Easter Trip Resport- Universal/IOA/Fairy Godmother/Polynesian/Disney/Disney wonder (4 day)
DH (41), me (31), DS (almost 7), DD (5) and DD 94)
We spent the first 4 nights at Hard Rock Hotel. The kids had never been to Universal. DH and I havent been there since they added IOA and resorts. We were blown away with the changes. The entire CityWalk was a parking lot last time.
HARD ROCK HOTEL- It didnt hit me how much smaller the rooms were than a Disney deluxe until we switched over to Polynesian. We didnt spend a lot of time in the room, so it wasnt a big deal. We did have Concierge service. Despite the negative comments I had head about it, we loved concierge. The staff was friendly and helpful. The drinks were stocked up all day. As far as food, Id rank it a step up from GFs Sugar Loaf but not as good as Beach Club. They offered mini hot dogs one night, meatballs 2 nights and a taco type set up once. They also had out veggies and cheese. Our room was the closest you could be to the lounge so it was Very convenient to hop down for breakfast (bagels, toast, and cereal) or a drink. The pool was great (a bit crowded) not as warm as the Disney pools but not comfortable. We had Cabana 7 one day and that was a nice bonus. WE ordered dinner from the cabana and the kids watched TV and relaxed after swimming. With the concierge discount, I would rent a cabana again if I knew I was planning on a day with a lot of pool time. One last word, HRH location is the best.
IOA/UNIVERSAL: My biggest surprise was that we ended up enjoying Universal more than IOA. I thought, with young kids, that wed spend 1 day at Universal and most of the time at IOA. It was exactly the opposite. We liked IOA (you really felt like you were in a Seuss book), but we only spent 1 day there. Universal was awesome. We all loved Shrek. I think it was my favorite new attraction (edging out Philharmagic by a nose). The kids loved Jimmy Neutron. They also enjoyed ET, Jaws, and meeting all the characters (Shrek and the princess, Jimmy Neutron, Donny, Spongebob, Seuss characters etc). Another big hit at Universal was the playgrounds. We spent a couple evenings in those. By night time they werent crowded and they were a lot of fun for the kids and for Tom and me. That ball area was great. We must have spent an hour in there and this was after we had decided we were done for the night. Universal Orlando has a great set up. It was so nice to be able to walk between both parks. We also enjoyed City Walk. We ate lunch at Margaretville and Hard Rock. Tom and I had dinner at Emerils .very very good. Nothing in the theme park world beets the front of the line privileges for resort guests. During Easter break our longest wait was 6 minutes. We did technically have to wait 12 for Shrek because they were in the middle of a show when we got there, but I cannot really count that. It was amazing. It was so great to just decide you wanted to do something and just go do it no lines, no itinerary. I will definitely include a couple nights at Universal for all my upcoming Florida trips. With front of the line, I would say 2 nights (3 days) would be plenty to see/do everything a number of times. I also can see how these 2 parks will continue to be even more fun as the kids get older. That being said, I could never go to Florida and not do Disney. We still felt that we were going home when we switched over to the Polynesian.
FAIRY GODMOTHER: Once again our experience with the Fairy Godmothers babysitting service was outstanding. Our Godmother, Vera (weve used her on 3 trips now) seemed genuinely happy to see the kids again. She took them down to the lounge for cookies and a drink before bed. She brought 2 bags of toys and was very entertaining. My kids love our sitter night as much as any other night.
POLYNESIAN: It was gorgeous. The pool was great. Thats my favorite water slide yet. I liked it even better than Beach Clubs slide because my kids werent intimidated by it. WE had a first floor room in Tahiti. What a location!! We had a perfect view of the castle. We could walk to the TTC in less than 5 minutes. That gave us direct monorail access to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot. As great as the Polynesian was, Grand Floridian is still our favorite but we hope to try all of the resorts. We used Neverland one night (our first time using one of the clubs) and the kids loved it. Tom and I ate at OHannas that night. It was fantastic!!! One other highlight. Polynesian had an Easter egg hunt on Easter morning. We were able to do this as a final touch before heading to the cruise. Donald, Daisy (both dressed up) and the Easter Bunny were there. They had different sections for each age group and plenty of candy (good candy) for everyone.
