Our over-planned, 2nd annual WDW trip – lots of pics - Updated on 6/28

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Once upon a time there lived a handsome prince who married a beautiful princess. For their honeymoon they went to none other than, WDW. It was on that honeymoon when this couple only dreamed of someday taking annual trips to WDW. 12 years later, that dream became reality. You see, the princess has wonderful parents (the King & Queen) that purchased a lovely FL place with a guest suite for their children and grandchildren to enjoy. Yes, that was how it all began…..

The cast:

Myself…… “The Princess” – Disney planning expert. There are times when I become obsessed with planning a vacation to the point where I scare the family. I over plan my vacations to no end. Sometimes I need to step back take a deep breath and relax because the adrenaline is racing through my blood stream like a racecar. It is either that or DH pulling me back for the sake of the family. We make a great team!

DH…….. “The Prince” – He shares my love for Disney, but would much rather sit back and enjoy the show then to step in my way of any of my over planning. Besides, lets be honest here, who would honestly win? If you said, the princess, you are correct.

DD9……….”Aurora” – We’ll call her that because Aurora used to be her favorite princess. That was at least until she became too old to be admiring Princesses. I could not think of a better name for her, sorry! Aurora loves Disney planning as much as I do. She has read that Birnham’s Disney World for Kids cover to cover several times. I can honestly see her planning a Disney Wedding some day, scary I know. She also loves all rides at Disney, you name it, she loves it.

DD5………..”Lilo” – She reminds me of Lilo sometimes except Elvis is not her hero, Jimmy Buffet is. Yes, the girl is a parrothead at the age of 5. She sings all his songs. She had rock star day at her school, she brought in “Cheeseburger in Paradise” to sing to the class. I would say that we may have brainwashed her a little, but it was for the good, wasn’t it? Being a parrothead is just plain old fun! Since Lilo is only 5, she is a bit of a fraidy-cat. Thrill rides are not her passion. She would much rather ride Dumbo several times then to even consider 1 ride on Space Mountain.

The trip:

Our family resides in NH and the kids have a couple school breaks, Christmas, February, and April. We definitely ruled Christmas out due to crowds, February is tough because weather here in New England is extremely unpredictable. So, there we were left with April Spring break. I know April does not sound like Spring break to most Southern folk, but it is Spring break up here in New England. Since we knew that we did not want to pull the kids from school, we knew that April was a great time of year to visit WDW. We were there last April, the crowds were manageable, and weather was nice, so we decided to return.

In November of 2006, Southwest opened the airfares for April. We booked our flight to Orlando. We thought about telling the kids right away, but decided to wait it out because we were scared that they would drive us nuts. Besides Christmas was on the way and that was certainly enough excitement for our two princesses. We actually told them 100 days before the trip and even that was wayyyy too soon. You see, to a 5 year old 100 days does not mean 100 days, to them it means “tomorrow.” Our lovely, Lilo told her kindergarten teacher that she would not going to be in school for the next 8 days because she would be in Disney World tomorrow. Yes, you read correctly, she said, tomorrow. After a brief discussion or should I say, clarification with her teacher, we were able to straighten everything out. I reassured her that our trip would not take place until April Vacation week.

I kept myself busy from November until April with lots of work and Disney planning. Well, time goes by so quickly. We actually blinked and April 22nd came around the corner, so we were more then ready to leave when opportunity presented itself. I think all of the planning gets sucked time away like a giant vacuum. We were all so excited for this trip. We left for the airport. Here are pictures of the kids are waiting for our late plane to arrive at the gate:

I chit chatted a little with the people around us. You see, I am chatterbox; I talk all the time to basically anyone who will listen. I talked to people in line, come to find out, the people in front of us and the people behind us all had a daughter with the same name as our daughter, Lilo. Actually our daughter’s name is not Lilo, it is Elise. I always thought that Elise was rare name so; we were quite shocked to find two other Elise’s on the same flight. It was kind of funny because one of the Elise’s even had the same color nail polish as our Elise. Our plane finally arrived at the gate of Manchester, NH airport late by approximately 20 minutes. Look, here it is:

They moved us along swiftly and somehow, we arrived at MCO 30 minutes early. Explain that one to me? I have just one explanation, I LUV Southwest! I took some pictures on the plane:

The over planner that I am, was definitely prepared for an early arrival. We got our luggage right away and we headed over for the car rental. I booked us a car with National Emerald Club. I explained the whole Emerald club process to my prince because remember, he lets me do all the planning. He was so excited when he found out he got to actually pick the car. The conversation went like this:

Me: You just go to the Emerald Club lot and pick any car you want in the Emerald Aisle.
Him: Any car??
Me: Yes, as long as it is in the Emerald Club aisle, go ahead and pick one.
Him: Don’t we have to wait at the counter?
Me: Nope, go pick a car.

