Heat and Rain and Free Food - 10/1-10/8

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Disclaimer: I didn’t take notes so this is off the top of my head. Some details may have been lost due to fatigue or humidity. I’ve enjoyed reading others’ reports, so I hope y’all enjoy mine.

Link to my Dining Review here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=936547

Cast:

Commando Mommy - Me
Grumpy - DH
Princess - 7
"The boy" - 5

Friday, September 30 -
OK, I've been planning this trip for 6 months and I'm hoping it will live up to the hype and we won’t be disappointed. I’ve been to WDW once before, on our Honeymoon, and Grumpy went a few times as a kid before the Honeymoon, but it’s the kids’ first trip, and might be the only one for a while. I've read my UG, spent weeks combing the DIS for tips, done most of the packing, and Commando Mommy is READY! I worked a half day, then came home to clean the house, run a few errands, finish up the laundry and finish packing so that I could get to bed early and get a good night's sleep. Right. I went to bed around 11:00 but couldn't sleep. Grumpy said I tossed & turned all night.

Edited to add: Before we went to bed we had a family meeting. We explained to the kids that the next day might be a long boring one, that everywhere we went there would be other people to consider (on the plane, in lines for rides, at restaurants, etc.) and that we expected good behaviour. We told them we might be hot and tired from walking a lot but we could take breaks or naps if someone said they needed it. I think this conversation is what made everybody a trooper. The boy asked to just sit down a couple of times and we listened, had a snack and kept going. We only took naps the first 2 days, although after that we tended to sleep in later than I wanted to, but I was tired too and didn't complain too much about that.

 

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Saturday, October 1 -
Up at 7:00 to eat, shower & add last minute items to the bags. My plan was to do all carry-ons because I'm terrified of losing luggage. Grumpy took one look at my packed bags and said “No Way. Get out the monster suitcase. We’re checking two bags”. Argh. Not worth the argument. We have travel insurance that covers lost luggage anyway, right? Lots of people travel and get their luggage back. Just relax. You are going to see Mickey!

The limo came at 9:00 to bring us to La Guardia. No traffic, phew! We got through security OK. It's 11:00 and we are waiting to board the noon flight. The boy has not had breakfast but is begging for fruit snacks which I brought for snacks on the plane. The child only eats milk, bread, pasta, bananas, PB&J and fruit snacks. I wanted him to eat breakfast before junk so I had brought a buttered roll along, and some bottled water. Mean Mommy said “No fruit snacks until you eat your buttered roll.” He forced down the buttered roll, gagged and vomited. That’s right folks. He vomited BEFORE we even boarded the plane, right in the waiting area. Nice way to start a vacation. And guess where his clothes were? Grumpy: “Oh, I guess it would be nice to have clothes in a carry on for a situation like this.” Yeah. No comment there. I took him to the bathroom to clean him off but naturally they had hand dryers, not paper towels. I did the best I could with toilet paper and water, but he still smelled. Luckily the smell abated as it dried, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. You couldn’t smell it unless you were really close to him. At home I would have stripped him and put him in the tub ASAP. Yuck.

The flight was uneventful other than the fight over who would sit at the window. We landed at 3:00, disembarked and ran to baggage claim to get the bags so they would not be stolen. (Don’t laugh – my boss went to WDW in August and his son noticed someone walking off with one of their bags because they took their time getting to the baggage claim area. He was lucky to catch the guy. The jury’s out on whether it was a “mistake” or the guy was a thief but I was taking no chances.) This began our standard commando family walk for the week - Grumpy walking ahead and not looking back for the rest of us, Mommy 2nd, Princess 3rd and the boy trailing. All week long my script was, “Troops, move out, let’s go, hurry up, keep up, keep your eyes on Daddy because he’s not waiting for us!” Before you call me a mean Commando Mommy, one time when I was yelling I had a lady stop me and tell me she wished I was part of her team! LOL! The kids had ID tags but I kept my eyes on them the whole week. We did have one incident, but more about that later.

