Our Disney Trip to Sara-topia! Sept/Oct MNSSHP & F&W trip(link to dining review 11/1)

[jecskc]

I remember going to Typhoon Lagoon as a teenager and loving the wave pool. As an adult, I'm sure it would freak me out more than anything! We always ended up with several scratches and scrapes from the rough bottom. Your poor DD and her nose!!! I bet that hurt.

We have seen Fantasmic on both of our recent trips and really enjoyed it. But you're right, Wishes has that nostalgia about it that nothing can compare to!

That bottom is very rough and there were a lot people with scrapes. I bet first aid is busy around there. DD's nose is just now healing up. Just one little tiny scab left.

We loved Fantasmic, but Wishes is still tops in my book.

 

[Poolrat]

At first I thought this might be my reference. With the garbage can.

While I was watching, this older woman at the end of the slide got hit by an errant wave and it knocked her down and just moved her along and she took out about five other people. When she got up, she had this very bad scrape on her hip. It was very big and bleeding. I felt really bad for her because it looked like it hurt really bad. Some people helped her out of the pool and I assume she got some first aid.
DS tried this one and said he didn’t really like it. And after hearing all of the comments from people getting off this slide, I could see why. I heard some pretty funny comments. Everything from “atomic wedgie” to “water high colonic”. Apparently, the water really did a number on your bottom. There were several that tried it once and then left.

While we were in the pool, DD scraped her nose on the bottom of the pool. She didn’t realize that it was getting shallower and she really got a good scrape on her nose. The lifeguard came to check on her, but I said she would be fine. He still came back after a few minutes to double check. At this point DD was done and so was I. So DH and DS rode one more time and then we left.

Ouch and double ouch. They do make the bottom so you don't slip but if you get knocked down it hurts big time. As for the atomic wedgie you really have to "tighten up" when you go down or you will find yourself running to the bathroom.

And for Poolrat

My buddy BO.


Charleston Princess's daughter Chelsea claimed him first but I think she may have moved on. Fickle teenagers. So now he is mine. As long as Bo is there, all is good with the world.

 

[jecskc]

My buddy BO.

I thought of you immediately when I saw him !!! I remember from your TR that he was gone for a while, but I was glad to see him back.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Wow, the bottom of the pool definitely left its mark! Your poor DD!

 

[jecskc]

Wow, the bottom of the pool definitely left its mark! Your poor DD!

Yep. It will scrape you up pretty good. Saratopia coming up next !!!

 

[mimiecp]

I'm finally cought up. I'm glad you enjoyed the Halloween Party. It sounds like a great time.

I'm glad I did not take my kids to TL. The wave pool sounds scary to me and without my husband along, it really would have scared me to keep an eye on both kids. I'm sorry about your daughter's nose!

We went to BB on Friday that week after my parents had to go home, but I think we were all so tired at that point, we were only there 2 hours before going back to the pool at the CSR. DS would have stayed longer, but DD and I over-ruled him. I thought the wave pool there was rough on the bottom too although the waves sound much more managable.

We were at HS on Wed but did not stay for Fantasmic. I have not yet seen any sign of my group in your photos, but I am looking. I laughed out loud abou the lady with the spaghetti! It is very economical, but I cannot imagine doing that. I'm sure my bags would rupture in transport and make a tremendous mess.

 

[jecskc]

I'm finally cought up. I'm glad you enjoyed the Halloween Party. It sounds like a great time.

I'm glad I did not take my kids to TL. The wave pool sounds scary to me and without my husband along, it really would have scared me to keep an eye on both kids. I'm sorry about your daughter's nose!

We went to BB on Friday that week after my parents had to go home, but I think we were all so tired at that point, we were only there 2 hours before going back to the pool at the CSR. DS would have stayed longer, but DD and I over-ruled him. I thought the wave pool there was rough on the bottom too although the waves sound much more managable.

We were at HS on Wed but did not stay for Fantasmic. I have not yet seen any sign of my group in your photos, but I am looking. I laughed out loud abou the lady with the spaghetti! It is very economical, but I cannot imagine doing that. I'm sure my bags would rupture in transport and make a tremendous mess.

