snickerboo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,290
Just got back from a wonderful time at WDW. It was our first family trip and we all loved it.
Our gang-ds (3), dd (6), dh (37) and me (33 yr-old SAHM)
So we made it to and from Disney alive. Thank-you Delta pilots and flight attendants for not striking! here's my trip report:
Bright and early Tuesday morning we set out for the Buffalo airport hoping no one would be striking. It was extremely cold that day and actually started snowing (yep, on April 25th!) while we waited to board at Buffalo. After an uneventful flight, conneciton and another flight, we landed at Orlando. The sun was shining and it was 90 degrees! Picked up the rental car (nice Buick Rendezvous) and headed over to the hotel. The hotel (Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort) was not as nice as we had hoped but we were there for The World not the hotel. **I plan to review Sunspree in the Orlando seciton of the board.
After months of intense hyper-planning on my part, we set out for the Magic Kingdom on Day one with packs full of all the goodies all those unofficial guides and the DISers recommend. Touring plan in hand and memorized, we hit the gates an hour before open (this is a must at Disney. Go early!) When the Welcome Show was finished I have to admit, I was totally veclempt (sp?) I think it was part just-so-happy-to-actually-finally-be-here. Dd wore her princess dress and the cast members kept calling her 'princess' and bowing to her. She loved it. We all rode Splash Mountain at the end of the day-huge for me. At the end I said, "yeah! I did it!"
On day two we went to MGM. It was only okay. It's mainly sit-down shows which don't work great with a preschooler. Ds was able to meet Buzz and Woody there, though (he's a huge Toy Story fan) and we ate lunch at Pizza Planet. At night we went back for Fantasmic which was fantastic! I kept saying, "how did they ever get the idea to do that?" We were exposed to our first 'thundering herd' for which Disney is famous after Fantasmic as the throngs headed for the parking lot.
Day three we did Epcot. Every school group within a ten mile radius seemed to be at Epcot that day. It was just too busy to be a lot of fun. The kids liked the Living seas and we all (except Nicky) rode Soarin' 2x each. Soarin' is amazing-it's a hang-glide simulation that is so realisitc. They even pipe in the appropriate scents for when you're flying over the ocean, forests and orange groves.
Day four, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and rode everything we missed on Day one.
Day five we did Animal Kingdom. I'm so glad I didn't listen to people who said they hated it. We loved it. We got there before rope drop and, while waiting, a cast member came up and asked how many we had in our party. When we said four, he invited us past the rope and asked what we palnned ot ride first. We told him we wanted to do the safari and he told us we were going to be the Safari's Family of Honour for the day. We got a private safari and got to skip the line all day long anytime we wnated to ride the safari. It was so great to see the animals before they went into hiding. Next we saw the Lion King show and dd was invited to be in it. Talk about our lucky day. I rode Kali River Rapids three times that day and it was just a hoot (even though I got soaked!)
Day six, we went back to Magic Kingdom and rode all our favourite rides one last time. It was much busier that day. Then we went back to the hotel to swim and pack. When we got back dh had a message from his boss asking him to fly to Texas the next day instead of home with us. We went out for lobster then back to Magic Kingdom for Spectromagic and fireworks. The Magic Kingdom fireworks were the perfect way to end our vacation.
The day we came home, dh left at 5am to fly off to Texas. I got up early with the kids and picked up some last minute souvenirs (we had spent almost all of our time either at the parks or swimming and had hardly bought anything!) Everything went pretty well at the airport and we got on our flight to Atlanta. About 20 minutes into the flight I realized dh had the car keys so when I landed in Buffalo I had no way home! We live about 2 1/2 hours from Buffalo. My mom and dad live near Buffalo but are at their cottage this week. I figured, if I can reach dh when we land at Atlanta, maybe he can book me a hotel room in Buffalo and overnight the keys Fedex. When we had to get off the airplane, Nicky threw a massive screaming tanturm. I finally got him off the plane, waited (mid-tantrum) for the stroller to arrive from the skycheck and headed off to the next gates and to find a phone. Let me say, at this point, that Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta is hell on earth. I found a phone and tried dh's hotel, work in Texas, work at home and couldn't get anyone on the phone so I took the kids for lunch. For some reason, there is no place kids would like to eat in the entire concourse B, so I went all the way to another concourse to find a Wendy's. Again I tried to call dh. I called his hotel and she took a message for him to get right when he checked in. Hoping he would get the message before I landed in Buffalo. I went to the gate. While I was waiting to board, they announced about carry-on luggage. At that point, I realized, in my haste to remove one screaming preschooler from the last plane I left a carry-on in the overhead with a bunch of souvenirs in it. I went to the boarding gate desk and the attendant said, "don't worry, if you left it, they'll find it. I'll call over for you right now." Sure enough, they don't find it-someone has taken it. At that point, I can't help but shed a few tears. I just want to get on the plane and get home.
