Our Colorado gang meets the Mouse!

[Priorityonecb]

This trip was designed because it hit me one day last August as I sent my baby off to her first year of high school...that we only have four precious years left with her as a child! I wanted to give her as many good, family memories as humanly possible...and what better way to do that then to take the family to WDW? We've been to Disneyland several times, but the WORLD has always been a dream. I schemed and planned in secret to give this trip to our daughters for Christmas.

A little about us:

Me: Tammy, WAHM to my two daughters Caitlin and Brady. I have my own business doing childcare from my home. I love to travel and share experiences with my girls. I am forever planning a trip to somewhere or another.

Dh: Larry, a super intense computer geek who works far to hard. He likes to let me plan our trips so he can just kick back and relax and not have to worry about a thing. Fine by me!!

Dd15- Caitlin. She is the most considerate, passionate, nurturing child. She loves the theater and particpates in community theater projects. I just love this kid! I sometimes think she is raising herself, because I am not good enough a parent to have such a fantastic child!

Dd9-Brady. She is creative, smart as a whip and my challenging child. Mostly because she is so darn smart, she can out talk and out wit me half the time! She talks from the moment she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep at night. She wears us out on a daily basis, but is so fun to have around! She has always been plagued with medical problems, and has a severe peanut allergy which Disney was more than accomodating of.

Okay, so the plan is to be at Disney from May 31st-June 13th...with a four day road trip in between to the beaches of North Carolina. We will be staying at POP Century for the first week, with the dining plan. When we rreturn from POP, we'll be at Movies in the Fantasia section with no dining plan.

So here we are at May 31st...we've been talking about this trip nonstop since December. Our matching T-shirts and Crocs are packed and we are just waiting for the alarm to go off so we can get the heck out of Colorado and visit the mouse! Instead, we were all up before the alarm staring at each other wondering how we could make time go faster to get this show on the road!

We left the house at 4:30am and arrived at the airport around 6am. We parked the van in long term parking and headed in. We grabbed a quick not so good breakfast at Mcdonalds before going to the gate. The flight was uneventful. The girls watched Last Holiday, then played Uno for the rest of the flight.

We arrived at POP Century at WDW around 4pm. Check in was quick and easy and we were surprised to get a preferred room at no extra cost. The staff was super friendly and we were immediately impressed with the resort. We got a room with a lake view. We could see the Epcot ball from our balcony, and see thier fireworks each night reflected in the lake. The girls were thrilled to find hidden Mickey's in the wallpaper of the bathroom! They were sure those were put their for thier enjoyment alone!

We were surprised to find towel animals decorating our windowsill! More Disney magic! We were told we could take them all (really...we were!!)...but we just took a little bunny with orange bow. The girls put it in their bathroom as a decoration and reminder of the trip.

We hopped a bus to Downtown Disney. I must say, Disney transportation was great, but I am so glad to not have to deal with public transportation on a regular basis! We had dinner at Earl of Sandwich which was *fabulous!! Larry had the Carriben jerk chicken, Brady and I split the tuna melt, Caitlin had the BLT. We all had iced tea and cupcakes for dessert.

We spent a good two hours at Disney Quest...which everyone loved! I loved not being asked for quarters every two seconds! We had a funny moment, not realizing that the elevator to get in had some "Disney magic" up it's sleeve to warn Brady ahead of time. When it went dark, Brady practically cried "Did you guys mess up and put me on the Tower of Terror by mistake??" Did I mention that she is also a worrywart? She will worry herself into a tizzy over anything...and does on a regular basis. We are already saving for therapy!

Then we let the girls swim for a bit before bed. It had been a long day, but we were all too excited to finally be there to sleep!

The end of a great first day! We all fell asleep around 11pm, dreaming Disney dreams!

 

[Priorityonecb]

What a feeling to wake up at Walt Disney World after planning this trip for the last 9 months! We soon realized thought that Caitlin takes *way too much time to get ready in the morning! One hour to put her hair into a pony tail?? Sheesh!! ) We love her anyway...