Halloween Party was awesome.

I would not let my kids in that wave pool alone and I am not the one to be there with them. I was surprised it was the Crush n Gusher pool that she got a scape in and not the wave pool.

I always try to get to a water park early in the trip or after a rest day. They can really wear you out. Especially BB. It has more stairs.

Keep looking for yourself. It seemed like we were at the same place at the same time often during this trip. You are bound to be in there somewhere My spaghetti bag would burst, too. That is just my luck as well.

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part One

So THIS was our day to move over to Sara-topia or Saratoga Springs. DH was snoring and I woke up at about 5:30 AM and decided not to go back to sleep. Instead, I got up and packed up everything in sight. I was so ready to get out of this resort. About 7:00 AM, I woke up DH and asked him if he thought it was a good idea for me to go over to Saratoga Springs and check in while he got up and got everything ready.

He sighed tiredly and said OK. So off I went over to Saratoga Springs.

Some photos of the entrance and lobby.

So I make my way up to the desk to check in. The CM checking me in was very kind and he said that our room was ready – YAY !!! I was sooooo excited. This means we can get there even earlier than I expected. He showed us where we were located and he said it was a nice quiet area, but did I want him to look and see if there was a better room for us near Downtown Disney. I said yes, of course. Who doesn’t want a better room ??? He found one in Congress Park which I had read is a good area. And again, he said our room was ready. I was so happy. He gave me our keys and paperwork and then I headed back to Silver Lake to see if DH was up and getting things together.

On my way up to the room, I snagged a baggage trolley so we get everything in one trip …. Hopefully.
When I get in, the kids are still asleep and DH is laying in bed watching a movie.

Nooooooooooooooooo !!! This is NOT good. Once DH gets into a movie, he HAS to finish watching it. And it doesn’t matter if he has seen it before, once something is on, it is virtually impossible to move him without starting a fight. GAH !! So I started to get the kids up and pack up the refrigerator stuff and load the trolley. And this is something DH can’t stand because he thinks that everything needs to be loaded up just so. I told him to finish watching his stupid movie and let me do the work.
He went back into the bedroom muttering while I got everything together. After about 20-30 minutes, his movie was over and I quickly switched off the TV in case he got involved in another one. Seriously, he would sit there all day if I let him. He wanted to know what my hurry was. I just wanted to leave that place. And THEN to reiterate, the maintenance man wanted to come in and fix our phone. We told him it was working just fine and that we had unplugged it because we were tired of getting their annoying phone calls.

And finally at long last, we loaded up the car, checked out and left Silver Lake – forever.

Silver Lake pros and cons.

Pros – lots of space, quiet, friendly staff, the kids each had their own bed, comfy beds

Cons – old décor, nagging phone calls, old TVs with bad pictures, coffee pot that leaked an entire cup of water before being finished brewing the pot.

Seriously, it was OK – but it wasn’t Disney.

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part Two

So finally, we made our way over to Saratoga Springs. We were all excited to see our room.

Elevator. DD said, look Mom even the elevator is better. Yes, yes it was.

We were in room number

Room photos before we made a huge mess.

Foyer

Cute lamp

Kitchen

Living room

Dinette

Master bedroom.

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part Three

More room photos.

Bathroom photos

Washer and dryer.

Closet

Balcony.

Views.

Hidden Mickey.

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part Four

AND …… some more room photos !!

I loved the old photos on the wall.

Even though the kids had to share a bed, we were VERY happy with our room.

One thing that I thought was strange is that here was no luggage trolley. So we had to lug all of our stuff up to the fourth floor and it took about 4 trips. It would have been nice to have a trolley, though. Very strange that they did not have one.

Anyway, we got all settled and we were hungry AND back on the dining plan – YAY !! So we decided to head over to Wolfgang Pucks and try that out since we had never eaten there.

DH and I got spaghetti and meatballs to share.

Very yummy and plenty of food for two people.

DS got chicken fingers and French fries. I thought I got a photo, but I can’t find one. Oh well, everyone knows what those look like. Maybe it was because he ate them so fast. He really enjoyed them

DD ordered the kids pizza.

