Our First Magical Trip!! Aug 20-27

Biscuitsmom31

<font color=peach>Burn a candle to deal with the s
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Well, as Disney World first-timers we had planned for this to be our first and last trip. We are not big theme park people but, of course, we found out that Disney has something for everyone and we will definately be back!! We are a family of six and each one of us loved something different but the one common thread is that we all LOVED it! :cool1:

Cast: Me 31 (not big on characters and "fairy tale" crap)
DH 33 (wheelchair user, Disney skeptic--in the beginning)
DS 8 (major ride chicken)
DD 7 (thrill rider)
DSD 7 (big on princesses and "fairly tale" crap)
DS 3 (absolutely loved the characters)

Day 1: American Airlines nightmare! Our 2 1/2 hour plane ride turned into 5 1/2 hours with 4 starving children stuck on a plane. I understand the weather delay was not AA's fault BUT they should have some extra snacks and drinks for these situations. My poor, poor husband. They did not have an aisle chair on board the plane to help him get to the restroom. He sat for five hours about to pee his pants. I was ready to give him a bottle and tell everyone to look away. Then, when our flight that was scheduled to land at 6:01 pm finally landed at 9:00, we waited at the gate for 30 minutes for them to bring him his wheelchair. Finally they got someone to push him in a manual chair to the elevator to meet the man bringing his chair up. The idiot pushing him took off across the airport so fast my kids and I had to run to keep up. After several minutes of chasing the guy, he stops and scratches his head. He's lost and doesn't know where the elevator is. After more fruitless searching we head back to the original gate and his chair is sitting there. By now it's 10:00 and all of the restaraunts we see in the airport are closed and we are ravenous. Then, like a beacon in the night, we see the magical express guy waiving his mickey hand. He told us of an open place to eat and that they would have our bags in spite of the delay and gate change. Yay! We finally got in our Fort Wilderness cabin a little after midnight. Our bags followed in about 15 minutes.

Day 2 - Animal Kingdom. The heat was oppressive. We are from Oklahoma City and are used to heat and humidity, but there is always wind. I think the lack of a breeze is what really got to us. The highlights at AK (IMO) were flights of wonder, Dinosaur, and Festival of the Lion King (fantastic). Our dinner was at Ohana. It was good but my least favorite of our table service meals.

Day 3 - MGM Studios. My DD's favorite! She and I braved the RnR and the ToT. DSD got on ToT with us too. The ride photo was hilarious because the girls was just sitting there peacefully and I was screaming my head off. DSD has proclaimed Beauty and the Beast her favorite Disney show. It was good, but Festival of the Lion King was better. We did nearly everything at MGM with no waiting. Used fastpasses for RnR and ToT but didn't need them for anything else. Dinner at Boma. The food was excellent, but the line for the buffet was long and very inconvenient with 4 little kids. Loved the fruit tarts and the zebra domes.

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom. CM at pooh ride was rude! I was trying to ask him where we needed to go w/ DH's wheelchair and he was sooo needlessly hateful. That was only ONLY negative the whole day. When we got on the wheelchair boat at its a small world, there were no other chairs waiting and they let us go twice. I really enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic and (even though everyone makes fun of it) the Country Bears. Dinner was at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food was great, as were the characters. We will definatley go back.

Day 5 - Epcot world showcase. We spent a whole day just enjoying the world showcase. I LOVE EPCOT. Dinner at the Hoop de Doo Review. My kids laughed so hard at the corny jokes I had to keep after them to quiet down. The food was pretty tasty too.

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom. We got fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear but had to wait a while for the wheelchair car. Would you believe the CM let our whole family go three times in a row! On the third trip I got 98,800 points and kicked my whole family's butts. That was awesome. Dinner at Marrakesh in WS. It was my favorite meal of the trip. SOOOO GOOD!! After dinner we saw Illuminations. It was my favorite thing of the whole week. Did I mention that I LOVE EPCOT?

