First Trip (as adults) 6/14 - 6/21 CBR w/DLX Dining

[kerry1140]

Hi all, just back from an amazing trip to the World.

The Family:
DD 6
DW 38
Myself 37

Sun 6/14:
Departed IND on SW at 7:00 am. Absolutely no problems with checkin or security. We did do online checkin Sat. and was boarded in the first group, so no prolems with sitting together. Flight crew was awesome, and gave my daughter a set of wings and a certificate for her first flight (this really made the start of the trip impressive for her!)

Landed in MCO right on time at 9:05 am. Not being frequent flyers, we did have a slight problem finding our way to the ME counter, but quickly fixed when we teamed up with another family that had no idea where they were going. Between us, we were there in no time LOL. Having tagged all our checked baggage at IND, we got straight in line for the bus. 10 min later, on our way to CBR.

Arrival at CBR was suprisingly a breeze. Most of the checkin counters were open and there were only a couple of families in front of us. Checkin only took a few minutes. We were told our room was not ready yet - which I expected at 10:30 am - but was given the area and building we were going to be in ... Barbados 15. We checked our carry on bags with bell service, and headed for the bus stop to go to AK.

Sorry, this is all I can post tonight as I have been up for over 18 hrs on 3 hrs sleep. I hope to post alot of details about our experience, dining prices, some interesting people we met, and (if I have enough posts) some pics. Just wanted to get started.

 

[kerry1140]

Good morning, back to continue day 1

We walked over to the Babados bus stop not knowing exactly how everything worked. There was an attendant that gladly explained the bus system and directed us to the AK bus. It did take awhile to get a bus, it seemed like there were 2 busses going everywhere except where we wanted to go (this happened most of the trip ... bad timing I guess). Got on the bus within about 10 min and after a short stop by a water park we were at AK.

We still had about 2 hrs before our resrvations at Tusker House for lunch, so we decided to hit Camp Minnie Mickey. We HAD to find Minnie first, and DD was very excited when she saw her standing in her hut. Lines were not to bad to meet the characters, probably about 5 to 10 min a piece. After taking pictures with Minnie & Mickey, I decided I would get a fast past for Safari while they were seeing the rest of the characters. The time for fast pass was perfect, 12:45 - 1:45. So I went back to get the family, they were just finishing up with Goofy, so off to Safari.

We were a few minutes early for our fast passes, so looked around at the monkeys and birds. DD loved all the birds and ducks just hanging out around the park. We got on Safari in less than 5 min (w/fp). This was a very neat attraction. Every 15 to 20 secs DD was saying "Daddy look over here, Daddy look over there!" Once again this trip is off to a magical start. About half way through Safari we got stopped for what seemed to be about 10 min. because a giraffe was eating to close to the road. We were stopped in a perfect place where DD could watch the elephants, so this was not a problem.

Time for lunch (good thing we had been up since 3:30 am with only a few snacks on the plane). We checked in at Tusker House and were seated within 10 min. Our server was very nice and explained how everythng was layed out, got our drinks, and pointed us toward the buffet. The buffet had a large selection of exotic dishes, a small salad area, a carving station with beef and pork, a cold sandwich bar, and a desert bar. The carved beef and pork were good, but unfortunately, most of the other dishes were not to our liking. I am not saying they were bad by any means, just not the type of food we like. But, there was plenty of food for "more traditional" eater like ourselves. The seafood salad was very good, and with the heat, a cold ham & turkey sandwich tasted great. The desert bar was DW and DD's favorite. I think they could have (or maybe did) make a meal out of just desert. Total price for the 3 of us was $64.99 plus tip.

During lunch I got a text message from CBR that our room was ready, we would be in 1563. But we were already at AK, so might as well check out what is here.

