"Rushing" Through The World - **LIVE** September 2010 (updated: 9/7/10 with pictures)

[twelveone]

In just one week, the Rushing family will be headed back to Walt Disney World for ten days of fun and dining. While we have made many trips to Disney World over the past few years, this is our first trip report. I figured it might be fun to share our experience with other DISers. So here are the details...

Our family includes my wife & me with three kids (Daughter age 7, Daughter age 5, Son age 1). We are also bringing along my wife's parents. We will be leaving from the panhandle of Florida for a 7 hour drive down to Orlando. I expect to leave early in the morning so our son will sleep most of the trip. We have reservations for two preferred rooms at the All-Star Sports Resort. This is the only value resort that our children have not experienced.

I think the thing my wife and I are most excited about is the dining reservations. Here is a list of the reservations we have booked.
Friday, September 3rd, Le Cellier for dinner
Saturday, September 4th, Tusker House for breakfast & Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner
Monday, September 6th, Planet Hollywood for dinner
Tuesday, September 7th, Chef Mickey's for breakfast & Ohana for dinner
Wednesday, September 8th, Tepan Ido for dinner
Thursday, September 9th, 1900 Park Fare for dinner
Friday, September 10th, back to Le Cellier for dinner


Well, this gives you an idea of the trip we have planned. I hope to update the thread as our trip draws closer. While at the World, I hope to post live updates to this thread. I will also be posting live updates on my twitter page. My twitter name is williamrushing.

More to come...

 

[onescgirl]

Hi Will! I'm joining your PTR. I am writing my 1st PTR too. My family stayed at All-Star Sports 2 yrs ago & we loved it. We're staying at CBR next mth.
I am going to love reading your live post as we will be there 2 weeks after you. I always seem to be behind everyone else technically, so I don't twitter yet.

 

[twelveone]

Yesterday while our girls were in school, my wife and I went shopping for a few items we needed for the trip. We went to Sam's Club and picked up some snacks for the drive down, the necessary sun screen so we do not get scorched, and a few other small items. While driving back home, my wife and I began to discuss our dinner reservations for Ohana. She is worried that our family will not like anything they serve. I have a family that does not like to venture out to far from traditional dining options. On the drive, she called Disney's reservation phone number and was able to make a dinner reservation at Trail's End for the same night. I told her not to cancel the Ohana reservation yet as I am still going to try to convince her to go.

Any suggestions on which is better, Trail's End or Ohana?

We have never been to either place.

We will be eating breakfast at Trail's End while we are camping at Fort Wilderness in January 2011.

Today we spent the afternoon cleaning our vehicles as I hate being stuck in a dirty truck for a long drive. We will begin our packing tomorrow. Only six more days now!

 

[twelveone]

We now have several bags packed and loaded. Since the next three days will be very busy for us, we decided to get a head start with loading the truck. We have everything loaded that we will not need over the next few days.

I am still trying to convince my wife that we need to stick with our original plan of eating at Ohana. She now tells me that she will talk to her dad and let him make the decision. I guess I will have to convince him! They (my Mother & father-in-law) will be coming over to our house tomorrow. They live just a few hours away in Alabama. They also decided that they do not want to leave as early in the morning as I do, so they will leave the day before and spend the night in Gainesville. I am hoping to be on the road at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning and meet them in Gainesville for breakfast.

I thought I would add a couple of pictures of our family. This first picture is a recent family photo we took just before the oil invaded Pensacola Beach.

This second picture is from our trip to the World in October 2009. Our son was only two months old for that trip. My wife spent most of her time in the baby care centers nursing him.

Only 4 more days left!

 

[twelveone]

Hi Will! I'm joining your PTR. I am writing my 1st PTR too. My family stayed at All-Star Sports 2 yrs ago & we loved it. We're staying at CBR next mth.
I am going to love reading your live post as we will be there 2 weeks after you. I always seem to be behind everyone else technically, so I don't twitter yet.

I read through your PTR. You have spent a lot more time with yours than I have with mine. I may have to step up my game...

By the way, even if you are not on twitter, you can still read my updates just by going to my twitter page. You will not have to login. Just click the link in the first post. I will also be posting pictures to our Flickr photo album while at Disney. You can find our family's Flickr page here.

 

[onescgirl]

I read through your PTR. You have spent a lot more time with yours than I have with mine. I may have to step up my game...

By the way, even if you are not on twitter, you can still read my updates just by going to my twitter page. You will not have to login. Just click the link in the first post. I will also be posting pictures to our Flickr photo album while at Disney. You can find our family's Flickr page here.

ok, thanks!

And, you have a BEAUTIFUL family!!!

 

[twelveone]

As you can see, we are almost packed! We will leave tonight around 2:00 a.m. to make the 7 hour journey. My wife's parents will leave in a couple of hours and spend the night in Gainesville. We will meet them for breakfast in the morning.

Once we check in to the All-Star Sports, our plan is to spend tomorrow at the Magic Kingdom and watch the Main Street Electrical Parade & Wishes. I am hoping that we will be able to get into our room as soon as we arrive. I know this is not guaranteed but it would be nice to allow the kids to swim with their grandparents while I take a short power nap. That way I won't fall asleep during Wishes.

