Tiggerlovinggrandma
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2008
- Messages
- 427
Well, we have returned home from our 8 day, 7 night trip to Disney World. I am making an attempt at a trip report. I say attempt because this will be my first trip report ever so please forgive any mistakes I am sure to make. I will include all the good, bad and downright ugly of our time there. Yes, there was some drama along the way, most of it on a personal side. But first some background.
Our CM's include:[/B]
Me aka Grandma: age 50 and proud of it. This was my 16th trip to the world. I love all things Disney and am especially crazy over Tigger
I'm also the planner of the group. I am a retired Preschool and Elementary School Teacher. I've been married to the same man for 26+ years. We have 1daughter and so far - 1 grandson. He is the sunshine of our lives and joy of our hearts. I thought motherhood was great but grandparenthood is even better. I love, love, love being a grandma!
DH aka Grandpa: age 52. This was his 17th trip to the world. He loves Disney and enjoys the whole expierence. He's a big kid at heart. He is a retired purchaser for Ryder Systems and a semi-retired plumber. He loves being a grandpa! It's all he talks about.
DD aka Bongo, Suggles although she will answer to princess and queen too: age 22. This was her 13th trip to the world. She too loves all things Disney especially the characters and rides. Favortie Character is Stitch as well as anybody who looks like Johnny Depp in POTC. Favorite rides include Space Mountain. Splash Mountain. Pirates of the Caribbean, TOT, Rockin Rollar Coaster, Star Wars, Test Track, Mission Space and so on. She's married and has 1 son (21 mos). She attends college full time and works part time. She wants to be a doctor.
DGS aka Peanut: age 21 mos. This was his 1st trip to the world. He loves, loves, loves Mickey Mouse (he calls him Minnie Mal) He loved the characters and was all shy and smiles around the princesses, Mary Poppins, Aice, etc. He is such a little flirt. So cute! He enjoyed all the fireworks too. He is the love of DH and my life. Yes, its sad but true, our daughter had to move over some time.
DH and I plan to take him back in September. For anyone considering whether or not to take a toddler to WDW. I say take them, don't hesitate. We took our DD at 11 mos for the first time and she loved it. We took her every year after until she was 6 then every 2-3 years there after. Our DGS loved everything, got to go on many rides, enjoyed the shows, characters, fireworks, food, etc. Toddlerhood is a wonderful age for them to expierence Disney and all its magic. 
DBF aka Faye, Faye DD's Best Friend: age 21. she replaced our son in law when he decided to stay at home at the last minute. More about that later. Anyway this was also DBF's first trip to the world and she is hooked for life. She loved everything! Favorite character is Goofy and favorite ride is Rockin Rollar Coaster.
Okay so you now have the cast of characters. DH and I planned this trip since last January. I did the research, reservations, ADR's and planning. DH put in his imput too - he agreed with everything I suggested, the way a good husband should.
Anyway for the first time I put together a trip binder which held all my information. Since I like being organized, this helped me a lot.I highly recommend doing this or something similar. We chose to stay at POFQ as we have stayed there once before and loved it. I will post our first day info now and the others will follow. However I have to try and figure out how to post photos. I have them on my Walgreens account and have to try to get some of them over here. I am not very computer smart - at all. 
Sorry! Hopefully I will eventually work it out.
DAY 1- SUNDAY JANUARY 4, 2009: We drove down from Asheville, NC.
It took us 10 hrs with a few stops along the way to allow DGS to run around a bit. We took snacks, juice and a DVD player for DGS. He napped most of the way and watched his Thomas DVD's for the rest. No road trip issues with him, he was as happy as a clam on his way to see Minnie Mal!
We arrived and checked into POFQ at 2 pm and received 1st time pins for DGS and DBF. We had 4 day park tickets and deluxe dining. We had charge priviledges put on our KTTW cards which made shopping, etc easier. We had two rooms next to each other. DD, DGS and DBF in one and DH and I in the other. I had made requests for Building 5 and connecting rooms. However we didn't get either but it still worked out nicely We were in Building 3, ground floor just a few steps from the food court, lobby, gift shop, arcade, parking lot, play ground and pool. The rooms were nice and clean but in need of some minor painting and refinishing. We had a Mickey towel head laying on one of the beds in both rooms.
