Okay Disboarders, here's our report, still fresh in our minds:
We left home (north of Chicago) at 4am in our Windstar. I had noticed a screw in a tire two days earlier and had it patched right away. Disaster averted! The van was waxed with all fluids freshly changed and the inside spotless.
Our patriotic Mickey, Minnie, and Princess antenna toppers were made into magnets and put on the rear hatch as the Windstar has an antenna inside the window. We also made the Kelloggs Mickey and Minnie bobbleheads and a Lilo McDonalds Happy Meal bobble head into magnets for the roof. They let everyone know where we were headed.
The Mobil Auto Club Trip Route Planner in bound form was great. We cruised right past Indianapolis race traffic around 7:30 and it was already beginning to build for the NASCAR Brickyard 400 on this sunday morning August 3rd.
We stopped at a Waffle House for lunch (I stuck with a couple grilled cheese) and decided it was fun to finally have tried one but we'd pass in the future.
Last year (June '02) for our first trip, we stayed the first night in Chattanooga. This year we made it about an hour into Georgia and stayed at a very nice Jameson Inn. The outdoor heated pool was wonderful and the Cracker Barrel dinner was just fine.
The next day we stopped at the Florida Welcome Center for the traditional sip of free orange juice and a picture in front of the welcome sign. I found that they also had the Disney brochures that showed times for all parades and stuff for the specific two week time frame we would be at WDW. I never saw these at Disney. Glad I got one when I did, it was very helpful.
Last year we stopped at "Exit 427" after seeing the bazillion giant blue signs on the highway and they set us up at the Radisson Twin Towers at Universal for just $57. We stopped this time and the woman was quite rude and told us the Radisson was booked. We walked out with a Radisson brochure and I called them direct from my cell phone. Got a room no problem for just $69! No recommendations for Exit 427 from us anymore!
We got to the Radisson (gorgeous hotel!) at 3:15pm Florida time, swam in the wonderful pool and had dinner at the Fridays right next door.
Then next morning we ate a HUGE breakfast buffet and then left for WDW around 8:15am. We went right to the Coronado Springs Resort and checked in. This was around 8:30am on a tuesday. No line! We got everything we needed (keys, map, parking dash paper, etc) and then I went to the Priority Seating line and picked up printouts of our three PS's I had made. I didn't know you could do this but it makes sense as I booked everything 60 days prior.
So we got our coveted Cinderella Royal Table, our Spirit of Aloha Dinner, and our Fantasmic Hollywood & Vine PS printouts. Having these when you go for the event makes it just that much quicker to check in.
We checked out the El Centro area (just a beautiful resort!) and loved the main fountain, the lake, the decorations and theming. I leaned against the railing by the lake and got toxic bird poop on my tshirt which permanently stained it in about two nanoseconds. What are those birds eating? Be careful!
We took a bus right to Magic Kingdom. The busses were never a problem (wait time was always under 10 minutes) except once when we wanted to go to EE at Epcot and the bus was full. Our stop at Cabanas was number 4. The busses stop in CSR at 2,3,4 and then 1 at El Centro last. We learned our lesson and when it was time for our CRT at MK on EE day, we walked to bus stop #2 to be sure we got a seat!
We rented a stroller every day for our DD6. It is just so easy instead of bringing our own (which, actually we don't have anymore since our DD is 6) and so convenient with the set up WDW has for paying before you even get in the gate.
Thanks to reading this board, we went right to the Barber Shop and we were second in line. Lauren, our DD6, needed a hair cut and I must say it's the best one she's had at any price! $12 was super cheap so I just gave the lady a twenty. Lauren got patriotic mickey clips and barrettes, pixie dust Mickeys and pink streaks. The picture of the barber with the giant scissors is priceless! This was a great tip and our DD6's hair still looks great now! I liked that the barber would not break out of 1800's character and refused to admit she was in WDW!
Cinderella's surprise celebration started and I got nervous because Lauren didn't seem too interested and wanted to move on. Last year she was glued to the scene and I was afraid this was the beginning of things to come. Would she have a "been there, done that" attitude the whole time? Luckily, that didn't happen.
We took in all the things we didn't get to do last year. We spent some time before the trip with last year's park maps going over what were "must see" rides and shows.
Mickey's ToonTown Fair was fun. We found the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to be a blast. Who knew this was such a fun ride? The Carousel of Progress was pretty cool although Lauren got a bit bored. At the point of the second "pie cut," the seats kind of jerked and got stuck. DW got a complete look of panic which made me break out in hysterics. Sure, she can handle the Haunted Mansion and the Tower of Terror but she's afraid dying a horrific death like thousands before her on the Carousel of Progress!!!
Lunch was foot long hot dogs at Pinocchio's Village Haus. We took in all the shows and rides we missed included the trek through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. I was at WDW in 1975 when I was ten years old. SFR was just as I remembered. Cool, but boring and long with alot of climbing. Ah well, just passing on WDW traditions to Lauren!
I had never seen the Hall of Presidents and I loved it. DD6 said one of those amazing things only six year olds can come up with. She thought the Presidents were real! I told her they were animatronic robots and she just shrugged, "oh, okay."
We got a picture with Jafar and I get a kick out of saying really friendly hellos to the villians like, "Hey Jafar, what's up buddy?" Jafar looked at Lauren, pointed at me, then gave the international sign of "he's crazy" by twirling his long fingers around his ear. The pic is great because Jafar is strangling me!
When the big blue Genie strikes a pose, I like to imitate it for the pic. It makes the photo album that much more fun. Even DD6 did it with Lilo & Stitch at AK when they all got in surfing poses.
The 3pm snow globe parade was wonderful. We had a great spot to view from and Lauren played Simon Says at one point with some characters.
We went back to CSR and found our room to be spotless with an outstanding second floor water view (which we had reserved). It was room 8242 in Cabanas 8A right next to the Dig Site. We never went to a quiet pool the whole trip. The Dig Site pool was warm and fun and never too crowded. Lauren loved the Jaguar slide.