I will try to post on crowd levels so that those of you coming in the next couple of days or weeks might get an idea what to expect.

By the way, I have lost the battle over Ohana. It looks like I will be canceling that reservation today and we will be at the Trail's End Buffet instead.

 

[OhMari]

Have fun at WDW.

It is very hard to report live, so don't get discouraged by day 3. Sometimes the last thing you want to do is sit down and write.

Maybe just give us the highlites and lowlites and fill in when you get home. Sort of like taking notes.

 

[jc040404]

Awesome! Another live one! I'd love to read along with what you do!! Have a great time!! You do have a gorgeous family!

That's too bad about Ohana, but there's always next time, right? We're about the same about not straying from the usual stuff when it comes to dining. I do hope to give that one a try sometime though. Hope you have a nice time at Trail's End! (We've not done that one either!)

Another not on twitter, but following along here!

 

[onescgirl]

Have a fun, safe drive!

 

[twelveone]

We have arrived!

We left our house in the Florida panhandle around 2:00 a.m. this morning. After the 7 hour trip and the change in time zone, we made it to the All-Star Sports around 10:00 a.m. Eastern. I am thankful that all three kids slept most of the way. They woke up just in time to meet their grandparents in Gainesville.

Using the online check-in made our arrival a breeze. I went to the front desk, they handed me the our keys and documents, and we were off to the room. After unloading all of our stuff, the kids went with their mom and grandparents to enjoy the pool, while I took a brief nap. We will be heading to the Magic Kingdom in about an hour. I am looking forward to the Main Street Electrical Parade tonight. It has been a long time since I have seen it.

I thought I would take a moment to update my trip report on the boards. While I am at the parks, I will be updating my twitter account. I hope to make updates to this thread at least once a day.

 

[twelveone]

At the magic kindom now. I waiting for the Tiki Birds. Crowds seem pretty light. The Jungle Cruise is a walk on!

 

[Aliflo]

Is it unbearably hot?

 

[twelveone]

the light crowds have made the heat bearable. peter pan only had a 20 min wait. not unbearable heat.

 

[onescgirl]

This is so much fun, I've been looking at the twitter page!!

 

[twelveone]

Day One Summary:

Today was a long day! As mentioned above, we left the Florida Panhandle around 2:00 a.m. (Central Time) and arrived at the All-Star Sports shortly after 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time). The car ride was fairly uneventful. My wife and the kids slept most of the way and I listen to the latest DIS Unplugged podcast. It is too bad it wasn't 7 hours long. We met my in-laws at their hotel in Gainesville and stopped at a nearby McDonald's to get some breakfast. With everyone reloaded into the truck and the in-laws following behind us, we made our way to the Florida Turnpike. Just under two hours later, we were pulling into the All-Star Sports Resort.

After using the online check-in system, our time at the front desk was minimal. We were handed our cards and our documents and told the room was ready for us. Our room is located on the 3rd floor of building 6. The Surf's Up section. The worst part of the day was the unloading process. It took several trips to the truck in order to get everything. After getting the room situated. My wife and her parents took the kids to the pool while I was able to get a much need nap. While it was only for an hour, it sure helped!

We decided to spent the afternoon at the Magic Kingdom, so we gathered the strollers, diaper bag, & lanyards and headed to the bus stop. We were quickly met by the Disney bus transportation and made our way through the turnstiles.

I guess I forgot to mention that we were booked on a Bounce Back offer that included Free Dining (Not the Quick Service, but the Basic Dining Plan) and 10 day base tickets. Our plan was to upgrade these tickets to Florida Resident Seasonal Passes once we got to a park. I decided to take care of that as soon as we entered the Magic Kingdom. I went to the Guest Relations Office and explained what I wanted to do. I found myself in the rare situation where I was actually benefited by the recent ticket price increase. Since the ten day tickets increased more that the Florida Resident Seasonal Pass, I now had a ticket that was valued higher than the tickets I wanted to upgrade to. I decided to upgrade one of my daughters tickets to an Annual Pass since Seasonal Passes do not include free parking and we will be staying at our time share when we return in March. The ticket upgrade was going to be cheaper than paying for parking. Since the other tickets were valued higher than the upgrade I was able to get about $12 off the Annual Pass upgrade. Overall, it probably took you longer to read my explanation than I spent in Guest Relations.

We quickly made our way to Pecos Bill's for lunch. This is our favorite Quick Service Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom since I can put cheese all over my fries. (I know it is not good for me, but I taste so good) I ordered one of the newer Angus Burgers and my wife had the Taco Salad. The kids split a chicken nugget meal from wagon right outside of Pecos Bill's (I can't remember the name).

After lunch we headed to the Magic Carpets, then Pirates, followed by the Tiki Birds and the Jungle Cruise. All attractions were walk-ons. Here are a couple photos that I posted on Flickr.