After settling in we went for a quick bite at Sassagoula Floatworks, POFQ Food Court. The food was good though service was a bit slow. It was very crowded. After we ate we explored the resort a bit. DGS loved the alligator statues scattered about. He also loved the pool and playground area too. The resort was very active (lots of guests) and still had its Christmas decorations up.
We returned to our rooms to dress for dinner. We had a 6:30 pm ADR for Ohana's at the Polynesian Resort. Its one of our favorite places. We had about a 25 minute wait pass our ADR time due to it being crowded. The Poly was buzzing with guests. Overall the resorts were much busier then we had expected. We thought most guests would leave by Sunday which dd not prove to be the case for our whole week.
Dinner at Ohana's was great.
The food was absolutely wonderful and the service was very attentive. The bread, steak, ribs, shrimp and chicken were the best. We also enjoyed the pot stickers a lot. We liked the noodles too. No potatoes though. 
The banana foster was rich and yummy but by then we were all stuffed so only had a bite or too. DH, DD and DBF each had a Back Scatcher drink and said they were very, very good. This place never disappoints. We even got a table next to the window that overlooks Cinderella's Castle and was able to enjoy the fireworks - for a bit. However several guests from the bar area and other dining tables behind us decided to come over and literally push themselves between the tables and the windows, ours included, to view the fireworks too. This not only cut off our view as well as others but we literally had adults and children an inch away from our faces. We thought this was very, very rude. DH politely said excuse me to a few of them but they would just turned towards us, then turned back around knowing full well that we could not see though them. It would have been one thing to stand in-between the tables which some did but others however decided to push themselves in-between the tables and the windows themselves. This must be a new practice as we have never had this happen before when we have been lucker enough to get a window table. Anyway we decided to pay our tab, tip and not let others rude behavior ruin our first day at the world. However it does goes to show Disney is like any other place on earth. You will find all kinds of people, attitudes and behavior.
We got back to our resort, showered and hit the sack.
STAY TUNED: More to come
Our CM's include:[/B]
Me aka Grandma: age 50 and proud of it. This was my 16th trip to the world. I love all things Disney and am especially crazy over Tigger
I'm also the planner of the group. I am a retired Preschool and Elementary School Teacher. I've been married to the same man for 26+ years. We have 1daughter and so far - 1 grandson. He is the sunshine of our lives and joy of our hearts. I thought motherhood was great but grandparenthood is even better. I love, love, love being a grandma!DH aka Grandpa: age 52. This was his 17th trip to the world. He loves Disney and enjoys the whole expierence. He's a big kid at heart. He is a retired purchaser for Ryder Systems and a semi-retired plumber. He loves being a grandpa! It's all he talks about.
DD aka Bongo, Suggles although she will answer to princess and queen too: age 22. This was her 13th trip to the world. She too loves all things Disney especially the characters and rides. Favortie Character is Stitch as well as anybody who looks like Johnny Depp in POTC. Favorite rides include Space Mountain. Splash Mountain. Pirates of the Caribbean, TOT, Rockin Rollar Coaster, Star Wars, Test Track, Mission Space and so on. She's married and has 1 son (21 mos). She attends college full time and works part time. She wants to be a doctor.
DGS aka Peanut: age 21 mos. This was his 1st trip to the world. He loves, loves, loves Mickey Mouse (he calls him Minnie Mal) He loved the characters and was all shy and smiles around the princesses, Mary Poppins, Aice, etc. He is such a little flirt. So cute! He enjoyed all the fireworks too. He is the love of DH and my life. Yes, its sad but true, our daughter had to move over some time.
