eeya, Disney, eeya!!!

[Tosie]

A little background/pre-trip report

Cast:

Me (39.75) planner, obssessed Disney freak, lover of Splash Mountain, this is my 6th trip

DH (40), creator of the Disney freak I have become, glad he is just along for the ride and doesn't have to plan anything, lover of anything that doesn't spin, Star Wars geek, trip #12 or 13 for him

DS (10) birthday boy, Junior Star Wars geek, recent convert to the joys of Splash Mountain. This is his 4th trip.

DD (5) lover of all things pink and princessy, water fanatic, somewhat dramatic at times. Is food allergic. This is her 3rd trip.
**********************************************************
So we love Disney. We were just there last October to celebrate dh's 40th/dd's 5th birthdays. The trip wasn't one of our best due to the weather and dh and dd's health. She got real sick there and he got real sick when we got home. We were there for 9 days in the humidity and constant teasing rain and it wreaked havoc on their already compromised immune systems. Lesson learned - adjustments must be made to future planning.

Anywho, flash forward to February of 06. Dh and I are discussing ds' upcoming 10th birthday (actually in April) and we decide we want to do something really special. He's a blessing - a really good kid. He's kind and compassionate, has a wickedly dry sense of humor and is uncommonly polite. When adults address him, he speaks clearly and intelligibly (unlike some of his peers, who grunt or stare blankly). He gets great grades and most importantly, takes a lot of crap from his sister and STILL plays with her when she begs him to. We are very lucky he picked us to be his parents.

So kind of out of the blue and almost jokingly, I say, what about a quick trip to Disney? I'm thinking maybe a long weekend. Much to my glee dh says, price it out. Whoo hoo - I get to enter Planning Mode. I'm always so happy there.

There was a tiny glitch in our original plan and that was Spring Break Pricing. Ouch.

OK, time to comparison shop. Checked an online agency, Disney's website, a local storefront agency (who planned our last near-death experience in October) and good old local AAA office. AAA came in with the lowest price. Poor Ethel, my TA, she probably wishes she had taken a sick day that day.

Whoo hoo - going to Disney again!!!

So later that day I'm on my Disney high and I'm driving home and suddenly the Disney file drawer in my brain (you know you have them too) labeled "S-ST" pops open and I remember.

Star Wars Weekend.

Huzzah - I am a genius! It's too perfect - I rush home to check the dates, praying it doesn't start in June, I need a May weekend for my Star Wars fans.

I call Ethel with the new dates and she gives me lower prices. Love ya, Ethel. Mean it. (Side note here: over the next two weeks I added a day, changed hotels twice, and had poor Ethel running herself ragged between the phone and her printer. I owe Ethel big time.)

Our trip is officially booked on Valentine's Day.

Our trip is also a secret.
**********************************************************

The Plan:

Keep said secret for the next 3 months. Give me strength, Lord.
Make ADRs when kids are in school. Remake ADRs several more times.
Collect unbelievably cool t-shirt designs from the talented DDAs and make some t-shirts.
Create an itinerary book to present to ds on The Big Day.

Pick ds up from school mid-day on departure day and unload the surprise.

Begin the countdown.

:::sigh::: This is gonna be hard....

Next up...The Big Reveal

 

[Tosie]

Once again, a brief re-introduction to our cast:

Me (39 and sliding into the home stretch of my 30s)
DH (40) Giddy as a schoolgirl and our personal ATM
DS (10) Clueless
DD (5) Also clueless
**********************************************************
The Big Day has finally arrived. Friday, May 19th. Everything is packed, loaded into the van. MIL is driving us to Newark airport and taking care of Miko (our df - devilish ferret) and Blaze and Bowie (dhc - dear hermit crabs).

We tell dd that we need to drive Grammy to pick up her car but first we have to pick up her brother from school because we think we might not make it back for the bus drop-off. How clever are we???? We make sure her bladder is empty and we are off to pick up ds.

It's about 1 pm and we stroll into the main office and request our son for dismissal. My dh is constantly harrassing and teasing the office ladies so they trade some witty banter while we wait for ds to come down. We let them in on the secret and they are properly excited for us. (We live in a very small town and our school is K-8. There are less than 500 kids in the school and those ladies know all of them and their families). They wish us well and we tell ds the same b.s. story about grammy's car before making him
use the facilities as well.

