Escaping Irene: A NY family "evacuates" to Disney! *Update 7/7 WWoHP*

[natebenma]

Like, you guys are going to have to TOTALLY take away my leg warmers and shoulder pads and revoke my Duran Duran fan club card! I didn't know who Howard Jones was! Had to google him and the What is love song and I guess I have heard it before, but I'm not really familiar with this 80's gem.

Food and Wine sounds like a lot of fun, but oh my, $100 in an afternoon? Yikes!

Loved reading about your visit with Teena, and I agree with everything you said, Amanda. If you get a chance to talk to her, do it!!! The BC is going to be switching her hours to Saturdays and Sundays very soon.

I have never been to MNSSHP, probably the thing I want to do most at Disney. My birthday is on Halloween, so this has always been a very special holiday for me. I love seeing everyone's creative costumes.

I love your pictures of the castle and it looks to me like it was a pretty decent place to see the fireworks.

 

[DrMomof3]

Like, you guys are going to have to TOTALLY take away my leg warmers and shoulder pads and revoke my Duran Duran fan club card! I didn't know who Howard Jones was! Had to google him and the What is love song and I guess I have heard it before, but I'm not really familiar with this 80's gem.

Food and Wine sounds like a lot of fun, but oh my, $100 in an afternoon? Yikes!

Loved reading about your visit with Teena, and I agree with everything you said, Amanda. If you get a chance to talk to her, do it!!! The BC is going to be switching her hours to Saturdays and Sundays very soon.

I have never been to MNSSHP, probably the thing I want to do most at Disney. My birthday is on Halloween, so this has always been a very special holiday for me. I love seeing everyone's creative costumes.

I love your pictures of the castle and it looks to me like it was a pretty decent place to see the fireworks.

I think I was just at the right age for all that 80's stuff. I graduated high school in 1989 so it really does represent my coming-of-age...
Food & Wine was pricier than I expected. I think we could have planned a bit better but this was a last minute trip.
Teena is awesome. She had such a difficult summer and I had such a bad autumn so we were able to commiserate.
I really think you'd love MNSSHP. It's right up your alley! It was definitely on my Disney bucket list and I'm hoping to go again this year when I run ToT.
It was a decent viewing spot. We just lucked out! I really enjoyed Hallo-Wishes and the Boo to You parade!!! We don't usually make an effort for fireworks or parades but these were both awesome.

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I love Howard Jones! Does that make me old? I'm trying to figure out how much money we need for F&W, Rey wants to eat around the world, and I was thinking 100$ sounded about right. I LOVE LOVE LOVE MNSSHP!!! The parade is my favorite and I don't usually like parades that much!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Like, you guys are going to have to TOTALLY take away my leg warmers and shoulder pads and revoke my Duran Duran fan club card! I didn't know who Howard Jones was! Had to google him and the What is love song and I guess I have heard it before, but I'm not really familiar with this 80's gem.
Loves my dove grey legwarmers-matched my jacket with shoulder pads sooo big a good gust of wind would have lifted me off my feet

Food and Wine sounds like a lot of fun, but oh my, $100 in an afternoon? Yikes!

Loved reading about your visit with Teena, and I agree with everything you said, Amanda. If you get a chance to talk to her, do it!!! The BC is going to be switching her hours to Saturdays and Sundays very soon.

I almost talked to Teena last year but by the time I'd plucked up my courage she was busy

I have never been to MNSSHP, probably the thing I want to do most at Disney. My birthday is on Halloween, so this has always been a very special holiday for me. I love seeing everyone's creative costumes.

I love your pictures of the castle and it looks to me like it was a pretty decent place to see the fireworks.

Love your costumes-Tom was a good sport for dressing up. I'd love to visit at halloween but doubt I'd be able to convince my husband to dress up

 

[DrMomof3]

I love Howard Jones! Does that make me old? I'm trying to figure out how much money we need for F&W, Rey wants to eat around the world, and I was thinking 100$ sounded about right. I LOVE LOVE LOVE MNSSHP!!! The parade is my favorite and I don't usually like parades that much!

I'm older than you are so you aren't old in my trip report.
$100 would be work. Especially since you're a vegetarian and the meat dishes tend to be more expensive!