With our lunch at Tusker House, we got reserved seating for the 3:00 Finding Nemo show (which is why I reserved Tusker House in the first place). So we casually walked towards the show, checked out the scenery, and took some pics. We walked right in to the theater, and the lower right section of seating was roped off for dining reservations. We got really good seats. Before the show started, we got some pics of the daughter playing with another little girl who was seated beside us. I talked to her new friends grandmother for a while and she pointed out some things they had done on their trip so far that her GD had really loved. Before the show started, DD spotted Nemo swimming though one of the bubbles, that was enough playing for her (and the rest of the theater) as all the kids were consintrating on watching for Nemo. The show itself was very neat for kids and adults. Dancers portrayed the characters either with stick characters, or costume. Just the way they "hide" the mechanics behind everything thing was truly amazing! The magic of Disney is alive!

After Nemo, we were going to call it a day and head back to CBR, but noticed that It's a Bug's life was only a 10 min wait. After waiting about 10 min, the doors opened, and we were seated in the theater, 3D glasses in hand. DD had been to a couple 3D shows before, and knew things looked better without the glasses if she got scared. DW and myself were excited about seeing this after hearing about it. The show began all good, but a couple of minutes in when they shot us with an acorn, DD freaked out and I had to take her outside. Not a totaly loss though, I got some neat pics of the animal carvings, and DW got to see the show.

Time to head back to CBR. Headed toward the bus stop to try to figure out how to get back. The CBR station was about the furthest station away from the main entrance (This is true at all parks). We only waited a couple of minutes for the bus, and on our way home.

Got back to CBR around 4:30. Now the fun part, how do I find my room. Map in hand, I walk and look at numbers. Signs on building 15 seem to always skip our block of rooms. But we found it, 2nd floor. The room was very nice, and clean. Our luggage from ME was already in the room. DD saw the pool on our way in and wanted to go swimming immediatly. So we done a little unpacking and DD & DW headed for the pool. I walked up to Port Royal to get our drink mugs and a cold adult beverage ($6 !!). Really not a bad walk, scenic and not any further than walking from the bus stop to the park entrance. When I got back to the room, I called bell service to bring up our carry on baggage. I probably should have called before I left, but didn't think about it. We had dinner reservations for Shutters at 7 pm, and it was close to 6 when I called bell service. Around 6:30 I was starting to get concerned, DD & DW were not back yet, and bell service wasn't there yet. Carryons arrived shortly, but DW was not back. Tried to call her cell but of course she left it in the room (note always take cell phone with you). They got back around 6:45, DW got lost with all the buildings and rooms looking exactly the same. All is good. Head to Shutters for diner.

We arrived at Shutters just on time, and was told it would be about 10 min. They gave us a beeper, and we checked out Port Royal. It was less than 10 min when we got our table. Our server was very helpful once again. She explained to us how the dlx DP worked, and what was included. DW and myself ordered steak with shrimp fritter appetizer and DD ordered chicken nuggets with fries and celery and carrots for app. Everything was delicious. DD's meal came on a Mickey plate which she was very excited about. The portions were more than enough (I eneded up having to eat half DW's steak). Then desert (who needs desert?!?). Well DW ordered some chocolate thing, and DD ice cream, myself ... whatever DW wants, and put it in a to go box. Total price for this meal was $84.51 plus tip.

Just as we were ordering desert, We-Go-Shop called and said they were running a little early (we had scheduled delivery for 9 pm). I told her we were just getting our desert and would be back in about 1/2 hr. She had no problems with this, and waited patiently for us. We got back to the room and I called her to let her know we were there. 5 min later, she was there with supplies. We had ordered some milk, water, cereal, pop tarts, sandwich meat, bread, chips, beer, and rum. The delivery charge was $17 plus tip (I couldn't get transportation into town for that). When she got there everyting was cold and fresh, she gave us the receipts for the groceries, and a paper to sign saying everything was there. She also told us they would only charge $9 for a return trip if we ran out of anything. The only minor problem that we had was she had no change on her and we were paying cash. Not really a big problem, but I did tip a little more than I was planning on. But still far better than $6 for a cold adult beverage!

"Showers and bed for all girls!" Got DD & DW laid down, and I grabbed a couple drinks and headed for one of the DSA's for some R&R. Met a guy down there from outside of St. Lois. He was traveling with his family and extended family. We talked for awhile about the days happenings and what to do and not do. Ended up hanging out with him almost every night after the girls went to bed.


Well that's it for Day 1. Coming up CRT, Fantasmic, and first trip to MK!
I will append pics when I get them off my laptop.

