Easter Trip (part 1)

[Ballybunion3]

Cast:
DD#1 - 5 years old, all sweetness and light, Disney Nut like her Dad
DD#2 – 15 years old, pretends she’s not having fun
DD#3 – 17 years old, loves Disney, but got tired toward the end of the week
DS – 16 years old, hates all things Disney, played computer games all week
DW – loves Disney, but not the compulsive planner yours truly is
Yours Truly – compulsive Disney planner, loves the magic

Day 1

A 5 hour drive turned into 8 hours due to I-95 being shutdown by an accident. We arrived All Star Sports around 3PM, 3 hours later than expected. Check in was smooth, and despite a long line, complete in 30 minutes. Comments on room later. The plan was to head straight for MK, but after the long drive, DD#1 had other ideas; she wanted to swim. As it turns out, she was the smartest of the lot, because we all felt better after a swim – the 8-hour drive in horrific traffic left me frazzled. Lesson #1 – listen to your body and take rests when you need to. Our 5 year old did just that, and I think she saved the day. We arrived at the TTC around 4:45, and after the inaugural ride on the monorail, we were walking up Main Street USA by 5PM. Since it was Good Friday, we planned on having clam chowder at Columbia Harbor House. We were all famished, so we headed straight there. This turned out to be a great way to start out, because all the kids enjoyed their food, and the second floor was very relaxing (thanks to the tips on this board – we never would have known about this place otherwise). After dinner, DS headed back to the room to play computer games, and the rest of us got FP for BTMRR (7:30). First ride was Pirates of the Caribbean – 15 minute wait. We all loved it, but one complaint – why do certain people insist on throwing their trash in the themed parts of the ride? There are plenty of trash cans throughout…..

Then on to Small World, no wait of course. DD#1 loves this, so does her Mom. Next, on to Mickey’s Toontown, where we hop on to the Barnstormer with little wait. This turned out to be a little gem – much better than I expected. The initial rise lifted us to a beautiful view of the castle (purple lights) with a full moon just behind it. DD#1 and I had the front seat, and she thought that was very cool. Quick but fun ride. It was getting close to our FP time, so we hopped on the train to BTMRR. Great ride – much better than I remembered – is it better at night?

After BTMRR, grabbed some Mickey bars and found a great spot for Spectromagic Parade right across from Pecos Bill’s. The parade was a lot of fun – a couple of characters gave hugs to our DDs (Baloo?). We were pretty wiped out by then, so we started heading out to beat the fireworks mob. Boarded the ferry, and just as she cast off, the fireworks started, and we had a great view from the stern – a very magical ending to our first night.
Days 2-7 to follow.

Comments on rooms at All Star Sports: much better than I expected. Perfectly maintained, bigger than I expected (we had 2 rooms), a great value. The $10 refillable mugs are a must – no need to drag along soda if you buy the mugs. You can get unlimited soda, lemonade, tea, coffee. We got far more than our money’s worth, and you can bring them back for your next trip. The sports theme was much better than I expected – it really worked. The pools were immaculate, and the Home Run pool made you feel like you were in a stadium. I highly recommend All Star Sports. Touchdown was equidistant between the pools, and very convenient to the food court )which also was quite good for variety & quality).

By the way – for all who go to All Stars – don’t sweat the room or building assignment too much; they’re all good, and I actually liked Music the best of the three for theme/appearance.

Overall comments based on remotelyyours warnings:

It WAS EXTREMELY crowded all week; however, we went in at opening (30 minutes earlier than posted time) and had very little difficulty doing what we wanted. By 11-12:00, however, ALL parks were absolute gridlock. I do agree about certain CMs being rather gruff & borderline rude. We took pool/nap time in the afternoon, and the crowds did NOT reduce at night, by & large. This only affected us a couple of times, which I will expand upon later. The All Stars was fine (glad I got a value resort!). We expected large crowds, and got 'em, but I think we managed pretty well. If you are a first-timer, do NOT even think about going on Easter week - you'll get swallowed whole.

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Sounds like your trip is starting off on the right foot. Of course any time is a great time to have a Mickey bar - but that is just my humble opinion. Thanks for posting!

 

[yepod]

Thanks for the report

Looking forward to more

 

[Girls Scout Leader]

I love all the trip reports that everyone takes the time to write, and I enjoy them to the fullest. I certainly plan on writing up a very complete one when I return rom our June 2004. But I must make this reply to this one. How do you justifiy what you must feel is acceptable behavior from your son? Do you really let him miss new experiences, cultures and everything else when ever you travel, be it Disney or somewhere else, by letting him play mindless games intead of joining his family? How closed minded, self centered and egostistical is he? I realize Disney may not be everyone's cup of tea, but to just turn into a vegetabel when obviously a great deal of time and $$ is spent on his behalf! By joining in something he may not be particularly fond of shows maturity, tolerance and giving. It is unbelieveable that some find this aceptable. And he just might unexpectatly find something enjoyable and braoden his horizons. This is why my children is limited onthe amount of time spent on computers and in front of the tv. Please get him off the couch and moving.