Love your costumes-Tom was a good sport for dressing up. I'd love to visit at halloween but doubt I'd be able to convince my husband to dress up

Tom wasn't so sure about the costume as it was a bit tighter and shorter than he wanted. But we definitely got good reactions for being dressed up and I'm 99% sure we were given tons more candy because of it. And I wouldn't have gotten so much attention during the parade without a costume!.
Also, you MUST visit Teena at some point in time! She's awesome!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Despite getting home at midnight on Sunday night after the Halloween Party, we were up early on Monday to check-out of the hotel and get over to MK for our Keys to the Kingdom Tour. Tom and I were both super-psyched for this tour at it is something we've talked about before. For all Tom pretends that I'm the Disney addict, he really is one too!
We packed up our stuff and dropped our bags with bell services and went to wait for a bus. MK was scheduled to open at 9am but our tour was earlier and we were supposed to get there 15 minutes before. We left plenty of time! We were only at the bus stop for a few minutes before a bus pulled up. The sign didn't say where it was going so we asked the bus driver. She said, "Where are you going?" We said, "Magic Kingdom." She said, "Hop on!" We picked up one other couple at the Dolphin before heading straight for the MK. Talk about luck!!!
We went to the gate for people with dining reservations and tours. This was the first time we'd ever been in MK before Rope Drop. SO COOL!!!! We went to the check in area, got our name tags, headsets, and Key pins. We were offered coffee and bottled water. The tour person then told us that we could wander around Main Street and take pictures of the empty Main Street until the tour. We really didn't take any pictures but used the opportunity to window shop and read the names in the window. We tried to find the names of Imagineers that we had heard about.
While we were meandering, a well-dressed 30-something man came over to talk to us. (He had a name tag but I don't remember his name.) He asked if we were lost. We explained that we were waiting for our Tour and were just enjoying the atmosphere on Main Street. We chatted for a while and he asked if we would still be at MK for the 3pm parade. We told him maybe - we didn't have definite plans after the tour. He offered us VIP seats for the parade and said he'd put our name on the list.
We went back to the Tour area and met our Tour Guide. I don't want to go into too much detail on the tour because I really think it's something everyone should do. I will only say it was a great experience. We learned some of the secrets and some of the details. We rode Pirates and Haunted Mansion. We were served lunch at Columbia Harbor House. And we saw the Utilidors. All in all it was a very, very cool experience. The tour ended in the early afternoon. We grabbed a Dole Whip and then decided to head to Liberty Square for the VIP seats.
The CMs at Liberty Square did not have our names but we told them the name of the man who had talked to us in the morning. They were quite impressed because apparently he's a manager at MK (and their boss!). They talked to him and we got the ok. It was great to sit on benches in a roped off area in the middle of everything!!!! Our friend from the morning even came over to us before the parade to make sure we'd had a good day. I love Disney World!!!
I was still wearing my birthday button and almost every single participant in the parade wished me Happy Birthday. I had my hand kissed multiple times and must have been grinning like a kid on Christmas! It was really fun. (I don't think we took any pictures on Monday!!!!!)
After the parade was over we took the monorail back to Epcot. We stopped to enjoy a few favorites from Food & Wine - Fisherman's pie, Frozen Cosmo, etc. - before heading back to the Swan for our car ride back to MCO. A great trip!

Amanda

 

[Jake & Crew]

What a fun trip for two! We might just have to do that sometime.

I did the Keys tour in 2007 with my dad, sister and bil on a big family trip and it was fabulous! Will definitely do it again when the girls are old enough.

Thank you for sharing your trips with us, I enjoy your reports

 

[DrMomof3]

What a fun trip for two! We might just have to do that sometime.

I did the Keys tour in 2007 with my dad, sister and bil on a big family trip and it was fabulous! Will definitely do it again when the girls are old enough.

Thank you for sharing your trips with us, I enjoy your reports

Thank you so much!!! I feel like I'm so behind on my trip reporting but I'm trying to catch up.

I'm going to do a quick report of my son's and my trip to DISapalooza in December, 2011 and then I'll probably be done with this trip report. And I can start my Marathon Weekend report!!!

Amanda

 

[kadesha]

Just started, and finished, your trip report today! I enjoyed it very much. You handled all of the difficulties of the first trip very well. I would have probably just sat in the room! lol! I also enjoyed the trip report without the kids. I have always wanted to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. It's definitely on my "Disney bucket list."

 

[natebenma]

What a fantastic day at MK!!!