Once we get to the van, we make him sit down with his sister and I turn on the video camera. We hand him the itinerary book I made for him and tell him to read it out loud. By Page 3 he has caught on and is completely shocked! His sister hasn't really clued in and when he tells her we are going to Disney RIGHT NOW she is so excited she starts to cry a little! I'm so glad we caught it on video!!

He reads the itinerary and then we make them buckle up and we are off to the airport!

Next Up:

How many gates does it take to get a plane off the ground?

 

[Tosie]

We live about 45 minutes from Newark airport so I knew I'd have some time to kill on the trip there. I went to Home Depot earlier in the day and picked up about 15 different colored Mickey head paint swatches. While we drove I cut all the heads out (more about them later) while the kids talked about the things they wanted to do on this trip. It was raining a little but nothing that was worrying me - I was pretty sure it wouldn't affect our departure. Well, I was half right.

We arrive at the airport and MIL gives us all kisses and says have a great time, buy me a pin. She and FIL gave the kids each $25 to spend on souvenirs. They are awesome - I am very lucky to have married into this particular family.

We check our 2 bags (our big one weighed 49 pounds - I am THAT good) and went to find bathrooms and our gate. Or should I say, our first gate.

Our first gate, the one printed on our boarding passes was Gate 80. The flight was scheduled to leave at 4:20 and it was probably around 2:30 at this point. We got situated by the window so the kids could watch the planes and I wouldn't have to listen to the constant chatter of dd (she tends to prattle on when waiting for something). In hindsight, I can now remember some very slight, quiet commotion happening at the desk. At the time, it just didn't register.

After awhile they announce that our plane is still en route to the airport and as soon as it arrives and de-planed, they will clean it and get it ready for us to depart. OK, great, thanks for the update.

Not too long after that, they make another announcement. They are changing our gate to Gate 81 - so we all gather up our stuff and we're off to Gate 81 - really just a hop, skip and jump away (although I didn't actually see anyone hopping, skipping or jumping.) All the seats were taken so I propped myself up against a post, did a quick head count and hoped this wouldn't be a long wait. The guy at the desk started to make another announcement and I saw his counterpart make the "stop talking now" hand-slicing-the-neck motion to him. Curious.

At this point I know dh is silently cursing me and wishing we had taken a morning flight. I know this because I was cursing myself for not booking an earlier flight. Oh well. Lesson #2 learned.

Just when I thought it was over...that PA system snaps on again with one last request (and they actually promised it would be the last) - please move over to Gate 95 for the REAL departure.

My fellow Jerseyans didn't disappoint me. They didn't groan or complain or moan or threaten legal action. We have thick skin - we take a lot of crap from the rest of the country about our state (some of it completely justified) so we did the only thing we knew how to do - we laughed. We gathered our bags, our kids, whatever else was in grabbing distance and we trudged over to Gate 95, smiling, chuckling and shaking our heads.

Love ya Jersey. Mean it.

Shortly thereafter, we DID get on the plane. Almost two hours late, but we got on and it got up in the air. We watched some unfunny sitcoms, enjoyed some microscopic turkey sandwiches and before I knew it, we were landing.

Up Next:

Revisiting the Value Resort Experience

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Can't wait for more.

 

[PoohGal05]

Good report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[mkjmom]

Great start to your report. I can't wait to read more. I give you a lot of credit for being able to hold a secret that you are going to WDW for so long. I would love to surprise my kids like that, but I'm afraid I'd burst with excitement waiting for the departure day to arrive. Good for you!!!

 

[twoprincesses]

Great so far! Can't wait for the rest!

 

[MagicMe]

Enjoying your TR so far. Can't wait for more!

 

[Tosie]

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my report - I tend to be detailed and the fact that you are still hanging on is a great compliment - so thank you!
**********************************************************

I love the airport in Orlando. It's so....I don't know...tropical? It's just pleasing to the eye and always gives me a big vacation rush when I walk in. It's MUCH different from Newark, which is not so very tropical. I also love that first monorail ride to baggage. Ds and dd were thrilled because we had the front car and they got to sit and watch us pull in to the building. After the previous airport experience, I suppose this was much more exciting.