Last year at the Caribbean Beach Resort, we used the close by quiet pool and only went to the main pool once. The CSR pool is much better than the CBR's in my opinion. It's so big and the Aztec temple is just the coolest thing. I liked the food and the refillable mugs that could be serviced right at the pool.
I would highly recommend the CSR (although I still love the CBR too!) and the Cabanas by the Dig Site were great. No music or noise could be heard from our room. The walk to El Centro across the lighted bridge was no problem.
Day 2 we went to EE at Epcot (this is the one time a bus passed us by because it was too full) just to get on Test Track. We got right in line and loved it! I rode it alone last year and convinced DD6 that she'd love it too. She did. She got scared by the big 18 wheeler truck that you go head on toward and DW screamed when she thought we were gonna hit the wall!
We looked around a bit then head back to the CSR. We had lunch at the Pepper Market and it was nice. I liked real metal tableware and the service of having our cups refilled. The food was good. The price reasonable. The tipping, not a problem. The only thing was, we were at the parks so much during our trip that we never came back to either the Pepper Market or the Maya Grill.
We rented a four wheel Surry bicycle and toured the CSR on it. The white sand beaches are mellow and the hammocks are so relaxing. We went to our room and found Lauren's stuffed animals lined up at the window looking out. We tipped our mousekeeper each day but that was the only little extra we got (oh well).
We swam and played with Lauren's Princess beach ball (we brought from home) in the Dig Site pool. Then we went back to Epcot and my two girls (DW and DD6) shrieked when the mice went wild during Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We went on the boat ride in Mexico at the World Showcase. We then went on the Norway ride too. We strolled through the different countries and Lauren was very excited to get a stamp and attachment for her "cut out face on a wooden stick" at each "Kid-Cot" stop by the countries. That was very fun for her. We had made a PS for Italy's L'Orininale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante during our morning trip so we had a fantastic Italian dinner! Very delicious!
We staked out a spot to watch Illuminations near Morroco and enjoyed the show tremendously.
Thursday morning dawned on Day 3 and it was EE and CRT at MK. We walked to the first bus stop (#2!!!) and got an empty bus which quickly filled to capacity by the time we got to stop #1. We were at MK in line when the security guard made the announcement, "First, no stampeding the security guard! Second, please count down with us from 10 and then this honorary family will start our day at the Magic Kingdom!" A little girl in a Cinderella outfit and her family threw pixie dust in the air when we all screamed, "Three, Two, Onnnnnnnnne!" and the gate opened up.
We went on Peter Pan's Flight, Small World and Snow White's Scary Adventure before our 8:30 PS for Cinderella's Royal Table.
I had called six days in a row last year to try for CRT with no luck. Sold out by one minute after 7, Florida time each try.
This year I forgot the first day, sixty days out. The second day, my first call was answered at 7:09am and I got the last table! Wahhhhhhoooooo!
This was a breakfast to treasure. And we did! We took lots of pics with Snow White, Belle, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the Fairy Godmother back downstairs after the breakfast (which I thought was great as I had two servings and three glasses of milk). It was everything we thought it would be and little Lauren just beamed each time a Princess came up to our table. It was worth everything everyone says it is! To commemorate the event, I told Lauren to pick out one of the $12 rings at the Castle's store. She picked a really nice bright pink marquise cut stone with diamonds on either side! Everywhere we went, Cast Members and others would ask where she got the ring. She would say, "My daddy bought it for me after we had breakfast with Cinderella. He got me the breakfast too!" It warmed my heart every time.
We got a picture trying to pull the sword out of the stone but didn't get to see the show.
We took more Disboards advice and got out of EE MK and went to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day.
We saw the Lion King show, Tarzan Rocks (again!) and It's Tough to Be a Bug (again!). This time Lauren was scared of the bugs where last year she just laughed. Funny, the differences between 5 and 6 years old. You would think getting older she would be more fearless. Some Disney tricks work at older ages I guess.
The rain struck us for the first time and we bought ponchos. Last year we got rained on every day for about 4-6 hours each day. Our first two days this year were just sprinkles. Last year I got tired of my shoes and socks being soaked. This time I just put my socks in my short's pockets and held my shoes under my poncho. I walked around barefoot in the 90+ degree heat and I was as happy as a clam. Robin (DW) and Lauren wore sandles so they didn't mind either.
Kilamanjaro Safaris was empty so we hopped on and the rain stopped. Again, this attraction is just so terrific! I don't remember the bridge breaking the last time and when our driver hit it and it started to tip, the Disney magic got me big time. I grabbed Lauren as she was to my left and my DW was to my right. Robin & Lauren got a good laugh at my reaction but I shot back that it wasn't as bad as Robin's fear in the Carousel of Progress!
We had pizza at the Pizzafari restaurant and loved the multicolored painted wood bats hanging from the ceiling.
We watched the parade and then walked behind it as we wanted to catch a bus home when it was done. Let me tell you all, follow this parade if you can. Mickey is high atop the last float waving to the crowd. I was overwhelmed by the happiness of seeing hundreds of people point at Mickey, draw their kids' attention to him, wave, yell, smile and take pictures. I took it all in and marveled at our diverse humanity's similar nature of cheer when we see this big cartoon mouse that started it all!
Day 4, Mickey gave us our wake up call at 7:30am and we went to Blizzard Beach. We heard they were filled to capacity the day before by 10am. We went to Typhoon Lagoon last year so we wanted to try BB. It was great! We took the chair lift and raced on the Tobagon Racer. Lauren started out ahead but my weight sped me past her and Robin and I ended wayyyyy at the end, spun over and got a picture of them with our disposable underwater camera I had bought on sale about six months ago for the trip.
We did most of the stuff by the line for the big 60 mph slide was just too huge. Lauren did the T-Bar drop and crossed the floating ice bergs. She slipped on the last one and banged her face hard against the cement on the edge of the pool. Total panic swept over DW and I! Visions of blood stained water, a screaming child, rushing pool guards, a trip to a hospital and a ruined WDW vacation shot through our brains!
