Our first family trip to WDW - 2/9-2/13

[Punkin's Mom]

Hi there! Let me tell you that this is my first trip report and only my maybe 15th post, so I'm new to all of this! My husband, who has been tinkering with the internet for forever, has been making fun of me the last couple of weeks that I've finally discovered what millions worldwide have know for so long - you can actually talk to people on your computer. What a concept!

Anyway, we got back Monday from our first family vacation to Disney World. My husband and I went before the kids way back in 1995 as a surprise birthday present, and we've been on summer vacations to the beach since the kids were born, but we've never tried anything this, let's say strenuous. So it was me, my husband Craig, our daughter Kate (4), our son Will (2), and my sister Mary (the FAVORITE aunt, AKA Pepe). Well, right of the bat we had a little disappointment. Mary found out her boss really wanted her to be at a meeting on Thursday, the day we were to leave, so she had to reschedule her flight and wasn't able to be there until Friday afternoon. It turned out she didn't miss much.

Day One (Thursday):
We were a little late getting to the airport, but we got checked in and on the plane with about 5 minutes to spare and had a fairly uneventful flight (well as uneventful as it can be with a 2 year old). My original plan was for us to check in at Riverside and go straight to MGM, but we decided that it was more important that Will get a nap. So while waiting for our room we rented one of those double bikes with the basket up front for the kids to ride in. That was a great way to see the grounds (which were lovely) and the kids loved it. When we were done, we made it to our room. We got a room in building 27, which was fairly close to the main building, far from the noise of the parking lot, and our room overlooked a pretty courtyard area. I was very pleased with the location. So after a short nap, we head over to MGM. It was already too late to see characters, but I was determined that we see Fantasmic. When we get there we see we have a little time to kill before the 6:00 Playhouse Disney show, so I suggest riding the Great Movie Ride. I figured it would be a nice slow easy ride to start our trip with. Big mistake. Huge. Aweful. Dreadful. As soon as the gangster guy came out and the shooting started, Will starts screaming. Not just screaming, more like wailing with some blood-curdling screeches thrown in. I was covering his ears and eyes, trying to calm him down when Kate starts crying. "When can we get off Mommy?! When can we go home, Mommy?! Please Mommy - I want to get out of here!!" You get the idea. After that, we thought PH Disney would make up for it. It was ok, but Will was really jumpy. Every time it got a little dark, he'd bury his face in my chest. Kate wouldn't move from Craig's lap. I'm quickly realizing that we never should have tried to do anything the day we got there. After PH, Craig took Will back to the hotel, but I was still determined that Kate and I stay for Fantasmic. We made our way over to the theater, but since the PH show wasn't over until 6:20, by the time we got to Fantasmic, there was only standing room left. When the show started I picked her up so she could see, and she liked everything until the queen from Snow White showed up (less than half way through). Then she wanted to go and get a glow toy. She'd been such a trooper all day, we left the show, got her a glowing Mickey stick and headed for dinner. At least we avoided the mass of people leaving the theater after the show. By then we were finishing up our cheese pizza and hot chocolate. I really wanted to end our first day on a high note so we headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show. With a little time to kill, we picked out a Belle pin at a store nearby and then got in line. Luckily, she loved the show (I thought it was really good too). We had had all we could take for one day so we headed back to the bus stop. Looking down the row of stops, all of which were empty except for one, which was mobbed, somehow I knew that one had to be ours. And it was. We waited a good 45 minutes for our bus and finally made it back to Riverside, only to get lost. After wandering for about 10 minutes, we finally found our room at 10pm. I was so glad that day was over, and I was determined to forget about all the unpleasantness and start fresh on Friday. Next post - day 2, Epcot. And it did get better. A lot better!

 

[VanniGirl]

Great start to a report - looking forward to the rest.

 

[byoung]

Nice report.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.

Lovely piccies

 

[TLinden16]

Poor Will, getting so scared I always feel bad for the little ones who get so upset on that ride. I hope that didn't make him scared the entire trip.