She said it was just OK and that next time she was getting chicken fingers. I had some and it wasn’t bad and it wasn’t great either.

For dessert DH and I shared the cheesecake.

Very good and creamy. It had kind of a crème brulee type top to it that we thought was interesting. It was delicious.

DS got a cookie which he enjoyed.

DD got a brownie and she loved it. Said it was really good.

After our very enjoyable lunch, the kids wanted to do some shopping …. And well, so did I.

DD wanted to ride this little carousel.

But the attendant had gone to take a break, so we went over to Once Upon a Toy.

Where DD bought a baby Marie animal.

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part Five

Then we went to the kitchen store

Where I bought come chip clips

And a trivet

Then we went to World of Disney, but didn’t buy anything there.

While we were there, DH took DS over to the Lego store where DS got an Alien Lego set

He just loves these Lego sets. I’ll post photos later of what the end product looked like.

DH and DS met us back at the World of Disney

We cruised the Ghiradelli store.

I easily could have spent $100 in here. But it was still so stinkin’ hot that I was afraid it would all melt by the time we got them back to the resort. And although I WANTED the yummy chocolate, I didn’t need it. Sigh.

Next we went to Basin.

Where I bought this canister of bath bombs.

This deal was $19.99 for as many bath bombs you could fit in this canister. I got seven of the small ones. Two of them smell like Soarin’. One is the ocean smell and the other is the oranges smell. I can’t wait to try them. It is still warm here n the mid 80’s every day and the AC still comes on every day. I tend to take more baths when it is colder, so I will get to them for sure.

The attendant was back at the carousel and DD still wanted to ride. So I said OK. What she really wanted to do was get in the little tea cup like thing and spin, spin, spin. And so she did.

She was just spinning and spinning and I heard her laughing every time she swung by the bench I was sitting on. It was fun to watch her.

We checked out Team Mickey and Tren-D, but didn’t buy anything. There is a Ridemakerz in Team Mickey and the kids had fun playing with the remote cars.

After that, it was hot and I was tired so we headed back to the parking lot and got these photos on the way.

 

[jecskc]

OK y'all, I just about had me a mini panic attack. I noticed in Photobucket that day 6's photos and day 7's photos were exactly the same. And because DH needed the camera, I had erased all of our photos off of the little disc thingy (sorry for the technical jargon, I'll try to dumb it down a bit) !! After hyperventilating and checking everything, I found them all safe and sound on the downstairs computer. Whew . So it's all good now ... all good. I wouldn't say no to a valium though. I would even settle for a Xanax ..... just sayin'. too bad I don't have any of that stuff. So I'm having a glass of Pinot instead .... Oh, and the photopass photos came so I will posting those as well YAY !!

 

[Poolrat]

I cruised by SS once and cut through to get to the Treehouses once. Not exactly a tour you might say.

SSR is the first three days of the NYE trip. AKL is the second three. I am looking forward to staying DVC.

I have seen the lobby and the pool so I am looking forward to exploring and actually being close to DTD. I never seem to get there unless I am close.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

SSR looks so nice! I can see why you were so excited to get moving and get there!

I love meandering around DTD...but you didn't stop by my favorite place! How could you pass up Goofy's Candy Company?? There's a bunch of things there that wouldn't have melted!

 

[jecskc]

I cruised by SS once and cut through to get to the Treehouses once. Not exactly a tour you might say.

SSR is the first three days of the NYE trip. AKL is the second three. I am looking forward to staying DVC.

I have seen the lobby and the pool so I am looking forward to exploring and actually being close to DTD. I never seem to get there unless I am close.

We STAYED at SSR and they wouldn't let us in to drive around and look at the Treehouses which I thought was really strange. We were "allowed" to walk over there, but I was too tired. I'll save me feet for the parks thankyouverymuch. We are looking to stay there sometime next year.

We are staying at AKL in April and I am REALLY excited about it. AND we are staying at Boardwalk in 40 short days and we are looking forward to that as well.

SSR looks so nice! I can see why you were so excited to get moving and get there!

