Random thoughts about our Disney vacation – June, 2004

[BrerMom]

Lodging – Sunday to Friday BCV, one weekend SIL’s, Sunday to Friday VWL, one weekend Port Orleans Riverside

This was our first time staying in the villas and our longest vacation since the kids were born, the longest at Disney ever. The villas are incredible. Being able to tell the kids to go to bed while we stayed up and watched TV was wonderful. I came home with minimal laundry because of the in-room washer and dryer. We ate every breakfast except one in the room/villa, several lunches, and six/seven evening meals. What an incredible savings!!! It was much more relaxing to let the kids blow off some steam watching TV or playing in the villa instead of waiting in line or waiting for a PS. I actually found myself using “vacation” and “relaxing” in the same sentence!

A king bed at the villas was nice; a queen would have been fine. A double at Port Orleans (and sister-in-law’s) wasn’t big enough. I wish WDW used fitted sheets. I didn’t realize how much I toss and turn during the night; the sheets never stayed on the bed. Almost everything we needed was in the kitchen at the villas. I could have used a whisk for making pancakes, but that was it. We used 50 fl. Oz. Of Tide and I washed all our clothes plus the towels. If there were ever a villa that was “immerse yourself in Mickey” with the Mickey waffle maker, Mickey toaster, etc., I’d be there! Oh, wait, that’s at home.

I thought I’d miss daily maid service, but I found I liked not having a stranger coming in my “home” better. I only missed the daily soaps. And it wasn’t much different at Port Orleans. We received clean washcloths, but no new coffee, no clean glasses, no coffee cups. Since we had just moved from the villas, I had dish soap. We drank the decaffeinated coffee in a glass glass with a washcloth to hold it! I’m glad I didn’t have to call the front desk for something like clean glasses. I really missed having a clothes dryer in the room; we didn’t let the kids go swimming on the last day because we didn’t want to take wet clothes on the plane.

The theming was nice in all three resorts. We visited the models rooms for Saratoga Springs – I’d love to stay in a grand villa facing Cirque someday! I definitely preferred the theming of the Wilderness Lodge, but that’s why we chose that as our home resort. I’m glad I can say I’ve stayed at Riverside, but it’s not going to be a must-do. Since we stayed there for the trundle bed and we hear so much about the fire codes being the reason for only allowing four in a room, I was expecting the room to be larger than a regular room. It wasn’t. It was fine for a weekend, but I wouldn’t want to squeeze our family in there for a week. Another surprise was that the trundle bed was too little for DS10.

The Beach Club and Port Orleans are both just too big for me. We stayed at Port Orleans back when the French Quarter was the only part of PO and loved it, possibly because it was a more intimate setting.

When did the resorts stop providing lotion? I could have used one little bottle per resort.

Stormalong Bay is awesome! The older kids, DD13 and DS10, loved it. We could have spent a few more days just swimming, I think. We rented a tube for an hour and just floated…. Ahhhh. An interesting opinion from DS5: our little daredevil went down the big slide once and pronounced it too scary. The alternative slide is great for toddlers and cautious preschoolers. DS5 much preferred the slide at Wilderness Lodge – “it’s not too scary and it’s not for babies!” Those poor lifeguard CMs – kids seem to have parents’ permission to misbehave. Over and over the same CMs gave the same kids the same warnings in the same patient voice while the parents ignored everything.

Check-in at all three resorts was fine. All were welcoming – nothing unusual or spectacular. In and out in less than 30 minutes in all three. Yes!

A CM at WL was so nice to my kids giving them a printout about finding hidden Mickeys. When they were younger, WL offered a pin if all the ones on the list could be found; they were too young to find the harder ones then. It was probably a budget cut, but that program no longer exists. It would have been nice to have a certificate available for those who complete the program. A piece of paper couldn’t be that expensive, right?

The gift shops at all three were nice. The CMs were friendly and picking up packages sent there from the parks didn’t take too long to collect. On our last day at VWL, a CM chose not to wait on DD13 “Yes, that’s not a problem, I’ll be right back” but didn’t follow-through. I found the blue-shirted CM (doesn’t that mean he was the manager??) chatting with other guests about pin-trading. He apologized profusely, but I had the feeling it wouldn’t have happened if he had waited on me first instead of her. Also, please – we NEED VWL clothing! I was also looking for the totem pole on earrings. Oh, well. (as an aside – the only semi-dressy clothing for women I saw involved golfing. I don’t golf, so I didn’t buy it. I’d love to have nice Mickey clothes to wear to work!)