There I stood with the kids and all the luggage, while we watched him run up and down the aisles trying to find the perfect car for his family. He was so funny. He was not satisfied with just any car, after all, he had three princesses in tow and he wanted to be certain that we got the best possible chariot available. He finally settled on a beautiful Chevy Equinox. Here is a picture of the rental:

It was loaded, leather, moon roof, satellite radio, etc. I would have to say that my prince made a good choice. The car was very comfortable. We made a quick stop at Publix and off we were to the King and Queen’s humble abode. We pulled out the golf cart out for the kids, moved things around to make ourselves at home. The kids were thrilled with the place. They kept saying, “This place is awesome!”

Being a family of parrotheads, I made ADR’s for dinner 30 days prior at our favorite place, Margaritaville. After we settling in a bit at the King & Queen’s, we decided to freshin up a little, and then we headed off to Universal Citywalk. It was a gorgeous day 84°, the sun was shinning. Here are few pics of us riding the people mover over at Universal:

We make our way over to Margaritville. Since we arrived earlier then expected we decided to check out the store a little and we took a few pictures of the of everything around us:

Finished off chill’n, so we decided to check in and make slightest request. I kindly asked the hostess, “Can we please have a table near the Volcano?” She said that she would see what she could do. She gave us a pager.

Did we receive our request?
Wait and see! To be continued…….

 

[keliblue]

I'm on board... Yahooooooooooo !! can't wait for more

 

[lamagique]

I like the way you write! *subscribing*

 

[princessjv]

More please... Fresh tripies are so much fun!

 

[scrappinpassion]

My 5 year old loves Jimmy Buffet also. We are planning on eating at Margaritaville the first night we are in Orlando. Do you just call the restaurant or can you make the reservation on line 30 days in advance?

 

[krismom]

oh come on. I'm at the end already?!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I'm on board... Yahooooooooooo !! can't wait for more

I am so glad I have people reading. Thanks for joining!

I like the way you write! *subscribing*

Thanks! I am glad you are enjoying it.

More please... Fresh tripies are so much fun!

I will do my best to complete my report in a timely manner. Nothing annoys me more then to start reading a trip report and waiting 2 months for an update. I can say that because I read yours and you always updated in a timely manner. Thanks for coming over here.

My 5 year old loves Jimmy Buffet also. We are planning on eating at Margaritaville the first night we are in Orlando. Do you just call the restaurant or can you make the reservation on line 30 days in advance?

Too funny! I am glad we are not alone with a child parrothead. You can make reservations by calling the "Dining Line" at 407-224-9255 and make reservations for any CityWalk restaurant.

oh come on. I'm at the end already?!

Don't worry, you will not wait long, I promise. I will try to post an update before the weekend. Thanks for joining me.

 

[swillis]

Fellow New Englander here for the ride! Go Bruins

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Fellow New Englander here for the ride! Go Bruins

Hello fellow New Englander! Actually, I work in Newburyport, MA. Anywhere near you? We support all New England sport teams. Welcome!

 

[ANTSS2001]

subscribing... I very much enjoy the intro... now get moving woman "whip"

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

subscribing... I very much enjoy the intro... now get moving woman "whip"

I am working on it. Actually I worked on it today during my lunch break at work and was prepared to post this evening, but I forgot to send it home when the end of the day came. Watch tomorrow for the next installment.