[/IMG]

Barbados Bus Stop At CBR

Animal Kingdom

All of us at AK

DD With new friend at Finding Nemo

One of the sculptures at It's A Bugs Life



If you would like to view all of todays photos hopefully here is the link to my photo bucket account:

http://s637.photobucket.com/albums/uu93/kerry1150_photo/Disney/Sunday/?albumview=slideshow

 

[kerry1140]

The plans for our second day at the world included a 9:40 breakfast at CRT, a 3:45 dinner at Hollywood & Vine, and Fantasmic to finish off the day.

We set the alarm for 7:30, but I was up awhile before that. Once I made sure everyone was out of bed and getting ready, I took a walk up to Port Royal to fill our mugs with some coffee and Cocoa. On the way back, I stopped by another one of the DSA's and met a gentleman who was down from Georgia with his kids and grandkids. They had made many trips, so we had a cup of coffee and talked about various aspects of our vacations. Once again, I ended up having coffee with him every morning. It is kinda interesting that people have about the same routines.

After coffee, I headed back to the room to get DW & DD to head out to MK.
We headed to the bus stop, and once again it seemed like there were 2 busses going everywhere but MK. But not a problem, we were on a bus in less than 15 min.

DD & DW ready for CRT

Arrived at MK around 9:15 am. We had pre-ordered our photopass CD, so we wanted to get a few pictures on our way in. The pics on Main Street turned out ok, but lots of people all around.

DD was so excited about meeting Cinderella, that she wanted to go straight to the castle, so we did. We were still a few minutes early for our reservation, so DD waited to get her pic taken with Fairy Godmother while I went to check in. This worked out great, by the time she was done, they were calling us for our table.

Upon entering CRT, DD got her picture taken with Cinderella and autograph book signed. We then went up to our table. The server brought coffee and orange juice and asked us which breakfast we wanted. They offered a healthy one, and IMO a good one. Well were on vacation, so we went with the bacon, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. They were brought to our table pre-plated. The food was great, and they continued to bring more anytime we wanted. During breakfast, Jasmin, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella came around to everyones table for pics and autographs. DD actually ate quite well for being as excited as she was. They passed out wands to everyone, and done a little magic about every 20 min. During the meal, they brought us our complimentary photo package which was 1 8x10 of DD with Cinderella, 1 8x10 of the castle, and 4 - 4x6 of DD with Cinderella. Price of this package everywhere else was ~$30. Price of the breakfast was $128 with tip included.

 

[kerry1140]

During breakfast, my employer had called, so I had to take a few minutes to take care of some business. DD & DW went to ride the carosel there was no line, so they rode a couple times, then when I got back we all rode once.

Since Snow Whites Scary adventure was right there, and the wait time was only about 10 min, we decided to check it out. DD was scared, and not sure she wanted to go on it, but we talked her into it. She did ok during the ride, but said she never wanted to go on it again (she does not really like dark places).

After that we decided to check out Mickey 3D magic show. There really was no wait, just long enough for the previous show to be over. This was a really neat show, and DD done much better than It's a bugs life. She was really impressed with the ending.

We left there, and the line for Peter Pan was around 75 min, so I got FP for it, and went to Small World. The line was posted at 20 min, but it only took about 10. DD loved this ride, and we had to go on it a few times during our trip.

Since our FP weren't for an hour or so, we headed toward the back of the park. We missed the boat ride by a couple of minutes, so we went to Tom Sawyer Island. DD was bored with it so nobody really got to enjoy the scenery. She did like the barrel bridge though.

We left the island when it was close to our FP time, and went on Peter Pan. Once again DD was a little scared (but she was at most of the attractions). But the ride was very neat, and virtually no wait.

We were all starting to get a little hot and cranky, so it was time to head by to CBR for a little rest before going to HS for dinner.

http://s637.photobucket.com/albums/uu93/kerry1150_photo/Disney/Monday/

 

[sweetmama]

Egads. The Small World line is frightening.

 

[kerry1140]

Egads. The Small World line is frightening.