We picked up the bags with no problem. Phew. Dragged them to the Alamo counter, which was empty – yay! Then we went out to pick up the car. Could not find the “Mid Size” sign so we picked something from the Intermediate section, I think. I have no clue what the difference was. The lady at the gate said not to worry, they weren’t busy so it didn’t matter. Darnit, should have taken a mini van! I hoped it wasn’t busy at WDW too!

Got to All Star Sports around 5:00. Check in line was crazy. Grumpy is nervous about flying so he hadn’t eaten since breakfast at home. He was hungry and threatening to go to McDonald’s. I said just wait until we check in so we can get FREE food at the food court. Yippee! He managed to hold out but it wasn’t pretty. The guy at the check in counter started to explain the dining plan to me. I probably knew more about it than he did, thanks to the DIS, so I politely said I understood. We got back in the car to drive around to our room at the Home Run Hotel. It was nice. It was at the back of the resort, so it was quiet. It was kind of a long walk to the buses, but not too bad and close to the laundry and pool. As I had read, the room was small. We constantly bumped into each other all week. It was manageable but it’s got to be torture for 4 adults or 2 parents of 2 teens. We basically dropped the bags and ran to the food court. Grumpy and I ate like we hadn’t eaten in weeks. Princess ate half her turkey dinner and the boy didn’t like his spaghetti or raisins, only drank the chocolate milk. That’s usually his favorite meal. Sigh. This is going to be a long week. Guess who ate the rest of their meals? After dinner we took a nap. Princess and I woke up around 8:30 and went in the pool, then took showers. Around 10:00 the boys woke up and we made a family trip to Super Wal-Mart. Of course, we couldn’t find the one we were looking for but we found another one, so it was fine. The plan was to get breakfast foods and a Styrofoam cooler. One look at the bagels and I said “No Way I’m eating those”. I got croissants instead. That solved the “Should I steal cream cheese from the food court or buy a bucket of it and throw half of it out at the end of the week?” dilemma. We also got milk, cereal and yogurt for breakfast, and some bottled water. We got back to the room around 1:00 am and passed out.

 

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Sunday, October 2-
Didn’t get up as early as I wanted to, but we made it to MK by 9:15. The boy was terrified of Snow White’s Adventures. I had to cover his eyes with my hands. Should have listened to my UG but I thought he would be OK. Then we did POTC. The boy was afraid of the dark again but was OK as long as I covered his eyes. Then we did HM. Same deal. He was a trooper. It was HOT. Then it started to rain. I pulled out my handy dandy ponchos I bought for .25 at CVS. Grumpy said they were cheap and was afraid they would suffocate the kids. He also complained about the large “CVS” on the front. Who knew? What do you want for .25, OK? We had lunch at CRT. Princess was dressed in her Aurora dress and loved it. The boy played his Game Boy through the whole meal. At least it was a quiet meal! Belle commented that her Papa would like the Game Boy, LOL. Back to the room for a nap to rest up for the Halloween Party later. And a check of the Jets score, of course. Grumpy was glad that he hadn’t tried to get to ESPN to watch the game as they lost.

We got back to MK around 6:00 as the park was clearing out. Went to Adventureland and did a few rides, then to Pecos Bill’s for dinner, then stepped outside to watch the parade just as the rain stopped. I was not impressed but the kids liked it. I didn’t see the Headless Horseman. Then we watched HalloWishes in front of the castle. I thought it was OK, but nothing special. We didn’t get our picture taken because I didn’t see any signs for how or where to do that. The lines for candy stations were outrageous so we only got a few handfuls. The lines for face painting were outrageous so we didn’t do that either. We did go on rides until about 11:00. It was not too crowded and we almost walked on several rides, but I fail to see why we paid so much extra for the party when we didn’t take advantage of much of the extra festivities. We mostly did stuff you can do on any other night at MK. I did enjoy seeing people’s costumes though. The boy refused to wear his Woody costume but Princess wore her Aurora costume again and was stunning. It was still hot and I saw some people in HOT costumes. I was really surprised to see some babies dressed in furry Pooh outfits with hats on. Poor things were just dripping with sweat. We walked past Stitch’s Great Escape. Grumpy said he wanted to try it. I told him all the awful reviews I had I read here on the DIS and he said “Oh come on, how bad could it be?”. I said “How wrong could 70,000 people who’ve ridden it before be?” We all walked out disappointed. Glad we didn’t have to wait for it. We smelled chili dogs for days. Ugh.

