Grand Floridian, P&PP, 7 Days!!! 4/3-4/10

[drinktomeonly]

Welcome to my Trip Report! We just got back from a WONDERFUL time at the Grand Floridian. 4/3-4/10.

Included in this Report: Grand Floridian Resort, Mouseketeer Club, Narcoossee's, Pirate and Princess Party, Cinderella Castle Breakfast, Chef Mickey's Character Dinner, 1900 Park Faire Character Dinner, Coral Reef, Hoop Dee Do Revue, Luau at Polynesian, etc etc!!

The Cast:
DH 41 Me, 40 DD 7 and DS 5

I'll post the next installment shortly!

 

[nessz79]

Looks like I'm the first one here!

 

[drinktomeonly]

This was our first family vacation out of state, and our first vacation truly “away” for a week. We usually spend our weekends away at our cabin north of us here in Wisconsin, but decided that it was time to visit the Mouse.
I did months of planning, using the Dis boards, and also the unofficial guide. We look for plenty of time to relax when we are away from work, so I built in lots of “free time” away from the parks. We are NOT commando.

We took off for Florida on April 3rd out of Milwaukee, via Midwest Airlines. It was an EXTREMELY turbulent flight, with DD getting sick as a result. No worries, though, she felt better as soon as we landed.
As we made our way to the baggage claim area in Orlando, we spotted our Limo drive right on time.
Using tips found on this board, I had hired Southern Elegance Limo to pick us up, and the driver was just completely charming and nice. On board was a huge Mickey Mouse (stuffed). The kids LOVED it. They just adored the limo ride, and we zoomed off directly to the Grand Floridian with no stops. Well worth the money, and I found it very reasonable. This meant no waiting for our Luggage, no waiting for other stops. I was going to use Magical Express, but I knew we'd want to get straight to the resort to swim.

The lobby of the hotel was familiar to me because I had seen so many photos here on the boards….just lovely.
As I had expected, we had arrived so early that our room wasn’t ready yet.

The wonderful front desk person recommended that we “definitely, definitely wait “ for our assigned room rather than accept another earlier, because it was a really “special room” and that there were only “16 or so like it” at the resort.
Since I hadn’t expected our room to be ready when we arrived, I had a carry-on bag packed with swimsuits for all of us. We were STARVING so first things first, we went to the Grand Floridian Café for lunch where our waiter explained the dining plan to us and was happy to chat and make suggestions about places to go and things to do.

The food at the GF Café was wonderful throughout our visit. At this lunch, my DH and I both ordered the Grand Sandwich….bacon, ham, and melted boursin cheese served open face on Ciabbatta bread. So Good! The kids had usual kids stuff, chicken/fries/….but my DD asked for a waffle and they agreed happily.

From this point on, I never hesitated to ask for something else (simple) for the kids even if it wasn’t on the menu and we were never refused. I should say that my kids are really picky eaters….even though DH and I are not. I have no idea how it happened. In their defense, I wouldn’t expect anybody to eat chicken/fries/pizza all week with very little variation, so I didn’t feel bad about asking for other choices.

After Lunch it was off to the pool!

 

[drinktomeonly]

Welcome, Nessz! I'm figuring out how to post my pics before I continue!

 

[CHEK]

Can't wait to read more

 

[drinktomeonly]

For some reason photobucket is running really slow on uploads today so I'm still attempting to get my photos hosted so that I can put them in.
___________________________________

We happily headed out to one of the pools (the one by the beach) where the kids went immediately crazy for the slide. I stayed out of the water while DH swam with them .
At 4pm, our room was ready, and the bellman took us there via golf cart.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED OUR ROOM. I can’t say it enough. It was a GREAT location with a wonderful view.
Big Pine Key Room 9347….with TWO BALCONIES, two Queen beds, a foyer.
One balcony faced the Castle, while the other balcony faced the Polynesian and GF beach.
LOVELY.
Plenty of room. I was really, really pleased.
I DO have pics that I'll put in when I get them uploade properly.

 

[drinktomeonly]

After all that swimming, the kids were hungry again so we went to Gasparilla’s where they ate hamburgers and chicken nuggets….and played video games. I found Gasparilla’s to be very clean and pleasant. It was busy, and noisy, but really clean and lots of good choices of fruit, snacks, cereals, drinks, baked stuff and menu items. I think that it’s been under-rated on some of the reviews because our experience was great. DH and I weren’t hungry yet, so we just had a cocktail at Gaspy’s while the kids played.

