My first try at a live report

[valleygirl]

Okay, I've loved reading all the reports on these boards so I decided I would try writing a live report during this trip. We arrived in Orlando yesterday but today was our first park day.

First the cast of characters:

Me, ValleyGirl - 43 yo mom of 2. DS 21 is not with us on this trip.

DH - 47 yo who humors the obsession DD & I have with Disney. He really likes it but is not obsessed.

DD - 12 (turns 13 in less than a month) Another Disney crazed person - she is her mother's daughter.

Hubby's good friend, S - 40 something dad bringing his son on his first Disney trip.

Good friend's girlfriend, K - Also 40 something. Great person to travel with. Definitely goes with the flow.

Good friend's son, C - 7 but will turn 8 the day we head home. Great kid who gets along really well with DD.

So here's the plan - We arrived yesterday and will be staying at a private pool home in Rolling Hills until next Saturday. On Saturday me, DH & DD will check into the CBR until 8/30, with free dining from 8/26 - 8/30. Friends will check into Poly for that time period but without free dining, as I got them the 40% off discount from an email code I got way back when.

BTW, the house in Rolling Hills is great. We have 6 bedroom, 4 bathrooms and a private pool which the kids love. We went to AK today and, taking Sherbeth Rd, arrived in less than 15 minutes - quicker than we ever got there using Disney busses.

Anyway, there seemed to be a lot of people in the park today but we got to do everything we set out to do in a reasonable amount of time. We arrived at opening, which was 9:00 am, and I got to talk to the talking tree. K and I were cracking up talking to the tree, but it definitely set the mood for the day. We immediately went to ride Expedition Everest. DD had ridden before but C had not. He did great on his first coaster ride and wanted to go again so we got fastpasses. We then headed to the Safari which was pretty much the same as always, we saw plenty of animals and the kids loved it. After the Safari we headed over to It's Tough to Be a Bug. On the way there we stopped to watch DeVine - how awesome is she!! Any way, back to ITTBAB, we've seen this show many times but our friends had never seen it so it was great to see their reaction, they loved it.

Next we went to get fastpasses for Kali and then used our passes to ride EE again. DD and DH were in the first seats and were a bit scared at certain points but were happy they did it. After EE we had lunch at Flame Tree barbeque. Nothing special but filled out stomaches. Then off to ride Kali. Let me say that I've ridden Kali many times and have been in the soaking wet seat every time but, for the first time, I barely got wet. Oh well, not so bad as we still had a lot to do. The kids wanted to do Kali again so we got fastpasses.

After Kali we went throught the Maharajah Jungle trek, stopped to get ice cream, played some drums and then watched some of the performers at the Dawa Bar. We then headed over to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and enjoyed the Gorillas. Next up was Dinoland. The kids were not up to Dinosaur so we headed over to triceratop spin. This was fun but the heat was starting to get to DD and, although Primeval Whirl is one of her favorites, she decided to skip it. We headed to an airconditioned gift shop while our friends rode PW and then headed to Kali to use our fastpasses.

After Kali we decided to call it a day and left the park at 3:00 pm to head home to the pool. The kids are now swimming, I'm enjoying a glass of wine and the guys are making pasta and meatballs for dinner.

An awesome first day!

Up tomorrow - Blizzard Beach. I'll also post some pictures.

Let me know if you have any questions or anything you want me to check out.

 

[chiefdragon]

So glad that you are able to post as you go along. What an amazing first day. Hope you have a great time and keep on posting live.

 

[LMO429]

Love the live report thanks!

 

[Disfan3]

can't wait!

 

[DisneyNotes]

We are going to try a water park this trip for the first time. I'll be looking forward to those pictures.

 

[valleygirl]

Sorry about the delay in continuing the live report. Let me catch up with the last few days and then I’ll try my very best to make it a real live report for the rest of the week. I’ll also work on uploading pictures.