 

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Monday, October 3-
Our MGM morning. I wanted to get there at park opening so we could do RNR walk on. Aerosmith is Grumpy’s favorite band so I knew he would like it. Unfortunately, because we were out so late the night before, we didn’t get there until 10:00 and entered the park with a swarm of people. We made a beeline for RNR. I rode first with Princess with a switch pass while Grumpy waited with the boy because he was not quite tall enough, then I waited with the boy while Grumpy and Princess went. I think I hyped it up so much he did not enjoy it as much as he would have had I not told him so much about it. We all still liked it though. Got Fastpasses for TOT and did the Great Movie Ride while we waited for TOT return time. Lunch at PTC, then did a few things, then RNR again. The switch pass thing for RNR took an hour each time. Note to self – don’t come back to WDW until the boy is 48 inches and can ride everything with us! We bought some stuff at a gift shop and wanted to drop it off at the room before our ADR’s at Teppanyaki in EPCOT at 7:30. I had timed the ADR so we could eat and then go outside for IllumiNations. You know what they say about the best laid plans…. Those last rides on RNR plus the detour to the room threw everything out of whack. When we got in line for the bus to EPCOT at 6:30, we waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally a bus pulls up. The driver cuts the engine and says the AC has died and we will have to wait for another bus. It’s 7:00. I KNOW that WS is huge. I know that by the time another bus comes, we go through the turnstiles and walk to Japan it will be at least 8:00. I start to panic. Another bus pulls up and we get on. I call Disney Dining and they put me through to the restaurant. Doesn’t everyone have the number on speed dial? I ask if they can hold the reservation because it’s not my fault the bus broke down. They say not to worry, as they are running late anyway. We run off the bus through the turnstiles, run through WS. This is what I call the “ADR Sprint”. We are doing the commando family walk. Me in first, Grumpy in second, kids dragging behind. I’m wondering why the walkways are so crowded with carts and people this time of night. Then I remember – Food and Wine Festival. Doh. Whose idea was this? Oh yeah, mine. We run up the stairs at 8:00. They say have a seat, it will be 20 minutes before we get a table. Sit down and catch our breath. We are seated at 8:30. It was a good meal but we are in the middle of the chef’s performance when we hear IllumiNations outside. We aren’t rude enough to walk out on him, but I was disappointed. By the time we ate and got out to the bus stop, there wasn’t much of a line. I think we went in the pool that night for a few minutes before turning in.

 

