OK... I'll try to make this as brief yet detailed as possible - but apologize in advance for the ramblings on! I'll also try to include little comments / side notes about advice I got from this board - which was IMMENSELY helpful!
We decided to drive from Ohio as opposed to flying. I figure we saved about $750 by doing so - which sounds good now, but in the middle of either the trip down or trip back, I would have gladly paid that to have flown. We're still debating whether to drive, fly, or possibly take Amtrak for our next trip (more on that later). We took two days to drive down, stopping just south of Columbia SC the first day (after about 10 hrs) and arriving at our hotel around 3 PM the second day (after another 6 hours or so). Total drive time for us - I'll do the math for you - was 16 hours including stopping for meals, diaper changes, etc... The trip back was 15 hours because we ate meals in the car. Our itinerary was....
Day 1 - Arrival - just hang out at Nick Hotel and swam
Day 2 - MK
Day 3 - EP
Day 4 - AK
Day 5 - MK
Day 6 - DS
Day 7 - MK
Day 8 - MK
Day 9 - MK (including Cindy's breakfast)
Day 10 - Departure
I won't run through every day because quite frankly they all ran together! I'll just start by describing the whole entire trip as magical. It sounds so cliche (and even a little silly) for a 30-something man to describe a trip to a theme park as magical, but there's simply no other term for it! This was my first trip to the world and as much as I wish I had had the opportunity to go as a child, I'm really glad I waited until I had children of my own. Words simply can't express the feelings you get the first time you see the castle, or the first time you see the fireworks, or the first time you ride the mad tea party, or the first time you see your kids run up and hug the princesses or pooh or piglet.
Now for some 'highlights'...
The Hotel - Nick Hotel - Let me start by saying we had one of the scariest experiences of my life at this hotel. We started off in one room and had a great first night. The second day we got a call from the manager saying we needed to move rooms because they were doing a water outage to fix some pending issues they were having. It was a pain, but we moved. Then, on the second night in our new room, my daughter called me into her room and asked me to help her find her pacifier. I pulled the bed out to get it and found - prepare to gasp - an electrical outlet with no cover plate which wasn't even attached to the box inside the wall - just live bare wires hanging out from the wall behind my daughter's bed! Had she just reached down searching for her pacifier instead of calling me - I shutter to think of what might have happened. The plug was fixed immediately (well, it took them 25 minutes, but they were there immediately). After much run around with the manager, he ended up giving me three days free on our next return visit. I'm not sure this really eases my concern, but I was done arguing. Having said all of that, we simply loved the layout of the Nick Hotel. The kids having their own space is awesome - as was us having our own space - though we were too tired most nights to take advantage of that (well - SHE was too tired
). We found the dinner buffet to be really good food wise, average to less than average service wise, and just a bit expensive (nearly $50 for 2 adults + 2 free kids with drinks and tip). We still ate there several nights, though, due to convenience. We skipped the counter foods at the hotel - I tried fries 1 time at A&W and they were awful. We also had a problem with the maid service. We generally got back to the room around 2 PM for our naps and slept till about 4:30, and we only actually got maid service 1 time because we were napping during the time they got around to our room. I had to call down every day to get fresh towels. Frustrating, but not a huge deal. Maybe I didn't leave the maid a big enough tip the first day?!
Now to the parks... As you can see, we spent the vast majority of our time at MK, so I'll save that for last....
AK - we have a really good zoo here in Columbus (yeah, home of Jack Hannah, though I don't think he even works there anymore). Anyway, we could see most of the animals AK offers a lot closer up at our hometown zoo. The Safari ride was good, but I thought our kids may be too young for the Bug's Life show. We did do the Lion King show as well, and really enjoyed that. Most of the 'cool' stuff (like bigger coasters and dinosaur attraction) were too big for my kids (DS2, DD4), so we felt we saw all we wanted to see in the one morning we went to AK.
EP - Again, most of this was all too big for my kids. What made Epcot worthwhile for us, though, was the character greeting they have. There were NO lines at either the one close to the main entrance or for the various characters out walking around the park. I enjoyed the boat ride through the greenhouses, but not the kids' speed. We did do the pearl pick in Japan and I surprised my wife by buying two picks - one for my daughter and one for my wife - and had them matching necklaces made as a keepsake. Keep in mind, though, that they don't start pulling the oysters till noon. Not the day we were there, anyway... Then you have another 20 - 30 minutes to wait if you want your catch set in a mounting. Also - for anyone who has been to Paris and had a GOOD crepe - DO NOT bother with the crepe posers in the Paris section of EP. You'll be disappointed.
