JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS (Aug 26th-Sep 3rd)

[LoriLea]

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Our trip Aug 26th – Sept 3rd , WL – 8 nights MYW Package with Hopper, Free Dining

DH41(turned 41 on Aug 31st)
DS11
DD9 (turned 9 on Aug 31st )
ME –43

I couldn’t possibly write the wonderful, entertaining reports that I’ve read so I will simply share some daily highlights of our trip. This was our second family trip – went to Pop Century during the same week in 2004. Had a great vacation despite spending 2 days confined to our room due to Hurricane Frances and decided to do it again but this time we would stay at WL. We like this time of the year because of the low crowds, we don’t have to take the kids out of school and we really don’t mind the heat. We had booked before Free Dining was offered so we didn’t book because of this. We had actually planned on paying for the DP. We did not wait any longer than 10 minutes for any ride – most of the time it was 5 minutes or less. Used FP sometimes, other days, not at all. WL is a beautiful resort and it did not disappoint us, no transportation problems for us – bus, boat or monorail seemed to appear whenever we needed one. The weather was also on our side – other than ‘Ernesto evening’, it only seemed to rain when we were eating lunch or dinner.

Aug 26 - Arrival Day, WL, day at resort pool, dinner at WCC, MK

- Listening to all of the children on our Buffalo to MCO flight experience their first take off (including my kids). Great experience with Southwest.
- Entering our inner courtyard view , bunkbed room at WL to find a Mickey head shaped towel on the bed (as well as our luggage – thanks to DME)
- Buying myself a Mickey Mouse watch because we realized that none of us remembered to wear our watch.
- DH buying himself a Mickey Mouse watch because he wanted one too! (Had to make a deal with DH to get him to go to WDW the first time – he’s now a convert!)
- Magic Cookie Bars at Roaring Forks – these squares tasted just like my MIL’s “Hello Dolly’s “ (DH favourite baked square) They were huge! Went back for more before the end of the week.
- Haunted Mansion after dark – have experienced this attraction numerous times during the day over the years but never after dark. It is way better at night!
- Spectromagic for the first time – missed it on our last trip as it was only scheduled one night during our trip and it was packed!
- Watching Wishes from the ferry on the way back to WL from MK – the driver stopped the ferry so that everyone could watch the whole show. What a great surprise! Luckily we had taken a seat outdoors not knowing that we would get this opportunity to watch the fireworks from this viewpoint.
- The pillows on the beds at WL – if I knew where to find pillows like these, I would go out and buy them right now!

Aug 27 – EPCOT, Rose & Crown dinner

- Having a whole bus to ourselves on the way to EPCOT – this was a good sign!
- Soarin’ What an awesome experience! Front row, middle section, dead centre!
- Turtle Talk with Crush – caught the first show of the day (10am) and we all really enjoyed it
- Lunch at Sunshine Seasons – food here was delicious!
- Getting a bonus FP for Mission Space from the Test Track FP machine
- Having the opportunity to enjoy Mission Space without getting queasy – have done the original version once and it was 2-3 hours before I felt quite right again – did the mild version this time and it was still pretty good
- Watching Off Kilter in Canada – had read so many great things about them and was fortunate enough to see them myself
- Sticky Toffee Pudding at Rose & Crown - yummy
- Illuminations – watched from a bench beside the CS restaurant in Mexico – met an really nice family from the UK - better location than Japan where we watched it 2 years ago
- Drinking a Fiesta Margarita while waiting for Illuminations to start – this was really good
- Finding towel animal toothbrush and toothpaste holders in our room upon our return
- Swimming at the resort pool following our return from the park


Aug 28 – MK , Ohana dinner

- Pirates of the Carribean – love Captain Jack Sparrow!
- Splash Mountain – DD and DH’s favourite ride
- Taking our time to enjoy our day – no rushing around
- Discovering Honey Dijon dipping sauce for our chicken strips - have always used sweet and sour sauce.
- As we were enjoying our lunch at Columbia Harbour House, 4 CM’s came up to us ringing a bell and informed us that we were the ‘Family of the Hour’. We received a certificate, had our picture taken and e-mailed to us and also received 4 FP’s for whatever ride we’d like. (Food was great, ate upstairs – nice break)
- Drinking my Lapu Lapu (served in a pineapple) and DH had a Backscratcher at the Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian Resort while waiting for our ADR at Ohana
- Dinner at Ohana – absolutely everything was delicious – especially that bread pudding with banana foster sauce, service was great, DD did the hula
- Swimming at our resort pool following our return