Weather
Hot! Hot! HOT! I’m so glad we weren’t trying to go commando! The first week, it rained hard enough that even we die-hards didn’t stay in the parks. The ponchos I brought with us were thin and felt gross. Next time, I’ll just buy Mickey ones if it rains hard enough we need them. We usually just get wet; this was one of the few times we actually got the ponchos out.

Magic Kingdom
Wishes is magical. We saw it three times in MK and twice from VWL.

Philharmagic is hands-down the best 3-D movie done so far! Nice smells, nothing scary for any age.

I like having the pictures available after Buzz. The area either needs to be arranged differently or be larger, though.

The arcade at Space Mountain was great for entertaining DS5 during the babyswap. Once he accepted the idea that he wasn’t tall enough to ride, the games were a great option. He even got bonus time on the water jet ride; it’s sad to admit that your five-year-old can consistently play better than you.

Fastpasses are like gold! We tried to have one ready at all times. The longest we waited for any ride during this vacation was 40 minutes (for Mission Space).

The hand-held Mickey games they sell are worth the price. DS5 played with his in all the lines that moved slowly or while we were waiting for a show. It was great on the plane ride home. It must have had a sensor that detected where we were in the park because each new game would correspond to the current ride. DH liked the trivia game.

We took a break in the middle of the day on most days and it really made the evenings more enjoyable. My knees and hips didn’t hurt this trip and with the heat, that says a lot.

Splash is still my favorite ride. Spectromagic is one of those “I’m glad I saw it once” shows. We visited the shooting arcade for the first time and the boys loved that! The only time DS5 was quiet the whole trip was on Haunted Mansion. J He was fine a year and a half ago and definitely apprehensive this time. We rode Aladdin’s carpet for the first time. We had trouble convincing DS5 that he was actually affecting the carpet sitting in the back row. DD13 and DS10 controlled the front row (up and down) and had a great time. The spitting camel is awesome!!! I still like Dumbo better. We enjoyed Carousel of Progress a couple of more times. DS5 lay down in his boat to avoid the gunshots the first time we rode Pirates! DD13 was chosen to walk to Toontown holding Eeyore’s hand for ropedrop; she bounced for the rest of the morning. We waited in line for Mickey in Toontown for the first time; the line moved much more quickly than for Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. We didn’t even try for Minnie. Basically, we rode every ride the kids wanted to ride. DS5 squealed just as loudly on Goofy’s Barnstormer as he did on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Belle in the castle and Peter Pan in Adventureland (both the morning of Wednesday, 6/16) gave the kids the best character interactions of any of the characters during this trip. Bravo!

A different Belle ran Belle’s storytime the afternoon we had a PS for CRT; the kids didn’t notice. DS10 had a grand time playing Belle’s Papa. It’s really well done, just very hot to sit in the sun. Several families sat under umbrellas for shade until Belle appeared. I was glad they took them down for the show.

Epcot
Mission Space is one incredibly realistic ride! DH and DS10 didn’t have a problem with it at all and DH doesn’t like rides that spin at all. DS10 even did it twice in a row with babyswap. DD13 and I didn’t feel back to normal for about two hours. We were never close to being sick, just a little off-kilter. This has to have the best kids’ waiting area of any of the rides. DS5 is usually asking where they are when he has to wait, but we had to wait for him to finish his activity.

Illuminations is my not-to-be-missed show. We were able to get a spot on the railing by sitting down an hour before the show. We’ll try to remember to check to see which way the wind is blowing before picking a spot next time; we ended up with fireworks smoke in our eyes. When we watched it the first week we were there, we thought we had a good spot. Then Illuminations started and the front row stood up, so all the other rows followed suite. We were about four rows back in the area beside the gift shop at the front of World Showcase. We have still been able to see, if I picked DS5 up, but a bunch of parents in the second and third rows put their kids on their shoulders. We didn’t have a chance to see and we’d been there almost 40 minutes. We left for a different spot. That wasn’t going to happen again, thus the railing view the second time.