Ahhhhhh, Disney! She was fine and laughed about it. The "cement" is a carefully crafted super soft rubbery material that just looks like hard cement. She asked us why we looked so weird and went on about her playing.
Goofy was in the surf and we got a great pic of him and Lauren with a wave crashing over them! Good to have that waterproof camera!
We headed back to CSR for a shower and put on our matching Aloha outfits (collared shirt for me, dressed for the ladies) that were on the last page of the Disney catalog. I bought them for a mother's day present.
We headed to the Polynesian via bus and monorail for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show. We loved it. This show made me feel like I was watching just what Walt Disney wanted his World to be like. It brought culture I would otherwise not know about to me. It was very authentic and enjoyable. The food was good and served very well. I liked the style and the flair. Lauren was mesmerized by the flaming stick twirling. She loved going on stage to learn the hula.
After the show, I took some great pics of Lauren on the Polynesian beach in her luau dress with the pink flowered leis. I took a vertical picture, using the rule of thirds for the horizon, close up of her with the Magic Kingdom castle in the background. I already blew it up to 8x10 and it will be her 6 year old picture on our hall wall at home. This is a great spot for a family pic too!
Be sure to check out the Wylan Art Gallery while you're there. If I ever win the lottery, I want that $32,000 dolphin dining table!
Day 5, we were at my favority, Disney-MGM Studios. We got a pic with a Toy Story green army man and then went right to Playhouse Disney Live which Lauren loved just as much as last year!
I just wipe away tears of joy during the whole show. I worked nights during our daughter's first two years of life to watch her during the day. We spent plenty of time with Playhouse Disney tv in the morning so we both "grew up" on it.
We "played" Who Wants to Be a Millionare and Lauren again loved something we didn't think she would like. They are really smart to have easy Disney related questions in the beginning. This was really fun.
We saw Beauty and the Beast after I got fast passes for the Tower of Terror. Be sure to get to B and the B early to see the "tech guys" before the show. Very funny!
I was so impressed with the theming of Tower of Terror. The attention to detail with the basement boiler room for the service elevator is so real! Take it all in when you go!
I think it's neat that the Disney video doesn't really show you what T of T is all about. We had no idea what it would do. Suffice it to say that DW said she would never go on it again, DD6 was scared but had fun and I thought it's the best ride for big kids at the four parks.
Drizzle started but the Stars & Cars Parade went on with clear umbrellas for the characters. We didn't see it last year and I am a car buff so it was on my "must see" list. I loved it. Ariel's car's ocean water paint was just so sweet!
I used up alot of film during this parade.
Voyage of the Little Mermaid was super with the fish "swimming" around. What a fun concept! See this show if your kids love the Little Mermaid story.
The Great Movie Ride was fun again and this time we got the "gangster" version. I didn't even know there was a version different from the "cowboy" one. I guess there's two lines and you get which every line you happened to get in.
We had a Hollywood & Vine PS with the Fantasmic package so we went to our 6pm dinner. The food was delicious. The pan seared salmon was great and I don't usually like salmon. I love making our own ice cream deserts with our own topping choices. Our server, Amanda, was a riot and lots of fun. We took pics with her! We had a Minnie Mouse character breakfast last year (not available this year) at the H&V and we like the 50's style and the buffet food. I recommend it highly.
I asked Amanda about the Fantasmic deal and she said that all the other people eating paid the same as we did but since I made the PS dinner package 60 days ago, we got the back gate passes for Fanstasmic and these other people weren't getting them.
We took in the Muppets 3D show and just loved it. I grew up on the Muppets dinner time tv show with the famous hosts.
Then on to the back gate entrance for Fantasmic. I broke out the Sleeping Beauty light up spinner and the Princess light up fan I bought months ago at our local Disney Store at 50% off. Lauren thought I just bought them for her right then and loved playing with them while we waited the half hour for Fantasmic to start.
What a show! Outstanding! See it! Don't miss it!
Day 6, back to MK! Dumbo! Pooh's Honey Pot! Haunted Mansion! Tom Sawyer's island (just like I remember it when I was 10 years old...big, lots of stairs, totally lost, waiting for the raft to get back!), then we took in Goofy's Jammin' Jamboree at Frontierland.
Hooray, Lauren's favorite character, Jesse, is there! Lauren's bedroom is Jesse from the Disney Catalog so she enjoyed finally seeing Jesse!
We went back to the CSR to freshen up before going to Downtown Disney. I made a PS the night before for Fulton's Crab House. We ate there last year and loved it so we wanted to go again. We shopped til we dropped. We waited to buy anything at the parks as we knew our Disney Club discount was good only at the DD DisneyStore.
We bought gifts for family members and got Lauren the "My Disney Girl" doll. She loved it! I bought the "Honored Guest" name badges because I thought they were really fun. My DW then relentlessly made fun of me by wearing her name tag and saying, "Ask me a question, I work here!" I guess I had that one coming. I made them into magnets with a little glue and put them on our refridgerator at home.
I bought two xmas ornaments, one for last year because I didn't get one and one for this year. We took a family picture at the "Merry Christmas" statue area and it turned out good enough to be our Christmas photo card for this year's holiday season.
Fulton's was superb as always. Our server was full of insight into Disney and very talkative in a good way. The king crab legs I had were nothing but 1 1/2 pounds of only the big part of the legs with minimal weight from shell (no claws, no joints). Fantastic!
Day 7 we loaded up the car and then spent the whole morning at the Dig Site pool relaxing and playing. At 10am, the pool officially opens. One of the lifeguards called everyone over to the dry stone temple pyramid and had them calling out chants that ended with everyone shrieking, "Wa-ter, wa-ter, wa-ter!"
Then someone remotely turned on the water which cascaded down the stone steps. Very fun. Very Disney!
