From Caracas to WDW. Our September '08 Trip: A (small) report.

[Luis Rodriguez]

just found this and it is a great tr. looks like a fun time so far. looking forward to more.

Thanks, the only problem is to find the time for it... Next chapter will be up shortly...

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

(Almost) Full day at Epcot...


After the kids decided to do Epcot’s evening EMH, they, of course, slept till late the next morning. Me? Had a car rental reservation for 08:30am, so had to wake up early (again!!) in order to get picked up by Alamo’s bus.

As soon as I got out of the room I saw that the clouds were gone, promising a wonderful rain-less (less humid) weather. Wrong. It was still humid, just a lot hotter.

Nice sky, hot weather…


I got the car quickly (have always gotten good service from Alamo) and returned to the room to find the kids just beginning to wake up. Had a late breakfast and off we went to Epcot.

Most of the rides had been done the day before, so decided to do a relaxed visit to the park.


I have always loved this fountain (and its music).


Recognize this one? Weebo, from Flubber


Went to the “Honey I shrunk the audience” film. It is nice, but we arrived just after the last group of guests had entered, were the first on line and had to wait quite a bit before the movie.

We bought the kids their passports. At first, Valeria did not understand what they were for, but once she did, she really liked the idea.

The kids loved their Passports



I had read a lot about the Off Kilter group in these boards, but never had the chance to see it. Liked it, nice music and a good show. Unfortunately, it was VERY hot, and the family did not want (rightly so) to stand in the sun for long.

Off Kilter


The guy at the Kidcot station in the United Kingdom pavilion was the best we found, with a wonderful sense of humor. I liked the setting where the station was located, sort of an expeditioner’s club.
Ye Olde England.




After the United Kingdom, we decided to cross the channel and visit France. We had been told that we could find Belle and, also, Mercedes wanted to check some parfums.

Aaahh, Paris. Observe the details: the bicycle, the easel, boats, boxes. Perfection!



We entered the store and, Surprise!! A fellow Venezuelan was the CM in charge of the shop. He was a nice guy, called just like me (Luis). Talk about a small world!!
He convinced Mercedes in buying a very nice fragrance (not that she needed much encouraging) and off we went in search of Belle.

Sigh… It just happened that Belle was available at very specific times, but the kids got to see Marie and Aurora, so things were ok.

One of Valeria’s favorite characters. The kids loved her.




Poor girl, must be sweltering in that dress…


NEXT: Rest of the world and an early dinner at the Garden Grill.

 

[Baloo]

Oh such beautiful pictures! I think your night time one of Journey into Imagination is lovely!


Your kids are adorable! My DS loved doing the passports when he was younger...he's 15 now...no Kidcot stops for us anymore. BooHoo!

 

[englishrose47]

What a gorgeous family you have Luis !! Your English is great ! Valeria is obviously your joy !! She is a sweetie !!

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

What a gorgeous family you have Luis !! Your English is great ! Valeria is obviously your joy !! She is a sweetie !!

Thank you!! Coming from someone born in the land of the Bard, that is quite a compliment!!

And yes, Valeria is our (not so small, now) bundle of joy. She came to us a little late in life and, as my wife likes to say, she is the only daughter of two not-so-young parents, so we are quite "ga-ga" over her.

Regards,

Luis

(Edited) Sorry, that did not come across too well. My wife's expression (loosely translated) is that we are two "almost Grandparents" parents, meaning that we, as Grandparents often do, are always doting a lot over our daughter

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

Oh such beautiful pictures! I think your night time one of Journey into Imagination is lovely!


Your kids are adorable! My DS loved doing the passports when he was younger...he's 15 now...no Kidcot stops for us anymore. BooHoo!

Sigh... These kids grow up too fast, don't they? It seems that just yesterday I was changing her diapers... Now, she is a "grown-up" girl who chooses her own clothes, commenting about if they are in "fashion" or not (whatever that means

Regards,

Luis

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Luis,
I followed you over from Alan's ptr. I am loving reading about your holiday so far! Your pictures are great and your family is beautiful. Thanks for letting us share in reliving your memories!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Luis,

GREAT report! What a beautiful family you have! You are truly blessed. I am loving the pictures. It looks like you all had a wonderful time.

Alan

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

I just got back on Monday from a weekend trip. First time at POP.

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

Luis,
I followed you over from Alan's ptr. I am loving reading about your holiday so far! Your pictures are great and your family is beautiful. Thanks for letting us share in reliving your memories!

Thank you!! It was Alan's report who inspired me to write my own little TR (although Alan's is truly a class by itself ).

Luis,

GREAT report! What a beautiful family you have! You are truly blessed. I am loving the pictures. It looks like you all had a wonderful time.

