January 2006- Better late than Never- Mini TR

[ThinkTink75]

So I joined the Dis boards last summer because my best friend was going on vacation and she told me how much fun it was to be on here. I instantly noticed the “Trip Reports” and began working on mine. And here it is, without much ado whatsoever, and about 7 months in the making….


Part I -Childhood Dreams Come To Life

I have always loved Disney. My parents always thought it was cute and my sister and brother thought it a little annoying. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care when I was 10 and clipped a special edition “Beauty and the Beast” comic out of the newspaper for 4 weeks before Christmas. I didn’t care when I was 15 and forced my friends to go see the newest animated classics on opening night in the movie theatre. And I certainly didn’t mind when I was 20 and having my boyfriend buy me every Lumpy (from Pooh’s Heffalump Movie) stuftee as they came out in the Disney Store. And for the most part no one seemed to mind the hobby either.
I have no regrets about my childhood. I never went to Disney World. That didn’t make me a better person or a worse one. I got to go to Florida and to Sea World and on many other vacations to Hershey Park and the Jersey Shore. And whether I was 4 or 14 I had always known I was lucky to be able to vacation at all. I knew that some people had never been on vacation and I wouldn’t have dared act ungrateful. I was brought up kind, appreciative, and generous and my family is beyond wonderful. There was never a time in my life that I felt unloved or unwanted.
But then, on a cold summer night in 2005 Disney World came up. It had came up a thousand other times, we always fake planned and made no real decisions about going. Once I had found out I was graduating college in December we discussed going with two of our closest friends. But between that time and this particular summer night we had had a falling out with them. We hadn’t talked about Disney World in a while.
“For real Rob… I want to so something big.”
“For what?” he asked puzzled.
“I want to really celebrate my graduation. I am the first person in my family to graduate college and I want to party up.”
“Not Disney again.”
“Yes, Disney again!”
“If I say yes, you can’t get that way about it. I don’t want to hear about it everyday from now until January.”
“What do you mean- THAT way?
“You know what I mean. That way that you get. Obsessed. Talk about it non-stop until we end up fighting.”
“Of course I won’t do that,” I replied with my finger crossed behind my back.
“Okay.” He said reluctantly.
“Okay?” I questioned.
“Okay we can go to Disney World in January.”
I can’t remember my response. A mix of screams and kisses. Pure glee. I most certainly did not regret never having gone to Disney World at this minute. It would have been more than worth the wait. And it would be my first vacation with Rob. My first plane ride. My first trip to Walt Disney World. Cinderella’s Castle here I come.

 

[ThinkTink75]

Part II- Let the Countdown Begin
By October I had the latest edition of the Birnbaum guide and had gone through the motions of booking a vacation at the Disney World website about twenty times. We had decided on a few things. First of all, we would stay at a value resort. We’d had friends and family who stayed at different ones and said it would be a great first trip. We opted for All Star Movies. I chose this and the boyfriend agreed wholeheartedly. We wanted to be submerged in all the things we had grown up loving about Disney- the movies. We also knew we would go for the Magic Your Way package that included the Park Hopper option on the tickets.
We took this and our rough price outline to a travel agent. We chose our travel agent purely by referral. My sister and her new husband had used Sandy and she had helped them solve a problem from Aruba. They arrived at the hotel for their honeymoon and we put in a much smaller room than they had paid for. And after a few phone calls and a little confused back here in the states Sandy had got them put in a good room for the remainder of their honeymoon with an upgrade to suite. She worked magic for them and we were ready for magic to say the least.
She was able to get us Magic Your Way plus Dining for the price of Magic Your Way. We were ecstatic about getting dining AND she found us non-stop flights when everything seemed full when we had checked it out. It was all coming together. Oh and I forgot to mention- after 8 days in Disney World we had made arrangements to spend 4 at a family-owned condo on Anna Maria Island so we could relax at the beach.
October through New Years was a big happy blur. New York was having a rough winter so I craved the vacation more than ever. I could barely contain myself from telling everyone I was going to Disney. I wanted to scream it out my car window, tell people on line at the bank, and it was he first thing I thought of when I flung my graduation cap in the air at my graduation from the State University of New York at New Paltz. I was so happy and we hadn’t even left yet.
Meanwhile we got over $300 Disney Dollars for Christmas, had our triple points from the vacation booking on the Disney Visa and had saved every dollar we were given as gifts for the holiday. We were going to Disney World with our meals paid for and about $500 in our pockets. The world would truly be limitless.