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Tuesday, October 4-
Morning at MK. I realized when I was in the shower that I never picked up the tickets for the Spirit of Aloha and Hoop Dee Doo from Guest Services when we checked in. We were doing SOA that night and I wanted to get the tickets before we went to MK so we wouldn’t have to come back to the resort to get them. I told Grumpy to go to the park with the kids and I’d catch up with him after getting the tickets. When I called to say I was on the bus he said they were on the train, finishing up their 2nd trip around the park. He had wanted to go to ToonTown but I had the autograph books, he grumbled, hence earning his nickname. I said go around again and meet me at the Main Street Station, then we’ll take the train to Frontierland and do Splash. When I got there and saw how they loaded and unloaded the train, I realized it wouldn’t be that easy and we would waste time that way, so I got on the train, called him and said get off at Frontierland and I’ll catch up with you there. He said “Too late we are in Adventureland”. As he says this the train pulls up at ToonTown and I CAN SEE HIM SITTING THERE. I said “I see you. You are NOT in Adventureland”. PITA! I got off the train and walked over to where they were sitting and started going off on him. “It’s a good thing I saw you. We would have been chasing each other for another hour.” IDIOT! Commando Mommy has no time for this so she drops it. So now we are all in ToonTown with autograph books and it starts to rain so we decide to go see Mickey. Then Grumpy says “Let’s do Indy Speedway.” I said the UG said it was lame but relented. Of course it ended up being one of Princess’s favorite rides. Grumpy made me leave the cheap ponchos in the room so when it started to rain he bought four Disney ponchos. Ugh. We went on Splash Mountain because we figured we were wet already so why not? As we walked toward it Princess was taking photos of the ducks in Frontierland. I looked up and she was gone. I stood there for a minute before I panicked. Then I stayed with the boy while Grumpy went to look for her. He didn’t get to far when he saw her talking to a CM, just like we had told her too. She was showing the CM her ID badge with our cell numbers on it and was just starting to get teary. OK, panic averted. On to Splash Mountain! We got halfway up and it got stuck. A voice came over the PA “Just a few minutes folks, don’t stand up!”. Then “Might be 15 minutes or so, just hang in there”. Then “We have to evacuate the ride.” They gave us passes to walk on any ride at MK any time. As we got off the ride to go down the stairs it started to rain again. Guess what they gave us? Yep, four ponchos. Ugh! It turned out to be a good thing though, because three of them ripped later in the trip. I brought home 6 CVS ponchos. So much for planning. Next thing we knew it was time to take the monorail to the Poly for Spirit of Aloha at 5:15. The lady at Guest Services said to be there at 4:45 so again we did the ADR Sprint from the Monorail to the cove where they hold the luau. And again we waited a half hour to be seated. Our seats were front and center, the 2nd table from the front but there was a big pole blocking our view. I thought the food was good but the show a little hokey, but Princess liked it. They boy played his Game Boy and then took a nap. Poor kid was shot but he was a trooper. When it was over I realized it was 7:00 and we had a chance to go back to MK to see Spectro and WISHES. On the walk back to the Monorail the boy finally unraveled. He had said the night before that he wanted to ride SpaceShip Earth but we couldn’t at the time because we were doing the ADR Sprint towards Teppanyaki, and on our way out of the park, the ride was closed. So now he got it in his head he wanted to go to EPCOT (and NOW) to ride “the golf ball ride”. It was one of those “Have you ever had a shock” moments. I’m not sure how, but I managed to talk Grumpy into taking him back to the room while Princess and I saw Spectro and WISHES. We walked into MK, up to the train station and found a good spot. Some people were already there but not as many as I had feared. Spectro was awesome, and watching WISHES from that vantage point with the castle in the background looked like a planning DVD promo. I decided that we would all come back the next night to see it again. While we were waiting for it all to start, Princess struck up a conversation with an older couple she was sitting next to. Man, she talked their ears off telling them her life story but they were pleasant and seemed to get a kick out of her. On the bus back to the resort she made friends with a 6 year old boy that proceeded to out-talk her. Just as we pulled up the resort she said, “Kid, you talk too much!”. His parents and I cracked up!

 

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Wednesday, October 5-
EPCOT morning. Right. Grumpy decided we were going to sleep in this day. I was paranoid about getting Fastpasses for Soarin’ and Test Track. We got to the park after 10:00 and made a bee line for the Land to get Fastpasses. Return time was 1:05. Naturally we had an ADR at Rose & Crown at 1:00. We decided to do Standby for Test Track. On the way, I got my first Mickey bar, and decided to share with Princess. I took one bite and handed it to her. It was hot and humid so I started telling her to be careful how she ate it so it wouldn’t melt …. PLOP. CR*P. One Mickey bar down. I really was in the mood for it too. But, we had no time to waste as we were doing the Test Track Sprint now. Waited 45 minutes in standby but the waiting area was cool. I’m not religious, but God bless whoever invented the Game Boy. Then we went to Rose & Crown. It was nice but we spent way too much time there. The waitress said the computers were down so that was why she kept us waiting for our bill. That was the last we saw of WS, as we were going back to the Land for Soarin’. Darn, that park is big. Soarin’ definitely lived up to the hype. Got Fastpasses for it again but return time was 7:00. Did a few other things in the Land, then Ellen’s Universe of Energy. Walked past Mission Space. Grumpy really wanted to try it but I told him about what I had read here and since y’all were right about Stitch he decided not to chance ruining his day. Walked on Test Track. It was 7:00. Decided to scrap Soarin’ and go to MK for Spectro and WISHES. It was EMH night at MK. After reading evening EMH reports here I was terrified what we would find there but after WISHES we waited in the train station for a few minutes, then fought the exiting crowd and went to Cosmic Ray’s for dinner. By the time we finished eating it was almost 10:00. Did SM, then walked on BTMMR and Splash twice each! The park was empty! Holy cow! Get this, as we walked up to Splash the boy balked. He was afraid of it. How could he be? We never actually rode it the first time we attempted it yesterday. He was afraid of something inside, Princess said. A frog. A frog? What? What frog is scary in Splash? It was the frog you see playing the banjo on the left on the first incline. We closed his eyes for him and he was OK. I still don’t get it. We walked out of the park at midnight as it closed. I had to do laundry. I was up until 2:30 doing it. Ugh.