 

[Punkin's Mom]

Ok - I've spent my fair share of time on computers (I used to be an accountant in my previous life) but I'm not the most computer literate person you'll come across. Last night I spent like an hour writing all about our second day at Epcot, but I didn't notice that I was no longer connected (yes, I know that dial-up is lame, but I'm cheap) so when I hit post it said the page couldn't be found and I lost the WHOLE THING!! THen my smarty-pants husband said "you should have just hit the back button after you logged back in". Duh. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, to quote FSUMARCHIEF, I'm going to try to git-R-done now. Day 2 - Epcot. Our first full day at Disney. I had decided to completely forget the troubles of the day before. We were at Disney after all and we were going to have fun no matter what! So we got up early for our 8:50 reservations in Norway for the Storybook Princess breakfast. Gotta say that getting in the park before everyone else waiting in line is pretty cool! Not that the crowd was very big - in fact the crowds were very light all day, even though it was evening EMH that day. Anyway we checked in at the restaurant and only had to wait about 10 minutes before being let in. There we met our first character of our trip - Kate's first character ever - and it just happened to be her favorite princess, Aurora. Although she refused to talk (actually, she didn't talk to any of the characters), she loved meeting them and getting their signatures in her book. Our table ended up being in an excellent location - there's a little round room at the very front of the building that only has 4 tables in it and that's where we sat. It was very quiet and secluded which made Craig very happy because he hates crowds and generally sharing space with other humans. (I'm sure you're thinking that Disney might not be the best place for him, but he did very well considering.) During breakfast we met Mulan, Jasmine, Snow White and Mary Poppins. The food was pretty good and the kids ate well. If any of you have a 2 year old you know that you could have a plate full of his favorite food of all time and he would still refuse to eat because he's 2. Luckily this time he decided to eat.

Quick aside: we were on the dining plan, so all the food tasted better to me knowing that I didn't have to plunk down a credit card and actually pay for the over-priced meal we just ate. I loved the dining plan!

After breakfast, we went straight for the Land Pavillion and Soarin'. We didn't want to wait, so we got fastpasses and walked over to the Living Seas to check out the aquarium. Unfortunately the line for Turtle Talk was too long, but the kids both loved the fish and I was just happy that Will seemed to be having a good time after the aweful GMR incident of the previous night. I personally thought that there wasn't enough fish for a tank that huge, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Kate colored a dolphin at the Funstop and we left to ride Soarin', AKA the flying ride. Kate and I rode first, the Craig and Kate using baby swap. I LOVED this ride. I know it's not the most thrilling ride there, but I loved feeling of really flying and scents. Kate loved it too. And Will discovered his favorite ride at Epcot - the escalator. We spent a lot of time going up and down over and over again waiting for Daddy and Sissy.

At this point, Will was ready for a nap. Now I saw tons of people blissfully walking through the parks with a sleeping baby in their strollers, but that was not going to happen for us. So Craig took Will back to the hotel and Kate and I headed for Figment. While this ride did not impress me (it wasn't very imaginative for being called Into Imagination with Figment) but Kate loved it. I was glad that we didn't take Will because he would have hated that big blast at the end (lots more crying). Then we went to the character connection. What a brilliant concept. We saw more than 10 characters without having to wait more than a couple of minutes. Loved it! I was a little disappointed to find out that there wouldn't be any other characters there all day but still so happy to see so many.

This was when I thought that Kate could take a break at the baby center. Didn't so much work out, though. She wouldn't sit still and wanted to play or color the whole time. So I gave up on that after about 15 minutes and started our trip around the world showcase to find characters. We stopped in Mexico to color a mask and at the Outpost for some ice cream, but Kate was really slowing down so she stayed in the stroller most of the way around. We found Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco and were lucky enough to get in line right before they closed it. We missed the Beast in France, but found Mary Poppins, Pooh and Tigger in the UK. Kate so wanted to meet Alice, but she wasn't going to be there that day. The Mary Poppins was the same one we met at breakfast that morning, and because she had just come out, there wasn't anyone in the line behind us. Mary spent several minutes with Kate and even remembered her from before. Kate actually talked to her - the only character she talked to the whole trip! She was really nice and totally into her character with the accent and proper manners and such. She was sitting in this little alcove of that toy store in a pretty wing-back chair and it made a great picture. Pooh and Tigger were also really funny and played with Kate for several minutes as well. I think Mary was my favorite of the whole trip.

