Just returned on 12/1 and we had a great time. Thanks to everyone here that imparted so much information and wisdom. Well, to get started:
We actually arrived in Orlando on 11/20 and stayed with family until 11/26. We arrived at the Polynesian at 9:30am on 11/26 and were shown to our room right away. Cindy from Pixie Gifts had the bags/items I had requested for my kids and they were THRILLED that Mickey and Minnie were welcoming them.
We dumped our bags, took a look around the concierge lounge and headed to the Magic Kingdom! WOW! It was really crowded - must have been left over from the weekend.
We rode everything possible without waiting too long - LOVE FASTPASS! We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. It was unremarkable food. Then we headed back out to explore more.
We got back to the Polynesian around 5:30pm and swam and had snacks in the concierge. We were so excited it was sushi night! YUMMY! It was very good and was enough for a meal for all of us. The wine selection leaves a lot to be desired, but we brought our own since I knew the brands prior to going from these boards.
Day 2
Back to Magic Kingdom again - can't remember how many times our kids wanted to ride space mountain and buzz - numerous, that 's for sure. One HUGE difference today, NO CROWDS!! My husband and I were amazed at how thinned out the crowds were - this was a fabulous day! Dropped the kids off at Neverland Club around 5:45 and we had priorty seating at California Grill for 7:45. We truly enjoyed this meal!!! What a fabulous restaurant!
I had the tuna flatbread and he started with sushi/sashimi. We split the first course of mussels (wonderful broth/sauce over them). For dinner, I had the striped bass with truffle sauce and butternut squash risotto and my hubby had the filet with tamarind sauce. Both were excellent but the bass was AWESOME! We shared a lovely bottle of Cristom pinot noir and a lemon meringue dessert. All in all a wonderful adult evening.
We picked up the kids around 10:00 pm and they were not pleased. Neither one of them really liked the club and asked us to not make them return on Thursday. BUMMER! I thought it was nicely done.
Day 3
MGM - had to wait almost 25 minutes for a bus! Sure didn't like that, especially with young kids! UGH! Once we got there, the lines to check in for security were HUGE! Another 20 minutes wait! Finally, we were in! We LOVE the RNR!!! My son was 3" too short to ride this so my husband and I had to share our daughter. She's 7 and thought it was really cool (especially since mommy knew all the words to all the Aerosmith songs)! We rode TOT and my son (4 yrs.) got a real kick out of it! It was tough on my grown up tummy!
My daughter's name is Isabelle and her nickname is Belle, so of course, we had to see Beauty and the Beast - truly magical! I love that story! My daughter had her face painted that day - very interesting to watch those folks paint the kids and some grownups too!
Got lots of autographs, but the highlight was BUZZ for my son! WOW! I'm sure we'll have to blow that picture up for his bedroom wall!
We had lunch at the Brown Derby - it was excellent. I had two poinsetta drinks and a salmon dish (can't remember the name of it now). My husband had a couple of beers and a pasta dish that was VERY yummy! We highly recommend this restaurant!
We went through the Muppet movie, star tours, Indiana Jones feature, etc. Our faves of the day were the TOT, RNR, and Indiana Jones. I'd really like to do this park without kids someday!
Day 4
Animal Kingdom here we come. Had to wait again for the bus. Sorry to say if you're staying in a deluxe Magic Kingdom area resort, the busses are a bummer. Once there, the check in lines were not too long and we were on our way. We checked out pretty much everything enjoyed Kali River Rapids the best. It was not very crowded, no fastpasses anywhere. As a matter of fact the 2nd time we rode the rapids, we got on with a group of teenagers who had been around 8x without getting off the raft. So we went with them for the 9th. It was great fun! We were ALL soaked and loving it!
Had lunch at the Pizzafari counter service. Good, affordable food for WDW. The parade was excellent - lots of interaction with the kids I felt.
Got back to the Poly and changed clothing and grabbed food in the lounge and off to Epcot. This was fun for mom, since I am a HUGE shopper and Epcot is my favorite place in Disney.
