'Purty Good Sure As You're Born!' Uber-Detailed T/R

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Despite a few negatives like aches and ailments, a couple of closed attractions, a few bratty moments, and some late starts-the trip was a very positive thing indeed! I'd even venture to say it was a rousing success and a blissfully busy time that we'll never forget. No, it wasnt a relaxing vacation by any means. It was a challenge always and I've never worked so hard to have fun! But it was beyond fun; it was a huge hoot that I feel inclined to share in my typical wordy and overly expressive way. I'm providing this trip report partly as a personal diary and partly as a travel-guide of sorts for my readers. After all, going to Disney with three children takes guts and frankly, I feel it qualifies me for some kind of title. So here I am, Mistress of Magic Kingdom Mayhem, to spout off about the little adventure my family and I had during the past week. I don't know how to insert photos so I'm adding links.

Day 0-Sept 27th, Arrival Day : Originally, our trip was supposed to be Sept 28th thru Oct 4th but as Southwest would have it, the only affordable flights leaving Nashville on that day were late, which would have wasted us an entire day of touring. So we got an inexpensvie room at Disney's All Star Music Resort (one of their budget picks)and chose a flight that would put us in Orlando at about 10pm. Incidentally, this was the four year old's first plane ride and he was understandably chatty about it. Once we were in the air, he really didnt believe we were going anywhere and got bored w/ the whole thing pretty fast. Luckily, the flight is less than 1 and 1/2 hrs total so it's a breeze. When we arrived, we utilized Disney's Magical Express service-a bus service that provides free transportation to any of the Disney Resorts and a definite bonus to staying on property. As most of you know, I won't go to Disney unless I can stay at one of the property hotels. Due to the details provided by the Disney folks, the feel of the parks stays w/ you even when you go to your room. And I love that.

Anyway, our room was in the Country Fair (Yeehaw!) section of the All Star Music Resort. For those of you who don't know about the All Star Resorts, they are Disney's answer to a Motel 6 and cost a mere 69.00 a night on average. The buildings are horribly garish and ugly, adorned with giant replicas of Disney Characters, Musical Instruments, Football Helmets, or Pop Culture Icons as the theme of the hotel demands. Our building was in the 'Country Western' wing of the All Star Music resort and was predictably horrible. Huge Cowboy Boots, Fiddles, and Banjos against a backdrop of concrete buildings painted the color of baby poop. On the plus side, all the resorts including this one have immaculate landscaping that encompasses the theme. So as you can see in the photo below, the cacti and Yucca plants were really lovely:

Day One-Sept 28th Our night at The All Star Music was okay. The room was so tiny that I felt claustrophobic when I was pacing the floor w/ the baby at midnight. But we all got a little sleep and were ready to change hotels the next day. Our hotel of choice, The Beach Club, was not available for all six nights so we opted to stay one night at the Boardwalk so we could still stay at the Beach Club for most of our trip. Both resorts are within walking distance of our favorite park, Epcot, and both have New England beach-y themes. After breakfast at the All Star Music food court (which was really a nice surprise and had lots of fresh options to choose from), we left our luggage w/ the Bell Desk for them to transfer to our new Resort and took the bus to The Hollywood Studios, not to go to the park yet but instead to catch the boat to our new hotel, The Boardwalk.

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The Boardwalk hotel is a cheerful and beautifully decorated place decked out in crisp pastels and ornate details. The lobby is one of Disney's most memorable, featuring a giant golden chandalier with all sorts of fantasy sea creatures cavorting about on it. There are also glass cases containing detailed models of carousels, roller coasters, and the like. The furniture is 'upscale' oceanside, some of which is very elaborate. Even the muted seaside paintings are framed in heavily carved gold frames that really stand out.

We checked in and gathered up our hotel packet, which included your Key To The World Card-a card that can be used for room charges, entry to you room, and if you have your park passes added to it, can also be used for park entry. Everything went off w/out a hitch and we hurried to our room to get our bearings. The Studio villas have only one queen sized bed but also a fold out couch, which is where the boys slept for the duration. There is also a small kitchenette, a single sink vanity area, and a seperate toilet, bathing area like most hotels. Room decor was again, very bright and cheery boasting muted tones of reds, greens, and yellows and a well placed mirrored section on one wall that made the room seem huge. Our balcony looked out over the Pool and grounds as well as a distant view of the Hollywood Studios Tower Of Terror.

