magicmouse2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 15, 2003
- Messages
- 3,997
DH, ME DS, DD, YOUNGEST DD
Our April/May Trip 2004
Family of Five have Fun in Florida
Accomodation:
POFQ - Photos dont express what a beautiful resort this is. Much nicer and more upscale than POR. Buldings are painting in pastels, with gorgeous wrought iron railings and trellis work. Grounds and rooms were immaculate. Rooms had a very deluxe feel to them. Walls were painted pale blue with a darker blue scrolled border around the top. Beutiful paintings on the walls and brass lamps above beds. Beds were comfy and quite soft. Bedspreads were in golden and jewel tones with Mardi Gras characters on them, and hidden Mickeys, bedskirts were in a beutifully contrasting midnight blue with golden squared pattern. Headboards and furniture was in beautiful Mahogony with brass accents. Chairs had Mickey heads on seat fabric. Look out for the beautiful crystal drawer-pull on the bedside cabinet. Carpets were in blue/jade scrolling pattern and felt like very high quality. Sinks were new with shiny chrome faucets. Could have still done with additional sink area bench space though a narrow shelf was above the sinks. Bathrooms had new fittings and paintwork, though tiles were not new. They could have spent a little extra and retiled them though instead of cleaning them up. The shower curtains in Navy and Green striped patterns with gold scrolls seemed like an attempt to blend in the yellowed tiles to the white bathroom fittings. Floor was in small hexagonal white tiles with Dark green hexagonal patterns. Grounds awesome. Neat formal styling. Mostly paved areas, with park like atmosphere and landscaping. Lots of trees, busy lizzies, ferns, fenced in with shiny black iron railings with horse head tops in areas. Lovely fountain on lawned area nr building 5. Beautiful rectangular frog fountain pond behing building 6.Lots of wildlife inc.the odd harmless black snake, squirrels, birds, lizards. Our room was waterview and had a lovely courtyard in the front of it with a Sago palm centerpiece surrounded by four benches. Building 6 - and our rooms were only 60 second walk to the foodcourt, and 5 mins to POR, though it was only a couple of minutes walk from the furthest building in the resort to the food court. Food court - excellent, clean. Wooden tables, large screen TV and coloring station for kids, large mardi gras icons hanging from ceiling. Lovely breakfast choices with TV screens above stations showing menus and pictures. My favorite was Bills Breakfast Blast - a sweet bread pudding layered with a sweet white sauce and blueberries and cinnamon, served with sausage or bacon. Fast service friendly staff. Good evening meals too - inc Jambalaya, rib/ chicken combos, etc - more selection than just burgers and fries. Jackson store shop - friendly staff, but small and lack of variety. Scat cats lounge - immaculate love the piano. Laundry room was great. Lots of machines, clean and good location next to the pool. Playground was excellent. Hot tub was lovely, set in hedged area away from pool, and rarely busy. Pool - awesome. Spectacularly clean. I loved the tall Mardi Gras Jester, and brilliant bright paintwork, lovely alligator icons, excellent serpent slide - named 'Scales'. Lifeguards were very attentive. There was a hair braiding station open from 10 am. The river boats to DD and POR were great and captains were friendly. We had a hire car, though used buses on occasions. They were very punctual and we never waited more than 5 minutes. I loved the soft jazzmusic playing around the resort. IMHO this is the most beautiful and best of the moderate resorts. Very laid back, relaxing and fun and friendly atmosphere. Glad I chose this over the POLY. I would have missed out!
- MANY Photos coming soon!
Weather was gorgeous - absolutely perfect. only half a day of rain.
Parks
CROWDED - really crowded. Fastpasses were selling out by midday, lines were 60 min plus. It did start to quieten down a little though after the Week following Easter. The stroller brigade were out in full force and we never got to do Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan. No problem, the kids are old enough now to enjoy, the Mountain attractions. We did enjoy the Carousel of Progress. It was the first time viewing this. We really had to work smart using fastpass. I only saw Wishes once but it was so awesome I couldnt describe. I was almost in tears. I had an excellent spot for Spectromagic - My favorite parade. We stayed once at Epcot for Illuminations, but I do feel that it has met its match with Wishes. We did Mission space lots, there was always fastpass available. We did Figment and had to buy a Figment large stuffed toy before the girls would leave the park. They wouldnt let me ship it to the resort neither and promised to carry him around. I ended up carrying him. He told me he enjoyed mission space but got a cough in Ice station cool after 3 visits in one day. We both agreed the Beverly is not that bad and would make a nice mixer. I am starting to tire of Epcot a little now. I feel it should have more rides and attractions. I still enjoy Spaceship Earth though.
I had the most wondrous trip on KMJ safaris this trip. The elephants were playing in the water, giraffes came to investigate the trucks and the hippos, rhinos, ostriches and lions were all outside. Also in Maharajah JT a female tiger came up to the window and started pawing it and pacing backwards and forwards in front of us. She had been seperated from the rest of the tigers for some reason. She was stunning. We got to pet a blue tongued skink in conservation station. We saw De 'vine and she is devine.Kids played for ages with the talking trash can and palm tree. It was an excellent day - it was Earth day and we ll got comemorative pins. The highlight of AK was when our car in Dinosaur stopped right next to the T rex. Youngest DD was terrified. We joked as we exited that the people next to us were missing just as a Dinosaur let out a burp noise. She would not do Dinosaur again!, though rode TOT nad RNR many many times. We watched Indiana Jones many times during this trip to escape the heat and crowds. Also enjoyed the Making of HM attraction. DD wanted Indian Eeyore after that. She collects Eeyores. We love the show and almost know it word for word now.