Have I mentioned that the weather was perfection?! It was about 70 degrees and sunny all afternoon.

After we made it back around we stopped in for Kate's Figment fix and then waited by the main fountain for Craig and Will. You know how I told you that my sister had to come late because of work? Well she was with them and when Kate saw her favorite aunt walk up she flipped out! I wish I had had the camera ready to capture the look on her face. Craig Mary and Kate went to ride Figment again while Will played in those jumping fountains outside of Honey I shrunk the whatever.

It was then time for our early dinner reservations at Garden Grill. I picked this restaurant because I had read a lot of great things about the food and I thought the spinning dining room would occupy the kids a little. Well I have to say that this was the most disappointing meal of the trip. The food was just ok, the service was slow, the character interaction was rushed, the decor was dated, and the "scenery" that you go by is so boring that the kids didn't even give it a second glance. At least we didn't have to pay for it (I know I had already paid for the dining plan, but you know what I mean!) After dinner we try Soarin' but the line is way too long. We decided to ride Spaceship Earth after talking to the CM to make sure there isn't any loud sudden noises that could scare Will. I was relieved that he did fine and we rode again before we decided to call it a night. I was bummed that we couldn't stay for Illuminations, but with a 4 and 2 year old I knew it wasn't going to happen this trip. Happily we had no problem getting a bus back to the hotel and the kids were asleep within minutes. I stayed in the room and posted to the Disboards while Craig and Mary went to the bar. Overall an awesome day at Epcot!

Next report - Day 3 at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[antree]

I know that look the kids get when they see their favorite in law show up. My Brother and sister in law surprised our kids on one of our trips and the look and screams from the kids were priceless. Thankfully my sister got it all on video.
My DD couldn't stop crying, my DS just kept hugging his baby cousin.
Love your report.

Maria

 

[kathymc]

thanks for posting - I'll be checking for more. Just a tip. Type your report into a word document and then copy and paste into a post here. Then you'll be able to save your report forever on your computer and wont have to worry about your computer logging you out!

 

[Punkin's Mom]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

(I'm so glad I'm writing this - I know after a couple of months the details will start getting really fuzzy!)

This was the day I was really looking forward to. I couldn't wait to see the kids' reactions to being there. I had used the unofficial guides touring plans for girls 4 to 8 and did just about everything in Fantasyland that morning. Even though I had touring plans for each day this was the first time we really stuck to the schedule. It totally worked. We didn't wait for anything except Dumbo which was only about a 10 minute wait. We did Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh, Mad Tea Party (twice), the carousel, Ariel's Grotto, Mickey's PhilharMagic and it's a small world all before lunch. Will rode everything and seemed to like it ok - I think he was pretty overwhelmed by it all. He really liked the fountain area in Ariel's Grotto. And loved the tea cups. He wasn't too sure about PhilharMagic, though. He didn't wear the glasses and had to bury his face in my sweater a couple of times but made it through. Kate liked everything. We had a great morning.

We had 11:45 reservations at Crystal Palace so we made our way around the castle (couldn't go through because of Cinderellabration) and were seated in about 15 minutes. Kate and I watched a little bit of the show from outside the restaurant while we waited. Our table was on your left right after you walk in and I was afraid it would be really high traffic but ended up being fine. We were really close to the buffet and the characters all made it around to us. The only problem we had was that Tigger walked right by us and stopped at the next table. Luckily Kate had met Pooh and Tigger the day before in the UK. But Will, who had previously not wanted much to do with the characters, was finally warming up to them and he tried to follow him. He either didn't realize Will was behind him or ignored him. Fortunately Will is fairly easy-going and it didn't really bother him. The food was really good and there were lots of healthy choices for the kids. This was probably the healthiest meal they ate the whole time. I really liked the adult offerings too and had a huge piece of Boston creme pie for dessert. Kate and Will both loved the ice cream and sprinkles, especially with the chocolate chip cookie I stuck in the bowl! Overall a really positive experience. Again, loved the dining plan. I had no idea how much that would have cost us without the plan and that fact made it even more enjoyable!

