alicenwonder99
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 9, 2004
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WDW Vacation Trip Report
Jan 05 trip Family of 6 Driving from Chicago, Pt. 3
Day 5: MK
The Players
Me
DH
DD 17
DN 13
DD 6
DS 4
Staying at Ft. Wilderness cabins for the first time.
January 5
I woke up early, made a pot of coffee and went to look for the newspaper. I read somewhere online that the cabins get daily local newspapers. OK, well wherever I read that it was wrong. I never got a paper. Thats ok, I printed out all the Disney Tips someone had neatly cut & paste on their website and it was about 30 pages to read. I made my oatmeal (which was going to be daily breakfast while at WDW), drank my coffee, and read my Disney Tips.
I waited for the family to wake up and only the little ones got up. DH said he wasnt feeling well and he wanted to sleep late. The 2 teenagers didnt want to go to the parks, they wanted to lay around by the pool since it was going to be in 80s. And dn13 wasnt feeling that great a nasty cold was starting and she still had a sore throat. I was still trying to get over my sore throat so I knew she probably felt really crappy. Well, that was all ok, I still had the 2 little ones who were as excited as me about getting to MK!! We decided that dh would sleep late, get up and get to the Publix store and buy stuff for a BBQ that evening. We would get back to the cabin at 5pm, eat, then wed all head back to MK for the night. It was the EMH night for MK and it wasnt closing until 10pm. This would also give the teens plenty of time to lay in sun and get ready.
The 3 of us got ready and headed to the first bus stop. The transportation system at Ft. Wilderness is really easy, but it is long (I know I mentioned that in my last post lol). We got dropped off at the next bus stop and we walked to the boat docking for our boat ride to MK. It was a wonderful ride. It was nice and sunny and warm. We took a seat at the end of the boat and had a fun time. But, what a long boat ride!! It made a stop at Wilderness Lodge. When we finally arrived at MKs dock, I looked at my watch; its been one hour since we left the cabin. I asked the CM if it usually takes that long from Ft. Wilderness. He said it is a 35 minute boat ride from Ft. Wilderness to the MK. I could never imagine doing this when it was in the summer, hot, and crowded.
We made it to MK, went through security, got through the ticket gates and made our way to rent a double stroller. Another line to wait in. I dont remember it being this long to get a stroller before! The CM at the stroller counter told me I could prepurchase my strollers for my stay and then I wouldnt have to stand in that line anymore, I could just go right up to the stroller line and get a stroller. She told me if I had any tickets left over, I could return them at the end of my stay for a full refund. (that was good because I accidently bought an extra day). Also, if I returned my stubs, I would get a $1 back for each one.
We got our double stroller and headed into MK. The first thing we saw was a short line to some characters: Cruella and Aladdin. The children were afraid of Cruella and didnt want to see her, but they were excited to see Aladdin!!! What a cutie! J J
I was a bit surprised to see a fence up all around the castle. I thought for sure I would have heard something about this on the Disboards (cmon, Im on the Disboards ALL DAY LONG). But that was ok, we could still see the castle and it wasnt a big deal. We headed into Fantasyland (of course), and the kids wanted to ride the Teacups first. I was thinking to myself, Oh great. Our first ride in WDW and well be standing in line for an hour! But it was only a 5-10 minute wait. I wont ride this ride with the teens or my dh, but I can count on the little ones to not spin it. Dd6 was spinning it as fast as she could, but it wasnt bad at all. I was making comments on how she was spinning it too fast for mommy and she was getting a kick out of that. After the ride she said she couldnt wait to get back to tell her daddy how she spun the ride so fast.
