Cast:
Me (40 something)
DH (40 something)
DS age 9 1/2
DD age 7
Day 1, April 25 - POFQ, AK, and DQ
This was our family's first trip to WDW. I had been to MK years ago and DH and I went to Epcot in 94, so we were all excited about this vacation. On the 960 mile drive from OH to WDW, we watched Disney DVDs, read the Disney guides and talked about what we most wanted to do. We drove all day starting at 11am (had planned to leave at 8am but somehow by time we loaded up the luggage, TV/DVD player, kid stuff, food, etc. 3 hours went by!
) and drove till 11pm on Sat, April 24th. Stopped overnight at a noisy but cheap (gotta save those $ for Disney!) Econolodge in Tifton GA. Hit the road again around 8am, grabbed a quick lunch at BK outside WDW and arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter around 1:30pm. Wow, I was impressed. It was beautiful from the lobby to the grounds. I'm used to staying in Comfort Inn type places so this was much better than I typically experience. I mentioned to the female CM that it was our anniversary this week and was there any possibility of an upgrade. She checked and yes we got a free upgrade to river view, Room 6317! Woo hoo! 
Found our room and loved it right away. Bright and cheerful, found hidden Mickey's on the bedspread right away.
We stupidly didn't have Bell Services take our luggage to our room (DH is a bit of a cheapskate) so he and DS made many trips from the parking lot to our somewhat distant room with our heavy baggage, cooler and box of food. Argh, it would be worth the money for the time it took!
It was a sunny warm day in the 80s and we headed to AK. Arrived around 3pm and headed to DinoLand. Crowds were not too bad. DD was not tall enough to ride Primeval Whirl (she's only 47" and the CMs were sticklers) so DH and I switched off riding with DS three times. Personally the spinning got to me so I didn't care too much for it. DD and I rode the Triceratops Spin twice (ack! spinning again!) and then the kids played in the Boneyard for a while. As we headed for It's Tough to be a Bug, we encountered the Jungle Jammin' Parade so we watched the end of it before heading into the Tree of Life. ITTBAB was cute but DD was a little freaked out by it.
By then it was almost time for the park to close and we had a 5pm PS for Rainforest Cafe. After about 10 minutes we were seated near the wall looking at the gorillas in the middle of the room. DH was immediately freaked out by the prices even though I had warned him to expect that. DS ordered the kids' dino chicken meal. DD is so picky that she couldn't find anything she wanted so she asked for some pasta with just butter. DH ordered clam chowder and we asked for marinara sauce for DD's pasta since we figured she wouldn't eat it all and then DH could finish it. I had the Tuscan chicken with mashed red skin potatoes. It was good but expensive for what you got. $15.99 for two small chicken breasts with some veggies on top and the potatoes. No salad or bread. I was not impressed with the place and I wouldn't go there again. Luckily, better meals lie ahead of us.
I really wanted to head over to the MK and catch SpectroMagic and Wishes since Spectro is only on certain nights but the kids were too excited (and tired from our day and a half drive) about going in the cool themed pool at POFQ. We headed back and got swimsuits on (I didn't - I'm the only photographer so I was too busy with that!) They loved the dragon/sea serpent water slide and pool. And those nice warm towels by the pool were great as a chill was starting in the air.
After they got changed, we took the boat to Downtown Disney. Very relaxing ride and picturesque seeing DTD from that angle. I didn't bring my camera (why?) but I wish I had as we would not see DTD from that approach again. We got off at the West Side stop and went into Disney Quest. We'd never been to a place like that before and liked it right away. First we did the Jungle Cruise which was a laugh because DH and I were on the same side of the boat with the kids on the other side. They don't know how to use a paddle (despite our attempts to show them) so we didn't do too well. Oh well, it was fun anyway. We also did Aladdin, Pinball Slam (I didn't quite get that one
), Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters (DH and DS only), Pirates of the Caribbean, and some typical arcade games. DD was too afraid to go on POTC so she watched through the window. The rest of us loved it and were exhausted from running around firing the cannons. The crowds were very light and we had little or no waits for the games.
Took the bus back to POFQ at 1130pm. It was a good first day. Bus transport was great so far, little wait, only the DTD bus back to POFQ was crowded. After that long drive, DH was definitely loving the busses.
Tomorrow - Epcot and trying to get the hang of hitting the parks early and using FPs.