Monday – Universal Studios

We left the house at around 8:00 am and arrived at Universal’s parking lot at 8:25. Walked through City Walk, taking a lot of pictures along the way and arrived at the gate by 8:40. Once through the gate we found that Jimmy Neutron and Shrek 4D were already open so we headed to Jimmy Neutron. JN was really cool and the kids loved it – Chicken Dance anyone? After JN we headed over to the Mummy which was a walk-on. Another cool ride, but I think it was a little much for the kids. The entire park was still empty! We then went to Men in Black and Jaws which were also walk-ons. C wasn’t sure about Jaws so he decided not to ride – I think he was a little nervous after Mummy. A funny thing happened as we were entering the Jaws ride – while we were talking to the attendant at the entrance my daughter told him that we were from the island (we’re from Martha’s Vineyard, where Jaws was filmed) the attendant, in a very snippy and sarcastic tone, said to her “that’s nice since it’s a fictional island”. I was so surprised by his tone that I didn’t even respond. Next up was ET which under whelmed me but the kids liked it. C has never seen the movie so S had to promise to rent it when they got home. We then planned to see terminator but didn’t want to wait for the next show so we headed over to shrek 4D which had a 50 minute wait. The kids really wanted to see it so we decided to wait. I though the show was okay but I probably wouldn’t wait in a long line again. We decided to leave then and head to Margaritaville for lunch. Two Cheeseburgers in Paradise, one order of chicken tenders, two Caesar Salads, Conch Fritters and Coconut Shrimp – Everyone’s food was great. Back to the house to relax and swim while we grilled swordfish and veggies for dinner.

Tuesday – Blizzard Beach

Loved it! The guys felt the need to do Summit Plummet first thing. Can we say “suicidal” children? I’m not sure why anyone would subject themselves to that slide. Last year my daughter did it and she went over sitting up. Needless to say, I had a heart attack thinking she was going to tumble off the slide. She now says she’ll never do that slide again as she felt like she died going down it. Anyway, highlights of the day – Family raft ride, tube rides with no wait, lazy river before it got too crowded. Called it a day around 2 and headed to the house. S took the kids to play mini golf and the rest of us relaxed at the pool. Another great day.

Wednesday – Seaworld and a day off

This was going to be a day off but S decided to take the kids to Seaworld. Him, K and the 2 kids headed out around 7:45 and had a great time. Me and DH hung out at the house and just relaxed. Since everyone else was gone for the day I cooked dinner at the house and we just relaxed at the pool for dinner. Sorry I don’t have any info about Seaworld, but if you have any questions my DD can probably answer them.

Thursday – Typhoon Lagoon

I have to say that I was disappointed in Typhoon Lagoon. I have always loved this water park but wasn’t overly impressed this time. I really like the water coasters and the lazy river and wave pool are better than Blizzard Beach but I have to admit that I enjoyed BB’s water slides better. Anyway, it was a typical water park day.

Friday – Islands of Adventure

We arrived at this park wondering if we really want to be here. We thought US was okay but nothing special and wondered if IOA would be more of the same. We were pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed this park, although you don’t really need to devote an entire day to it. We first planned to ride Hulk but it was closed. So first off was Spider Man. This was the most awesome ride I’ve been on so far this week. I’m not sure if the feeling is because I’ve never ridden it before but we all really loved it. While the guys rode Dr. Doom’s Fearfall we brought the kids to the game room. The kids liked the gameroom the guys didn’t like Dr. Doom so much. They said it was pretty lame. Next it was off to Ripsaw Falls where we got a little wet. Just a preview for Bilge Rat Barges. Anyone who has been in the really wet seat on Kali River Rapids has not been as wet as every rider on the Bilge Rat Barges. After the ride I felt like I had jumped into a pool fully dressed. Wet, wet fun! Jurassic Park was next and we all loved it. It was really fun watching C going through the ride. Being 7 he still believes that some of the stuff may be real and his eyes showed it. Priceless!! The kids then wanted to ride Pterodactyl flyers so we got in the 45 minute long line – big mistake. For those who don’t know, this ride only has 3, yes 3, flyers that hold 2 people. The ride then takes about 45 seconds. Think Dumbo with a lot less elephants, a shorter ride and a much longer wait. Oh well, live and learn. Next up was Dueling Dragons for DH, S & K. I took DD and C to the Unicorn. The kids rode in the last car on Unicorn, loved it and wanted to ride again. We headed up to ride again and I asked if the kids could ride in the first car. Marcy (or Maria if you believed her name-tag) said they could if we waited for the next ride. Back to Marcy and Maria – Marcy asked where we were from and we said Massachusetts. She told us she was Marcy from Pawtucket, Rhode Island but her name-tag said she was Maria from Orlando, Florida. She told us that she had lost her name-tag and just picked another one. She picked Maria because that was her sister’s name. Okay, off to Poseidon’s Fury. I liked this attraction but wouldn’t wait a long time for it. We entered and the presentation in the first chamber scared C so much that C, S & K left. Me, DH & DD stayed and enjoyed the rest of the show but I can see how young kids would be scared at the beginning. We then hit Seuss Landing, took a lot of pictures, rode Cat in the Hat and the Carrousel and headed out. We had lunch at Mythos on the way out. The food was okay but nothing memorable. We all liked IOA much better than US.