 

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Thursday, October 6-
MK again in the morning. These mornings are getting later and later. Saw Mickey’s Philharmagic. I had bought Princess a Hidden Mickey book the day before so we had been looking for some of them and talking about Hidden Mickey’s. As we are getting seated for Philharmagic the boy says “Look, there’s a Hidden Mickey on the border of the screen, on the right, in the (French) horn. Darnit if the little bugger wasn’t right! I looked it up in the book later and found it listed! Then we had lunch at LTT. One of the best meals of the trip. Did some of our favorite rides again. Left MK for HDDR as it was closing for another MNSSHP. Got on line for the ferry to FW. Our ADR was for 7:15 but as usual they had told me to be there at 6:45. Grumpy said not to worry as we had hurried up to wait before, but I was still worried. Lots of others on line were going to the same place. We got on the second boat and made it just fine because the first seating had not gotten out yet. There were two lines to get into Pioneer Hall, and most people had just walked up to join the longer one. Commando Mommy spotted the shorter line so we got on it. Yippee! The food was good, but the boy didn’t eat his PB&J. The rest of us ate until we were bloated. I thought the show was cute but kind of hokey. The boy played his Game Boy but Princess told me she enjoyed it. Afterward we got in line for the bus back to the All Stars. Our completely full bus went to the GF (one person got off), then Coronado Springs (two people got off) and then to the All Stars. No joke, the trip took an hour just to get to Sports, which was us, thank goodness. I pitied the folks that had to go to Music or Movies. It was a looooooong day for me considering how little sleep I had the night before, and I was looking forward to hitting the hay “early”. Well Princess had been begging me to go in the pool for three days and finally had a melt down about it. At first I melted down myself because I was so tired, (another Have You Had A Shock moment) but she had been patient for three days, so I told her she could have 10 minutes in the pool after I showered, while my hair dried. I figured the shower would refresh me and if it didn’t I could just pass out after her 10 minutes. After the interlude at the pool we all went to bed happy.

 

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Friday, October 7-
AK morning. Got there REALLY late. Got Fastpasses for the safari. It was only a half hour later so we took the train ride both ways, then rode the safari. It was OK but I don’t think it lived up to the hype. They could just drop the lame story, in my opinion. We decided not to do Kali as we did not want to get wet. We had lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue. I could not find straws anywhere and when I asked a CM I was told they don’t have straws at AK at all because they are dangerous to the animals. They might want to put a sign up somewhere. Those poor CM’s must get that question a hundred times a day. Man, it was STICKY that day. I actually wondered if the humidity was really that high or if the plants in the park were making it more humid! We did Primieval Whirl (Princess’ favorite), Triceratops Spin (glorified Dumbo) and Dinosaur. Now I KNEW that Dinosaur would freak out the boy but I didn’t want to scare him ahead of time and didn’t want to sit it out either, so I just said, “You like dinosaurs, right Buddy?” I thought the ride was kind of jerky and unnecessarily loud. I knew what was going to happen at the end but I was still a little freaked out. I was sitting with Princess and couldn’t see Grumpy and the boy. I started to have Mommy guilt pangs. It was dark, loud and scary. The boy was sure to be terrified. I looked at him as we got off the ride. He was unfazed. He liked it. He was terrified by a frog on Splash, but Dinosaur was no problem. Go figure. Then we did It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Again, the UG warned me it was intense and I didn’t listen. There were LOTS of screaming little kids. I have to ask, what the heck were those Imagineers thinking? Mickey’s Philharmagic was awesome. There were a few scared kids in there but only because it was loud. ITTBAB was 10 times louder and in your face. Don’t they know little kids are going to want to see these things? It had some good parts but I didn’t care for it.