 

[ThinkTink75]

Part III- The Prince and Princess have Arrived

It was hailing when we got to LaGuardia airport in New York City on the morning of January 2nd. Or sleeting. Or maybe it was freezing rain. All I know is that I had little scratches on my face from the walk inside from the car. My parents had volunteered to drop us off, and it was my first plane ride. I was so excited I couldn’t possibly have been nervous. I promised my mom I would call her when we landed and kissed and told both my mom and dad that I loved them.

Our journey had begun. We boarded our plane- a Delta song- and spent the whole trip charting our progress on the little map on the screens in the headrests. I owned at trivia. Rob paid $8 for a turkey sandwich. I loved every bit of the flight. From the take off (which was delayed 20 minutes because of ice on the wing) to the landing. I felt like I was on a ride. A rollercoaster. Disney seemed that much closer. When we got off the plane we didn’t have to worry about luggage because we had opted for Disney’s Magical Express. We used the restrooms and followed the signs. Then I saw it. A huge white glove waving me on. The castmembers all had Mickey hands and I felt my heart skip a beat.

We boarded the bus and took the ride which seemed to be lasting forever. When we made it to All Star Movies I was so excited I am surprised I didn’t pee a little. I felt like a kid. We took off our jackets since it was a very warm January and headed to the front desk. We were quickly checked in and off to our room. We had been assigned one of the Toy Story buildings. Off we went through a little path. As our building emerged I felt a pang of disappointment.

The color blue reminded me of a crappy motel in the most recent episode of “The O.C” that I had seen. And on top of that- once we entered our supposedly non-smoking room we were overwhelmed with the smell of smoke. I called the front desk. They told sometimes the comforters get mixed up but it was certainly not a smoking room. I shrugged it off and forced myself to be satisfied. I went to the bathroom and noticed no free Mickey toiletries. Then I began to wonder if a maid had actually been to our room. I began to scrutinize it- checked in the drawers to find a candy wrapper and checked the table to find a soda stain. I called the front desk again and told them I just wasn’t satisfied. I explained all I had found and they told us to return to the front desk and they would change it for us.
We got the same castmember at the front desk and she set us up instead with a room in one of the Herbie the Love Bug buildings. It sounded fun and I was relieved. I asked for her manager’s name and promptly called after we checked out our new room to tell him how helpful she was to us- twice. We loved our new room. It was pretty much at the heart of the resort as you had to walk past the Fantasia buildings and pool and of course the Winner’s Circle to get there. We put down our carry-ons and walked the resort to take some pictures.

Then we promptly left to go into Epcot for or dinner in Norway with the princesses. It was amazing to say the least. We stopped in awe to view the Epcot ball and we kissed about 15 times in the twilight walking from the entrance to Akershus. I thought I would be weirded out by a real person “playing” princess but I nearly gasped when I saw my very favorite staring back at me- it was Belle. We were in Disney World actually eating with the princesses. Could it get any better than this? Little did I know what lay ahead of me. The 9th wonder of the world- Magic Kingdom.

Well, my laptop battery is about to die so the next installments will come soon! I promise!

 

[pumba]

You are right...better late then never........I loved your report ......we were there for the week before Christmas and I love Movies.......
Thanks for the beginning of your better late then never report.....

 

[ThinkTink75]

Part IV- Just like I saw in Full House
As a tween I had never realized that the reason all of my favorite TGIF shows on the ABC Friday night line-up had gone off to Disney World because, in fact, Disney owned ABC and was using it as a marketing ploy. And so when I first walked through the gates at Magic Kingdom I did, feel some strange sense of nostalgia. I remembered when Michelle Tanner cut Stephanie in line and became princess for a day (when the hug music came on Michelle offered Stephanie her crown and there were two princesses for the parade), I remembered DJ picturing her boyfriend Steve as Indiana Jones, and I pictures Steve Urkel and Laura Winslow getting married.

It did not take long for me to get out of the realm of 80s sitcoms and realize that I was in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It was the best day of my life thus far. So what did we do? We took pictures all the way up to the castle (together, of each other and of the castle itself) and then we headed to Fantasyland. My first ride was Peter Pan’s Flight. After that we made our way around the area and headed out towards the castle. We ended up in Adventureland and headed up, eating at Pecos Bill’s for lunch. After lunch we went back onto Main Street, towards the entrance and hopped the train to see Mickey and Minnie’s houses. After all was said and done we headed to the Tomorrowland entrance to view the Parade (again I thought of Full House). Once it ended we went for Stitch’s Great Escape and made our way through the other Tomorrowland rides that interested us.