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 8am. Loved the perk of getting into the parks one hour before the "regular" people! We were able to do so much in that hour! This morning, we rode Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear twice, Stitch (horrible ride...we wished we hadn't done that one! It was disgusting), Transit Authority and the Carosaul of Progress all before lunch! Brady was very concerned during Transit Authority, she was sure we were going to get sucked into Space Mountain by some strange force.

The girls (and Dh!!) loved Buzz! I think we rode it at least 6 times during our trip! It didn't do a thing for me...I just sat there watching them being thoroughly happy each time. I think my highest score was 600!

For lunch we ate at Cosmic Rays. We all had chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes and carrots. We had carrot cake for dessert. Caitlin didn't enjoy this meal very much, she's not one for having to pick her meat off it's bones!

After lunch, we did Mickey's Philharmagic...a 4-D show that we all loved! It rained a bit during the show, but it was over by the time we were out. We rode Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Brady was *very nervous about riding Splash Mountain, but she did it and enjoyed it! If she wasn't so nervous the whole time about the "splash" she would have enjoyed it more. She claimed her legs were shaking for 10 minutes after the ride.

At 3pm, we headed to Epcot via the monorail. We rode Spaceship Earth, which proved to one of the kids favorite ride!! We would ride this at least 3 more times during the trip. Larry thinks they should rent out pillows to the parents for this one!

We did the tame version of Mission Space and all enjoyed it. We would wind up doing this one twice more. The tame version never had more than a 10 minute wait...it was like having Fast Passes for chickens like us!

We did Living With the Land and Turtle Talk with Crush followed by a tour through the aquarium. Turtle Talk was just too cute! We were all laughing so hard!

We had dinner at LeCellier. I had the mushroom fillet, Larry had the prime rib. Caitlin had filet with cream cheese mashed potatoes. Brady had a cheeseburger. Brady had the "Chocolate Moose" dessert, Caitlin and I shared the sampler. We were not as hugely impressed with this one as most DISer's. It was good...but not to die for as I was expecting.

We did Test Track after dinner, then headed back to the resort. We were in bed around 10:30. We loved that POP doesn't share buses...and would come to appreciate it even more after staying at Movies who did share! It was so cute to be on the bus late at night seeing all the children half asleep knowing that they had spent the whole day storing up great memories of WDW!

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

I am enjoying reading your report. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Priorityonecb]

So far, we have found the crowds to be very manageable and the weather to be fine. It *was hot and humid, but with lots of cold drinks, we were all fine. There were two periods during our first week that we were uncomfortable due to heat...and those were only for about an hour each time. We were lucky to be out of the rain eating or seeing attractions during any very short bursts of rain.

I was very impressed with my girls too. Both went on every and any ride...from Caitlin riding the "smaller" rides without complaint to Brady braving the bigger rides so we could all go as a family.

Okay, so day three. We had danish and fruit for breakfast and then went to open MGM! Larry and Caitlin walked right onto Rockin' Roller Coaster and loved it. Caitlin and I then did Tower of Terror. She said it was much better than the one at Disneyland. Once was enough for me!! We then did the Little Mermaid show. We were *very surprised to get wet inside a building watching a show! LOL With the air conditioning, I can't say it was the most pleasant feeling! But, the girls liked the show.

We then saw Who Wants to be a Millionare. It was a great show! We had a guest host, one of the professors from the Harry Potter Movies, and an Ewok from the Star Wars films. The kids were excited about that. A 17 year old autistic child got into the hot seat and made it to the million dollar question!! He knew the answers instantly, the whole crowd was roaring each time. Sadly, he missed the last question and didn't win the cruise...but it was amazing to watch.

We had lunch at the Sci-Fi dinner theater. Very fun atmosphere! You sit in cars as if you are at a drive in theater, there are twinkling stars and Sci-Fi movies being played. We all had burgers, fries and ice cream sundae's. It was *cold in there!! More so than the heat in Orlando, it was the drastic changes in temperatures that bothered us more! We are not used to AC being in Colorado!