I had planned for all of us to go back to the hotel that day for a nap, but the weather was beautiful (sunny in the 70's) and Mary wanted to stay to make up for the time she missed. Kate and I decided to stay with her at the park while Craig took Will for his nap. The whole sleeping in the stroller thing would have been sooooooo nice! Oh well. After we split up, the girls headed over to Tomorrowland. Mary got a fastpass for Space Mountain and I got fastpasses for Buzz, and we rode the TTA while we waited. Very boring ride but it was nice to be off our feet for awhile. Then we watched Carousel of Progress. We were a little worried about the women on our row who loudly and enthusiastically sang the song every time it came on. I guess people really like it. Kate and I then rode Buzz while Mary rode SM. After burning a couple of our snack credits (yea dining plan!) we realized it was time to find a spot for the parade. It wasn't very crowded on the inside of the loop around the plaza in front of the castle so we parked it. Remember when I said the weather was beautiful? Well in the 20 minutes we waited for the parade, the temp dropped, clouds started rolling in and it started raining on us. The good news was that almost everyone around us left. The bad news was that Craig had the ponchos in his backpack back at the hotel. More bad news was that the parade was cut short because of the rain. Quite disappointing. I didn't realize this until I got back and read some reports here that talked about several floats and characters in the parade that weren't there when we saw it. Anyway, I put Will's jacket over my head to keep my hair dry but the rest of me got wet. Mary didn't have any protection so she got completely wet. Kate sat in the stroller with her jacket over her legs and the shade over her head so she stayed dry (for the time being). It was getting chilly, but we were ok. After the parade we went over to Adventureland. I hadn't really planned on spending much time there, but since Will wasn't there we checked it out. We rode the Aladdin carpet ride (Dumbo in disguise) and Pirates. Kate decided she was up for Splash Mountain and since we were wet anyway, we were all for it. I don't know if it was the rain (which had already stopped but it was still drippy) or what, but we walked right onto Splash. I had forgotten how cute and long the ride is. We had an awesome time watching Kate getting more and more excited about the big drop. We had asked to be in the back so we wouldn't get too wet but that didn't quite work out! When the big drop finally came, we got splashed right in the face. My hair was pretty wet after that but I didn't care. It was a blast! We then rode the railroad ride AKA "train ride". Kate loved that one too. It was hilarious to watch her little face smiling and screaming at the same time.

We had been text messaging Craig for awhile at this point and Will was just not waking up. He was a tired little guy! So the girls kept going. We went to storytime with Belle for the 5:05 show (last of the day) and were disappointed to be told Belle couldn't be there but Aurora was going to greet us. Our timing couldn't have been better. We had gotten there right at 5:05 and there weren't seats available so we stood over on the right side of the theater. When they announced Aurora we were the second people in line! We met her and got a picture and left all within about 10 minutes of getting there. Very efficient! We talked to Craig again and decided because of the weather, he wasn't going to bring Will back into the park. Mary and I toyed with the idea of staying for the last Cinderellabration show, but decided to head back to the hotel to have dinner with the boys. After a not so quick detour to buy Tinkerbelle mouse ears (I didn't get it but that's what she wanted) we caught the bus back to Riverside. By the way, the bus service was pretty great the whole time. We ate at the food court in Riverside which was excruciatingly slow but decent food - made better by the fact I didn't pay for it. Am I sounding like a broken record?! Another night of dis-ing for me and the bar for Craig and our day was over. Another awesome day!

Next report - Day 4 encore at Magic Kingdom!

 

[stacy347]

I'm so glad things got better after your first day! Very much enjoying your reports ~ can't wait to read the rest!