We didnt do the waterparks this trip as the pool at POFQ was so great. The girls arent strong enough swimmers to cope with the waves at Typhoon lagoon or to be let on the good water slides at BB.
What frustrated me on this trip was my families lack of ability to get to a park before 10.30. What a lazy bunch. I am a park commando and was hyper and had dressed showered, had breakfast and done the laundry before 8 am. Also they werent interested in staying late for parades. They would rather go back to the rooms and play cards, catch lizards or swim in the pool. I hated missing even one night of a parade, show or fireworks. I did enjoy using the pool at POFQ though. I guess its a good thing we bought into DVC. It will make it more tolerable hanging around the rooms waiting. As my DH is clueless about getting the girls ready, I had no choice but to wait for them each morning. On an evening though I could stay back if I wanted to, but it didnt feel right without my family. Girls are age 6 and 8 and are now starting to lose interest in characters so much. They now enjoy the thrill rides. We use the character meals as an opportunity to get photos and autographs, without waiting in line. The girls however are not to grown up for stuffed toys. We came back with mickey, a giant iguana from AK, Large Figment, Indiana Eeyore, Safari Eeyore, a large Stitch (for me really). We didnt spend as much as usual as this was our 3rd trip out of our APs. I bought some pins inc AP pin, F & G festival, new ToT pin, Mickey pin, and the flashing light up Mickey star pin. Also got the POFQ pin of mickey fishing. I brought home 2 mini snow globes of Mickey n Minnie in Tiki hut, and Mickey reading a book. I loved this ornament of Lilo and Stitch that I found in Adventureland and it has pride of place on my fireplace. I bought lots of prints too. POFQ from the shop there and EPCOT and Morrocco pavillion prints from the F & G pavillion. The CM told me that they were new this year. I got a large Giraffe planter from AK and an AK wall plate that was reduced. Girls got hula beach vests from the shop in the Polynesian, books, pens etc and I got a gorgeous keychain of Tinkerbell set in crystal. The cat got a Diamante Mickey charm for her collar. The dog got a box of scooby snacks. I bought numerous t shirts and tops. My favorite buy was a large throw of Cinderellas castle.
Food Review
We had to cancel most PS meals as the crowds were big and we didnt have time to spend over an hour eating lunch or dinner.
MGM
ABC Commissionary -Had the fish strips n fries and choc mousse dessert. Not bad food when you're hungry. Nice interior.
Rosies cafe - Got burgers n fries whilst waiting for Fantasmic. Nothing special, ok, nice burgers.
MK
Crystal Palace - we eat lunch here every time we visit WDW. Great food, delicious salads, good desserts, good character interaction very nice interior.
Pecos Bills - We got burgers and a chicken wrap. Wished I hadnt bothered with the chicken wrap as the fixin bar was so great I could have got my fill of salad there! (still did too)
Ohanas at the Polynesian - Dinner. We drove there one Saturday night. Car park was full! Had to wait 30 mins after ps time for seating, and there were no seats whilst waiting. Almost walked away. Glad we didnt food was excellent succulent tasty juicy large pieces of steak, shirmp, and pork. Great starters and side dishes, sauces, fried rice chicken wings, salad. Plenty of food more than we could eat. My husband noticed that another guy seemed to be enjoying the shrimp to as he also had a huge pile of shrimp shells. Server was polite and soon got to know what your Favorite meat was and brought plenty of it on the long skewers. We were sat near the window and could watch Cinderellas castle change color. It was too early for wishes. Not surprised the dessert was fresh pineapple - everyone was too stuffed to eat anything heavy! Kids had great fun playing hula hoop contests and coconut races. I loved watching them cook the food on the firepit. Will definately eat here next time.
Chef Mickeys - Dinner - Usual buffet foods including vegetables, parmesan mashed potatoes (best thing on the menu) pasta dish ravioli. Average main course but excellent desserts - especially the extremely fresh and light cheesecake with berries - yum. I was jealous as my DH had gummi bears! Lots of candy selection for kids. We were seated immediately on our PS time, but did feel rushed the restaurant was soo busy. The characters came round twice stopping just for photos and autographs.
EPCOT
Ate at usual favorites - Lotus Blossom cafe. Excellent food had chicken and beef meals. Friendly fast service and lovely seating area. Excellent value for money.
Tangierine Cafe. Huge filling portions of good food here. Had the lamb Shwarma platter. Service wasnt great here. They forgot part of mine and another parties order. Luckily the food makes up for it
Boulangerie pattisserie. I got a whole selection of cakes here for us to share. The srawberry mousse was good and there were fights over the chocolate cake. You do have to queue here, though I prefer the Strawberry cake at Kringla cafe which I also ate at.
Drinks - I drank round the world once or twice. Cider in England, Discovery wine flights in France - best value. Wine in Germany, Morrocco, Budweiser Beer. By the time I got to Mexico I was too tipsy to get a Margharita.
I wish there were more counter service eateries at Epcot like Lotus Blossom and Tangierine Cafe.