I love meandering around DTD...but you didn't stop by my favorite place! How could you pass up Goofy's Candy Company?? There's a bunch of things there that wouldn't have melted!

SSR was nice. We really loved it !! We make our way over to Goofy's, don't you fret. I mean DTD was right THERE, we had to go back !!

 

[jecskc]

Day 6 – Part Six

We went back to the resort and we all wanted to try out the new Paddock Pool and water slide. I forgot to take the camera, but here are some photos from the Allears.net website.

http://allears.net/acc/g_PaddockPoolSaratogaSprings.html

The photos make the pool look larger that it really is. It was a little crowded but it wasn’t too bad. The water was really refreshing. Not too warm. The kids really enjoyed the slide and I did too. It was fun. I got a Long Island Iced Tea to keep the New York vibe going and found a nice shady place to rest. The CM’s got a bingo game going and I came soooo close to winning a couple of times, but never did. We stayed about an hour and a half and then went back to the room to chill and get ready for our dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon.

So we had a 6:25 PM reservation at Whispering Canyon. DH really enjoyed this dinner in June, so I booked it again. We hopped in the car about 5:45 Pm and made our way over to Wilderness Lodge. I just love Wilderness Lodge. We stayed there on my birthday trip back in January. We really need to make a point to stay there again.

Anyway, we got there and checked in and I took some photos of the light fixtures, which I love.

Fire extinguisher

We got a buzzer and shopped some in the gift shop. I saw a puzzle that I wanted there that I sooo should have bought. Now I’m kicking myself for not buying it. It is a 1000 piece puzzle of a Thomas Kinkade painting of Cinderella’s castle. I so should have bought it. Durn.

Anyway, we waited quite a while before we got seated and we were super hungry by then. The previous time we ate there, it wasn’t quite as busy and we were seated in a quieter section. Not this time. We got seated in the middle of the action and it was REALLY noisy. So Whispering Canyon is really just a pretty name. Don’t let that moniker throw you off into thinking this will be a nice quiet dinner …. Because it won’t. And to top it all off there was a large party seated right next to us. They had a little girl – not quite two – who screamed her head off the entire time we ate. Seriously, there were 8 adults at the table and they ALL ignored her for at least an hour and then finally someone got up and took her away. It was so loud in there that you noticed it, but only if you were close by. As a matter of fact, there was a screaming kid pretty much wherever we went. I mean I understand. I paid my dues with the screaming kids. I get how it is. But I would not have just let my child sit there and cry. I would have bagged dinner and gotten someone to bring me a box of food and took her back to calm down or sleep or whatever she needed. Seriously, this reflected badly on this whole table. And there was this other couple that had another little girl – about four, I think – and she spent the entire dinner under the table with her dress up over her face. Just kicking the table. At least she wasn’t screaming the whole time.

Anyway, rant over. Our server was Suzanne and she was really perky and fun. She teased DS the whole meal. She got out drink orders ….

I, of course, had to have another Magical Star Cocktail. I needed more light up ice cubes.

DH had the Margarita

There’s some yummy cornbread in the background there.

DS had soda. And DD had a chocolate milkshake.

For dinner, DH, DS and I got the all you can eat skillet and DD got chicken nuggets. Here is a photo of her meal.

It came with fruit and cookies. DH and I dug into the salad.

It was very fresh and yummy.

Then out came the skillet which we really enjoyed. There’s chicken and ribs and brisket. Corn on the cob, beans and mashed potatoes. DH LOVES this kind of food, so he was happy.

Seriously, the three of barely made a dent in it. It was really good though.

While we were eating DD did the horse races. They have these horsies on a stick and they gallop all around the restaurant. It was cute.

I ordered another drink. And the kids had fun playing with my light up ice cubes.

For dessert DD had her cookies that came with her kids meal. DS had vanilla ice cream.

I wanted the Smores cheesecake but our waitress told us they had switched just last week. I was bummed because we had that in June and it was really good. Why is Disney always trying to fix what isn’t broke ?? GAH !!! So I ordered the chocolate cake.

And it was really good.

DH got some kind of berry cheesecake which he really liked.

