+++LONG! Trip Report June 7-15 WDW LONG! +++

[Mom24Princesses]

Trip Report – Walt Disney World – June 7 – 15, 2007

Cast
Me - 40 something
DH – 40 something
DD#1 – 16 by 2 weeks
DD# 2 – shy of 14 by 2 weeks
DD# 3 – 10 in 3 months
DD# 4 – just 7

DDs and I had not been since June 2004! DH comes every year with school group – so he had ridden/seen a lot we had not.

2 connecting rooms, 8 nights at All Star Movies,
101 Dalmatians, Building #1, ground floor.
Tickets Your Way – 9 days- park hopping.
Disney Dining Plan- (1st time for us!)

Day 1—6/7/07
We drove down I -75 from the south Atlanta area leaving at 4:45 AM, Thursday, June 7th. We only made 2 RR stops and one gas stop, and were on Disney property by 11:30. We took the new 429 south to Western Way and came in by Coronado Springs. Awesome, probably will never come in the other way again.

Had to wait a few minutes to get to check in. Rooms ready!! I had called ASMo Sunday afternoon requesting 101 D, building 1, ground floor and that is what we got!

We unloaded the car. With DDs older it was a breeze compared to when they were small, they could not help and could not be left alone for DH and I to both go to the car. EVERYBODY WENT. Parking is great for buildings 1 & 2. (did not see others)

We grabbed lunch at the food court. It was easy and everyone except 9.75 year old was happy. Last year on the Disney Magic she ordered off the adult menu every meal. She had lobster on lobster night – now she is forced to pick between pasta, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese or a Smuckers uncrustable. In fact, this was a problem for the next 9 days. 4 of us hit the main pool. DH took a nap and #1 did not want to get her hair wet! We showered and headed to Ohana at the Polynesian by way of MK buses/Monorail. Ohana was great – 2nd time there.

We went into the MK and headed to Pirates. Rode it and wandered back to Main Street, staked out our parade spot and people watched. (It was @7:45- 1 hour 15 min to go.) (Right hand side of Mainstreet just before the circle in front of the castle.)

Watched Parade and Fireworks – bus back to ASMo – day 1 over.

Day 2 6/8/07
Animal Kingdom – got there @8:30. Headed to the right side. Did Everest just DH and I- we have 4 chickens. (walked on 10 minute wait!)- Great ride, DH was nervous before, BUT no more!!, Dinosaurs, let DDs play around there and I went for fast passes to River Rapids. Park attendance light, got in line for the Nemo show about an hour early - near front in shade, everyone had an ice cream, (snack credit), great seats of course, great show. Headed to Pizzafari looking at things as we went. Headed to River Rapids. Left after that.

A little R&R

Epcot – San Angels for dinner at 5:00. OK, not great- been there many times – like the cool, dark in the summer. Rode the re-done ride at Mexico. Toured about ½ the world.

Watched the shuttle launch at 7:38. (Awesome)

Weather was amazingly nice, cool breeze, Crowd was very light – we should have stayed for Illuminations – but headed back by way of Test Track because Saturday we had an early morning.

Day 3 – 6/9/07
We had breakfast at 9:10 at The Crystal Palace. When we arrived at MK @ 8:15 they let us in with the others headed for Breakfast. GET these early BF times – you get to take all the pictures you want of a nearly empty park. Castle pictures galore!
HOWEVER – we’ve had BF at CP many times and this was the worst. They took us early which was great, food was good, service was below par and TIGGER NEVER CAME. We had to wait an extra 10 –15 minutes to get him.
We rode Buzz, Stitch, The Laughfloor Comedy Club (they got me and DD#2), Mickey’s Phil , Carousel, It’s a Small World, Space Mountain, and more. We left around 2:00. This was our rest day. We swam and I did 2 loads of laundry (6 people). We ate at the food court (they have nice dinners) and went to bed early.

Day 4 – 6/10/07
Up and out for MGM – entered by 9:00 ish. Very crowded for Star Wars Weekend BUT we headed for the first show of The Little Mermaid and had fantastic seats – not full. Headed to first show of Beauty and the Beast – 2nd or 3rd group in line – fantastic seats!!! Grabbed some fast passes to Tower of T (4) and RockinRC (2). Met up with my brother who drove down Saturday night from the Brunswick/Jeklyll Island area of GA to spend Sunday with us – his last minute idea – he does not know how we do WDW. “Ran” to the first show of Stunt Cars . . .grabbing a cool snack on the way. Did I mention it was VERY HOT! Took a stroll back by Star Tours getting 7 fast passes (time allowed since first ones). Walked around a little showing him more of MGM. Time to split up for our l:20 lunch at Scifi. He grabbed lunch somewhere and took in a little more of MGM. Witnessed many performers falling out at the High School Musical Pep-Rally- Did I mention that it was HOT?. We enjoyed our lunch at Scifi and met him to ride Star Tours. We went up Mickey Ave. to see which Star Wars characters would be out. I had gotten a call the day before from the office manager of DD#1’s ballet company telling me that her DS would be a Sand Trooper Sunday. Sure enough there were four Sand Troopers pestering visitors. One seemed to single my girls out and we took lots of pictures, finding out later that it “was him”. Then walked over to TofT and only I rode it with DB. (TofT is MY FAVORITE WDW ride! ) It was after 3:00 and we needed to rest before the late night at the MK. Brother stayed behind at MGM.