Our luggage had not yet arrived so I visited The Boardwalk itself, a real 'board' walk on the backside of the resort that offers lots of dining/shopping options as well as bicycle rental and funny street performances. It's right on the water, which makes it very picturesque so I was in no real hurry to get back to the room. I ordered some typical junk food staples (cheese sticks, corn dogs, meatball subs) from a little vendor . After lunch, I took the boys down to the playground while daddy rested and when our luggage finally arrived that afternoon, we all got dressed to go to Epcot for dinner reservations.

Sept and Oct are 'Food and Wine Festival' at Epcot. I've never been able to go during this event but I doubt I'll ever go at any other time now! In addition to the already huge array of foods and wines available from the different 'countries' of World Showcase, there is an additional number of vendors that offer food and drink options from another 20-30 countries! It was late so we didnt have time to sample anything then, but we made a mental note of all the drinks/ snacks that looked yummy for future reference.

We had only about an hour and a half until our dining reservation in 'France', so we took the boys on the only two World Showcase rides-In Mexico and Norway. The Mexican ride is sweet and cool w/ a great Three Caballeros theme. NEW loved it and he got to have his picture taken w/Donald afterwards. The NOrway ride is just a little more intense and dark and has a few 'Trolls' to contend with so he was a little timid of that one. VW rode in my lap for the Norway ride (called Maelstrom) and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's also a boat ride but has a few faster segments so it's a good test for kids to see what they'll be able to handle later on. NEW didnt like the trolls but he did fine w/ the speed of the ride so I knew he would do great on some of the big rides of the next few days.

Our dinner was at Les Chefs De France and it was delicious. We utilized the Disney DIning Plan this time so all of our food was paid for in advance, w/ our hotel check-in, and was also placed on our Key to the World Card. The Dining Plan gives you one table service and one counter service meal per day as well as one snack. We planned to eat breakfast in our room since we had a fridge. Table Service meal credits allow you to choose one Entree, One NOn Alcoholic Beverage, and one desseert each. I had the Tiger Shrimp w/ scallops as my entree and Creme Brulee for dessert. both of which were wonderful. Disney is one of the only places on earth where you can enjoy fine dining at a white tablecloth establishment and still bring your smacking, shouting, roll-tossing children along w/ you without being sneered at.

After dinner, we strolled outside to watch Illiminations, the nightly firework presentation at EPCOT that features the music of the different nations on display. It's very nice but not as moving as it used to be due to the cheesy 'inspirational' song tacked onto the end. NEW thought it was way too loud so I gave him some earplugs and he was just fine. I also had some noise reduction earmuffs for the baby. A very pleasant and even somewhat relaxing day one.

Day 2-Sept 29th We woke up happy that today was our last day of having to play 'musical resorts'. We were careful not to unpack anything the night before so it was relatively easy to call bell services and have them, once again, transfer our luggage to our new home-The Beach Club Villas. Then we all caught the boat to The Hollywood Studios, even though we were running a bit late due to the moving situation.

I swear by the Unofficial Guide to WDW. It's full of useful information, the prime piece of which is to 'Arrive Early! Arrive Early! Arrive Early!'. Try as we might, we just couldnt get to any of the parks prior to opening for the whole trip. I had also planned the days according to the Guide's statistics for crowd levels at each park so Monday was supposed to be an ideal day for the Studios. Unfortunately, w/ our late arrival, crowds had already gotten pretty bad, even for the slow time of year. We just made it a point to relax, rent strollers ( I paid for four days of double stroller rental with my Disney Rewards Card which came to about 105.00. It's alot but well worth it since those strollers are super easy to push and turn on a dime. Just make sure to bring a brightly colored bandana or scarf to tie around the handle so you can find it in the crowd after rides.), and enjoy some coffee before attempting to see anything. Star Tours (Star Wars themed simulator ride) was first and had only a five minute wait so me and the two older boys took advantage and enjoyed the ride. It's a little rough but NEW loved it and was especially enamoured of the gift shop called Tatooine Traders at the end. We spent a good hour in there.