When everyone was finished, we walked around the grounds a bit and then headed back to our room to make it an early night. We were tired from travel and wanted to hit it hard the next day. DH and I ordered room service. I had Caesar Salad and French Onion Soup. Both really good. DH ordered Prime rib. Private dining was FAST. Faster than some luxury hotels that I’ve stayed in. Food arrived hot and was really nice. We were pleased with it. We also ordered a big fruit plate that the kids nibbled on.

 

[drinktomeonly]

Gasparilla's

The GF Pool with Slide

Our Fantastic Room, with view from both balconies:

 

[drinktomeonly]

After a nice night sleep, we woke up bright and early to get ready for our Breakfast at Cinderella Castle!

Both kids dressed up in their Disney Best, and we jumped on the monorail for a quick ride to the magic Kingdom. It would be really really difficult for me after this to stay at a resort off-property and off the monorail line, because that system is SO convenient.

Our first glimpse of the Castle was terrific before park opening, because of course there were no crowds, only little princesses scurrying toward breakfast. We had purchased the Photopass CD online (pre-order), so we stopped at the first photographer that we saw for our first “castle family photo”.

Cinderella Castle Breakfast: We felt that this was really well done and well organized. The food was good, the coffee was good, and Cinderella and the rest of the princesses were really sweet. We met Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle (blue dress). Our little Pirate finally had it with all of the princess talk and demanded to leave right after the wishing ceremony.

The best part was, when we left the breakfast the park was open, and still not crowded. We dashed into Mickey’s Philharmagic and saw it twice. The kids are STILL talking about that one. We hopped right on Peter Pan’s Flight, right on It’s a Small World, and right onto the Tea Cup ride, and had only a short wait for Barnstormer. We basically got to ride and do just about everything that we wanted to.

It was a really fun, stress-free morning. When the crowds started to gather, we left and went back to swim, because we knew we’d be returning that night for the Pirate and Princess Party.

PICS TO Follow!

 

[acellison]

Oh I cannot wait for this TR I love the GF and I am so excited to see your pics and hear how your trip went. Please update soon

 

[Tinker-Belle07]

Looks great so far! Looking forward to hearing about the P&PP. We're thinking about attending the one on May 2nd.....

 

[OhMari]

Looking forward to the rest of your report. I'm trying to remember what the weather was like April 3.

Where is Wisconsin do you live? Sorry fellow Wisconsinite here. There are not to many of us, so it is nice to see someone from my home state.

 

[drinktomeonly]

Thanks everybody! This is my very first trip report so I have stage fright!! I appreciate the support!
We are from Menomonee Falls, and the weather was dreary when we left. Uck!!

Here are some photos from the Cinderella Castle Breakfast.
Walking up to the castle, a photo with the Princess, and the Wishing Ceremony.

 

[drinktomeonly]

We headed back to the Pool at the GF.
DD enjoyed a poolside peanut butter and jelly sandwich, DS had a healthy lunch of potato chips.
I had a healthy lunch of grey goose vodka and cranberry juice, dh had a beer.

After spending time poolside, we went back to our room for a cozy family nap.
We woke up just in time to get the kids to the MOUSEKETEER CLUB so that DH and I could have a quiet dinner at Narcoossee’s.

Unfortunately, we weren’t impressed with the Mouseketeer Club. I had understood that it was small, and had heard that it was boring, but my kids really love crafts so I thought they’d enjoy just coloring and crafting. I didn’t realize that it was TINY. A narrow, cluttered little room. The folks working there were nice enough, but seemed pretty bored. One of the CM's kept mixing up our children's names....I thought he was attempting to be funny but DH thought he actually couldn't get it right. Either way, it was a little lame. We didn’t leave with a really happy feeling as though we were sure that our kids would have a good time. I should also say that our kids LOVE socializing, and usually have no problem being without us. We dropped them off at 5:15.

