We planned this trip and gave it as a Christmas Present. First Disney World staying offsite at HIFS for three nights then we drive to Port Canaveral for a four day cruise (Royal Caribbean).
On Thursday January 18, we wake up early and are all anxious to escape the cold cold cold in New York. We make it to the airport and onto the plane with no problems. Flying Southwest, the flight attendents are wonderful..singing songs and playing games. We carry on all our luggage...no easy task with 5 people (including a stroller and 4 year old!)But much better than waiting for luggage.
We arrive at the Orlando Airport at 11am and pick up our rental car and we are on our way. First stop the HIFS. The weather is nice. Not really shorts weather but...hey NO SNOW.
We check in at the HIFS which is great. Very nice Kidsuite. The kids love it all our room overlooks the kids pool. We eat there quick, the kids eat free...we love that. On to our day one plan....EPCOT!! Our favorite place from our last visit (May 2000 we had three days left on various disney hopper passes).
We arrive at Epcot around 1pm and head right for the pin trading (the boys 11 and 9) want a Lanyard and new pins before we go in. This time they will trade...in May they just held onto their pins while Sarah (3yrs) traded. I went to Guest Services because I thought I could add days onto my 6day hopper. After waiting for 15 minutes (NO LINE BUT NO ONE WOULD LOOK UP OR HELP) I was told after another 15 minutes of staring at me blankly that where did I ever hear of that. Then a few phone calls then finally someone said I had to do it with in 6 days of using it the first time I had it. I admit it I got pissy and I figured, there loss...I would have paid to up three passes to 4 days. Then, I made a big mistake. I had 6 park hopper passes from our last trip. Now I bought all six for my husband, myself, my two sisters and their husbands. We all had a day or two left and I wanted to check them. Big NO NO. First she fought with me about where are all these people...then finally after I looked at HER blankly and told her. They are all mine, I bought them and paid for them and I am just checking whats left she told me and I made my way in. Not a great start. But the boys figured out what pins they were going to get and we headed in.
By now its about 1:30pm and we head in...Space Ship Earth is empty and thats Sarah's favorite so we head in and enjoy the ride. Armed with my UnOfficial Guide Book strategy we make our way over to Test Track to get Fast Passes...but there is no line. Hurray for us!! We do the kid swap...Sarah doesn't want to ride even though she is big enough! So I ride first with the boys and then my husband jumps back on with the boys! Thats my favorite part. The kids get to ride everything twice with one wait!! While we are waiting with Sarah a CM played games with Sarah and told us where we should head next. The kids that road the Test Track Car with us said this was their 7th ride in a row!! They said there had been no lines all day today. Yesterday was an early entry day for Epcot and yesterday there were lines.
Next we head over to the Journey into your imagination, we missed that one last time. Rode that with no wait. It was cute, Sarah liked it not too scary or anything. We missed Honey I shrunk the audience, it scared my 9 year old in May and no one really cared about it. We made our way to the Cold Station (where all the coke products are!! A BIG favorite for the boys) Sarah wants a Coke Barbie Doll but I talk her down from that and we head over to Universe of Energy Ride. We loved that last time. We make it there just as the show/ride is starting and enjoy that one. Sarah doesn't love the dinosaurs but she's sitting on my lap so she's fine...she knows where we are going next....Food Rocks!! Her favorite show I didn't see it last time and its all she talks about. We enjoy that and then head back over to body wars. There is no line so we enjoy that and now we are late for our priority reservation 5:30pm at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary resort. We high tail it over to the monorail which seemed a good idea at the time but took a little longer than we thought. We ask to sit up front and they let us...Sarah was in heaven and talked non stop to the driver while she sat up front right in the nose and looked all around. We transfer at the TTC and take the longest way around to get to the Contemporary it took us about 25 to 30 minutes to make the whole trip so it wasn't too bad! We get to Chef Mickey prepared to wait...in May we waited an hour for our PS and we were on time then. But we are seated in 5 minutes. It is busy the most people we'd seen all day, Epcot was pretty quiet. But Sarah loved it. We don't much like the food, my 11 year old HATES it and just tolerates it for his sister. But she hugs, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto at least 10 times so she is happy. We planned it so we could watch the fireworks from the 15th floor at 7:30 and finish right on time. My husband stops to ask someone where to go and they said..."Don't go to the 15th floor, you have to walk through the restaurant and THEY hate it up there. Go to the 12th floor and you get a good view from there!" I never heard that! We head to the elevator, the catch is that to get to the 12th floor you have to have a special key, its a concierge floor!!! So my husband is ready to bag it and leave...but NO WAY, we stayed for three nights at the Contemporary in May and Never Once made it back to watch those fireworks...and I was not missing it this time!
We get to the restaurant on the 15th floor and they couldn't have been nicer. We took our stroller right through and they walked us right out onto the balcony telling us how wonderful it was and how they piped the music in so we could enjoy that as well...so I don't know what the waitress at Chef Mickey was talking about. It was beautiful and worth the elevator ride to see it with the music. Sarah is a bit afraid of fireworks so it was perfect for her. It ends at 8pm so we head back to Epcot to pick up our car. Its around 8:15 when we get back and I want everyone to go back into Epcot to watch Illuminations, but I get out voted by my husband and Sarah who are so tired. The kids finally purchase the pins they picked out and I made them wait to buy. $32.00 for a Lanyard and 5 pins! They are excited and we make our way tired but happy back to the HIFS, which is only 5 minutes away. We tuck the kids in by 9:30pm. I tell them sleep now because our wake up call is at 7am. We are going to the Magic Kingdom first thing...Sarah is going to ride DUMBO on the first ride of the day...or I will die trying! In May we waited 1 1/2 hours in the heat to get Sarah on that ride and I figure if I get her there early she can ride a few times. We all fall asleep before 10pm we are going to be ready for our big day tomorrow!
