'I don't wanna grow any more!' Trip Report - updated 11/17/10

[mamaboogie]

Greetings!

Meet the cast:

Me: Shari, age....erm...there's a 4 and a 0 in it somewhere, just can't quite remember which way round they go....converted to Disney by...

Simon: DH and toyboy 39! Disney fanatic and big kid!

Sarah: (16) Recently finished GCSEs and due to receive results whilst in WDW.

Kate: (14) Rollercoaster daredevil and my baby...all growed up.

Lookie - here we are!

We spent 17 wonderful days in WDW this August staying in a one bedroom villa at OKW.

So - here is my trip report - you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll gasp - and that's just at the photos!

So, without further ado - let's get started with:

Tuesday 10th August - AKA Travel Day!

We set the alarm for very early o'clock...and we dragged ourselves out of our pits waiting for Tony the Taxi Guy to arrive.

Ever reliable, Tony and his lovely people carrier arrived. We loaded the cases and ourselves and disappeared into the night like we were doing a moonlight flit.

It was really foggy all along the A64 but pretty soon the dawn began to break as we approached Manchester. The drive was uneventful and we got all checked in and headed for breakfast! Frankie and Benny's did the trick and then we went to wait to board English Rose to Orlando.

We didn't have too long to wait to board and we were soon zooming across the Atlantic Ocean!

As you can see, Kate was particularly excited:

There was a terrible moment when we realised that none of our screens with in flight entertainment were working!

Eight hours, two teenagers and no entertainment!! Help!

The children decided to make their own entertainment. Upon examining the entertainment leaflet Sarah and Kate noticed that something unfortunate had befallen Leonardo di Caprio:

He was christened 'Leonardo De Capitated' for the entirety of the trip. You see, you don't need fancy technology to keep the kids amused. Just an 'A' list film star with his head hanging off!

The flight attendents were very helpful. They got us a portable DVD player (2 between the 4 of us). We took it in turns to choose DVDs and that helped pass the time - phew! The attendent also brought us a free bottle of very nice fizzy wine to say sorry.

Eventually we landed in Orlando and it was time to brave immigration. We have had trips to WDW in 2006 and 2008 and both times we had the same immigration guy. Well, guess what? We had the same guy again! His name was Wong and he noticed his stamp from last time in Kate's passport! He seemed pleased that we recognised him!

We were then due to meet a guy from the taxi firm we had booked - but we had a bit of trouble finding him. It was awkward trying to lug our cases around and look for the taxi guy. Eventually me and the girls stood still and Simon went off in search. Turns out we were at the totally wrong side of the Airport - A instead of B? Pretty soon we were in a lovely comfy ride heading to OKW.

We were so excited to be trying this resort. Because we were going for so long we wanted somewhere really homley that we could relax in and escape from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

OKW was as beautiful as we expected. We went to check in at Hospitality House and we were told that we in the Turtle Pond area. I knew that this was a long way from everywhere but we didn't really mind. Bell services took us and our cases to Building 38.

When we first went into the villa we were very impressed. I had done my research and recognised that the villa had undergone refurbishment - there was an extra single sofa in the living room which was excellent because it meant that the girls could have separate beds.

I was desperate to look at the balcony. I had seen so many lovely views of fountains and golf courses and I planned to spend a lot of time sitting on the balcony. Here is what I found:

And just to the right:

I wanted to cry. Our view was a load of bushes and just beyond that was the main road with heavy traffic. To the side were some kinds of generators which were also humming loudly.

Because of the bushes the bedroom was very dark. Everything was beautifully decorated but the villa just did not feel right. We had travelled so far after years of planning and saving and I wanted everything to be perfect.

Disturbingly, there was also a clog of hair in the shower plughole.

Now, if you've read any of my other trip reports or food reviews you'll know that I am a really easygoing person, and it takes a lot for me to get worked up or complain about things.

But this was just...wrong.

Simon and the girls thought I was being picky and they would have been happy to stay in this villa. But I was not. And I knew I had to do something about it now.

Si and I left the girls in front of the Disney channel and we walked back up to Hospitality House to see if they could move us.

I felt so stressed and then I felt stressed that I was feeling stressed in Disney World - this was not supposed to happen!

It was touch and go for a while - OKW was quite busy. But they offered us another villa in building 40.

Si and I headed back with our new Key cards. He went to grab the girls and the luggage and I went to check out the new villa. I was so scared - what if I didn't like this one? What if it was worse than the first one?