 

[CHEK]

Can't wait to read more

 

[devalsam]

Subscribing!! Looks great!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Day 1 continued

When I left we were waiting for our reservations at Margaritaville. The hostess left us to mingle for a little while. About 3 minutes later the pager went off, we were pleasantly surprised. I asked the hostess if she was able to get us a table near the volcano and she said, “Yes, I got you one right in front of the volcano.” Wahoo!!!!!! I liked the way the place was decorated. It looked tropical and fun. We took several pictures of the volcano. In fact, I took too many pictures of the volcano. As we sat, we checked out the scenery. Here are few pictures:

We kept watching the pitcher below the volcano slowly emptying. We assumed that when the pitcher was empty, the volcano would erupt. While we were waiting, we decided to place our order. For starters, we went with the Jamaica Mistaica Wings. They were wonderful. Slightly on the HOT Side, but they were so tasty. We just washed down the heat with the ice-cold margarita that the Prince and I both ordered. The margarita was great as well. Here are some pictures:

I am embarrassed to talk about our dinner order, because none of us ordered anything that fascinating, myself included. Lilo went with the chicken fingers, which was probably the best entrée at our table. Aurora went with PB&J. Yes, you heard me correctly, she ordered PB&J. This was the conversation that took place at our table:

Me: You want me to pay $6.99 for PB&J?
Aurora: Yes, that is what I want!
Me: Pick something else. We are on vacation and you can have PB&J anytime at home.
Aurora: We are on vacation, so I want PB&J.
Me: Sigh

I was just so frustrated, but we were on vacation and I was not going to let PB&J ruin my vacation after all. Besides I had a Margarita and I was just happy to be sitting in Margaritaville, so I let it slide. Aurora had her PB&J and ate every ounce of it. She said it was excellent. It better be excellent for $6.99. But as you can see, I am not bitter!

When we placed our order for the entrée and I should probably mention that I freaked out on pour Aurora and I did not order anything better for myself. You see, DH and I ordered the same thing, the Cheeseburger in Paradise. I was expecting just that, a cheeseburger in paradise. It was OK, not bad, but certainly not a Cheeseburger in Paradise. If I were to give it a letter grade, I would say it was “B.” If I were to return, I would definitely order something different because I wanted to be WOWED.

As you know, we had impeccable timing, because just as the server brought over the entrée’s over, what do we hear in the background?

I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know where I’m a gonna go when the volcano blows……

I started to get excited and I wiggled in my seat. I looked over quickly to see Lilo’s eye’s light up. Lilo said, “The volcano is going to erupt. I hear the song” We grabbed the camera as fast as we could and sang along with the crowd. I love the part of the song when he says, “Don’t want to land upside down in Nantucket, don’t want to land in no Buzzards Bay…” I remember when his plane crashed in Nantucket. It is a miracle Jimmy is still alive after a crash like that. When the song finished we waited for the lava to run down the volcano. The eruption was really quite a sight. They did a nice job designing the bar. I even have a picture with the smoke. I told you I took a lot of pictures of the volcano.

After the eruption the people around us decided to leave. Lilo had finished eating, so she got up and danced. There was nobody around and she was clear of any wait staff, so we let her look around and enjoy herself. We declined on dessert because we certainly took in enough calories at that point. We let the kids sing and dance while we finished our margarita’s, they knew all of the songs. Here are a few pics:

Before we left, the prince asked the server where he could purchase a 6 pack of Jimmy’s new beer, Land Shark Ale. Apparently, they don’t sell it there as a six pack, but he could buy it in a Liquor Store. The Prince was on a quest to try this Beer. We paid our bill and decided to depart Margaritaville.

Since we were still in Citywalk we decided to burn a few calories and walk around. We made our way over to the Nascar Café. You see, Aurora is a huge Nascar fan. She watches the races all the time back home. She loves Tony Stewart. My dad (The King), on the other hand, loves Jeff Gordon so he is always picking on her for being a Tony Stewart fan. We walked by the Nascar Café and what do our eyes see, but a cardboard cut out of the Nascar guys with an opening right next to Tony Stewart. Aurora starts to jump up and down and she shouts out, “Take my picture next to Tony Stewart and send it to Bampy.” Here it is:

We sent it to the King and he just cracked up laughing. Look at her with her arm around him, it is so funny! You would think she was standing next to the real Tony Stewart. Look we also have one of Lilo with Tony Stewart, DH had to lift her and hold her up which is why she is so high:

We walked over the bridge to see several exhausted people departing from a long day at the Universal Theme Park. Even though the words never left their mouth, these people just shouted, “Get me out of here. Outta my way, I am tired.” As they pushed their strollers with pure exhaustion.

Here is a picture of us in front of the Universal sign:

We walked over to the Hard Rock Café and took a few more pictures:

I am not quite sure why Lilo is making that face, probably to be dramatic. She is quite the drama queen and can bring on the tears at any given moment.