Me (40 something)
DH (40 something)
DS age 9 1/2
DD age 7
Day 1, April 25 - POFQ, AK, and DQ
This was our family's first trip to WDW. I had been to MK years ago and DH and I went to Epcot in 94, so we were all excited about this vacation. On the 960 mile drive from OH to WDW, we watched Disney DVDs, read the Disney guides and talked about what we most wanted to do. We drove all day starting at 11am (had planned to leave at 8am but somehow by time we loaded up the luggage, TV/DVD player, kid stuff, food, etc. 3 hours went by!
) and drove till 11pm on Sat, April 24th. Stopped overnight at a noisy but cheap (gotta save those $ for Disney!) Econolodge in Tifton GA. Hit the road again around 8am, grabbed a quick lunch at BK outside WDW and arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter around 1:30pm. Wow, I was impressed. It was beautiful from the lobby to the grounds. I'm used to staying in Comfort Inn type places so this was much better than I typically experience. I mentioned to the female CM that it was our anniversary this week and was there any possibility of an upgrade. She checked and yes we got a free upgrade to river view, Room 6317! Woo hoo! Found our room and loved it right away. Bright and cheerful, found hidden Mickey's on the bedspread right away.We stupidly didn't have Bell Services take our luggage to our room (DH is a bit of a cheapskate) so he and DS made many trips from the parking lot to our somewhat distant room with our heavy baggage, cooler and box of food. Argh, it would be worth the money for the time it took!
It was a sunny warm day in the 80s and we headed to AK. Arrived around 3pm and headed to DinoLand. Crowds were not too bad. DD was not tall enough to ride Primeval Whirl (she's only 47" and the CMs were sticklers) so DH and I switched off riding with DS three times. Personally the spinning got to me so I didn't care too much for it. DD and I rode the Triceratops Spin twice (ack! spinning again!) and then the kids played in the Boneyard for a while. As we headed for It's Tough to be a Bug, we encountered the Jungle Jammin' Parade so we watched the end of it before heading into the Tree of Life. ITTBAB was cute but DD was a little freaked out by it.
By then it was almost time for the park to close and we had a 5pm PS for Rainforest Cafe. After about 10 minutes we were seated near the wall looking at the gorillas in the middle of the room. DH was immediately freaked out by the prices even though I had warned him to expect that. DS ordered the kids' dino chicken meal. DD is so picky that she couldn't find anything she wanted so she asked for some pasta with just butter. DH ordered clam chowder and we asked for marinara sauce for DD's pasta since we figured she wouldn't eat it all and then DH could finish it. I had the Tuscan chicken with mashed red skin potatoes. It was good but expensive for what you got. $15.99 for two small chicken breasts with some veggies on top and the potatoes. No salad or bread. I was not impressed with the place and I wouldn't go there again. Luckily, better meals lie ahead of us.
I really wanted to head over to the MK and catch SpectroMagic and Wishes since Spectro is only on certain nights but the kids were too excited (and tired from our day and a half drive) about going in the cool themed pool at POFQ. We headed back and got swimsuits on (I didn't - I'm the only photographer so I was too busy with that!) They loved the dragon/sea serpent water slide and pool. And those nice warm towels by the pool were great as a chill was starting in the air.
After they got changed, we took the boat to Downtown Disney. Very relaxing ride and picturesque seeing DTD from that angle. I didn't bring my camera (why?) but I wish I had as we would not see DTD from that approach again. We got off at the West Side stop and went into Disney Quest. We'd never been to a place like that before and liked it right away. First we did the Jungle Cruise which was a laugh because DH and I were on the same side of the boat with the kids on the other side. They don't know how to use a paddle (despite our attempts to show them) so we didn't do too well. Oh well, it was fun anyway. We also did Aladdin, Pinball Slam (I didn't quite get that one
), Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters (DH and DS only), Pirates of the Caribbean, and some typical arcade games. DD was too afraid to go on POTC so she watched through the window. The rest of us loved it and were exhausted from running around firing the cannons. The crowds were very light and we had little or no waits for the games.Took the bus back to POFQ at 1130pm. It was a good first day. Bus transport was great so far, little wait, only the DTD bus back to POFQ was crowded. After that long drive, DH was definitely loving the busses.
Tomorrow - Epcot and trying to get the hang of hitting the parks early and using FPs.
Great start! I am looking forward to reading more