Thank God for small miracles because ds fell asleep from Atlanta to Buffalo. Upon landing in Buffalo, I got to a phone, called dh's hotel and, thankfully, he answered. He has gotten the message, booked me into the Holiday Inn at Buffalo and fedexed the keys. Hurrah! I called the hotel to arrange a shuttle and the shuttle was out on other calls so he arranged a taxi. When the taxi arrived the guy started loading my luggage and trying to put in the car seats. he then said, "I can't get this in" about the car seat. I said, "Oh, I'll do it". Slight problem: the taxi has no seat belts!!! Well, it does have seat belts but no place to clip them in. So I said, "I can't strap the seat in-there are not seat belts" and he said, "can't one of them sit in the front on your lap?" I said, "No, that's illegal". So I sent him on his way corraled kids and luggage again, went back into the airport and called the hotel. The hotel manager was horrified by the taxi situation and came to get me himself. He was so embarssed, he bought us dinner in the hotel restaurant.
In the morning we enjoyed the hotel's complimentary breakfast, got the keys, went back to the airport and finally headed home. I have never been so happy to get home!
So, the vacation part of the trip was just terrific and I am now a certifable Magic Kingdom nut. We are home now and already missing it. I'm wondering who will perform my welcome show tomorrow morning.
My dd said she's moving to Florida when she's an adult so her kids can go to Disney whenever they want!
My family recommends:
Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Being at Toontown for the rope drop
Mickey's Philharmagic
Fireworks at MK
Fantasmic
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Soarin'
The Living Seas
The shopping at the China and Japan areas of World Showcase, Epcot
Festival of the Lion King
Kiliminjaro Safaris
Restaurant in Africa at AK
Character Premiere at Orlando Premium Outlets
Cincinnati Airport
We give the thumbs down to:
Holiday Inn Sunspree LBV
Pondegrossa at 535 and 417
A lot of the things to do at Innoventions (ie: fire house thingy)
Customer service at Epcot in general (ony park where CMs weren't good)
Dinosaur ride at AK (dd who rode Splash, BTM, Soarin' and Kali was terrified by this one)
"Narnia" at MGM
Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson) Airport-dirty, crowded, rude staff with overpriced food.
Our gang-ds (3), dd (6), dh (37) and me (33 yr-old SAHM)
So we made it to and from Disney alive. Thank-you Delta pilots and flight attendants for not striking! here's my trip report:
Bright and early Tuesday morning we set out for the Buffalo airport hoping no one would be striking. It was extremely cold that day and actually started snowing (yep, on April 25th!) while we waited to board at Buffalo. After an uneventful flight, conneciton and another flight, we landed at Orlando. The sun was shining and it was 90 degrees! Picked up the rental car (nice Buick Rendezvous) and headed over to the hotel. The hotel (Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort) was not as nice as we had hoped but we were there for The World not the hotel. **I plan to review Sunspree in the Orlando seciton of the board.
After months of intense hyper-planning on my part, we set out for the Magic Kingdom on Day one with packs full of all the goodies all those unofficial guides and the DISers recommend. Touring plan in hand and memorized, we hit the gates an hour before open (this is a must at Disney. Go early!) When the Welcome Show was finished I have to admit, I was totally veclempt (sp?) I think it was part just-so-happy-to-actually-finally-be-here. Dd wore her princess dress and the cast members kept calling her 'princess' and bowing to her. She loved it. We all rode Splash Mountain at the end of the day-huge for me. At the end I said, "yeah! I did it!"
On day two we went to MGM. It was only okay. It's mainly sit-down shows which don't work great with a preschooler. Ds was able to meet Buzz and Woody there, though (he's a huge Toy Story fan) and we ate lunch at Pizza Planet. At night we went back for Fantasmic which was fantastic! I kept saying, "how did they ever get the idea to do that?" We were exposed to our first 'thundering herd' for which Disney is famous after Fantasmic as the throngs headed for the parking lot.
Day three we did Epcot. Every school group within a ten mile radius seemed to be at Epcot that day. It was just too busy to be a lot of fun. The kids liked the Living seas and we all (except Nicky) rode Soarin' 2x each. Soarin' is amazing-it's a hang-glide simulation that is so realisitc. They even pipe in the appropriate scents for when you're flying over the ocean, forests and orange groves.
Day four, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and rode everything we missed on Day one.
