Our Thanksgiving Trip-Travel Day and Day One Added!!

[BrandyC1974]

Hi. I have been reading the disboards for a while now and decided to join and share my trip. This will be our Pre-Trip Report. As soon as we return, I will write about our experenses.

Who:
Brandy (me)-mom of Liz and Becca
Liz-(DD9)-daughter
Becca-(DD6)-daughter
Wes-my brother
Leonard-my dad/kids' grandpa

When:
Saturday, November 18 to Friday, November 24, 2006

Where:
We will be staying at the All Star Movies Resort. We have always stayed offsite but we have always wanted to stay onsite.

Dining:
We are on the DDP (dining plan). My mom used it in 2005 and was happy with it. Our dining ressies are Planet Hollywood (D), Liberty Tree Tavern(D), 1900 Parc Fare(D), Crystal Palace(B), and the Sci-Fi Dinner Theatre(D).

Travel:
Me, my girls and my brother will be driving from Louisiana on Friday Nov 17 aroung 11pm. My brother prefers to drive at night and can drive most of the trip. I will start to drive around 6am. We should arrive in around 11am. Our dad, from North Carolina, will drive to Florida. He will be leaving around 5am and should arrive early that evening. (None of us fly, so driving is our only option)

Just a side note, my DD9 uses a wheelchair as her only means of getting around. In my trip report, I will be informing everyone of any information that may be helpful in enjoying Disney. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask away.

Here is our schedule:

Sat Nov 18--Check in when we arrive. Even though our rooms probably won't be ready we will be able to get our room keys with our dining plan on them. We plan to go to Downtown Disney and check it out. I have been to Disney three times with my parents (when I was a kid) and this is my fourth (my girls' fifth) trip with my kids, and I have never been here. We have dinner ressies at Planet Hollywood. Plan to go to sleep early because the next day will be a long one.

Sun Nov 19--Today is the Magic Kingdom (EMH in the evening). We will show up whenever we get up. We will spend the whole day here. Taking breaks by watching the shows, parades, and just sitting around taking in the atmosphere. Plus, I have to "attend" to my DD9's personal needs (so that will take about an hour, four times during each day). We will be having dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We will be staying for the EMH in the evening.

Mon Nov 20--Animal Kingdom (EMH in the morning) and MGM Studios (EMH in the evening). We have a dinner ressies at 1900 Parc Fare. This will get us a break in the middle of the day.

Tues Nov 21--Epcot day (EMH in the morning). I have never visited the World Showcase. So, we will spend the whole day here. And we want to see Illuminations. We have no dining plans, we will eat counter services when we get hungry.

Wed Nov 22--Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure.

Thurs Nov 23(Happy Thanksgiving)--Magic Kingdom (EMH in the morning), breakfast at Crystal Palace, and visit MGM Studios in the evening (EMH in the evening). We will dine at the Sci Fi Dinner Theatre. Both nights that we visit MGM Studios, they are having the Osborne Lights. We are planning on visiting at least once.

Fri Nov 24--We check out this morning. We will spend our day at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. We will be driving home this night (with my dad getting a hotel whenever he gets tired). We will be driving through the night.

Well, that is it for now. We only have 9 days til we will be at Disney. Can't wait to get there and can't wait to get back and share my trip. I love reading about others' experiences and hopefully others will enjoy ours.

Thanks for reading. Hope to hear from everyone soon!!

 

[BrandyC1974]

Well, I have finally found the time to start writing my trip report. The day we got back, Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was sick. I am just getting over my cold. So, I hope you all enjoy my trip report.

Friday, Novemer 17, 2006
I woke up at about 7am. I get my girls ready and bring them to school. Me and my brother Wes go to the store to do our last minute shopping. I spend the day finishing packing, doing laundry, and housecleaning. I pick up the kids around 3:30pm. I pick up dinner and fill up the tank with gas. After we eat, I bathe my girls and get them dressed for the car trip. We relax and watch TV until 9pm. My girls keep asking me when we are leaving and I have to keep telling them not yet. The are so excited they just can't wait. When 9pm finally arrives, me and my brother pack my van. We then drop off my brothers car at our cousin's house and are finally on our way around 10:30. We only stop once to fill up the tank. Around 4am our dad calls to let us know he is leaving to drive to Disney.