Actually it goes pretty quick, I know it was less than 10 min from this pic if not closer to 5!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Singing on for more! We have stayed at the CBR three years in a row and absolutely love everything about it.

Looks like you guys (ya'll are a cute famiy by the way) had a great start to your vacation.

Looking forward to reading more about your Disney adventures.

 

[cclovesdis]

Great trip report so far. Can't wait for more.

 

[kerry1140]

Thanks all, here is hopefully the rest of day 2

Left MK and headed for the Bus stop. Once again the CBR station seemed to be about the furthest away. We only waited about 5 min for the bus. Barbados was the 3rd stop at the resort, so we were back in around 20 min.

when we got back to the room, mousekeeping had done a wonderful job cleaning. The room looked great. The girls layed down and watched TV for awhile while I was downloading pics to free up room on my camera. We had about and hour or so before we needed to leave for HS, so after a long morning, I grabbed a couple cold adult beverages and head for a DSA while they rested in the air conditioning. I must have forgot to check the thermostat in our fridge because my cold adult beverages were only cool. Nothing a little ice can't fix. No one was down in my favorite DSA, so I checked out another one. Talked to a lady that had just flown in and was trying to decide what to do for the afternoon. She inquired about when Fantasmic was playing, and from checking before we left, I knew there were only a couple of showings with one of them being tonight. I think they decided to hit HS that afternoon also.

After our brief rest, we left for HS. This time the bus got there just as we were walking up to the stop. We arrived at HS a little early for our 3:45 Hollywood & Vine reservation, so we got a few photopass pics taken, and DW broused through a couple of shops. While DD & DW were in the shops, the HSM3 parade came by, so I grabbed DD and we watched part of the parade.

We checked in at the restaraunt, and were seated in about 10 min. Service was good, and the food was buffet style with "normal" food. DD could not find anything she really liked except for veggies, french fries, and ice cream. But we found alot of good food from chilled shrimp to salmon to roast beef. And of course the desert bar for DW. We did have a slight mishap when we first got there. We were seated and the server took our drink orders and sent us to the buffet. I had left DD squirt fan at the table. On my way back to the table I saw a CM taking a fan up to the desk and I asked if she had just got it from our table. She walked back to the table with us, and they had already seated somebody else at our table. The server had brought our drinks to the table next to it, and after a few minutes of confusion, all was good. We had booked the Fantasmic package, so they brought our tickets during the meal for the 9:00 show. Total cost for this meal was $83.04 plus tip.

After diner, we decided to check out the Little Mermaid show. There was no line except waiting for the previous show to be over. Bad timing though because the previous show had just started and we waited about 15 min. The show was well worth the wait. DD loved everything except Ursula.

We then just started walking around checking things out. We walked by Beauty and the Beast, and the show was going to start in 25 min. DD decided she wanted to sit down and wait so we did. Shortly after, we started to get a gently rain, and silly me forgot the ponchos at the hotel. No big deal, it actually felt good, and never rained hard. I looked down the street and saw the Tower of Terror was only a 10 min wait, so while they waited for the show I went down there.

Out of all the "Thrill Rides" I went on, this had to be the best. I was expecting a Power Tower type drop ride, but this was totally different. The show at the beginning was a little corny, but the ride was awesome.

When I got off the ride, I went back to BB, they were already seated, but I found them and got to enjoy the show. A very good performance that DD loved!

Well, not going to get to finish day 2 tonight, have to go to work.

 

[Stormhawk]

Seems like a wonderful start for a great family! I really like the way you merged the pictures with the signatures, I think I'll show this to the lil miss for her consideration before our Aug trip.

 

[kerry1140]

Seems like a wonderful start for a great family! I really like the way you merged the pictures with the signatures, I think I'll show this to the lil miss for her consideration before our Aug trip.

Thank you, but I cannot take credit for that one. I was reading another thread a couple months ago on creative ways to save memorabila, and that was one of them. Along with having characters sign a shirt, or even a poncho!

 

[kerry1140]

After Beauty and the Beast, we weren't sure what to do. We didn't have very long before we was told to be at Fantasmic, so DD & DW checked out some more of the shops. On our way to fantasmic, we stopped by a drink stand and picked up a pretzle, 2 frozen lemonades and a coke. I believe the cost of this was around $12, but I don't have my spreadsheet with me tonight.