Not so much fun for everyone else. My daughter does not like fireworks (too loud) and my son fell asleep in the stroller.
Day 5
The kids had Adventures in Cooking this morning. It was wonderful and they had a superb time. They really enjoyed handing out their mini pizzas to passersby. It was a yummy lunch for all of us. Steve and the kids went to the Magic Kingdom afterward to ride space mountain and buzz again. Space mountain was closed due to an engineering problem. So they came back and went swimming in the volcano pool (what a hit this was!). I was off to Epcot on my own - YIPPEEE!!! I shopped and had a few beers from around the world and shopped some more. The rest of my family met up with me around 4:00pm and we spent the evening making masks at the kidcot stations and watching the parade. Had dinner at Marrakesh since we all like lamb and couscous and those types of food. Our son laid his head on dad's lap and promptly fell asleep. The rest of us ate and then off we went to view the laser/fireworks much to my daughter's dismay.
Day 6
Check out day. We could not get late check out - lots of people coming in I guess. We stored our stuff and spent the day at the pool. When I asked each of my children what their favorite thing at WDW had been, here are their replies: Daughter - RNR and space mountain;
Son - volcano pool. So there you have it. We could have saved big bucks and just stayed at the hotel swimming!
TTC picked us up promptly at 3:30 and off to MCO we go. Got there incredibly early which was a good thing. I needed to have our seats changed since our flight had been changed earlier due to the troubled travel industry. We were sitting 2 and 2 several rows apart. The first 2 people I talked to were unable to help me. I decided I would not get frustrated or angry and give it to the Lord to do what he would with it. If we could be together, great. If not, we'll survive! Well, the next person I encountered was very empathetic and gave us an early Christmas gift of 4 1st class seats on the same row! Thank you Lord for ending our vacation on such an uplifting, powerful note. (I also think He knew I was tired and a little edgy). So that's it. If anyone would like for me to answer questions or elaborate on a point, please let me know. Thanks again for helping me plan our first WDW family vacation. All in all, it was a SMASHING SUCCESS!!!!
We actually arrived in Orlando on 11/20 and stayed with family until 11/26. We arrived at the Polynesian at 9:30am on 11/26 and were shown to our room right away. Cindy from Pixie Gifts had the bags/items I had requested for my kids and they were THRILLED that Mickey and Minnie were welcoming them.
We dumped our bags, took a look around the concierge lounge and headed to the Magic Kingdom! WOW! It was really crowded - must have been left over from the weekend.
We rode everything possible without waiting too long - LOVE FASTPASS! We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. It was unremarkable food. Then we headed back out to explore more.
We got back to the Polynesian around 5:30pm and swam and had snacks in the concierge. We were so excited it was sushi night! YUMMY! It was very good and was enough for a meal for all of us. The wine selection leaves a lot to be desired, but we brought our own since I knew the brands prior to going from these boards.
Day 2
Back to Magic Kingdom again - can't remember how many times our kids wanted to ride space mountain and buzz - numerous, that 's for sure. One HUGE difference today, NO CROWDS!! My husband and I were amazed at how thinned out the crowds were - this was a fabulous day! Dropped the kids off at Neverland Club around 5:45 and we had priorty seating at California Grill for 7:45. We truly enjoyed this meal!!! What a fabulous restaurant!
I had the tuna flatbread and he started with sushi/sashimi. We split the first course of mussels (wonderful broth/sauce over them). For dinner, I had the striped bass with truffle sauce and butternut squash risotto and my hubby had the filet with tamarind sauce. Both were excellent but the bass was AWESOME! We shared a lovely bottle of Cristom pinot noir and a lemon meringue dessert. All in all a wonderful adult evening.
We picked up the kids around 10:00 pm and they were not pleased. Neither one of them really liked the club and asked us to not make them return on Thursday. BUMMER! I thought it was nicely done.
