We arrived home Thursday to some significantly colder weather! It was nice to be away from the winter blahs here in WA, apparently it snowed while we were gone, which I am kind of sad about since it snows so infrequently here.
So, the trip report -
We left Seattle on 11/27 and spent the first four nights with my dad in Ocala. I was nervous about this part of the trip because the last time we stayed with him it was a little tense at times. It turned out to be a wonderful visit though, my kids really took to him and I was actually a bit sad to leave.
On 12/1 we drove to WDW, staying the first night at POR. That is a beautiful resort! I did miss the balcony and the larger room, but overall I loved it. The food court was great, I wish there were more extensive offerings at SSR like there were at POR. The kids loved the pool and the playground. We were going to stay in that night but decided since MK was open till midnight we would go ahead and take in a few rides. The park was packed! I think earlier in the day they had taped the Christmas parade? It was crazy crowded. We still had fun though, rode Buzz, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Pirates, and had dinner at Cosmic Rays. The castle is beautiful at night! I love the icicle effect. My inlaws were arriving that night and staying at Pop, we were to meet them in the morning so we headed back to POR at about 10:30 and went to bed.
The next morning we called and hooked up with everyone (there were 15 of us in total) and made arrangements to meet at MK. We actually didn't end up spending much time together though, with four families it was too hard to coordinate seven children's wants/needs - ages ranged from 2 to 12. I was glad for that though, I have been on big family trips before and whenever everyone tries to stick together it just becomes chaotic. Later on in the trip once everyone had did everything once, we hung out together a bit more and took things slower, the 12 year old conceding to go on Nemo "again" and agreeing to take his little brother to Muppet Vision - I caught him laughing though! LOL
We checked into SSR that morning for our room (a 2BR that our family of four shared with my MIL/FIL) - at about 3pm we called and it was ready so our little family headed back to take a dip in the pool and relax a bit. We ended up in room 8127 - Grandstand! I love the Grandstand section, it is now my favorite. We have had rooms in the Springs and the Paddocks in the past, and I rate my room experience as 1. grandstand 2. paddocks and 3. springs. The Springs is nice for location, but for views and busing it can be hit or miss. Many times by the time our bus ended up at the Springs it was standing room only or even just too full. As it was in the grandstand, we were the first on and first off, so we always had a seat to the parks and on the way back we didn't have to wait for too long to get to our room. I didn't hate being on the first floor as much as I thought I would, in fact in some ways it was nice - not having to worry that my daughter (3) would try and climb the chairs on the balcony and topple over the railing!
My BIL and his family ended up in 8130 (1BR) just down the "hall" and my SIL and her family were in 88-something - 4th floor studio in the building across from the pool. The pool at the grandstand was a big hit with the kids, they loved the spray area and it was always practically empty when the main pool was very crowded. Very relaxing. I can't say I like the bright red colors, but I got used to it.
Everyone's rooms were clean and no one had any maintenance issues during our stay.
Some highlights -
We left on the 13th (my birthday) so I got to celebrate 7 hours of turning 34 with SW airlines. Not the best way to spend your Bday, but the flight was good and ontime, and the kids behaved, so it could have been worse. LOL.
I'm glad to be home now, I was getting tired of the humidity and my body was just so exhausted after 11 days walking all over like that, pregnant. I had scheduled my ultrasound for the 14th, the day after we got home so that I could have something to look forward to, finding out if I was having a little pirate or a princess, and .... it's a princess!
Thanks for reading!
So, the trip report -
We left Seattle on 11/27 and spent the first four nights with my dad in Ocala. I was nervous about this part of the trip because the last time we stayed with him it was a little tense at times. It turned out to be a wonderful visit though, my kids really took to him and I was actually a bit sad to leave.
On 12/1 we drove to WDW, staying the first night at POR. That is a beautiful resort! I did miss the balcony and the larger room, but overall I loved it. The food court was great, I wish there were more extensive offerings at SSR like there were at POR. The kids loved the pool and the playground. We were going to stay in that night but decided since MK was open till midnight we would go ahead and take in a few rides. The park was packed! I think earlier in the day they had taped the Christmas parade? It was crazy crowded. We still had fun though, rode Buzz, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Pirates, and had dinner at Cosmic Rays. The castle is beautiful at night! I love the icicle effect. My inlaws were arriving that night and staying at Pop, we were to meet them in the morning so we headed back to POR at about 10:30 and went to bed.