Saturday – Move over to Disney with a huge sprinkling of Pixie Dust

We got up, packed and headed out to Disney. First we headed to the Poly, where I had booked a room for our friends using the 40% off code that was sent by email last winter. When I booked the room they told me it was okay to use for our friends but I would have to be there at check-in. Needless to say, I was there and they never once asked me anything. If I wasn’t there they would have asked for me. Oh well. I have to say, we really enjoyed our time at the house with our friends but were looking forward to some time with just the three of us. We plan on meeting up at the parks each day and have dinner reservations together, but I think it will be nice to spend some alone time with DH & DD.

Once our friends were checked in we headed over to the CBR. We arrived at 11:00 am and fully expected to be told that our room was not ready. Were we surprised when we were told that our room was ready and that we wouldn’t need to check out from our room only reservation and check back in tomorrow for our package with free dining. We were told that we could stay in the same room and our new room keys would be delivered to our room between 8 & 9 am tomorrow. So we were really happy, figuring we had lucked out already, when the CM told us that we were in a preferred room in Martinique. Since we had only paid for a regular room we were pretty psyched. She gave us our room number and we were off. When we got to our room we found that we had a corner room with a water view. At this point I was beyond psyched.

After moving in we went to return our rental car to the Dolphin. If you have never returned a car here you wouldn’t believe how easy it is. You just drive up to the valet parking and they’ll check the car back in and give you a receipt. Takes about 2 minutes. We then caught a bus to Downtown Disney for lunch at Earl of Sandwich and some shopping. I had never been to Earl of Sandwich but had read really good reviews and wanted to try for myself. Wow! We loved it. I had the Beef N Blue, DH had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken and DD had the Kid’s Pizza. We all loved our sandwiches – and yes, the kid’s pizza is a pizza sandwich. Highly recommended!! A bit of shopping at the World of Disney and Team Disney then it was back to CBR.

We originally had reservations for the 6 of us at Chef Mickey’s but DH & DD didn’t really want to go. We called our friends to explain that we really weren’t into it and they were okay with that. Fortunately S’s dad and step-mom had arrived in town so the five of them used the reservation.

We went to dinner at the foodcourt at the CBR. I had the rotisserie chicken, DD had chicken tenders and DH had pasta marinara & meatballs. Picked up a chocolate cake for the room as well as various items for breakfast.

We’re back in the room now listening to the thunder and waiting for the storm.

Up tomorrow – Magic Kingdom and dinner at Raglan Road.

 

[valleygirl]

Okay, so I'm not so good at the live trip report but nobody has noticed so I'll continue as a post trip report if anyone is interested.

Sunday, August 26th

Our first day with free dining! We were told that our new room keys would be delivered between 8:00 and 9:00 am and they were delivered at around 8:30. The guy delivering them said that, due to the free dining, he had 92 rooms to deliver new keys to between 8:00 and 9:00 so I was happy to have them at 8:30. We immediately left for the MK and walked through the gats at 9:10. Our friends had arrived at opening and obtained fastpasses for Splash then road BTMR. They decided to ride BTMR again while they waited for us and the ride broke down while they were on the mountain. They were taken off the ride and had to walk down - They didn't like it, but I thought it would be pretty cool to see the ride from that perspective. We met up with them at the exit of BTMR and decided to head over to Space Mountain but that was down too. We rode Buzz and then off we went to Laugh Factory. I think this attraction is really cute. This time I was put on the screen as "She has kissed a monster" My daughter thought that was cool. After this S and C went to see Stitch and the rest of us went to get a snack and fastpasses to Space Mountain. After Stitch we met up with S's parents and headed to Splash. Hubby road in the front car and tore off part of his big toenail when he went for the imaginary brake going down the big drop. We went to the first aid station and the nurse asked if he was in the front row of SM. Apparently this happens a lot if you are wearing sandals because your automatic reaction is to go for the "brake" and, in the front row, your foot hits the wall.