We took a picture of the entrance to Coronado Springs as we left. This way, we could put in in the beginning of our photo album. There is no other time to take a pic! We also took a pic of DD6 standing by the "Adios! Amigos!" sign as you leave as she put on a fake pout and pretended to wipe away a tear. This is the last photo in this section of our album.
The drive was just about exactly 2 hours to Disney's Vero Beach Resort.
Highway 60 is nothing but miles and miles and miles of orange orchards. Holy cow is that amazing! Now I know where they all come from!
DVBR is unbelievably ritzy and high class! The entrance is breathtaking. Our room was the second fanciest I've ever been to next to the El Conquistador in Puerto Rice on our honeymoon.
We had an ocean view Inn room on the third floor. The view was so wonderful off our balcony. The room was spotless and just like being at a WDW resort. Mickey soap, Mickey everything. Pin trading lanyards around the CM's necks. The Mickey shaped pool was warm and the lighthouse slide is really great.
The lifeguards join in the fun with a big bucket of ice they fill with water at the top of the slide. Then they fill a huge water gun and spray everyone (and I mean everyone) in the pool with ice cold water. Hysterical and fun! They have free water balls to toss around and ping pong and plastic fish hunts and miniature golf and shuffleboard.
The beach is perfect. It's very isolated and super clean. Our first day there was practically no surf and lots of fun to swim around. We collected shells as I had brought a Hobby Lobby driftwood style shadowbox frame and glue to put shells and sand in. We cut out the Disney's Vero Beach emblem from a brochure at the front desk and put it in the lower right hand corner of the frame and surrounded it with shells. It turned out really well.
We had a character breakfast with Goofy and Max that was very much like the CRT breakfast food at Shutters.
One night we signed Lauren up for the 5-8pm kids Disney Discovery Day and then my wife and I had dinner alone together at Shutters and a nice walk on the beach and some quiet time together. Very nice.
The smores bondfire was a blast. I don't know where the young women who run it get their energy!
Robin had brought Off that stated it was good against the infamous "No-See-Ums" biting flies. I never put it on and never got bit by anything. They put it on and never got bit. Some people complained of getting "eaten alive" but we never had a problem.
If you ever go to Vero Beach, let me recommend two things.
One, have dinner at Captain Hiram's just north in Sebastian on Hwy 1. Fantastic classic Florida atmosphere and outstanding fried lobster, crab cakes and seared grouper!!!!!!! I got our pics developed at a Walgreens on Hwy 1 and asked the lady at the counter where to go for dinner. It was her recommendation and now it's mine too.
Second, I went to the Mel Fisher Museum. I was stunned at how cool this (what looks like on the outside) rinky dink museum was.
In 1715, eleven spanish ships sailed from Cuba to Spain loaded down with treasure from the New World for the King of Spain. They encountered a hurricane and all eleven ships and 700 men were lost. Only the French war ship acting as escort made it out.
For 17 years, Mel Fisher searched for the eleven sunken ships, finally finding them in just 50 feet of water just a few hundred yards off the coast of Vero Beach. He located BILLIONS of dollars of treasure. Gold. Silver. Gold medallions with emeralds all over! The museum does a great job of relaying his 17 year search, his 11 year fight with the State of Florida over salvage rights and rewards (ending with the US Supreme Court saying it's all his). The museum is also a processing area for new items. There was gold that was on display that was just located on June 22, 2003...less than a month ago! Fisher found the first ship in 1963 and their still bring up stuff of value!!!!
It's the largest treasure haul every found in the US. Amazing, check it out. For $19.95, I bought a tagged, catalogued, authenticated lead musket ball brought up from the ocean floor from one of the ships. It's almost 300 years old! It's now inside the shadow box of shells from our stay.
After three nights at Vero Beach, recovering from our non-stop pace at WDW, it was time to drive home.
We were sad but excited to get home to see our dog Shelby.
We left at 4:30am and made it to the northern most part of Kentucky before Louisville and stayed at a Holiday Inn. Yep, we swam in the pool! Then we drove until we got home around 12:30pm Florida time. Then we set out watches back to 11:30.
It was a wonderful time again. It was hot but we didn't have a problem. We were just glad the rain wasn't as bad as last year.
I found the CSR and the CBR to be very similar. We liked them both. I think if we were to go again, we'd try Port Orleans. I just feel the wide open resort aspect of the moderates is well worth the minimal increase in price over the value resorts. We can't quiet afford going above the moderates for a 7 day stay at WDW.
Total hotel costs for the Jameson, the Radisson and the Holiday Inn was $183.
Total gasoline costs to WDW, to VB and then back home again was $197.
So the total cost of travel was $380. Last year it was $349 but gas was cheaper.
The best deal I could find for airfare from O'Hare to Orlando was $222 each round trip so that would have been $666 plus Sept 11 security fees, taxes, blah, blah, blah. I would say $700 easy for airfare. Then we would have had to get transportation to the Coronado Springs, to Vero Beach, then back to the airport.
We love to drive. We did it with no TV this time. My wife packed two new electronic games (Candyland and some other one) and some sticker books and magnet people activity books and DD6's leap pad. She used the leap pad alot to learn about the states were passing through.
We kept to our rule about stopping whenever someone had to use a bathroom or was hungry. We made sure our hotels had nice pools.
We had a wonderful time and we're contemplating a Disney Cruise next year. Heck, we have matching Disney tshirts, dresses, light up stuff, name tag pins (!), we gotta keep the Disney theme going right?
Oh yeah, total cost of our trip package was $2187 (WDW moderate for 6 nights and VB for 3 nights and 7 day Park Hopper Plus tickets bought from www.floridaorlandotickets.net even though we didn't use that many days - we wanted to have some left over) and we brought $1500 spending money and had $100 still when we got home.
If anyone has comments or questions, I'd love to hear and answer them. I hoped this trip report helps some of you Disboarders out there with tips like the ones I've gotten from you!