We got to Fantasmic about and hour before show time and I couldn't believe the number of people already there. I was glad we done the dinner package and got very good seats!

While waiting for the show to begin we talked with a couple of people from outside of Houston. Very interesting that her husband and daughter had made toured all of the major league baseball stadium a few years ago. We had started talking about Toledo, and the fact that they HAD to stop and see a Mudhens game because of Klinger on M*A*S*H. I could not believe they drove to Toledo for a Mudhens game and didn't go to Tony Packo's. Any MASH fan has to go to Packo's! But they won't make that mistake again, her daughter got out her Iphone and looked up all the info.

We started to have a slight problem when they brought out the night time souveniers. DD had been saving her money for a long time, and was dying to buy something. So we went over to see what they had. They had items ranging from $5 - $20. She looked and decided she didn't want anything at that time. A little while later she decided she really wanted something, so we went back and she bought a spinning lighted Tinkerbell - $15. So know all was good and she played with that until the show began.

Finally when it appeared every seat in the stadium was full, the show began. Mickey with sparklers shooting out of his hands set the stage for one of the most amazing shows I had ever seen. The animation being projected on the water fountains was amazing. DD loved the boat parade with all the princes and their princesses. During the villian part of the show DD hid behind my shirt, but kept peaking out to make sure she wasn't missing anything. At one point she looked at me and said "Daddy, how do they do ALL this magic?" This made the whole trip worth while for me! The use of light, water, fireworks, and fire was just magnificent. All in all, this was my favorite attraction at disney.

After the show was over, time to face reality. Thousands of people in one stadium most of them heading for the same place ... the exit, and probably resort buses. We made our way out of the park and headed for the CBR bus stop. I told DW that we would probably have to wait a while with this many people. When we finally got to our station, there was a bus waiting there with few people on it. They must have bought in extra busses because this was one of the Disney Cruise Line busses. I checked with the driver to make sure we were going back to CBR.

We got back to the resort around 11 and got the girls to bed. Once again, I grabbed a couple cold adult beverages (colder now because I set the thermostat) and headed to the DSA. Hung out with the same guy from last night for about 45 min, and time for some ZZZ's.

Coming up ... EMH at MK, lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, and dinner at Chef Mickeys and ......... RAIN

http://s637.photobucket.com/albums/uu93/kerry1150_photo/Disney/Monday/Hollywood%20Studios/

 

[kerry1140]

I don't know which is more exhausting, 7 days at the world, or coming home unpacking, organizing photo and video, and going back to work on a different shift! But anyway here is the start to day 3

Plan for the day:
EMH at MK
11:15 lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
6:20 dinner at Chef Mickeys

6:30 am the alarm goes off ... no one really wants to get out of bed. DW get up and in the shower, and I head off to Port Royal for coffee. I learned my lesson yesterday and took 2 mugs to fill, 1 for the walk back, and 1 for getting ready. Stopped and talked to my morning coffe buddy for a little while and headed back to the room to get ready. We left for the bus stop at 7:15. Getting a bus this morning was no problem, probably less than 5 min.

We got to MK shortly before "rope drop", and got to see the opening ceremonies. Sorry no pics, it was too crowded and I had to put DD on my shoulders to watch. As we were actually entering the park, we noticed something going on on the other side of the line. Some poor child had been knocked down and stepped on by the mob of people. CMs already had the area blocked off and it appeared everyone was ok. Very sad though, is it really that important to get to your favorite attractions?!? A few extra seconds and EVERYONE would have had a great day.

We headed directly for splash mountain and Thunder Railroad. I messed up, and in my hurry, got fp for Thunder when I really wanted them for splash mountain later in the day. We were on splash mountain in less than 10 min. This ride was very impressive for me. Once again I am used to Kings Island and Cedar Point and was expecting a couple minute ride up a hill and down the other side. The themeing was excellet, and the ride was much longer than what I anticipated. DD loved this ride (like I expected her too), so I was dissapointed that I didn't get the fp for return. The only problem we had was that I expected to get very wet, so I packed the backpack with sandals for the 3 of us, plus a few other supplies. Our feet barely got wet, so I was stuck hauling around this fairly heavy pack for the rest of the morning.

