Illinois Family Just Back--What a great time!

[dzneelvr]

Our family: DH, me, DD-17 and DS-19 made our eighth and latest trip to WDW June 15-22. Just returned and had a magical time Here is a brief rundown of each day:
June 15: Happy Limo right on time; stretch SUV was impressive. Plaza for dinner good and location primo for WISHES. WISHES outstanding Tinker Bell made her run and she was basically in slo-mo as there was not a speck of wind. Swear it took her a full 5 minutes.
June 16: ASMo outstanding as usual. Chocolate croissant to-die-for; I'm still going through withdrawals Bus service was outstanding. Never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus to/from. MK Tony's special pizza, spaghetti with meatballs good. DD didn't care that much for the penne lasagna.
June 17: our first Star Wars weekend day. WHAT A HOOT When we were standing in line for security with the armed Storm Troopers pacing back and forth above us in an audio monologue--I KNEW was going to be like nothing we'd seen before. DS in 7th heaven. We'd never seen him smile more. Character photo opps all over the place. We didn't miss a one. The movie at ABC was OUTSTANDING. Such a great time. Mama Melrose for lunch. cool, great service, delicious food--perfect to regenerate for the rest of the evening. RRrC was out of service today and prior 2 days. DS was upset about that but we compensated with ToT.
June 18: EPCOT. Segway Tour again with newer models. This 16 y/o+ tour is so much fun. Had the countries to ourselves as we tooled around. Hated to get off. Biergarten superb as always. Their relaxed pace and town-square atmosphere recharge your batteries in a big way. The vanilla cheesecake is to die for so tasty but light as air.....
June 19: AK. We got up early to go on the safari. The most animal activity we've ever seen. What stands out for me were the giraffes--we saw 3 generations--and the lions. It seemed like everyone was out and about even on the walking tours (gorillas and white tigers). We took another fast pass for an early evening safari and saw just as much. AK Rainforest was OK. HUGE line to check-in. They need to do something different IMO for those of us with ressies so we aren't standing in line with those without. We got right in. Service great. Food reliable. We usually find some trinkets in the Gift Shop, but nothing really new this time. Many of the items were recognizable from last year's trip Expedition Everest was fun. We did that a few times with fastpasses.
We then repeated each park, going in about noon and staying well into the extra magic hours.
ASMo pool was my treat: I'd get breakfast, eat poolside, read my new Nora Roberts novel and take frequent "dips". DH did the same, read USA Today, and took naps. DS and DD woke about 10, had a bite, got some sun, and then we headed out by 1pm for our lunch reservation at the park.
Additional Bests: Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Captain Jack Sparrow show at MK, NEMO show at AK, Soarin', Character Connection at EPCOT, Sci Fi (rueben sandwich was 5 inches thick!) Ohanas was the premier meal (as usual). Fantasmic at MGM: showboat with characters was lit beautifully this year and the characters moved around so they were always in full view of the audience.
Some disappointments: Nemo ride at EPCOT. The que inside is endless and the show is so much better. We walked on in 5 minutes. ride takes about 5 minutes. Happy Limo was 10 minutes late to pick us up for the airport last morning which caused us to freak a bit. They showed ok. next year I'll have to give them an earlier time....France Guerlain store was crammed into the front shop due to rehab. Very little cosmetic product and DD and I were disappointed as we love to experiment around and then splurge on their item. Mostly perfumes during the rehab which doesn't do a thing for me.
Looking forward to next year: Family suite at ASMu, Yak and Yeti in AK, and TRex in DTD. New eatery in Italy.
All in all--we had a wonderful time. We WILL be back.

 

[OhMari]

Glad you had a great time. Did you fly out of O'hare, or Midway.

When we went to AK, we did the Safari first thing in the morning. When we went back at nite, I convinced my dh to do it again, since the driver said, "no two rides are alike." We really did see many animals in the morning, than at nite we saw others that weren't out in the morning.

I'll have to read about the new TS at AK. Do you know what they will be serving?

 

[dzneelvr]

We fly out of the Rockford/Chicago airport southwest of Rockford. no traffic, free parking, quick security and baggage claims. That takes you into Sanford which you can breeze through baggage claim and all in 10-15 minutes. We pick up a limo there and are walking into the resort less than 60 minutes later Stay tuned on the other board for news on the Yak and Yeti. the signs said ready summer of 2008 but maybe it will be sooner. It will be serving "American cuisine". AK desperately needs to give RFC some competition...that has gotten crazy busy over the years and some VERY rude people when they see you walk past them on into the restaurant. Gee--could it be that I made my plans 3 months ago and didn't wait until the last minute on a 90degree day mmmmmm.

 

[Kristineamb]

Stay tuned on the other board for news on the Yak and Yeti. The signs said ready summer of 2008 but maybe it will be sooner. It will be serving "American cuisine".

I thought Yak & Yeti was supposed to open this year! We are looking forward to trying it during our trip in December (anxious to hear when they will start taking ADRs!) And was going to serve Pan-Asian food???