Well, we survived the first trip to Disney with our 4 kids, ages 3, 5, 6, and 7 and our neighbors and their 2 kids ages 5 and 17 mos. With the exception of the neighbor's kid throwing up for 3 days and me washing our park tickets after the first day, it was pretty nice. We were there November 1 - 8, Jersey Week!
Yes, I washed the park tickets. We stayed at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge in a 2BR unit with a washer/dryer. At the end of the first day, I did a load of laundry. What I forgot was that I put the tickets in my back pocket of my shorts, along with my room key. I started putting the laundry in the dryer and didn't recognize what was left of the park tickets. Then I saw my room key, and it dawned on me what had happened. What remains after the paper is gone is a piece of linen-type material that the magnetic strip may or may not stick to. I found 3 of our 5 tickets like this - the others were in the folds of the laundry. My only saving grace was that I had the receipt from AAA where I had purchased the tickets. We called Member Services for help, and they said go to a ticket window at the parks. Well, after about 20 minutes, the CM replaced our tickets for free, but any unused days would expire on Nov. 12 (we left Nov 8). That was fine with us because we only bought enough days for our stay. I was just relieved not to have to buy 4 more days of tickets! After that, my husband held the tickets, I wanted nothing to do with them!
We did Epcot the first day. Mission Space was great. Kids loved the Energy ride with the dinosaurs. We enjoyed Food Rocks with all the song parodies. We ate at Le Cellieur. Very good. We usually eat a Chef de France, but I think we're headed back there again. They also gave the kids souvenier cups with straws. It was the only restaurant to do this all week. The fireworks, however were a bit of a dissappointment, not that they were bad, mind you, but I've seen better in years past. We all thought the fireball was a mistake, and that something had gone wrong. All the kids managed to stay awake all the way back to the VWL.
Magic Kingdom was the next day. We only got to Adventureland, Frontierland, and half of Fantasy Land. We saw the parade and DD7 was called up to dance in the parade when it stopped. She LOVED it! She's a bit of a ham! We saw characters all over the place and had our autograph books. DS3 was timid with most of them. That all changed when we finally saw Ariel. DD 7 and DD5 gave Ariel a kiss and a hug as they left. DS3 decided Ariel was okay too and went back (almost interrupting the next family) and gave Ariel a kiss on the cheek!!! We were all shocked. It was the only character he did that with. We ate at the Castle. Overpriced for average food, the the atmosphere was great. We even got lucky because Cinderella was waiting downstairs, signing autographs. It was wonderful because she only saw the people who were eating upstairs. No crowds, and she took her time with all the kids. Very nice. The fireworks at MK were absolutely amazing.
MGM was next. This is where the neighbor's kid started getting sick. They went back to the room, and we were on our own. My kids absolutely loved Playhouse Disney. We managed to sit centerstage right behind the yellow line. My DD7 got up and danced every time, and the CM hosting the show (the guy on stage with Bear) actually pulled her up personally to dance with her for the last 2 songs!!! It made her day (and ours)! We tried to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but to no avail. We just couldn't get our times together. We did the Fantasmic Package and at Mama Melrose's. The food wasn't anything to brag about, and we ended up taking one of the pizzas home, but it was worth it to walk right into Fantasmic. The show was spectacular! Can't wait to see it again!
We took Wednesday off. We went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. The kids loved it and I thought the food was good. I'd do this place again. We went to Downtown Disney for some shopping, then headed back to the room for lunch and swimming. We were in the pool for 5 minutes when they called everyone out because of a storm. We walked back to the room with the kids complaining they were getting wet. We tried to explain that they were already wet in their bathing suits, but they didn't get it. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework and watching TV. We had PS at O'hana for dinner at 7:00. What a mess!!! We got there early - about 6:20 - and we were told they would seat us within 15 minutes of our PS time. What a joke! At 7:30, we still weren't seated and we were told at 7:15 that they don't seat anyone while the fireworks were going on. For us, that meant no one was seated between 7:00 and 7:15. They said at 7:15 that they were still trying to seat people with 6:30 PS. Once we got seated, we were around back, and we couldn't hear any of the announcements for the hula hoop or coconut rolling contests. Also, the food was lousy. They beef was undercooked and grissly and the shrimp was very, very undercooked. My husband said something to our "cousin" and someone with a chef's coat came over, apologizing and offering to get us more shrimp. At that point, we were done with dinner. They did comp us for all the kids, which was the only nice thing I can say about O'hana. I'll never go back there again.
