MAY 12th-19th!! THESE ARE THE MAYS OF OUR LIVES! III

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Good morning everyone!

How was the weekend? We actually had some nice weather here!! We finished up most of our landscaping, brought the patio furniture from the basement & cleaned it and got it all set up, the boys went fishing one morning, we went shopping, and made it to 2 picnics! A busy and fun weekend!

Back to dark and rainy today. Sure hope it's nice for Friday, we have Field Day at DS9's school.

 

[mari360]

Morning all...... We had a great weekend. Weather was beautiful. My mom had a bbq in her house on Sun that where we were. And then yesterday we went to see my DH mom in NYC. I HATE driving to that place. Too many crazy's and the parking is horrible.

Shelly - it's ugly here today also.....

 

[Katiebell]

Good morning Mayers! OK, enough of a holiday break, lets see some more trip report installments! Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Ours was a combination of lazing around the house, and getting some things done, not too bad. We didn't make it to the Jazz Festival this year (it threatened to rain which is unheard of for us this time of year -- usually it's around 100 degrees!) but we did make it to see Indiana Jones. Pretty good! Not as good as Raiders or Last Crusade, but definitely better than Temple of Doom. And you know, Indy is still yummy, even if he's more "mature" now But thanks for the warning about the bugs, SC...that one scene (and you know which one) I had to shut my eyes until it was over. I don't handle ants well at all -- I fell into a red ant hill when I was 3 and got swarmed *shudder* So yeah...bugs are really hard for me to deal with, especially ants...

Mari, I hate driving in San Francisco...can't even imagine trying to drive in NYC!!! But, gotta be brave to see your family I guess

OK...off to work...have a great day, folks!

 

[rusafee1183]

good morning everyone!!!

i had an awesome weekend also - we spent WAAAYYYY too much of our wedding money on saturday - we bought a ridiculously large tv for the tiny apartment that we live in

then sunday - we went with our friends to celebrate their 1st wedding anniversary to station square. First we went to The Melting Pot for dinner and on the gateway clipper for a "sightseeing cruise" of the city ... (which i work in everyday ) but - it was really cute and it was a fun time

then monday we went shopping for new furniture and i found an airmoire in the "clearance center" for like 1/8 of the original price yeeaaaahhh bargain shopping!!!! (i had to redeem myself from the $1,500 television bill from sat ) and later that night we went down to the mellon arena to watch my beloved pens get trampled again by the wings .... their defense is just too good
... but it's ok because my boys will be playing at home tomorrow and we'll show them what it's like to lose in our house!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Day 5 - Wednesday May 14:

Today didn't go quite as we had planned. Tuesday night DH gets a call on his cell from a co-worker who had just arrived at WDW! We knew he was coming, we just weren't sure if we'd hear from him or not. Well, he wants to get together for lunch on Wednesday. Says he'll be at AK around noon if we want to meet him there. I've never met this man before but have heard that he has been to WDW dozens of times so naturally I'd love to meet him! So we rearrange our day to meet up with him and his wife. We slept in and hung out in the room until about 11:00. Then we headed for AK. Somehow we found this man and his wife in a huge crowd outside of the AK entrance right away!! We chat for a bit and go on in. We decide on lunch at Restaurantosauras. Apparently they used to serve McDonald's food, but they don't now. They have the same items as McDonald's, it's just not McD's food. It was pretty good. It was nice to sit and talk to these great people. They told us about all the places they had stayed in the past and about things that they had done when their boys were younger (they are adults now). It was a nice time! After lunch they were headed to Epcot. We stayed at AK so DS9 and I could ride EE. Wait time was 40 minutes. Since there wasn't anything else there we really wanted to do we just waited. Not sure what DS6 and DH did while they waited. I called DH when we were boarding the train so he could take our picture. He took some but you can't see us. Too far away!