AK
Flame tree Barbeque. Had a good tasty spicy chicken sandwhich with corn and delicious barbeque beans. Very pleasant seating area next to a pond.
Restaurantosaurus - Got burgers n fries. Good fixin bar too.
Resort - POFQ Had the jambalay which was excellent. Ceasar salad was a bit lame.
Breakfasted here every day. Good food and decent size portions - Bills Breakfast blast (blueberry bread pudding with sausages or bacon) was delicious and I preferred this to the Texas stuffed toast that I had one morning at Boatwrights Restaurant. I believe this is responsible for the 5 pounds in weight I have aquired.
DQ - foodquest - average food for above average prices. Had cheescake at Cheescake factory - vanilla cheesecake - new favorite.
Ghirardellis - EARTHQUAKE!! it was really busy and we had to wait. Unbelievable ice cream 8 scoops of our choice topped with strawberry, banana, fudge sprinkles and whipped cream. We ate it all though the ice cream flavors quickly melted into each other making it hard to tell which variety you were eating. Great fun but prefer Edys Ice Cream. Save money buy the ingredients and make your own at home! - less mess.
Also ate at MCds which was usual, and Earl of Sandwich. Good filling sandwich I got roast beef and bleu cheese - delicious but the beef was a little stringy. Nothing like an English sandwich may I add.
We ate offsite too for my DH who loves his chinese food.
New York China Buffet - excellent variety of delicious foods excellent value for money, service not friendly though.
Bill Wongs - Very friendly service. Not as much variety though it offers carved meat and vegetable too for those who prefer plain food. Lovely desserts.
Ming Court - excellent food terrific service lovely restaurant. Got the peking duck, and eight treasure stir fry.
Sizzler - First time here and loved it. Had breakfast and lunch. Nice clean restaurant, good food.
Dairy Queen - got ice creams here - terrible service got our orders wrong, not impressed with hygiene standards.
Edys Ice cream - Very nice ice creams and shakes.
Also ate at KFC for value and convenience. Kids love KFC and our favorite one is near Seaworld.
Royal Pacific Resort - Islands Dining room - Scooby and Shaggy character buffet. Excellent value lovely chinese food cooked to order and in buffet station - only 3.99 for kids buffet. Great fun with Shaggy and Scooby. Shaggy called DS 13 a suspicious weirdo which was hilarious. We had good service here and great giant cocktail for two for 19.99 served in huge ceramic cocktail vessel which was set alight on the top. This was one drink I couldnt conquer - what a wimp! Desserts were various cakes which were all delicious.
Didnt eat at Tchoup Tcoup but would do next time.
Royal Pacific Resort
We had a water view room in Tower 3 the Royal tower,(IMHO the best one) and could see the pool and canal from the 5th floor and the Hulk and Dr Doom. It was a perfect view and I hadnt requested anything but close to pool. This resort is beautiful. From the moment you enter you see the South Seas islands theming from the guard gate to the bridge leading to the drop off point prior to the lobby. As you cross a small bridge with bamboo railings and small carved frogs in various poses, you over look one of the buildings, and tropical landscaping that leads down to a small waterfall of jade colored water, and beautiful tropical plants. Then you enter the lobby which is on the 3rd floor. Here you are greeted by some awesome wood carvings of people and animals on the walls, and orchid and palm planters. The first thing you see is the Orchid Court which is housed in a glass outdoor courtyard and is spectacular. In the center is a rectangular pond with elephant fountains in the center. The walls have lights enclosed in thatched roof huts on each corner, and palms with orchids growing up them.
Next to this is the beautiful Orchid court lounge where I had a continental breakfast each day - usually consisting of a warm cinnabon. Its about $2.69 per danish, they also had bagels and muffins and cold cereal. The lounge overlooks the pool area and is extremely comfortable. There are 2 plasma screen tvs in there. Again there are orchid planters. There are sofas and cane chairs with throw cushions all covered in a Balinese style fabrics and colors.