We opted to do early entry into MK on Thursday and finish Fantasy Land and Tommorrow Land. We managed to do everything we wanted to do with out any problems. Waits were 15 minutes or less. We had PS at Marakesh at Epcot, so we left early and headed over there. Marakesh was great! Loved the food and the atmosphere. We skipped the fireworks and went on Test Track and Mission Space. DS6 and DD5 loved Test Track and wanted more. DS6 also rode Mission Space twice!
We did AK Friday. I already posted on that one on the Theme Parks board. I didn't like it at all. It was very humid, and the walk through the Oasis till you see the Tree is all uphill!!! We were pushing 3 double strollers. UGH! We saw Lion King - absolutely fantastic - and the Safari. The 30 minute wait for the Safari wasn't worth if for me. I see more animals in the zoo (Philadelphia has a GREAT zoo). We left by 11:30 and went back to MK. We revisited some of the attractions the kids wanted to see. Again, 20 mins or less for lines. Kids rode Dumbo twice and the Carousel twice. My favorite part of MK is Main Street. I just love it there - the architecture, the people. I could sit there for hours and just watch the world go by. I cried when we left as I watched the Castle disappear from view. Eventhough we're headed back next December, I was sad. Kids didn't notice but DH did. He just shook his head and laughed. He knows me.
Can't wait to go back next year. We hope to get the first full week in December at BWV. I can book 11 mos out, so I have my fingers crossed.
Oh, by they way, we left on Oct 31 via Amtrak, and Delswife hadn't finished her posts. I was hanging like everyone else, but had to wait till Nov 9 to finish reading. I was actually upset that I was missing the last posts eventhough I was headed to Disney for my own memories!!! She's one hell of a writer - thanks Delswife for sharing your memories.
Yes, I washed the park tickets. We stayed at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge in a 2BR unit with a washer/dryer. At the end of the first day, I did a load of laundry. What I forgot was that I put the tickets in my back pocket of my shorts, along with my room key. I started putting the laundry in the dryer and didn't recognize what was left of the park tickets. Then I saw my room key, and it dawned on me what had happened. What remains after the paper is gone is a piece of linen-type material that the magnetic strip may or may not stick to. I found 3 of our 5 tickets like this - the others were in the folds of the laundry. My only saving grace was that I had the receipt from AAA where I had purchased the tickets. We called Member Services for help, and they said go to a ticket window at the parks. Well, after about 20 minutes, the CM replaced our tickets for free, but any unused days would expire on Nov. 12 (we left Nov 8). That was fine with us because we only bought enough days for our stay. I was just relieved not to have to buy 4 more days of tickets! After that, my husband held the tickets, I wanted nothing to do with them!
We did Epcot the first day. Mission Space was great. Kids loved the Energy ride with the dinosaurs. We enjoyed Food Rocks with all the song parodies. We ate at Le Cellieur. Very good. We usually eat a Chef de France, but I think we're headed back there again. They also gave the kids souvenier cups with straws. It was the only restaurant to do this all week. The fireworks, however were a bit of a dissappointment, not that they were bad, mind you, but I've seen better in years past. We all thought the fireball was a mistake, and that something had gone wrong. All the kids managed to stay awake all the way back to the VWL.
