Melrosgirl
DVC Member - BCV
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2000
- Messages
- 2,903
This was my first trip to WDW since the early 80's so everything was new to me!
Cast:
Jen - 28
Adam - 29
Cassie - 3
9/14 Day one:
This trip was postponed 4 days due to the events of 9/11. We were actually on a plane on 9/11 when our plane had to be turned around and brought back home (Lancaster, PA). We rescheduled for 9/14 and arrived in Pittsburgh ready for our second leg of the trip. Guess what? Plane was scheduled but all of the FL airports were closed due to the tropical storms! I was so upset. US Air put us up for the night in Pittsburgh and we attempted to leave again on Saturday.
9/15 - the new day one!
Arrived in Orlando (finally). Tiffany Town Car was waiting for us as expected. I was so excited to see our driver there. Finally something was going right! I loved Tiffany Town Car and highly recommend them. Arrived at PO FQ. I was so excited. The hotel is lovely and really has a small feel to it which I loved. Got a corner room in building 3. Very pleased with the room. Went to the bus stop to try out the Magic Kingdom. Bus arrived within 10 minutes. We were so pleased with the bus transportation at Disney. The longest we waited for a bus was about 15 minutes (at Epcot). No complaints whatsoever!
Magic Kingdom was great. It was really empty. The weather was probably upper 70's thanks to the tropical storms the day before. Longest we waited for a ride was about 10 minutes. Buzz Lightyear was the hit for the family. Loved it!
We had dinner at Tony's Town Square. I was a little disappointed with it. Very expensive for the menu selections. $18 for spaghetti? I actually ordered from the kids' menu believe it or not because I was in the mood for ravioli and the adults' menu didn't have it!! LOL
Stayed for the fireworks. Watched Tinkerbell fly from the castle. Great! We were exhausted though and ready to get out of there.
9/16 - Day Two
Woke up early for our priority seating at Cinderella's Castle. I lucked out with this P.S. I called just on Thursday (3 days earlier) and got them. I originally had them for 9/12 (called 60 days ahead of time for those), but because of the airlines not being able to fly. I missed out on them. Cindy's was the highlight of our trip. My 3 year old loved it. Can't wait to get the pictures from there! All the Princesses were there, including Prince Charming.
Went back to hotel in the afternoon to try out the Serpent Pool. This pool and the slide are great. Every day Cassie would ask if she could go back to the "dragon pool." Loved it!
Chef Mickey's for dinner. What can I say? The food was okay (I'm picky) but the desserts were wonderful. What diet? Did somebody say diet? Forgot about that. We loved Chef Mickey's and every night from then on, Cassie asked if we could go there again.
9/17 - Day Three
MGM
Enjoyed MGM. Nothing spectacular though. The highlight for us was the lunch at the 50's diner. The waitress kept calling my husband " Scooter " and telling him to set the table, keep his elbows off, etc. It was great. We joked that this was like paying to have someone yell at you. We had fun with it Food was good, but overpriced, as usual, lol.
Did not stay for Fantasmic - we were too tired and our rule was: if we get too tired and cranky, we leave the park and relax at the hotel. We followed this rule (plus it's a good excuse to go back next year..."but honey, we didn't see all the attractions last year!"
Downtown Disney for dinner. Took the boat from FQ to DD. Love the boat. Had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. No wait. Couldn't believe it. Enjoyed the atmosphere. Food was decent.
9/18 - Day Four
Epcot
Epcot was nice. The weather was getting much warmer though. The squirt bottle/fan came in handy today. ($7 at Target before we left - good deal compared to the $16.04 (yes four cents) fan bottles at WDW.
Had lunch at the German restaurant - Biergarten's. Again, I'm picky when it comes to food, so I didn't eat much here. Adam liked it well enough though and the atmosphere was very German, lol. (that's a good thing!)
We were looking forward to the American Experience show. We were about 20 minutes into it when they announced that they were having technicial difficulties and had to shut it down. I thought they were joking - part of the show. They weren't. We were not too happy, but life goes on....
