Background: DH's company had "Meetings" at WDW and invited families to join in! (For anyone who may be reading this from said company, I've read so many helpful trip reports that I wanted to share our unique experience - I will keep details such as company name, etc out - I hope this is read as it was intended - as a helpful, entertaining guide of sorts). It was an over-the-top-no-holds-barred kind of trip where, when you wear your company tag, they cannot do enough nice things for you. We were treated so well!
Cast: DH - hard worker, deserves nice things
Me (Mom) - along for the ride
DD#1 (K) - 10, lots of hyper energy
DD#2 (S) - 9, could easily live this life all the time!
Town car from Mears picked us up, right at the airport and whisked us away to the Grand Floridian - what a beautiful resort. We've been to the restaurant there and always assumed that it was too "snooty" or too fancy for our usual commando style vacation, but I must say, it was perfect. The rooms are really nothing special, but the resort itself and the service are wonderful. I now know why people insist on monorail resorts!
We went to check-in and were brought to a special area for our group. There we got our info packet and name tags. They also had gifts for the kids - lanyards, autograph albums, pens, hats, towels, small plush animals, etc. Our kids chose CD holders. We took our loot up to the room and then checked out the hospitality suite for some snacks (suite with bar, games and TV for kids, different snacks during the day, Mickey Bars, etc - we didn't really use this very often as we were fed pretty well, but nice to know it was there - I think if we weren't as busy during the day we would have taken advantage of it more). We sat out on the patio with our little snacks and looked at Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain while our kids were inside watching The Disney Channel, of all things!
Dinner the first night was a huge, wonderful extravaganza! Disney does a wonderful job of setting the "stage" with beautiful decorations and balloons - it had such a magical feel to it. We all literally gasped when we walked in - there was so much to take in. The food was great, but frankly, it was a diversion from all the fun. Let's see if I can remember all that was there..... lots of characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, some princesses I think - my girls are "too old"
for characters!!), photographers making key chains and buttons, karaoke recording booth (got to take home a CD with your song), a woman making beautiful lollipops out of sugar - little works of art that were too beautiful to eat (although just about every kid did!), face painting, tattoos, the most amazing balloon guy I've ever seen, caricature drawing, singers and lots more! There was an adult buffet with delicious food and, of course, lots of "kid food". Next to the sushi station they had a kids' sushi station with rice krispie "sheets" that were rolled with fruit rollups and sliced like sushi, it was really cute. They had popcorn machines and cotton candy, too. Whew! As you can see, the kids were crazy - they pretty much just ran around and went nuts, but it was not only okay, it was encouraged and expected. Kid heaven! Lots of new friendships were formed and the parents had fun too!
You'd think by now, we would have crashed. But we HAD to try out the pool (luckily it's open 24 hrs a day as we were in there every night around 11:00 once all our activities were done for the day). There was a pretty big crowd there for 11:00, too. Finally got everyone in bed by midnight. Needless to say, we were very tired!
Mickey woke us up at 7:00 for breakfast and Excursion Day (and, oh yeah, meetings for poor DH). Prior to arriving, we chose excursions to go on from a lengthy list. The kids chose "Special Effects Tour" while I did the "Backstage Magic" tour. Since the kids programs ended before the adults, they provided a nice supervised area for the kids. I was a little worried by this but the room is right next to the meeting rooms and DH assured me he'd check on them when they got back - all was fine, in fact, they loved it!. Evidently, the Special Effects tour was great - the kids were not allowed to reveal all the secrets that they saw so I don't know much, just that they had a lot of fun. My Backstage Magic was very interesting and I'm glad I did it. Some parts were better than others (the warehouse with the old rides was a bit dull, but the special effects part was really cool). We snuck in the back way and were immediately on Main St. USA - how cool! We also went in the tunnel and learned some nice little secrets (for the right price I may tell....nah, it's much better to enjoy the "Magic"). We got to see the guts of the Body Wars ride and we even went into Disney's Florist refrigerator and watched them assembling baskets and wedding arrangements. Our tour guide, Mark, was a real Disney expert and we were so lucky to have a real insider let us in on some of the secrets of WDW! For real Disney fans, it's something that should be tried if you ever get the opportunity.
By the time we got back to GF around 3:00, the kids were ready to swim! We hit the slide pool and had a great time before getting ready for our fun night at MGM. We collected Dad from meetings around 5:30 (he missed some of the meetings due to a crisis back at his office - ah, the joys of cell phones!). We rallied the troops and got our second wind for another long night.
Around 7:00 we boarded buses (Disney Cruise Line buses - I was hoping this was all a trick and we were really going to the Wonder, but no!) to MGM. We went right in and had a really nice buffet dinner (EXCELLENT food!) and did some dancing with the fantastic DJ - he really got the kids going! They handed out strobe rings to all the kids and we got even more balloon animals (same guy as night before). The rides that were open in this area were Star Tours and the Muppet Movie, both were great. I've never experienced rides after a few glasses of wine before - it's quite a different experience!
They then moved us all to Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. They moved the DJ and set up a huge dessert buffet area. We rode RnR over and over until we felt sick and DH headed for ToT. The DJ had a heated hula-hoop contest going and we all enjoyed ourselves. I think there were characters here, but I can't remember which ones. Another fun part of this night was that they had the ice cream carts open and we were able to take whatever we wanted - it's a small thing, but the kids were thrilled: "you mean, we can just TAKE one????"
When they finally kicked us out of MGM we dragged ourselves back to the room. The kids were even too tired to swim, so we just crashed into the beds and woke up in the same positions we fell asleep in when Mickey called at 7:00 again (he's awfully "chipper" in the mornings isn't he?)
