Not Much Sleep - But Boy Did We Have Fun

[kristasmom]

This was our 1st trip to WDW, June 10th - 18th, so this is also my 1st trip report. A warning in advance that when I start typing I tend to get carried away, but I'll try not to bore you to death. I'll start with introductions:

Me: Sharon, 36, single mom . Two years ago I got a great job and we can finally afford to go on vacation.

DD: Krista, 11, just graduated 5th grade . She is a very sweet girl, but she's getting to that age where she has her moody moments - especially when she hasn't had enough sleep.

A little background: Last year we got to take our 1st real vacation and had 2 options - Hawaii or WDW, since I wanted to go to both places I let DD choose which one we would go to 1st and she chose Hawaii . I was sure that she would chose WDW, but since we live about 45 minutes away from Disneyland she didn't want to go all the way to Florida to do the same things she could do at home. Little did she know! Anyway, Hawaii was great and when we got home I immediately started doing my WDW homework, and booked our trip. About 1 month later I found the DIS and realized that it was a good thing we went to Hawaii 1st since there was so much about WDW that I didn't know. Thank you to everyone for all their tips and help, it made our trip wonderful . Now, on with the report -

Pre-Trip Report: I planned this trip for 11 months, reading this board every day, buying guides, watching the Travel Channel, and I thought I was completely prepared . Three weeks before we were scheduled to leave I got a very nasty surprise - we have to sell our house and move (a long and ugly story that I won't bore you with), so I wondered, should we cancel our trip? We found a nice realtor to search for houses for us while we were gone and we decided to go on with our plans . Two weeks before we are scheduled to leave I got sick - nasty cold that turned into bronchitus (sp?), took some antibiotics and start feeling better. One week before we are scheduled to leave DD gets sick, thank goodness, just a cold and she was better in a few days. Two days before we are scheduled to leave and I turn on the weather channel and find out that there is a storm that could possibly turn into the 1st named storm of the season , but we carry on, finish packing and are all set to go .

Day 1: June 9th

We got up early and packed up the car and then we started rounding up the animals. My DD loves animals, so we have quite a few, and they are all going different places while we are gone. Let the pet parade begin - 2 of the 3 cats get dropped off at a friends house (1 lives mostly outside and will be cared for by our neighbor), the hamster goes to my parents house (my mother is terrified of him, but by the time we get back she does not want to return him), and the dog goes to the kennel - I considered dressing him up and taking him with us, passing him off as my furry little son, but I figured the barking might eventually give us away. Last year we left him in a kennel that we will never use again - when we went to pick him up the lady came out in her bra and a pair of shorts to settle the bill and return him to us . This new kennel, excuse me, pet resort is about 40 minutes in the opposit direction that we need to go, but I'll do anything for my sweet little fur face. After dropping him off we have a 2 hour drive to our hotel by the airport (we are staying in a park & fly hotel since our flight leaves at 7AM and they will keep the car for free while we are gone), have no problems finding it, room is great with a beautiful balcony. I surprise DD by taking her to see Cars which has just opened, and then to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Next we have to drop the car off at the parking structure, it's 2 short blocks form the hotel so we decide to just walk back over instead of waiting on the shuttle, when we turn the corner there is a XXX club right there, screened off from the hotel by a wall and trees . I tried to distract DD into looking the other way, but was forced to give a short explanation about what it was. She took off walking as fast as she could as soon as she began to get a clue. We showered and watched a little TV and then tried to get some sleep.

You've made it this far, so be sure to come back for the next installment when we'll actually make it to WDW. Right now I have to go into a meeting - bad me, writing a trip report while at work!

 

[wvgoofyfan]

Sounds like a great trip in the works- you have done so much homework!
Get back to us real soon!

 

[DisneyDoll10/28]

Sounds like you two are going to have a great time! Can't wait for the rest of it.

 

[jjk]

Looking forward to the next installment

 

[cyjmhill]

Spunds like it is going to be a great TR...I look forward to reading the rest!

Dang meeting - getting in the way of a good TR!

 

[FSUMARCHIEF]

Skip the meeting! Glad you've started your report!

Blessings!
MarkyMark

 

[pumba]

Thanks For The Pretrip......we Always Have Some Ailment Before Our Trips.....i Wonder If We Catch It Because We Are So Gung Ho On Going And Excited......