Oh, we also bought a passport and got it stamped from all countries but two. France and China. Couldn't find anyone to stamp in China and the French people gave me wrong directions on where to get it stamped (or maybe I misunderstood their accents...not sure!) Too hot to bother with it so I said forget it.
Did not stay for the fireworks. Tired and cranky again, lol. Went back to swim!
9/19 Day Five
Typhoon Lagoon
We got to T.L. at about 9:30. Had 30 minutes to wait. A CM came up to us and asked if Cassie was our daughter. We said yes. He said "congratulations, she has been chosen as the Big Kahuna for the day." I thought he was joking. He wasn't! Apparently each day they pick a child to be the Big Kahuna. He took us into the park 30 minutes early, showed us around, gave Cassie a medal to wear around her neck, gave us a big refillable mug for free drinks all day, gave us a prime spot on the "beach" which was roped off just for us. Free locker rental and free towels for the day! It was great. We had a wonderful time except for the awful sunburn I got (with sunscreen on, too!) I'm very fair skinned and forgot about the harsh Florida sun. Ouch!
That night was Hoop Dee Doo Revue time. They told us to allow for one hour of travel. We got there an hour ahead of time thanks to Disney's great transportation system. Had to wait outside in the hot weather though for an hour. (waiting area is outside!) Yuck! Loved the show though and the food was great (esp. the strawberry shortcake). Even Cassie loved it. Highly recommend the show!
9/20 Day Six
Animal Kingdom
HOT, HOT, HOT. None of us were thrilled with AK. The weather did not help much. We stayed for 3 hours before we couldn't take it anymore. Had lunch at Rainforest Cafe and went back to hotel.
Swam in the great pool, of course!
9/21 Day Seven
Magic Kingdom in the morning to catch up on our favorite rides again.
Afternoon we headed to Blizzard Beach. Loved it. I wore a tee-shirt this time to protect my already burned skin. Luckily the sunscreen worked this time and I left in good condition. Had a good time here.
Sadly we left on 9/22 (today) and arrived home safely several hours ago. Glad to be home although I miss Disney already!
Had a great time
Jennifer
Ind. Longaberger® Consultant
BasketGala@aol.com
Cast:
Jen - 28
Adam - 29
Cassie - 3
9/14 Day one:
This trip was postponed 4 days due to the events of 9/11. We were actually on a plane on 9/11 when our plane had to be turned around and brought back home (Lancaster, PA). We rescheduled for 9/14 and arrived in Pittsburgh ready for our second leg of the trip. Guess what? Plane was scheduled but all of the FL airports were closed due to the tropical storms! I was so upset. US Air put us up for the night in Pittsburgh and we attempted to leave again on Saturday.
9/15 - the new day one!
Arrived in Orlando (finally). Tiffany Town Car was waiting for us as expected. I was so excited to see our driver there. Finally something was going right! I loved Tiffany Town Car and highly recommend them. Arrived at PO FQ. I was so excited. The hotel is lovely and really has a small feel to it which I loved. Got a corner room in building 3. Very pleased with the room. Went to the bus stop to try out the Magic Kingdom. Bus arrived within 10 minutes. We were so pleased with the bus transportation at Disney. The longest we waited for a bus was about 15 minutes (at Epcot). No complaints whatsoever!
Magic Kingdom was great. It was really empty. The weather was probably upper 70's thanks to the tropical storms the day before. Longest we waited for a ride was about 10 minutes. Buzz Lightyear was the hit for the family. Loved it!
We had dinner at Tony's Town Square. I was a little disappointed with it. Very expensive for the menu selections. $18 for spaghetti? I actually ordered from the kids' menu believe it or not because I was in the mood for ravioli and the adults' menu didn't have it!! LOL
Stayed for the fireworks. Watched Tinkerbell fly from the castle. Great! We were exhausted though and ready to get out of there.
9/16 - Day Two
Woke up early for our priority seating at Cinderella's Castle. I lucked out with this P.S. I called just on Thursday (3 days earlier) and got them. I originally had them for 9/12 (called 60 days ahead of time for those), but because of the airlines not being able to fly. I missed out on them. Cindy's was the highlight of our trip. My 3 year old loved it. Can't wait to get the pictures from there! All the Princesses were there, including Prince Charming.
