Our Magical Vacation

chaznabby

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 4, 2005
Messages
30
My family of four (2 kids ages 4 and 1) went to Walt Disney World February 5-12, 2006 for our greatest vacation ever. This was my 5th visit personally, while my family's 2nd visit. We went last February during President's week. I want to share my thoughts with you.

First, let me say thank you to those on this board that share so much information with everyone. Its priceless! Our vacation was a great success due in great part to the info I got from this site. You folks are so wonderful!

My report here is in no special order. I will share as things come to mind.

We stayed at the Pop Century Resort. What a great and affordable place. We were in the 70s Building on the 3rd floor right next to the Tramp. The room was just right. It was clean, the decor was great, and the room was sufficient, especially since we were only there at night. I tipped the house keeper each morning $3 or $4 and left a note asking for extra soap and shampoo. I was able to bring back plenty for some souveniers and traveling down memory lane when I shower here back home.

We arrived Sunday, Feb. 5 about 2:00 pm. We drove in from North Carolina, which was not a bad drive at all, even with 2 small kids. We were able to check right in with no wait. There were hardly any other guests there. The parking lots were not even half full. It was great!!

After getting our stuff in the room and getting settled, we went to the food court at Pop for some dinner (about 4:00 pm). The selection was wonderful and the food was very appetizing. We bought 3 refillable mugs which was great to use all week. We ate breakfast at Pop each morning and used our mugs then. We also used them each night before going back to our room. I just carried the mugs in my back pack each day. It was no problem. The cheeseburgers were really good.

We rode the Disney bus to Down Town Disney for an evening of shopping. What a great time. The place was NOT crowded as I was use to with my other visits. We headed right for World of Disney to do our shopping. I booked my vacation through AAA, so I had my special AAA Diamond Card. I got 10% off my bill at World of Disney. I also have the Disney Visa Card and used my Disney Reward Credits, too. We did a ton of shopping and saved so much money. Other customers were asking how we did that. It was funny. We shopped the other stores as well, including that "Everything Under $10" store. We found some great bargains there. Good place to take a child and just let him choose a couple of things ... whatever he wants ... and not break the bank. This was just the greatest Downtown Disney experience I ever had. The crowds just were NOT there. The weather that night was around 60 degrees. We did not go to Pleasure Island because we had our kids.

Okay, so we get up the next morning (Monday) and eat breakfast at Pop. We catch the Disney bus for Disney Studios. Let me say here some things about the buses. I know during peak season, the buses can be horrendous. This week, however, they were very manageable. The few times they were crowded, people sitting were so accomodating for my wife. They gave up their seat for her and my 1 year old son. The people overall were so doggone friendly and family-like it was almost like a dream itself. I felt so much warmth and friendliness with most people on those buses. We met some of the nicest people on the buses that week than we ever had in our lives. I must say the bus rides helped to make our Disney experience all the more magical.

Okay, we get to the Studios and our bags are checked and we scan our tickets. (By the way, we have 6 day park hopper tickets with the dining plan) We are here before the park opens and are almost at the "rope line" waiting to enter. The characters are waiting down the street by the blue Fantasia hat. The rope drops and off we go to meet the characters. We get pictures and some time with Mickey and Pluto. We see Tigger, Winnie, Snow White, and so many of the other characters. Remember, with NO CROWDS we get extra time. There's NO RUSH!

After my 4 year old son has met all of his heroes, we move on to Star Tours. What a dream come true for my son. He adores Star Wars. Great ride. No lines, we got right on. We saw the 3-D Muppet show. When coming out, we met and got pics with Woody and Buz. We did the "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" play area. I loved this area myself. It was so much fun.

We had reservations for lunch at 11:00 am at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We were on the Dining Plan so we ate like royalty. I had the meatloaf, my wife had the chicken and pastry, and my son had the mac-n-cheese. We ordered 3 appetizers (onion rings, chicken noodle soup, and seafood dip) which all were great. The milkshakes are to "live" for!! You gotta try these. The strawberry one is heavenly! We were only able to "pick" at our desserts. The food here was out of this world and the server was great and played her part. The decor and atmosphere of the place was priceless.

We went on to the Back Lot tour, which I got picked to be in the pre-show. I was the one that got all the water poured on his head. Thank God for that rain suit they gave me. My wife got some great pics. The riding tour was really good. The flood and explosion scene was great. We also did the Chronicles of Narnia exhibit, the Great Movie Ride, the Walt Disney exhibit (which I really loved and got emotional in), the Indiana Jones show, and some more stuff. Again, no crowds and no lines. We just leisurely took our time. The temp was about 75 degrees and there was no humidity.