From there we took a bus to the All Stars. (that was the original plan - to go check out the All Stars and have lunch at the ASMo food court) It stopped at ASMusic, then ASSports, then ASMovies. We got off at ASMovies. We have always thought about staying there so we wanted to check it out. First we went and checked out the food court. We didn't get anything since we had already had lunch, but we wanted to see the offerings. It's very big and looked like it had a lot of great choices. We haven't had a good food court since we stayed at CBR. A good food court is important to us since we spend so much time at the resort on vacation. Okay, food court looks good! Then we went out the back door and we were in the Fantasia section. It looks great! The kids automatically love the theming of the whole place. The pool was right in the middle. Then DS9 says - Where's the pool slide??? Oh crap, he would have to notice that!! So I explain to him that there is no pool slide here because it is a cheaper hotel. He tells us that he doesn't want to stay here then. We then explain to him that if we stayed here we would get 2 rooms, so we would each have our own bed and we would also have 2 TV's and 2 bathrooms. Okay, he's back onboard with the plan! To the left of the Fantasia section is the Toy Story section. Very cool! To the right of the Fantasia section is the Dalmatian section. All those are "preferred". We need a quiet section. Where's the quiet section??? So we walk straight through the fantasia section and it's the Herbie section! Very quiet, yet not too far away from everything. We will definitely request this section if we decide to stay here! There is also a Mighty Ducks section with another pool to the back right. We never did make it back there.

After we were done there I gave the boys the choice to go back to MK or back to the resort and they wanted to go back to the resort to rest before dinner. So that's what we did.

So we rested and then got ready for dinner at Chef Mickey's. I think we had a 6:15 ADR. We got there around 6 and only waited about 10 minutes and were seated. We had a great waiter! We headed up to the buffet to get some food and we notice Minnie had just came to our area and we missed her! DS6 was bummed!! But I assured him that we would stay until she came the whole way back around. The characters were great, the food was great, the service was great!! You can't go wrong with Chef Mickey's!! We had just all gotten our dessert and sat down. We were still waiting on 2 of the characters to make their way to us. The table next to us had just cleared out and the one on the other side of it as well. Pretty soon I see the hostess seating a man and a little girl. I say to DH - I would swear that is Mari's DH and DD. . . So I stare them down awhile and now I am sure it has to be them. Then Mari walks by and sits down with them. Now I am 99% sure it is her! But she isn't looking and I don't want to make a fool of myself. So we go on with our dessert. I keep looking over from time to time. Now there are people sitting at the table between us. But finally she looks over and sees me! She comes over and we chat a bit and take a picture. Then the last 2 characters make there way around. DS6 finally gets to see Minnie! He gives her a little card he made her. She hugs and kisses him! He is in heaven!! We finish up dinner and then go over to Mari's table and meet her family and chat a bit more.

After dinner we head to MK for Wishes. We sneak on a couple of rides before we grab our spot. Space Mtn & Buzz! Then we get a spot in front of the train station. It was a really good spot! We watched Wishes and then made our way to the bus!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

good morning everyone!!!



then sunday - we went with our friends to celebrate their 1st wedding anniversary to station square. First we went to The Melting Pot for dinner and on the gateway clipper for a "sightseeing cruise" of the city ... (which i work in everyday ) but - it was really cute and it was a fun time

Hey RF! Sounds like a fun day!

We love Station Square and the Gateway Clipper! It's still fun, no matter how many times you've seen the city!!

We usually go to Station Square several times over the summer. The kids love to play in those "dancing" fountains! Maybe we can meet up sometime!

 

[mari360]

great installment Shelly..... Funny how i didn't notice you right away at CM. i think it was because DD kept saying how hungry she was....

 

[mari360]

Guys i gave in i went to TDS this weekend and bought my DD her tink outfit for her party...

 

[rusafee1183]

Hey RF! Sounds like a fun day!

We love Station Square and the Gateway Clipper! It's still fun, no matter how many times you've seen the city!!

We usually go to Station Square several times over the summer. The kids love to play in those "dancing" fountains! Maybe we can meet up sometime!

yeah shelly that would be awesome!! i love the dancing fountains too - i've been known to play in them myself! station square is sooo cute - it's definately my favorite place in the city - it's too bad that most times when i see it - it's at the end of my day and i just get out of there and go home

great installment in your tr - i wanted to go to check out the AS resorts - but we just didn't find the time

HEY! I have a question to anyone who has stayed in an ASR... do the buses come as frequently as the other resorts - i had transportation NIGHTMARES this trip and i would like to avoid them next year ... (we're thinking feb for our next trip... or september... i know that's a random jump - but we're thinking value season & value resorts next round)

 

[rusafee1183]

hi mari!!!

i can't see the tink picture - but it's probably adorable!! i hope it still fits her for your next trip - those little girls walking around in the costumes got many "aaaawwwwww - how cute" 's from me and DH this trip

he can't wait to have a baby - I on the other hand can wait juuuuussst fine

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Do you work near Station Square RF? How did you like the Melting Pot? We've always thought about trying it but haven't yet.

