disneydreaming101
Let's ride that again!
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Messages
- 104
Hello everyone reading this!! My family returned from our very first family trip to WDW in Aug. and I wanted to give a report of how it went and thank you again for all the advice you gave. It helped so very much! We went early in Aug, but we have had so many things to do when we returned, that I just now have some time to write about it...I miss WDW sooo much! We had a wonderful first experience! It was not without some incidents, however we did our best not let any of that affect us. We left on a Friday morning (4am for a 7am flight) and were in line for our first ride at 11:30 am (Expedition Everest)!!! Heaven! 
We returned home on Wed., so I had roughly planned our trip by which park on which days according to what had EMH and such to make the most of every minute. We stuck to our plans for the most part, and it worked out beautifully because we did not miss anything we planned to see and rode every ride we had on our list, some of them many times over! We got to the parks at opening and we took an afternoon break each and every day to sleep (you know when a 10 year old takes a nap for a couple of hours, it's tiring!) then we were at it again in the evenings, usually staying until close! This really worked for us mainly because we escaped (most of) the heat of the day, and when one of us needed a break or needed a rest, we made sure to listen to one another and our bodies...we saw many folks out there who were exhausted, verrrry hot, short tempered and just overcooked in general, who really needed to take a break. All the advice on this board and the unofficial guidebook, came in so handy, because I worked the afternoon naps in our schedule...even though I thought before we went that we would probably not need them. Soooo wrong! We were hot, hungry and ready to rest by noon everyday, and thank goodness we had a plan, or else I'm afraid we would have been overwhelmed as of what to do. We could have gone at that pace for maybe a day or two , then we would have been burnt out by the third day and our trip would not have been as pleasant. The heat was something I knew would be a factor, but it really takes a toll on the body, especially when you are walking and moving so much. I can't stress enough to any newbies to WDW like myself, that the afternoon breaks were a must for us in that heat... and it was a blast to be able to go back in the evening with all the lights and parades, plus it emptied out the later it got and, sorry, but we loved it more and more the less crowded it became! Get the Parkhopper passes...it was worth it to take the afternoon off!
We were treated to a little magic when we were down there...we had a great room at POP, and maybe we were given that room because it was our first trip...don't know. We had made last minute ressies with Expedia and reserved a standard room. We were not upgraded, but we were put in the 70's on the end and could see the lake and the main hall/lobby from our room. We could eat and get to the buses with a very short walk, in fact, quicker maybe than some rooms in the 60's (preferred rooms). The 60's pool was just around the corner, so it was close , but not too close (noise). We loved POP and speaking of noise, I found it to be like any other hotel/motel. It was not the quietest, but I don't think it wasn't any noisier than any other value at WDW... It was exactly as I expected for what we paid for. Room was clean and comfortable...and I must say that my whole family loved the food court...we found that it offered a greater variety for our family, and was much quicker so that we could be on our way. We had an ADR and ate at the 50's prime time grill- it was just okay; food was nothing to write home about, but the service was really lacking and was kinda a disappointment, because we chose 50's Grill for the "fun" service and atmosphere. I'm sure the next trip we go, we will make time for some other restaurants, but this trip we decided not to spend any more time on them.
We were also treated to a front row seats at the Lion King show on our first day there..we were stopped by the nicest man that we encountered throughout the whole trip. At the AK turnstile, he noticed our buttons that read "1st trip to WDW' and gave us buttons that read Honorary Family and put us down for front row seats at a 2pm show. I thought this was so special and I was excited, but I have to say that we never made it to the show! This was our first day, and as I said we had been up since 4am. The kids were not able to make it until 2pm in that heat especially with little sleep, so we went for the nap instead, but still a wonderful thing to do for us! I think it was a good decision, because we needed to rest ..we went to the MK our first night there...magical enough! It was open until 3am that night, too. We did not make it anywhere that late, but we got to spend some good late night time there, anyway! I joked with my DH about how we probably missed out on something like Cinderella's Castle by not showing up to the show, but of course, that would not have happened!
Another fun thing that happened to us...we were on the Barnstormer ride. This was not a ride on our list, but it was near closing and the line was almost non-exsistent, so we got on it. When the ride was over, I said "Again, again" like a little kid having fun
...and the woman running the ride heard me and was so wonderful- she asked the people on the ride, "Who wants to go again right now?" and we all screamed. "Is that all you got"? she asked, so we screamed louder. She let us go around the track three times without getting off. It was just a little ride, but we had a blast and the woman running the ride gave us a little magic, called personality!