The check in area is to the right of the lobby. There are bell service guys eager to help you here too as you enter the lobby. There are sofa seats surrounding the orchid courtyards with lovely throw cushions. Check in was fine. I noticed there was a Loews express desk too. As a Loews member I was offered a choice of welcome gifts. I chose the Chardonnay which was presented beautifully with 2 large wine glasses and a coconut filled with mixed nuts ( I had to ring front desk to check where it was - it didnt arrive until 10:30pm). We were given maps room keys and were shown the concierge and hire car desks furhter up the lobby where we could make dining reservations. (The lady I spoke to on concierge didnt speak much English and was clueless about the character meal so I phoned Universal dining from the room phone to book) After passing statues and other delightful carvings and planters we entered the Elevator area. There are 4 in each tower all next to each other. They are beautiful, brass rails and rich dark wood panels with carvings around the mirror area. The attention to detail and upscale design of this hotel makes you wonder why it isnt a 5 star hotel. I have stayed at Disneys Grand Floridian and the decor of this hotel certainly matched or exceeded the luxury of the GF lobby interior. Our room was a short walk along the corridor. It was beautiful, Rich red decor but plain and tasteful with eyecatching accesories such as the lamps above the bed with dragon fly cut outs, the Balinese carving between bedroom and vanity area, marble vanity area, tiki torch lights, Paper lamps, rattan coffee tray, and the most wonderful curtains with belt straps holding up the valance. I instructed everyone dont touch the minibar. Prices were extortionate - $7 for water !!!! no wine in there though. There was an interesting snack drawer with nuts, gummi bear jars $11!! sarong, shell, other candy and a condom pack with had us laughing. My DH commented jokingly 'So they even charge you for sex in the room now'. The beds were really really comfy queen beds. We got a rollaway for my son. Although the rooms were not large they were adequately sized, though we felt confined to the room not having a balcony or opening window. We never used room service it was real pricey. We laughed at the room service for dogs and cats where they could order chicken or beef meals for $10 - MIL would have gone for that if she was there with the spoilt pooches. The bathroom was bigger than the WDW ones and had a beautiful stone tiled floor. The toilet also flushed very quietly. I loved the interactive TV options which gave you the choice of ordering games, movies, music or internet. Also you could view your hotel bill anytime, and check out via this option too. In all we loved this hotel. Only spoilers were the hordes of smartly dressed business or professional people attending meetings and seminars, which dissolved the vacation ambience a little, when you were in the elevator in a bikini and they were there in there groups with name tags and Armani suits discussing the latest breakthrough in cryogenics or something. We loved the pool and kids loved the water cannon area. There was good music on throughout the day and a torch lighting ceremony at 6.30 each evening. Lifeguards were very observant even got in the pool and wandered round keeping an eye out on the young uns. We took the water taxi to the parks but mostly enjoyed the walk along the troically landscaped walkways that led up past Margharitaville.
Parks-IOA US
Front of the line pass was out of this workd. The hulk was sold out by 10.30 most mornings for express passes and waits were around 60 - 90 minutes. I enjoyed getting soaked on Ripsaw falls then we spent about $10 on quarters soaking unsuspecting already wet people as there boat came to the ride exit area. We did Spiderman many times. You can never get bored of this- it is so original. I also love One fish 2 fish and took my Youngest DD on it many times. We did everything in the parks numerous times though were caught in a thunderstorm one day and they closed the park. Also we had great difficulty getting the kids out of the Jurassic park discovery center - they love the egg hatching thing. Unfortunately the Mummy was not open when we were there. We were dissapointed. We did do Shrek which was excellent - got love the digs at Disney. We saw the Ghostbuster show which I found embarrasingly tacky, but the kids enjoyed. Did MIB lots - I love this. We all agreed Back to the Future needs updating or ending now. Kids and DH had fun in the indoor play park where you fire balls at people. I sat and read my book while waiting. IOA and US are slowly catching up and in some areas exceeding Disneys attractions, however it just doesnt have the Disney magic and feel good aura. We did see the fireworks one night from our rom which looked great and lasted ages.
Other attractions
We visited Clearwater Beach for the first time. I booked a tour through Orlandotourist information Bureau that included transportation, lunch at the Hilton and a Dolphin Encounter Boat tour. The journey was fine and driver friendly. It was a Gator tours minibus. The sand was unbelievably soft and it was hot on the beach though a cool breeze was coming across the sea. I found the water 'clear up to thigh height then it was murky and a greenish color. The water was cold and there were only a couple of people in there making me think there must be sharks or something. DS got a fright when a huge silver fish jumped out of the water in his face while he snorkelled. The girls didnt notice the cold and paddled all afternoon. The Dolphin Encounter was fabulous it lasted around 90 mins and the Dolphins swam and jumped right next to the boat. The boat captains must feed them to train them to do this. Lunch at the Hilton was average type of meat & pasta and salad buffet. There was not much for kids except pasta. The hotel appears clean and nice though. There was a pool and large outdoor playground next to it. I loved this visit though I dont think I would do it again. My idea of a nice beach is turqoise water and natural beach, like in the Carribean.
Gatorland
I love Reptiles, so I was really excited about this. I loved being so close to Alligators and crocs and the Girls and I had our photo taken with an Alligator and Snake. I was convinced enough that the animals seemed to be fed well and cared for until I saw the Pearls smoke house cafe that sold amongst regular fare, Gator ribs and Nuggets!!! To me this would be like eating a pet dog. We did not eat here all day. We watched the Alligator Jumparoo where they would jump for Chickens, The croc feeding, and the Alligator Wrestling. It was not so much wrestling, but more of educating the public, however I became concerned when the entire audience could pay to sit on this poor taped up mouth Alligator. It did not seem distress as I guess it must be used to it. It left me deep in thought about things when I left this park. I loved being so close to beloved reptiles but would not go here again because of my concerns. There was also a gift shop selling Alligator leather products which I did not like. I know this might seem patronising as I wear leather goods and eat meat, just to me an Alligator is such an amazing creature that it deserves more than this.
Highlights of the trip - Royal Pacific and POFQ resorts, Wishes, watching Youngest DD chasing a quacking duck round and round in circles, Youngest DDs first time on RnR. Getting stuck on Dinosaur (scary), Ohanas dinner - yum and fun. Scooby doo ch Dinner (cool) getting soaked on Ripsaw falls. Oldest DD catching a Lizard one handed whilst eating an icecream (she is lightening fast) Me catching a black snake by the tail next to the foodcourt at POFQ - my daughter must have scared the heeby jeebies out of everyone in there when she ran in to tell my DH Moms caught a snake! and congrats to DH who didnt get us lost once whilst driving the car!