We rested in dark, cool, NO TV rooms for a couple of hours. A BAD storm came up and it thundered for 30 minutes and poured for over an hour. We headed to MK about 6:00 – NO RAIN HAD FALLEN THERE!!!??? It was cooler. We stayed until 2:00 AM and loved the night there. Rode almost everything (even our sentimental favorite “The Carousel of Progress – “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow . . “ ) Just could not get on Space Mountain!!

Day 5--6/11/07
Slept in until 10:30!! Grabbed lunch at food court and swam for a hour or so. Everyone showered and we headed to Epcot. Forgot to mention Friday and today we drove ourselves. Parking is good at Epcot – I hate the bus stops there. We arrived by 3:00 and there were no Soaring fast passes left. We waited for Nemo and by the time we’d made it inside it was time for us to head to Canada for our 4:10 resie at Le Cellier !!!! About the best meal we’ve had dining with Disney including onboard the Disney Magic . Great food and service. Someone in your party must order the S’mores for dessert!! BEAUTIFULLY festive BUT tasted even better than it looked!! Wish I’d taken a picture. “Campfire S’mores” is very deceiving. After, we took in the other half of “the World” and after a heavy shower – Illuminations!

Day 6 – 6/12/07
Back to AK. Arrived to a crowded entrance. Headed for the Safari, fast passed it for 45 minutes later and took in the walking exhibits near by. Did the Safari ride and headed for the Lion King. It was over half loaded – walked right in BUT had good seats. After I ran for fast passes to the rapids again and DH took DDs to Tuskers. I got my FPs and he got a table for 6. We had a nice lunch with vultures wanting our table. We strolled over to the Rapids – VERY crowded today and took the ride then strolled out.

We all headed back for a rest, showers, etc. We were meeting close friends at Downtown Disney at 6:30 for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. We wanted to do our serious shopping first. We arrived by 4:30. Shopped at the main store and the Lego Store and made contact by cell to confirm our dinner plan. Our friends are cast members. She has been a VBF for more than 20 years. Her DH decided around 30 that he’d like to work for Disney. He applied and got started about 14 years ago. She first worked for SunTrust BUT Disney called and she now works for them. He has moved around and up (currently with DVC) BUT she’s moved higher. She spends one week, every-other-month, at corporate at Disneyland and gets calls from all of the Disney Parks (worldwide) to handle. They have a DS 15. We met @6:30 and had a very nice meal at WPE. As a counter-service meal, it was great. The check would have been over $90 for the 6 of us! We visited there and walked around some until almost 9:30. Our DDs 16 and almost 14 get along super with their wonderful DS. Wish we could see them more!!

Day 7—6/13/07
Breakfast at Norway – 8:30 --A first. We’ve done the Castle about 4 times and decided to try this one. OUr next WDW trip ime will probably be summer 09 and with DDs growing up, we'll probably do the Castle for old time sake. (They will be 18, 16, 12, and 9 in 09- hard to believe we took the oldest two for their first Castle Breakfast when they were 5 & 3.)
We enjoyed this breakfast all around.
I headed for Soarin’ fast passes while they stopped by RRs. They were already for 10:20 – 11:20 so we went back to the fish. We rode the ride again NO WAIT and spent over an hour there. We rode Soarin’ – my first time and the only negative – it ended too soon . Then we did the other exhibits around Interventions. We had to drag youngest out several hours later – But we were heading to MGM.

After a quick stop by the rooms we headed to MGM. We had dinner at Mama Melrose’s (first time). I got more fast passes to Tof T. We rode The Great Movie Ride and it broke down. We were stuck with Bugsy for a LONG time – he told jokes and did a good job. When we later got our guide back BUT were still very delayed – she did not say mach of anything. It was really missed up. In The Wizard of Oz the sound did not run yet we stayed there a long time and in Casablanca the sound ran on and on repeating. We were late for dinner by 10 minutes. BUT MM was way backed up and we had to wait 20+ more. Table was good and server was awesome. I had heard mixed reviews. We liked everything we picked. The only negative came near the end when he did not come for our dessert order, then did not come for the check. I mean we waited over 10 minutes to place an order completely finished with dinner – plates had been removed. Then, just as long to get the check. The lobby was packed -- I think they had over booked. We wondered by Star Tours for FPs. It had rained and was chilly!! (In Orlando in June!?) We got our arm bands to stay late and used our dinner pass to walk into Fantasmic the back way, but got better seats in the non-reserved section. The section they reserve for their packages is terrible. In the past I have been so hot waiting for Fan that I swore I’d never go in the summer again. Not a problem this time!! It was good.
We headed out, DH and I rode T of T. (he hates it – but loves me ) It was the very best! They took us up and down 4 times!!!!! We headed to Star Tours and saw a late Indian Jones then rode Star Tours 2 more times. We finished the night with The Muppets 3-D .
Bus ride back was awful. They packed too many people on the bus and told us it was going ONLY to ASMo , BUT had stuck people from the other AS resorts on. Hard for parents to hold their children on such a crowed bus at 1:00 AM.