Favorite rides were DS-Space Mountain, Me-Rockin' Roller Coaster (speeding upside down with Aerosmith blasting? Yes please!) DH-Expedition Everest, DD-Test Track and we all loved that crazy little ride named Primeval Whirl! Characters were on our kids list of things to do if time permitted. My kids told me they were all about the rides..until they saw some characters. Then they were awestruck. My DD met Belle and was over the moon...Belle was terrific to her. My DS's favorite was Stitch. Of course, he couldn't talk, but communicated with my DS none the less very well; it was blast!
For the incidents I mentioned... our last night there, we were sitting at the tables outside an ice cream shop in MK, and they were bringing out chairs near closing time. The parade had just gone by and DH ran to the restroom. My DS and I were sitting and my DD was standing when the rudest woman, who works there, came out and literally yelled at my DD, "Excuse me!", then slammed down the chair right next to my kid and turned to go back in the ice cream shop.
(Let me add that there was PLENTY of room to put that chair anywhere around my kid! Why choose to put it right where someone was standing? Because she was sick of people, that's why! Hate your job, don't hate me!
) I lost it because I could not believe what an ill tempered, 'lil (bleep) she was! I yelled after her and said "What's wrong with you, you creep? She is just a kid standing there!" After that I noticed that someone else started bringing out the rest of the chairs. When DH came back, he asked if I wanted him to go in and find a manager, but I just wanted to leave... she obviously heard me and I made my point, plus I didn't want to upset DD by going any further with it. Now, if she had even brushed my kid with that chair, it would have been very different! 
But we refused to let that end our trip on a bad note. We saw people break in front of others (including us, pushing my DS out of the way) and a few yelling matches down there, etc...But when you have that many people together mixed with heat and exhaustion, plus the fact that some people just don't have manners...that kind of stuff happens. So we focused on all the great things we saw there and we actually met several, really great people down there as well; so luckily all this outnumbered the negative stuff. We had a trip of a lifetime!
This has been long...sorry! I know I left out so much...Any questions I will try to answer, if anyone is interested! I am not sure how to post pictures yet, but I will try to figure it out...then I will have to choose from the 400 pictures I took there! Thanks again everyone!
We returned home on Wed., so I had roughly planned our trip by which park on which days according to what had EMH and such to make the most of every minute. We stuck to our plans for the most part, and it worked out beautifully because we did not miss anything we planned to see and rode every ride we had on our list, some of them many times over! We got to the parks at opening and we took an afternoon break each and every day to sleep (you know when a 10 year old takes a nap for a couple of hours, it's tiring!) then we were at it again in the evenings, usually staying until close! This really worked for us mainly because we escaped (most of) the heat of the day, and when one of us needed a break or needed a rest, we made sure to listen to one another and our bodies...we saw many folks out there who were exhausted, verrrry hot, short tempered and just overcooked in general, who really needed to take a break. All the advice on this board and the unofficial guidebook, came in so handy, because I worked the afternoon naps in our schedule...even though I thought before we went that we would probably not need them. Soooo wrong! We were hot, hungry and ready to rest by noon everyday, and thank goodness we had a plan, or else I'm afraid we would have been overwhelmed as of what to do. We could have gone at that pace for maybe a day or two , then we would have been burnt out by the third day and our trip would not have been as pleasant. The heat was something I knew would be a factor, but it really takes a toll on the body, especially when you are walking and moving so much. I can't stress enough to any newbies to WDW like myself, that the afternoon breaks were a must for us in that heat... and it was a blast to be able to go back in the evening with all the lights and parades, plus it emptied out the later it got and, sorry, but we loved it more and more the less crowded it became! Get the Parkhopper passes...it was worth it to take the afternoon off!We were treated to a little magic when we were down there...we had a great room at POP, and maybe we were given that room because it was our first trip...don't know. We had made last minute ressies with Expedia and reserved a standard room. We were not upgraded, but we were put in the 70's on the end and could see the lake and the main hall/lobby from our room. We could eat and get to the buses with a very short walk, in fact, quicker maybe than some rooms in the 60's (preferred rooms). The 60's pool was just around the corner, so it was close , but not too close (noise). We loved POP and speaking of noise, I found it to be like any other hotel/motel. It was not the quietest, but I don't think it wasn't any noisier than any other value at WDW... It was exactly as I expected for what we paid for. Room was clean and comfortable...and I must say that my whole family loved the food court...we found that it offered a greater variety for our family, and was much quicker so that we could be on our way. We had an ADR and ate at the 50's prime time grill- it was just okay; food was nothing to write home about, but the service was really lacking and was kinda a disappointment, because we chose 50's Grill for the "fun" service and atmosphere. I'm sure the next trip we go, we will make time for some other restaurants, but this trip we decided not to spend any more time on them.