Next it was off to Epcot for dinner. World Showcase meal #2 was Restaurant Marrakesh in Moracco. Then we made a pitstop at the hotel for sweaters and made it back to Magic Kingdom in time for Spectromagic and Wishes. I must say, back to the TV references. Spectromagic was all I had imagined and more after having seen it every Sunday night as the introduction to the Magical World of Disney. 

 

[ThinkTink75]

Part V- MGM and Animal Kingdom

Neither of us knew what to expect when it came to the last two parks. Rob had been to Disney once, Animal Kingdom wasn’t built yet and MGM wasn’t something he remembered well since he had been 7. When we got to MGM we promptly bought “ears” from a vendor- mine like Stitch, his like Sorcerer Mickey. Then it was straight up Hollywood Boulevard and around the corner to check the times for Indiana Jones and try out Star Tours. While we waited for Indy we wandered around close by and were able to see MuppetVision and get some pictures with characters. After we saw Indy which was all I had expected and more, we headed towards Mickey Avenue to check out all the animated stuff, we hit up Magic of Animation and One Man’s Dream. For lunch we opted for lunch at ABC Commisionary but not before we tried the Great Movie Ride. After lunch we wandered some more, missed the parade, and saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

The last ride was the best. My boyfriend does not like rollercoasters, nay, he hates them. I promptly lied to him and told him that the Rock’n Rollercoaster wasn’t so bad. He asked if it was inside- I lied and said that it was just a wall and he asked if there were loops and I said no way. I am lucky he was such a good sport. That and the fact that he couldn’t stop laughing when he heard Steven Tyler yelling “Threee, Twooo, Oneeee” before we were off. It was a great end to a long day at the park so we grabbed some mickey-shaped ice cream pops on the way out.

Next Stop: World Showcase Dinner #3- Mexico (and as you can see we love the margaritas). This was by far our favorite of the all the World Showcases that we had eaten at. And afterwards we grabbed another quick Margarita at the stand outside. Oh, and I can’t forget that we fast passes Soarin’ on our way in and got to go ride it on the way out- it was AMAZING!

The next morning, we went to Animal Kingdom. My excitement the last few days had caught up with me. I had been up at 5am for Magic Kingdom and around 6 for MGM… I couldn’t help it my body just woke me up at that time. I was tired. We got up closer to 7:30 and made our way to the food court and then the park. Animal Kingdom was great for a day when we had woken up tired. We made our way through the Oasis nice and slow watching and taking pictures of all the animals. I must say we didn’t accomplish quite as much here as the other parks since we were both tired and not as interested. We skipped Dinoland all together and spent the day doing Maharajah Jungle Trek, Kilimanjaro Sarafis, Pangani Forest Exploration and eating at the Flame Tree Barbeque for lunch.

After the day was done we went right over to MGM Studios for our dinner at the Sci Fi Dine In and then to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. It was a spectacle to say the least. Like Clark Griswold had decorated the whole street with Christmas Lights. It was amazing, fake snow, Sinatra Christmas music on, like a fairy tale. We called our parents to tell them about it and say “I love you.” We were pumped so he headed to Downtown Disney to do some shopping. I can still feel the amazement in my chest when I think about it!

The finale to come soon... including restaurant and ride ratings....

 

[sharonW]

Enjoying your TR. There is no time as special
as that first trip to WDW. Walking down main
st and seeing that castle is soooo amazing. I
see your planning another trip this summer.
Happy planning, the anticipation is half the fun

 

[ThinkTink75]

Part VI- There and Back Again

So what’s next you may wonder? Hit every park, enjoyed wonderful meals and wonderful company. Well, of course, go back for more! We spent the second half of our week at Walt Disney World going back to each park… Magic Kingdom two more times. And of course, eating at the World Showcase some more (more details below). The boyfriend finally warmed up to the whole character thing and so we got tons of pictures with everyone from Baloo to Rafiki to Donald to the Incredibles to Stitch and many more! We took our time, enjoyed the view… hit mostly every ride we fancied… and had a blast. And then spent the weekend relaxing on the beach of Anna Maria Island- thanks mother nature for that beautiful warm snap in January!

Sure looking back we missed a ton of stuff- Tower of Terror and Space Mountain (I was a little scared of these), Stars and Motor Cars Parade, Kali River Rapids, and Boardwalk to name a few things on the list for this time around. Not to mention that Cinderellabration has changed to a new stage show, there are new shows in Animal Kingdom, new rides in all parks… and a list of things we haven’t done just as big as our first time. But we did see Mickey’s Philharmagic three times, stopped at every world in the World Showcase, found ourselves about two feet from a Rhino, got to be in front on Splash Mountain, It’s a Small World, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was perfect and has left me to beg the question: can you ever have as much fun in Disney World as you did your first time? I sure hope so because I will keep going back until I do!