Next stop was Thunder Mountain. We waited about 20 min for this ride, but is was worth it. DD loved this also. It was a good ride, but I still believe that Disney should steer clear of coasters. There are way too many real coasters out there, and really hard to get elaborate themeing that can be taken in while riding.

Thats all for now ... next stop Fantasy Land

 

[kerry1140]

Next we decided to go back to fantasy land. DD really wanted to find the Tea Cups. We found them, and the wait was only about 5 min, so she and DW got to ride a couple of times.

When we got off the tea cups we decided to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride. Wait time was around 10 min. This was a cute ride, but DD wasn't impressed enough to want to ride again.

DD can never pass by a carousel without wanting to go on it, so we let her do that again. After the carousel, we got in line to meet Ariel, but it was starting to get hot, and the line was just too long. Plus we had already met her at Akershus (Princess though and not mermaid).

As we were walking by, we noticed that Peter Pan was over 75 min wait again. DD decided that she wanted to go on small world again, and the wait was only 10 min, so we hit that.

The girls decided to sit down, get some water and take a break, so I headed over to the haunted mansion. I knew DD would be way to scared to go on this. This is still a neat ride and very well themed. My favorite part is the hitchhikers!

Next up, a nice relaxing boat ride around Sawyer Island. Very well themed, but the announcer was not quite loud enough to make everything out. DD was very excited about the crock trying to get the dog! The only problem we had was that my daughter wanted to continually change places on the boat, but there were few people on the ride, so that was not a large problem.

On our way back to Thunder Railroad to use of fast passes, the line to see donald was very short, so we stopped to talk to him for a couple of minutes.

Hit Railroad again, I love fast passes! Then off to lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern.

 

[kerry1140]

We arrived at the Liberty Tree Tavern around 11:30 to check in for 11:45 reservation. We were in the first seating for the day, so the lobby was packed. I found it very hard to hear the servers calliing peoples names with all the crowd noise, but managed to catch our name and was seated. Server was awesome. DW and myself ordered the appetizer for 2. This was a nice sampler platter, and just enough for the 2 of us. DD ordered the chicken nuggets with carrots and cerlery and FF. I ordered the tri corner sandwich which was very good. It was a cold roast beef and swiss sandwhich with cole slaw on the sandwich. DW had a pasta meal which was also pretty good. Desert was strawberry shortcake for me, some chocolate thing for DW, and ice cream for DD. Total cost of this meal was $66.16 plus tip.

After lunch, we were going to head back to the resort for a little rest. We managed to get alot done this morning with EMH. On our way out, a parade was getting ready to start, so we stopped and watched it.

After we watched the parade, we headed for the bus stop. About a 5 min wait for the bus, and we are off.

Upon arrival to our room, it appeared that Tink may have come to visit us with a little extra magic.

DD was sooo excited! Once again mousekeeping was wonderful. The room was very clean, and the little extras are always fun. We decided to rest for about 30 min and head up to the main pool. DW and myself decided a little cocktail might be nice, so we through a little rum in our mugs, and topped off with coke at port royal. DD had a wonderful time at the pool. She really loved the slide and was on that for alot of the time. We did check out the splash pool, but that was a little small and boring for her.

I ended up talking to a couple who were from outside of Indianapolis, while we were talking, a lady walked by while I mentioned I was orginally from just north of Kokomo, and said she was from the same area. Come to find out, she graduated from a neighboring school the same year I did. It really is a small world. After swimming, we headed back to the room to get ready for chef mickey's.

We took the bus to MK, which was a short wait, then took the monorail from MK to the contemporary. This worked out very well and were there about 20 min before our reservation. So we checked out the resort a little before dinner.

Before dinner they done a family photo with a statue of Mickey. This picture turned out good, but they again they wanted $31 for the package. I really wish they would include this stuff on your photopass, DW really wanted most of these pics, but I couldn't justify the $$ after already pre purchasing the photopass CD.