 

[Girls Scout Leader]

I love all the trip reports that everyone takes the time to write, and I enjoy them to the fullest. I certainly plan on writing up a very complete one when I return rom our June 2004. But I must make this reply to this one. How do you justifiy what you must feel is acceptable behavior from your son? Do you really let him miss new experiences, cultures and everything else when ever you travel, be it Disney or somewhere else, by letting him play mindless games intead of joining his family? How closed minded, self centered and egostistical is he? I realize Disney may not be everyone's cup of tea, but to just turn into a vegetabel when obviously a great deal of time and $$ is spent on his behalf! By joining in something he may not be particularly fond of shows maturity, tolerance and giving. It is unbelieveable that some find this aceptable. And he just might unexpectatly find something enjoyable and braoden his horizons. This is why my children is limited onthe amount of time spent on computers and in front of the tv. Please get him off the couch and moving.

 

[Girls Scout Leader]

I love all the trip reports that everyone takes the time to write, and I enjoy them to the fullest. I certainly plan on writing up a very complete one when I return rom our June 2004. But I must make this reply to this one. How do you justifiy what you must feel is acceptable behavior from your son? Do you really let him miss new experiences, cultures and everything else when ever you travel, be it Disney or somewhere else, by letting him play mindless games intead of joining his family? How closed minded, self centered and egostistical is he? I realize Disney may not be everyone's cup of tea, but to just turn into a vegetabel when obviously a great deal of time and $$ is spent on his behalf! By joining in something he may not be particularly fond of shows maturity, tolerance and giving. It is unbelieveable that some find this aceptable. And he just might unexpectatly find something enjoyable and braoden his horizons. This is why my children is limited onthe amount of time spent on computers and in front of the tv. Please get him off the couch and moving.

 

[Girls Scout Leader]

I love all the trip reports that everyone takes the time to write, and I enjoy them to the fullest. I certainly plan on writing up a very complete one when I return rom our June 2004. But I must make this reply to this one. How do you justifiy what you must feel is acceptable behavior from your son? Do you really let him miss new experiences, cultures and everything else when ever you travel, be it Disney or somewhere else, by letting him play mindless games intead of joining his family? How closed minded, self centered and egostistical is he? I realize Disney may not be everyone's cup of tea, but to just turn into a vegetabel when obviously a great deal of time and $$ is spent on his behalf! By joining in something he may not be particularly fond of shows maturity, tolerance and giving. It is unbelieveable that some find this aceptable. And he just might unexpectatly find something enjoyable and braoden his horizons. This is why my children is limited onthe amount of time spent on computers and in front of the tv. Please get him off the couch and moving.

 

[QuickGold]

Sounds like you had some great fun. Glad to hear large crowds didn't bog you down too much(or you didn't let on that it did ) Cant wait to read more.

 

[Ballybunion3]

Those were an awful lot of assumptions you
made based on a poorly written email trip report that
I sent. My son is close to his Tae Kwon Do Black Belt,
he is going for a ROTC scholarship, he's on the honor roll,
doesn't drink, smoke or take drugs. Yes he does play
computer games, but he did join us for much of
our touring at WDW. He even enjoyed Fantasmic,
and loved the Safari & animation tour (he loves computers, and
is very talented with them). I was trying to use
a little humor, but I probably didn't express myself
very well. I don't think it's helpful at all to
make judgements like that.

This medium of email discussion board can be a double
edged sword. Trying to be helpful by sending a trip report
because I got so much help in preparing for our trip from
this discussion board - oh well.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Tartan Tigger]

Great report, good to hear positive comments about the All Stars.

 

[cressy]

Ballybunion3-
Like you, i am going to file a trip report soon as thanks for all the help I've gotten from these boards. Like you, I also have a child(DD13) who enjoys her computer time, her thing is Instant Messenger, she freaks if she's not in contact with her friends. While I admit that if I had total control over my 13 year old, I would choose for her to spend less of her free time on this, however, like your son, she's very involved in sports,school, music and other extra-curricular activities. I feel like she deserves a certain amount of respect regarding the activities that seem most important to her, and after all, it is her vacation, too. DD would have her IM time when we chose to do things like go to the pool(she's on the Y swim team and says she'sSICK of swimming), and when we returned from the parks in the evening. I got the impression that your comment about your DS's spending all day on computer games was tongue-in-cheek, only after wondering about what brought on the scathing comments by another reader. I also think it magnanimous of you to give that reader the benefit of the doubt.As a parent I try to be careful about judging other's parenting choices, as one can not possibly know what is best for another's child. I can only make choices for my own children, and learn from others' mistakes and successes.

I'm glad you all had a great time; we also spent 9 hours of misery on I-4.!!

 

[Ballybunion3]

Cressy, very nice of you to say those things.

I too wish my DS enjoyed WDW more, but he
did have a fun vacation, and even admitted
that he really enjoyed Fantasmic, the
Safari & Jungle Trek (Tigers), the Amimation Tour -
so yes, he did get off the couch Whoops - we
didn't have a couch - we were at the All Stars -- LOL.

He particularly enjoyed our time on the Boardwalk,
and was responsible for our high-speed loops
around the lake on a Surry Bike! He swam a lot with
our 5 year old, which was great for giving me & DW a
breather!

I did take offense initially at the flame response,
but that's the risk you take by writing a trip
report - you never know when you'll upset
someone. I never saw that one coming -
Hope I didn't sound too defensive in my
response, but I'm very proud of my kids - I
probably didn't express that very well in my
TR.

Thanks again for your kind words, and if
you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

BTW - my 2 teenage girls are forever trying to get
on IM - but we only have one access, and thankfully
that limits their time!