After first aid we were off to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. I had the 1/2 tuna sandwich and clam chowder, DD had a bowl of chowder and hubby had the ham sandwich. For dessert wee got two apple crumbles, which really aren't apple crumbles but individual rustic apple pies, and a chocolate cake. We shared the apple crumbles with our friends and DD decided to bring the chocolate cake back to the hotel to eat later. We all thought the food was good and enjoyed it. I forgot to check what the cost was, but it was a good meal that was...FREE

We stopped to ride Small World on our way to Space Mountain. What can I say - it's a small world! Space Mountain was great as usual. At this point it was about 1:30 and we decided to hit the road and take a break at our hotel. At the quiet pool DH met a woman who grew up close to him,he played hockey with her brothers so they chatted about mutual friends for awhile which was cool.

Dinner was at Raglan Road. For appetizers we ordered seared scallops and Dalkey Duo and we all really enjoyed them. I had the Fillet, which was really good but came with no sides. It also carried a $7 surcharge on the mealplan. I ordered a side of mashed to go with the fillet. DD had the Lemon Sole which she really enjoyed. DH had the Shepherds Pie and thought it was great. For dessert we ordered the bread pudding, the trio of desserts and the apple dessert. Sorry I can't be more specific but I was only focused on the bread pudding, YUM YUM!! From what I gathered from others, all the desserts were great! Anyway, the bill covered by the meal plan came to $116 plus tax and tip. I left an additional $10 tip as our waiter was great. Okay, that's it for tonight. I'll add more tomorrow.

 

[DisneyNotes]

I'm interested! I'm here! Thanks for the updates.

Glad you enjoyed Columbia Harbor House. We plan to eat there on our first MK night.

 

[micky hater]

awesome good luck with the live report doing good so far

 

[valleygirl]

Day 10 - Epcot

We arrived at opening and immediately went to ride Soarin. That ride is definitely one of my favorites. We had about a 20 minute wait first thing. It was the first time DH had ridden and he loved it. I love riding with first time riders and reliving the awe by watching their faces. After Soarin we got a fast pass for Test Track and then rode Finding Nemo and Figment. Figment is my daughter's favorite ride for purely sentimental reasons - this is the only ride she remembers from when she was a toddler - so we have to ride it as many times as possible on each trip. Unfortunately for DD, I don't think it will be around for much longer as nobody ever rides it. We then used our fast pass for Test Track and headed over to World Showcase.

We stopped by Mexico and rode the new El Rio ride - not overly impressed, but then again I never was impressed by this ride. Adding cartoon characters didn't do anything for the ride. Browsed through the marketplace and then headed over to China. DD loves the egg rolls in China so we used one of our counter service credits and shared an order of shrimp fried rice and an eggroll. For dessert we got the ginger caramel ice cream which was incredible. I wish I knew where to buy that ice cream because we all loved it. Did a little shopping in China and headed over to Japan to see if we could pick a pearl. Unfortunately, the pick a pearl counter wasn't opened yet so we continued on to Morrocco. After looking around and shopping a bit we shared a chicken shawarma platter and tried some morrocan wine. The platter was great - the chicken was seasoned perfectly and covered with some type of cucumber dressing. It was served with couscous, tabouli, hummus and bread. Dessert was baklava. All of the food was yummy and there was more than enough in one platter to satisfy the three of us. After Morrocco we decided to head back to the hotel for a swim break before returning to Epcot for dinner at Alfredo's.

We returned to Epcot for our 6:00 pm reservations at Alfredo's. All I can say is YUCK! I had always wanted to try this restaurant but after doing so I can see why they were closing. Our waiter completely rushed us and never told us what the specials were. We only knew that they offered specials because S's parents had arrived in Orlando and, as we were unable to alter our reservations to include them, they had their own table at the other side of the restaurant - with a good waiter I might add. Anyway, our waiter never once smiled or anything. He wanted our orders and he wanted us out of there! We ordered appetizers, Lobster bisque - okay, tomatoes & bufalla mozzarella - mozzarella was good but tomatoes were not ripe, and a salad that consisted of about a half cup of mixed salad greens and 4 cherry tomatoes and cost some obscene amount. For dinner I ordered the tri-sampler which had alfredo pasta, pasta with sauce and lasagna. The alfredo was good but very rich. The pasta and lasagna were not very good. DD ordered the alfredo and liked it but couldn't eat very much as it was so rich. DH ordered the wild boar sausage which tasted pretty much like any other sausage. For dessert we ordered tiramissu and a chocolate mousse for C. After we had our dessert the waiters brought out another chocolate mousse with a birthday candle in it for C - his grandparents had ordered it. About this time C was not feeling well and S had to rush him through the restaurant with a napkin over his mouth trying to get to the bathroom. They made it but it kind of put a damper on the evening for C. Later that night K wasn't feeling too well either. The rest of us felt fine after our dinner but we didn't like the food, the service or the outrageous prices.