That being said I tried to keep this short and sweet so that I could add my pictures and a bunch of reviews… so here is our take on all of the places that we had our table services meals as well as our impressions- good and bad- of our resort. <Continue to Next Post>

 

[ThinkTink75]

Meals:
Akershus Princess Dining in Epcot (Norway)- This was sooo much fun! We had a fantastic time! The food left a little to be desired, and it was here that we realized we did not prefer the buffet-style meals at WDW but the ambiance was wonderful. Our sweet Norwegian waitress came back to see how we were doing about six times and we got to meet Aurora, Jane, and Jasmine. Not to mention the feast was hosted by Belle herself. She waits as you walk in, in an alcove and poses for pictures on your way from the podium to your seat. The food was decent but seemed like a homemade potluck to us. There was a lot of different cold salads, some pork and meatball dishes, and my boyfriend and I both agreed that we wouldn’t have enjoyed it quite so much if we had not had actual princesses circling through the meal. That being said I think it would be great for kids. The foods were very kid-friendly and judging by the fact that we couldn’t even get an ADR for CRT we’ve concluded it is probably not so quite and calm when eating there.

Restaurant Marrakesh in Epcot (Moracco)- My boyfriend had that stewed lamb that he ordered here and I did too… I had chosen a pork dish that was quite exotic for my taste but it remained one of my favorite dining experiences because of a little drink called a Moroccan Sunset. It was just one of the best drinks I had ever had and our waiter let me swamp it for the dessert in the DDP which was really awesome. I even got a commemorative glass there. In any case, there is live entertainment and belly dancers which makes the atmosphere feel sort of personal in the way a family party would. I don’t know how to describe it but just a fun place to be. Very warm and inviting. I would highly recommend it.

San Angel Inn in Epcot (Mexico)- As if it wasn’t enough fun getting to walk through the Mexican marketplace to eat by the River of Time, I am a huge fan of Mexican food. We both had delicious plates that were called Plato Mexicano which had three pieces to it, Enchilada, Fajita Quesadilla, and a rice and beans side. From what I hear this particular plate changes frequently but either way we loved it. We also loved our ginormous Margarita that was so delish we went for more at the stand on the way outside. It was actually quite romantic and I think most couples would love it here. On the other hand I also think it would be very family friendly since there was a lot of space and options for food. Another fun and out of this world place that made you feel fully immersed in another culture. I would go back again and again and plan to hit the counter service for lunch this summer. Anticipating it actually.

Sci-Fi Dine-In in MGM- This is one of those places that regardless of if the food was horrible (which it wasn’t) everyone should experience. It’s location was perfect for us as we wanted to see the Osborne Lights afterward but it seemed to be in a convenient location to anywhere in MGM. It was a fun and interesting place to eat. Set up like an actual drive in you sit at half car/ half tables. Think cars reminiscent of the 50s/60s. Something that stirred up images of Elvis and Marilyn. The waiters and waitresses kept the old time diner theme up and so does the menu. We had burgers and milkshakes. Meanwhile there is a huge movie screen that shows clips from old sci-fi horror films. There are also some drive-in commercials that play in the loop which were very funny to us. The ceiling was a lot like the ceiling that I forgot to mention in Mexico. They somehow give the illusion that you are actually outside under the stars on a perfect summer night. It looks amazing. Fun for everyone and anyone!

Teppanyaki Dining Room in Epcot (Japan)- If you have never experienced Hibachi, just go here- don’t even think twice. I have seen this place get bad reviews but I don’t agree at all. We have 3 Hibachi restaurants within a 15 mile radius around where we live and this was by far the best I have ever had. The idea I hibachi is that your table doubles as a grill where you food is prepared by a Japanese chef right in front of you. Tons of fun, very entertaining and personal. We ate with 3 other couples, so tables sit about 8 and had Green Tea ice cream for dessert. Our waitresses was the definition of sweet adorable little Japanese woman. She was awesome and I loved our chef. Like I said, in WDW or not, if you do not have the opportunity to try a Hibachi place it is just a really fun way to dine!