-Steve
PICS ADDED, click here:
http://community.webtv.net/rtteacher/wdw
We left home (north of Chicago) at 4am in our Windstar. I had noticed a screw in a tire two days earlier and had it patched right away. Disaster averted! The van was waxed with all fluids freshly changed and the inside spotless.
Our patriotic Mickey, Minnie, and Princess antenna toppers were made into magnets and put on the rear hatch as the Windstar has an antenna inside the window. We also made the Kelloggs Mickey and Minnie bobbleheads and a Lilo McDonalds Happy Meal bobble head into magnets for the roof. They let everyone know where we were headed.
The Mobil Auto Club Trip Route Planner in bound form was great. We cruised right past Indianapolis race traffic around 7:30 and it was already beginning to build for the NASCAR Brickyard 400 on this sunday morning August 3rd.
We stopped at a Waffle House for lunch (I stuck with a couple grilled cheese) and decided it was fun to finally have tried one but we'd pass in the future.
Last year (June '02) for our first trip, we stayed the first night in Chattanooga. This year we made it about an hour into Georgia and stayed at a very nice Jameson Inn. The outdoor heated pool was wonderful and the Cracker Barrel dinner was just fine.
The next day we stopped at the Florida Welcome Center for the traditional sip of free orange juice and a picture in front of the welcome sign. I found that they also had the Disney brochures that showed times for all parades and stuff for the specific two week time frame we would be at WDW. I never saw these at Disney. Glad I got one when I did, it was very helpful.
Last year we stopped at "Exit 427" after seeing the bazillion giant blue signs on the highway and they set us up at the Radisson Twin Towers at Universal for just $57. We stopped this time and the woman was quite rude and told us the Radisson was booked. We walked out with a Radisson brochure and I called them direct from my cell phone. Got a room no problem for just $69! No recommendations for Exit 427 from us anymore!
We got to the Radisson (gorgeous hotel!) at 3:15pm Florida time, swam in the wonderful pool and had dinner at the Fridays right next door.
Then next morning we ate a HUGE breakfast buffet and then left for WDW around 8:15am. We went right to the Coronado Springs Resort and checked in. This was around 8:30am on a tuesday. No line! We got everything we needed (keys, map, parking dash paper, etc) and then I went to the Priority Seating line and picked up printouts of our three PS's I had made. I didn't know you could do this but it makes sense as I booked everything 60 days prior.
So we got our coveted Cinderella Royal Table, our Spirit of Aloha Dinner, and our Fantasmic Hollywood & Vine PS printouts. Having these when you go for the event makes it just that much quicker to check in.
We checked out the El Centro area (just a beautiful resort!) and loved the main fountain, the lake, the decorations and theming. I leaned against the railing by the lake and got toxic bird poop on my tshirt which permanently stained it in about two nanoseconds. What are those birds eating? Be careful!
We took a bus right to Magic Kingdom. The busses were never a problem (wait time was always under 10 minutes) except once when we wanted to go to EE at Epcot and the bus was full. Our stop at Cabanas was number 4. The busses stop in CSR at 2,3,4 and then 1 at El Centro last. We learned our lesson and when it was time for our CRT at MK on EE day, we walked to bus stop #2 to be sure we got a seat!
We rented a stroller every day for our DD6. It is just so easy instead of bringing our own (which, actually we don't have anymore since our DD is 6) and so convenient with the set up WDW has for paying before you even get in the gate.
Thanks to reading this board, we went right to the Barber Shop and we were second in line. Lauren, our DD6, needed a hair cut and I must say it's the best one she's had at any price! $12 was super cheap so I just gave the lady a twenty. Lauren got patriotic mickey clips and barrettes, pixie dust Mickeys and pink streaks. The picture of the barber with the giant scissors is priceless! This was a great tip and our DD6's hair still looks great now! I liked that the barber would not break out of 1800's character and refused to admit she was in WDW!
Cinderella's surprise celebration started and I got nervous because Lauren didn't seem too interested and wanted to move on. Last year she was glued to the scene and I was afraid this was the beginning of things to come. Would she have a "been there, done that" attitude the whole time? Luckily, that didn't happen.
We took in all the things we didn't get to do last year. We spent some time before the trip with last year's park maps going over what were "must see" rides and shows.
Mickey's ToonTown Fair was fun. We found the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to be a blast. Who knew this was such a fun ride? The Carousel of Progress was pretty cool although Lauren got a bit bored. At the point of the second "pie cut," the seats kind of jerked and got stuck. DW got a complete look of panic which made me break out in hysterics. Sure, she can handle the Haunted Mansion and the Tower of Terror but she's afraid dying a horrific death like thousands before her on the Carousel of Progress!!!
Lunch was foot long hot dogs at Pinocchio's Village Haus. We took in all the shows and rides we missed included the trek through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. I was at WDW in 1975 when I was ten years old. SFR was just as I remembered. Cool, but boring and long with alot of climbing. Ah well, just passing on WDW traditions to Lauren!
I had never seen the Hall of Presidents and I loved it. DD6 said one of those amazing things only six year olds can come up with. She thought the Presidents were real! I told her they were animatronic robots and she just shrugged, "oh, okay."
We got a picture with Jafar and I get a kick out of saying really friendly hellos to the villians like, "Hey Jafar, what's up buddy?" Jafar looked at Lauren, pointed at me, then gave the international sign of "he's crazy" by twirling his long fingers around his ear. The pic is great because Jafar is strangling me!
When the big blue Genie strikes a pose, I like to imitate it for the pic. It makes the photo album that much more fun. Even DD6 did it with Lilo & Stitch at AK when they all got in surfing poses.
The 3pm snow globe parade was wonderful. We had a great spot to view from and Lauren played Simon Says at one point with some characters.
We went back to CSR and found our room to be spotless with an outstanding second floor water view (which we had reserved). It was room 8242 in Cabanas 8A right next to the Dig Site. We never went to a quiet pool the whole trip. The Dig Site pool was warm and fun and never too crowded. Lauren loved the Jaguar slide.