Day 3
MGM - had to wait almost 25 minutes for a bus! Sure didn't like that, especially with young kids! UGH! Once we got there, the lines to check in for security were HUGE! Another 20 minutes wait! Finally, we were in! We LOVE the RNR!!! My son was 3" too short to ride this so my husband and I had to share our daughter. She's 7 and thought it was really cool (especially since mommy knew all the words to all the Aerosmith songs)! We rode TOT and my son (4 yrs.) got a real kick out of it! It was tough on my grown up tummy!
My daughter's name is Isabelle and her nickname is Belle, so of course, we had to see Beauty and the Beast - truly magical! I love that story! My daughter had her face painted that day - very interesting to watch those folks paint the kids and some grownups too!
Got lots of autographs, but the highlight was BUZZ for my son! WOW! I'm sure we'll have to blow that picture up for his bedroom wall!
We had lunch at the Brown Derby - it was excellent. I had two poinsetta drinks and a salmon dish (can't remember the name of it now). My husband had a couple of beers and a pasta dish that was VERY yummy! We highly recommend this restaurant!
We went through the Muppet movie, star tours, Indiana Jones feature, etc. Our faves of the day were the TOT, RNR, and Indiana Jones. I'd really like to do this park without kids someday!
Day 4
Animal Kingdom here we come. Had to wait again for the bus. Sorry to say if you're staying in a deluxe Magic Kingdom area resort, the busses are a bummer. Once there, the check in lines were not too long and we were on our way. We checked out pretty much everything enjoyed Kali River Rapids the best. It was not very crowded, no fastpasses anywhere. As a matter of fact the 2nd time we rode the rapids, we got on with a group of teenagers who had been around 8x without getting off the raft. So we went with them for the 9th. It was great fun! We were ALL soaked and loving it!
Had lunch at the Pizzafari counter service. Good, affordable food for WDW. The parade was excellent - lots of interaction with the kids I felt.
Got back to the Poly and changed clothing and grabbed food in the lounge and off to Epcot. This was fun for mom, since I am a HUGE shopper and Epcot is my favorite place in Disney.
Not so much fun for everyone else. My daughter does not like fireworks (too loud) and my son fell asleep in the stroller.
Day 5
The kids had Adventures in Cooking this morning. It was wonderful and they had a superb time. They really enjoyed handing out their mini pizzas to passersby. It was a yummy lunch for all of us. Steve and the kids went to the Magic Kingdom afterward to ride space mountain and buzz again. Space mountain was closed due to an engineering problem. So they came back and went swimming in the volcano pool (what a hit this was!). I was off to Epcot on my own - YIPPEEE!!! I shopped and had a few beers from around the world and shopped some more. The rest of my family met up with me around 4:00pm and we spent the evening making masks at the kidcot stations and watching the parade. Had dinner at Marrakesh since we all like lamb and couscous and those types of food. Our son laid his head on dad's lap and promptly fell asleep. The rest of us ate and then off we went to view the laser/fireworks much to my daughter's dismay.
Day 6
Check out day. We could not get late check out - lots of people coming in I guess. We stored our stuff and spent the day at the pool. When I asked each of my children what their favorite thing at WDW had been, here are their replies: Daughter - RNR and space mountain;
Son - volcano pool. So there you have it. We could have saved big bucks and just stayed at the hotel swimming!
TTC picked us up promptly at 3:30 and off to MCO we go. Got there incredibly early which was a good thing. I needed to have our seats changed since our flight had been changed earlier due to the troubled travel industry. We were sitting 2 and 2 several rows apart. The first 2 people I talked to were unable to help me. I decided I would not get frustrated or angry and give it to the Lord to do what he would with it. If we could be together, great. If not, we'll survive! Well, the next person I encountered was very empathetic and gave us an early Christmas gift of 4 1st class seats on the same row! Thank you Lord for ending our vacation on such an uplifting, powerful note. (I also think He knew I was tired and a little edgy). So that's it. If anyone would like for me to answer questions or elaborate on a point, please let me know. Thanks again for helping me plan our first WDW family vacation. All in all, it was a SMASHING SUCCESS!!!!