We headed out of AK to go to MGM for our 5:45 ADR at Sci Fi. We had some time so I wanted to go on TOT one last time. We got there just as the parade was going full tilt. We couldn’t get to TOT unless we wanted to get run over by the parade so we decided to do the Indiana Jones show. We had to leave half way through the show to get to the Sci Fi. Waited a half hour for a car. Lots of people were turned away without ADR’s. This was one of my favorite meals. The kids got a kick out of eating in the car and watching the movies. Grumpy was surprised one of the movies was a Tom & Jerry cartoon. They let another mouse show his face at a Disney park? Blasphemy! I was afraid the food would be bad after all the crummy reviews I’ve seen here but our experience was good. The strawberry banana shake was incredible. By the time we were done there and did the Fantasmic Sprint it was 7:30. Way too late. I had wanted to see this after all the reviews I had read on the DIS. I knew we should have been there closer to 7:00 but I couldn’t get an ADR for dinner earlier than 5:45. We ended up in Standing Room Only. Grumpy put the boy on my shoulders and put Princess on his shoulders. You should know I am 4 ft 10 and 112 lbs and the boy is 45 lbs. I held him up better than I thought I could but I was terrified that I would lose my balance and we’d go down like a house of cards. I was not impressed with Fantasmic. Maybe it is better if you have good seats? Any seats? I was glad we tried it but not happy that I missed my last chance to go on TOT again to see it. Next was the mass exodus from the stadium. I was standing in the crowd there thinking “This must be a fire hazard. Is there seriously only one way out of this place?” My next thought was “OK, try not to panic.” That was the only time I got nipped by an ECV. Then we got in line for the bus to the All Stars. Ha! No joke, the line went back three bus stops folks. Grumpy and the kids sat on a bench at the front of the line. I said, “Don’t you think we should get in line?” Grumpy said he didn’t want to stand, but I didn’t want to wait so I went to the back of the line by myself. When I looked back a few minutes later I was just about in the middle of the line. I called the front desk at All Star Sports. (Doesn’t everyone have their resort phone number on speed dial?) I told them to send out more buses to MGM. The CM put me on hold, called central dispatch and came back to tell me more buses were on the way. Four All Stars buses pulled up within minutes. Modern technology rules. The rest of the troops joined me in line and we made it to the resort in no time. We were leaving the next day, so we packed what we could so that we could go straight to MK in the am. Then went to bed for our last night on vacation.

 