Magic Kingdom was the next day. We only got to Adventureland, Frontierland, and half of Fantasy Land. We saw the parade and DD7 was called up to dance in the parade when it stopped. She LOVED it! She's a bit of a ham! We saw characters all over the place and had our autograph books. DS3 was timid with most of them. That all changed when we finally saw Ariel. DD 7 and DD5 gave Ariel a kiss and a hug as they left. DS3 decided Ariel was okay too and went back (almost interrupting the next family) and gave Ariel a kiss on the cheek!!! We were all shocked. It was the only character he did that with. We ate at the Castle. Overpriced for average food, the the atmosphere was great. We even got lucky because Cinderella was waiting downstairs, signing autographs. It was wonderful because she only saw the people who were eating upstairs. No crowds, and she took her time with all the kids. Very nice. The fireworks at MK were absolutely amazing.
MGM was next. This is where the neighbor's kid started getting sick. They went back to the room, and we were on our own. My kids absolutely loved Playhouse Disney. We managed to sit centerstage right behind the yellow line. My DD7 got up and danced every time, and the CM hosting the show (the guy on stage with Bear) actually pulled her up personally to dance with her for the last 2 songs!!! It made her day (and ours)! We tried to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but to no avail. We just couldn't get our times together. We did the Fantasmic Package and at Mama Melrose's. The food wasn't anything to brag about, and we ended up taking one of the pizzas home, but it was worth it to walk right into Fantasmic. The show was spectacular! Can't wait to see it again!
We took Wednesday off. We went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. The kids loved it and I thought the food was good. I'd do this place again. We went to Downtown Disney for some shopping, then headed back to the room for lunch and swimming. We were in the pool for 5 minutes when they called everyone out because of a storm. We walked back to the room with the kids complaining they were getting wet. We tried to explain that they were already wet in their bathing suits, but they didn't get it. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework and watching TV. We had PS at O'hana for dinner at 7:00. What a mess!!! We got there early - about 6:20 - and we were told they would seat us within 15 minutes of our PS time. What a joke! At 7:30, we still weren't seated and we were told at 7:15 that they don't seat anyone while the fireworks were going on. For us, that meant no one was seated between 7:00 and 7:15. They said at 7:15 that they were still trying to seat people with 6:30 PS. Once we got seated, we were around back, and we couldn't hear any of the announcements for the hula hoop or coconut rolling contests. Also, the food was lousy. They beef was undercooked and grissly and the shrimp was very, very undercooked. My husband said something to our "cousin" and someone with a chef's coat came over, apologizing and offering to get us more shrimp. At that point, we were done with dinner. They did comp us for all the kids, which was the only nice thing I can say about O'hana. I'll never go back there again.
We opted to do early entry into MK on Thursday and finish Fantasy Land and Tommorrow Land. We managed to do everything we wanted to do with out any problems. Waits were 15 minutes or less. We had PS at Marakesh at Epcot, so we left early and headed over there. Marakesh was great! Loved the food and the atmosphere. We skipped the fireworks and went on Test Track and Mission Space. DS6 and DD5 loved Test Track and wanted more. DS6 also rode Mission Space twice!
We did AK Friday. I already posted on that one on the Theme Parks board. I didn't like it at all. It was very humid, and the walk through the Oasis till you see the Tree is all uphill!!! We were pushing 3 double strollers. UGH! We saw Lion King - absolutely fantastic - and the Safari. The 30 minute wait for the Safari wasn't worth if for me. I see more animals in the zoo (Philadelphia has a GREAT zoo). We left by 11:30 and went back to MK. We revisited some of the attractions the kids wanted to see. Again, 20 mins or less for lines. Kids rode Dumbo twice and the Carousel twice. My favorite part of MK is Main Street. I just love it there - the architecture, the people. I could sit there for hours and just watch the world go by. I cried when we left as I watched the Castle disappear from view. Eventhough we're headed back next December, I was sad. Kids didn't notice but DH did. He just shook his head and laughed. He knows me.
Can't wait to go back next year. We hope to get the first full week in December at BWV. I can book 11 mos out, so I have my fingers crossed.
Oh, by they way, we left on Oct 31 via Amtrak, and Delswife hadn't finished her posts. I was hanging like everyone else, but had to wait till Nov 9 to finish reading. I was actually upset that I was missing the last posts eventhough I was headed to Disney for my own memories!!! She's one hell of a writer - thanks Delswife for sharing your memories.
Enid