Last year at the Caribbean Beach Resort, we used the close by quiet pool and only went to the main pool once. The CSR pool is much better than the CBR's in my opinion. It's so big and the Aztec temple is just the coolest thing. I liked the food and the refillable mugs that could be serviced right at the pool.
I would highly recommend the CSR (although I still love the CBR too!) and the Cabanas by the Dig Site were great. No music or noise could be heard from our room. The walk to El Centro across the lighted bridge was no problem.
Day 2 we went to EE at Epcot (this is the one time a bus passed us by because it was too full) just to get on Test Track. We got right in line and loved it! I rode it alone last year and convinced DD6 that she'd love it too. She did. She got scared by the big 18 wheeler truck that you go head on toward and DW screamed when she thought we were gonna hit the wall!
We looked around a bit then head back to the CSR. We had lunch at the Pepper Market and it was nice. I liked real metal tableware and the service of having our cups refilled. The food was good. The price reasonable. The tipping, not a problem. The only thing was, we were at the parks so much during our trip that we never came back to either the Pepper Market or the Maya Grill.
We rented a four wheel Surry bicycle and toured the CSR on it. The white sand beaches are mellow and the hammocks are so relaxing. We went to our room and found Lauren's stuffed animals lined up at the window looking out. We tipped our mousekeeper each day but that was the only little extra we got (oh well).
We swam and played with Lauren's Princess beach ball (we brought from home) in the Dig Site pool. Then we went back to Epcot and my two girls (DW and DD6) shrieked when the mice went wild during Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We went on the boat ride in Mexico at the World Showcase. We then went on the Norway ride too. We strolled through the different countries and Lauren was very excited to get a stamp and attachment for her "cut out face on a wooden stick" at each "Kid-Cot" stop by the countries. That was very fun for her. We had made a PS for Italy's L'Orininale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante during our morning trip so we had a fantastic Italian dinner! Very delicious!
We staked out a spot to watch Illuminations near Morroco and enjoyed the show tremendously.
Thursday morning dawned on Day 3 and it was EE and CRT at MK. We walked to the first bus stop (#2!!!) and got an empty bus which quickly filled to capacity by the time we got to stop #1. We were at MK in line when the security guard made the announcement, "First, no stampeding the security guard! Second, please count down with us from 10 and then this honorary family will start our day at the Magic Kingdom!" A little girl in a Cinderella outfit and her family threw pixie dust in the air when we all screamed, "Three, Two, Onnnnnnnnne!" and the gate opened up.
We went on Peter Pan's Flight, Small World and Snow White's Scary Adventure before our 8:30 PS for Cinderella's Royal Table.
I had called six days in a row last year to try for CRT with no luck. Sold out by one minute after 7, Florida time each try.
This year I forgot the first day, sixty days out. The second day, my first call was answered at 7:09am and I got the last table! Wahhhhhhoooooo!
This was a breakfast to treasure. And we did! We took lots of pics with Snow White, Belle, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the Fairy Godmother back downstairs after the breakfast (which I thought was great as I had two servings and three glasses of milk). It was everything we thought it would be and little Lauren just beamed each time a Princess came up to our table. It was worth everything everyone says it is! To commemorate the event, I told Lauren to pick out one of the $12 rings at the Castle's store. She picked a really nice bright pink marquise cut stone with diamonds on either side! Everywhere we went, Cast Members and others would ask where she got the ring. She would say, "My daddy bought it for me after we had breakfast with Cinderella. He got me the breakfast too!" It warmed my heart every time.
We got a picture trying to pull the sword out of the stone but didn't get to see the show.
We took more Disboards advice and got out of EE MK and went to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day.
We saw the Lion King show, Tarzan Rocks (again!) and It's Tough to Be a Bug (again!). This time Lauren was scared of the bugs where last year she just laughed. Funny, the differences between 5 and 6 years old. You would think getting older she would be more fearless. Some Disney tricks work at older ages I guess.
The rain struck us for the first time and we bought ponchos. Last year we got rained on every day for about 4-6 hours each day. Our first two days this year were just sprinkles. Last year I got tired of my shoes and socks being soaked. This time I just put my socks in my short's pockets and held my shoes under my poncho. I walked around barefoot in the 90+ degree heat and I was as happy as a clam. Robin (DW) and Lauren wore sandles so they didn't mind either.
Kilamanjaro Safaris was empty so we hopped on and the rain stopped. Again, this attraction is just so terrific! I don't remember the bridge breaking the last time and when our driver hit it and it started to tip, the Disney magic got me big time. I grabbed Lauren as she was to my left and my DW was to my right. Robin & Lauren got a good laugh at my reaction but I shot back that it wasn't as bad as Robin's fear in the Carousel of Progress!
We had pizza at the Pizzafari restaurant and loved the multicolored painted wood bats hanging from the ceiling.
We watched the parade and then walked behind it as we wanted to catch a bus home when it was done. Let me tell you all, follow this parade if you can. Mickey is high atop the last float waving to the crowd. I was overwhelmed by the happiness of seeing hundreds of people point at Mickey, draw their kids' attention to him, wave, yell, smile and take pictures. I took it all in and marveled at our diverse humanity's similar nature of cheer when we see this big cartoon mouse that started it all!
Day 4, Mickey gave us our wake up call at 7:30am and we went to Blizzard Beach. We heard they were filled to capacity the day before by 10am. We went to Typhoon Lagoon last year so we wanted to try BB. It was great! We took the chair lift and raced on the Tobagon Racer. Lauren started out ahead but my weight sped me past her and Robin and I ended wayyyyy at the end, spun over and got a picture of them with our disposable underwater camera I had bought on sale about six months ago for the trip.
We did most of the stuff by the line for the big 60 mph slide was just too huge. Lauren did the T-Bar drop and crossed the floating ice bergs. She slipped on the last one and banged her face hard against the cement on the edge of the pool. Total panic swept over DW and I! Visions of blood stained water, a screaming child, rushing pool guards, a trip to a hospital and a ruined WDW vacation shot through our brains!