DISNEY: What can I say We LOVE it!! Philharmagic was a lot of fun. Wishes was great. We hit Fantasmic again (a big favorite for us). We tried something different and drove over to MGM on our Fantasmic night. It worked out great. We were out of the park and back at our resort so fast .much better than waiting for the bus. We managed to squeeze our favorites from all 4 parks into 3 days. The crowds really didnt bother us of affect our touring. The only time I felt the crowd was when exiting Magic Kingdom after Wishes but its like that anytime of year.
DISNEY WONDER: After 11.5 months of singing I want to be on the Disney Wonder, we made it. It was our second DCL cruise and once again it was awesome. As an amazing fluke, my DSs friend was on the ship (we knew ahead of time). Well my 3 kids and there 2 kids had a great time together. They danced at the deck parties, played in the club/lab and had so much fun. We spent the entire day on Castaway Cay with them. The 4 adults even managed an adult brunch at Palo together while the kids were in the club. The shows (Hercules, Golden Mickeys and Dreams) were fantastic. Golden Mickeys was new for us and we really enjoyed it. My DH went to the theater and saw Alamo. I took the kids to see Home on the Range (very cute). The food was great. I love the barbeque at Cookies (on CC) was amazing. I love those ribs and lobster burgers. We battled the weather all trip and we won. Our Castaway Cay day started off cloudy with a sprinkle. It didnt stop us from having fun and within an hour it was sunny and gorgeous. I could spend a week on this island. The 5 kids played together and the adults were able to pull 4 sand chairs up near the water and have a drink, relax and talk. It was perfect. Im so happy my pictures turned out because it was the perfect day. Our connecting staterooms (secret porthole rooms) were great. Its so nice to have the extra room and the extra bathroom. We had cute towel creatures every night. Our servers were so good that were requesting them for our Thanksgiving cruise. We had Nikola and Pierre from France. Really, I cannot say enough good things about DCL. We rebooked a 7 day cruise while onboard. We booked an imaginary date because we are going to switch dates when Disney finally announces its plans (probably West Coast) for the summer of 2005. The 10% discount and the $400 onboard credit (2 rooms) is a great perk for us. Hopefully next summer well be celebrating DisneyLands 50th anniversary with our first trip our west and capping it off with a 7 day Magic cruise from LA.
Jess
DH (41), me (31), DS (almost 7), DD (5) and DD 94)
We spent the first 4 nights at Hard Rock Hotel. The kids had never been to Universal. DH and I havent been there since they added IOA and resorts. We were blown away with the changes. The entire CityWalk was a parking lot last time.
HARD ROCK HOTEL- It didnt hit me how much smaller the rooms were than a Disney deluxe until we switched over to Polynesian. We didnt spend a lot of time in the room, so it wasnt a big deal. We did have Concierge service. Despite the negative comments I had head about it, we loved concierge. The staff was friendly and helpful. The drinks were stocked up all day. As far as food, Id rank it a step up from GFs Sugar Loaf but not as good as Beach Club. They offered mini hot dogs one night, meatballs 2 nights and a taco type set up once. They also had out veggies and cheese. Our room was the closest you could be to the lounge so it was Very convenient to hop down for breakfast (bagels, toast, and cereal) or a drink. The pool was great (a bit crowded) not as warm as the Disney pools but not comfortable. We had Cabana 7 one day and that was a nice bonus. WE ordered dinner from the cabana and the kids watched TV and relaxed after swimming. With the concierge discount, I would rent a cabana again if I knew I was planning on a day with a lot of pool time. One last word, HRH location is the best.