 

[MagicMe]

Great start

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[kristasmom]

Saturday June 10th:

We got up at 4AM, packed up and headed down to take the shuttle to the airport. Who knew that so many people would be headed to the airport so early We made it on to the second shuttle and to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I have a need to always be early for things, I'm working on that. Got thru security quickly and faced the 1st really big line of our trip - Starbucks. We board the plane, and about half an hour into the flight I found out that the movie was going to be Pink Panther, my DD begged me to go see this at the movie theater, but I told her that she would have to wait for video to see it, so I could do something (anything) other than sit thru this movie (sorry - no offense to those of you who liked this movie). I had joked around that my worst nightmare was to be stapped in at 35,000 feet and forced to watch this movie. I must say that it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and if Jason Statham had been in more than just the 1st five minutes of the movie I might actually have liked it. We had no trouble finding the Magic Express check-in when we landed, and there was already a bus waiting, so with-in an hour of landing we were on Disney property. We stopped to drop off at All Star Sports and Music, and then we arrived at ASMo. We were a little disappointed at first with the front and the lobby, but we were checked in quickly and pleasantly surprised to be given a room in the Toy Story building - the only request we had made was non-smoking. We found the room easily, but were dis-appointed that the giant Woody was all covered up. I was surprised by the room, from what I had read I was expecting it to be tiny, but it was fine for us. We dropped our carry-on bags and headed for the bus stop to go to Down Town Disney. At the last minute I ran back into the room because I "forgot" something and put out the present from Tinkerbelle that I had been hiding so DD could find it when we got back. The bus to Down Town Disney seemed to take forever to come and we were worried that they would all be like that, but we finally made it. First stop was Earl of Sandwich - we were starving (that is the last time we could say that for the entire trip). We had the dining plan and decided we would eat what we wanted with-out worrying that we were getting our money's worth. The food was great and we sat outside and watched a juggler and tried to let it sink in that we were really there . After dinner we went to Once Upon A Toy and got a Mr. Potato Head box, then off to Goofy's Candy Company to design a mug and get a slushie. There was a kids dance party going on and I twisted DD's arm until she danced a couple of songs. A little more looking around and we were ready to go back to the hotel and unpack. We had trouble finding the bus stop and when we did it was a total mess, tons of people, no lines, and everyone pushing to get on . At that point I thought we might have to consider renting a car so we didn't have to go thru that every day - thank goodness we never had that problem again. Got back to the room and the luggage was there . DD was thrilled that she got a present, and although she knows the characters aren't real (I assume she knows that they aren't real, but she does still firmly believe in Santa), she likes to hold onto the magic. Unpacked and showered and tried to sleep. Kept looking at the clock thinking that we had to get up early, we had breakfast reservations with Donald. Finally manage to fall asleep.

Tomorrow it's off to Animal Kingdom.

 

[Avivasmom]

Loving it, want to read more.

 

[byoung]

Good reporting.

 

[pooksma]

Great beginning! Looking forward to more!

 

[averill94]

Keep posting!
We are not going back to DTD until we drive ourselves
- just always takes waaay too long for us!

 

[javamom]

I am so paranoid about everyone getting sick before out trip too, as it will be Winter when we get there with the whole crew.

Glad it all worked out for you though!

 

[Minnie]

I hope your house hunting goes smoothly

BTW - DTD bus service is the worst no matter which resort you stay at

 

[kristasmom]

Sunday June 11th

Today we had 8AM breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom so we were up early and headed out to the bus stop. After our bus problems the night before I decided to stop by the front desk to ask about the bus to Animal Kingdom - bad mistake. The man working there told me that we had missed the breakfast bus and the only way that we would make it would be to take a taxi. I have read several times on this board that the CM's don't always know what they are talking about, and this was one of those times. We took a taxi, but they wouldn't let us in and told us that the taxi driver should have known better. The driver turned around and drove the wrong way down the road so he could get out of the parking lot. He took us back to the hotel and guess what was just pulling up - an Animal Kingdom bus. We hopped on and made it in plenty of time, even with the side trip with the cab. We had barely sat down when the characters started coming over - Donald, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy, so they had to wait while we dug the autograph book, pen, and camera out of our always over-stuffed back pack. We finished eating just before 9AM and were all ready to head over to Expedition Everest when they announced that it was down. I shoud note that DD loves roller coasters, and I like them as long as there are no big drops, but I was going to give this one a try. We should have headed over to get a fast pass anyway, but we decided to wait until later in the day to get one. By the time we made it to that area the fast passes were all gone. We liked the safari and got to sit in the front row, went to the petting zoo area and DD was impressed that you actually got to brush the animals. We met Rafiki and Pocahontis (who must have been having a bad day - she didn't say a word or crack a smile). We enjoyed walking down all the trails and seeing the animals, then we headed over to Dino Land for some more rides. We Fast Passed Dinosaur and waited about 5 minutes to ride Primevil Whirl. I thought Dinosaur was loud, but not scary, DD kept her eyes closed for the whole ride. Primevil Whirl was a lot of fun. We lined up for the Lion King show and experienced our 1st Florida rain, but it was a welcome relief to the heat and humidity. DD was in the front row and hoped to be picked to be in the show, but due to technical difficulties the show got cancelled . They did bring all the performers out for a meet and greet so we did get to see their wonderful costumes. DD is a little on the commando side, so it is hard to slow her down sometimes to take in the scenery or to enjoy a show or a parade, so I kept getting the "this was a waste of time look", but I made her go to the parade later anyway . Our favorite ride at Animal Kingdow was Kali River Rapids, which we rode twice. I was a wimp and wore my poncho, but DD got soaked. We headed back to the hotel in time to take a swim and then grabbed a quick dinner from the food court. Bus service was great - which was the way it went for the rest of our trip. I know some people don't like Animal Kingdom, but it turned out to be one of my favorites.

