Our First Disney Trip March 28-April 3

[sl_underwood]

The Cast
Me- age 30, loves Kermit
DH Stephen- 30 something, acts just like goofy, major Star Wars fan
DD Kara- 13 thinks she is too old for characters but loves princesses
DD Jessa- 9 loves Star Wars and Stitch

Day 1- We woke up at 2:30 am so we could all be at the airport by 4. We were on a 5:30 am flight out of Wichita, KS. Both of our flights went fine, my kids and hubby slept on the plane while I read the latest Mary Higgins Clark mystery. We arrived in Orlando around 11:45 am and headed off to find the Magic Express busses that would take us to Pop. We arrived at the Magic Express check in and within 5 minutes we were on the bus. We arrived at Pop around 12:45 and checked in. Our room was ready and our requests were honored. We stayed in the 50's tramp section with a view of both Lady and Tramp. We truly liked this hotel. The theming was fun and the kids loved the disney icons. After we settled into the hotel, we headed over to Downtown Disney. We shopped alot, then headed over to Planet Hollywood for a late lunch/early dinner. We used 3 ts credits and ended up with way to much food, we didnt even try dessert. After dinner, we shopped some more and my younger dd took lots of pics with all the character icons and the lego family. We created Mr. Potato heads (my older dd was so embarrassed since mom and dad were playing too, I guess its not cool to have fun, lol) then we headed back to the hotel to swim for a bit. We were a little dissapointed in the pools since they only go to about 4 1\2 feet deep but the kids had fun anyway.

 

[sl_underwood]

We got to AK for the park opening and stayed until 1pm, then we went back to the hotel to swim and came back in the evening for EMH. We saw all the attractions except for the Lion King show, which we wanted to see but just never seemed to catch. My younger dd wants to be a vet so we spent alot of time in Rafikis planet watch, where she talked to all sorts of people in various positions. She loved it though her sis was bored. We met up with several characters and had a blast. Both kids loved the Kilimanjaro Safari and Kara and Stephen both loved Everest. I didnt get to ride since my younger dd didnt want to and they had no fast passes left. We ate at the Tusker House and Pizzafari, both were ok. we used 2 CS at each and were stuffed. We went back to the hotel around 8 pm and Jessa was asleep within 5 minutes. If only that could happen at home!

 

[sl_underwood]

We arrived at opening and headed over to tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, then rode Stitch, and pretty much everything else there, then we proceeded to Fantasy Land so Jessa could take Stitch on the teacups and Dumbo (you guys warned me this line was long but I didnt believe you, sorry) After fantasy land we went back to Main Street and had lunch at Tony's, split 2 TS credits, which we all enjoyed. Then after lunch we headed for frontierland. Jessa and I went to the Diamond Horseshoe to meet some characters while Kara and Stephen got fastpasses and got in line for splash mountain. We met up with them and rode more rides. That evening, we had dinner at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and his friends. Stephen, Jessa and I had a blast but Kara, who was to cool for characters had to be bribed to interact and take pics with them. After dinner, we went back to space mountain (since Kara played nice at dinner, lol) and rode it again. Then we headed back to the hotel for some R & R.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Sounds like you had a great time so far. How did you like POP?

 

[sl_underwood]

We got a really late start on this day and we missed alot at Epcot because of it. I woke up at 6:30 but couldnt rouse the kids at all and my hubby wanted to sleep too so I went and did laundry and picked them up breakfast. We left around 10 or so andhad reservations for lunch at 12 pm at Alfredos. This was Kara's favorite restaurant because the itallian waiter kept flirting innocently with her. What teenage girl doesnt want to be told they are beautiful, lol. After lunch we went to Morocco and France to see Belle and Jasmine, and we visited the countries. Around 4 we headed over to Future World to go to Innoventions since we just realized it would close soon. The kids made robots there and emailed postcards to their friends. We took the tour of the house which the girls loved. then we went to dinner in China, dont remember the name of the place, it was ok and then we found a nice spot to view illuminations. After illuminations, I took Jessa back to the room to sleep and Stephen and Kara stayed for EMH and rode Mission Space along with all the other rides we missed. I wanted to ride mission space but decided against it due to motion sickness. They got back to the room around 1 am. They were beat.

 

[sl_underwood]

Disney Mom- I honestly loved Pop! I wasnt sure if I would but it was great. I didnt really care for the pool but I like to swim in deeper water and the walls seemed kinda thin, we had a baby in the room next to us and she still didnt sleep through the night which bothered me the first night, but by the second I was to tired to notice, lol. My hubby thought the beds were a bit uncomfortable the first night or two. We truly loved the theming and it felt like disney to us. something many of the other resorts just didnt have. We visited the 2 deluxe resorts we think we might stay at in the future and the kids hated the grand floridian, thought it looked like a retirement community but they loved the poly even though it wasnt disney themed. CBR was the other one the kids thought looked fun so next year we may stay there or at the poly. I am addicted, already planning another trip!
Lora

 

[sl_underwood]

