Andrea_loves_Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 16, 2006
- Messages
- 592
We have returned from the World! Can't believe it's over. We had a GREAT time!! I just thought I'd give a mini report - touch on a few things I think might be helpful to everyone.
CAST:
Me (44)
DH (44)
DD (10)
DS (6)
I am an airline employee so our trips are even MORE fun (not) because we fly STAND BY and never know when we will get there!! Of course the price is right, but it does make traveling a challenge, especially with kids! The flights into Orlando on 6/6 were pretty full, so we ended up flying into Tampa, renting a car and driving over to Orlando. We got on the first flight we tried for
so we were in by about 5:30 pm. (DH had to work part of the day) We booked our first night at the Hampton Inn Maingate and then we were moving over to the Doubletree Suites DTD for the next 5 nights. The Hampton Inn was fine for our purposes, clean, etc. But that whole Maingate area is kind of junky! It has really built up since I was there maybe 12 years ago or so!
We got up early on 6/7 and we were off to MGM! DD and DS were SO SO SO excited.
MGM
Our first mission - POWER RANGERS!!! We were first in line for the Red Ranger's autograph. My DS was so thrilled!! The only bad thing is they came out a few minutes late and we were only able to get 2 of the 5 Rangers . They did give 10 minute and 5 minute warnings when they would be leaving, but I wish there would have been a CM there to cut the line off or something....we were 1 away from getting the White Ranger and he literally DASHED away and it was over. A little disappointing for DS. We planned to come back later for the other ones but we just ran out of time!!! You know how that is!!!
We did ToT, Indiana Jones, Stunt Show, Movie Ride - had ADR for the Sci-Fi Dine-In - I highly recommend that place! The kids loved it! Well worth the inflated price for the atmosphere,etc. We left MGM at about 5pm because we needed to go check in to the Doubletree - we planned to come back for Fantasmic but once the kids got to the hotel, they didn't feel like coming back!
Doubletree Suites DTD
I think this hotel is the best!!! The rooms are huge - very nicely decorated - a queen size pull out couch (plenty big for both kids), nice bathroom (only one sink though) but there is a big counter outside the bathroom with a plug so I dried my hair, etc there while someone else was in the shower. Good size fridge, table, microwave. We had a nice view of the pool too. I got the Mousesaver rate ($149) which included continental breakfast - we would stay there again in a heartbeat!!!! I would like to stay at an actual Disney resort in order to get the EMH and other Disney amenities, but my DH and I agreed we just cannot tolerate a regular hotel room with our kids and we can't afford a suite at a Disney resort, so I think we will always stay at the Doubletree or Embassy Suites...we need our sanity!!
MK
Day 2 at the parks was Magic Kingdom!! We had a great day - did pretty much everything we wanted to do. DS loved all the Fantasyland rides...he said Small World and Peter Pan were his favorite. We also really enjoyed the Mickey's PhilharMagic 3-D show. It was nice to sit and cool off for a few minutes!!! We started to really feel the heat around 2-3 pm - really slowed us down. After the parade at 3 pm I said to DH "Are we really going to make it until 10 pm here???) Somehow we did...after the 9 pm parade we staggered towards the exit, determined to beat the crush of people departing right after the fireworks, which we did!!
One note about kid's meals at any of the Disney parks - I applaud Disney for trying to offer healthier and more varied choices for kid's meals. All four days at the parks my son did not eat chicken nuggets even once! But I would like it if they would offer one "traditional" choice like a hot dog or cheese pizza and then one healthier choice. There were a couple counter service places that my DS wouldn't eat anything they had! (Cold chicken chunks and cheese or a roasted chicken drumstick!?? He ended up sharing my meal) I liked the side choices of applesauce or carrots for the kids meals too. Anyway, just my thoughts!!
Animal Kingdom
We had ADR for Breakfastasaurus at 9:20...had a big ticket fiasco that morning...we were almost at AK and had to turn around and go back to the room to get the old hopper tickets we had planned to use that day....so we started the day rushed and stressed which is not a good thing! We were only about 20 minutes late and we had no problem at all getting in. We thought the food was good there - we got a table by the door which we weren't thrilled with, but the CM explained that the characters would come to our table FIRST which was nice! Overall we enjoyed the breakfast I think that may be the last of our character breakfasts...we've been doing them for years and I think next time we will just skip it and save the $75! We did a few things at AK that we had never done before...EE of course - screamed the whole time and LOVED it, and we took the little train ride to Conservation Station which was kind of fun. Has anybody seen the talking garbage can there? My DS absolutely LOVED talking to it. Too funny. If you haven't seen it, I can't really explain it except that this garbage can talks to kids and moves around, goes in and outside, etc.