We had reservations for Hollywood and Vine buffet at 5:00 pm for dinner. The food was out of this world. The little cheesecakes were the best I have ever eaten. The food was fresh and well presented.

I mentioned we were on the dining plan. I want to talk about that for a second. I LOVED the dining plan and HIGHLY recommend it if you plan to eat at Table Service restaurants and don't mind working your schedule around advance reservations. I also recommend advance reservations, even during slow times. SO MANY people were turned away all week at restaurants due to no reservations. Remember, the seating is still limited whether the parks are busy or not. If the restaurant only seats 100 people at a time, it fills us fast whether there are 10,000 people at the park or only 500. So, make advance reservations. It is so pain free and convenient. I was amazed at how many people did not know about the dining plan. We got lots of envious stares and inquiries concerning our ordering with the dining plan. That was lots of fun. The ONE complaint I have about being on the dining plan is the service of the waiter/waitress. I noticed immediately with our 1st meal and confirmed it with our next meals that we got significantly LESS quality service than guests not on the plan. I figured the wait staff knew their 18% gratuity was in the bag with us and they didn't need to work hard for us. In EVERY case, our service at Table Service places was unsatisfactory. Other guests NOT on the dining plan were attended to A LOT more, and it was VERY noticeable!!! This was the only displeasing part. I think Disney should give us the option to determine gratuity. I like it that the plan pays the tip, but if the wait staff doesn't earn it, they shouldn't get it as a "freebie". Enough said about that!

When we checked in at Hollywood and Vine, the lady automatically gave us a VIP pass for Fantasmic. I thought that was nice. Our seating was perfect. Of course, the show was incredible. The bus ride back to Pop was pleasant.

On Tuesday, we went to Magic Kingdom during the day. That was a great day. We were there to see the characters come on the train and Mickey to do the opening countdown. Its definitely worth getting up early for!! We did Tommorowland 1st. I had my hopes up to try the Tommorowland Terrace Noodle stand but it was closed until March. What a bummer! We rode almost everything there. I definitely did NOT like the Stitch ride. Everything else was great. Again, no crowds and no lines!

We did Toon Town and my kids got lots of quality time with Mickey. It was fabulous. We took the train to Frontierland and had lots of fun there. We ate lunch at Pecos and took the food out on the terrace behind the restaurant. NO crowds, so we had the terrace all to ourselves. The Italian stand across from the Pirates ride was closed so it was so peaceful. My son's favorite ride at MK is the Pirates. So, we rode that after lunch. We rode Splash Mountain, did Tom Sawyer Island, did the bear show, and other stuff. We secured our place at the entry gate across from Pecos to see the 3:00pm parade. What a great location to see everything. The characters came right up to my kids.

On the dining plan, we got 3 snacks per day. We used these each day for Nestle Toll House Ice Cream sandwiches and bottled water. What a heavenly treat each day.

I had reservations for Coral Reef at Epcot at 7:50pm so we park hopped via the monorail around 5:30pm. We had time to do the Living Seas stuff, including the "Crush" show which was amazing. The audience interaction was so cool. The restaurant was great. The food was wonderful. Once again, the service from our wait staff really stunk. I had the Tilapia entree, my wife had the catfish entree. The appetizers were great. The chocolate wave desserts were so tastey. Did I mention the service was horrible? We left ahead of the masses while Illuminations was finishing up. The bus ride was pleasant.

On Wednesday, we went to Animal Kingdom. We just strolled the park and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere. We took plenty of time to enjoy the Oasis and Tree of Life. Its Tough To Be A Bug was wonderful. We rode all the rides like Kali Rapids, the Safari ride, Dinosaur, and did the walk thru tours and exhibits. We ate lunch at the counter place by the Safari ride. I believe it was the Tusker House. That was great. We ate dinner at Flame Tree and took our food to the secluded court behind the restaurant. Again, no crowds. The terrace was all ours and we had such a great family time. We ate the ribs here and they were so delicious. The Everest roller coaster was running, but the lines were long here and fast passes went fast. I did not ride. Animal Kingdom did EMH tonight, so we stayed to see the 6pm show of Festival of the Lion King. It was great. We got back to Pop and decided to order pizza delivered to the room. Oh my goodness!!!! Some of the BEST pizza I have ever eaten. It was so much fun!!!!