After that, the prince wanted to head back in the other direction and go to Pat O’Briens. A long time ago, I went on a business trip to New Orleans and went to Pat O’Briens, so I wanted to check this one out to see if it was the same. I personally think that the Pat O’Briens in New Orleans is much bigger and better.

It was at this point where the prince and I made a very bad call, we decided to try out a Hurricane. We stepped in line for the walk up bar window. We waited and waited for what must have been 20 minutes. You could tell that I was a 1st day vacationer, because I was extremely patient. Not to mention that the kids were having a grand old time climbing on the lion statue. The people in front of us we clearly not as patient, maybe it was not their first day, maybe it was their last day, who knows, but all I know is they left without their order. They looked so frustrated as they walked off. The prince and I were both shocked at the lack of help there. There I stood, waiting, and waiting. I said to myself, “Will I ever get my Hurricane?” Stay tuned and you will see……..

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Can't wait to read more

Subscribing!! Looks great!

Welcome! Thanks for joining us. Day 1 continued is up.

 

[SplashMom]

We love Margaritaville! We were there last Thursday, May 3, and we also sat by the volcano. We had the crab, shrimp and mushroom dip for an appetizer and I had the coconut shrimp for my meal and I was wowed. It was delicious! My DH and DS had cheeseburgers in paradise and they felt the same as you. My DD had a pasta dish that she really enjoyed.

I am loving your trip report! Keep it coming!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We love Margaritaville! We were there last Thursday, May 3, and we also sat by the volcano. We had the crab, shrimp and mushroom dip for an appetizer and I had the coconut shrimp for my meal and I was wowed. It was delicious! My DH and DS had cheeseburgers in paradise and they felt the same as you. My DD had a pasta dish that she really enjoyed.

I am loving your trip report! Keep it coming!

I should have ordered the coconut shrimp, I love coconut shrimp! Thanks for joining the TR.

 

[lamagique]

No... a cliffhanger!!!! Hurry up and post again!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I left off standing there in front of Pat O’Briens waiting to order a Hurricane. After about 20-25 minutes, finally a bartender came over and I ordered the elusive Hurricane. She was not ny faster at making the drink either. It seriously took forever. I can honestly tell you that it was not worth the wait. It was not bad. I just would rather have had another margarita, but how often can you get a Hurricane in City Walk? We walked through a few shops in CityWalk while I sipped away, when all of a sudden it became apparent that we were all just exhausted from everything we did that day. The girls were getting sick of walking in and out of every store so we decided to hit the road. The problem was, I had a nearly full glass of Hurricane in my hands. I decided to breeze through a couple more stores and stuck it down as fast as I could without getting a brain freeze. Finally, I was about ¾ finished with the drink so, I threw it out and departed Citywalk. The funniest part is I thought for sure I would be stumbling over drunk from sucking it down so fast, but I was fine, I barely felt anything at all. It must have been a weak version of the Hurricane, either that or it was because I had a full belly from dinner. I am usually pretty much a lightweight, but not that day. Here are some pictures while was trying to finish my drink:

We got back to the King and Queen’s Palace, got the kids washed up and ready for bed. I made some sandwiches for the next day while the Prince checked his e-mail. We put the kids to bed, hung out in the screen house for the remainder of the day and then hit the hay.

The next morning, the plan was to go to Blizzard Beach. They did not open until 10:00 am so, I let the kids sleep in as long as needed. When they got up I fed them, and they got dressed. They wanted to drive around the resort in the golf cart so; I sat next to them and gave them both a turn. When I returned, I then took a few pictures of the King & Queen’s guest suite or Palace whatever you want to call it. Here are a few:

We packed our bags and headed off to Blizzard Beach. The prince took Aurora over to the bigger water slides while I waited with Lilo in the wave pool. I can honestly say that this is how a wave pool should be, nice a gentle, unlike Typhoon Lagoon, but we’ll get to that later. It was a little breezy that day and in the high 70’s so I was a little chilly, but certainly not freezing, plus it was much warmer then it was back home. The Prince and Aurora returned about 20 minutes later said that they went on a few racing slides and came back to get us. I asked why they did go on Summit Plummet. They said that they did not think about it. I sent them on their way to try Summit Plummet while Lilo and enjoyed the wave pool a little more. About an hour later Lilo and I were getting hungry. It was about 11ish, and I did not eat breakfast so we ate an early lunch since the sandwiches were already made. After that, we decided to wait by the Summit Plummet drop for DH and Aurora. While we were waiting Lilo asked if she could sit on a snow bank, it looked safe, so I said, yes. All of a sudden, BAM, she falls off of the snow bank and skins her knee. Remember Lilo is a drama queen. The tears start rolling down. I pick her up and carried her all the way over to first aid for a band-aid because you know, she was injured, and she could not walk. They cleaned up her knee and gave her bandage, plus two for later and sent us on our way. She was happy because you know how a band-aid can heal anything.