We watched the parade there and then left...hopped over to MGM for Fantasmic. That is THE BEST show. We absolutely love it. OK, here's a pet peeve though.... we got there at about 7:45, found our seats (about 3rd row) and waited. (LONG time to wait for DS6...hot, tired, whiney) At about 8:45 you see people who have just arrived looking for seats...looking aggravated that there are no seats in the front row!!! GET THERE EARLY AND WAIT WITH EVERYONE ELSE!!! It really bugged my DH.
DAY OFF
We had planned to go to Epcot the next day (SAT 6/10) but we were just TOO tired!!! We really needed a day to sleep in and go to the pool, shop, etc. So we did just that and it was great. My DD just discovered pin trading this trip and she had a ball trading pins at DTD. She can't wait till our next trip just to trade pins again!!! We had dinner at Streamers Restaurant at Doubletree Suites (used our 20% off coupon from Mousesavers) It was pretty good- we were the only ones in the place though!! Kind of strange - Saturday night at 7:30 pm that there was no one else there! The hotel had scheduled a "Dive In Movie" at the pool at 9 pm and our kids were all psyched up for that, but it ended up being cancelled
because the weather was iffy.
Epcot
Our last day! We were so sad to see our trip come to a close! We had a fun day at Epcot - got our FP for Soarin (had already ridden it at DCA though-loved it) went to the Turtle Talk show (LONG line! but kids loved it) walked though the Living Seas, ate lunch in the LAND, rode the Imagination Ride, walked through the countries, saw lots of characters, saw the show in America (pretty cool! Especially for my almost 6th grader who has studied a lot of American history now) DD did a lot more pin trading, rode the boats in Norway, did Test Track, ate dinner in Mexico....GREAT DAY!!
OVERALL, we really had a great trip! I just can't get over my stressed feelings when I get to the parks though...like I want to do/see everything, there's not enough time, etc etc! I don't know how to get over that!! (Drugs maybe? LOL) We bought 7 day non expiring tickets and only used 3 (had one day left on old tickets) so now we have 4 days left to go back again!! Yippee!!
I want to go the next time in Nov or Jan/Feb when it is not so hot!!! We survived, but I have to say it was hard on us. Can't wait to start planning again though!!!! 
CAST:
Me (44)
DH (44)
DD (10)
DS (6)
I am an airline employee so our trips are even MORE fun (not) because we fly STAND BY and never know when we will get there!! Of course the price is right, but it does make traveling a challenge, especially with kids! The flights into Orlando on 6/6 were pretty full, so we ended up flying into Tampa, renting a car and driving over to Orlando. We got on the first flight we tried for
so we were in by about 5:30 pm. (DH had to work part of the day) We booked our first night at the Hampton Inn Maingate and then we were moving over to the Doubletree Suites DTD for the next 5 nights. The Hampton Inn was fine for our purposes, clean, etc. But that whole Maingate area is kind of junky! It has really built up since I was there maybe 12 years ago or so! We got up early on 6/7 and we were off to MGM! DD and DS were SO SO SO excited.
MGM
Our first mission - POWER RANGERS!!! We were first in line for the Red Ranger's autograph. My DS was so thrilled!! The only bad thing is they came out a few minutes late and we were only able to get 2 of the 5 Rangers . They did give 10 minute and 5 minute warnings when they would be leaving, but I wish there would have been a CM there to cut the line off or something....we were 1 away from getting the White Ranger and he literally DASHED away and it was over. A little disappointing for DS. We planned to come back later for the other ones but we just ran out of time!!! You know how that is!!!
We did ToT, Indiana Jones, Stunt Show, Movie Ride - had ADR for the Sci-Fi Dine-In - I highly recommend that place! The kids loved it! Well worth the inflated price for the atmosphere,etc. We left MGM at about 5pm because we needed to go check in to the Doubletree - we planned to come back for Fantasmic but once the kids got to the hotel, they didn't feel like coming back!
Doubletree Suites DTD
I think this hotel is the best!!! The rooms are huge - very nicely decorated - a queen size pull out couch (plenty big for both kids), nice bathroom (only one sink though) but there is a big counter outside the bathroom with a plug so I dried my hair, etc there while someone else was in the shower. Good size fridge, table, microwave. We had a nice view of the pool too. I got the Mousesaver rate ($149) which included continental breakfast - we would stay there again in a heartbeat!!!! I would like to stay at an actual Disney resort in order to get the EMH and other Disney amenities, but my DH and I agreed we just cannot tolerate a regular hotel room with our kids and we can't afford a suite at a Disney resort, so I think we will always stay at the Doubletree or Embassy Suites...we need our sanity!!