Tomorrow is Mani/Pedi day and Animal Kingdom.....
Cast: DH - hard worker, deserves nice things
Me (Mom) - along for the ride
DD#1 (K) - 10, lots of hyper energy
DD#2 (S) - 9, could easily live this life all the time!
Town car from Mears picked us up, right at the airport and whisked us away to the Grand Floridian - what a beautiful resort. We've been to the restaurant there and always assumed that it was too "snooty" or too fancy for our usual commando style vacation, but I must say, it was perfect. The rooms are really nothing special, but the resort itself and the service are wonderful. I now know why people insist on monorail resorts!
We went to check-in and were brought to a special area for our group. There we got our info packet and name tags. They also had gifts for the kids - lanyards, autograph albums, pens, hats, towels, small plush animals, etc. Our kids chose CD holders. We took our loot up to the room and then checked out the hospitality suite for some snacks (suite with bar, games and TV for kids, different snacks during the day, Mickey Bars, etc - we didn't really use this very often as we were fed pretty well, but nice to know it was there - I think if we weren't as busy during the day we would have taken advantage of it more). We sat out on the patio with our little snacks and looked at Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain while our kids were inside watching The Disney Channel, of all things!
Dinner the first night was a huge, wonderful extravaganza! Disney does a wonderful job of setting the "stage" with beautiful decorations and balloons - it had such a magical feel to it. We all literally gasped when we walked in - there was so much to take in. The food was great, but frankly, it was a diversion from all the fun. Let's see if I can remember all that was there..... lots of characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, some princesses I think - my girls are "too old"
for characters!!), photographers making key chains and buttons, karaoke recording booth (got to take home a CD with your song), a woman making beautiful lollipops out of sugar - little works of art that were too beautiful to eat (although just about every kid did!), face painting, tattoos, the most amazing balloon guy I've ever seen, caricature drawing, singers and lots more! There was an adult buffet with delicious food and, of course, lots of "kid food". Next to the sushi station they had a kids' sushi station with rice krispie "sheets" that were rolled with fruit rollups and sliced like sushi, it was really cute. They had popcorn machines and cotton candy, too. Whew! As you can see, the kids were crazy - they pretty much just ran around and went nuts, but it was not only okay, it was encouraged and expected. Kid heaven! Lots of new friendships were formed and the parents had fun too!You'd think by now, we would have crashed. But we HAD to try out the pool (luckily it's open 24 hrs a day as we were in there every night around 11:00 once all our activities were done for the day). There was a pretty big crowd there for 11:00, too. Finally got everyone in bed by midnight. Needless to say, we were very tired!
Mickey woke us up at 7:00 for breakfast and Excursion Day (and, oh yeah, meetings for poor DH). Prior to arriving, we chose excursions to go on from a lengthy list. The kids chose "Special Effects Tour" while I did the "Backstage Magic" tour. Since the kids programs ended before the adults, they provided a nice supervised area for the kids. I was a little worried by this but the room is right next to the meeting rooms and DH assured me he'd check on them when they got back - all was fine, in fact, they loved it!. Evidently, the Special Effects tour was great - the kids were not allowed to reveal all the secrets that they saw so I don't know much, just that they had a lot of fun. My Backstage Magic was very interesting and I'm glad I did it. Some parts were better than others (the warehouse with the old rides was a bit dull, but the special effects part was really cool). We snuck in the back way and were immediately on Main St. USA - how cool! We also went in the tunnel and learned some nice little secrets (for the right price I may tell....nah, it's much better to enjoy the "Magic"). We got to see the guts of the Body Wars ride and we even went into Disney's Florist refrigerator and watched them assembling baskets and wedding arrangements. Our tour guide, Mark, was a real Disney expert and we were so lucky to have a real insider let us in on some of the secrets of WDW! For real Disney fans, it's something that should be tried if you ever get the opportunity.
By the time we got back to GF around 3:00, the kids were ready to swim! We hit the slide pool and had a great time before getting ready for our fun night at MGM. We collected Dad from meetings around 5:30 (he missed some of the meetings due to a crisis back at his office - ah, the joys of cell phones!). We rallied the troops and got our second wind for another long night.
Around 7:00 we boarded buses (Disney Cruise Line buses - I was hoping this was all a trick and we were really going to the Wonder, but no!) to MGM. We went right in and had a really nice buffet dinner (EXCELLENT food!) and did some dancing with the fantastic DJ - he really got the kids going! They handed out strobe rings to all the kids and we got even more balloon animals (same guy as night before). The rides that were open in this area were Star Tours and the Muppet Movie, both were great. I've never experienced rides after a few glasses of wine before - it's quite a different experience!
They then moved us all to Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. They moved the DJ and set up a huge dessert buffet area. We rode RnR over and over until we felt sick and DH headed for ToT. The DJ had a heated hula-hoop contest going and we all enjoyed ourselves. I think there were characters here, but I can't remember which ones. Another fun part of this night was that they had the ice cream carts open and we were able to take whatever we wanted - it's a small thing, but the kids were thrilled: "you mean, we can just TAKE one????"
When they finally kicked us out of MGM we dragged ourselves back to the room. The kids were even too tired to swim, so we just crashed into the beds and woke up in the same positions we fell asleep in when Mickey called at 7:00 again (he's awfully "chipper" in the mornings isn't he?)
Tomorrow is Mani/Pedi day and Animal Kingdom.....
Now that sounds like some magic!! Good for you!!!