Went back to hotel in the afternoon to try out the Serpent Pool. This pool and the slide are great. Every day Cassie would ask if she could go back to the "dragon pool." Loved it!
Chef Mickey's for dinner. What can I say? The food was okay (I'm picky) but the desserts were wonderful. What diet? Did somebody say diet? Forgot about that.
We loved Chef Mickey's and every night from then on, Cassie asked if we could go there again.9/17 - Day Three
MGM
Enjoyed MGM. Nothing spectacular though. The highlight for us was the lunch at the 50's diner. The waitress kept calling my husband " Scooter " and telling him to set the table, keep his elbows off, etc. It was great. We joked that this was like paying to have someone yell at you. We had fun with it
Food was good, but overpriced, as usual, lol.Did not stay for Fantasmic - we were too tired and our rule was: if we get too tired and cranky, we leave the park and relax at the hotel. We followed this rule (plus it's a good excuse to go back next year..."but honey, we didn't see all the attractions last year!"
Downtown Disney for dinner. Took the boat from FQ to DD. Love the boat. Had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. No wait. Couldn't believe it. Enjoyed the atmosphere. Food was decent.
9/18 - Day Four
Epcot
Epcot was nice. The weather was getting much warmer though. The squirt bottle/fan came in handy today. ($7 at Target before we left - good deal compared to the $16.04 (yes four cents) fan bottles at WDW.
Had lunch at the German restaurant - Biergarten's. Again, I'm picky when it comes to food, so I didn't eat much here. Adam liked it well enough though and the atmosphere was very German, lol. (that's a good thing!)
We were looking forward to the American Experience show. We were about 20 minutes into it when they announced that they were having technicial difficulties and had to shut it down. I thought they were joking - part of the show. They weren't. We were not too happy, but life goes on....
Oh, we also bought a passport and got it stamped from all countries but two. France and China. Couldn't find anyone to stamp in China and the French people gave me wrong directions on where to get it stamped (or maybe I misunderstood their accents...not sure!) Too hot to bother with it so I said forget it.
Did not stay for the fireworks. Tired and cranky again, lol. Went back to swim!
9/19 Day Five
Typhoon Lagoon
We got to T.L. at about 9:30. Had 30 minutes to wait. A CM came up to us and asked if Cassie was our daughter. We said yes. He said "congratulations, she has been chosen as the Big Kahuna for the day." I thought he was joking. He wasn't! Apparently each day they pick a child to be the Big Kahuna. He took us into the park 30 minutes early, showed us around, gave Cassie a medal to wear around her neck, gave us a big refillable mug for free drinks all day, gave us a prime spot on the "beach" which was roped off just for us. Free locker rental and free towels for the day! It was great. We had a wonderful time except for the awful sunburn I got (with sunscreen on, too!) I'm very fair skinned and forgot about the harsh Florida sun. Ouch!
That night was Hoop Dee Doo Revue time. They told us to allow for one hour of travel. We got there an hour ahead of time thanks to Disney's great transportation system. Had to wait outside in the hot weather though for an hour. (waiting area is outside!) Yuck! Loved the show though and the food was great (esp. the strawberry shortcake). Even Cassie loved it. Highly recommend the show!
9/20 Day Six
Animal Kingdom
HOT, HOT, HOT. None of us were thrilled with AK. The weather did not help much. We stayed for 3 hours before we couldn't take it anymore. Had lunch at Rainforest Cafe and went back to hotel.
Swam in the great pool, of course!
9/21 Day Seven
Magic Kingdom in the morning to catch up on our favorite rides again.
Afternoon we headed to Blizzard Beach. Loved it. I wore a tee-shirt this time to protect my already burned skin. Luckily the sunscreen worked this time and I left in good condition. Had a good time here.
Sadly we left on 9/22 (today) and arrived home safely several hours ago. Glad to be home although I miss Disney already!
Had a great time
Jennifer
Ind. Longaberger® Consultant
BasketGala@aol.com
