My Family's First Trip (7/10-7/13) Re-Post

[gyver65]

The last time I visited the "Magic Kingdom" was 30 years ago. I was 8 years old and the only things that I remembered were "20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea", "Haunted Mansion", and "It's a Small World".

Thirty years later I returned with my wife and her 3 kids, (ages 9, 15,& 17). Thanks to posts from this forum for much info that was needed.

Day 1 (Thursday, July 10)
Check-in "Wyndham Palms": 2Br, 2 Bath. Very nice, just didn't spend enough time there.

"Downtown Disney"
"World of Disney": My family liked it alot.

"Pleasure Island": We had free tickets for all but one person. I can't see paying full price.

"Rainforest Cafe": Our best meal. We also had free coupon vouchers for here.

Day 2 (Friday, July 11)
"MGM": Everything was great. Enjoyed "Tower of Terror" and "Rock-n--Rollercoaster" the best. "Fantasmic" was great also.

Day 3 (Saturday, July 12)
"Magic Kingdom": Everything was not as I had planned. I made a list of all rides and attractions that I wanted us to do but we didn't get to do everything. We got there at 9:30 and was able to do the following:

"Space Mountain"(it was great!)

"Buzz Lightyear" (it was great)

"Alien Encounter" (it was ok, nothing great)

"Pirates of the Caribbean" (it was fun)

"Jungle Cruise" (it was ok)

My wife's daughter had the hair tie thing done next to "Jungle Cruise" and it took 1.5 hours. While we waited I got us all a fast passes for "Splash Mountain".

"Big Thunder Mountain Railroad": It was OK, nothing that great. My wife's 15 year old boy got mad at us while waiting in line and walked off. We had to wait about an hour to ride.

"Splash Mountain": It was fun (Still no sign of the 15 year old).

"Haunted Mansion": It was just as I remembered 30 years ago. We enjoyed it.

I went to City Hall to see if the 15 year old had been reported missing and they said that he had not. So I gave them his name and instructed them that we had reservations at "Cinderella's Palace" at 4:15 pm and if he showed up at City Hall for them to send him there.

"Cinderella's Palace" for dinner: Still no sign of the 15 year old so I changed the reservations from 5 people to 4. He then shows up and I changed the reservations back to 5 people. The food and service were good here. The atmosphere just seemed too boring for me, but we did get to see Cinderella when we were leaving the Palace.

After we ate the rain came and we left and didn't return. Everyone was tired and grumpy, and having lost a 15 year old for 3.5 hours didn't help matters any.

We completely missed "Fantasyland" and "Mickey's Toontown Fair", and most of "Liberty Square". We missed the following rides/attractions that I had wished that we could have done:

"It's a Small World"
"Peter Pan's Flight"
"Dumbo"
"Goofy's ride"
"Mickey and Minnie's Toontown"
"Spectromagic"

Maybe next time we will get to visit these.

Day 4
Requested late checkout but was denied. We had to hurry up in order to checkout by 10:00 at the Wyndham Palms.

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi there ~

I hope you will be posting more about your holiday

We love to hear all the details ~ parks, meals... etc.

I don't remember the 20,000 leagues attraction ~ It would be great if they brought old classics like that back.


Thanx for posting

>>^..^<<

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for posting!!!!!!!!!

 

[gyver65]

I had to edit and repost this message because while I was typing it up the first time I hit the post reply by mistake right after I started the message.

Sorry!
Bobby

 

[lorilori]

Hi Bobby - thanks for the report! I'll be staying at Wyndham Palms and was wondering how close you were to the pool? If you needed a golf cart to get there, do you have to call someone for one? Also, how was the pool if you had time to swim? Thanks!

 

[gyver65]

lorilori,

We stayed in building # 15. It was located about halfway between the main entrance and the pool. It was probably between 1/4 and 1/2 mile from our building to the pool. We never actually swam in the pool but we did have breakfast one morning which was located next to the pool. I didn't really notice the pool since we were in a hurry but I think they actually had another pool located somewhere else.

I think if you call the front desk and request a shuttle they will send someone in a golf cart to pick you up. I did see a golf cart that had a pull along cart which could seat about 4 extra people.

Bobby

 

[lorilori]

Thanks for the quick reply! We'll need that pull-along with us and 3 kids! Please tell me about the breakfast at the pool... I wasn't aware of that. Was it busy? Thanks!

 

[OhMari]

You sounded slightly stressed with the 15 year old gone. I have 4 kids and me and husband always say, "There is always someone not happy". You just can't please everyone.

 

[gyver65]

The free breakfast at the pool consisted of danishes and cereal with coffee, milk, and juice. I am not sure of the hours but we got there at about 8:30 Friday morning. I do know that it is only offered Monday through Friday but they do have a hot breakfast that you can purchase. I think it is located at the Caddyshack Bar and Restaurant which is located in the middle of the resort next to the golf course. This is at a different location than the free breakfast. I believe there is another pool there also. We never made it over there.

 

[gyver65]

Ohmari,

You are right about trying to please everyone. We only spent three nights there which means that we only had two full days there and we had those days occupied at the two parks (MGM and MK).

The first day went ok at MGM. Since it is much smaller we were able to do everything. The second day we spent at MK and I had a list of everything that I wanted us to do but I guess that I should realize that what I want to do is not necessarily what everyone else wants to do (including Mother Nature since it rained really hard that evening).

After we ate at Cinderella's Castle which was about 6:00 pm it started raining really hard with thunder and lightening so we left and didn't return. So we missed out on Spectromagic, but it did rain the rest of the night so I don't know if they still had it or not.

The day that we left we did manage to make it over to Citywalk, which is located next to Universal Studios, since everyone wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe'. I didn't realize that you had to pay to park so I told the parking attendant that we just wanted to go to Hard Rock to buy a T-shirt and he gave us complimentary parking at no charge. I think it was normally $7.00 or $8.00 to park. We did go to Hard Rock and buy some T-shirts but we also went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and bought some stuff there also. Of course, my wife and I had to have a margarita. We really enjoyed the Ciytwalk. It is really nice.

Bobby