Test Track was amusing. Our car was making all the right noises for squealing around curves while going up a mountain, but we were barely crawling. Everything was back on track for going outside. I love DS5’s loud giggle!

I’ve wanted to have a pearl necklace from the Japan pavilion since my very first trip. The pearl itself is only about $13. Choosing the oyster and the seeing the surprise of the size of the pearl inside was fun. One could easily make a charm bracelet and add a pearl each trip, I think. I had it made into a necklace instead.

All CMs are friendly and helpful, but the non-character CMs in Epcot always seem to be the happiest doing the regular necessary jobs. And WDW is the only place I would consider sitting on the ground in white shorts – and they were always clean when I stood up.

MGM
I hope DS is old enough next time we go that he doesn’t want to go to Playhouse Disney. My legs always go to sleep during the show because we have to sit on the floor and the family, of course, doesn’t want to sit on the few benches available in the back.

Indiana Jones sure has the boys’ attention in this family. It’s a nice tie-in with the Great Movie Ride. I would like to see a version of the ride where it’s all happy scenes. DS5 wasn’t too sure about the story line on this one, either.

It’s better not to go to Fantasmic! At all than to sit in Standing Room Only. ‘Nuff said.

Millionaire is a blast. I didn’t realize that there were real prizes (pins, hat). It took me one round to realize that the audience was supposed to play every question and not wait for a “ask the audience” prompt.

Animal Kingdom
We wanted to concentrate on parts of the park we hadn’t done before. We did the must-dos like the Safari and Festival of the Lion King and then switched to new experiences like having the boys’ faces painted, walking the trails, and Kali River Rapids. The kids loved KRR, which we expected. And I remained relatively dry! The bats, the tigers, and the birds on the trail were beautiful.

My solution to the problem of “Does DS really need a stroller or not?” has been to bring it and then park it at the entrance of one of the areas. According to a CM, I am not allowed to leave the stroller in stroller parking unless I’m going to see that show. Say what???? The strategy has worked in Fantasyland for years.

E-night Wednesday, June 9th
I commented to a CM that it was a lot more crowded than I was expecting and she replied that they weren’t expecting the crowds, either. I think it was because it was decent weather unlike the rest of the week and it was the only one that was 10 pm -1 am instead of 11 pm –2 am. I love the buses! When DS wanted to go home a little before midnight, it was easy to take him back and leave the rest of the family there. I didn’t time it, but Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan both had full queues when we waited, and we did Splash and Thunder first.

Dining

Chef Mickey’s: good food as usual. Dale did a particularly good job of interacting, meaning he actually took the time to interact. Maybe the dining room’s too big, but it seems the characters are pressed for time: sign, pose, wave good-bye. We only have one autograph book for the family and only take one picture of all three, so there should be time. We used to go to the meal for the interaction instead of waiting in line, but I’m not sure it will be a priority in the future. We bought the picture again. I love watching DS5’s head get taller and taller in the picture over the years.

Liberty Tree Tavern: I’m really torn on which to book next time – lunch without characters or dinner with them. DS5 got so excited about seeing Minnie and Meeko, in particular. The evening meal is family-style with one menu. DS5 ate five total pieces of mac-and-cheese. DS10 didn’t eat much more. If we’d gone at lunch, I could have ordered smaller portions for them and I could have had the yummy pot-roast! DH and I waddled out of there. Our server was a hoot! The restrooms here are teeny tiny. I’d recommend avoiding them if at all possible.

Pecos Bill Counter Service: I can’t believe we’ve missed this treasure all these years! The kids were happy with their hotdogs and I had the best cheeseburger I’ve eaten in a long time. The fixins bar is incredible, even down to the sautéed mushrooms.