We pretty much spent most of the day there in Fantasyland. I wanted to make sure I rode Dumbo with the children because our last couple of trips to Disney I didnt ride it with them. But, of course, Dumbos line was long. It was probably the longest line in Fantasyland (of course). We got some Fastpasses for Pooh and then we headed to Pinocchio for lunch. While at the fastpass machines, we overhead a CM talking with a family that was in front of us: the CM said that the fastpasses were good ANYTIME after the beginning time. He went on to say that if you miss your one hour window, you can use the fastpass later on that day. Lunch was good, but dd6 couldnt eat too much. Of course I wasnt going to pressure her to eat too much at once. We ended lunch and headed to Pooh for our fastpass. What a cute ride I always liked that ride. I was trying to find the picture of Mr. Toad handing off the deed to Pooh, but I couldnt find it. But something I noticed this trip that I didnt notice before is the smoke ring in the Heffalumps (sp?) room. We successfully tried to put our hand through the smoke ring yeah its corny but it became our thing everytime we rode it throughout our trip lol. We were walking around the blue fence up around the castle and we saw the parade. It was just too crowded to find a spot to look at it. I completely forgot about planning for the parade that day!!! Dd6 was very disappointed. I tried to find a spot in the shade (it was hot that day) where the kids could at least see the globes go by. So, they werent too disappointed. We also rode the carosel sometime during that day. Dd6 got to ride the one with the golden ribbon on its tail. She was excited to hear about that being Cinderellas horse. We also made it on the TTA ride which the children just love. Ds4 was holding his hands up in the air like you do when you ride a fast rollercoaster! LOL .too cute!
It was getting to be close to 4pm so I figured we should probably head back to the cabin since it was going to probably take us an hour to get back. We had fastpasses to Buzz so we went to ride that. Ds4 hit a 100,000 mark in the first room!!! YEAH! We left that and picked up fastpasses to Peter Pan to use when we got back to MK later that night. They were starting to hand out the EMH wristbands, but they told me I could just pick ours up when we got back later that night.
It took about an hour to get back to the cabin and it was about 5:20pm. I thought everyone would be mad because we were 20 minutes late and I was holding up dinner. We just got off the bus and were walking back to the cabin and I saw dd17 and dn13 walking towards us. They said dad was sick and he said we were going out to Pioneer Hall for dinner. I figured it was just too late to get to the restaurant and we would just improvise on dinner with what I had brought. I failed to stress in my first post how much food I brought along TONS. I just didnt bring any perishables. We were planning on picking all that up at the Publix. Dh did get to the store in Ft. Wilderness and bought a couple of gallons of milk and some margarine, so at least we had that. Anyway, it was a dinner of pancakes and mac & cheese. OK, those of you reading this who dont have lots of children are probably rolling your eyes those who do have a big family are probably nodding in agreement with me. It wasnt the most nutrious dinner, but it would do for now.
We all drove to MK (dh was feeling better and he really wanted to go to MK with us). DH still had to buy his park ticket and all of the ticket counters were closed. We were teasing him telling him to just wait for us in the parking lot and wed see him at 10pm heehee. He ended up standing in a LONG line at Guest Services were he got his ticket. The teens went off into the park on their own after I gave them instructions to find their way back to the cabin using Disney transportation. I gave them some cash for some snacks and the little ones and I went to get the stroller and wait for dh.
The first thing I wanted to do was to use our fastpasses for Peter Pan. But we saw dd17and dn13 at the fastpass machine for Pooh funny thing is that the return time was for 10 minutes. We all got 6 fastpasses, dh went to have a smoke <groan>, and the teens went on another ride. The little ones and I went on Peter Pan with our old fastpasses. When we got off, we all met up at Pooh for our fastpass. Then we headed to Peter Pan to get 6 more fastpasses (return time was in 10 minutes), and then we all went to the Teacups. After teacups we went back to Peter Pan. The teens then decided they were going to go off to do some roller coasters and we went the other way. Dh says he was now hungry (he hadnt eaten all day). So we headed to a GREAT fastfood restaurant in Tomorrowland (I cant think of the name right now). Guess who we ran into? Dd17 and dn 13. We all sat together and ate a real meal (that is, real compared to my pancakes and macncheese from earlier). The teens then took off to ride the big rides and we headed to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. They were walk ons there were 2 people ahead of us and the Pirates boats were coming back empty. Same with HM there were just a handful of us in the stretch room. I guess no one knew about the EMH night!!!
The night was ending and we headed back to the car. Guess who was walking in front of us down Main Street? Dd17 and dn 13!! They were happy to get a ride back to the cabin instead of taking the boat/bus.
We got back to the cabin and I told everyone I wanted to go to AK the next morning. They all agreed that was a good idea. I said I wanted to leave by 8:30 the latest so we could get there by opening. I wanted to leave there in the afternoon, come back to Ft. Wilderness to eat (after we stop at Publix to buy some meat for a BBQ), and go swimming. It was EMH night at Epcot and it was closing at midnight. I thought we could at least go there for a little while or maybe head back to MK for a couple of hours. So, it was all set: I would wake everyone up by 7:30am and we would head to AK (of course you know that didnt happen).