Day five we did Animal Kingdom. I'm so glad I didn't listen to people who said they hated it. We loved it. We got there before rope drop and, while waiting, a cast member came up and asked how many we had in our party. When we said four, he invited us past the rope and asked what we palnned ot ride first. We told him we wanted to do the safari and he told us we were going to be the Safari's Family of Honour for the day. We got a private safari and got to skip the line all day long anytime we wnated to ride the safari. It was so great to see the animals before they went into hiding. Next we saw the Lion King show and dd was invited to be in it. Talk about our lucky day. I rode Kali River Rapids three times that day and it was just a hoot (even though I got soaked!)
Day six, we went back to Magic Kingdom and rode all our favourite rides one last time. It was much busier that day. Then we went back to the hotel to swim and pack. When we got back dh had a message from his boss asking him to fly to Texas the next day instead of home with us. We went out for lobster then back to Magic Kingdom for Spectromagic and fireworks. The Magic Kingdom fireworks were the perfect way to end our vacation.
The day we came home, dh left at 5am to fly off to Texas. I got up early with the kids and picked up some last minute souvenirs (we had spent almost all of our time either at the parks or swimming and had hardly bought anything!) Everything went pretty well at the airport and we got on our flight to Atlanta. About 20 minutes into the flight I realized dh had the car keys so when I landed in Buffalo I had no way home! We live about 2 1/2 hours from Buffalo. My mom and dad live near Buffalo but are at their cottage this week. I figured, if I can reach dh when we land at Atlanta, maybe he can book me a hotel room in Buffalo and overnight the keys Fedex. When we had to get off the airplane, Nicky threw a massive screaming tanturm. I finally got him off the plane, waited (mid-tantrum) for the stroller to arrive from the skycheck and headed off to the next gates and to find a phone. Let me say, at this point, that Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta is hell on earth. I found a phone and tried dh's hotel, work in Texas, work at home and couldn't get anyone on the phone so I took the kids for lunch. For some reason, there is no place kids would like to eat in the entire concourse B, so I went all the way to another concourse to find a Wendy's. Again I tried to call dh. I called his hotel and she took a message for him to get right when he checked in. Hoping he would get the message before I landed in Buffalo. I went to the gate. While I was waiting to board, they announced about carry-on luggage. At that point, I realized, in my haste to remove one screaming preschooler from the last plane I left a carry-on in the overhead with a bunch of souvenirs in it. I went to the boarding gate desk and the attendant said, "don't worry, if you left it, they'll find it. I'll call over for you right now." Sure enough, they don't find it-someone has taken it. At that point, I can't help but shed a few tears. I just want to get on the plane and get home.
Thank God for small miracles because ds fell asleep from Atlanta to Buffalo. Upon landing in Buffalo, I got to a phone, called dh's hotel and, thankfully, he answered. He has gotten the message, booked me into the Holiday Inn at Buffalo and fedexed the keys. Hurrah! I called the hotel to arrange a shuttle and the shuttle was out on other calls so he arranged a taxi. When the taxi arrived the guy started loading my luggage and trying to put in the car seats. he then said, "I can't get this in" about the car seat. I said, "Oh, I'll do it". Slight problem: the taxi has no seat belts!!! Well, it does have seat belts but no place to clip them in. So I said, "I can't strap the seat in-there are not seat belts" and he said, "can't one of them sit in the front on your lap?" I said, "No, that's illegal". So I sent him on his way corraled kids and luggage again, went back into the airport and called the hotel. The hotel manager was horrified by the taxi situation and came to get me himself. He was so embarssed, he bought us dinner in the hotel restaurant.
In the morning we enjoyed the hotel's complimentary breakfast, got the keys, went back to the airport and finally headed home. I have never been so happy to get home!
So, the vacation part of the trip was just terrific and I am now a certifable Magic Kingdom nut. We are home now and already missing it. I'm wondering who will perform my welcome show tomorrow morning.
My dd said she's moving to Florida when she's an adult so her kids can go to Disney whenever they want!My family recommends:
Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Being at Toontown for the rope drop
Mickey's Philharmagic
Fireworks at MK
Fantasmic
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Soarin'
The Living Seas
The shopping at the China and Japan areas of World Showcase, Epcot
Festival of the Lion King
Kiliminjaro Safaris
Restaurant in Africa at AK
Character Premiere at Orlando Premium Outlets
Cincinnati Airport
We give the thumbs down to:
Holiday Inn Sunspree LBV
Pondegrossa at 535 and 417
A lot of the things to do at Innoventions (ie: fire house thingy)
Customer service at Epcot in general (ony park where CMs weren't good)
Dinosaur ride at AK (dd who rode Splash, BTM, Soarin' and Kali was terrified by this one)
"Narnia" at MGM
Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson) Airport-dirty, crowded, rude staff with overpriced food.