Roger from Sunray was waiting for us and we were on our way. Sunray's cars are always so immaculate and comfy. I already have them booked for our next trip. You cannot go wrong with Sunray - please consider using them in the future - you won't be disappointed. (end of commercial).

We had a grocery stop scheduled and I think they normally take you to Publix. But it was late and that was closed so we headed to Albertson's instead. I liked that store - there are none in my area back home. We grabbed some water, some bread, bananas and some snacks and we were out of there in 10 minutes.

During the initial planning stages of this trip, dh and decided we would choose a resort that we thought the kids would enjoy the most. The only other value we've stayed at was All Star Movies in 2000 (ds was 3 and dd was not here yet). I had heard so much about Pop Century and seen loads of pictures so it seemed like the obvious choice.

(Before I knew that Disney would be offering free dining to me for my birthday, I had upgraded us from Pop to Wilderness Lodge, dh and my personal favorite resort. Figuring I was pushing the envelope as it was with 2 trips within 8 months of each other, I thought I should grab the chance to stay at my favorite place because I didn't know when I'd be back again. Little did I know, Disney remembered my looming entrance to middle age and kindly dangled the free dining carrot in front of me. What's a girl to do? I had no choice but to book myself a birthday trip. After all ladies, if we don't do it ourselves, will it really get done???)

But I digress. We were safely (re)booked at Pop and on our way! Pop is a visually stunning resort, in my opinion. Not in a beautiful sense but in an "everywhere you look there's something to see" sense. The kids loved it, especially the check in area. Dh was thrilled to see a real Big Wheel hanging off the wall! There was only 2 or 3 people in front of us and in less than a minute we were speaking with a CM who was earning her ears and had a nametag on that said "Lety." She was very friendly and despite a small printing error with dh's room key she did a great job. Dh took the opportunity to ask her what "earning her ears" meant (he could have just as easily asked me, duh) and she said "It means I'm new." Then he asked her how to pronounce her nametag. She told us that it wasn't actually hers, she was borrowing it and that her true identity was Angie. Well, whoever she was, she got us checked in quickly and painlessly, showed us where to find our room and wished us a Magical stay.

Before we went to our room we stopped at Everything Pop. Those teeny turkey sandwiches from the plane had long since completed their job and we were all a little hungry. Dh (coffee junkie) immediately chose a mug and we went to find some food. We paid cash for this meal because I didn't want to start using the dining plan until the following day. We got a very messy chili cheese dog, some chicken tenders and some drinks (plus the mug) for around $34.00. Dd ate some french fries and I shared ds' chicken, which was actually pretty tasty.

We went back to the luggage depot to grab our bags and went to find our room. Now, my one secret wish while I was waiting for the trip to start was that we wouldn't get put in the 80s or 90s. I just lived through those decades - they are still too fresh in my mind. I wanted the 50s, 60s or 70s, simply from a theming perspective. So of course, our room was in the 90s building. Oh poop. Oh well, no big deal, we won't be there much anyway, and look here's the bus stop and here's the pool so we're not far from the two places we'll be the most. We were in Room 9252 which overlooked a golf cart type vehicle filled with towels for the duration of the trip.

The room was cute - dd was thrilled to see Ariel prominently displayed on our wall collage. I had forgotten how truly small the rooms were. Is there a full inch between the opening door and the bed, or toilet, if you're in that part of the room? No biggie - kids were excited and immediately put on the TV. The next few days would be spent switching between Stacy's whiny, looped spiel about the 7 greatest things to do at the moment (dd's favorite channel) and Jetix (ds-cartoon head), which I actually dislike more than Cartoon Network.

Dh went to return the luggage cart thing and I quickly unpacked. I vowed to stay more organized this trip! Got the kids into pjs and they brushed their teeth and they were out! Dh came back (with a full mug, may I point out - I think he's fills it just for the fun of it) and set up our wake up call for 7 am (before I could tell him to make it for 7:03 or some such off time) and we all settled in for some much needed sleep.

Ack. Those beds are small. Especially when you have a king bed at home. And when you sleep with a five year old who holds the gold medal in sleeprobatics. But we were all so tired, even the pounding footsteps outside our door really didn't bother us very much. (That stopped before midnight, and we only heard them again one more night. The feet must have headed home after that).