MK
Day 2 at the parks was Magic Kingdom!! We had a great day - did pretty much everything we wanted to do. DS loved all the Fantasyland rides...he said Small World and Peter Pan were his favorite. We also really enjoyed the Mickey's PhilharMagic 3-D show. It was nice to sit and cool off for a few minutes!!! We started to really feel the heat around 2-3 pm - really slowed us down. After the parade at 3 pm I said to DH "Are we really going to make it until 10 pm here???) Somehow we did...after the 9 pm parade we staggered towards the exit, determined to beat the crush of people departing right after the fireworks, which we did!!
One note about kid's meals at any of the Disney parks - I applaud Disney for trying to offer healthier and more varied choices for kid's meals. All four days at the parks my son did not eat chicken nuggets even once! But I would like it if they would offer one "traditional" choice like a hot dog or cheese pizza and then one healthier choice. There were a couple counter service places that my DS wouldn't eat anything they had! (Cold chicken chunks and cheese or a roasted chicken drumstick!?? He ended up sharing my meal) I liked the side choices of applesauce or carrots for the kids meals too. Anyway, just my thoughts!!
Animal Kingdom
We had ADR for Breakfastasaurus at 9:20...had a big ticket fiasco that morning...we were almost at AK and had to turn around and go back to the room to get the old hopper tickets we had planned to use that day....so we started the day rushed and stressed which is not a good thing! We were only about 20 minutes late and we had no problem at all getting in. We thought the food was good there - we got a table by the door which we weren't thrilled with, but the CM explained that the characters would come to our table FIRST which was nice! Overall we enjoyed the breakfast I think that may be the last of our character breakfasts...we've been doing them for years and I think next time we will just skip it and save the $75! We did a few things at AK that we had never done before...EE of course - screamed the whole time and LOVED it, and we took the little train ride to Conservation Station which was kind of fun. Has anybody seen the talking garbage can there? My DS absolutely LOVED talking to it. Too funny. If you haven't seen it, I can't really explain it except that this garbage can talks to kids and moves around, goes in and outside, etc.
We watched the parade there and then left...hopped over to MGM for Fantasmic. That is THE BEST show. We absolutely love it. OK, here's a pet peeve though.... we got there at about 7:45, found our seats (about 3rd row) and waited. (LONG time to wait for DS6...hot, tired, whiney) At about 8:45 you see people who have just arrived looking for seats...looking aggravated that there are no seats in the front row!!! GET THERE EARLY AND WAIT WITH EVERYONE ELSE!!! It really bugged my DH.
DAY OFF
We had planned to go to Epcot the next day (SAT 6/10) but we were just TOO tired!!! We really needed a day to sleep in and go to the pool, shop, etc. So we did just that and it was great. My DD just discovered pin trading this trip and she had a ball trading pins at DTD. She can't wait till our next trip just to trade pins again!!! We had dinner at Streamers Restaurant at Doubletree Suites (used our 20% off coupon from Mousesavers) It was pretty good- we were the only ones in the place though!! Kind of strange - Saturday night at 7:30 pm that there was no one else there! The hotel had scheduled a "Dive In Movie" at the pool at 9 pm and our kids were all psyched up for that, but it ended up being cancelled
because the weather was iffy. Epcot
Our last day! We were so sad to see our trip come to a close! We had a fun day at Epcot - got our FP for Soarin (had already ridden it at DCA though-loved it) went to the Turtle Talk show (LONG line! but kids loved it) walked though the Living Seas, ate lunch in the LAND, rode the Imagination Ride, walked through the countries, saw lots of characters, saw the show in America (pretty cool! Especially for my almost 6th grader who has studied a lot of American history now) DD did a lot more pin trading, rode the boats in Norway, did Test Track, ate dinner in Mexico....GREAT DAY!!
OVERALL, we really had a great trip! I just can't get over my stressed feelings when I get to the parks though...like I want to do/see everything, there's not enough time, etc etc! I don't know how to get over that!! (Drugs maybe? LOL) We bought 7 day non expiring tickets and only used 3 (had one day left on old tickets) so now we have 4 days left to go back again!! Yippee!!
I want to go the next time in Nov or Jan/Feb when it is not so hot!!! We survived, but I have to say it was hard on us. Can't wait to start planning again though!!!! 
great mini report, I am glad to hear the Doubletree was nice, were staying there in Sept. !! 