Everyone was up by 6 am for MGM. This was the park everyone had been waiting for but for different reasons of course. Me, I wanted to shop for Kermit stuff, Stephen wanted to visit tatooine traders so he could add to his collection and ride star tours, Kara wanted to ride Rockin Rollercoaster, and Jess, all she could talk about was Jedi Training Academy. We arrived at MGM for the park opening and Stephen and Jess headed over to Star Tours, while Kara and I got fast passes for RNR, when we met up at tatooine traders, Jessa talked Kara into getting a pic with her, so now Jess has a picture of herself as a blue jedi. After Stephen had lightened his wallet, we headed over to Indiana Jones, then off to Jedi Training Academy, Jessa was jumping up and down and so excited hoping she would get picked but they didnt choose her. She was heartbroken and in a bad mood. We decided to go see muppetvision 3d. After Muppetvision we shopped for Kermie stuff and headed back over to the Jedi Training Academy. This time Stephen lifted her up on his shoulders and she got picked. She fought Darth Vader and got a cute little certificate, this was the highlight of her trip. After this, we had lunch at Sci Fi, the atmosphere was cool here and the food was so so. We then headed over to Rockin Rollercoaster (we missed our fastpass time so we had to stand in line) Jessa decided she didnt want to ride it so I took her to Al's Toy Barn and Toy Story Pizza Planet. I missed this coaster too, waaaahhhh! We ran into Kim Possible and Jessa discovered the penny presses so she had fun with them. We ate dinner at 50's Prime Time which we enjoyed. The food was ok but our waitress was alot of fun. My older dd lives with a cell phone attached to her ear and our waitress took it from her and told her friend she couldnt talk, lol. We all thought it was hillarious. She also got ont my younger dd for blowing bubbles in her milk. After this we went and played in the honey I shrunk the kids playground and rode any rides we missed earlier. By the end of the day the only rides we missed were tower of terror and Millionaire so I think we did pretty good.

 

[sl_underwood]

We went back to Magic Kingdom again since the girls wanted to and started out in adventureland since we missed that our first day there. We got pics with the Genie and had fun riding all the rides. Then we headed over to tomorrowland once again so Jess could do the stitch ride and Kara could ride space mountain again (this is a reoccuring event, lol) We had lunch in frontier land at Pecos Bills, it was pretty good. Then rode splash mountain and BTMRR again. We went to Tom Sawyer Island and went to toon town to see the characters. For Dinner, we headed over to the GF to eat with Cinderella. We thought the food was ok and the character interaction was hurried but Kara did get her pic with Cinderella and Prince Charming like she wanted. After dinner, we went back to Magic Kingdom and Kara rode Space Mountain again and again! We got a dole whip to try since we had heard so much about them and by the way they are reallly yummy. Then we headed back to the hotel and swam for a while.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Sounds like a good trip, thanks for writing! And glad to hear you liked the Pop. We have 2 rooms there in December and have never been. I was not thrilled at first but the more good reviews I read the better I feel about it. How were the bus lines going to/from the parks and PC?

Allyson

 

[sl_underwood]

We started off the day with breakfast at O'hana. If you havent ever had breakfast with Stitch, you should! It was so much fun. Stitch is quite a character. Jessa took her stitch and made sure to tell Stitch he was her favorite and he gave her tons of special attention. He stopped by our table so many times we lost count and he stole her stitch, he took her drink and drank it, poured syrup in empty cups, spilled salt and pepper all over the tables, etc. It was a hoot. Kara was in a cranky mood and not wanting to play with the characters so Pluto came over and guilted her into scratching his nose. He whined and grabbed her hands it was great. Then Mickey pulled Kara from her seat and made her do the parade with him. Jess loved the parade. She walked by Stitch through the whole thing.
After breakfast, we headed over to DTD for some last minute shopping. We had lunch at Earl of Sandwich, which was pretty good. Then we headed back to the hotel to check out. We had a late checkout 2 pm no extra cost and allwe did was ask. After checking out, we used up all of our snack credits and bought mickey crispy treats for all our kids friends back home. We then headed off to the airport. Orlando airport is a mess! Security was horrible and less organized than most airports. Once we got though all the mess we found out our plane was delayed so we waited for 4 hours. Finally we were up in the air and the pilot tells us that most of us will have to make arrangements for our connecting flights since we would most likely miss them. We get to Dallas with 10 minutes to get to the other side of the airport. Our flight is on time but hasnt left yet. Well we get to the desk late prepared to make other arrangements and the desk clerk tells us that our flight is now delayed, they had to change planes so thankfully we get home on time. It was a crazy day but we all made it home. We had tons of fiun and I am already planning next years trip so we can make sure and see anything we missed, not to mention so Kara can beat the record for riding space mountain the most times, lol!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[PoohGal05]

Sounds like a fabulous trip!

 

[TLinden16]

Sounds like you had a great trip! Your younger daughter would get along great with my niece--she wants to be a vet too, and she spent so much time talking to every animal handler she could at the Animal Kingdom!

Thanks for posting!

 

[cinderkelli]

I saw you said you had to stand in the line for Rock N Roller coaster because you missed your fast pass time. Did you ask a cast member and they told you that you had to stand in line? Or did you just assume? I am very curious because I have heard a lot of people say that you can use your fastpass any time after the start time even if it has expired. I am wondering if that is true for our coming up trip!