On Thursday, we went back to Magic Kingdom all day. We did Mainstreet USA shops, we did all the rides in Fanatasy Land (again, NO crowds and NO lines), the kids played a while at the Winnie the Pooh play area, and we moved on to Liberty Square. The Hall of Presidents was great and of course the Haunted Mansion was great. We rode Splash Mountain again and did the Pirates ride again. There was no wait at Alladin, so we rode the magic carpets. We did Tikki, which didn't really impress me but was enjoyable. Me and my 4 year old son walked through Swiss Family Tree House. We had Dinner Reservations for 4pm at the Tavern Character Dinner. The food here was wonderful and the character interaction was priceless. I highly recommend this dinner!!!!!! We did some shopping and more stuff after dinner, then we headed to Tommorland Terrace to see the Night Parade and Fireworks. Tinkerbell flew right above our heads and my son was just amazed. The show was outstanding!!

On Friday, we slept in for some rest. I scheduled it that way. We still got up and were out the door by 9:30 am. We went back to Disney Studios to do PLayhouse Disney and Beauty and the Beast. We did lunch at the ABC Commisary. I got the Curry Chicken which was great and not too spicy. We did some final shopping and rode some more rides. We didn't do Tower of Terror or Aerosmith because my son couldn't do that. The only ride I rode by myself without my son was Space Mountain. We left for Epcot about 3pm. I had reservations for LeCellier at 8:00 pm. We did some stuff at Future World and toured Canada and United Kingdom. Our meal at Le Cellier was wonderful. The food was excellent. The best filet I probably ever had. The service was horrible. Epcot had EMH tonight, so we did that just to walk the countries late at night. That was so much fun. Both kids slept in their strollers and that gave me and my wife time to just see the world in a couple of hours. We did so much shopping it wasn't funny. BUT, we had a great time and so many memories were created. We left the park about 11:30 pm.

The next morning, Saturday, we slept in. Again, I planned it that way. We returned back to Epcot to spend our final day. The weather all week was great. 70s during the day, and 60s at night. EXCEPT our last day of Saturday. A cold front came through and the temps dropped and the wind blew horrible. It rained that night which was miserable. We made the best of it. We did everything in Future World. Test Track was closed which was a bummer. My son is still talking about Honey I Shrunk The Audience. Then we walked the countries in daylight. We did lots more shopping. We ate lunch at Yakitori in Japan. Outstanding! Ofcourse, we sampled food in all countries. I had us dinner reservations at Rose and Crown at 6:30pm. Food was great. The steak was good, but I did not care for the fish. It just did not have any flavor to me. We were not allowed to stay there for Illuminations because it was too early. If we had been seated at 7:00pm or later, we could have kept our seats on the covered terrace. I'll make a note of that for future planning. It was raining, cold, and the wind was blowing really bad. We walked over to Mexico and I secured a place to see Illuminations while my family sought shelter. The show had some problems I guess due to the bad weather. The wind was blowing REALLY hard. It was a great show, even though it was presented kinda choppy and in interrupted sections. I was wet and frozen and the bus ride back to Pop was miserable. Only because of how I felt.

I got sick immediately because of being in the bad weather to hold us a good place for Illuminations. I couldn't sleep good and ended up sleeping in the next morning. (Unplanned) I was so sick, I didn't eat breakfast or lunch. We left Pop about 12:30pm after my family ate lunch in the food court. The ride home was great, despite me being sick. Absolutely no traffic problems.

I still have the sniffles, but I feel lots better now. Our Disney trip was so magical. The real magic was seeing the faces of my kids light up when seeing the characters or riding the rides. The magic was strolling down the streets of the Epcot countries with my wife at 10:00 pm at night feeling totally safe and at ease and letting her buy a couple of special treats. (Guys be sure to let your wife do the pearl in the oyster thing at Japan.) Oh, the magic was incredible. My life will never be the same. This was absolutely the best vacation I have ever taken.

I am planning for a return for next February 2007. I can hardly wait. Thank you everyone for all your help via this board and thank you Walt Disney for having a God-sized dream. Dreams really do come true!!

Cordially,
Rob
 
glad to hear what a great time you had!!

Were doing our 1st family trip this summer - you just got me so much more excited.

lisa
 
I'm glad that you and your family had a great time. We were there Feb 8-14 and it was wonderful. My husband and 4 year old son rode the Buzz ride 18 times over the length of our trip. Most of those times they were able to walk right on.

We were also on the dining plan and loved it. I think our service was wonderful though. LeCellier was our most favorite meal and our waitress was great.
 












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