Aug 29 – Blizzard Beach, Le Cellier dinner

- Nothing better than lying in a tube floating around Castaway Creek without a care in the world!
- DH & DS – exhilarated by Summit Plummet – neither could stop talking about it!
- Family raft ride – much better than the family raft ride at Typhoon Lagoon – did it 4X
- No line ups!!
- DS & DD – loved pre-teen Ski-Patrol Training Camp
- Dinner at Le Cellier – best meal for DH and myself!
- Another night of swimming at the resort

Aug 30 – MGM, Sci-Fi lunch
- No waits whatsoever! No need for FP. Walked on to every single ride all day long even though we thought it would be busy with The Wiggles concert happening that day. It was Ernesto day so I’m sure this had an impact on the attendance although it didn’t start raining until around 5 pm.
- All 4 of us getting to draw Goofy at Animation Studios (Take an elastic band with you if you plan to do this so you can roll your pictures up – easier to carry all day long.)
- Seeing Colin Mochrie (the balding comedian on Drew Carey’s ‘Who’s Line is it Anyway?’) in the gift shop at Rock n’ Rollercoaster – and then watching 2 episodes of the show on TV that night
- Lunch at Sci-Fi – everything was really good – not just the burgers and onion rings!
- Watching DS watch Lights!Motorcars! Action! Show – great show! He loved it!
- Spending an evening relaxing at the resort!

Aug 31 – MK – Morning EMH – DH and DD’s birthday today

- Taking another empty bus to TTC – no people there either, then the monorail to MK
- Walking on to Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh, Caroussel, Tomorrowland Speedway and Space Mtn. ,all before 10 am - No FP needed all day long even though it was an EMH day!
- Splash Mountain – finally had a ride picture worth purchasing – just the four of us with our hands up in the air in the log!
- Watching with awe as DS11 downed a ½ rack of ribs for lunch at Cosmic Rays – another good CS restaurant
- Watching the ‘Talking Garbage Can’ sing Happy Birthday to DD and then to DH. I took a picture of this but you really can’t capture a talking garbage can in a still photo.
- Dinner at LTT – Pluto ‘helped’ blow out the birthday candles in our dessert as the CM's sang Happy Birthday to DH and DD!
- DD finally getting the hair wrap that she had begged for all week long! Still in her hair 2 weeks later.
- Watching Wishes from mainstreet.

Sept 1 – AK, dinner at Boma

- Eating Carrot Cake and Magic Cookie Bars for breakfast – you’re allowed to do this on vacation!
- Dinosaur – one of my favourites
- Dinosaur dig -Highlight for my kids who could have stayed there all day long if we let them. They were the only kids in there.
- Expedition Everest – this was so much fun! Rode 2X – 1st time no wait, 2nd time with FP
- Watching DD and DH get absolutely soaked on Kali River Rapids while DS and I somehow managed to exit this ride dry! Last time we rode this, we got soaked.
- Flights of Wonder bird show
- Dinner at Boma - really enjoyed this meal! AKL is also very beautiful.
- Another night of swimming at the resort.

Sept 2 – Free Day, dinner at Teppanyaki

- Learning that given the choice to do whatever my children wanted to do that day, they opted to stay at the resort and swim and relax – didn’t want to go to a park that day.
- Learning that I can live with this.
- Lunch at Earl of Sandwich – this was worth the trip
- Dinner at Teppanyaki – excellent – was our favourite restaurant 2 yrs ago and the kids favourite this year.
- Eating warm candy coated pecans from a cart in WS
- Enjoying our last night on those WL pillows!

Sept 3 – Departing for MCO at 12:30, breakfast at WCC

- Breakfast skillet at WCC
- Swimming at pool for the last time.
- Relaxing in the lobby chairs.


Once again we had a great time! We relaxed! We saw everything we wanted to see! We didn’t park hop once, although we had purchased that option. Oh well! We ate wonderful meals!
Nothing negative to report on our trip!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
Lori

 

[uconn01001]

How are the crowds? I am going last week in Sept for 6 days as a gift for my mother?

 

[bbump]

We were at MGM on 8/30 too!!! I didn't realize there was a celebrity there that day! COOLLL!!

We also ate at Sci-fi and loved it.
Glad to hear you had a great trip.