We were also treated to a front row seats at the Lion King show on our first day there..we were stopped by the nicest man that we encountered throughout the whole trip. At the AK turnstile, he noticed our buttons that read "1st trip to WDW' and gave us buttons that read Honorary Family and put us down for front row seats at a 2pm show. I thought this was so special and I was excited, but I have to say that we never made it to the show! This was our first day, and as I said we had been up since 4am. The kids were not able to make it until 2pm in that heat especially with little sleep, so we went for the nap instead, but still a wonderful thing to do for us! I think it was a good decision, because we needed to rest ..we went to the MK our first night there...magical enough! It was open until 3am that night, too. We did not make it anywhere that late, but we got to spend some good late night time there, anyway! I joked with my DH about how we probably missed out on something like Cinderella's Castle by not showing up to the show, but of course, that would not have happened!
Another fun thing that happened to us...we were on the Barnstormer ride. This was not a ride on our list, but it was near closing and the line was almost non-exsistent, so we got on it. When the ride was over, I said "Again, again" like a little kid having fun
...and the woman running the ride heard me and was so wonderful- she asked the people on the ride, "Who wants to go again right now?" and we all screamed. "Is that all you got"? she asked, so we screamed louder. She let us go around the track three times without getting off. It was just a little ride, but we had a blast and the woman running the ride gave us a little magic, called personality! Favorite rides were DS-Space Mountain, Me-Rockin' Roller Coaster (speeding upside down with Aerosmith blasting? Yes please!) DH-Expedition Everest, DD-Test Track and we all loved that crazy little ride named Primeval Whirl! Characters were on our kids list of things to do if time permitted. My kids told me they were all about the rides..until they saw some characters. Then they were awestruck. My DD met Belle and was over the moon...Belle was terrific to her. My DS's favorite was Stitch. Of course, he couldn't talk, but communicated with my DS none the less very well; it was blast!
For the incidents I mentioned... our last night there, we were sitting at the tables outside an ice cream shop in MK, and they were bringing out chairs near closing time. The parade had just gone by and DH ran to the restroom. My DS and I were sitting and my DD was standing when the rudest woman, who works there, came out and literally yelled at my DD, "Excuse me!", then slammed down the chair right next to my kid and turned to go back in the ice cream shop.
(Let me add that there was PLENTY of room to put that chair anywhere around my kid! Why choose to put it right where someone was standing? Because she was sick of people, that's why! Hate your job, don't hate me! ) I lost it because I could not believe what an ill tempered, 'lil (bleep) she was! I yelled after her and said "What's wrong with you, you creep? She is just a kid standing there!" After that I noticed that someone else started bringing out the rest of the chairs. When DH came back, he asked if I wanted him to go in and find a manager, but I just wanted to leave... she obviously heard me and I made my point, plus I didn't want to upset DD by going any further with it. Now, if she had even brushed my kid with that chair, it would have been very different! But we refused to let that end our trip on a bad note. We saw people break in front of others (including us, pushing my DS out of the way) and a few yelling matches down there, etc...But when you have that many people together mixed with heat and exhaustion, plus the fact that some people just don't have manners...that kind of stuff happens. So we focused on all the great things we saw there and we actually met several, really great people down there as well; so luckily all this outnumbered the negative stuff. We had a trip of a lifetime!
This has been long...sorry! I know I left out so much...Any questions I will try to answer, if anyone is interested! I am not sure how to post pictures yet, but I will try to figure it out...then I will have to choose from the 400 pictures I took there! Thanks again everyone!