The CMS were really friendly and chatty. Brilliant Brilliant vacation. Cant wait to go back
Our April/May Trip 2004
Family of Five have Fun in Florida
Accomodation:
POFQ - Photos dont express what a beautiful resort this is. Much nicer and more upscale than POR. Buldings are painting in pastels, with gorgeous wrought iron railings and trellis work. Grounds and rooms were immaculate. Rooms had a very deluxe feel to them. Walls were painted pale blue with a darker blue scrolled border around the top. Beutiful paintings on the walls and brass lamps above beds. Beds were comfy and quite soft. Bedspreads were in golden and jewel tones with Mardi Gras characters on them, and hidden Mickeys, bedskirts were in a beutifully contrasting midnight blue with golden squared pattern. Headboards and furniture was in beautiful Mahogony with brass accents. Chairs had Mickey heads on seat fabric. Look out for the beautiful crystal drawer-pull on the bedside cabinet. Carpets were in blue/jade scrolling pattern and felt like very high quality. Sinks were new with shiny chrome faucets. Could have still done with additional sink area bench space though a narrow shelf was above the sinks. Bathrooms had new fittings and paintwork, though tiles were not new. They could have spent a little extra and retiled them though instead of cleaning them up. The shower curtains in Navy and Green striped patterns with gold scrolls seemed like an attempt to blend in the yellowed tiles to the white bathroom fittings. Floor was in small hexagonal white tiles with Dark green hexagonal patterns. Grounds awesome. Neat formal styling. Mostly paved areas, with park like atmosphere and landscaping. Lots of trees, busy lizzies, ferns, fenced in with shiny black iron railings with horse head tops in areas. Lovely fountain on lawned area nr building 5. Beautiful rectangular frog fountain pond behing building 6.Lots of wildlife inc.the odd harmless black snake, squirrels, birds, lizards. Our room was waterview and had a lovely courtyard in the front of it with a Sago palm centerpiece surrounded by four benches. Building 6 - and our rooms were only 60 second walk to the foodcourt, and 5 mins to POR, though it was only a couple of minutes walk from the furthest building in the resort to the food court. Food court - excellent, clean. Wooden tables, large screen TV and coloring station for kids, large mardi gras icons hanging from ceiling. Lovely breakfast choices with TV screens above stations showing menus and pictures. My favorite was Bills Breakfast Blast - a sweet bread pudding layered with a sweet white sauce and blueberries and cinnamon, served with sausage or bacon. Fast service friendly staff. Good evening meals too - inc Jambalaya, rib/ chicken combos, etc - more selection than just burgers and fries. Jackson store shop - friendly staff, but small and lack of variety. Scat cats lounge - immaculate love the piano. Laundry room was great. Lots of machines, clean and good location next to the pool. Playground was excellent. Hot tub was lovely, set in hedged area away from pool, and rarely busy. Pool - awesome. Spectacularly clean. I loved the tall Mardi Gras Jester, and brilliant bright paintwork, lovely alligator icons, excellent serpent slide - named 'Scales'. Lifeguards were very attentive. There was a hair braiding station open from 10 am. The river boats to DD and POR were great and captains were friendly. We had a hire car, though used buses on occasions. They were very punctual and we never waited more than 5 minutes. I loved the soft jazzmusic playing around the resort. IMHO this is the most beautiful and best of the moderate resorts. Very laid back, relaxing and fun and friendly atmosphere. Glad I chose this over the POLY. I would have missed out!
- MANY Photos coming soon!
Weather was gorgeous - absolutely perfect. only half a day of rain.
Parks
CROWDED - really crowded. Fastpasses were selling out by midday, lines were 60 min plus. It did start to quieten down a little though after the Week following Easter. The stroller brigade were out in full force and we never got to do Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan. No problem, the kids are old enough now to enjoy, the Mountain attractions. We did enjoy the Carousel of Progress. It was the first time viewing this. We really had to work smart using fastpass. I only saw Wishes once but it was so awesome I couldnt describe. I was almost in tears. I had an excellent spot for Spectromagic - My favorite parade. We stayed once at Epcot for Illuminations, but I do feel that it has met its match with Wishes. We did Mission space lots, there was always fastpass available. We did Figment and had to buy a Figment large stuffed toy before the girls would leave the park. They wouldnt let me ship it to the resort neither and promised to carry him around. I ended up carrying him. He told me he enjoyed mission space but got a cough in Ice station cool after 3 visits in one day. We both agreed the Beverly is not that bad and would make a nice mixer. I am starting to tire of Epcot a little now. I feel it should have more rides and attractions. I still enjoy Spaceship Earth though.
I had the most wondrous trip on KMJ safaris this trip. The elephants were playing in the water, giraffes came to investigate the trucks and the hippos, rhinos, ostriches and lions were all outside. Also in Maharajah JT a female tiger came up to the window and started pawing it and pacing backwards and forwards in front of us. She had been seperated from the rest of the tigers for some reason. She was stunning. We got to pet a blue tongued skink in conservation station. We saw De 'vine and she is devine.Kids played for ages with the talking trash can and palm tree. It was an excellent day - it was Earth day and we ll got comemorative pins. The highlight of AK was when our car in Dinosaur stopped right next to the T rex. Youngest DD was terrified. We joked as we exited that the people next to us were missing just as a Dinosaur let out a burp noise. She would not do Dinosaur again!, though rode TOT nad RNR many many times. We watched Indiana Jones many times during this trip to escape the heat and crowds. Also enjoyed the Making of HM attraction. DD wanted Indian Eeyore after that. She collects Eeyores. We love the show and almost know it word for word now.