Day 7 - Epcot Future Wold. I was able to help my DH onto Soarin. Although we were first in line, the CM told us that wc users had to sit on the back row. We didn't mind. It was still a great ride. Then a different CM approached us as the ride ended and told us he was holding us 6 seats on the front row for the next flight. The front row was much better!! I couldn't believe they let us go twice in a row on a ride with a 70 minute wait. Awesome. My DH wanted to ride Test Track so bad we decided to attempt loading him into a car. It wasn't easy but he got in (we were really worried we would never get him out!). Would you believe they let us go twice in a row on Test Track too? Unbelievable. We did manage to get DH out of the ride. It took a few minutes though. I also made the tragic mistake of riding Mission Space. I had ridden all of the other rides with no problems. Why would I have a problem on MS? I have decided that instead of "Mission Space" it should be named "Mission Yak" because I was one of many sitting outside the MS giftshop trying to talk ourselves out of decorating the sidewalk. Thank goodness for Ellen's Energy Adventure. It was long and slow enough to help me get over my nausia before riding something else. Dinner at Le Cellier. YUM YUM! DH's favorite meal of the week (followed very closely by Marrakesh).

Day 8 - Had lunch in Downtown Disney at Wolfgang Puck express. Tasty. Then we had to catch the Magical Express bus back to the airport for our 6:45 flight. Guess what? Delayed again!! At least they didn't loose DH's chair this time. :rolleyes:

We had such a wonderful time at Disney World! We loved our little cabin and the Disney transportation was wonderful. All of the busses had ramps/lifts and most of the drivers were very helpful and not at all put out about having to deal with DH's chair. We are not used to that. We will definately be back!! :cheer2:
 
Great Report! So glad your entire family had a wonderful time, and that CM's were accomodating with your DH's chair.

We will be new to Soarin' and M:S. Can't wait to try them. Just hope I don't have any motion issues. I usually don't, but..... we'll see! :earboy2:
 
Glad you guys had a great time! When I took my 80yo dad for the first time and he used a scooter he was a little afraid at first about how it was going to go. But Disney is so accomodating he had a wonderful time too and has been back again and planning for February '07! He thought it would be all Mickey Mouse and for kids and found out that it's for everyone!
 
What a wonderful family trip. I really enjoyed hearing about it. I hope ours is just a nice as yours! I can't wait to try soarin! I would love to sit up front! Thanks again.. :goodvibes
 

Question, How were they with w/c wait times? Did you go to the front for most rides? Please explain how that worked? We went in 2002, but I hear things have changed since than. Thank you much..
 
We didn't go to the front of any lines. We actually had to wait longer most of the time. We got fastpasses for many rides but ended up having to wait in the w/c line anyway behind all the w/c users that didn't even get a fastpass. Several of the rides were walk-on for the standby line but we had to wait anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the wheelchair cars.
 
Thanks for the trip report. I just have a question about Mickey's Philharmagic, you said you loved it despite people making fun of it. I've never heard anyone make fun of this show. Did you mean another ride?


Thanks,
Birdie :sunny:
 
Birdiesunshine, that comment was regarding the Country Bears, not Philharmagic. I've heard several people make fun the of the Country Bear Jamboree, but my whole family really enjoyed it. We are from Oklahoma though, maybe it's more appealing to hicks. :teeth:
 
Biscuitsmom31 said:
Birdiesunshine, that comment was regarding the Country Bears, not Philharmagic. I've heard several people make fun the of the Country Bear Jamboree, but my whole family really enjoyed it. We are from Oklahoma though, maybe it's more appealing to hicks. :teeth:

Oh I just re-read it and now I get it. I was gonna say, how could anyone not LOVE Mickey's Philharmagic. Country Bears is corny but cute.
 
great report..so glad you will be going back.
I love liberty tree tavern....one of my old fav. :sunny:
 
Thanks for the great report. I'm trying to persuade my mum to come with us when we go again, but she does have problems with her knees and although she can walk she's not good at lines, so a wheelchair might be necessary. :wave2:
 
Donnask8pro said:
Question, How were they with w/c wait times? Did you go to the front for most rides? Please explain how that worked? We went in 2002, but I hear things have changed since than. Thank you much..
Most of the regular lines (and all the Fastpass lines) are wheelchair accessible now. So, as Biscuitsmom31 said, you end up waiting the same as everyone else; plus sometimes longer if you need the wheelchair accessible car.
You can get more information by checking out the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of the disABILITIES Board.
 
So glad your first trip was a success! Sounds like you had a fabu time! :teeth:
 
My family also LOVES the Country Bears (DH & I grew up in OK), but mostly because the big guy reminds us of my FIL - we even call him Grandpa Bear.
 












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