NARCOOSEE’s
One strategy that we used throughout our vacation, that works for our family, is to eat early in the evening, thereby getting great tables in every restaurant. This night was no exception. Narcoossee’s is a very pretty venue, and we received a beautiful window table with a great view, as Narcoosee’s opens at 5:30….just when we were scheduled.
We really enjoy dining out, and pretty much just go nuts ordering whatever we like. As a result, even though we had the deluxe dining plan we often had extra charges for food and cocktails.
We started with Lobster Bisque (both of us) which was delicious and then a fantastic salad with Spring greens, beets and Chevre’ topped with pecans that was heavenly. Really wonderful. DH had Duck Spring Rolls…also excellent. For our entrees, I ordered the crab-crusted halibut which was terrific. It was a beautiful piece of fish with what was almost like a crab cake topping. DH had surf and turf which was ALSO excellent.

The service was wonderful, the cocktails were great…all in all a super dinner.
For dessert, I ordered the almond crusted cheese cake because of having read so much about it. It was really good…mainly because of the sugar-coated almonds pressed all over it. DH ordered some sort of chocolate dessert that I don’t remember. Something with Grand Marnier in it.

At this point, we were really anxious to get our kids so we didn’t dawdle, we walked the short jaunt to the Mousketeer club and got there just as the kids were finishing up their own dinner, carried in from Gasparilla’s. DD had a hamburger, DS had a pizza. The entire table of children was seated in front of a television waching a movie almost silently when we walked in. Gloomy. Our kids were happy about some masks they had colored, but both of them said that they had missed us and did not want to go back. I can see why. We went back to the room to get them dressed for our big night in the Magic Kingdom!!

Next up, Pirate and Princess Party!!!

 

[drinktomeonly]

PIRATE AND PRINCESS PARTY
I'll start by saying….it was DEFINITELY worth it. We actually splurged on advance tickets for the 4th AND the 6th. On this first night, we roamed the park and literally walked right on to every ride that we wanted to.
It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride…etc. No crowds! The darkness added an element of fun.

My kids were pretty disinterested in the Glow Sticks that I bought at home at the dollar store, they really cared more about the rides and people watching. I probably wouldn’t bother buying those again on another trip.

The kids enjoyed the show on the Castle Grounds with Mickey and the Pirates. They had fun dancing at Sebastian's Dance Party...here's a pic of that:

By this time, it was sprinkling. Not a heavy rain, but we did put on our ponchos and were completely comfortable. In fact, if there is one thing that surprised me about this trip, it was how wholeheartedly I now endorse Disney in the rain.

We hopped on the Dumbo ride just as the fireworks were starting. While we were pleased to walk right onto Dumbo, we realized that the fireworks were going off directly over us, blowing debris into our eyes and into the kids mouths. This, combined with the fact that my DD is very afraid of fireworks….took away the romance of that ride heh heh.

After we hopped off the ride we left the park and headed back to the GF via boat. SO CONVENIENT!!

It was a great day, and we all went to bed exhausted.

Next up...the PIRATE ADVENTURE at Grand Floridian

 

[drinktomeonly]

On Day Three, we took the kids to Gasparilla’s for a casual breakfast. I thought that the choices were great, and both of them were happy as clams.

Right after that, we headed over to the Pirate Adventure at the Marina. This was a very well organized event! Captain Ron was funny, obviously enjoyed the job, and the kids loved the pirate Mickey Ears and the silly pep-talk and "pirate rules" they received before boarding the boat. I think that there were 22 kids on the Adventure. I booked this WELL IN ADVANCE and highly suggest that you do the same!!

I felt terrible when a Dad and his little girl tried to get her on the boat and were refused. Turns out that he didn’t book in advance and all the jaunts available during their vacation were completely booked. I hate seeing disappointed kids. This one fills up fast so definitely make your advanced reservations!

We waved goodbye to the kids and DH and I enjoyed a nice long breakfast at the Grand Floridian Café.
The food there is absolutely terrific. DH had the vanilla maple French toast which was the best French toast I’ve ever tasted. I started with the bagels/lox/cream cheese plate and then went way too far and also had eggs benedict as well!!!!! I washed it all down with a cappuccino.

After really having a nice time at breakfast, we waddled back down to the dock to greet the returning Pirates. They came back with bags of “booty” and were really really happy about the time they spent with Captain Ron. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the event and I’d definitely recommend it.
After we picked up the kids, we went back to the room and packed up our backpack to head off to EPCOT.