Alan

Thank you Alan! Just got a look at your daughter's party pics. That cake sure looks yummy. Next time I'll send you a self-addressed Fedex box BTW, tell your DD that I like her shirt a lot

great update and pics.

I just got back on Monday from a weekend trip. First time at POP.

Thank scottny, hope you had a wonderful time!! For this trip we wanted to stay at POP, but it was all booked up. Who knows? There is always next time!!

 

[Sabrina90744]

Luis, I am loving your trip report! What a great looking family! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Luis, I just finished reading the entire report. This is WONDERFUL!! I feel like I already know your family!

Thanks for the great compliments.

Alan

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

Luis, I am loving your trip report! What a great looking family! Can't wait to hear more.

Thank you Sabrina! Here comes the next chapter.

Luis, I just finished reading the entire report. This is WONDERFUL!! I feel like I already know your family!

Thanks for the great compliments.

Alan

Thanks again Alan. The kids had a wonderful time and Valeria still talks almost daily about her trip. If she had her way, we would be visiting every other week

Regards,

Luis

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

Rest of the world and an early dinner at the Garden Grill

After visiting France, we went to Morocco, where we found Aladdin and his gang. When the kids were waiting their turn for the photo, Aladdin had pressing concerns elsewhere and let us with The Genie and Jasmine.


In general terms, we found that the characters' interaction with the kids was great. Even in character dinners, near closing time, they always made sure that we had a wonderful time. This could be extended to almost all the Cast Members we met. They were very courteous and helpful, always with a quick smile to give.

Overall, the Kidcot experience was excellent. The kids were quizzed about their names, country of origin, etc. and although their English is quite limited, the CMs were very understanding and kind.

Unfortunately, we found an exception to this norm in Morocco. Here, when asked about where the kids could get their passports stamped, the CMs in charge were totally lost, suggesting that we stamped the passports ourselves (!!). We were tossed around between 2 or 3 CMs before someone took pity of us and stamped the books. While not really being rude, they weren't up to standards set by the CMs we found in the other pavilions. They seemed glad to get rid of us. We (or at least I) were glad to be out of there :-(.




We had an early (6:10pm) dinner reservation at the Garden Grill, so we took a boat thru the World Showcase Lagoon, in order to return to Future World.

Dining at the Garden Grill.

Sigh...The Garden Grill. What can I tell you about the Garden Grill?

Many years ago, on my first visit to the Garden Grill the food could be ordered "À la carte" and the only characters to be found would be, if any, a particularly extravagant guest. Nowadays, the Grill is full of DISNEY characters (none of them guests) and still seems to have a carte, although it is a predefined one, so you don't have many choices in the food you can order: a Kid's menu (Chicken nuggets and fries, Mac & Cheese) or an Adult's menu (a meal course comprising Catfish, beans, steak, etc).

That being said, we found the experience an enjoyable one. For those of you who haven't been there, the Garden Grill is a rotating restaurant, located above the "Living with the Land" attraction (at "The Land", in FW). Think of a doughnut, where the kitchen is located in the doughnut hole and the guests are seated in small booths in the doughnut ring, some of them looking toward the kitchen wall (the center) and the rest looking outside. It rotates about one revolution per hour, which is nicely done, as this is the average dinner time.

We were seated on the (lower) outer side of the restaurant, which is, I think, the best location, as it gives a lot of space and you get a nice view of the changing landscape of the ride below.

Our server, Imad, was quick in noticing that, no matter how adult Disney can consider Daniel to be, he still prefers kid's meals, so he brought him a kid's menu (although bigger sized), and to no extra charge!! Besides of giving us a good service with the meals, he helped us with the camera, so the family could appear together in several pictures.

As for the (real?) adults, we found the food very good: the fried catfish had an excellent flavor, and the steak was really nice. For dessert, the kids had a do-it-yourself cupcake. We had a wonderful pastry with strawberry topping which, I must reckon, needed an extra effort in order to share it with Mercedes (and not to eat it all by myself ).

The characters were wonderful!! They took their time with the kids, were good sports with the family photos (Im sure that sometimes THAT should be tiresome for them) and overall gave us beautiful memories. Not sure why, but it was not as stressful as the Crystal Palace dinner.

She is not very sure about that cherry
(BTW, check the pastry. Mmm.)


Mercedes loved Pluto


The Big Cheese himself
(See the guy over Mercedes' shoulder? He's our server, Imad)


Hey, look, a food pic!!


After this wonderful dinner, we set out to visit some of the remaining World Showcase countries, this time starting from the left (west) side, beginning with Mexico and ending with Norway, where we sat near the lagoon in order to enjoy Wishes.

Mexico!!