Dinner was a buffet, with normal american food. The food was very good, and the serving containers were small enough that everything was always fresh. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald all came around to the tables while we were eating. DD had a hard time waiting for Minnie. Service here was the best that we had anywhere up to this point. DD asked the server if Daisy would be comming around, and she was told that Daisy was probably shopping at MK.

During dinner, a big storm came in. We were even getting a little wet while waiting for the monorail inside the resort. One of the attendants mentioned that he had never got wet inside the terminal. We were lucky that we got on and made it back to MK. I heard a rumor later in our vacation that the monorail was temporarily shut down do to high winds. We got back to MK and made a mad dash to the bus stop. We got a little wet, but not too bad. We waited for the bus a long time tonight, almost 20 min. We got on the bus and were lucky enough to get a seat, standing room only by the time we left. It seemed like it took forever to get back (I think we took a different route due to extra traffic). DD fell asleep on the way back, she had to be whippped after 3 long days! I tried to carry her back to the room, but we didn't notice that the parking lot was completely flooded. DW and myself found ourselves over ankle deep in water ... there goes these shoes for the trip. By the time we got back to the hotel we were all drenched. One guy commented "Didn't make it out of the park in time huh?" My response was, this is just from the bus stop to here! All in all, this storm came at a good time for us, we weren't planning on doing anything this evening, and DD & DW were tired anyway. I got them to bed and walked out on the patio to watch the storm and have a couple drinks. I found out that the smoking rules change during a monsoon.

Coming up next, Epcot princess breakfast, coral reef lunch, spirit of Aloha.

All pics for the day are at:

http://s637.photobucket.com/albums/uu93/kerry1150_photo/Disney/Tuesday/

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh No! Some of your pictures in the last post aren't showing up.

 

[kerry1140]

Oh No! Some of your pictures in the last post aren't showing up.

Thanks for the info. Just checked it, and all appears to be working now. Maybe photobucket was having some problems this evening.

 

[kerry1140]

Going to be an early morning, glad we got a good nights sleep last night. Set the alarm for 6 am. I got up and got ready while the girls were laying around. Our shoes were still drenched from the night before even though I had left them and the AC all night (glad we brought extras!) I headed for Port Royal for coffee right when they opened at 6:30. Stopped and talked with my coffee buddy on the way back, and I guess they got caught at the park in the big storm the night before. Had to make it short so we could be at the bus stop around 7 for an 8:00 reservation with the princesses at Akershus. (I was really worried about being able to get there on time since Epcot didn't open until 9!) We got to the bus stop and watched many busses go by to everywhere but Epcot. I had checked yesterday with the front desk and they had told me character busses start at 6:30. I finally asked one of the drivers and he informed me that there were no character breakfast busses anymore, and I just had to catch a bus to Epcot. Now I am getting really worried. I asked another driver how to get there, and he informed me that he was going to be an epcot bus after he ran to animal kingdom. I knew we didn't have time for that, so we jumped on the next MK bus. It was already 7:30, so I knew we would probably be late, and was getting a little stressed out. Bus was pretty quick to MK, and we jogged from the bus stop to the monorail, they actually re-opened the doors to let us on, and off to Epcot. We got to Epcot and walked briskly to the front gate to check in at security. It was already a little after 8, and told the CM checking us in that we were running late due to busses. He said "no problem, take your time, they will keep your reservations. This happens all the time." This made me feel alot better, but we still tried to hurry a little getting all the way to the back of the park. There was nobody in the park, and all sorts of awesome pic opportunities. I really wish we would have been earlier to take advantage.

We got to Akershus about 20 min late, but they had no problems checking us in. And the gaurd was right, there were many other groups that were later than us!

When we get called for our table, the first thing we do is get a picture taken with Belle. We were told that she will not be coming around to the tables. This picture was put in a photo package that was given to us as part of our meal price. Once again about a $30 package, and the good part was this breakfast only cost us 1 meal credit vs the 2 at Cinderella's Royal Table.