Next up:

The Magic Kingdom

 

[Tosie]

Waking up bright and early isn't so unpleasant when it happens in WDW, wouldn't you agree? I didn't hear the wake up message but dh said it was Stitch. I sent him off to pick up breakfast for us while I showered and dressed and got the kids and our backpack ready for the day. He was in the food court around 7:30 am and said it was not too bad but just starting to get a little crazy. $18 bought us a plain bagel ($2.29!!!! a bagel with butter at home is $.99), some oatmeal (for dh), a bacon egg & cheese croissant for ds ($5.59) and an egg and cheese croissant for me ($4.79) plus a half pint of milk ($1.79).

We left a little later than I had hoped - about 8:45 am. The bus line for MK was minimal - I am a TGM subscriber so as usual I was pleased to see my investment was working well for us. I can't remember how long the wait was (not excessively long) but much to everyone's surprise, it was NOT a Disney bus that pulled up to whisk us away, but a REAL charter-type bus with nice plushy seats!! Mmmmmm, nothing like a little pixie dust to start our day!!

We arrived at MK and immediately secured a 4 day stroller rental. Did I mention the 5 year old is a tad dramatic at times? This was our way of preventing any unpleasant scenes that may occur if and when her royal tootsies got tired. It also came in handy as a holder for the backpack as we were cruising the parks.

In hindsight, our first stop should have been the hat place. We have a nephew due to make his big debut in July and I wanted to get him his first Mickey ears. The best laid plans...and all that jazz. We never did make it there. Ds is a VMK player and wanted to stop in the VMK shop so we went there first and he poked around. It was empty - just him and the nice lady behind the register. He wanted some of those quest pamphlets and once he had them in his hot little hands we made our way down Main Street. Another thing we should have done right then and there was get my daughter an ice cream cone. Yes, I realize it was about 9:45 am but this was one thing I told her we could do. She has food allergies and I knew the ice cream store carried Tofutti, and she wanted to get it in a cone. But no, being in "mommy mode" it didn't occur to me to ply my kid with ice cream at 9:30 in the morning. I am an idiot.

We also encountered the PhotoPass man who took the only 4 PhotoPass photos of our trip. I had a devil of a time finding those people in the other parks!!! (Luckily I had a regular camera and a digital so our trip has been properly documented.) The one of the kids holding Tink came out really cute.

We were just in time for Cinderellabration, which we hadn't seen yet. There was a small crowd gathered so we joined in. The two main things I liked about the show were that it was loaded with Princesses (kept dd and dh interested) and it was short. Great, on to Fantasyland.

We did Snow White, Philharmagic, and Small World. We took an obligatory photo in front of the Sword in the Stone (a tradition). We wanted to ride Peter Pan but the wait was a little much. It still was not very crowded - but we decided it was time to head to Splash Mountain for dd's inaugural ride.

Once we got there we decided to FastPass it and headed over to ride (in no particular order because I can't remember) Haunted Mansion and Aladdin, we saw the Tiki Room show, which the kids and I had never seen (it was cute) and the kids did the Swiss Family Treehouse with dh. My pin trading ds bought a pin in the Agrabah Bazaar (or maybe it was a pirate dubloon, I'm not sure) and we picked up grammy's requested pin. She's a Chip N Dale fan so we got her a pin of one squirting the other with a squirty flower.

I decide it's time for lunch before things get out of hand at the counter service restaurants and we head over to Pecos Bill's. It was not crowded at all and we got in and out of the food line very quickly. We got 3 cheeseburgers (2 with fries, one with carrots), 2 diet cokes, a huge apple juice and 3 peanut butter brownie desserts. We did use the dining plan but I didn't write down the total for this meal. Having eaten here before, I knew there was nothing on the menu for dd so I had packed her a sandwich that morning in our room. She ate that and the carrots and I felt like she had a decent lunch. As we were leaving it was starting to get crowded so we did a quick potty break and went to use our FastPasses at Splash!!

I think I mentioned in my introduction that I am a Splash junkie. It's my absolute favorite ride. Ds rode it for the first time in October and he was hooked right away. Dd is now tall enough and in preparation I had found some video online of the big drop and we had watched it several times. She was ready to go!! The ride was just as awesome as always and dd loved it, although she said she wasn't sure if she'd go again. We assured her she would go again on our next trip. The photo came out great and seeing as it was her first time I had to buy it!