We left Alfredo's and headed to Japan to pick a pearl. DD picked one for herself and one as a birthday gift for her friend. We had the pearl she picked for herself mounted on a sterling silver ring and the pearl she picked for her friend was placed in a sterling birdcage setting. They are both really pretty and DD was pleased with her choices. We walked around a bit and DH and I got the grey goose lemon slushies in France and DD got a Kaki Gori in Japan. As we started looking for a good location to watch Illuminations there were bolts of lightening and DD decided that she wanted to call it a night so we headed back to CBR.

Up next, morning at MGM and then a girls night out at the Pirates and Princess Party.

 

[momtoccc]

Sounds like you are having a good trip!! Thanks for the live report.

 

[DisneyNotes]

It is so cool to hear from you during your trip. Thanks for taking the time to update us poor souls that aren't at Disney.

 

[valleygirl]

Just to update you all - I was a complete failure at the live trip report and have now reverted to a regular trip report. This update is for Tuesday 8/28 - MGM in the morning and Pirates and Princess Party in the evening.

We headed to MGM for opening and arrived around 8:40. The wait wasn't long before we were in and headed to ToT to get fastpasses as DD wasn't up to riding this early in the morning. We headed over to the great movie ride. DD loves this ride - again, I think it's for sentimental reasons, she loved it when she was a toddler. After the great movie ride we got fastpasses for star tours and then went to watch High School Musical. DD loves the high school musical thing. We left for our trip on Friday, 8/17 and travelled to Boston where we spent the night at the airport Hilton. This was the night of the High School Musical 2 premier and DD was bent on watching this when we arrived at the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel didn't have the Disney Channel so DD was out of luck. This was apparently enough to almost ruin the vacation. Luckily it was on the next night and the tv at our house got the Disney Channel so all was well with the world. Anyway, after the HSM show we went to ride Star Tours and then we headed to lunch at 50's Prime Time. We had so much fun at this restaurant. We ordered our meals and DH ordered a beer. When our waitress was leaving she told DH that he better do something about the hat he was wearing. When the beer was delivered in a bottle, DH asked for a glass and our waitress asked if he was a sissy. SHe then went and got him a glass and said "here's your sissy glass." I was roaring. For appetizers we ordered shrimp cocktail, fried cheese and chicken noodle soup and they were all excellent. For entrees we ordered fried chicken, white meat only fried chicken and chicken pot pie. Our order was delivered and DH and I received the correct orders but DD received pot roast instead of pot pie. When we made our waitress aware of the error she said she would take care of it and jokingly, DH said leave the pot roast so I can snack on it. The waitress then started calling DH a pig. When DH didn't eat any of the pot roast the waitress started feeding it to him. It was so funny. When I was done eating DD hid my greens under the chicken and told the waitress that I had hid my vegetables so I would get in trouble but the waitress said the greens were so horrible she didn't blame me for not eating them. Anyway, the meal was awesome and our waitress was great fun. We will definitely eat here on our next trip and, until then, we'll call DH sissypig!

After lunch we decided to take off and rest before the P&PP that night. After a nap and a swim at the resort DD and I got dressed for the party. Let me say that I will always attend special events if they are offered during our visits. This party was awesome. DD and I both wore skirts made of pirate material. I had on a pirates of the caribbean shirt with red crystals on the shirt and DD had a tank top with skull and crossbones and Pirate Girl on the front. I wore pirate micky ears and DD wore pirate goofy ears. This party was great. When we first arrived at 6:00 pm we rode Pooh and then walked around to see what was going on. When the party started we headed over to see Jack Sparrow first thing and waited about 25 minutes. He was so cool - totally sounded like Jack. He saw my daughter's braces and said "she has jewels on her teeth" it was so funny! We then headed off to the treasure spots and the rides.

We found all of the treasure spots which was fun - chocolates or beads. The rides were all a walk-on - we rode Peter Pan, Pooh, Teacups, Snow White, Space Mountain, Alladin's Carpets, Big Thunder - 2X, Splash - 2X. The parade and the fireworks were awesome. Ate dinner at Pecos Bills and had great burgers. Awesome night!! We left the park right at Midnight and were back at the hotel by around 12:30.