kimber11
Kimberley
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 329
We finally got to go to Walt Disney World. I have been dreaming of going my whole life. We have been saving since my daughter was born and finally, this Christmas we were able to surprise our three kids (7 year old daughter and 4 year old boy/girl twins) with a trip to Disney World. The surprise itself was awesome as I had created a treasure hunt for them with various presents along the way that they had to find, with the final clue leading them to a countdown on the fridge that said 31 days until Disney World.
We were there from Sat Jan 26th to Sat Feb 2nd 2013. We are Canadian but flew out of Buffalo to save some money on the flight. The flight was just over 2 hours and we flew on JetBlue which we really enjoyed. We ended up waiting longer then we expected for the Magical Express to take us to the resort but we really enjoyed the bus ride to our resort once we got on. My poor son was really sick for the first three days we were there and mostly just slept the whole time, wouldn't eat or drink and had a bad fever. The first day we arrived at the resort around 1:30pm. We enjoyed touring around the resort and went for a swim in the Little Mermaid pool. We were in the Little Mermaid room and thought it was really cute. We didn't have to wait to get our room which was nice as we were thinking we'd have to wait to check in later. We enjoyed our dinner at the Landscapes of Flavour as well and the food court wasn't that busy on our first night.
Sunday we went to Hollywood Studios. We did our first table service meal and it was lunch at Hollywood and Vine. We loved it. I was apprehensive about this meal and almost changed the reservation after reading all of the negative reviews. I am so happy that we didn't change it. All of my kids loved it and the characters and we all found many items on the buffet that we enjoyed eating. I would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone. Probably our favourite attraction for all of us was the Muppets 3D movie, even though my kids didn't even know who the muppets were. We also enjoyed Fantasmic.
Monday we headed to the Animal Kingdom. We went to the Kilimonjaro Safari first thing in the morning and were happy we did. The animals were all out and quite active and the safari vehicle didn't rush through. We went on the safari again later in the day but found that they were rushed and we hardly got to enjoy the animals as we had in the morning. So definitley do it first thing in the morning if you can. We really enjoyed our lunch too at the Rainforest Cafe and the kids were highly entertained just watching the animals that were there. The park closed at 5pm that day and I found that we didn't get to do nearly as much as we had hoped. Monday night my son was still really sick and so much husband and I took him to the emerge. Rachel at the front desk of the Art of Animation resort was amazing and helped us get a taxi (at no charge) to and from the Celebration hospital. The hospital staff was also amazing. He ended up getting 2 bags of IV drip b/c he was dehydrated and antibiotics. Turns out he had an ear infection and probably sinus infection and strep throat too. Rachel at the front desk also got us upgraded from the Little Mermaid room to the Cars room so that my son could have his own bed. It was wonderful and next time I would pay the extra money to be in the family suite and have more room.
Tuesday, despite getting home at 4am from emerge, we all headed to Akershus for the Princess Breakfast. The kids all loved it. The food wasn't quite as good as I had expected but still decent and I would do it again. My girls participated in the princess promonade and got their pictures and the autographs of all of the princesses that were there. That afternoon my husband took my son back to the resort to rest and it was just me and the girls. We went around epcot meeting all of the characters and getting their autographs... Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy, Jasmine and Aladdin, Belle, and Mulan. We also did the Mexico adventure with Perry the Platypus and the girls really enjoyed that. My husband and son met us back at Chefs de Frances for our dinner reservation. I was rather disappointed in the food. It was good but not as good as I had expected after having read all of the wonderful reviews. The service was terrible and our waiter was quite rude and not friendly at all. The kids LOVED meeting Remy from Ratatoille and it was definitely the highlight of our dinner. We didn't stay for Illuminations b/c everyone was too tired. I'm sure it would have been great though.
Wednesday was our first day at Magic Kingdom and it was awesome to say the least. My son got the Jake makeover at the Pirates League and my daughters went to Bippiti Boppity Boutique. We got the most expensive package, but it was definitley worth it. I was hoping my girls would have picked more classic princesses to be like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty but my 4 year old picked Ariel and my 7 year old picked Tiana. They looked incredible though and was happy once I saw the outcome of the makeover. It was awesome. The line ups weren't too bad and we did the carosel a few times and enjoyed the new Ariel ride in Fantasyland. We went for dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian resort. The characters here were wonderful but again I was disapointed with the food. Not as good as I had expected it would be. We went back for the Wishes fireworks show that night which ofcourse was incredible. We were sad that Tinkerbell didn't fly that night though, maybe it was too windy?
Thursday we started our day off at Chef Mickey's. It was incredible and is an absolute must for small children. We were seated at a table with a view of the castle. After breakfast we headed back to Magic Kingdom for the day. I was happy we had got a lot of pictures with the castle the day before b/c the next two days we were there they had a big crane doing work beside the castle and would have been in all of the pictures. We stayed that night for the Electrical parade which was great. I just wish it had of been a little bit longer. All of the disney parades were awesome but I think my absolute favourite was the Countdown to Fun parade at Hollywood Studios.