Cinderella’s Royal Table: Called sixty days out and no tables available for the whole trip. Called a week before we left with the same story. Called from the room phone and she said, “I have a cancellation if you’re not choosy about day or time.” I said, “I’ll take it! When is it?” J I like the new method of having all the princesses basically coming at once. The kids would actually eat since they knew that all the princesses were across the room. Both boys were hoping Peter Pan would be there. DS10 doesn’t want to go again. DS5 loved the attention. We had never seen Peter Pan and Captain Hook run around the balcony outside the windows before. We have the cutest picture of DS5 looking up at the castle trying to find Peter after the breakfast. We never did get to meet the Fairy Godmother. We waited in line for 20 minutes before they called us upstairs and didn’t even make it halfway through the line. The families in front and behind us both were not eating at the castle. When we came out, the line was probably 45 minutes long. I wish she could meet with families eating at the castle during the morning and then have a meet-and-greet later in the day. The kids weren’t disappointed, so we didn’t get in line after breakfast. I wanted a picture of DS5 with her since we have the cutest picture of her holding him when he was eight months old. The French toast tasted differently than what I remembered. A little healthier this time, perhaps? Seconds weren’t offered. Belle did a wonderful job! DS5 wore her lipstick kiss until DH jokingly said, “You’d better not let Beast see that!” Then he started trying to rub it off.

Yorkshire County Fish Shop We weren’t the only ones who had the idea to get fish and chips before Illuminations. It was almost a 30-minute wait! The fish was really good, though, and was better than just sitting and waiting for the show. We sat down to eat at our chosen viewing spot about 8:00.

Columbia Harbor House: Wow, was it crowded. We finally got a table upstairs near the railing. I had a heart-stopping moment when I had to lunge to keep DS from flipping over the railing. It wasn’t really close, just a “mommy moment.” The food was good, as usual. I believe it was here that gave DS5 a bottle of Quik milk instead of a cup with a straw. DS10 said if he’d known, he’d have ordered milk! There were more options for kids this trip instead of just mac-n-cheese and hotdogs. Thank you to whomever is in charge of that choice!

Tony’s: We like the pizza here. They’ve discontinued the peanut-butter-and-jelly cooler, though. I hope it’s back for our next trip. We got a table in front of the window for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had planned to eat lunch in the villa that day, but decided to stay in the parks longer instead. We were able to easily get a PS on short notice.

Starring Rolls Bakery Great sandwiches and Quik milk in a bottle.


Yakatori: The kids liked the Teriyaki Chicken and DH and I had the combo. This is a must-do for us on every trip.

Teppanyaki: Another impromptu lunch. Guest services was able to set us up with a PS and we had a choice of several times. We love this place, too. Our chef was particularly amusing. She made Space Mountain out of onion rings. The kids and I had shrimp. DH enjoyed the steak and shrimp combo.

Artist Point: This was one of two “date nights.” The mushroom soup has to be the best soup I’ve ever had. There’s a chef’s special that worked out well for us. For $49, or $59 for the salmon, your meal is half a salad, ½ to ¾ of a bowl of soup, a full entrée, and a dessert for one (not the usual so big you have to share portion). Bread was also served. I left full, but not uncomfortable. We were talking to our wonderful server about our dilemma for our magical gathering: we want to bring my parents here to eat at Christmas, but they wouldn’t enjoy the meal if they saw the prices. It will be our treat, so she suggested calling ahead and they offer a cool service: menus without prices!!! She said it wasn’t as uncommon as we thought. Kids that come there for prom will sometimes use special menus so that whatever is chosen is within budget.

Yachtsman Steakhouse: Our second “date night.” The food was very good, but the portions were huge. Thank goodness for the refrigerator at the villa or I wouldn’t have been able to choose to have dessert. Both of us had lunch the next day with my leftovers: filet mignon with mushroom caps.

Mousellaneous

Annual Passes are the way to go for us. I love being able to fly in Sunday afternoon, go to the grocery, check-in, and then go to the fireworks. We wouldn’t waste a ticket just to see fireworks if we were paying by the day. It also allows me to leave the park when the crew needs a break instead of worrying about trying to get our money’s worth.

Premier Outlets were crowded and had the same merchandise as the Belz Outlets. Belz appeared to have bigger stores, also. Definitely worth the drive. We found a rolling backpack originally $58 for $19. Yup, it joined us for the trip home! No dress clothes for women, though.