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Because of the crowd, not much was accomplished in the way of attractions. THe longest line of the trip was The Great Movie Ride, which JEW and JEW2 waited for while I watched the younger two. Our friends from La, CC and SC, were there w/ family and they caught up w/ us for a quick visit before lunch. The newest ride at The Studios, Toy Story Mania was at a sixty minute wait for the whole day and fastpasses (special feature for park guests that allows you to come back at a certain time for little or no wait on a ride) were already out by noon. So no Toy Story for us that day.

For lunch, we visited the Toluca Legs Turkey Co. I had read on Allears.net that this place was a great option for counter service lunch because there is no kids menu so kids get adult portions which can be useful if you want things to take with you for later in the day. We got two adult sized salads, one pulled pork sandwhich, and a turkey leg as our entrees. These things were so filling that we took our chocolate chip cookies and chips w/ us for later and saved our snack credits that way. Also, instead of a fountain beverage for all four of us, we got a couple of bottles of water that we could take along. Thanks Allears!

Next was the ROck N Roller Coaster-the Aerosmith themed super-fast indoor coaster at The Studios. I talked the eight year old into riding it w/ me and he hated me afterwards! heh heh. No, he didnt like it. I purchased the photo they took of us on the ride because his face was so priceless. THe ride slingshots you into action w/ the best takeoff ever and I don't think he expected it to be so fast. My favorite ride at WDW! By then, JEW2 was not about to try Tower of Terror yet so we opted to head back to the hotel and swim before going to Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours. Extra Magic Hours are hours before or after official park hours for Disney Resort guests only. We love the Evening ones because Magic Kingdom is so cool at night.

One word about the pool at The Boardwalk: It's excellent for kids! There is this great 'carnival' feel to the pool area, complete w/ beautiful red and white striped circus canopies over the snack vendors and restrooms. The slide is called the Keister Coaster and it replicates a Coney Island Roller Coaster, the exit of which is a giant clown mouth. JEW2 and NEW both enjoyed the slide and JEW2 even learned to swim that day! Yay!

Because of Extra Magic Hours, we decided not to do a Table Service meal that day. Instead, we went to the Magic Kingdom and grazed on snacks while we rode the rides. The park closed at eight o' clock so we used the time everyone else was watching the fireworks show, to get at least four rides under our belt. We knocked out Fantasyland in no time and this is a blessing because its the 'land' that gets the longest waits during the day. There are lots of cycle rides there (think Dumbo and Cinderella's Carousel) and those are the ones w/ the longest lines since they arent 'continous loaders' like Peter Pan and Small World. I can't say enough about Magic Kingdom at night! It's so much more fun due to the lights; the castle changes colors continuously. Big Thunder Mountain is lots more fun in the dark, for some reason, not to mention the Haunted Mansion. We hadnt intended to stay so late but we were having so much fun and riding so many rides w/ absolutely no wait that we decided to just hang out until 11 pm and sleep late the next day.

The kids were exhausted but super happy. And so were we!

(Hey guys, I think I'm gonna continue this post in the way of comments below...it's a long one...)

 

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Day 3-Sept, 30th: Day three of our vacation saw the sun rise on our new home resort, The Beach Club. It's another New England style Beach-themed resort that really has a restful atmosphere. The pool area, called Stormalong, is arguably the best in Disney since it's really more of a water-park than a pool. The bottom of the pool is sandy and there is a great water slide that can only be reached by climbing a 'shipwreck' on the beach. Also, there are other great details about the pool, such as a lazy river section w/ a current, a whirlpool section that the kids just love, and a huge sandy kids' pool that looks almost naturally created. The lobby and rooms are furnished w/ pale woods and fabrics, white pannelling, painted wood floors, and other very restful details. The landscaping is just beautiful and there are lots of great sitting areas throughout the resort, as well as two 'quiet' pools for those that don't want to deal w/ the vastness of Stormalong Bay. I actually preferred the elegance of The Boardwalk, as far as decor goes, but I did enjoy the relaxing admosphere of the Beach Club and the close proxmity to EPCOT.