Friday was our last full day at Disney World. So we started off our morning at Downtown Disney. We used the rest of our snack credits on some treats to take back home from the Goofy Candy Company. We got the chocolate covered rice crispy squares on a stick that were Mickey shaped. I'm glad we didn't try them until we got home b/c I probably would have bought 100 of them, instead of just 3. They were amazingly delicious and I would highly recommend them to everyone. At lunch we went for a swim in the cars pool at the resort and then headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We went to the Be Our Guest Restaurant for dinner and it was definitely my favourite table service meal out of all of the restaurants we had been at. It was just like being in the movie. The food was delicious and after our dinner we were able to walk around the restaurant and then got to get our picture taken with the beast in the study. After dinner we went to the Enchanted Tales with Belle and this was my favourite attraction of all out of all 4 parks we went to. The anamatronic wardrobe and lumiere were incredible and my daughter got to be Mrs. Potts for the story telling. She got a bookmark from Belle for participating and also got her picture taken with her. This is an absolute must for little ones who like Beauty and the Beast and is definitely worth the wait in line. We stayed again to watch Wishes again and were very happy this time to see Tinkerbell fly from the castle. A perfect last day of our trip for sure.
Saturday morning we got packed and went for a swim at the Nemo pool. This was the kids favourite pool and mine too. It is neat to hear the music playing under the water and the splash area was great too. We caught the bus just before lunch and flew out of Buffalo that night.
We thought that this would be a once in a lifetime trip for us but we are definitely planning on going back. Time to start saving again.
Despite a very rough start to our trip, all in all we had an amazing time and have nothing but wonderful memories of our first time at Disney. I had planned for over a year and read all sorts of reviews and suggestions on the disboards, on trip advisor and even bought a book on Disney. We didn't get to do as much as I would have liked and I'm hoping that next time it won't be so much as a rush around to try and fit everything in. I also would not book so many days at the park and would leave at least one full day to just stay at the resort which was an attraction in itself. They had a movie under the stars every night at 7pm which we never got the chance to do, plus they had many other activities that we didn't get to take advantage of either. Art of Animation resort was incredible to say the least and we would definitely stay here again.
Despite having a nice Nikon camera myself and having taken over 1500 pics myself, we also had the photopass plus and I am happy we did. I have over 600 pictures on it too, including lots from our character meals and some from rides too. I especially like the magic shots we got.... including my daughter dressed as Tiana holding the frog in her hand about to kiss him, some with my kids holding Tinkerbell in their hands, one of my son dressed as Jake sword fighting with Captain Hook, etc... and many other shots just from around the parks. The photopass photographers really were everywhere and we had plenty of opportunities to get pictures on the card.
I guess that just about sums up my first trip report. Hope you enjoyed reading it and that it might help you to plan your trip a little better. Can't wait to go back.
We were there from Sat Jan 26th to Sat Feb 2nd 2013. We are Canadian but flew out of Buffalo to save some money on the flight. The flight was just over 2 hours and we flew on JetBlue which we really enjoyed. We ended up waiting longer then we expected for the Magical Express to take us to the resort but we really enjoyed the bus ride to our resort once we got on. My poor son was really sick for the first three days we were there and mostly just slept the whole time, wouldn't eat or drink and had a bad fever. The first day we arrived at the resort around 1:30pm. We enjoyed touring around the resort and went for a swim in the Little Mermaid pool. We were in the Little Mermaid room and thought it was really cute. We didn't have to wait to get our room which was nice as we were thinking we'd have to wait to check in later. We enjoyed our dinner at the Landscapes of Flavour as well and the food court wasn't that busy on our first night.
Sunday we went to Hollywood Studios. We did our first table service meal and it was lunch at Hollywood and Vine. We loved it. I was apprehensive about this meal and almost changed the reservation after reading all of the negative reviews. I am so happy that we didn't change it. All of my kids loved it and the characters and we all found many items on the buffet that we enjoyed eating. I would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone. Probably our favourite attraction for all of us was the Muppets 3D movie, even though my kids didn't even know who the muppets were. We also enjoyed Fantasmic.
Monday we headed to the Animal Kingdom. We went to the Kilimonjaro Safari first thing in the morning and were happy we did. The animals were all out and quite active and the safari vehicle didn't rush through. We went on the safari again later in the day but found that they were rushed and we hardly got to enjoy the animals as we had in the morning. So definitley do it first thing in the morning if you can. We really enjoyed our lunch too at the Rainforest Cafe and the kids were highly entertained just watching the animals that were there. The park closed at 5pm that day and I found that we didn't get to do nearly as much as we had hoped. Monday night my son was still really sick and so much husband and I took him to the emerge. Rachel at the front desk of the Art of Animation resort was amazing and helped us get a taxi (at no charge) to and from the Celebration hospital. The hospital staff was also amazing. He ended up getting 2 bags of IV drip b/c he was dehydrated and antibiotics. Turns out he had an ear infection and probably sinus infection and strep throat too. Rachel at the front desk also got us upgraded from the Little Mermaid room to the Cars room so that my son could have his own bed. It was wonderful and next time I would pay the extra money to be in the family suite and have more room.