We didnt do the waterparks this trip as the pool at POFQ was so great. The girls arent strong enough swimmers to cope with the waves at Typhoon lagoon or to be let on the good water slides at BB.
What frustrated me on this trip was my families lack of ability to get to a park before 10.30. What a lazy bunch. I am a park commando and was hyper and had dressed showered, had breakfast and done the laundry before 8 am. Also they werent interested in staying late for parades. They would rather go back to the rooms and play cards, catch lizards or swim in the pool. I hated missing even one night of a parade, show or fireworks. I did enjoy using the pool at POFQ though. I guess its a good thing we bought into DVC. It will make it more tolerable hanging around the rooms waiting. As my DH is clueless about getting the girls ready, I had no choice but to wait for them each morning. On an evening though I could stay back if I wanted to, but it didnt feel right without my family. Girls are age 6 and 8 and are now starting to lose interest in characters so much. They now enjoy the thrill rides. We use the character meals as an opportunity to get photos and autographs, without waiting in line. The girls however are not to grown up for stuffed toys. We came back with mickey, a giant iguana from AK, Large Figment, Indiana Eeyore, Safari Eeyore, a large Stitch (for me really). We didnt spend as much as usual as this was our 3rd trip out of our APs. I bought some pins inc AP pin, F & G festival, new ToT pin, Mickey pin, and the flashing light up Mickey star pin. Also got the POFQ pin of mickey fishing. I brought home 2 mini snow globes of Mickey n Minnie in Tiki hut, and Mickey reading a book. I loved this ornament of Lilo and Stitch that I found in Adventureland and it has pride of place on my fireplace. I bought lots of prints too. POFQ from the shop there and EPCOT and Morrocco pavillion prints from the F & G pavillion. The CM told me that they were new this year. I got a large Giraffe planter from AK and an AK wall plate that was reduced. Girls got hula beach vests from the shop in the Polynesian, books, pens etc and I got a gorgeous keychain of Tinkerbell set in crystal. The cat got a Diamante Mickey charm for her collar. The dog got a box of scooby snacks. I bought numerous t shirts and tops. My favorite buy was a large throw of Cinderellas castle.
Food Review
We had to cancel most PS meals as the crowds were big and we didnt have time to spend over an hour eating lunch or dinner.
MGM
ABC Commissionary -Had the fish strips n fries and choc mousse dessert. Not bad food when you're hungry. Nice interior.
Rosies cafe - Got burgers n fries whilst waiting for Fantasmic. Nothing special, ok, nice burgers.
MK
Crystal Palace - we eat lunch here every time we visit WDW. Great food, delicious salads, good desserts, good character interaction very nice interior.
Pecos Bills - We got burgers and a chicken wrap. Wished I hadnt bothered with the chicken wrap as the fixin bar was so great I could have got my fill of salad there! (still did too)
Ohanas at the Polynesian - Dinner. We drove there one Saturday night. Car park was full! Had to wait 30 mins after ps time for seating, and there were no seats whilst waiting. Almost walked away. Glad we didnt food was excellent succulent tasty juicy large pieces of steak, shirmp, and pork. Great starters and side dishes, sauces, fried rice chicken wings, salad. Plenty of food more than we could eat. My husband noticed that another guy seemed to be enjoying the shrimp to as he also had a huge pile of shrimp shells. Server was polite and soon got to know what your Favorite meat was and brought plenty of it on the long skewers. We were sat near the window and could watch Cinderellas castle change color. It was too early for wishes. Not surprised the dessert was fresh pineapple - everyone was too stuffed to eat anything heavy! Kids had great fun playing hula hoop contests and coconut races. I loved watching them cook the food on the firepit. Will definately eat here next time.
Chef Mickeys - Dinner - Usual buffet foods including vegetables, parmesan mashed potatoes (best thing on the menu) pasta dish ravioli. Average main course but excellent desserts - especially the extremely fresh and light cheesecake with berries - yum. I was jealous as my DH had gummi bears! Lots of candy selection for kids. We were seated immediately on our PS time, but did feel rushed the restaurant was soo busy. The characters came round twice stopping just for photos and autographs.
EPCOT
Ate at usual favorites - Lotus Blossom cafe. Excellent food had chicken and beef meals. Friendly fast service and lovely seating area. Excellent value for money.
Tangierine Cafe. Huge filling portions of good food here. Had the lamb Shwarma platter. Service wasnt great here. They forgot part of mine and another parties order. Luckily the food makes up for it
Boulangerie pattisserie. I got a whole selection of cakes here for us to share. The srawberry mousse was good and there were fights over the chocolate cake. You do have to queue here, though I prefer the Strawberry cake at Kringla cafe which I also ate at.
Drinks - I drank round the world once or twice. Cider in England, Discovery wine flights in France - best value. Wine in Germany, Morrocco, Budweiser Beer. By the time I got to Mexico I was too tipsy to get a Margharita.
I wish there were more counter service eateries at Epcot like Lotus Blossom and Tangierine Cafe.
AK
Flame tree Barbeque. Had a good tasty spicy chicken sandwhich with corn and delicious barbeque beans. Very pleasant seating area next to a pond.