Our room was almost a mirror image of The Boardwalk's Studio room and we were more than ready to move in and unpack finally. The View from Villa 270 was just a little bit less exciting than our Boardwalk view had been but the balcony was bigger. One of the downsides of renting points from a Vacation Club member and staying at the villas is there is no daily maid service. You kind of have to straighten up after yourself, even though they do make periodic visits to empty trash and replace towels.

This day was our Magic Kingdom day but due to our late night, we let the kids sleep a little longer and planned to hit the park a little before lunch. We went first to Tomorrowland since we had only gotten Buzz Lightyear out of the way the night before. We also met up w/our friends again and they joined us for most of the day. JEW2 enjoyed Space Mountain and we did the baby swap again (a great arrangment that Disney allows where one parent waits in line w/ the kids who can ride and then after they're finished, the other parent gets to ride w/out a wait)so he got to ride it twice. Laugh Floor, a new attraction with Monsters Inc characters was my favorite new thing at Disney. It's an interactive comedy show where the audience provides part of the entertainment and it's hilarious!

After nondescript counterservice lunch in Tomorrowland, we headed to Fantasyland for the Winnie The Pooh ride and playland. The Playland was a first for me and I really enjoyed the details in Pooh's house.

Today was one of my favorite days also because my boys both went on Splash Mountain with me. It's one of my favorite rides for sure. The details are so incredible and the ride is both relaxing and thrilling. It's just one of Disney's best attractions. The hill is big but nobody seemed to even notice and we only got slightly sprinkled on the landing.

We had dinner reservations at the Contemporary Resort so we went back to the hotel for a quick swim before getting dressed a little nicer for our meal at the California Grill. This restaurant is a regular for us on every trip! It is pricey so it took up two of our Table Service credits each, but it is well worth it. The pork loin on polenta is incredible. The Chocolate Lava Cake and Butterscotch Creme Brulee are out of this world! And the view, from the top of the Contemporary is stunning, especially during the Magic Kingdom Fireworks which are clearly visible from the windows. Day 4, Oct 1st: VW was one year old today! Anyway, today was EPCOT day. We walked over from our resort only a few minutes late for the opening and didnt have to wait for ANY of the Future World rides for more than five minutes. This was my first visit to the Seas Pavilion since they Nemo update and I'll admit in a second that it's an improvement. The Nemo and Friends ride is a bit of a throwaway until the final moments but they are well worth it since animated characters are incorporated w/ the existing aquariums almost seamlessly. 'Turtle Talk' with Crush allows kids to interact w/ the Sea Turtle from Finding Nemo and no matter how annoying his 'dudes' and 'righteous'es are, it's still extremely entertaining. The boys also really enjoyed the Land Pavilion where we ate lunch. Sunshine Seasons Food Court is unique in that much of the fresh ingredients used in the food are grown right on the premises. I had a most a-typical counter service lunch of Wild Salmon with a calamata olive pesto sauce, fresh green salad, and mashed red potatoes. In addition, it was my first ride on 'Soarin', which is remarkable, and both the boys absolutely loved the 'Living With The Land' ride, where you get to take a boat ride through Disney's State of the Art Hydroponic Gardens.

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After a quick break at the hotel pool again, we went back to EPCOT to really tour World Showcase. Shopping is great there, especially in China. We had dinner reservations at Tokyo Dining in 'Japan' and the meal was hearty and well presented. The kids got their meal on little airplane shaped platters and they got free toys after they finished. I had a Tempura selection of scallops, shrimp, and veggies that was very yummy indeed.


Day 5, Oct 2nd: Today was our 'free day' originally but since we had missed some major attractions at The Studios, we decided to head back there to ride Toy Story Mania and the Tower of Terror. Toy Story Mania was great fun; better than Buzz Lightyear even. You wear 3d glasses and shoot at targets as they come at you...I'm better at this than the laser tag thing. Then we went to Tower of Terror. JEW2 went w/ daddy and decided he couldnt do it again (ahhh!) so I went alone, which I didnt mind at all. I had no wait, after all. We left the studios by about mid-morning and went back to the hotel to enjoy Stormalong Bay. We had lunch and ice cream by the pool and rode the slide multiple multiple times. I love this place!