Ahhhhhh, Disney! She was fine and laughed about it. The "cement" is a carefully crafted super soft rubbery material that just looks like hard cement. She asked us why we looked so weird and went on about her playing.
Goofy was in the surf and we got a great pic of him and Lauren with a wave crashing over them! Good to have that waterproof camera!
We headed back to CSR for a shower and put on our matching Aloha outfits (collared shirt for me, dressed for the ladies) that were on the last page of the Disney catalog. I bought them for a mother's day present.
We headed to the Polynesian via bus and monorail for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show. We loved it. This show made me feel like I was watching just what Walt Disney wanted his World to be like. It brought culture I would otherwise not know about to me. It was very authentic and enjoyable. The food was good and served very well. I liked the style and the flair. Lauren was mesmerized by the flaming stick twirling. She loved going on stage to learn the hula.
After the show, I took some great pics of Lauren on the Polynesian beach in her luau dress with the pink flowered leis. I took a vertical picture, using the rule of thirds for the horizon, close up of her with the Magic Kingdom castle in the background. I already blew it up to 8x10 and it will be her 6 year old picture on our hall wall at home. This is a great spot for a family pic too!
Be sure to check out the Wylan Art Gallery while you're there. If I ever win the lottery, I want that $32,000 dolphin dining table!
Day 5, we were at my favority, Disney-MGM Studios. We got a pic with a Toy Story green army man and then went right to Playhouse Disney Live which Lauren loved just as much as last year!
I just wipe away tears of joy during the whole show. I worked nights during our daughter's first two years of life to watch her during the day. We spent plenty of time with Playhouse Disney tv in the morning so we both "grew up" on it.
We "played" Who Wants to Be a Millionare and Lauren again loved something we didn't think she would like. They are really smart to have easy Disney related questions in the beginning. This was really fun.
We saw Beauty and the Beast after I got fast passes for the Tower of Terror. Be sure to get to B and the B early to see the "tech guys" before the show. Very funny!
I was so impressed with the theming of Tower of Terror. The attention to detail with the basement boiler room for the service elevator is so real! Take it all in when you go!
I think it's neat that the Disney video doesn't really show you what T of T is all about. We had no idea what it would do. Suffice it to say that DW said she would never go on it again, DD6 was scared but had fun and I thought it's the best ride for big kids at the four parks.
Drizzle started but the Stars & Cars Parade went on with clear umbrellas for the characters. We didn't see it last year and I am a car buff so it was on my "must see" list. I loved it. Ariel's car's ocean water paint was just so sweet!
I used up alot of film during this parade.
Voyage of the Little Mermaid was super with the fish "swimming" around. What a fun concept! See this show if your kids love the Little Mermaid story.
The Great Movie Ride was fun again and this time we got the "gangster" version. I didn't even know there was a version different from the "cowboy" one. I guess there's two lines and you get which every line you happened to get in.
We had a Hollywood & Vine PS with the Fantasmic package so we went to our 6pm dinner. The food was delicious. The pan seared salmon was great and I don't usually like salmon. I love making our own ice cream deserts with our own topping choices. Our server, Amanda, was a riot and lots of fun. We took pics with her! We had a Minnie Mouse character breakfast last year (not available this year) at the H&V and we like the 50's style and the buffet food. I recommend it highly.
I asked Amanda about the Fantasmic deal and she said that all the other people eating paid the same as we did but since I made the PS dinner package 60 days ago, we got the back gate passes for Fanstasmic and these other people weren't getting them.
We took in the Muppets 3D show and just loved it. I grew up on the Muppets dinner time tv show with the famous hosts.
Then on to the back gate entrance for Fantasmic. I broke out the Sleeping Beauty light up spinner and the Princess light up fan I bought months ago at our local Disney Store at 50% off. Lauren thought I just bought them for her right then and loved playing with them while we waited the half hour for Fantasmic to start.
What a show! Outstanding! See it! Don't miss it!
Day 6, back to MK! Dumbo! Pooh's Honey Pot! Haunted Mansion! Tom Sawyer's island (just like I remember it when I was 10 years old...big, lots of stairs, totally lost, waiting for the raft to get back!), then we took in Goofy's Jammin' Jamboree at Frontierland.
Hooray, Lauren's favorite character, Jesse, is there! Lauren's bedroom is Jesse from the Disney Catalog so she enjoyed finally seeing Jesse!
We went back to the CSR to freshen up before going to Downtown Disney. I made a PS the night before for Fulton's Crab House. We ate there last year and loved it so we wanted to go again. We shopped til we dropped. We waited to buy anything at the parks as we knew our Disney Club discount was good only at the DD DisneyStore.
We bought gifts for family members and got Lauren the "My Disney Girl" doll. She loved it! I bought the "Honored Guest" name badges because I thought they were really fun. My DW then relentlessly made fun of me by wearing her name tag and saying, "Ask me a question, I work here!" I guess I had that one coming. I made them into magnets with a little glue and put them on our refridgerator at home.
I bought two xmas ornaments, one for last year because I didn't get one and one for this year. We took a family picture at the "Merry Christmas" statue area and it turned out good enough to be our Christmas photo card for this year's holiday season.
Fulton's was superb as always. Our server was full of insight into Disney and very talkative in a good way. The king crab legs I had were nothing but 1 1/2 pounds of only the big part of the legs with minimal weight from shell (no claws, no joints). Fantastic!
Day 7 we loaded up the car and then spent the whole morning at the Dig Site pool relaxing and playing. At 10am, the pool officially opens. One of the lifeguards called everyone over to the dry stone temple pyramid and had them calling out chants that ended with everyone shrieking, "Wa-ter, wa-ter, wa-ter!"
Then someone remotely turned on the water which cascaded down the stone steps. Very fun. Very Disney!