The girls in our "car" at Sci-Fi. We had two "hitchikers" in the backseat...and one of them kept sniffing nonstop. He was right behind me and he drove me INSANE!!! I almost handed the man a tissue! Ack!! After lunch, we went to see Beauty and the Beast.


We then went back to the hotel and the girls swam for a few hours. Dinner tonight was at the Magic Kingdom with Pooh and friends! We stopped at the entrance for a picture with Minnie! I am soooo glad the girls decided not to do autographs...we could have spent hours in line waiting for the characters autographs!

We had dinner with Pooh at Crystal Palace. It was during a huge thunderstorm so we really lucked out! Dinner was good and varied, character interaction was great! The girls loved this meal.

We finished the night with Disney's Spectrogmagic Parade. I remember this as "Electrical Lights Parade" when I was a little girl!

Larry and Brady were ready to go back to the hotel, but Caitlin and I decided to stay. I was really glad to get to have some one on one time with her doing "big kid" things. We did all the mountains, Space, Big Thunder and Splash. Because of a huge storm we had (while we were safe and warm and dry at Crystal Palace) we were *soaked on Splash! We were both giggling hysterically and having a great time!

Caitlin decided it would be fun to get Brady a little something and pretend it was from Mickey. She chose a stuffed Squirt turtle. We got back to the resort after midnight and asked the gal at the front desk for a small piece of paper to write a note from Mickey. She told us to wait a second, she had a piece of stationary in the back. She came out with a handwritten, personalized note to Brady from Mickey and Minnie thanking her for visiting. It had a signed 5x7 of Minnie and Minnie with two balloons attached!! WOW!! She truly made both Caitlin's night and Brady's morning! Disney magic at it's best!

 

[Priorityonecb]

Today was our Animal Kingdom day. It was nice to have a calmer day! We were having so much fun, but all those late nights and early mornings were starting to catch up with us!

We arrived at Animal Kindgom at opening and went straight to Exhibition Everest. That was mainly the way we bypassed the majority of lines all week, getting those headliners in before the crowds arrived (you know...all those sane people sleeping in on vacation! LOL).

They both said this was a little disappointing, not as scary as they were expecting. Once was enough for them.

We all rode the safari, which Brady loved! We grabbed Fast Passes afterwards so we could go again later in the day. I took Brady on the Dinosaur version of Dumbo, while Larry and Caitlin did the "real" Dinosaure ride that we knew would be too intense for Brady.

We then had breakfast at Donald's. It was a nice buffet, and we had a really great server who made the meal!

We then went on the Safari again using our Fast Passes. We got icecream afterwards, but it melted before the girls could eat even half. We never did icecream again in the parks for that reason. We saw the Festival of the Lion King.


We all rode Brady's requested ride, Primevil whirl or something like that. It was a cross between a Tilta Whirl and a roller coaster. It was very jerky and we all gave it a big thumbs down.

We got some waters and headed back to the resort for some swim time and we all took an one hour nap.

We went to Planet Hollywood for dinner. It was one of the best meals of the trip! We all had blackened shrimp and Captain Crunch chicken for appetizers. Caitlin had the cheeseburger, Larry had the steak which he deemed excellent. Brady had pizza, which oddly tasted like spaghettios! She ate the pizza which surprised me, because she hates spaghettios! I had the salmon which was the best salmon I have ever had! Brady ate as much of my salmon as I was willing to share! LOL We had the Guiradelli hot fudge sundaes for dessert...yum!!

We went to Disney Quest again, the girls loved it here and I loved that they could play without quarters!

We got to bed around 11pm this night after checking on all our animals back home. We were informed that Lilly (our pomeranian) was being turned into a tom-boy by the male dog she was spending the trip time with. No fears though, she is back to her normal pampered princess self today!