Dinner reservations were at Raglan Road, an Irish Restaurant in Downtown Disney. Lots of shopping there and the boys are crazy about the lego store. I ordered the 'It's Not Bleedin' Chowder' and whatever it was, it was delicious. I didnt care for the soda bread, however. We did some shopping afterwards, before heading back to the hotel. Another very busy day.

To be continued...

 

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Day 6, Oct 3rd: After another late night out, it was again a struggle to get to the Animal Kingdom by park opening at 9am. However, we still made it by 9:30 and met up w/ our friends at Dino-land, which is kind of a cheesy version of a carnival complete w/ 'midway'. Dinoland boasts the greatest playground in Disney. It's gigantic and includes a large area called 'the Boneyard' which looks at first glance like any other huge sandbox but is in fact an 'excavation' site for kids to dig up the 'bones' of prehistoric creatures. The 'sand' is also deceiving since it's actually tiny little pebbles and it feels wonderful on the feet (though technically, you're supposed to keep the shoes ON, heh heh). The greatest thing about that is how easy it is to shake the little grains off of your clothes and shoes.

We also rode 'Dinosaur' together, while Sarah watched Victor for me, and that turned out to be a mistake. I've ridden it before and since NEW and JEW2 love dinosaurs, I thought they'd love it. Unfortunately, I completely forgot out LOUD the ride is and how rough. It jars and jerks violently, which the four year old hated. Add to that the huge Carnotaur that 'hunts' you throughout the ride and he basically rode w/ his eyes sealed shut throughout the duration. I thought I'd help out in one aspect at least and reached forward to our 'stowaway' compartment where we had to put our bags during the ride to get his noise reduction earmuffs. I succeeded in doing that but as I was straining to reach them, the car we were in jerked hard to one side and I heard my neck go 'pop'! I didnt realize at the time how badly I had hurt myself but I certainly found out later. NEW didnt seem to hold it against me however and enjoyed the dinosaur store at the end of the ride thoroughly.

After Dinoland, we followed our friends over to 'Asia', home of Expedition Everest. It was our first time and we were so excited! JEW2 rode w/ daddy first (we did the baby swap) and since he liked it, rode again w/ me. It's definitely one of Disney's best, though I still prefer Rock N Roller Coaster as far as thrill rides go. The one thing I found disappointing is the 'sighting' of the Yeti himself which was so brief and dark, it almost didnt happen. When the ride was finished, we headed to the Maharajah Jungle Trek, an exquisitely detailed animal exhibit that makes the animals appear to be living among ruins instead of in captivity.

Another kind of downer about Animal Kingdom day was the baby's fever. He seemed to be sleeping abnormally long in his stroller while we were on the Trek and afterwards, when he woke up, was a little fussy. As we stopped at 'Pizzafari' Counter Service restaurant for lunch, I picked him up and discovered he was burning hot. Of course, due to the warm weather, I'm sure he seemed hotter than he actually was but I did panic a little and left the guys to eat while I found First Aid. They took his temperature which was about 101 and allowed me to sponge him off and give him a dose of Tylenol. I couldnt figure out if he was overheated, sick, or teething but after we left the First Aid area, he was in a better mood and ready to eat a bite. He also really enjoyed the rest of our day, including the Kilimanjaro Safari ride in 'Africa' and the Jungle Safari Parade which inspired him to clap and dance along.

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We had stayed longer than we anticipated but since it was our only day for AK, we decided to just take our time and see It's Tough To Be A Bug on our way out. This is Disney's funniest and most original 3D show since the audience becomes 'honorary bugs' during the show and basically gets 'terrorized' by Hopper and his cronies in many disturbingly hilarious ways. I just love this show but it is a bit loud so I gave the two younger boys their noise protection and both enjoyed it heartily, VW without the 3d goggles. It was a nice finish to our touring. I'd like to split Animal Kingdom up next time, I think however, since it's definitely the hottest park due to all the flora and fauna that encapsulates the humidity.

So that was the end of our official park touring and I feel we got to do more than I expected, w/ the baby and all. It just took some rearranging and patience and some willingness to forego shows and things that would add more 'waiting' time to the less patient ones of the group. I love Disney shows and look foreward to catching the ones I missed in the future.