Here are a couple of Pirate Adventure Pics:

Next up, Epcot!

 

[drinktomeonly]

EPCOT
As you can tell by the timeline so far, we totally went with our own family schedule and completely disregarded advice to get up early and run for fast passes. We used a different approach and wound up being able to do and see everything that we had wanted to during our trip. It worked for us.

One thing that served us well on this trip were the rain ponchos that I had purchased at the dollar store pre-trip. Just as we entered Epcot, it began to rain. We put on our Ponchos, rented a double stroller, tucked the kids in under plastic and headed off into the park. We had LOTS of fun!

We walked quickly through the rain to The Land, where we enjoyed the “Living With the Land” experience. The kids loved it, surprisingly enough. They loved pointing out all the different plants, fruits, and vegetables that our boat passed as we went along. We also stopped to watch the movie about conservation and preserving the land that is hosted by Simba, Timon and Pumba…I forget what it is called. The kids liked that, as well.

We passed the Kids Cooking activity where we just missed the start of what looked to be lots of fun…making Toll House chocolate chip cookies. As a consolation, we bought our children two cookies at a counter and they enjoyed those. The line for Soarin was 70 minutes long so instead we decided to head directly over to the Living Seas.

What a GREAT MOVE!!!! The kids LOVED this area of Epcot.

We saw Turtle Talk With Crush and he spoke with BOTH of our children! They made us very proud by asking him what we thought were very intelligent questions. It was a hoot. Again, we walked right in, no line. After taking in all the sights at the Living Seas, we headed next door to the CORAL REEF Restaurant for our 5:15 reservation.

Living Seas:
(Check out DS's silly expression...he's always the entertainer )

Next, Coral Reef Restaurant.

 

[KathyRN137]

I clicked on your report b/c you mentioned the P&P Party in your title and I just convinced my DH to get tickets for our trip next week!

So, so glad to hear that you thought it was worth it!

And your room at the GF... in a word....WOW!!!

Looking forward to more!

Kathy

 

[drinktomeonly]

THE CORAL REEF:

We arrived early, and were seated almost immediately in a table right next to the fish tank. Yay!

Here, we splurged and bought the kids the Pirate Punch souvenir drinks with the glowing Tink and Captain Hook clipped to the cups. Our son had chicken and fries. I asked for plain noodles and butter for my daughter as I saw that they had fettucine on the menu anyway. They agreed and she really enjoyed that meal. We never ran across a server who refused to bring something that wasn’t on the menu for the kids.

I had the seafood bisque, which was good, DH ordered the crab cakes, also good.
For our entrees, we both ordered the Cajun style (blackened) catfish. I ordinarily don’t order blackened style food, it’s just not my favorite, but to be honest, I was really already full anyway and I don't know what I was thinking. It was good, but I didn't go crazy over it.

For dessert, the kids each had a make-your-own sundae and enjoyed that. I ordered Key Lime tart…yumm…DH ordered the chocolate wave…meh.

Coral Reef at just after 5pm is NOT quiet and romantic, just fyi!! It was perfect for our family, but since I read that people sometimes propose via diver messages in the tank, I guess I was expecting it to be more subdued inside. It was actually pretty noisy and casual, which was great for us because our kids were all amped up.

Divers entertained us from inside of the tank, and our server told us that those were paying guests who were Scuba Certified and had PAID for that experience…I had not known that and thought it was an interesting fact. They did flips and waved and did all sorts of silly stuff while we dined.

We waddled out of that restaurant into the rain, and headed straight back to Soarin and got in line. This was the longest line that we waited in throughout our week. 50 minutes, which wasn't too bad for Soarin, particularly during such a busy week. Again, I highly recommend Disney in the rain!!
After Soarin, which we all LOVED, we walked to Spaceship Earth and hopped right on. Again, no wait.
Fun, Fun, Fun. We walked around some more until the Fireworks started which made DD distressed so we hopped back on the monorail back to the Transit and Ticket Center, then switched monorails back to the Grand Floridian.
This was another wonderful night, and we headed off to bed, exhausted again.

Divers in Coral Reef Tank:

 

[drinktomeonly]

Kathy, you'll have lots of fun at the P&P Party! We did it twice last week and both times were a blast....but I'm getting ahead of myself!