DS, DD and I went outside on the second floor balcony to enjoy the evening while DH did his look at the receipt for 20 minutes thing. There was an impressive lightening show going on but it didn’t rain on us. It was a very pleasant night and we really enjoyed watching the lightening in the distance. After DH was done settling the check, we headed back to the resort.

DD took a bath and wanted to use one of my bath bombs. So I let her use the blue one. While she was doing this, we heard this pop, pop, crackle and we were like, “What is that ??” We opened the window shade and realized we could see the Epcot fireworks from our master bedroom window. How cool was that ??? DH went out on the balcony and said he could the MK fireworks, too !! Bonus !! It was so cool to see them right from our room. So nice and unexpected !! We could see them really well, too !!

The DH went out to smoke a stinky cigar and got some good Downtown Disney photos.

He said you could see all of the lights and hear the music from Planet Hollywood. It was really pretty. So we really DID have a great room !! Thanks for switching us Mr. CM guy. I don’t remember his name but it started with Kh ….. something. Anyway, he was super awesome to switch us to this primo spot.

We were loving us some Sara-topia, that was for sure !!

 

[Pixie Princess]

Of course not !! We really loved that parade !! And the song was so cute and catchy. I especially loved the undertaker dudes with the shovels and how they made sparks fly up. It was so cool.

The gravediggers are my favorite part of the parade! I'm so happy ya'll had such a good time. I wish I could say our MNSSHP experience was as good this year. I found myself saying something at that party I thought I'd never hear myself say, "I'm want to leave the Magic Kingdom." Our party was so much more crowded than the same party last year. We got very little accomplished, and I still missed the Villians Mix and Mingle!!! I told DD that we needed to take a break from MNSSHP next year. Of course by the time that rolls around, I will probably have forgotten all about how I felt about this year's party and be all excited to head back. LOL!

I agree the candy lines moved very fast considering how long they were. I think they did a better job of making sure people knew there were two lines for each barrel.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Is this the puzzle you were looking at? Amazon is very useful for souvenir regrets!!

Your meal at WCC looks yummy! The screaming kids would have driven me a little nuts though! That stinks about them getting rid of the s'mores cheesecake, it always looked so good!

How awesome that you were able to see the fireworks from your room! Your view definitely looks great!

 

[jecskc]

The gravediggers are my favorite part of the parade! I'm so happy ya'll had such a good time. I wish I could say our MNSSHP experience was as good this year. I found myself saying something at that party I thought I'd never hear myself say, "I'm want to leave the Magic Kingdom." Our party was so much more crowded than the same party last year. We got very little accomplished, and I still missed the Villians Mix and Mingle!!! I told DD that we needed to take a break from MNSSHP next year. Of course by the time that rolls around, I will probably have forgotten all about how I felt about this year's party and be all excited to head back. LOL!

I agree the candy lines moved very fast considering how long they were. I think they did a better job of making sure people knew there were two lines for each barrel.

The gravediggers are so cool. I like that this was our first party and even though it was crowded, we had a good time. We aren't going back in September/October next year since the school gave me so much grief for having DS out for a week. Whatevs. So anyway, I don't know when we will get the opportunity to do it again. But it was really fun. Sorry your experience wasn't ideal. I really felt like we did everything besides get some more character photos. Our photopass photos came out really cool. I will post them tonight or this weekend sometime.

I have to prepare for our tennis tournament in Charleston next weekend, so that will take up some of my free time. Girls weekend !! I soooo can't wait !!

Is this the puzzle you were looking at? Amazon is very useful for souvenir regrets!!

Your meal at WCC looks yummy! The screaming kids would have driven me a little nuts though! That stinks about them getting rid of the s'mores cheesecake, it always looked so good!

How awesome that you were able to see the fireworks from your room! Your view definitely looks great!

YES !! That is the one !!!! I am so ordering that !!! Thanks for finding it for me !! You are the bomb-diggity, Sara !!!

We really like Whispering Canyon and have a breakfast scheduled there in November. Hopefully, no screaming children will be there this time.

It was really cool to watch the fireworks. We only got to see them twice because we were at Downtown Disney one of those nights fighting a massive crowd. More on that coming up