I would be curious to know about the ASMo transportation too. But I don't think any of the MAYers have stayed at the ASResorts except JO and she didn't use the buses. Most of the MAYers love POP, but it just doesn't appeal to us for some reason. I know that we had no bus issues when we went to ASMo. We walked out of AK and to the AS bus stop and the bus came in about 5 minutes. A short trip and we were there. After we were done at ASMo we went to the bus stop in front of the main building and waited for either the Epcot and DHS bus to come (I don't remember which one, I just know that we took one of them because we knew that they were the closest parks to CSR). Waited about 6-7 minutes and one came. During that time I think almost every bus came.

I wonder if they always share with all 3 All Star resorts. I could swear that sometimes I saw buses that said All Star Resorts on them and other times I would see All Star Sports & Music on one bus and another one that said just All Star Movies. I bet ASMo has it's own bus at busy times, it is probably the most popular All Star resort. . .

Sorry you had transportation issues RF. That stinks! We had great buses at CSR. Usually they were pretty bare. Only like one time at Epcot we waited for about 25-30 minutes for a bus to pick us up. That was the only time we waited more than the quoted 20 minutes.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Guys i gave in i went to TDS this weekend and bought my DD her tink outfit for her party...

Very cute Mari!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

(we're thinking feb for our next trip... or september... i know that's a random jump - but we're thinking value season & value resorts next round)

That's funny RF! We are thinking about January or November next year!!

If you go in February go before the middle of the month, usually after Valentine's day it goes from value season to peak season. Then it's pretty busy from mid-Feb to about mid-April with spring break and Easter. We are actually thinking about the very end of January into the beginning of Feb. . . We'll see. . .

If you go in September you will probably be able to get free dining, but it will be HOT HOT HOT!

I think the weather will be nice in November, but it's not value season (and Nov. 2009 is really far away!). I'd like to see the Christmas decorations though.

 

[rusafee1183]

Do you work near Station Square RF? How did you like the Melting Pot? We've always thought about trying it but haven't yet.

I would be curious to know about the ASMo transportation too. But I don't think any of the MAYers have stayed at the ASResorts except JO and she didn't use the buses. Most of the MAYers love POP, but it just doesn't appeal to us for some reason. I know that we had no bus issues when we went to ASMo. We walked out of AK and to the AS bus stop and the bus came in about 5 minutes. A short trip and we were there. After we were done at ASMo we went to the bus stop in front of the main building and waited for either the Epcot and DHS bus to come (I don't remember which one, I just know that we took one of them because we knew that they were the closest parks to CSR). Waited about 6-7 minutes and one came. During that time I think almost every bus came.

I wonder if they always share with all 3 All Star resorts. I could swear that sometimes I saw buses that said All Star Resorts on them and other times I would see All Star Sports & Music on one bus and another one that said just All Star Movies. I bet ASMo has it's own bus at busy times, it is probably the most popular All Star resort. . .

Sorry you had transportation issues RF. That stinks! We had great buses at CSR. Usually they were pretty bare. Only like one time at Epcot we waited for about 25-30 minutes for a bus to pick us up. That was the only time we waited more than the quoted 20 minutes.

yeah i do work near SS! We actually park our car at station square because it's cheaper than in the city... we only pay $5 a day there rather than $13 in downtown - and we just walk across the smithfield street bridge and through the city. Next time you are in station square - look at the city to the righthand side of the smithfield bridge and you'll see my dad's printing company GACC... you can't miss it! That's where Bob works too - and my dad and my brother - and my uncles... and basically my whole family ...but me

OH AND! the transportation was TERRIBLE at POR -we always waited at least a half hour and the buses were always packed - and people were literally asked to move all the way to the back STANDING UP- so people could fit behind the yellow line on the bus.... plus there was one time when we got off the monorail from epcot at the poly to catch a bus to DTD... we waited for at least 45 minutes - then when the bus finally came - it was so full that the tire pressure was off and the bus broke down - so we tried to get on the next bus that came by (the DHS bus) and the bus driver said we couldn't get on the bus because DHS was about to close and he wouldn't take us to a closed park - so we asked where he was going - so that we could just transfer from there and he wouldn't tell us!!!