Dh, dd and ds were all wearing homemade t shirts and were getting nice comments from the CMs all morning. Dh's shirt had a great picture of Captain Hook on it and the CMs that worked the photo counter at Splash were especially impressed. They were shocked when they found out we hadn't bought it at WDW!! (At the end of my report I will have a list of the designers - I just don't have it handy right now).

Once we left Splash we were going to head over to Tomorrowland but it was pretty hot by now and the park was getting crowded. We asked the kids if they wanted to stay or go back and swim and they said SWIM!

Dd had a minor meltdown as we exited because she didn't get her ice cream (Main Street was mobbed for the impending parade and we didn't want to stay) but I promised her a treat later and diverted her attention from ice cream to swimming. It worked.

Up next:

A Swim, A Cruise and Going Tipless

 

[twoprincesses]

Once again, great reporting. I am also a Splash junkie. Last year was DH's first time riding. He swore up and down that he would not go on so I didn't speak to him for an hour. Finally, he gave in and loved it! Yes, I tend to act like a child at WDW.

 

[NEMO344]

I can't wait for the next report.

 

[BlueBayou]

It sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

Sher

 

[Tosie]

We headed back to Pop to change into our swim suits. Our room was near the computer pool so we decided to check that one out first, with the intention of hitting the Hippy Dippy Pool another day. There weren't a whole lot of people enjoying the pool, probably because it was around 3:30-4:00. The kids loved it - when dd found the bin with the life jackets she was in heaven!! She's still kind of a weenie when it comes to pools - clings to the side, stays by the stairs, that sort of thing - but the life jacket gave her some sweet freedom!! Also, my kids are the type who will talk to everyone so they made some friends and all was well.

Dh and I enjoyed the pool antics of a muy macho, seemingly single dad. He had this cute little son, maybe about 4 or 5 years old who he tortured relentlessly. The poor kid didn't like being splashed (bad choice of actvity, sweetie) so of course, Dad did his best to splash the kid at every opportunity. There were a couple moms by the stairs that he was chatting up (dh and I were not quite sure what his intentions were, but we could tell they were questionable, because he kept staring at one woman's spandex-clad nether region) and we overheard him utter this gem about his cute, water-hating son, "He acts like a little girl because he's raised by women." Mmmmm hmmmm. Bet those women would wipe the floor with daddy if they heard THAT one.

Around 5 it was time to drag my kids out of the pool so we could get ready for our ADR at Kona Cafe. I was very excited about this as I had heard so many good reviews and I have never been to the Poly. Dh is anti-Poly because he stayed there as a kid, and now he has heat-related health issues, so being at the Poly gives him pyschosomatic reactions. All that foliage, I guess.

In reality, I think he just says that to save some money.

We headed back to MK to grab the monorail to Poly. We briefly toyed with the idea of taking the boat, but I was afraid we'd be late, so we opted for the monorail. We feel a Disney trip isn't complete without at least ONE ride on the monorail, and the one at the airport just doesn't cut it.

When we arrived at the Poly, this is what I looked like on the outside

This is what I looked like on the inside

I will stay here one day. Dh can stay at Pop.

We checked in at Kona, confirmed we had food allergies, and got our buzzy thing. I found a nice comfy chair and settled in with the buzzy thing while dh and the kids poked around one of the shops. (Dd had been begging for a drink and they came out with a bottle of apple juice, which we all shared).

Our buzzy thing started buzzing and off we went to our "table." We had a really sweet waitress at first (Maria). She went and got the Chef (Tom) as soon as we sat down and he and I discussed the food allergy issue and chose a meal for dd. He was very nice.

Our "table" was the kind that was half a booth, so we were all squeezed into the half-booth but it was so uncomfortable we asked Maria if we could get a bigger table. She said sure and we moved to another section, which unforunately for us, was not her section. But we were much more comfy and we had plenty of room.

I will say that the restaurant was full while we were there. There were several tables with large parties. Dh worked as a waiter when we were in college and I heard the good, the bad and the ugly about that line of work. So you have to do something pretty bad to piss us off when you wait on us.

Along came Malia.