 

[OhMari]

Hi pumkin mom,

Thanks for keeping your report in one thread-people can subscribe to your thead and find your updates a lot easier.

If you are having problems with being disconnected, type your report in word document first and then copy and paste it into your thread.


Thanks for sharing your trip report.

 

[dismom9761]

I am really enjoying your trip report.It is great when you are able to spend time with just one of your children. Can't wait to hear the rest.

 

[Punkin's Mom]

Thanks for all your words of encouragement!

Day 4 (Sunday) Magic Kingdom again:

The schedule for this day called for another early morning. (I forgot to mention that the previous morning we had gotten to MK in time to see the cute little opening show at the railroad station.) The troops had started to get a little grumpy, though, so I let them sleep in a whole hour extra this day! We had done the day before a lot of what I had on the schedule for this morning, so the revised plan was to sleep an extra hour and be to Toontown for the opening at 10 am. When we got to the park we had just enough time to grab fastpasses for Space Mountain and get over to Toontown on that little path by the rr tracks. Unfortunately as we walked into Toontown and got our bearings, we watched the crowd from the main entrance walk into the Hall of Fame. When we got there the wait for the princess line was already 40 minutes. I asked and the only ones there were ones we had already seen, so we ducked out of that line and saw Minnie, Pluto and Goofy again. Craig took Will to see Pooh and Tigger and met us back in the Minnie room.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I'm wondering if anyone else here has experienced this. It seemed to me that even though the access to characters was really great, we kept seeing the same ones over and over. The big 5, Aurora, Pooh and friends. Do they not bring out the variety during value season? Are there fewer cast members during slower months? What's up?

Anyway, while I changed Will's diaper, the others rode Barnstormer 2 or 3 times. I couldn't convince Will to ride it even though he did measure tall enough. I tried taking him to the playground but he wasn't very interested in that either. He was a little cranky that morning. We walked through Minnie and Mickey's house and met Mickey in the judges tent. (OK-I know this is very un-Disney of me, but does anyone else think that they've got like 3 different Mickeys behind those closed doors? The line went so fast and when you go back to see him, they close the door behind you so you can't see into the other rooms. Just my little theory.) By this time our fastpass time had arrived for Space Mountain so we left Toontown. Craig and Mary rode first while I took Kate and Will on TTA. Then Craig and I rode while Mary took the kids. When I got to the front of the fastpass line I realize that one of the passes actually said "Not a valid fastpass". It turns out that when we entered the park that morning, I had put my card in and put my fingers on the thingy and it shot my card back out so I thought I was good to go. So I sent Kate's through which doesn't require her fingers. The CM had not been watching and mine actually had not passed through correctly. When I tried to get a fastpass, it didn't recognize it as a valid park pass. What is up with those crazy finger thingys?!?! They never worked without the help of a CM. During summer months it must take FOREVER to get into the parks! Anyway, they still let us both onto Space Mountain even though we only had one FP.

After meeting back up, we decided to get some lunch for Craig, Mary and Will (Kate and I were eating in the castle later on). We tried Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace. I can't comment on the food since I didn't eat, but I can tell you we were extremely disappointed to find out that, although it's covered, it's not enclosed. This is an important fact because it was FREEZING that day! Really cold. Like low 40's cold. I'm from Texas and a total wuss with only a sweater on so 40 felt very uncomfortable to me. Craig had actually worn a t-shirt that day thinking it would warm up by afternoon but it was not getting better. In fact he had bought a long sleeve t-shirt that morning, but he was still cold (and he hardly ever gets cold). While they ate I went in search of sweatshirts for the kids but couldn't find anything.

After lunch we decided it was nap time for Will. Mary offered to take him back to the hotel so Craig could stay with me and Kate. We walked down Main Street with them and after they left, we got my ticket fixed at the guest services. Luckily we had no problem with that. We walked back down Main Street and through the castle and I realized that storytime with Belle was starting in about 5 minutes so we hightailed it over to the theater. I knew from the day before that Belle would be greeting to the right of the stage so we positioned ourselves to hop right in line. Storytime was cute and Kate seemed to like it, although she didn't get picked to participate. Afterward we were second in line after the kids that were in the show. It was our first time to meet Belle so it was pretty exciting.