When then worked our way through Fantasy Land. This was my first time seeing the expansion in progress with lots of dirt and cranes. We rode the Carousel and Pooh. Then watched Mickey's Philharmagic. Again, all attractions had minimal waits. My youngest daughter then decided to ride Goofy's BarnStormer. After this, we decided to find a spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. The kids were getting pretty tired by this point but they managed to make it through the parade. It was as good as I remember.

Since the kids were tired, we decided to beat the crowds and escape the park a little early.

Overall it was a good day and a great start to our vacation. We now have only 9 more days left. Tomorrow we are headed to EPCOT, but I told my wife and in-laws that I am willing to take things a little slower this trip. Instead of getting to the park 30 minutes before it opens, we will sleep in a little more this trip.

By the way, as you can tell from the above posts. When I post from the park, I am posting from my phone and as such, the small screen and keyboard make it nearly impossible to post without some kind of grammatical errors. Please overlook them...

 

[Aliflo]

Thank you for this great live trip report. I'm headed to WDW for my very first visit on Sunday and I'm all the more excited reading your report!

 

[twelveone]

I am sitting outside the Rose & Crown enjoying Fish and Chips from the Yorkshire Fish Shop. I expect the crowds to increase as Labor Day Weekend gets closer. So far though, the has been a minimal wai for attractions. Soarin & Test Track both have longest wait of 20 minut. While it is hot, it is not unbearable. We are used to the Florida heat. It good to hear we will be joined by other DISers this week.

 

[twelveone]

Day Two Summary:

As I mentioned earlier, our approach for this trip is much different than previous trips. We usually hit the parks before they open and stay until they close. With ten days, we can take a much more leisurely approach. We were awakened by our 1 year-old son this morning around 8:00 a.m. We ate breakfast in our rooms. We brought our electric kettle along with us so we could make instant oatmeal and instant cheese grits. For those of you up north, grits are made of corn and are quite delicious. We went down to the bus stop and finally made it to EPCOT around 11:00 a.m.

I ran to Soarin' to get some FastPasses while the rest of the family made their way to The Seas With Nemo & Friends. Soarin' only had a 20 minute wait at that time. We spent some time at the Seas and I was surprised by the lack of people. The crowds were so light, I even let my son run around the circular observation deck because we had it to ourselves. He really enjoyed look at all the fish.

We finally made our way to Soarin' at around 1:30 p.m. and everyone rode it while my son and I ran (well, he just rode in the stroller) to Test Track to some pick up FastPasses, then my son and I rode Journey to Imagination in order to kill some time.

By the time I made it back to the land, I only had to wait a few minutes for them to get off the ride. We walked onto the Living with the Land attraction and then made our way to the Yorkshire Fish Shop to pick up some fish & chips.

Here is a photo of one of my daughters, my Father-In-Law and me on Living with the Land.

I thought I would include a picture of our fish & chips as well.

After lunch, I ran over to the Land to get another set of FastPasses for Soarin'. By this time, the wait had increased to 40 minutes. Which was the longest I saw it all day. I met the family at Journey to Imagination so my daughters could get a chance to ride. It has always been one of their favorites. To no one's surprise, we walked right on.

One thing I made sure we did was watch Captain EO. I remember watching this in the late 80's and was glad to see its return. I think my girls enjoyed it, although they could not really understand the impact Micheal Jackson had back then.

By this time, we were ready to make our way to Test Track. The wait for the attraction was only 40 minutes. With the FastPasses, we had to wait about 10 minutes before getting on the ride.

After Test Track, we made our way the the Canadian Pavilion for dinner at Le Cellier. This has always been a favorite of ours so we made reservations for both Friday nights that we would be at Disney. My wife and I ordered the New Your Strip with French Fries and the kids ate the child's steak. We also added the cheddar cheese soup to our ticket even though it was not included with the dining plan. It is just that good! My wife ordered the Chocolate Moose to-go and I ordered the Chocolate Cake. Here are a few photos of the meal.

We then concluded the evening by riding Soarin', Test Track, and Spaceship Earth before leaving. We decided to make this an early night since we have breakfast reservations at the Tusker House for 8:30 a.m. We plan to spend all day at the Animal Kingdom and the head to the Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner.

On a side note, while eating dinner at Le Cellier, we were seated next to a family from the U.K. We started a conversation about table service restaurants at Disney and they asked if we had been to Ohana. I told them my story about us having reservations, but the rest of the group not wanting to go. They encouraged everyone to try it and my wife told me that I can cancel the Trail's End reservation. It is a good thing I waited to cancel Ohana. Because now, we will be at Ohana! Sometime, it takes a family from a foreign country to convince my wife that her husband is right!

I hope everyone is enjoying the trip report. Let me apologize again for the spelling errors when typing from the phone. Feel free to post any questions you might have or if there is anything you want a picture of.

 

[jc040404]

Looks like you're all having a great trip!!

I hope the crowds stay down, though you're probably right about it getting a little crazy for the holiday. Thanks for the yummy food pics! You just made me super hungry and pushed me into begging dh to take us to WDW tomorrow!


Yay for Ohana!!