Day 8--6/14/07

Slept in again, lunch at food court. Headed to MK around 2:30 without DH who stayed behind with a headache. We could not do much with the crowd and heat. Got fast passes to ride Splash Mountain later. Rode the train all the way around the park and back to Mickey’s Toontown. Walked through the houses. Went to Mickey’s Phil to get away from the heat. Got FPs for Peter Pan. (OH, BTW - I did not have DH's ticket BUT a cast member at both locations gave me an extra when I explained!) Grabbed a snack in Pinocchio’s where DH caught up with us. Wondered out through the shops to head to Chef Mickey’s for our last dinner. No problems. We’ve been here at least 5 times and this was a better experience. Characters came by twice and were very playful. Dinner was good. The picture they take turned out great. (Hard to get a good one of our gang.) We went back to MK and rode what we wanted one more time. Splash Mountain had a problem and we sat on it awhile. Sent DD#1 for FPs for Buzz. We went to the Judge’s Tent in MTF to see the Princesses and waited the described 60 minutes missing the fireworks! (Love our DD#4) We rode Buzz another time and headed for Pirates – we rode 3 times – RAN AROUND FOR THE LAST AS THEY WERE CLOSING THE BIG DOORS. A gang of pirate cast members rode in the boat behind us.

We headed out just before the crush following the final parade.

Day 9 – 6/15/07
I forced everyone up by 8:30. We ate snack food, packed as fast as we could. We finished loading the mini-van (with luggage carrier) about 10:40. We took pictures around ASMo. (had not taken the time) We ate our last lunch in the food court. We’d managed to end with 2 counter meals and 17 snacks!!!!!!!! We shared two chicken finger meals for the CMs and then we added 2 fries, 2 fruit salads, 4 drinks and 4 desserts (meals came with drinks and desserts). We grabbed a couple of more bottled drinks for the ride!

We filled up on property because the Hess station had a good price. We turned onto Western Way at 1:02.

We had no problems getting home. Traffic picked up on 75 for a while. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Perry, GA. ( I had the vegetable plate w/cornbread & sweet tea.) The people at the table next to us (DD with a face painted like a cat) were heading home from WDW too.

We pulled in at 9:05 – 8 hours after leaving (includingstops ) – a very good trip.

 

[SnoopyDancer]

It sounds like y'all had a great time.

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had a great trip. Did you add up your receipts to see how the Dining Plan worked out for your family.

I see you booked the wonder cruise already. If I book, which stateroom should I book for. I take it, this is for the week before Easter, which I am looking for.

 

[Avivasmom]

Sounds like a great family trip was had. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had a great trip. Did you add up your receipts to see how the Dining Plan worked out for your family.

We really think that it did. We always ate out at the sit-down places before, having to budget them with tax and tip was a guessing game. We usually ate at one about 6 times - this time we had to 8 times - but over all we were pleased. I liked having it all prepaid. In the past I usually planned most breakfasts and the "other" meal each day to be often food we brought from home. We usually did not do many counter meals -- they just cost too much! It really helped me to enjoy the trip more. My fear is they will raise the rate or something making it too hard for us next time.

[/QUOTE]I see you booked the wonder cruise already. If I book, which stateroom should I book for. I take it, this is for the week before Easter, which I am looking for. [/QUOTE]

Many people "re-book" onboard their first cruise. You get 10% off and a stateroom credit if you do. You can book a "dummy date" and move it to the date you want in the future keeping the perks.

In 2008 Easter is early (March something). We are sailing the Magic again for a 7 nighter. The Wonder does the 3 or 4 nighters.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

I see you booked the wonder cruise already. If I book, which stateroom should I book for. I take it, this is for the week before Easter, which I am looking for.

Sorry My DD came in adn I messed up my last message.

I had studied the ship plan a lot and knew we needed CAT 10s because we needed 2 cabins. We booked on deck 7 and loved them. You need to STUDY, STUDY, STUDY. The DCL threads on this site are great. Also www.castawayclub.com is fantastic. AND don't forgetthe DCL web site. I booked dummy cruises on there all the time - pretend and just don't finish. Play with dates and cabins.

Let me know if you need more info.