I haven't done any tours at Disney, but Keys to the Kingdom is at the top of my wish list. I love stuff like that.

That is so cool that you had some time in MK before it opened and got VIP seats for the parade.

Mark and I travelled to Disney a few times before the kids were born, and often on family trips we will look at each other and exclaim "This would be a lot of fun with just the two of us!"

 

[DrMomof3]

Just started, and finished, your trip report today! I enjoyed it very much. You handled all of the difficulties of the first trip very well. I would have probably just sat in the room! lol! I also enjoyed the trip report without the kids. I have always wanted to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. It's definitely on my "Disney bucket list."

Thank you!!!
One advantage to being a surgeon is that you learn how to think through problems quickly and logically. It definitely has helped when traveling with kids!
Keys to the Kingdom should be on every Disney bucket list!

What a fantastic day at MK!!!

I haven't done any tours at Disney, but Keys to the Kingdom is at the top of my wish list. I love stuff like that.

That is so cool that you had some time in MK before it opened and got VIP seats for the parade.

Mark and I travelled to Disney a few times before the kids were born, and often on family trips we will look at each other and exclaim "This would be a lot of fun with just the two of us!"

It really was magical. We kept saying to each other that this was obviously the trip we were supposed to have, instead of the cruise, because of all the magic.
And Tom ALWAYS says that Disney is more fun without the kids!

Amanda

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

What a wonderful day! Sounds like a perfect way to end your trip. Love the sound of the tour and VIP seating is just the icing on the cake
Great birthday

 

[Kat in GA]

We LOVE the food and wine festival. And I have just booked a room for my husband and myself at the AoA for October - doing deluxe dining - and I think we can easily spend all our snack credits at the booths! I so agree with you that France (and the escargots this past year were their best yet - loved them in the brioche) and the lamb chop from Australia were the most delish (oh and that Fisherman's pie, too!). My girls wanted to eat their weight in those lamb chops - I think we spent quite a bit more than $100 in our tasting!

 

[DrMomof3]

What a wonderful day! Sounds like a perfect way to end your trip. Love the sound of the tour and VIP seating is just the icing on the cake
Great birthday

The whole trip was just perfectly magical! It's hard to fully explain. It felt like every time we turned around something else special happened!

We LOVE the food and wine festival. And I have just booked a room for my husband and myself at the AoA for October - doing deluxe dining - and I think we can easily spend all our snack credits at the booths! I so agree with you that France (and the escargots this past year were their best yet - loved them in the brioche) and the lamb chop from Australia were the most delish (oh and that Fisherman's pie, too!). My girls wanted to eat their weight in those lamb chops - I think we spent quite a bit more than $100 in our tasting!

can't wait to hear about AoA!
Spending snack credits is a great idea. You're going to be able to eat yourselves silly between F&W and deluxe dining!!! I'm a little jealous.

Amanda

 

[blessedmom4]

I am late to the party (I started reading Friday, your name caught my eye ); however, I just had to say I agree your trip WAS magical! I LOVE trips like that!! Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[DrMomof3]

I am late to the party (I started reading Friday, your name caught my eye ); however, I just had to say I agree your trip WAS magical! I LOVE trips like that!! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Thank you Judy! I believe in Pixie Dust and Disney Magic!

Amanda

 

[Shannon84]

How awesome that you got VIP seats for the parade...I have seen that little area roped off, that must have been such a cool experience!!

I am glad to hear you liked the tour so much, we have that booked for our honeymoon in September and we are really excited!!

 

[DrMomof3]

How awesome that you got VIP seats for the parade...I have seen that little area roped off, that must have been such a cool experience!!

I am glad to hear you liked the tour so much, we have that booked for our honeymoon in September and we are really excited!!

Hi Shannon! Did you see that I'm doing the Goofy in January? Want to join me???
You will LOVE the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I think it's about the right amount of time - long enough to be informative but not so long that you don't have some time to explore on your own afterwards.

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

The tour sounds GREAT! How much is it??? Rey would love something like that, but I'm not sure we could fit it into our trip, how many hours is it?

 

[DrMomof3]

The tour sounds GREAT! How much is it??? Rey would love something like that, but I'm not sure we could fit it into our trip, how many hours is it?

$74 and about 4.5 hours. It included lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We pre-ordered lunch and it was waiting for us upstairs at the restaurant in a roped-off area.
It was great!

Amanda