I opened the door and immediately headed to the patio. This was the new view:

Now that's more like it! It was lovely and peaceful and the whole villa just felt wonderful. It was also a refurbed villa so the girls would have their own beds.

Simon and the girls arrived and at last we could relax and unpack! Here are some more pics of the room (although I didn't take them all on that first day!)

Room 4011:

The living area (and girls bedroom!):

Kitchen Area:

Dining area:

Mine and Simon's bedroom:

The washer and dryer room:

The main bathroom:

We were very happy with our villa. It was so spacious!

After unpacking we headed up to Olivia's for dinner. We had a lovely meal here and then decided to get the boat to DTD to have a look area.

Sarah and Kate look a little tired as they wait for the boat! Look! here it comes!:

It was a lovely trip down the river to DTD. But DTD was sooo busy! We looked in few shops:

But soon, exhaustion overcame us - we had been travelling for so long and the trauma of the rooms had tired us out. We got the bus back to OKW and decided to have a dip in the Turtle Pond small pool before bed. This was lovely and relaxing!

Coming up: Our first full Disney Day!

 

[dizneeat]

I am SO in here!

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, now that I have read it all I have to say that I would NOT have liked that first villa either.

We were offered a ground floor one too and I changed it right at the front desk! Don't feel bad about changing something - YOU have to stay there for 17 days!

I love all the photos and Shari, you have a beautiful family! Can't wait to see and hear of them!

 

[mamaboogie]

Okay, now that I have read it all I have to say that I would NOT have liked that first villa either.

We were offered a ground floor one too and I changed it right at the front desk! Don't feel bad about changing something - YOU have to stay there for 17 days!

I love all the photos and Shari, you have a beautiful family! Can't wait to see and hear of them!

So glad you are here Karin! You get to see that there's more to me than food.....

I promise that changing villa's was a just a moment of stroppiness that doesn't last throughout the holiday!

 

[merrymouse1]

Im in! I loved your for report and can't wait to read all about your trip. Good for you in changing your room. That would have bugged you the entire trip. Long day of travel and looking forward to day 2!

 

[mamaboogie]

Im in! I loved your for report and can't wait to read all about your trip. Good for you in changing your room. That would have bugged you the entire trip. Long day of travel and looking forward to day 2!

Thank you Merrymouse! It really was a long day of travel. It was nice to finally get settled in a lovely room.

 

[mamaboogie]

After a very comfortable sleep in an enormous bed (seriously, I didn't see Simon for the whole of the holiday!) it was time to get up and get to Disney!

We'd slept pretty well, although the air conditioning had woken us up a few times - we had to tinker with the AC throughout the holiday to get the temperature right - we just aren't used to it! The girls had got into the same bed because they were cold!

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we decided to have breakfast on our lovely patio:

It was so lovely having a kitchen to make breakfast and snacks in.

We were quite near the Turtle Pond bus stop and we caught a bus to MK straight away.

Here we are excitedly waiting for rope drop:

I always get a little tear in my eye when the train comes into the station and all the characters get off. It's so magical!

I got a bigger tear in my eye when we were let in and we saw this:

Gets me every time! This is the signal that we've made it back to the magic.

We dashed to Dumbo first which is a kind of tradition:

When you are up in the air on Dumboo you can see the construction site of the Fantasyland expansion - it is going to be amazing when it's done!

Next up we went on Peter Pan - this is one of Sarah's favourite rides and we all enjoyed flying above London and Neverland!

Next up - another family favourite - The Haunted Mansion - I lost count of how many times we went on this during the holiday! Kate decided that the little hairy 'hitchhiker' was her boyfriend! Sounds about right...

So far we hardly had to wait at all for any rides - result! We wandered into Frontierland and Simon and Kate went on Splash Mountain whilst Sarah and I had a look in some shops. Sarah met a friend:

There was no wait on Aladdin's Flying Carpets so we hopped on for a quick ride:

We then met back up with Simon and Kate after their zip-a-dee-doo-dah (no Kate, the song does NOT say 'Pretty good show us your bum...') and the three of us went on BTMR. Sarah had promised some friends back home that she would brave BTMR at some point in the holiday - just not today! Hmmm!

We had fun on Big Thunder, although I sat with Kate and kept crushing her during the bends! (I worked out later in the holiday that if I sat on the right I didn't squash her as much!)

We met back up with Sarah and went for a bit to eat at Columbia Harbour House - yummy!