Rose and Crown Pub in Epcot (UK)- Hands down best beer in WDW and best fish and chips I have ever had. That being said, we were there on a cool winter night where they had closed in the outside seating and had these space heaters on the ceiling. We had to ask them to lower ours twice. It sucked. I felt like I was getting sunburned. To anyone planning to dine here in winter request a seat inside. Trust me, you will thank me. Plus there is a piano bar in there and that is always great fun. That being said, our waitress accidentally spilled our Mushroom appetizer, it didn’t get on us but she gave us our beer on the house because of it. It was fun and interesting but I am not sure that I would recommend it to families so much. Anyone who is there with a couple of people who are adults I would totally say go for I but I am just not sure its worth it for a family afare.

Garden Grill in Epcot (The Land)- I love love love love this place! It was so much fun! We ate here last. It was a character dining with Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto and all of the veggies you eat were actually grown in the land. We had some awesome catfish and steak for our main courses and a traditional style dessert that was actually called something like Happiest Celebration on Earth cheesecake or something like that. There are two levels at the restaurant and they every so slowly move as you eat. We started our meal at one end and ended on the other to give you an idea. There is a mural of basically weather and landscaping and when you are at rain you hear rain and such. Very cool and out of this world idea and I can’t say enough good things about it. I would say that everyone should try this place at least once. It was our last meal in WDW and I couldn’t have felt like I made a better choice. It was just tons and tons of fun!

Resort:

All- Star Movies- Now I mentioned our earlier problem with the room situation and again wouldn’t really recommend the Toy Story buildings. I felt like they were very disconnected and that was one of the reasons we paid for preferred when we decided to go to Pop Century this time. I really liked the Herbie building and think it would be a good area to request if anyone is going there. I did have a few other problems so before I praise it I figure I’ll start with the bad. The buses were really crowded. The buses travel to all three All Star resorts. Another reason we chose Pop for a return visit. We felt as though one huge resort on one bus wouldn’t be as bad as three resorts that are much bigger when combined. We were there in January and had to wait for the bus for anywhere from 10-40 minutes at park closing time. I swear we had seen like 3 Pop buses in the time we were waiting for 1. I felt like there was literally only one bus going back and forth. Not to mention that even though Movies was the first place picked up so you had a good chance for a seat, it was the last dropped off which killed us on the late nights. There was not one trip where a bus came just for Movies, like I had read they did at busy times. That being said, we would go back in a second in an off season. We were happy with the way the resort looked and how kind all the castmembers were. And we loved the movie theme. To us that was just much much better than any of the other theme choices. Sports and Music seemed like more places that groups would go. All Stars seemed to have more families than Music however. I contemplated going back to an All Star but ultimately decided on Pop after reading some reviews and realizing that it had a much less chance of being actually full in the summertime. All of that being said if you asked me to rate the resort I would say that while the amenities did not compete with a moderate resort and some parts of it in general may have seemed generic the Disney magic here was phenomenal. I think it is a perfect place for an off season or even a summer first trip ever. I think its great for kids, adults and everyone in between. It had a little something for everyone- arcade, food court, pizza delivery room service. I wouldn’t have changed or choice staying there for anything- an overall great experience!

(Sci Fi Dine In)

 

[Ricky's Girl]

Thanks for taking the time to share your first trip to the world with us. I hope this will be just the beginning of many more wonderful trips for you. The magic gets better with each and every visit!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

great job!!! We live near New Paltz too, so hi neighbor

 

[ThinkTink75]

Thanks for the comments and PMs! I enjoyed putting the trip report together but kept forgetting about working on it! I tried not to be tooo specific but wanted everyone to have an idea of best parts of our trip!!

 

[2BusyPlanning]

Great report!!! And I'm so glad to hear that you are already going back in the summer. Just remember, it will be WAY more crowded than the last trip. We stayed at Pop in Dec 05 and loved it. Now you can catch up on the things that you missed.

I can't believe you went on RocknRoller Coaster and you wouldn't go on Space Mountain! SM is very tame (IMO) compaired to RnR. Maybe you'll try it this summer.

 

[ThinkTink75]

Great report!!! And I'm so glad to hear that you are already going back in the summer. Just remember, it will be WAY more crowded than the last trip. We stayed at Pop in Dec 05 and loved it. Now you can catch up on the things that you missed.

I can't believe you went on RocknRoller Coaster and you wouldn't go on Space Mountain! SM is very tame (IMO) compaired to RnR. Maybe you'll try it this summer.

LoL! Everyone says that about Space Mountain... we saw it on the little train thing in Tomorrowland and I got nervous about the single file cars! I didn't want to sit alone! Haha! Now, I can't wait though! And I also can't wait for Tower of Terror! I promised myself I would do them both this time!

 

[lazidazi07]

Haha! I loved when the ABC shows would put the show in Disney. I've always got an eye out for them...Glad you had a great time!