Tuesday, despite getting home at 4am from emerge, we all headed to Akershus for the Princess Breakfast. The kids all loved it. The food wasn't quite as good as I had expected but still decent and I would do it again. My girls participated in the princess promonade and got their pictures and the autographs of all of the princesses that were there. That afternoon my husband took my son back to the resort to rest and it was just me and the girls. We went around epcot meeting all of the characters and getting their autographs... Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy, Jasmine and Aladdin, Belle, and Mulan. We also did the Mexico adventure with Perry the Platypus and the girls really enjoyed that. My husband and son met us back at Chefs de Frances for our dinner reservation. I was rather disappointed in the food. It was good but not as good as I had expected after having read all of the wonderful reviews. The service was terrible and our waiter was quite rude and not friendly at all. The kids LOVED meeting Remy from Ratatoille and it was definitely the highlight of our dinner. We didn't stay for Illuminations b/c everyone was too tired. I'm sure it would have been great though.
Wednesday was our first day at Magic Kingdom and it was awesome to say the least. My son got the Jake makeover at the Pirates League and my daughters went to Bippiti Boppity Boutique. We got the most expensive package, but it was definitley worth it. I was hoping my girls would have picked more classic princesses to be like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty but my 4 year old picked Ariel and my 7 year old picked Tiana. They looked incredible though and was happy once I saw the outcome of the makeover. It was awesome. The line ups weren't too bad and we did the carosel a few times and enjoyed the new Ariel ride in Fantasyland. We went for dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian resort. The characters here were wonderful but again I was disapointed with the food. Not as good as I had expected it would be. We went back for the Wishes fireworks show that night which ofcourse was incredible. We were sad that Tinkerbell didn't fly that night though, maybe it was too windy?
Thursday we started our day off at Chef Mickey's. It was incredible and is an absolute must for small children. We were seated at a table with a view of the castle. After breakfast we headed back to Magic Kingdom for the day. I was happy we had got a lot of pictures with the castle the day before b/c the next two days we were there they had a big crane doing work beside the castle and would have been in all of the pictures. We stayed that night for the Electrical parade which was great. I just wish it had of been a little bit longer. All of the disney parades were awesome but I think my absolute favourite was the Countdown to Fun parade at Hollywood Studios.
Friday was our last full day at Disney World. So we started off our morning at Downtown Disney. We used the rest of our snack credits on some treats to take back home from the Goofy Candy Company. We got the chocolate covered rice crispy squares on a stick that were Mickey shaped. I'm glad we didn't try them until we got home b/c I probably would have bought 100 of them, instead of just 3. They were amazingly delicious and I would highly recommend them to everyone. At lunch we went for a swim in the cars pool at the resort and then headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We went to the Be Our Guest Restaurant for dinner and it was definitely my favourite table service meal out of all of the restaurants we had been at. It was just like being in the movie. The food was delicious and after our dinner we were able to walk around the restaurant and then got to get our picture taken with the beast in the study. After dinner we went to the Enchanted Tales with Belle and this was my favourite attraction of all out of all 4 parks we went to. The anamatronic wardrobe and lumiere were incredible and my daughter got to be Mrs. Potts for the story telling. She got a bookmark from Belle for participating and also got her picture taken with her. This is an absolute must for little ones who like Beauty and the Beast and is definitely worth the wait in line. We stayed again to watch Wishes again and were very happy this time to see Tinkerbell fly from the castle. A perfect last day of our trip for sure.
Saturday morning we got packed and went for a swim at the Nemo pool. This was the kids favourite pool and mine too. It is neat to hear the music playing under the water and the splash area was great too. We caught the bus just before lunch and flew out of Buffalo that night.
We thought that this would be a once in a lifetime trip for us but we are definitely planning on going back. Time to start saving again.
Despite a very rough start to our trip, all in all we had an amazing time and have nothing but wonderful memories of our first time at Disney. I had planned for over a year and read all sorts of reviews and suggestions on the disboards, on trip advisor and even bought a book on Disney. We didn't get to do as much as I would have liked and I'm hoping that next time it won't be so much as a rush around to try and fit everything in. I also would not book so many days at the park and would leave at least one full day to just stay at the resort which was an attraction in itself. They had a movie under the stars every night at 7pm which we never got the chance to do, plus they had many other activities that we didn't get to take advantage of either. Art of Animation resort was incredible to say the least and we would definitely stay here again. Despite having a nice Nikon camera myself and having taken over 1500 pics myself, we also had the photopass plus and I am happy we did. I have over 600 pictures on it too, including lots from our character meals and some from rides too. I especially like the magic shots we got.... including my daughter dressed as Tiana holding the frog in her hand about to kiss him, some with my kids holding Tinkerbell in their hands, one of my son dressed as Jake sword fighting with Captain Hook, etc... and many other shots just from around the parks. The photopass photographers really were everywhere and we had plenty of opportunities to get pictures on the card.
I guess that just about sums up my first trip report. Hope you enjoyed reading it and that it might help you to plan your trip a little better. Can't wait to go back.
We are hoping to see Tinkerbell fly too!