It was soooooo hot after lunch! When we went in 2008 we had Hurrican fay throughout the holiday so it was very rainy and not so hot. This holiday was the hottest we had experienced in Florida - even the locals said it was freakishly hot.

We hopped on Winnie the Pooh (hard to find the entrance because of all the renovations!) and then we wandered round to Tomorrowland. We had to get on Buzz - yeay! As usual, Simon got the highest score (he knows where all the big scoring targets are!). Because of the heat we went for a sit down on the TTA people mover.

Then it was time for a new experience for all of us - The Carousel of Progress! Even Simon had never been to this, despite going to WDW when he was younger.

It was good fun - I love seeing the 'old fashioned' attractions that have been there for years. That was one of the objectives of the holiday - to try new things, especially the quainter, overlooked attractions.

Simon went off to try Space Mountain whilst me and the girls went to see Stitch escape! I know some people don't like this show but we do!

We even bumped into the man (alien) himself!:

There was a quick downpour when we met up with Simon, but it was so hot that we soon dried off as we headed over the Pirates. Fantastic! The girls and I also went to visit the Tiki rooms - another new experience!

We came out of Mk and caught the monorail round the the Polynesian resort ready for our ADR at Kona Cafe:

We had a fantastic experience here. Then all our travelling seemed to be catching up with us so we went back to OKW for a rest - and a good dose of Disney Channel! Simon popped over to DTD for a bit of shopping and I wandered up to OKW shop for some snacks.

Coming up: Animal Kingdom!

 

[onlinekk]

lady gaga```````

 

[onlinekk]

you are so lucky......

 

[mamaboogie]

lady gaga```````

Erm???...........

 

[The_Aviator]

Great start Shari!

 

[mamaboogie]

Great start Shari!

Thank you for reading! I've not posted for a while - real life took over - but I hope to catch up a bit this weekend!

 

[mamaboogie]

Today we all woke up with a lot more energy - we had caught up on our sleep and recovered from the travelling. It helped not waking up at bizarre times during the night!

We ate breakfast on our lovely patio again - it was looking like another beautiful day weather wise.

After breakfast we headed out to the Animal Kingdom! We met a nice scottish family on the bus and had a good chat with them. We arrived at AK just after 9. Kate fancied getting straight onto EE so we headed over there first. Si and Kate went onto the ride while Sarah and I waited in the shop. Their ride photo was good so they decided to order it:

We then went over to Dinoland so I could indulge myself on one of my favourite rides - Dinosaur! I love this ride so much! We walked straight onto the ride and enjoyed a trip back to the cretaceous period!

Next we met back up with Sarah (who had declined the dino adventure) and we went to play some fun dinosaur games. Sarah won three prizes and Kate won one - Simon and I didn't win a thing!

We also had trip on the dino dumbo ride:

When we were looking around the Dinoland shop a very kind CM saw we were struggling to carry all our cuddly prizes and she offered to give us a bag for them. Then she asked if we were staying on property and offered to ship it back to OKW for us - what a star! What amazing Disney service!

Then we went onto the safari - this was BRILLIANT! We have been on the safari many times before but this was the best ever!

Look - here's Wilson:

We saw loads of animals - giraffes, white rhinos, lions, crocodiles and all at VERY close quarters!

We also had an amazing lunch at the Yak and Yeti - a truly great experience you can read about in my food report.

After lunch Sarah, Kate and I went to see The Festival of the Lion King which was just as good as we remembered it. Afterwards, we met back up with Simon and we all went to see It's Tough to be a bug - really great fun:

After this, we discovered that the queue for Kali River Rapids was quite short so we went on the ride and got soaked! We had also grabbed a fast pass for Kali so we went straight back on it to get even wetter. Luckily, it was a very hot day so we started to dry a bit quicker.

Here are some more pics from our fantastic AK day:

I wish more people would stop to listen to these guys - they are fabulous!:

Next up was another go on EE (for Simon and Kate!) and then it was time to head back to OKW.

After a bit of a rest in the villa (and a tryout of the washing facilities) we popped back to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We ate at Pecos Bills and did some shopping and rides - Haunted Mansion, Teacups etc. We also went on our old fave Philharmagic - we were mortified that we had forgotten to go on it the day before - it's usually one of our first things we do in WDW!

We watched the Summernightastic firework display from the Tomorrowland Bridge - it was pretty spectacular and I love it when Tinkerbell flies overhead!

We then caught the bus back to OKW - very tired!

Coming up: Me and the girls go it alone and Simon goes in search of the force!