Next report: AK and fun stuff at Ft. Wilderness
Jan 05 trip Family of 6 Driving from Chicago, Pt. 3
Day 5: MK
The Players
Me
DH
DD 17
DN 13
DD 6
DS 4
Staying at Ft. Wilderness cabins for the first time.
January 5
I woke up early, made a pot of coffee and went to look for the newspaper. I read somewhere online that the cabins get daily local newspapers. OK, well wherever I read that it was wrong. I never got a paper. Thats ok, I printed out all the Disney Tips someone had neatly cut & paste on their website and it was about 30 pages to read. I made my oatmeal (which was going to be daily breakfast while at WDW), drank my coffee, and read my Disney Tips.
I waited for the family to wake up and only the little ones got up. DH said he wasnt feeling well and he wanted to sleep late. The 2 teenagers didnt want to go to the parks, they wanted to lay around by the pool since it was going to be in 80s. And dn13 wasnt feeling that great a nasty cold was starting and she still had a sore throat. I was still trying to get over my sore throat so I knew she probably felt really crappy. Well, that was all ok, I still had the 2 little ones who were as excited as me about getting to MK!! We decided that dh would sleep late, get up and get to the Publix store and buy stuff for a BBQ that evening. We would get back to the cabin at 5pm, eat, then wed all head back to MK for the night. It was the EMH night for MK and it wasnt closing until 10pm. This would also give the teens plenty of time to lay in sun and get ready.
The 3 of us got ready and headed to the first bus stop. The transportation system at Ft. Wilderness is really easy, but it is long (I know I mentioned that in my last post lol). We got dropped off at the next bus stop and we walked to the boat docking for our boat ride to MK. It was a wonderful ride. It was nice and sunny and warm. We took a seat at the end of the boat and had a fun time. But, what a long boat ride!! It made a stop at Wilderness Lodge. When we finally arrived at MKs dock, I looked at my watch; its been one hour since we left the cabin. I asked the CM if it usually takes that long from Ft. Wilderness. He said it is a 35 minute boat ride from Ft. Wilderness to the MK. I could never imagine doing this when it was in the summer, hot, and crowded.
We made it to MK, went through security, got through the ticket gates and made our way to rent a double stroller. Another line to wait in. I dont remember it being this long to get a stroller before! The CM at the stroller counter told me I could prepurchase my strollers for my stay and then I wouldnt have to stand in that line anymore, I could just go right up to the stroller line and get a stroller. She told me if I had any tickets left over, I could return them at the end of my stay for a full refund. (that was good because I accidently bought an extra day). Also, if I returned my stubs, I would get a $1 back for each one.
We got our double stroller and headed into MK. The first thing we saw was a short line to some characters: Cruella and Aladdin. The children were afraid of Cruella and didnt want to see her, but they were excited to see Aladdin!!! What a cutie! J J
I was a bit surprised to see a fence up all around the castle. I thought for sure I would have heard something about this on the Disboards (cmon, Im on the Disboards ALL DAY LONG). But that was ok, we could still see the castle and it wasnt a big deal. We headed into Fantasyland (of course), and the kids wanted to ride the Teacups first. I was thinking to myself, Oh great. Our first ride in WDW and well be standing in line for an hour! But it was only a 5-10 minute wait. I wont ride this ride with the teens or my dh, but I can count on the little ones to not spin it. Dd6 was spinning it as fast as she could, but it wasnt bad at all. I was making comments on how she was spinning it too fast for mommy and she was getting a kick out of that. After the ride she said she couldnt wait to get back to tell her daddy how she spun the ride so fast.
We pretty much spent most of the day there in Fantasyland. I wanted to make sure I rode Dumbo with the children because our last couple of trips to Disney I didnt ride it with them. But, of course, Dumbos line was long. It was probably the longest line in Fantasyland (of course). We got some Fastpasses for Pooh and then we headed to Pinocchio for lunch. While at the fastpass machines, we overhead a CM talking with a family that was in front of us: the CM said that the fastpasses were good ANYTIME after the beginning time. He went on to say that if you miss your one hour window, you can use the fastpass later on that day. Lunch was good, but dd6 couldnt eat too much. Of course I wasnt going to pressure her to eat too much at once. We ended lunch and headed to Pooh for our fastpass. What a cute ride I always liked that ride. I was trying to find the picture of Mr. Toad handing off the deed to Pooh, but I couldnt find it. But something I noticed this trip that I didnt notice before is the smoke ring in the Heffalumps (sp?) room. We successfully tried to put our hand through the smoke ring yeah its corny but it became our thing everytime we rode it throughout our trip lol. We were walking around the blue fence up around the castle and we saw the parade. It was just too crowded to find a spot to look at it. I completely forgot about planning for the parade that day!!! Dd6 was very disappointed. I tried to find a spot in the shade (it was hot that day) where the kids could at least see the globes go by. So, they werent too disappointed. We also rode the carosel sometime during that day. Dd6 got to ride the one with the golden ribbon on its tail. She was excited to hear about that being Cinderellas horse. We also made it on the TTA ride which the children just love. Ds4 was holding his hands up in the air like you do when you ride a fast rollercoaster! LOL .too cute!