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Around 6am, I wake up and start the driving. We stop around 8am so that I can take care of Liz's needs and for a bathroom break. We only stop for about twenty minutes and then we are on our way.

We arrive at Disney around 10am. The kids are so excited. OK, so am I.

I go in to check-in. We are staying at the All Star Movies Resort. Check in only takes us about twenty minutes. The rooms were not ready so I returned to let my brother know. Me and the girls wanted breakfast but my brother only wanted to sleep some more. So, I stop at the McDonalds that is close to the resort. Breakfast was ok, don't remember what we had, but it was definetly not cheap.

After breakfast, I wanted to visit Downtown Disney. While my brother slept some more, me and my girls shopped in World of Disney. I saw alot of girls who had obviously visited the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I have to say that they looked beautiful. Next time we visit I will definelty let my girls have that experience.

After shopping, I brought my packages back to my van. I woke up my brother and asked if he was ready for lunch. He said yes and we went to eat at the Earl of Sandwich. I just have to say that both me and my brother agree that the food there is great. I had the Earl's Club and my brother had the Hawaiian BBQ. They were both great. We were on the dining plan so I don't know how much it was.

After lunch, we checked out a few more stores. We visited Disney Pin Traders (I bought my girls lanyards but they didn't want to wear them), Once upon A Toy, and Goofy's Candy Co.

I called the hotel at 2pm and our room was ready. so, we headed to the hotel and moved in for the week. We had two connecting rooms, one for me and my girls and one for my dad and brother. We unpacked and the kids watched tv. Around 4pm, our dad called and said he was there and got the room info. **By the way, due to my DD9's wheelchair, I only had three requests. 1. Ground Floor-Got it! 2. Connecting Rooms-Got it! 3. Close to parking lot-Not too far, but not right next to it.**

Dad got to the rooms and there were hugs all around. He unpacked and we talked about dinner. My dad decided to go off property to pick something up for him and my brother. I didn't eat until alittle later. Me and DD6 ended up going to the Food court, stopping to take pictures of Andy's room on the way. We ended up eating pepperoni pizza, salad and coke. it was pretty good.

The rest of the evening was spent watching tv, kids played with toys, took back and we went to bed around 10pm.

Sunday: Plans to spend the day at Magic Kingdom.

Observations: I noticed that all of the stores are difficult for my daughter to move around in her wheelchair. I wished that we could have been closer to the parking lot. We used my van to get around and I felt that it was alot better than trying to wait for the buses.

I hope you enjoyed reading so far. I am going to try to write some more tonight if possible. Any questions, please just ask.

 

[BrandyC1974]

Hi. I hope you are enjoying reading my trip report. It is so much fun just reliving my trip through the process of writing this report.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

I wake up around 6:30. I always wake up early no matter what time I fall asleep so this is no shock to me. Everyone else is sleeping, so I just start getting ready. I get my girls ready and wake up my dad and brother around 7:30am. We grab breakfast at the food court and then head for the Magic Kingdom.

We arrive at the Magic Kingdom around 9:30am. We take a quick visit to City Hall. I receive a GAC card and a guide for disabilities. *Just as a side note, I never had to show the GAC card. Everyone was wonderful.*

First we first headed to Adventureland. We visited The Swiss Family Treehouse (my dad sat with DD9 while me, DD6 and brother walked through it), Magic Carpets of Aladdin (15mins wait, went through regular line), and Jungle Cruise (5mins wait, was directed to the left to board boat, DD6 "drove" the boat and received a "boat license"). We wanted to ride Pirates but the line was out the front and down the walkway outside. We decided to try to ride later.

We then headed to Frontierland. We rode BTMRR (5mins wait, went up the exit to enter with w/c). We wanted to ride Splash Mountain but it was just way too cold. *It was in the 40's and 50's all week with Sunday and the Friday after Thanksgiving being the only nice days.

