night of party until early in the morning...
So it was a very Happy New Year's day. We did:
-Mickey's Phylharmagic
-Snow White
-Peter Pan
-Pooh
-It's a small world
-Big Thunder Mountain
-Pirates
-Haunted Mansion
-took tons of pictures all before lunch at 11:30

We also saw the show with Captain Jack Sparrow and my son was chosen to take part in it... it was the one thing that he wanted to see, and to be in it was icing on the cake.

After lunch we did Splash Mountain and walked around and shopped a little before heading back to the resort... it was around 2 pm, and the crowds were pouring in by then.

We had changed resort and we were heading to Old Key West. It really feels like home there and my favorite place to be. We had a 2 bedroom on the third floor with a wonderful view of the golf course. We went to buy some stuff for our breakfast and had diner at Olive Garden. The chicken alfredo is to die for... try it

Main street

Fantasyland

Frontierland

 

[marconat]

More pics...

 

[Blaynexox]

very cute pictures! Im enjoying your trip report so far!

 

[marconat]

Day 2, Jan 2nd
I got up and had a relaxing breakfast on the patio over looking the golf course and the little pond. It was just so quiet and beautiful... but then it was time to get the little family ready for a day at Universal.
My son was all excited to see on the internet that there was an Universal Studios in Orlando (we went to US in California in 2005), he loves the Terminator 3D and wanted his father to see it... so we decided to spend 2 days there (US and IOA).
Again we got to the park fairly early, around 9:15 am... and it's amazing how empty the parks are until around 12:00.
It started to drizzle a little, but nothing alarming.
We got in line for Shrek 4D and waited around 15 min. After the show we waited for Terminator... even if it was around 9:45 and the theater would not open until 10:00, my son could not wait any longer.. ha! The show was terrific, and my son could not stop talking about it!
We took some pictures with characters and made our way to M.I.B... I have to say I loved it.. it's like Buzz Lightyear, but I'm sorry but a lot more fun...
After the ride it was time for Bettlejuice musical review... It was a blast.
When the show finished, it was raining cats and dogs... and we did not have any umbrellas or ponchos, we made our way to E.T and did not care about the 20 min wait, we were out of the rain.
While waiting in line, I think a drop of rain mixed with rust, fell from the beams and ended on my son's brand new Universal sweater... I was so outraged... luck would have it, that I brought some Tide pencil and it took it right off... that little pen came in handy more times that I can count..
After E.T. we decided to call it quits and had a late lunch at Bubba Gump.
My sister and I had the Texas cajun Chicken sandwich - It was really good and the portions are huge. My husband had the B.B.Q Pork sandwich and he said that he liked it. The 2 kids took the Hubba Bubba fried shrimps, and it was very tasty also.. and I can't remember what my B.I.L had...
As we were driving back to Disney's O.K.W, the rain stopped... I hit the bed around 7:30pm... we were up for 3 days in a row at 5 am, one morning, 3 am the morning of the flight and 6 am that morning... I needed some zzzz if I wanted to be able to function for the next 12 days.

 

[marconat]

More pictures of Universal Studios

 

[carrinas1018]

Great pics.Looks like fun

 

[Blaynexox]

ooh! I haven't seen any pictures from Universal! VERY COOL! We will have to plan a trip there soon!

 

[Gregory]

Nice trip report. Thanks for posting. Can't wait to read more.

 

[marconat]

Day 3 - Jan 3rd

Island of Adventure:

I got up refreshed from a good night sleep... Wow I was ready for some fun!

We got into the park and I was filming around... I turned to the HULK and then to my B.I.L and said: Ok, if you want to do this, let's go before I change my mind... (you see no one else wanted to do this with him).

I sat down, buckled up and the ride started. We were slowly going up the hill with the tick - tick - tick sound (I thought it was like all coasters, where they tick - tick - tick you up and then at the end you just fall over... WRONG) All of a sudden you are launched like a rocket - Holly S**t, I thought I was going to die... but when the ride was finished, it was pretty cool.

After the HULK, the kids wanted to go to Seusville, I thought, YES, a gentle pace for a while please. We got on Cat in the Hat and it spins you around here and there and I was already feeling woosy from the coater... We got out and I was looking like green eggs and ham... ha! We then got on the High in the sky trolley and walked around in IF I ran the zoo...

Did some shopping and by then it was time for lunch.. We ate at Circus McGurdus café. It was nice, but the chocolate cake, my sister had was pretty bad... But the rest was tasty.


I'll be back with the second part of the day soon... going to watch Americain Idol... ha! ha!

 

[marconat]

Island of Adventure part 2:

After lunch we went to see the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad, it's a good show, with humor and vilains and a hero and a princess...
After we did some more rides:
Dueling Dragons, coasters
Poseidon's fury, a mix between a walk-through (haunted mansion) and a show, really good.
The Flying unicorn, a kid's coaster
and my son had a blast with the talking fountain (mystic fountain).
Then the men did Jurassic Park river adventure, and the kids played in Jurassic park discovery...
Then it was time to get wet, and get wet we did in Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-rat Barge... It's really fun. I did not get the chance to do Kali River Rapids in AK, (it was a bit to cold the day we went), but I was told that Popeye is a lot better and longer... Have to take their word for it.
After we ended the day with the Amazing ad. of Spider-man... and amazing it is, it's a cross between Dinausaur (AK) and a 3D movie... It's the best 3D show ride that I've been on.