Kate was literally shivering from the cold and wanted a Tinkerbelle sweatshirt. I remembered that there is a Tinkerbelle store on the Fantasyland side of the castle which is very close to the storytime place so we went there and found a very cute green sparkly hooded fleece with Tink on it and the word Sassy. Sold!

Craig wanted to do some of the fun stuff that we had done the previous day so from the Tink shop we headed to Frontierland. On our way we stumbled across Woody and Jesse and hopped in line to meet them. Craig ran and got some fastpasses while we waited and after we got through, they rode Splash Mountain. I was WAY too cold to get wet! As I'm waiting to meet up with them I realize that it was 2:20 and our reservations in the castle were at 2:30. Kate and I haul you-know-what from Splash Mtn to the castle and make it just it time. Kate was fairly wet from the ride and I don't know if the hostess took pity on us or we just got lucky, but she sent us in to get our picture taken with Cinderella and our name was called almost immediately. Kate was so excited to meet Cinderella. This was the first time we had met her. The picture turned out really well too. So we made it all the way up the stairs, Kate commenting the whole way about how many stairs there were, and were seated over by the windows. I was afraid that it would take forever to get to our table, but after they announced the princesses, ours was the second table they came to. We had met everyone before we got our food! We met Snow White, Aurora, Belle (but she wasn't in her yellow dress) and Fairy Godmother. We had met them all except FG before then. Still very exciting, though.

Now I've read very mixed reviews of this meal. But I felt our experience was excellent. Kate's kid appetizer plate had cheese, carrots, celery, and grapes which she ate most of and was pretty healthy. She got pretzel dogs for her main course and she ate one of the two. My appetizers were alright, but my entree was awesome. It was that domo thing - puff pastry with slow roasted beef, gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetables. For dessert Kate had ice cream and I had some kind of cake with blueberries and lemon sauce. Kate had been given a wand and wishing star and they did a very cute wishing ceremony where she closed her eyes and waved her wand over the star. More cute pictures. I had a great time getting to be with just Kate.

Our only problem was with the bill. We had been sitting there awhile and I realized that it had been about 20 minutes since our server had taken our dessert plates and he still hadn't brought the check. I finally tracked him down and realized that the meal had already been charged to my credit card. But as you know by now, we were on the dining plan. He very quickly reversed the charge and used our table service credits and we were ready to go.

Unfortunately we were about 30 minutes past when I told Craig we'd be done so he wasn't too happy with me! He had already found a spot in front of the castle for Cinderellabration and we met him there. We had to wait about 30 minutes, but the show was really good and worth the wait. (At least that's what I would say - if you asked Craig he would probably say differently! He wanted to ditch Cinderellabration all together and ride Big THunder Railroad.) Kate really liked the show and I got some great shots of all the princesses and princes with our zoom lens. I would have liked to see it again but there wasn't time. The show finished up about 5:00 and we talked to Mary and told her to meet us in front of the castle. Thank God she brought more warm stuff for us to put on. Will was bundled up in a fleece jacket under his coat and a fleece hat with ear flaps. She brought mittens for Kate, a sweatshirt for Craig, and my fleece and scarf.

Craig, Mary and Kate went over to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz again, and I took Will to get a hotdog at Casey's. He was getting really cranky and I knew I had to get some food in him fast before he completely melted down. He ate half of the 1/4 lb hotdog, which is a lot for a little guy! I went looking for the others at Buzz but they had left for THunder Railroad. On my way over to meet them, Peter Pan and Wendy ran right by me to start greeting. I got in line and told them that I had a 4 yo girl who was going to be so bummed she missed them. I got their autographs and a picture and rushed over to "the train ride" (as Kate called it) to grab Kate and take her back. Well she had absolutely no interest in meeting them - all she wanted to do was go back on the train ride.