Next, we headed to Liberty Square and rode the Haunted Mansion (5mins wait, directed to w/c entrance).

We next headed to Fantasyland. We rode Peter Pan's Flight (10mins wait, directed to left of reg. quece for w/c entrance), Mickey's Philharmagic (5mins wait, reg. entrance), and Dumbo (15min wait, entered through the w/c entrance).

At this point my brother is asking about the "good rides". So, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom and see if we can ride Expedition Everest. So, around 1pm we left the Magic Kingdom.

We arrived at AK and headed straight for ExE. It has a posted wait time of 70mins. Since my brother was ready to ride something "good", we decided to get in the stand by line (the fast passes were gone). In reality, we only waited about 30mins and it felt like it wasn't that long. All of us rode it (both my girls are at 45inches tall!!

This ride is definelty a Five Star Ride. It was totally awesome. Both my girls were begging to ride again. I told them that we were coming back the next day. The were excited but also upset because they couldn't wait to ride again. We left AK around 3pm. On the way our my DD6 wanted a "Mickey" ice cream so I go her one and we got in the van and headed back to the room.

I know I said I didn't plan on going back to the room during the day, but we all decided to take a break and then head back to the Magic Kingdom that evening.

We ended up eating a late lunch at the Food court. We found the food there pretty good. Nothing was bad that we had.

Around 6pm, we headed our again to the MK. Our plans were to try to enjoy the EMH that evening.

First thing, we headed to Adventureland to ride Pirates. It was basically a walk through and mabye a 5min wait to get on the boat. *It was interesting that we were able to go straight through with my daughters w/c. In the past, we had to transfer her to a folding w/c. It saved time that was for sure.*

Next, we headed to Fantasyland b/c my DD6 really wanted to ride Snow White (5min wait, reg. line). We went to Mickey's Toontown Fair. We walked through Minnie's House, Mickey's House, the Judge's tent and saw Mickey Mouse (wait for Mickey was only about 10mins). We also rode the Barnstormer(5mins, w/c entrance)

It was finally time for our ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. We checked in at about 8:15pm. We had about a ten minutes wait. I had to exit the restaurant and enter through a side door to get my DD9 to the table. It is pretty tight in there but was not too bad. We had the "family style" meal. The food was really good. But, since none of us are really big eaters we did not ask for seconds for anything. We saw Minnie, Chip, Dale and finally after about 20mins after we were finished eating, Goofy.

When we left, we got our braclets for the EMH. We then headed to Tomorrowland. We tried to ride Buzz but were told that "the whole park lost power??". We were unsure what that meant since there were still lights on. So, we decided to wait and see what happened. So, we looked in a shop (don't remember the name) by Buzz. After that, it looked like Space Mountain was running so my dad and brother got in line for that and me and my girls just sat down and waited. While waiting, both girls fell asleep. My dad and brother were about 30mins. When they came out, my girls woke up. They asked what we were doing. I said that since it was so cold and they were tired we were going back to the room. At that, they both started throwing a fit saying that they were not tired and the wanted to ride Buzz!!! I told them if it was running, we would ride it and the leave. It was running again (BTW, we got Fastpasses before it broke down and were able to use them when we went back). We had a 5min wait. They loved it, of course. After that, we headed to the van, loaded up and went to the room.

We got back to the room around 11pm. We decided on baths in the morning. We hopped into bed and fell asleep.

Note: My DD9 LOVES Mickey's Philharmagic. Even as I write this I can say that not a day goes by the she doesn't tell me that she loves "Mickey's Magic" and wants to see it again.

Note: My DD6 LOVES Expedtion Everest. She can't stop talking about the ride that "goes backwards".

Both my girls loved all the rides that we rode today. Also, they both keep talking about the Pirate ride and call it "Bad Man's Chest"

Well, that's it for tonight. I need to get some sleep. 6:30 arrives too soon for me. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to write some more. If I forget anything I will make a note of it at the end of my trip report. If anyone has any questions, please ask.

Next up: Day Three: Animal Kingdom and Disney's Studios