 

[Priorityonecb]

We all decided to sleep in this morning. We didn't set the alarm...I was thinking we'd wake up around 8:30. Well...I woke up and glanced at the clock...10:30am! Yikes! We must have been exhausted. We had to get up and GO though which was a bit stressful. We had lunch reservations in Epcot at 11:30! We had to RUN to make the reservation and it was hot...that was one of those times when we were uncomfortable hot!

It was well worth it though, lunch was fabulous! We had reservations at Teppanyaki. I was so impressed with the girls at this meal! They used their chopsticks the whole meal and without prompting ate thier seaweed salad!! (I ate one teeny tiny bite...ick!). We all had various steak, shrimp and chicken. The lo-mein with vegetables was superb! The girls got fruit smoothies that came with little umbrella's, they thought that was so fancy!

The meal was just wonderful, I can't say enough about it. The chef was very entertaining. We had five children at our table, and he spent time teaching them about the language and culture. A great experience for all. Caitlin tried green tea icecream for dessert...which she said was just wonderful!

We then went to all the countries, doing the Kidcot stations at each. The child had to do the craft and collect all the counties symbols on a necklace. When it was complete, Brady got her certificate. She did not want to carry the mask and stick around, and they were more than happy to let her add the countries to her "Land" necklace.

We rode Maelstrom which got a thumbs up by both girls. We enjoyed wandering around the countries, but that is the only attraction/movie we saw for any of them.

We had dinner at the Cape May Clam Bake Cafe. We were not impressed with this meal and it was a trek to get to! There were no peanut free desserts on the buffet, so the chef asked Brady if she could have anything, what would it be. She said "Chocolate icecream and blueberries" and darned if he didn't show up within 5 minutes with just that!

It started pouring as we were on the boat heading from Cape May to MGM so we decided to just go back to the hotel. The weather cleared, and the girls swam for a couple of hours before bed.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Day six was Sea World. Either we were just really tired and cranky, or it just didn't live up to San Diego's Sea World. We encountered more rude people here than anywhere in our entire trip. I will never understand how parents could allow their children to openly disturb other families! You all know I work with children all day, I am very tolerant of normal childish behavior...but allowing your child to kick the seat in front of them over and over or pushing your child aside to see something...just not necessary! Okay, that is my vent!

Larry and Caitlin did the big roller coaster Kranken. We were going to all going on Journey to Atlantis, but it was down for maintenance. We never did make it back to that side of the park to try to ride later in the day.

The girls petted and fed the sting rays...along with some birds that kept stealing all the fish!

Then we went to see the new Shamu show, Believe. We didn't enjoy it much, as there was a family behind us kicking our seats (even after we nicely asked them to stop). We had to put Brady on our lap at one point because the child was standing up directly behind her sceaming. I am sure we would have enjoyed it more had it not been for that.

We had a quick lunch of pizza, salads and iced tea's mid day. Then the girls wanted to feed the dolphins.

After that, we went over to the manatee rescue area.
So sad that these gentle creatures may soon be extinct and I wondered if one day Brady would be looking at these pictures, with no more manatee's on the earth!

We got snow cones and did a little shopping. Caitlin got a keychain, Brady got an inflatable dolphin for the pool. I had to buy a hat when we first arrived, because I had forgotten mine at the resort!

We went back to the resort and had dinner poolside. Brady and Caitlin shared a cheeseburger, Larry and I had the chicken alfredo. We all enjoyed Mickey rice crispy treats for dessert...Brady more so than everyone else! <insert adorable picture of Brady eating it!! I wish I knew how to share pictures here>

The girls swam this night for FIVE hours!!! They had a blast! They particularly enjoyed it once the sun went down and the lights came out.

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you have some really nice dd. Isn't it funny when you get over tired how little things bother you more. Oh Well, I am contemplating on going to Sea World, or Discover Cove.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Looks like you had a great trip. Thanks for posting your report in one thread and for updating it promptly.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a lovely trip report! Enjoying it immensely - too bad for the childish behavior in Sea World (makes you want to turn around and throttle the parents but you took it all in stride and I commend you for that!)

How did your daughter like the turtle toy and Mickey card? That was such a cute idea!