Craig decided to take Will over to Fantasyland because he just didn't seem to be having a good time, and I dragged Kate and Mary back over to Pirates because I needed to use the restroom and that's where Peter and Wendy were. She saw them from a distance but still wouldn't get in line to meet them. I knew she was never going to give in so we went back and rode the train ride two more times (no waits).

Craig called and they had ridden the carousel two times and Pooh, and Will had had fun but they were getting cold. They decided to go back to the hotel. It was about 7:00 and Mary needed dinner. She got a burger at Pecos Bill but Kate and I were still full from our late lunch. When we left I noticed they were getting ready for the parade. I thought the parade was going to be at 9:00, but it was actually starting at 8:00. We decided to stay for the parade and found a spot right outside the Sleepy Hollow restaurant. It was a great spot - we were standing between the rope and a vendor cart so no one was behind us, crowding us. We could see all the floats coming over the bridge and pass right in front of us. Kate was on Mary's shoulders and had a great view. Peter Pan even saw her and said "Wow, you're tall!" The parade was spectacular. So magical. We all loved it. My camera batteries were giving out but made it through the end and I got the shots I wanted.

As we were heading towards the exit, I realized that people were already waiting for Wishes. I thought it wasn't going to start until 10:00, but once again I was wrong - it started at 9:00 and at that point it was about 8:40. I was worried about getting out of the park after Wishes, so we decided to go down to the railroad station. We watched down Main Street and when the finale was over we ran for the exits. The only problem was that it wasn't the end of the show! The fireworks were so amazing that it only looked like the end. We watched the rest from just outside the park and when it was finally, actually over we ran for the bus. There was a bus sitting at the stop and the driver made room for us to get on. We were the last people on that bus and it left right away. So lucky! We had such an amazing, magical, freezing day! I was already getting sad that we had to leave the next day.

Wow - this was a really long post! I've been typing for 2 hours!

Next report - Day 5 - our last day at Animal Kindgom.

 

[goingsoonw/2]

I was there the same time as you and it was COLD! Did it put a major damper on your trip? It did for us. It was freezing cold! I was so dissappointed. I will never go back in february. I know it was record cold temps that are unusual, but I would never want to take the chance again.

 

[frankenpooh]

Thanks for the report! It brings back memories of our first trip, when the kids were 5 and 2. It takes some flexibility when they are that young, the "magic" more than makes up for any inconvenience. BTW, did you like Riverside?

 

[Punkin's Mom]

I really loved Riverside. Unfortunately there wasn't any time in the plan to stay at the resort. Next time I'll definately add a day to sleep in, play at the resort and not go in to the parks until afternoon.

As far as the weather goes, it was pretty uncomfortable especially before Mary came with more stuff to put on. But that night ended up being the best part of the whole trip. I would go again during the winter months - the crowds were extremely managable and we hardly waited for anything. Next time I'll be better prepared though. I basically had to wear everything I had - long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, sweater, fleece, gloves and scarf. I really needed a coat.

 

[Punkin's Mom]

Day 5 - Animal Kingdom

This was our last day of the trip and we were all getting pretty tired. The park had early EMH that day, and while I hadn't planned on getting there at 8:00 I was hoping we could get there soon after. That wasn't going to fly. We slept late, packed and got our bags downstairs. We took our carry-ons to bell service, checked our luggage and got our boarding passes, and caught a bus to Animal Kingdom. I had another problem with my ticket trying to get into the park. I don't know what was wrong but the CM brought me a paper ticket. Anyway by that time it was after 11:00 and we knew we had to get the bus back to the resort at 1:45 for our 2:30 magical express bus. We decided to eat lunch first. We ate at Flame Tree BBQ with the last of our counter service credits. Now we're from Texas and we have pretty high standards for BBQ. Knowing that we were in central Florida, I thought it was surprisingly good food. Craig wasn't all that impressed, though. He thought it was ok, but not as good as what we can get at home.