It was getting to be close to 4pm so I figured we should probably head back to the cabin since it was going to probably take us an hour to get back. We had fastpasses to Buzz so we went to ride that. Ds4 hit a 100,000 mark in the first room!!! YEAH! We left that and picked up fastpasses to Peter Pan to use when we got back to MK later that night. They were starting to hand out the EMH wristbands, but they told me I could just pick ours up when we got back later that night.
It took about an hour to get back to the cabin and it was about 5:20pm. I thought everyone would be mad because we were 20 minutes late and I was holding up dinner. We just got off the bus and were walking back to the cabin and I saw dd17 and dn13 walking towards us. They said dad was sick and he said we were going out to Pioneer Hall for dinner. I figured it was just too late to get to the restaurant and we would just improvise on dinner with what I had brought. I failed to stress in my first post how much food I brought along TONS. I just didnt bring any perishables. We were planning on picking all that up at the Publix. Dh did get to the store in Ft. Wilderness and bought a couple of gallons of milk and some margarine, so at least we had that. Anyway, it was a dinner of pancakes and mac & cheese. OK, those of you reading this who dont have lots of children are probably rolling your eyes those who do have a big family are probably nodding in agreement with me. It wasnt the most nutrious dinner, but it would do for now.
We all drove to MK (dh was feeling better and he really wanted to go to MK with us). DH still had to buy his park ticket and all of the ticket counters were closed. We were teasing him telling him to just wait for us in the parking lot and wed see him at 10pm heehee. He ended up standing in a LONG line at Guest Services were he got his ticket. The teens went off into the park on their own after I gave them instructions to find their way back to the cabin using Disney transportation. I gave them some cash for some snacks and the little ones and I went to get the stroller and wait for dh.
The first thing I wanted to do was to use our fastpasses for Peter Pan. But we saw dd17and dn13 at the fastpass machine for Pooh funny thing is that the return time was for 10 minutes. We all got 6 fastpasses, dh went to have a smoke <groan>, and the teens went on another ride. The little ones and I went on Peter Pan with our old fastpasses. When we got off, we all met up at Pooh for our fastpass. Then we headed to Peter Pan to get 6 more fastpasses (return time was in 10 minutes), and then we all went to the Teacups. After teacups we went back to Peter Pan. The teens then decided they were going to go off to do some roller coasters and we went the other way. Dh says he was now hungry (he hadnt eaten all day). So we headed to a GREAT fastfood restaurant in Tomorrowland (I cant think of the name right now). Guess who we ran into? Dd17 and dn 13. We all sat together and ate a real meal (that is, real compared to my pancakes and macncheese from earlier). The teens then took off to ride the big rides and we headed to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. They were walk ons there were 2 people ahead of us and the Pirates boats were coming back empty. Same with HM there were just a handful of us in the stretch room. I guess no one knew about the EMH night!!!
The night was ending and we headed back to the car. Guess who was walking in front of us down Main Street? Dd17 and dn 13!! They were happy to get a ride back to the cabin instead of taking the boat/bus.
We got back to the cabin and I told everyone I wanted to go to AK the next morning. They all agreed that was a good idea. I said I wanted to leave by 8:30 the latest so we could get there by opening. I wanted to leave there in the afternoon, come back to Ft. Wilderness to eat (after we stop at Publix to buy some meat for a BBQ), and go swimming. It was EMH night at Epcot and it was closing at midnight. I thought we could at least go there for a little while or maybe head back to MK for a couple of hours. So, it was all set: I would wake everyone up by 7:30am and we would head to AK (of course you know that didnt happen).
Next report: AK and fun stuff at Ft. Wilderness