We took a picture of the entrance to Coronado Springs as we left. This way, we could put in in the beginning of our photo album. There is no other time to take a pic! We also took a pic of DD6 standing by the "Adios! Amigos!" sign as you leave as she put on a fake pout and pretended to wipe away a tear. This is the last photo in this section of our album.
The drive was just about exactly 2 hours to Disney's Vero Beach Resort.
Highway 60 is nothing but miles and miles and miles of orange orchards. Holy cow is that amazing! Now I know where they all come from!
DVBR is unbelievably ritzy and high class! The entrance is breathtaking. Our room was the second fanciest I've ever been to next to the El Conquistador in Puerto Rice on our honeymoon.
We had an ocean view Inn room on the third floor. The view was so wonderful off our balcony. The room was spotless and just like being at a WDW resort. Mickey soap, Mickey everything. Pin trading lanyards around the CM's necks. The Mickey shaped pool was warm and the lighthouse slide is really great.
The lifeguards join in the fun with a big bucket of ice they fill with water at the top of the slide. Then they fill a huge water gun and spray everyone (and I mean everyone) in the pool with ice cold water. Hysterical and fun! They have free water balls to toss around and ping pong and plastic fish hunts and miniature golf and shuffleboard.
The beach is perfect. It's very isolated and super clean. Our first day there was practically no surf and lots of fun to swim around. We collected shells as I had brought a Hobby Lobby driftwood style shadowbox frame and glue to put shells and sand in. We cut out the Disney's Vero Beach emblem from a brochure at the front desk and put it in the lower right hand corner of the frame and surrounded it with shells. It turned out really well.
We had a character breakfast with Goofy and Max that was very much like the CRT breakfast food at Shutters.
One night we signed Lauren up for the 5-8pm kids Disney Discovery Day and then my wife and I had dinner alone together at Shutters and a nice walk on the beach and some quiet time together. Very nice.
The smores bondfire was a blast. I don't know where the young women who run it get their energy!
Robin had brought Off that stated it was good against the infamous "No-See-Ums" biting flies. I never put it on and never got bit by anything. They put it on and never got bit. Some people complained of getting "eaten alive" but we never had a problem.
If you ever go to Vero Beach, let me recommend two things.
One, have dinner at Captain Hiram's just north in Sebastian on Hwy 1. Fantastic classic Florida atmosphere and outstanding fried lobster, crab cakes and seared grouper!!!!!!! I got our pics developed at a Walgreens on Hwy 1 and asked the lady at the counter where to go for dinner. It was her recommendation and now it's mine too.
Second, I went to the Mel Fisher Museum. I was stunned at how cool this (what looks like on the outside) rinky dink museum was.
In 1715, eleven spanish ships sailed from Cuba to Spain loaded down with treasure from the New World for the King of Spain. They encountered a hurricane and all eleven ships and 700 men were lost. Only the French war ship acting as escort made it out.
For 17 years, Mel Fisher searched for the eleven sunken ships, finally finding them in just 50 feet of water just a few hundred yards off the coast of Vero Beach. He located BILLIONS of dollars of treasure. Gold. Silver. Gold medallions with emeralds all over! The museum does a great job of relaying his 17 year search, his 11 year fight with the State of Florida over salvage rights and rewards (ending with the US Supreme Court saying it's all his). The museum is also a processing area for new items. There was gold that was on display that was just located on June 22, 2003...less than a month ago! Fisher found the first ship in 1963 and their still bring up stuff of value!!!!
It's the largest treasure haul every found in the US. Amazing, check it out. For $19.95, I bought a tagged, catalogued, authenticated lead musket ball brought up from the ocean floor from one of the ships. It's almost 300 years old! It's now inside the shadow box of shells from our stay.
After three nights at Vero Beach, recovering from our non-stop pace at WDW, it was time to drive home.
We were sad but excited to get home to see our dog Shelby.
We left at 4:30am and made it to the northern most part of Kentucky before Louisville and stayed at a Holiday Inn. Yep, we swam in the pool! Then we drove until we got home around 12:30pm Florida time. Then we set out watches back to 11:30.
It was a wonderful time again. It was hot but we didn't have a problem. We were just glad the rain wasn't as bad as last year.
I found the CSR and the CBR to be very similar. We liked them both. I think if we were to go again, we'd try Port Orleans. I just feel the wide open resort aspect of the moderates is well worth the minimal increase in price over the value resorts. We can't quiet afford going above the moderates for a 7 day stay at WDW.
Total hotel costs for the Jameson, the Radisson and the Holiday Inn was $183.
Total gasoline costs to WDW, to VB and then back home again was $197.
So the total cost of travel was $380. Last year it was $349 but gas was cheaper.
The best deal I could find for airfare from O'Hare to Orlando was $222 each round trip so that would have been $666 plus Sept 11 security fees, taxes, blah, blah, blah. I would say $700 easy for airfare. Then we would have had to get transportation to the Coronado Springs, to Vero Beach, then back to the airport.
We love to drive. We did it with no TV this time. My wife packed two new electronic games (Candyland and some other one) and some sticker books and magnet people activity books and DD6's leap pad. She used the leap pad alot to learn about the states were passing through.
We kept to our rule about stopping whenever someone had to use a bathroom or was hungry. We made sure our hotels had nice pools.
We had a wonderful time and we're contemplating a Disney Cruise next year. Heck, we have matching Disney tshirts, dresses, light up stuff, name tag pins (!), we gotta keep the Disney theme going right?
Oh yeah, total cost of our trip package was $2187 (WDW moderate for 6 nights and VB for 3 nights and 7 day Park Hopper Plus tickets bought from www.floridaorlandotickets.net even though we didn't use that many days - we wanted to have some left over) and we brought $1500 spending money and had $100 still when we got home.
If anyone has comments or questions, I'd love to hear and answer them. I hoped this trip report helps some of you Disboarders out there with tips like the ones I've gotten from you!
-Steve
PICS ADDED, click here:
http://community.webtv.net/rtteacher/wdw