Because we had such a short amount of time in the park, we decided not to use most of it doing the safari. Instead we tried the walking trails in Asia thinking we could see a lot without having to wait in lines. Our theory didn't really work out for us, though. Because it was still cold, the reptiles and bats weren't out. The only animals we saw were tigers. They were cool but didn't exactly hold the kids attention. We left Asia and made the trek all the way around the park to Camp Minnie-Mickey. ALong the way we saw Devine who was very cool. The kids both liked her.

When we got there the Pocahontas show had just started. Unfortunately we had to leave before the next show would begin. We asked the CM if I could sneak Kate in but she said she couldn't. Poor thing could hear the music and really wanted to see it. We had already seen all the characters there except for the bears from Brother Bear so we hopped in the line. Before we could get to the front they closed the line for a break. We decided not to wait around. Craig didn't want to wait for Lion King because Kate's never seen that movie so we left.

So far we had had lunch and seen some tigers. Not an effecient touring plan! Next was Dinoland USA. I have to tell you that Walt must be spinning in his cryogenically frozen chamber over this one. It is sooooo not up to Disney standards. It looked like a cheap traveling circus to me. I couldn't believe that was in Disney World. We rode Triceratop Spin (another Dumbo) and took the kids to the Boneyard. The kids loved this playground, but for parents it's a nightmare. You cannot keep track of your kids unless you stay right with them. With a 2 year old there was no way you could let him climb by himself. (And the fake radio station was mind-numbingly stupid and LOUD!) Craig didn't mind keeping the kids so Mary and I rode Primeval Whirl. I did not get this ride. Maybe if the cars twirled the whole time and faster it could be fun, but as it was, it was a big snooze. Mary also rode Dinosaur by herself which she liked.

By then it was time to leave. It really sucked that our last day turned out so bad. We should have just done the safari and seen Lion King and called it a day. I really thought we could do more but we ended up doing way less. I have to say I wasn't all that impressed with Animal Kingdom. I didn't like that you can't see across the park - every where you look you see trees. You can't get a feel for what's in the park unless you go into every area and explore. We were also bummed that Everest wasn't running that day. This day proved that while you don't have to be a commando about touring, having a schedule really helps. I'm not sure when I'll want to go back there.

When we got back to the resort we had plenty of time to gather our bags and use the rest of our snack credits in the food court (yummy rice crispy treats!) The trip to the airport and to our gate was uneventful except for a horrendous line at security. Kate took a little cat nap in her stroller while we waited to board, but Will was still going strong even without a nap. After waiting about an hour we boarded and got settled. Mary was on our flight but on a different row, so she traded with a lady on our row and she spent the whole flight playing with Kate. Will was falling apart with no nap and such a long day so we let him out of his seat and he slept across our laps. We were all exhausted by the time we got home but so glad to have had this wonderful vacation!

Thanks for reading my trip report. I had so much fun writing this and remembering all the fun stuff we did. Now when it's time to make my scrapbook of this trip, I'll have this report to use for journaling.

 

[Punkin's Mom]

I wanted to post some pictures but I'm not sure how. Can anybody help?

 

[budbeerlady]

Day 5 - Animal Kingdom

Next was Dinoland USA. I have to tell you that Walt must be spinning in his cryogenically frozen chamber over this one. It is sooooo not up to Disney standards. It looked like a cheap traveling circus to me. I couldn't believe that was in Disney World. We rode Triceratop Spin (another Dumbo) and took the kids to the Boneyard. The kids loved this playground, but for parents it's a nightmare. You cannot keep track of your kids unless you stay right with them. With a 2 year old there was no way you could let him climb by himself. (And the fake radio station was mind-numbingly stupid and LOUD!) Craig didn't mind keeping the kids so Mary and I rode Primeval Whirl. I did not get this ride. Maybe if the cars twirled the whole time and faster it could be fun, but as it was, it was a big snooze. Mary also rode Dinosaur by herself which she liked.

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WE totally agree, it is a waste of space for the Boneyard and Triceratop Spin, DD was bored and disappointed. She kept saying "Mom this is Disney, its supposed to be better than this!" How right she is! Sounds like you had a great trip!!!