DS - We were there during the ESPN Weekend, so the crowds were a little bigger, but not so many kids as drunk dads with kids in tow on a bonding mission. It was neet, though. My favorite ESPN personality (Kirk Herbstreit) was not on hand, though (more on that later). We did the Disney Playhouse and DD4 and I rode ToT. She wasn't a big fan of the dark, but was fine with the ride. All in all, she said she didn't want to do it again, but I think when we go back, she'll change her mind. We also went to the Beauty and the Beast show. We missed the Little Mermaid show, which was the only thing here that we really wanted to do but didn't get the chance. Again, I think this is better for slightly older children.
MK - Oh...where to I begin?!?! Did I mention Magical? OK. Outside of that, we pretty much spent a day at each of the sections. We did everything we wanted to do that we were big enough to do. Fast Pass is a Gods Send! The longest line we waited in was 20 mintues, and that was for Dumbo. We liberally used fast passes from previous days with little hassle, with the exception of one old hag at the Pooh adventure that gave us a snide remark and said she SHOULDN'T let us do it, but just this once she'd let us go. Give me a break! DD loved the BTMR, hated Stitch, and was indiferent to Splash Mountain (she thought it was too short - and not wet enough!). She was too short for Space Mountain, and after having ridden it by myself, even when she is tall enough, I'm not sure when I'll let her ride it...
I'll write more later.... kids are sick, and I gotta help momma. I'll end by saying that we used 8 of the 9 days we had on our park hopper pass. The last night, I went to Town Hall to see what my options were for not wasting that last day. It wouldn't pay for me to make it a no-expiration because I'd have to upgrade all 9 days to no expiration, not just the one unused day. The girl there was very nice, and we did some different scenarios and found the best thing to do was to upgrade my 9 day hopper to an AP. So now we have no choice but to go back. We're planning on going back in September or October, and again next Feb / early March right before our AP expires so we get the most use out of it that we can!
Drop me a PM if you have any specific questions.......
James
We decided to drive from Ohio as opposed to flying. I figure we saved about $750 by doing so - which sounds good now, but in the middle of either the trip down or trip back, I would have gladly paid that to have flown. We're still debating whether to drive, fly, or possibly take Amtrak for our next trip (more on that later). We took two days to drive down, stopping just south of Columbia SC the first day (after about 10 hrs) and arriving at our hotel around 3 PM the second day (after another 6 hours or so). Total drive time for us - I'll do the math for you - was 16 hours including stopping for meals, diaper changes, etc... The trip back was 15 hours because we ate meals in the car. Our itinerary was....
Day 1 - Arrival - just hang out at Nick Hotel and swam
Day 2 - MK
Day 3 - EP
Day 4 - AK
Day 5 - MK
Day 6 - DS
Day 7 - MK
Day 8 - MK
Day 9 - MK (including Cindy's breakfast)
Day 10 - Departure
I won't run through every day because quite frankly they all ran together! I'll just start by describing the whole entire trip as magical. It sounds so cliche (and even a little silly) for a 30-something man to describe a trip to a theme park as magical, but there's simply no other term for it! This was my first trip to the world and as much as I wish I had had the opportunity to go as a child, I'm really glad I waited until I had children of my own. Words simply can't express the feelings you get the first time you see the castle, or the first time you see the fireworks, or the first time you ride the mad tea party, or the first time you see your kids run up and hug the princesses or pooh or piglet.
Now for some 'highlights'...