Tomorrow - Epcot and here comes Tropical Storm Alberto.

 

[cyjmhill]

Can't wait for the next installment.

Do you get to ride Everest?

 

[kristasmom]

No, we never got to ride Everest, by the time we got over there the fast passes were gone and the line was too long.

 

[kristasmom]

Monday June 12th

The previous night I had spoken to my mom on the phone and she told me that she had heard that the storm was no big deal and we probably wouldn't even have any affects from it. Great, I went to bed thinking all was well, and I didn't even think too much about it when we got up and it was raining. Epcot was the place that I was most looking forward to going to and I hoped the rain would stop before we made it to World Showcase. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the food court and headed off. While waiting to get in there was a couple in front of us talking about the approaching Tropical Storm. Huh? Apparently mom was wrong. We made our way in and there were still lots of cute topiaries left from the Flower Festival and we took some pictures while trying to shield the camera from the rain. We had intended to get a fast pass for Mission Space and then get in line for Test Track, but we decided to just ride since the wait was only 5 minutes. We chose to ride the tamer version since we didn't want to chance feeling sick for the rest of the day. The ride was a lot of fun. By the time we got to Test Track there was about a 20 minute wait so we grabbed a fast pass and went on Ellen's Energy Ride. It ended up being better than I thought it would be, and DD didn't even complain. We had 11AM reservations at Garden Grill and decided to head over that way and find something to do over there until it was time. The line for the boat ride and the show with Timon & Pumba (?) were both crowded so we stopped at the KidKot stop until it was time to eat. I thought the food was good, but DD was grumpy and hardly ate anything. The characters came by and it was mostly the same ones from Donald's, with the exception of Chip & Dale who were very funny. After eating we headed over to Test Track to use our fast passes, got on the ride quickly, but it kept stopping, we were stuck in one spot for about half an hour and they finally turned on the lights and walked us all out. Seems the rain was so bad that it was unsafe to operate the ride. They gave everyone fast passes to come back later. We headed off to World Showcase and when DD found out that there were only a couple of rides there her grumpiness came out in full force. I was a little irrated myself since I had wanted to be able to stroll around and take in all the different countries, but we both got over it and ended up having a great time. She got her passport stamped in all the countries and enjoyed talking with the CM's. In the American Pavillion she met a CM who's home town is in California about 10 minutes away from us. By the time we finished World Showcase the rain had stopped and we had enough time to head back over to Test Track before Illuminations. We made it to the front of the line and wouldn't you know it, they shut it down again. We were told to just hang on for a few minutes because they were sure they would be starting again soon. Sure enough, 10 minutes later we were on the ride and it was great. We grabbed dinner from Mexico and sat down to wait for Illuminations. Just as we finshed eating Illuminations started and it began to rain again. We started edging towards the exit as we watched the end of Illuminations and made it on the 1st bus back to the hotel. I found a news station so I could get an update on the weather and a little scared of what I heard. Tropical Storm Alberto could turn into a hurrican before it made landfall and tornado warnings all over the place. They kept listing the counties affected, but we didn't know what county we were in. After watching for awhile we found out there were no warnings for our area so we went to sleep. Several times during the night I was awakened but the wind and rain, but we made it thru fine.

Tomorrow - Typhoon Lagoon - so what if a tropical storm is about to - we're at a water park so we can't get any wetter. Yeah right!

 

[kpk89]

Kristasmom, thanks for sharing your report! My sister often travels to WDW in Sept, height of hurricane season, but her thinking is that it's cheap(er), and a hurricane day stuck in a WDW hotel room is better than a bright sunny day at work!

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.