That evening, we had dinner reservations at Coral Reef, a restaurant inside the Seas Pavilion in EPCOT. It is surrounded by the Seas aquariums and provides a great atmosphere. The food was delicious but VW was still not feeling great so we ate quickly this time. On the way back to the hotel, we noticed that Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald were at the Character Spot in Future World w/ virtually no wait so I got a couple of very good pics of the boys. We also stopped in France for a drink I'd seen on Samantha Brown's Disney Favorites, called a Grand Marnier Orange Slush. May I just say, DANG! My husband had a Grey Goose Lemon Freeze and it was extra yummy too. I shudder to think how much we spent on booze this trip...especially w/ no buzz to show for it..hee hee. Let's just say that, unlike Las Vegas, Disney doesnt care to cut you any slack on alcohol. A bottle of miller light-5 bucks! No, I'm not joking.

That night being our last, we let the boys swim a little when we got back to the hotel. It was an unexpected treat they really seemed to love, being almost 10:00 already.

Day 7, Oct 4th-Departure Day Since checkout was 11am, we hurriedly got our things together and had bell services store our luggage so that we could spend the day in World Showcase, using up all our leftover snack credits on those Food and Wine Festival vendors we had been salivating over all week. I had heard stories about people who had meals leftover at the end of their vacation and, not being one for wasting ANYTHING if I can help it, I was more than prepared to stuff myself if necessary. As it turns out, there was no problem. We had one kids meal left too so we went to The United Kingdom and used that on an adult meal of Fish and Chips that the kids could split since there was no kid's menu at the Yorkshire Fish Shop. We said goodbye to our friends, CC and SC, regretting that we hadnt been able to see them more than we had but still happy for their company.


We had ten snacks left. First we went to France and got two orders of escargot and a french 'orangade'. Mmmmmmm. Second, we stopped at Marrakesh for something called a Kefta, which is basically a pita wrapped around spicy ground beef and tomato salad. Yummy. Next we stopped in Italy for a canoli, which (gripe) wasnt eligible for snack credits so we had to pay oop for it. So we still had six credits. I spent one on a bottled water (yep, bottled water counts as a snack). Five. Then we stopped in New England and ordered Crab Cakes and a Lobster Roll. Gooooood stuff. We now had three. Mexico has churros. Can't pass up the churros. So I ordered two. One snack credit left. I also saw this baby at a kiosk in Mexico and had to try it. It's a quadruple layer margarita:
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Yes, it was every bit as yummy as it looks. Just enough salt on the rim. Anyway, JEW saw some shrimp in Istanbul marinated in cilantro that looked good so we used up our last snack on that. Turned out just right too because when we checked the time, it was rediculously late and we JUST made it to the hotel for our shuttle to the airport.

So now I'm home and I am happy to be, though I still kinda get sad when I realize how long it will probably be before we can go back. That hotel was so homey that I was getting kinda used to living there. I also have whiplash, as it turns out, from the stupid Dinosaur! ride. I know my straining to reach the earmuffs during the ride is the reason for it so I don't gripe too much about the ride itself, though I definitely feel it has changed a little and is not nearly so exciting as it used to be. Sunday, I was stuck on the couch for the ENTIRE day while my house got messier and messier and luggage remained unpacked. Today is Tuesday and I feel much better thanks to some Soma I bummed off a friend. I can actually turn my head slightly in either direction. Enough about me though. The kids had a ball and it was so worth it to show them around Disneyworld and see them enjoy it too.

I know alot of people (including the Unofficial Guide, incidentally) would say that taking babies to Disneyworld is a mistake but I didnt find that to be the case at all. Even if VW was left out of certain things, he was obviously very positively affected by the stimulation all around him and never did he seem 'overwhelmed' or cranky (until he got sick on the last day). He smiled his charming little grin evey time he saw a camera, even if it wasnt pointed at him...ha ha. NEW can't stop talking about the rides and his new lego toy. JEW feels so grown up now that he can say he rode everything, including the thrill rides. My husband couldnt hide how happy he was to be with all of us for a full week, even if looking after three boys is more work than actually BEING at work. And I am just glad that everything turned out at well as it did and that we have so much fun stuff to talk about.

And that's it. In a very VERY large nutshell.