Just home...A Mom's TR..Crowds, rests., pics, etc...

[dbprimeaux]

We are just home one day from our 8 day trip to WDW!! We spent 8 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort in a 2 bedroom. We also were on the Basic DDP. We are DVC members and SSR is our home!! I hope everyone enjoys my TR...I have been looking forward to writing it.

The crew: DD, DM(me), DS(15), DS(7), DD(5) and Mother in Law (MIL)

Day 1: Friday - Our travel day. We left Louisiana around 8AM, and drove to Lake City. We spent the night at the Comfort Suites in Lake City. This is a GREAT hotel!! It is brand new and VERY nice and clean. (And, they have a free breakfast...lol!)

Day 2: Saturday - We arrived at SSR around noon. We were all so excited to see those Disney Gates!! We decided to check in hoping our room was ready. I had requested the Grandstand section. Yea!! My wish was granted - we got the Grandstand section and our room was ready!! Perfect!! We were on the 4th floor of the 8000 building, right next to the bus stop. I was so excited to get exactly what I was hoping... We drove over to our room, and started unpacking. DH and I stayed in the master bedroom, and kids & MIL stayed in the other bedroom. We then decided to head to MK!!! As we arrived at MK the afternoon Block Party Parade was going on...

Once the parade was over, we headed to Teacups - about a 5 minute wait, then off to Dumbo - about a 15 minute wait. It was really HOT!! We decided to walk through the Main St. shops since it was so HOT! I love Main St. Then, we caught the bus back to SSR to cool off, and make plans for dinner. Once we got our second wind, we headed to DTD. We decided to eat at Wolfgang Express. Boy - was this a GREAT choice!! We order the spaghetti and meatballs with caesar salads & garlic bread, chicken melt with caesar salad, barbeque beef sandwich, kids pepperoni pizza, kids chicken tenders with fries, and for dessert we all have cookies - white chocolate chip. This was the best counter service meal (taste and money wise...) After dinner, we were off to Pin Traders, Basin, World of Disney, and the Christmas Shop. After, a little shopping we decided to head back to SSR for the night...

more tomorrow....

 

[Angies1274]

I'm loving your pictures!!! I can't wait to read more about your trip!! We ate at Wolfgang Puck Express on our last trip and really enjoyed it. I thought it was definitely the best counter service meal we had.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm from Louisiana too! We live in West Monroe. I recently started a trip report from our last trip to WDW. I was going insane waiting so I decided I needed a distraction......thus, the birth of my trip report.

Lovin' the report so far and I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

[dd50]

 

[dbprimeaux]

continued... I forgot to mention while at MK, we also watched storytime with Belle and DS was chosen to be Maurice (Belle's Father). And then we rode the Teacups, because the wait was only about 5 minutes.

 

[dbprimeaux]

Day 3: Sunday - We spent this day at Epcot enjoying the last day of the Flower and Garden Festival. DH went straight to Soarin' to get some Fastpasses. The whole place was beautiful!! The Fairy Garden was so awesome, and the butterfly house was so pretty. The kids were amazed by all the butterflies. We then used our Fastpasses for Soarin' - the Fastpass Line was about a 15-20 minute wait. We then took the Garden Tour, and had a bite to eat at The Land. We had the breakfast platters. It was pretty good.

I will try to post some more later....

 

[dspads]

Nice pictures! I love reading 'mom' reports to get ideas for my vacation. We are staying at SSR in Oct for the first time. Looking forward to updates.

 

[dbprimeaux]

We LOVE SSR because of the "quietness" after a day in the parks... We usually stay in a 2 bedroom. This was the first trip that I didn't really make use of the kitchen...the Basic DDP was way to much food for us (and we are BIG eaters!!...lol). Our last day we still had 9 CS credits and 11 Snack credits....so everyone got candy, cotton candy, and Goofy treats when we got home. Thanks for reading!

 

[dbprimeaux]

Ok, now for more trip... We went to Chef Mickey's for dinner this night. We wanted to celebrate the kids birthdays with Mickey and the Gang. We had ADRs for 7:55PM. We waited about 20-25 minutes before getting seated. We were seated next to the kitchen, so we were able to see the characters very frequently. The food was pretty good. I like the salad selection...kind of pricey for a salad, but hey I got to see Mickey!! I also pre-ordeder a birthday cake through the cake hotline. It was chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing. It tasted ok.... just your average supermarket bakery tasting cake...the icing tasted more like whipped topping than buttercream. The kids LOVED it! They thought it was the best cake ever!!