The next morning we called and hooked up with everyone (there were 15 of us in total) and made arrangements to meet at MK. We actually didn't end up spending much time together though, with four families it was too hard to coordinate seven children's wants/needs - ages ranged from 2 to 12. I was glad for that though, I have been on big family trips before and whenever everyone tries to stick together it just becomes chaotic. Later on in the trip once everyone had did everything once, we hung out together a bit more and took things slower, the 12 year old conceding to go on Nemo "again" and agreeing to take his little brother to Muppet Vision - I caught him laughing though! LOL
We checked into SSR that morning for our room (a 2BR that our family of four shared with my MIL/FIL) - at about 3pm we called and it was ready so our little family headed back to take a dip in the pool and relax a bit. We ended up in room 8127 - Grandstand! I love the Grandstand section, it is now my favorite. We have had rooms in the Springs and the Paddocks in the past, and I rate my room experience as 1. grandstand 2. paddocks and 3. springs. The Springs is nice for location, but for views and busing it can be hit or miss. Many times by the time our bus ended up at the Springs it was standing room only or even just too full. As it was in the grandstand, we were the first on and first off, so we always had a seat to the parks and on the way back we didn't have to wait for too long to get to our room. I didn't hate being on the first floor as much as I thought I would, in fact in some ways it was nice - not having to worry that my daughter (3) would try and climb the chairs on the balcony and topple over the railing!
My BIL and his family ended up in 8130 (1BR) just down the "hall" and my SIL and her family were in 88-something - 4th floor studio in the building across from the pool. The pool at the grandstand was a big hit with the kids, they loved the spray area and it was always practically empty when the main pool was very crowded. Very relaxing. I can't say I like the bright red colors, but I got used to it.
Everyone's rooms were clean and no one had any maintenance issues during our stay.
Some highlights -
- My niece (10) got a Tinkerbell "dream" pin - apparently not sold just given by the dream cast members. She was very happy about that!
- My son (7) got up the courage to go on Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain and LOVED it. He has declared Space as his new favorite ride.
- We all had lunch at Sci Fi, the only meal we ate together all 15 of us. Service was awesome and the food was great. My husband had one of the alcoholic milkshakes and said they were really good. I was jealous, I'm pregnant and couldn't have any!
- I was surprised how much I didn't mind going on the big rides (due to being pregnant). I was sad about the safari though, but we did the walk through and spent a lot of time looking at the birds, my son has been taking a nature center class for two years now and the teacher is an ornithologist - so he has developed a keen interest in birds as a result.
- After the first night of crazy crowds at MK on the 1st, the parks were pretty nice, not too crowded but still enough people to feel festive. We usually go in January and sometimes it can feel so empty you miss that.
- The Christmas decorations were lovely. My MIL was amazed by the Osborne light show. My nephew (2) was really wowed too, his reaction was just priceless.
- The Tusker House buffet is really good! The desserts are a bit iffy IMO, but my husband loved them so take that FWIW.
- We all got along beautifully! Arguments between the kids (and the adults, LOL) were kept at a minimum, I was very pleasantly surprised about that.
- The buses were great. We either really lucked out, or they have fine tuned them and worked out a lot of the kinks I kept hearing about a month ago.
- The bus driver Richard is a hoot! He had us singing Christmas Carols on the way to Epcot - he really is one of the great CMs.
We left on the 13th (my birthday) so I got to celebrate 7 hours of turning 34 with SW airlines. Not the best way to spend your Bday, but the flight was good and ontime, and the kids behaved, so it could have been worse. LOL.
I'm glad to be home now, I was getting tired of the humidity and my body was just so exhausted after 11 days walking all over like that, pregnant. I had scheduled my ultrasound for the 14th, the day after we got home so that I could have something to look forward to, finding out if I was having a little pirate or a princess, and .... it's a princess!
Thanks for reading!
You will have so much fun with her as she grows up with a love of all things Disney. Halloween, trips to Disney, decorating her room... there is so much magic in having a princess!
In a few short years, we will be dealing with the whole "five in a room" thing - it is so funny because when my husband and I were considering having another, one of the things he said was, "we'll have to get more points for a two bedroom!" LOL. I think WDW trips will just become less frequent, I just looked at my cc statement to see what we spent and I am really 
. Add on another airfare and more food and souvenirs... yikes!!!