By then we were tired and drove home to OKW, stopped at Good's to go and order some sandwiches and burgers and retired to our quiet room for the night.

 

[marconat]

More pictures of Island of Adventure

 

[marconat]

Day 4 - Jan. 4th

Today the men (hubby and B.I.L) are going their own way... my Sister bought them for Xmas a day at Space Kennedy Center, the Astronaut training Experience. So they are up at the crack of dawn and gone by the time we get up.
Our day consist of breakfast at Ohana's and a couple of hours at Disney - MGM studios. Since we are only us and the kids, we decide to celebrate my daughter's birthday at Ohana's (her birthday is not for a few more days, but we wanted to celebrate it anyway)
The day starts off really good with a front seat in the monorail, it's really nice in the front and it seems like you are gliding over the track.
We get to Ohana's around 9:00am and are seated within minutes. They bring a lei for my daughter since it's her birthday. Just then Stitch comes by and takes the time to sign and take pictures. We then were told that it's time for the restaurant's parade and the kids go around shaking moracas and clapping. The food is brought out, first are fruits and a sweet bread with butter, very tasty. Then it's a huge plate of bacon, saussages, scramble eggs and Mickey waffles... and if you want more, just ask. All the characters make their rounds - Stitch, Lilo, Mickey and Pluto.

After breakfast, we shop a little at the resort's store and get our purchases shipped to our room.
The kids choice for a park for the rest of the day was MGM, we got to the park late, and I was expecting crowds, but it was not that bad. We did The great movie ride, Journey through Narnia, Lights,motors, action (stunt show) and decide to go back to the resort...
Back at OKW, we changed in our swimsuits and had a late lunch at Goods to go and played in the pool, till around 5:30pm.
They have a great pool, with a slide and the kids relaxed and had fun almost every night after the parks.

 

[WDWFRV]

Hey it's me sis, keep up the good work. You are bringing tears to my eyes with your trip report and pics. I did not know that you were going to write a trip report. WOW! I am going to print your report because I could use this information for my scrapbook. It's always better to write it while it is fresh in your head. I will keep on reading your report SIS. LOVE YOU!

 

[tiggerbell]

I am really enjoying your report so far... even the "Park That Shall Not Be Named In Our House" part!

And I love that another pair of sisters keeps in touch on the DisBoards!!! Although, you 2 live far apart... my sister and I live on the same block!

 

[BriarRosie]

Great report so far!

You definitely need to take the guys' word about the Bilge Rat Barges. Heck,
you even showed one of the many pics of this ride dumping buckets o' water
on your head.

I noticed that about Universal vs. Disney. Disney will squirt you a lot, perhaps
get you wet on their flume rides, but at Universal, they will dump those
buckets o' water on your head. I see that from your drowned rat photos, too. I would be surprised if anyone ever made it out of Toon Lagoon dry.

 

[marconat]

tiggerbell, thank you for reading ha! ha! and yes my sister lives far away, but she used to live right next door to my place but had to leave and find a job in Ottawa... I miss her dearly, but I have a cool place to go visit every year.

BriarRosie, What do you mean (I see that from your drowned rat photos), I was going for a more natural look... ha! ha! Wow did we get wet ... but it was fun... Thank's for reading!!!

 

[marconat]

Day 5 - Jan, 5th

Epcot:

We planned this trip for fun and also to celebrate my daughter's birthday (which was on Jan. 10) I know it was not the 10th but we celebrated for a whole week. At most restaurant we said, this was a birthday trip.

We got to Epcot around 9:30am and my B.I.L went to get a fastpass for Soarin, there was already a 40 min wait by that time. He met up with us at Seas with Nemo and friends, where we were taking pictures. We walked in and rode the new Clam mobiles from Nemo and friends... It's a cute ride... We then walked around the took more pictures. We went to Universe of Energy, it was fun... and then my B.I.L did Mission Space, and it was time to do Soarin! I love that ride, the music, the smells, the sights... what can I say, Wow.
By that time, we were getting hungry, it was around 12:30, but we only had reservations for Garden Grill for 2:00pm... but we went and gave our names and were called withing 10 min.
It's a sit down meal where they bring out the food on a plate... the food was excellent. There was a bowl of mashed potatoes, and the plate had turkey, roast beef with a mushroom sauce, catfish (the most delicious), and some stuffing.. we also had bread and butter.
The tables were quite small, but I did not mind at all, we were having fun and enjoying the food to much to really notice.
The characters came around and took pictures and signed autographs. It was Mickey, Chip and Dale and Goofy. For desert they brought out a cake and a signed birthday card for my daughter. After the meal, we were soooo stuffed.
We ended up in Inovation East, where the kids raced and built robots and played around for quite some time.
We left the park around 5:00pm and headed to OKW. We just had snacks in the room that night since we were still very stuffed from a wonderful meal at Garden Grill.