The Disney Mr. Potato Head was a stroke of genius. We have lots of accessories to play with. I thought they were only at Downtown Disney, but they’re in several locations. I found a Buzz Lightyear car for Mr. PH to ride in that wasn’t at DTD. On our next trip, we plan to add Mrs. Potato Head and the bride & groom hats. It’s a silly addiction!

The optional meal for purchase on the plane was well worth the $5 or $10. It was filling and DS5 and I were able to split a meal just fine. Eating on the plane took some of the time pressure off the short layover. I believe it was provided by Hard Rock Café.

I wish we could have gone to see Cirque, but just couldn’t justify the $$$. Even the “buy an adult ticket, get a child’s ticket half-off” special doesn’t take away the fact that an adult ticket is expensive.

Water mice are a blast! I’m glad we can trust our kids to behave when we’re not around, but DD13 and DS10 were each unchaperoned for 30 minutes. DD13 was allowed to drive, but only if one of us were in the boat with her. It’s a maximum of two people per boat. So I took DS5 out and loved it. DH took each of the older two out for 30 minutes. I’d like to do it again someday, but not until DD can drive her own boat.

Bob Jackson does an awesome performance at Port Orleans. We took the kids in with us and nobody batted an eye. http://www.yehaabob.com/default.asp I’m much more of a “watcher” than a “participator,” but I loved this. My kids were laughing at me! I can’t remember ever laughing out loud like that in public. Bob is very energetic and knew so many songs. I’ll never hear some of those songs again without thinking of him and his alternative words. DD13 wants a piano that rocks. J We didn’t visit until our last night, unfortunately. If we’d gone earlier, I would have wanted to go again! I’d love to stay at PO again (if we go without the kids and can avoid the crowded room) so it would be convenient to see him again. Funny side note: DS10 commented that Bob looked like his teacher – and he was right! – and Bob acted like him, too. DS had a great year with the very animated teacher.

I think next time we use two years worth of points, I’d like to fly in on Sunday and leave the following Friday instead of Sunday to Sunday. Three moves in one trip are enough. I really liked spending two weeks in different places, though. Kind of gives you the best of both situations. This is the first vacation ever that I was finally ready to go home when it was over.

 

[deedee67]

What a great vacation you had! Thanks for posting your trip report. It was very enjoyable.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Enjoyed reading your report..sounds like a great trip....Thanks for posting.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[kathymc]

great report - really enjoyed the way it was set up

sounds like a fabulous trip - thanks for posting

 

[airplane]

Great report!
Wouldn't you know that the darn spitting camel got me on the way into, and out of, Adventure Land. The first shot landed right in my ear.

 

[Deweysgirl]

Thanks for the detailed and informative trip report! I learned what to do (and not do) at Illuminations! Glad to hear you liked Bob Jackson. We're going to POR next week and we have never seen his show and we were curious. Sounds fun!

?-What are the hand held Mickey games that you refer to?

Thanks again for the great report!

 

[BrerMom]

Originally posted by Deweysgirl
?-What are the hand held Mickey games that you refer to?

I tried to find a picture, but came up empty. Basically, think of a game-boy, turn it sideways, paint it red, and add black ears. It plays kind of like a Mario game, only with Mickey. DS10 liked it; DS5 loved it. DD wasn't interested. It was under $15. They've used it so much in lines, in the airport, and on the plane, it's probably only cost me 25-50 cents per hour. We did have to replace the batteries while we were at the parks; it takes AAAs.

 

[Credit Man]

Great report! Thanks for posting.

 

[rpbear]

Thanks for the wonderful trip report. I really enjoyed reading it. I especailly enjoyed the story of your older DD walking with Eeorye. The same thing happened to my DD two years ago when she was 14. The look on her face was priceless and she was just as excited as any of the younger children would have been.

 

[Deweysgirl]

Thanks Brermom! I will look at Toys-R-Us. Sounds like fun!

 

[wannabee princess]

I enjoyed your report! The format was a great way to include a lot of info!

Thanks for the heads up on the Mickey game - we have seen it before, but I am thinking it will be a definite purchase this trip! Very cool if it senses where you are in the park!

Also, thanks for the website and info on Bob Jackson! I hadn't even thought about going there (and we have even stayed at POFQ) - I'm thinking it might be a great idea to do that one evening! I will be watching for his schedule in July!