Restaurantosaurus - Got burgers n fries. Good fixin bar too.
Resort - POFQ Had the jambalay which was excellent. Ceasar salad was a bit lame.
Breakfasted here every day. Good food and decent size portions - Bills Breakfast blast (blueberry bread pudding with sausages or bacon) was delicious and I preferred this to the Texas stuffed toast that I had one morning at Boatwrights Restaurant. I believe this is responsible for the 5 pounds in weight I have aquired.
DQ - foodquest - average food for above average prices. Had cheescake at Cheescake factory - vanilla cheesecake - new favorite.
Ghirardellis - EARTHQUAKE!! it was really busy and we had to wait. Unbelievable ice cream 8 scoops of our choice topped with strawberry, banana, fudge sprinkles and whipped cream. We ate it all though the ice cream flavors quickly melted into each other making it hard to tell which variety you were eating. Great fun but prefer Edys Ice Cream. Save money buy the ingredients and make your own at home! - less mess.
Also ate at MCds which was usual, and Earl of Sandwich. Good filling sandwich I got roast beef and bleu cheese - delicious but the beef was a little stringy. Nothing like an English sandwich may I add.
We ate offsite too for my DH who loves his chinese food.
New York China Buffet - excellent variety of delicious foods excellent value for money, service not friendly though.
Bill Wongs - Very friendly service. Not as much variety though it offers carved meat and vegetable too for those who prefer plain food. Lovely desserts.
Ming Court - excellent food terrific service lovely restaurant. Got the peking duck, and eight treasure stir fry.
Sizzler - First time here and loved it. Had breakfast and lunch. Nice clean restaurant, good food.
Dairy Queen - got ice creams here - terrible service got our orders wrong, not impressed with hygiene standards.
Edys Ice cream - Very nice ice creams and shakes.
Also ate at KFC for value and convenience. Kids love KFC and our favorite one is near Seaworld.
Royal Pacific Resort - Islands Dining room - Scooby and Shaggy character buffet. Excellent value lovely chinese food cooked to order and in buffet station - only 3.99 for kids buffet. Great fun with Shaggy and Scooby. Shaggy called DS 13 a suspicious weirdo which was hilarious. We had good service here and great giant cocktail for two for 19.99 served in huge ceramic cocktail vessel which was set alight on the top. This was one drink I couldnt conquer - what a wimp! Desserts were various cakes which were all delicious.
Didnt eat at Tchoup Tcoup but would do next time.
Royal Pacific Resort
We had a water view room in Tower 3 the Royal tower,(IMHO the best one) and could see the pool and canal from the 5th floor and the Hulk and Dr Doom. It was a perfect view and I hadnt requested anything but close to pool. This resort is beautiful. From the moment you enter you see the South Seas islands theming from the guard gate to the bridge leading to the drop off point prior to the lobby. As you cross a small bridge with bamboo railings and small carved frogs in various poses, you over look one of the buildings, and tropical landscaping that leads down to a small waterfall of jade colored water, and beautiful tropical plants. Then you enter the lobby which is on the 3rd floor. Here you are greeted by some awesome wood carvings of people and animals on the walls, and orchid and palm planters. The first thing you see is the Orchid Court which is housed in a glass outdoor courtyard and is spectacular. In the center is a rectangular pond with elephant fountains in the center. The walls have lights enclosed in thatched roof huts on each corner, and palms with orchids growing up them.
Next to this is the beautiful Orchid court lounge where I had a continental breakfast each day - usually consisting of a warm cinnabon. Its about $2.69 per danish, they also had bagels and muffins and cold cereal. The lounge overlooks the pool area and is extremely comfortable. There are 2 plasma screen tvs in there. Again there are orchid planters. There are sofas and cane chairs with throw cushions all covered in a Balinese style fabrics and colors.
The check in area is to the right of the lobby. There are bell service guys eager to help you here too as you enter the lobby. There are sofa seats surrounding the orchid courtyards with lovely throw cushions. Check in was fine. I noticed there was a Loews express desk too. As a Loews member I was offered a choice of welcome gifts. I chose the Chardonnay which was presented beautifully with 2 large wine glasses and a coconut filled with mixed nuts ( I had to ring front desk to check where it was - it didnt arrive until 10:30pm). We were given maps room keys and were shown the concierge and hire car desks furhter up the lobby where we could make dining reservations. (The lady I spoke to on concierge didnt speak much English and was clueless about the character meal so I phoned Universal dining from the room phone to book) After passing statues and other delightful carvings and planters we entered the Elevator area. There are 4 in each tower all next to each other. They are beautiful, brass rails and rich dark wood panels with carvings around the mirror area. The attention to detail and upscale design of this hotel makes you wonder why it isnt a 5 star hotel. I have stayed at Disneys Grand Floridian and the decor of this hotel certainly matched or exceeded the luxury of the GF lobby interior. Our room was a short walk along the corridor. It was beautiful, Rich red decor but plain and tasteful with eyecatching accesories such as the lamps above the bed with dragon fly cut outs, the Balinese carving between bedroom and vanity area, marble vanity area, tiki torch lights, Paper lamps, rattan coffee tray, and the most wonderful curtains with belt straps holding up the valance. I instructed everyone dont touch the minibar. Prices were extortionate - $7 for water !!!! no wine in there though. There was an interesting snack drawer with nuts, gummi bear jars $11!! sarong, shell, other candy and a condom pack with had us laughing. My DH commented jokingly 'So they even charge you for sex in the room now'. The beds were really really comfy queen beds. We got a rollaway for my son. Although the rooms were not large they were adequately sized, though we felt confined to the room not having a balcony or opening window. We never used room service it was real pricey. We laughed at the room service for dogs and cats where they could order chicken or beef meals for $10 - MIL would have gone for that if she was there with the spoilt pooches. The bathroom was bigger than the WDW ones and had a beautiful stone tiled floor. The toilet also flushed very quietly. I loved the interactive TV options which gave you the choice of ordering games, movies, music or internet. Also you could view your hotel bill anytime, and check out via this option too. In all we loved this hotel. Only spoilers were the hordes of smartly dressed business or professional people attending meetings and seminars, which dissolved the vacation ambience a little, when you were in the elevator in a bikini and they were there in there groups with name tags and Armani suits discussing the latest breakthrough in cryogenics or something. We loved the pool and kids loved the water cannon area. There was good music on throughout the day and a torch lighting ceremony at 6.30 each evening. Lifeguards were very observant even got in the pool and wandered round keeping an eye out on the young uns. We took the water taxi to the parks but mostly enjoyed the walk along the troically landscaped walkways that led up past Margharitaville.