IOA/UNIVERSAL: My biggest surprise was that we ended up enjoying Universal more than IOA. I thought, with young kids, that wed spend 1 day at Universal and most of the time at IOA. It was exactly the opposite. We liked IOA (you really felt like you were in a Seuss book), but we only spent 1 day there. Universal was awesome. We all loved Shrek. I think it was my favorite new attraction (edging out Philharmagic by a nose). The kids loved Jimmy Neutron. They also enjoyed ET, Jaws, and meeting all the characters (Shrek and the princess, Jimmy Neutron, Donny, Spongebob, Seuss characters etc). Another big hit at Universal was the playgrounds. We spent a couple evenings in those. By night time they werent crowded and they were a lot of fun for the kids and for Tom and me. That ball area was great. We must have spent an hour in there and this was after we had decided we were done for the night. Universal Orlando has a great set up. It was so nice to be able to walk between both parks. We also enjoyed City Walk. We ate lunch at Margaretville and Hard Rock. Tom and I had dinner at Emerils .very very good. Nothing in the theme park world beets the front of the line privileges for resort guests. During Easter break our longest wait was 6 minutes. We did technically have to wait 12 for Shrek because they were in the middle of a show when we got there, but I cannot really count that. It was amazing. It was so great to just decide you wanted to do something and just go do it no lines, no itinerary. I will definitely include a couple nights at Universal for all my upcoming Florida trips. With front of the line, I would say 2 nights (3 days) would be plenty to see/do everything a number of times. I also can see how these 2 parks will continue to be even more fun as the kids get older. That being said, I could never go to Florida and not do Disney. We still felt that we were going home when we switched over to the Polynesian.
FAIRY GODMOTHER: Once again our experience with the Fairy Godmothers babysitting service was outstanding. Our Godmother, Vera (weve used her on 3 trips now) seemed genuinely happy to see the kids again. She took them down to the lounge for cookies and a drink before bed. She brought 2 bags of toys and was very entertaining. My kids love our sitter night as much as any other night.
POLYNESIAN: It was gorgeous. The pool was great. Thats my favorite water slide yet. I liked it even better than Beach Clubs slide because my kids werent intimidated by it. WE had a first floor room in Tahiti. What a location!! We had a perfect view of the castle. We could walk to the TTC in less than 5 minutes. That gave us direct monorail access to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot. As great as the Polynesian was, Grand Floridian is still our favorite but we hope to try all of the resorts. We used Neverland one night (our first time using one of the clubs) and the kids loved it. Tom and I ate at OHannas that night. It was fantastic!!! One other highlight. Polynesian had an Easter egg hunt on Easter morning. We were able to do this as a final touch before heading to the cruise. Donald, Daisy (both dressed up) and the Easter Bunny were there. They had different sections for each age group and plenty of candy (good candy) for everyone.
DISNEY: What can I say We LOVE it!! Philharmagic was a lot of fun. Wishes was great. We hit Fantasmic again (a big favorite for us). We tried something different and drove over to MGM on our Fantasmic night. It worked out great. We were out of the park and back at our resort so fast .much better than waiting for the bus. We managed to squeeze our favorites from all 4 parks into 3 days. The crowds really didnt bother us of affect our touring. The only time I felt the crowd was when exiting Magic Kingdom after Wishes but its like that anytime of year.
DISNEY WONDER: After 11.5 months of singing I want to be on the Disney Wonder, we made it. It was our second DCL cruise and once again it was awesome. As an amazing fluke, my DSs friend was on the ship (we knew ahead of time). Well my 3 kids and there 2 kids had a great time together. They danced at the deck parties, played in the club/lab and had so much fun. We spent the entire day on Castaway Cay with them. The 4 adults even managed an adult brunch at Palo together while the kids were in the club. The shows (Hercules, Golden Mickeys and Dreams) were fantastic. Golden Mickeys was new for us and we really enjoyed it. My DH went to the theater and saw Alamo. I took the kids to see Home on the Range (very cute). The food was great. I love the barbeque at Cookies (on CC) was amazing. I love those ribs and lobster burgers. We battled the weather all trip and we won. Our Castaway Cay day started off cloudy with a sprinkle. It didnt stop us from having fun and within an hour it was sunny and gorgeous. I could spend a week on this island. The 5 kids played together and the adults were able to pull 4 sand chairs up near the water and have a drink, relax and talk. It was perfect. Im so happy my pictures turned out because it was the perfect day. Our connecting staterooms (secret porthole rooms) were great. Its so nice to have the extra room and the extra bathroom. We had cute towel creatures every night. Our servers were so good that were requesting them for our Thanksgiving cruise. We had Nikola and Pierre from France. Really, I cannot say enough good things about DCL. We rebooked a 7 day cruise while onboard. We booked an imaginary date because we are going to switch dates when Disney finally announces its plans (probably West Coast) for the summer of 2005. The 10% discount and the $400 onboard credit (2 rooms) is a great perk for us. Hopefully next summer well be celebrating DisneyLands 50th anniversary with our first trip our west and capping it off with a 7 day Magic cruise from LA.
Jess