DH and I plan to take him back in September. For anyone considering whether or not to take a toddler to WDW. I say take them, don't hesitate. We took our DD at 11 mos for the first time and she loved it. We took her every year after until she was 6 then every 2-3 years there after. Our DGS loved everything, got to go on many rides, enjoyed the shows, characters, fireworks, food, etc. Toddlerhood is a wonderful age for them to expierence Disney and all its magic. DBF aka Faye, Faye DD's Best Friend: age 21. she replaced our son in law when he decided to stay at home at the last minute. More about that later. Anyway this was also DBF's first trip to the world and she is hooked for life. She loved everything! Favorite character is Goofy and favorite ride is Rockin Rollar Coaster.
Okay so you now have the cast of characters. DH and I planned this trip since last January. I did the research, reservations, ADR's and planning. DH put in his imput too - he agreed with everything I suggested, the way a good husband should.
Anyway for the first time I put together a trip binder which held all my information. Since I like being organized, this helped me a lot.I highly recommend doing this or something similar. We chose to stay at POFQ as we have stayed there once before and loved it. I will post our first day info now and the others will follow. However I have to try and figure out how to post photos. I have them on my Walgreens account and have to try to get some of them over here. I am not very computer smart - at all. Sorry! Hopefully I will eventually work it out. DAY 1- SUNDAY JANUARY 4, 2009: We drove down from Asheville, NC.
It took us 10 hrs with a few stops along the way to allow DGS to run around a bit. We took snacks, juice and a DVD player for DGS. He napped most of the way and watched his Thomas DVD's for the rest. No road trip issues with him, he was as happy as a clam on his way to see Minnie Mal!We arrived and checked into POFQ at 2 pm and received 1st time pins for DGS and DBF. We had 4 day park tickets and deluxe dining. We had charge priviledges put on our KTTW cards which made shopping, etc easier. We had two rooms next to each other. DD, DGS and DBF in one and DH and I in the other. I had made requests for Building 5 and connecting rooms. However we didn't get either but it still worked out nicely We were in Building 3, ground floor just a few steps from the food court, lobby, gift shop, arcade, parking lot, play ground and pool. The rooms were nice and clean but in need of some minor painting and refinishing. We had a Mickey towel head laying on one of the beds in both rooms.
After settling in we went for a quick bite at Sassagoula Floatworks, POFQ Food Court. The food was good though service was a bit slow. It was very crowded. After we ate we explored the resort a bit. DGS loved the alligator statues scattered about. He also loved the pool and playground area too. The resort was very active (lots of guests) and still had its Christmas decorations up.
We returned to our rooms to dress for dinner. We had a 6:30 pm ADR for Ohana's at the Polynesian Resort. Its one of our favorite places. We had about a 25 minute wait pass our ADR time due to it being crowded. The Poly was buzzing with guests. Overall the resorts were much busier then we had expected. We thought most guests would leave by Sunday which dd not prove to be the case for our whole week.
Dinner at Ohana's was great.
The food was absolutely wonderful and the service was very attentive. The bread, steak, ribs, shrimp and chicken were the best. We also enjoyed the pot stickers a lot. We liked the noodles too. No potatoes though. The banana foster was rich and yummy but by then we were all stuffed so only had a bite or too. DH, DD and DBF each had a Back Scatcher drink and said they were very, very good. This place never disappoints. We even got a table next to the window that overlooks Cinderella's Castle and was able to enjoy the fireworks - for a bit. However several guests from the bar area and other dining tables behind us decided to come over and literally push themselves between the tables and the windows, ours included, to view the fireworks too. This not only cut off our view as well as others but we literally had adults and children an inch away from our faces. We thought this was very, very rude. DH politely said excuse me to a few of them but they would just turned towards us, then turned back around knowing full well that we could not see though them. It would have been one thing to stand in-between the tables which some did but others however decided to push themselves in-between the tables and the windows themselves. This must be a new practice as we have never had this happen before when we have been lucker enough to get a window table. Anyway we decided to pay our tab, tip and not let others rude behavior ruin our first day at the world. However it does goes to show Disney is like any other place on earth. You will find all kinds of people, attitudes and behavior.We got back to our resort, showered and hit the sack.
STAY TUNED: More to come