The meal here was very good, they had a cold bar with fruit, baked goods, yogurt bar, and some cold meat. They also brought out eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes to our table. DD was getting used to the character meals by now, and knew all the princesses WOULD be to her table, so she ate a lot better than she had at other places. While we ate, Cinderella, Ariel, Princess Arora, and Snow White came to our table. Ariel was the neatest for me, coming around and asking the kids all sort of questions about "human" things, and how to use them. Other than "being in Cinderella's castle", I think this princess meal is a lot better, and a much better value, and would definitly recommend this to anyone with little girls. Total cost was $91.56 plus tip.

After breakfast, world showcase was still not open, so we took our time heading back up to future world.

Up next, future world, and Coral Reef lunch.

 

[kerry1140]

After a bathroom break, we headed for future world. First up test track. The line was posted about 30 min, and FP was about 45 min, so I got fastpasses, and decided to wait in line. The line went pretty quick (about 20 min). We all loved this ride, I was a little scared of the truck, but nobody else seemed to notice. The themeing again was great. When we got off, I tried to put our ride photo on our photopass, but had some issues. We stopped by the counter where you buy pics, and they were more than happy to put it on our photopass for us.

We decided to check out Mission to mars next. DD met a little boy while standing in line. They talked most of the 15 min wait. They had been on it before so her new friend was telling her all about the ride. She was a litlle concerned that she was going to have to do a job. They really wanted to ride together, so it worked out that I rode seperately. This was a really neat flight simulator. Video effects and timing were impecable. They did have 2 missions, less thrill, or more thrill. We did the less thrill because I didn't know how DD was going to do.

After this, the girls wanted to go inside the big ball. The line was only about 15 min, but this was the hottest line we had been in. This was a slow neat ride. DD got mad at DW about the picture that comes up on your screen at the end, but other than that everyone enjoyed the slow cool ride.

Next we headed over to see Figment. I vaguly remember figment from my trip as a child, so wanted to see it again. I think they have changed it alot since I was there. Not a really impressive ride, but the activity center afterwards was great for DD while I walked out to a DSA for a break.

I ran into a gentleman wanting to bum a smoke, and he was talking about not being able to buy any at disney. I jokingly told him it was not a really good idea to attempt to bum a smoke with Soarin FPs showing on his lanyard. He did offer to give me the FPs, but unfortunatly we were not planning on being in the park by the time the were valid.

We still had a little time befor lunch, so we hit the Nemo ride. This was a neat ride, but DD did get a little scared of the sharks. She had a blast in the aquarium display after the ride, but really didn't have enough time to fully enjoy it before lunch.

Next we walked around the corner to Coral Reef. We checked in, and I requested a table by the aquarium. They said they couldn't garauntee anything but would take the request. About 15 min later, we were seated, and we were by the aqarium. This was awesome, and DD had a blast checking out the fishes. She was most impressed by the turtles. She did get a little concerned when she saw scuba divers in the tank, and there were sharks. The server assured her that they keep the sharks well fed, so the divers would not going to be hurt. At one point she asked the server if she could go in the tank, but if she was going to do it, they would need to take out the sharks, stingrays, and one big ugly fish. We all had a good laugh at that one.

As for the food, we ordered the appetizer for two, which was a couple small scewers of meat, and there lobster soup. Everything was good, but the portions were very small. I think there was only about 2 spoonfulls of soup per person. I ordered the lobster ravioli, and DW ordered the steak. Both were delicous, but again the portions were small. For desert DW ordered a chocolate mouse thing, and I decided on just a coffee. DD had chicken, FF, and ice cream. DD desert came with a plastic dolphin which she was very impressed with. Overall, the atomosphere was awesome, the food was good, and the portions were small. I definitely know I would not pay OOP for this meal if we go back. Total cost of this lunch was $98.11 plus tip.

After lunch, we decided to leave to go back and relax for awhile before going to the polynesian later for the luah.

We got back to the bus stop and had to wait about 30 min for the bus. Getting to a from Epcot turned out to be the worst of any of the parks for the wait and lack of busses. Even though I think Epcot was the closest park to CBR.

 

[tiggerfan6]

Looking forward in reading the rest of your trip report. Your daughter is so very cute. My Gracie wants to wear hers when we visit the MK.