We went back to the chairs and they still were not there. Where the heck are they? We waited a little while longer and they finally walked over to us. I could not believe that they waited about 1.5 hours for Summit Plummet. They loved the slide, I guess that was all that mattered, but I was slightly frustrated that all I saw was the wave pool and first aid clinic and it was about 12:00 so, we waited for the Prince and Aurora to eat lunch and we headed over to the lazy river. We hopped off along the way and went on a couple more water slides and hopped back on the lazy river. The prince was nice enough to stay with Lilo while Aurora and I went on some bigger slides.

We then decided to go to kiddie land for Lilo. Aurora loved climbing on the icebergs, and Lilo enjoyed the plain old slide. While standing there, there was another Mom calling in her daughter.

Mom: You have to come with me. I lost Lauren! I can’t find her anywhere and I want to see if she is at Lost and Found. Hopefully she is with a cast member and not stolen.

Little Girl: Why? I am having fun swimming.

Mom: We have to go, Lauren is probably scared. Wait a minute, there is Lauren right there, going down the slide!

Mom calls Lauren out of the water and is ready to kill the child. “I have been looking everywhere for you. I thought you were lost or stolen. Never do that to me again.” Poor Lauren is standing there in shock because she had no clue that she did anything wrong at all. You gotta love kids, they are just oblivious to certain things.

After that, we convinced Lilo to try the kiddie tube ride, at first she was very reluctant, but tried it and absolutely loved it. I waited at the bottom while DH carried the tube up for her. Lilo went up and down with a huge smile on her face from ear to ear. She would be at the bottom, poor DH would run down to the get the tube for her and run back up several times. The girls were in water slide heaven with Daddy as their personal tube carrier.

I got tired of standing there, so I asked DH if he wanted to try the family tube. We told Lilo it was a kiddie ride. We took the ski lift up the mountain. She was so scared, but we told her it would be ok. Wouldn’t you know it, she ended up loving the family ride. After riding the lazy river some more and playing in kiddie land again, we decided to call it a day. We were water parked out. Here is the only picture I took at Blizzard Beach:

We went back to the palace, got changed and headed out to the Olive Garden for dinner. I did not take any pictures of the Olive Garden food, because I am pretty sure you have all been there and know how the food is. Bottom line, it was excellent and we were all pleased with our orders.

The girls asked if we could head over to downtown Disney after dinner, we said, yes. I should probably mention at this point that the Easter Bunny was nice enough to order a grab bag of pins from www.mousepinsonline.com and put them in the eggs on Easter morning for the girls. It was a great idea, because the kids were able to trade pins at an affordable rate. They had a ball! Lilo was so cute with her soft voice, “Excuse me, can I see you pins?” She was actually better at asking then Aurora was.

Aurora traded a pin with a CM and the cast member told her about Hidden Mickey pins. She explained that you can only get a Hidden Mickey Pin from a CM and there are only few made from each design. If you look on the back you will see that this pin is 1 of 4 made. Well, the girls just loved that. From that point forward, the girls were on a quest to find Hidden Mickey Pins. They would look at a CM’s landyard and they would not trade if the CM did not have a Hidden Mickey. We walked through the entire World of Disney store and decided to call it a day. We went back to the palace, got washed up, and got ready for bed; you see tomorrow, we are going to a theme park, MGM. DH hung out in the screen house, while I got lunches ready for the next day. Before bed, I had the plan and I warned DH that I wanted to be at MGM for rope drop, so he needed to be ready to leave the house at 8:15.

Will we depart at 8:15? More to follow, I promise. Not so many pictures on this post, that is because we did not use the camera at Blizzard Beach.

 

[OhMari]

So you went to Blizzard Beach on Easter Day. I am just trying to figure out when you were there, cause I was there at the same time, WDW that is.

Was there a band playing at Margaritiville? I just found out a 2 people from my home town play there. And one of them subs and plays in "Off Kilter" in Epcot.