She was brusque when she came to the table. OK, fine, we see the room. It's busy, you're busy. She took our drink orders and disappeared for about 10 minutes. When she came back, dh and ds placed their orders and I placed mine. When she took our drink orders, she reminded us that dd also got an appetizer on the dining plan. There was really only one thing she was interested in - the pot stickers. But these pot stickers came with a "creamy ginger sauce" so I needed to see Chef Tom again to ask him what the ingredients were. I told her we needed to see the chef. She repeated "You need to see the chef?" We said yes, we have a food allergy issue and we have a question.

The look on her face said "I'm not walking all the way back there to get him for you."

She said "What do you need to know?"

Giving her the benefit of the doubt for the moment, I said, "I need to know what makes the sauce creamy on the pot stickers."

She started rattling off the ingredients, and added "There are no nuts in them" and started to walk away.

Loudly I said, "But what makes the sauce CREAMY?"

And, as if I should know, she said "Heavy cream."

Dh and I looked at each other and said "Glad we asked!" The turned to her and said "Our daughter has a severe milk allergy - and there's milk in heavy cream" and wanted to add some choice words but we refrained. This is how I looked This is how I felt

Oddly, the rest of the evening, Malia was surprisingly attentive and much more friendly after that.

The food was really good. I had a Caesar salad and the Asian prime rib, dh had the deadly pot stickers and the filet mignon, ds had the chicken soup and a hot dog, and dd had some pasta. For dessert, ds had the Kilahuea Torte (which WILL come out of a white shirt with a bleach pen - I know this firsthand), dh had the banana creme brulee, and dd had some Tofutti. I had nothing, as I knew what was coming later in the evening.

When we finished, we opted not to leave Malia anything extra. That was the first and ONLY time we've EVER done that. Being on the dining plan, she was already getting something, but we were really pissed about the whole not getting the chef thing. In hindsight, it would have been easier to just ask her firmly to go get him, but I think we were so shocked by the treatment at the time, we weren't thinking. We've been to WDW with dd 3 times and this was the first time anything like that had ever happened. Parents with food allergic children or family members will understand what I mean. It was really unexpected.

Anyway, now we had some time to kill. Unbeknownst to ds, I had booked a Wishes Cruise for him, complete with decorations and cake (but no piped in music). We weren't exactly sure where the boat was going to be picking us up, so I took the kids around the explore the Poly while dh tried to get some info. (Kids agree - a stay at the Poly should be in our future.) He came back and led us to the marina where the boat was driving out, balloons and streamers waving in the air. We weren't late...maybe it wasn't our boat?

A few minutes later it came back, and he went down to talk to the driver. It was ours! But the surprise was kind of wrecked because she walked up to me for my credit card. We explained to ds what was going on (he was thrilled) and we were on our way.

The boat was really cute - there was a big "Happy Birthday" banner, balloons everywhere and there was a cooler full of soda and water, plus all kinds of chips and pretzels. Our Captain was Megan and she was great! We had some extra time to kill so we got an incredible tour of Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. She had all kinds of information about the different places we were near and when we got to the Wilderness Lodge (my ALL TIME FAVORITE resort) we got to see Humphrey!! I told the kids this is where we will be staying in September and they were even more interested.

Finally, we went back to get into position for the fireworks. Megan brought out the cake and we sang Happy Birthday to ds. The cake wasn't that great, but we didn't care.

There were quite a few other boats on the water, but only two anywhere close to us. One had the piped in music so we could hear most of it. We had a great view and the fireworks are beautiful, and it's a different experience seeing them from the water. Not better or worse, but it was just the four of us and Megan in our boat, so it was more, private, I guess. The kids loved it.

When it was over, we headed back to the Poly and thanked Megan (and tipped her - dh and I both got a weird vibe from her, so either we gave her too much or too little. I hope it was the former )

We hopped on the monorail back to the MK and headed back to Pop. Ds was thanking us up and down. Dd chimed in too before she passed out.

Up next:

Magical Moments aplenty at Star Wars Weekend

 

[TLinden16]

What a magical birthday trip for your son! You planned so many amazing surprises for your kids! What a great mom!

That Albertson's store is pretty cool, but I got so lost in there. The aisles just go every which way. But the selection is great.

Thanks for posting.