Whew! Closing time! So far the kids have an almost perfect record, leaving the parks at closing time (and not a minute earlier ). It was time to get a good rest at our resort, as tomorrow would be a different kind of experience.

A last look at Spaceship Earth. (IMHO) It looks a lot better without the wand.



Next: Moving between worlds: From Disney World to Sea World.

 

[scottny]

all caught up. great update and pics.

Garden grill never been to, maybe some day.

I was just in the "World" last week for a weekend and saw Aladdin and Jasmine. Had my pic taken with them. I would preferred the Genie.

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Awesome update Luis! Keep them coming!

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

From Disney World to Sea World (and back...)
Let's face it; WDW can be, sometimes, a little overwhelming: long hours, long walks, a constant stimulation of the senses (rides, fireworks, parades, shops, etc.). So, if possible, we always try to factor in some "rest days". This break can mean several things, depending on the length of our trip to Florida: A visit or two to some of the Orlando's non-Disney (gasps!!) Theme Parks, shopping (things like electronics, books, shoes, etc. are almost always a LOT cheaper in the US than in Venezuela) or just a morning of "doing nothing".

For us, Sea World has been almost always a "must" visit. We love the shows and the animals. For Valeria almost any kind of animal is either "Awww, he is a cutie" or "Wow, interesting!!” A behavior that his father shares completely

According to this, we had planned a couple of days at Sea World (a 1-Day ticket is valid for a second visit, as long as it is done in the next 7 days) and a visit to Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure (more on that later).

So, after a breakfast in the Food Court, we set off to Orlando, armed with our paper GPS (aka Google Maps).

Question to all of you Floridians out there: How do you navigate in a State that is so flat, where all the highways and places look about the same? I come from a city placed in a valley, with a big mountain at the north, so we know, almost intuitively, where we are and where the place we want to go is located. Florida? Four out of three times I get lost…

My hometown: Caracas, Venezuela.


As this is a Disney Trip Report, let me add simply that our visit to Sea World was a good one. As always, the animal shows were amazing and rides very good. Valeria became an instant fan of “Journey to Atlantis”, where the ride is a mix between a boat ride thru (you guessed it) Atlantis, roller coaster and a (big) drop, sort of Splash Mountain, although (I think) steeper.

Journey to Atlantis



This show (Believe) was new for us. It was really good.





Although the script is almost always the same, the cast in the Sea Lion show (all species) was really funny. Everybody had a great time.


You must have in account that WDW and SW are two very different experiences. WDW submerges you in a world where everything is related: rides, shops, even many of the CMs attitudes and behavior are similar. SW has, of course, the same overall theme all over but, other than that, it is not as integrated as WDW is. Also, although most of their CMs are very kind and helpful, we find that in general terms their service level lags somewhat behind that of WDW.

Returning to WDW...
After SW closed (about 7pm), went straight to the resort, had dinner and, at last, was able to get sleep at something resembling an honest hour.

Next: Afternoon at Disney’s MGM Studios… Sorry, DHS

 

[alan_renfroe]

Luis,

I loved seeing the pictures from SeaWorld! We have never been there, but it looks like a lot of fun!

Alan

 

[Luis Rodriguez]

Luis,

I loved seeing the pictures from SeaWorld! We have never been there, but it looks like a lot of fun!

Alan

Hi Alan,

Sorry about the late answer (and lack of new posts!!). My PC has been acting up and just now I have been able to fix it (I hope )

Sea World IS nice. The animal shows are really well done; there are some good rides, as Atlantis and Kraken, a good sized roller coaster. Also, the interaction with the animals can be quite good, specially at feeding times (you have to buy the fishes, of course ).

Valeria at Sea World, in 2006


Additionally, there is a new water park, Aquatica, that has been getting some good reviews. We haven't visited it yet, maybe next time!! There are some nice pictures and info at allearsnet.com http://land.allears.net/blogs/lindamac/sea_world/

That said, I'm afraid that, at least on this trip, I was disappointed at the counter service restaurants, as the food quality was not very good and the service we got was, to be kind, awful.

Any more info you need, please don't hesitate to drop me a note. Also, as my PC seems to be working OK now, I'll try to update the TR (long overdue )

Regards,

Luis

 

[heaven2dc]

Absolute LOVE your trip report and pics!! You are doing an amazing job and your English is better than some "American" TR's I've read on the Disboards so !!

Your family is beautiful How blessed you are to have a daughter - my youngest son was born when I was 40 and he has truly been a blessing (my husband died from a heart attack when we were just starting our WDW vacation when my youngest son was 1 1/2 yrs old so I feel truly blessed to have all my children).

You have a wonderful sense of humor and I rank your report one of the best I've read - thank you so much for sharing!!