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Saturday, October 8-
Packed all the bags in the rental car and drove it to the front parking lot. I was glad I had given a credit card upon check in so we could do express check out. MK was on the agenda this am. Browsed in the Emporium on Main Street but decided not to purchase anything until we were on our way out later. Had our photo taken in front of the castle. We did our favorite rides again and used the passes we had earned on Splash earlier in the week to walk on to Space Mountain. We ran into Alice, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum by the Mad Tea Party. I have long hair and wore it in a French braid. I have a “thing” about people touching my hair. You know what happened next, right? Those naughty boys touched my hair! Grumpy stepped back. He thought I was going to blow. This was a family park so I kept my cool. We had a 10:25 ADR for CP. We were seated within minutes. The breakfast goers were clearing out. It was nice to have a big breakfast after eating it on the fly in the room all week. The boy actually ate four Pooh waffles and a plate full of bacon. We finally found something the kid likes! The French toast puffs were the highlight of the buffet. Princess said this was her favorite meal of the week. The kids loved skipping around the room with Pooh and Tigger. It was really cute and the restaurant was beautiful with the sunlight coming in the windows. After that we went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic again, then picked up our photos and t-shirts before we headed out of the park. Took the bus back to the resort, got lunch to go at the food court and drove back to the airport. Of course I had tossed most of our loose change into the bags the night before so when we got to the tolls on the road we were digging for change. Then Grumpy says “Are we supposed to fill up the gas tank before we return the car?” I dunno. Can’t find the rental agreement. I called Alamo and they said it depends on your rental agreement. Well if I had that I wouldn’t be calling, now would I? Luckily the agreement number was on the keychain and they were able to look up our agreement terms. They said yes, you have to fill up or there will be a charge when you return the car. OK. Hung up. Grumpy says “How much is the charge?” Doh. “Forget it, I don’t see a gas station anywhere and we have to just get there or we will miss the flight.” It turned out to be a $25 charge. Nice racket. We had barely used a quarter of a tank. Returned the car, ran to check in at the Spirit counter. Ate Mickey rice krispy treats while waiting to board. The flight was uneventful until the end. We were delayed landing at LaGuardia because it was raining there. Then another plane was at the gate so we couldn’t disembark until it moved. The pilot came over the PA and said it was OK to get up because we would be waiting for a while. So everybody got up to use the bathroom and then the flight attendants came over the PA and yelled at everyone to sit down so that we could taxi up to the gate. Sheesh, make up your minds. We got off the plane and went to baggage claim. Found one bag but not the other. I saw one that looked like it but Grumpy said that wasn’t it. I couldn’t see the tag I had made with our names on it so I didn’t argue. The belt gets emptier and emptier. My worst nightmares are coming true. He had packed so I had no idea what was in that bag. Grumpy goes over to the claim office and finds the second bag there. I think it was the one I saw earlier but I let it go. Rode the limo home in the rain. We are starving. Grumpy goes to McDonald’s for take out. We watch Cinderella on DVD as we eat. I had pre-ordered it so it was waiting for us when we got home. It was a great way to end the week. We all crashed at 10:00. I slept until noon the next day and then did laundry. Every stitch of clothing was damp. People living in Florida must have serious mold problems with all that humidity!

So, to sum it all up:

The dining plan ruled! Definitely got our money’s worth.
What would we do differently next time?
1-Skip the dinner shows and schedule ADR’s for early dinners. It seemed like our Fastpass return times were always just as our lunches started and then we couldn’t get more Fastpasses until the return times were really late because we were stuck in a restaurant.
2-Make better use of Fastpass in general.
3-Would still buy breakfast foods to eat in the room but would buy less
4-Just buy Disney ponchos, unless I could find cheaper medium weight ones at home

 

[DisneyObsessive]

sorry to hear you didnt like ITTBAB and the safari, i absolutely love them!

Loved reading your report. I am definately the commando type but my parents arnt. And now they both try to use the "I'm 50, i dont like to rush anymore" excuse. I get so hyped up though ive got to keep moving fast! I think it also has to do with the New Yorker in us, dont you feel people there walk SO SLOW??

 

[can'twait]

OMG, everybody walks so slow! LOL!

 

[jessica52877]

I had forgotten you rented a car, next time if staying at an all star resort you might it much easier to just drive to the parks, the lines for the buses always seem HORRIBLE to the all stars!

Loved your report, we were there the same week and really enjoyed it too.

Jessica

 

[wilma-bride]

Loved your report - it's a shame you didn't enjoy Fantasmic. I have never seen it but really want to. Will try and remember to get there early!

 

[can'twait]

Jessica, most of the time the buses weren't too bad. We really only had 3 bad experiences over 8 days. You can't expect it to be perfect, I guess. Grumpy has a long commute so he really wanted to let someone else drive but insisted we get the car so we could be flexible if we changed our minds.

 

[3Aumillers]

I would definitely suggest using your rental car to get to and from the parks the next time. We stayed at POP Century the same dates and used our rental car everywhere we went. We never had to wait in line for a tram and parked in the 2nd row of the first parking lot at the Magic Kingdom one morning. DH actually found driving in and around the Disney properties to be very easy.

 

[PolyGuy]

Great report....we rented a car last week also and had the same problem upon return. I totally forgot to fill up, so I asked the toll booth attendant and she told me which exit to get off and fill up. Glad I had enough time, because Dollar was going to charge $6 per gallon....

 

[sanibelover]

The buttered roll, the vomit thing....are you sure my son and yours weren't seperated at birth??? (My DS is also 5) Too funny.