We really enjoyed this evening. After dinner, we caught the monorail to MK since it was Extra Magic Hours...yea!! We strolled down Main St. just enjoying the lights. The kids wanted balloons - DS got the shiny silver mickey/minnie balloon and DD got the HUGE purple princess balloon. DH ran to BuzzLightyear and got Fastpasses while we watched Monsters Laugh Floor. The kids always love this show, and it was MIL frist time seeing it. We met back with DH, and headed to Snow White and Pooh's Ride - both rides were about a 10-15 minutes each...not bad! Then off to BuzzLightyear!! There was NO wait in the Fastpass Line!!!! We then rode Dumbo, and called it a night.

Hope you enjoy reading...more tomorrow!

 

[Disneymama5]

Can you please tell me where you got your shirts in this picture? Very cute!

 

[MyBuddyBaloo]

I'm enjoying your trip report. Great pictures!! Please include a few of SSR is you can.

 

[HicksWDW]

Great TR so far. We want more.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I have a picture of the nine pound lemon but it's still green! Your pictures are gorgeous.

 

[dbprimeaux]

A little behind in my TR....work was crazy this week, and trying to get back to "normal" at home was hard... the whole family had WDW withdrawals all week... Thanks to everyone reading!! I will try to update tonight and tomorrow.

 

[dbprimeaux]

Day 4: Monday - After a late night at MK....DD and I woke up early for her BBB appointment at 8AM in MK. We woke up around 6:30AM to make sure we would catch a bus to MK in time for the appointment. Thank goodness the buses at SSR were running very quick and lots of buses!! We arrived at MK before they were even letting breakfast and BBB reservations in the gates...but it didn't take very long for them to start letting us in...being in MK with NO crowds has to be the most AWESOME thing in the world!!! DD and I strolled to the Castle - just enjoying Main St. We were the first BBB appointment of the day!! Once inside DD picked out her new princess dresses and accessories, and then the magic began....here are a few pics and here is the link to my BBB report. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1893384&page=77

This is the before picture.

This is the after picture....my cinderella

After her magical appointment...it was so worth the money to watch her...I was so excited, too!! We took some pictures by the castle, and happen to see Cinderella's step mother coming around the corner. So, we took a few pictures with her.

Then we were off to take pictures at Expo Hall...which didn't take long. We sang..."we're walkin' right down the middle of Main St. USA..." it was such a great morning just us girls! DD decided she wanted to see the Princesses so off to Toontown Fair we went...well, Toontown wasn't open yet...it opens at 10AM, but at 9:45AM to Toontown CM's put on a small opening show. So, we stood around and watched them and waiting for rope drop....We were very luck, because we were the first in line that morning to see the Princesses!! It was so nice..not be rushed. She was able to spend a little time with each Princess. She was on cloud 9!!

Once we were done with our photo session, we headed back to Main St. Bakery. Well, the main gates opened while we were in Toontown Fair, and people were RUNNING like crazy!! I was so glad to have made an 8AM appointment. We arrived at the Bakery and decided to share a cinnamon roll - I forgot to take a picture...lol! I was wonderful...it was hot and fresh!! After we finished eating we went into the jewelry shop on Main St. and I bought a couple of pins... I have been debating starting to collect pins myself for several years. My oldest DS, youngest DS, and DH collect. Well, I am now officially a Disney pin collector/trader...lol!! Anyway, after our wonderful morning DD and I caught the bus back to SSR to show off to the rest of our family....lol! We decided to spend the rest of the day at SSR and DTD. We enjoyed a GREAT dinner at the Turf Club this evening....I will update more later.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yea! An update. I know what you mean about withdrawals. I start getting them as soon as we drive off Disney property. The only thing that keeps me sane are trip reports and pictures.

 

[laughalittle]

Great trip report, keep it coming. I know another person asked this as well but where did you get your birthday shirts that your little girl wore. My son will be celebrating his 7th b-day during our Sept. trip and we have been looking for shirts, yours are great!