so then... we go to get on the monorail - to go to MK JUST to get a bus home - and the monorail stopped running!!!
so THEN - we were forced to take a $20 cab ride home all because we were TRYING to use the "free transportation" uuugggghhhhhhh.... i'm getting mad all over again.... so i stormed over to the concierge and pleaded my case - the lady working was super nice and she was like "AWWW NO HONEY! - we are getting your money back for that" ... and she did

the only other bad thing that happened was our camera charger was missing from our room - and that's my complaint about housekeeping... and that is a whole other entry


thanks for letting me vent - guys.... i still love WDW and all the bad things that happened were swiftly fixed by all the great stuff that happened

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

OMG RF!!! That is terrible. I know when we stayed at POFQ the buses always stopped there first and then went onto the 4 stops at POR. Sometimes it would be so full that it wouldn't make all of it's stops at POR. That's probably why you experienced such long waits. They really need to do something about that. That was another one of the reasons we didn't really care for POFQ, the bus situation.

That is great that you got your money back from paying for a cab. We have been on the monorail maybe 5 times ever and probably 3 of those times it has stopped running. I always thought the monorail was so much faster than the buses, but that's not always the case.

I can't believe that something went missing from your room! That's awful! I sure hope you got that all taken care of. Our housekeeper stunk too. And I'm thinking that she didn't even speak English considering that I left a note 3 days in a row asking for a shower cap and she just took the tip money and left the note. Then one day I saw a bunch of the housekeepers walking around and they were speaking another language - Spanish I would guess.

Oh, I started a thread on the transportation board asking about transportation at the All Stars. I'll let you know if I get any responses!

I'll have to let you know the next time we are coming to Station Square. It's such a neat place!

 

[rusafee1183]

You know what Shelly - last time that my aunt went to WDW for work - they stayed at POFQ and had a similar problem where she left money and a note requesting something -and she never got it either - but the money was always gone... So she called the front desk and said something to them about it and that's what they told her ... that the housekeeper for her room didn't speak english. But she fought that one by saying "well, then how did she know that the money was for her? That note could have said anything - why then would she assume it was for her".... ... i could never say that... but it was a good point and it did make me think...

But anyways - my camera charger DID get replaced - but the problem was we only realized it was missing when our camera died and that happened to be on my birthday - so we missed all of the pics from that day - at the cali grill of the fireworks and the next day we had a shuttle scheduled for 8:20 am to go to universal... so we didn't have it THAT whole day either - and when we got home that night - they bought the wrong one! - so it was a huge mess - and i basically ended up missing like 2 whole days worth of pictures

needless to say - i was not a very happy girl

 

[NewCrew42]

Hi Again!

Shelly - Love the TR!!! Your DS and his love of Minnie Mouse is too cute!!!

I love the pics from ASMo. It looks so fun over there!

Mari - Your dd is so adorable in that Tink Costume. Enjoy it. They grow up too quickly!

RF - We haven't stayed at the All-Stars but we have stayed at Pop! We love the transportation there which is one of the big draws for us. The buses came very quickly. At park closing, they would load two buses at a time if the line was long. We never waited long.

One of the things we HATED about CR and GF was the bus transportation. Transportation to MK or Epcot on monorail was ok. When we stayed at the CR we would walk to MK and back because it was so quick. But the buses! They were awful. If we stay deluxe again, we will rent a car. It will also be after the children no longer vacation with us, because we love having two rooms, two baths, and two TVs.

 

[NewCrew42]

You know what Shelly - last time that my aunt went to WDW for work - they stayed at POFQ and had a similar problem where she left money and a note requesting something -and she never got it either - but the money was always gone... So she called the front desk and said something to them about it and that's what they told her ... that the housekeeper for her room didn't speak english. But she fought that one by saying "well, then how did she know that the money was for her? That note could have said anything - why then would she assume it was for her".... ... i could never say that... but it was a good point and it did make me think...

But anyways - my camera charger DID get replaced - but the problem was we only realized it was missing when our camera died and that happened to be on my birthday - so we missed all of the pics from that day - at the cali grill of the fireworks and the next day we had a shuttle scheduled for 8:20 am to go to universal... so we didn't have it THAT whole day either - and when we got home that night - they bought the wrong one! - so it was a huge mess - and i basically ended up missing like 2 whole days worth of pictures

needless to say - i was not a very happy girl

What a nightmare!

 

[rusafee1183]

I KNOW!!! Seriously - I hate to be whiney, because we all know that all of us love disney... i just needed to get all that off my chest ...

so thanks guys - i needed that

 

[seacrestpromo]

Hi everyone!