Parks-IOA US
Front of the line pass was out of this workd. The hulk was sold out by 10.30 most mornings for express passes and waits were around 60 - 90 minutes. I enjoyed getting soaked on Ripsaw falls then we spent about $10 on quarters soaking unsuspecting already wet people as there boat came to the ride exit area. We did Spiderman many times. You can never get bored of this- it is so original. I also love One fish 2 fish and took my Youngest DD on it many times. We did everything in the parks numerous times though were caught in a thunderstorm one day and they closed the park. Also we had great difficulty getting the kids out of the Jurassic park discovery center - they love the egg hatching thing. Unfortunately the Mummy was not open when we were there. We were dissapointed. We did do Shrek which was excellent - got love the digs at Disney. We saw the Ghostbuster show which I found embarrasingly tacky, but the kids enjoyed. Did MIB lots - I love this. We all agreed Back to the Future needs updating or ending now. Kids and DH had fun in the indoor play park where you fire balls at people. I sat and read my book while waiting. IOA and US are slowly catching up and in some areas exceeding Disneys attractions, however it just doesnt have the Disney magic and feel good aura. We did see the fireworks one night from our rom which looked great and lasted ages.
Other attractions
We visited Clearwater Beach for the first time. I booked a tour through Orlandotourist information Bureau that included transportation, lunch at the Hilton and a Dolphin Encounter Boat tour. The journey was fine and driver friendly. It was a Gator tours minibus. The sand was unbelievably soft and it was hot on the beach though a cool breeze was coming across the sea. I found the water 'clear up to thigh height then it was murky and a greenish color. The water was cold and there were only a couple of people in there making me think there must be sharks or something. DS got a fright when a huge silver fish jumped out of the water in his face while he snorkelled. The girls didnt notice the cold and paddled all afternoon. The Dolphin Encounter was fabulous it lasted around 90 mins and the Dolphins swam and jumped right next to the boat. The boat captains must feed them to train them to do this. Lunch at the Hilton was average type of meat & pasta and salad buffet. There was not much for kids except pasta. The hotel appears clean and nice though. There was a pool and large outdoor playground next to it. I loved this visit though I dont think I would do it again. My idea of a nice beach is turqoise water and natural beach, like in the Carribean.
Gatorland
I love Reptiles, so I was really excited about this. I loved being so close to Alligators and crocs and the Girls and I had our photo taken with an Alligator and Snake. I was convinced enough that the animals seemed to be fed well and cared for until I saw the Pearls smoke house cafe that sold amongst regular fare, Gator ribs and Nuggets!!! To me this would be like eating a pet dog. We did not eat here all day. We watched the Alligator Jumparoo where they would jump for Chickens, The croc feeding, and the Alligator Wrestling. It was not so much wrestling, but more of educating the public, however I became concerned when the entire audience could pay to sit on this poor taped up mouth Alligator. It did not seem distress as I guess it must be used to it. It left me deep in thought about things when I left this park. I loved being so close to beloved reptiles but would not go here again because of my concerns. There was also a gift shop selling Alligator leather products which I did not like. I know this might seem patronising as I wear leather goods and eat meat, just to me an Alligator is such an amazing creature that it deserves more than this.
Highlights of the trip - Royal Pacific and POFQ resorts, Wishes, watching Youngest DD chasing a quacking duck round and round in circles, Youngest DDs first time on RnR. Getting stuck on Dinosaur (scary), Ohanas dinner - yum and fun. Scooby doo ch Dinner (cool) getting soaked on Ripsaw falls. Oldest DD catching a Lizard one handed whilst eating an icecream (she is lightening fast) Me catching a black snake by the tail next to the foodcourt at POFQ - my daughter must have scared the heeby jeebies out of everyone in there when she ran in to tell my DH Moms caught a snake! and congrats to DH who didnt get us lost once whilst driving the car!
The CMS were really friendly and chatty. Brilliant Brilliant vacation. Cant wait to go back