The Hotel - Nick Hotel - Let me start by saying we had one of the scariest experiences of my life at this hotel. We started off in one room and had a great first night. The second day we got a call from the manager saying we needed to move rooms because they were doing a water outage to fix some pending issues they were having. It was a pain, but we moved. Then, on the second night in our new room, my daughter called me into her room and asked me to help her find her pacifier. I pulled the bed out to get it and found - prepare to gasp - an electrical outlet with no cover plate which wasn't even attached to the box inside the wall - just live bare wires hanging out from the wall behind my daughter's bed! Had she just reached down searching for her pacifier instead of calling me - I shutter to think of what might have happened. The plug was fixed immediately (well, it took them 25 minutes, but they were there immediately). After much run around with the manager, he ended up giving me three days free on our next return visit. I'm not sure this really eases my concern, but I was done arguing. Having said all of that, we simply loved the layout of the Nick Hotel. The kids having their own space is awesome - as was us having our own space - though we were too tired most nights to take advantage of that (well - SHE was too tired
). We found the dinner buffet to be really good food wise, average to less than average service wise, and just a bit expensive (nearly $50 for 2 adults + 2 free kids with drinks and tip). We still ate there several nights, though, due to convenience. We skipped the counter foods at the hotel - I tried fries 1 time at A&W and they were awful. We also had a problem with the maid service. We generally got back to the room around 2 PM for our naps and slept till about 4:30, and we only actually got maid service 1 time because we were napping during the time they got around to our room. I had to call down every day to get fresh towels. Frustrating, but not a huge deal. Maybe I didn't leave the maid a big enough tip the first day?!Now to the parks... As you can see, we spent the vast majority of our time at MK, so I'll save that for last....
AK - we have a really good zoo here in Columbus (yeah, home of Jack Hannah, though I don't think he even works there anymore). Anyway, we could see most of the animals AK offers a lot closer up at our hometown zoo. The Safari ride was good, but I thought our kids may be too young for the Bug's Life show. We did do the Lion King show as well, and really enjoyed that. Most of the 'cool' stuff (like bigger coasters and dinosaur attraction) were too big for my kids (DS2, DD4), so we felt we saw all we wanted to see in the one morning we went to AK.
EP - Again, most of this was all too big for my kids. What made Epcot worthwhile for us, though, was the character greeting they have. There were NO lines at either the one close to the main entrance or for the various characters out walking around the park. I enjoyed the boat ride through the greenhouses, but not the kids' speed. We did do the pearl pick in Japan and I surprised my wife by buying two picks - one for my daughter and one for my wife - and had them matching necklaces made as a keepsake. Keep in mind, though, that they don't start pulling the oysters till noon. Not the day we were there, anyway... Then you have another 20 - 30 minutes to wait if you want your catch set in a mounting. Also - for anyone who has been to Paris and had a GOOD crepe - DO NOT bother with the crepe posers in the Paris section of EP. You'll be disappointed.
DS - We were there during the ESPN Weekend, so the crowds were a little bigger, but not so many kids as drunk dads with kids in tow on a bonding mission. It was neet, though. My favorite ESPN personality (Kirk Herbstreit) was not on hand, though (more on that later). We did the Disney Playhouse and DD4 and I rode ToT. She wasn't a big fan of the dark, but was fine with the ride. All in all, she said she didn't want to do it again, but I think when we go back, she'll change her mind. We also went to the Beauty and the Beast show. We missed the Little Mermaid show, which was the only thing here that we really wanted to do but didn't get the chance. Again, I think this is better for slightly older children.
MK - Oh...where to I begin?!?! Did I mention Magical? OK. Outside of that, we pretty much spent a day at each of the sections. We did everything we wanted to do that we were big enough to do. Fast Pass is a Gods Send! The longest line we waited in was 20 mintues, and that was for Dumbo. We liberally used fast passes from previous days with little hassle, with the exception of one old hag at the Pooh adventure that gave us a snide remark and said she SHOULDN'T let us do it, but just this once she'd let us go. Give me a break! DD loved the BTMR, hated Stitch, and was indiferent to Splash Mountain (she thought it was too short - and not wet enough!). She was too short for Space Mountain, and after having ridden it by myself, even when she is tall enough, I'm not sure when I'll let her ride it...
I'll write more later.... kids are sick, and I gotta help momma. I'll end by saying that we used 8 of the 9 days we had on our park hopper pass. The last night, I went to Town Hall to see what my options were for not wasting that last day. It wouldn't pay for me to make it a no-expiration because I'd have to upgrade all 9 days to no expiration, not just the one unused day. The girl there was very nice, and we did some different scenarios and found the best thing to do was to upgrade my 9 day hopper to an AP. So now we have no choice but to go back. We're planning on going back in September or October, and again next Feb / early March right before our AP expires so we get the most use out of it that we can!
Drop me a PM if you have any specific questions.......
James