On Thursday January 18, we wake up early and are all anxious to escape the cold cold cold in New York. We make it to the airport and onto the plane with no problems. Flying Southwest, the flight attendents are wonderful..singing songs and playing games. We carry on all our luggage...no easy task with 5 people (including a stroller and 4 year old!)But much better than waiting for luggage.
We arrive at the Orlando Airport at 11am and pick up our rental car and we are on our way. First stop the HIFS. The weather is nice. Not really shorts weather but...hey NO SNOW.
We check in at the HIFS which is great. Very nice Kidsuite. The kids love it all our room overlooks the kids pool. We eat there quick, the kids eat free...we love that. On to our day one plan....EPCOT!! Our favorite place from our last visit (May 2000 we had three days left on various disney hopper passes).
We arrive at Epcot around 1pm and head right for the pin trading (the boys 11 and 9) want a Lanyard and new pins before we go in. This time they will trade...in May they just held onto their pins while Sarah (3yrs) traded. I went to Guest Services because I thought I could add days onto my 6day hopper. After waiting for 15 minutes (NO LINE BUT NO ONE WOULD LOOK UP OR HELP) I was told after another 15 minutes of staring at me blankly that where did I ever hear of that. Then a few phone calls then finally someone said I had to do it with in 6 days of using it the first time I had it. I admit it I got pissy and I figured, there loss...I would have paid to up three passes to 4 days. Then, I made a big mistake. I had 6 park hopper passes from our last trip. Now I bought all six for my husband, myself, my two sisters and their husbands. We all had a day or two left and I wanted to check them. Big NO NO. First she fought with me about where are all these people...then finally after I looked at HER blankly and told her. They are all mine, I bought them and paid for them and I am just checking whats left she told me and I made my way in. Not a great start. But the boys figured out what pins they were going to get and we headed in.
By now its about 1:30pm and we head in...Space Ship Earth is empty and thats Sarah's favorite so we head in and enjoy the ride. Armed with my UnOfficial Guide Book strategy we make our way over to Test Track to get Fast Passes...but there is no line. Hurray for us!! We do the kid swap...Sarah doesn't want to ride even though she is big enough! So I ride first with the boys and then my husband jumps back on with the boys! Thats my favorite part. The kids get to ride everything twice with one wait!! While we are waiting with Sarah a CM played games with Sarah and told us where we should head next. The kids that road the Test Track Car with us said this was their 7th ride in a row!! They said there had been no lines all day today. Yesterday was an early entry day for Epcot and yesterday there were lines.
Next we head over to the Journey into your imagination, we missed that one last time. Rode that with no wait. It was cute, Sarah liked it not too scary or anything. We missed Honey I shrunk the audience, it scared my 9 year old in May and no one really cared about it. We made our way to the Cold Station (where all the coke products are!! A BIG favorite for the boys) Sarah wants a Coke Barbie Doll but I talk her down from that and we head over to Universe of Energy Ride. We loved that last time. We make it there just as the show/ride is starting and enjoy that one. Sarah doesn't love the dinosaurs but she's sitting on my lap so she's fine...she knows where we are going next....Food Rocks!! Her favorite show I didn't see it last time and its all she talks about. We enjoy that and then head back over to body wars. There is no line so we enjoy that and now we are late for our priority reservation 5:30pm at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary resort. We high tail it over to the monorail which seemed a good idea at the time but took a little longer than we thought. We ask to sit up front and they let us...Sarah was in heaven and talked non stop to the driver while she sat up front right in the nose and looked all around. We transfer at the TTC and take the longest way around to get to the Contemporary it took us about 25 to 30 minutes to make the whole trip so it wasn't too bad! We get to Chef Mickey prepared to wait...in May we waited an hour for our PS and we were on time then. But we are seated in 5 minutes. It is busy the most people we'd seen all day, Epcot was pretty quiet. But Sarah loved it. We don't much like the food, my 11 year old HATES it and just tolerates it for his sister. But she hugs, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto at least 10 times so she is happy. We planned it so we could watch the fireworks from the 15th floor at 7:30 and finish right on time. My husband stops to ask someone where to go and they said..."Don't go to the 15th floor, you have to walk through the restaurant and THEY hate it up there. Go to the 12th floor and you get a good view from there!" I never heard that! We head to the elevator, the catch is that to get to the 12th floor you have to have a special key, its a concierge floor!!! So my husband is ready to bag it and leave...but NO WAY, we stayed for three nights at the Contemporary in May and Never Once made it back to watch those fireworks...and I was not missing it this time!
We get to the restaurant on the 15th floor and they couldn't have been nicer. We took our stroller right through and they walked us right out onto the balcony telling us how wonderful it was and how they piped the music in so we could enjoy that as well...so I don't know what the waitress at Chef Mickey was talking about. It was beautiful and worth the elevator ride to see it with the music. Sarah is a bit afraid of fireworks so it was perfect for her. It ends at 8pm so we head back to Epcot to pick up our car. Its around 8:15 when we get back and I want everyone to go back into Epcot to watch Illuminations, but I get out voted by my husband and Sarah who are so tired. The kids finally purchase the pins they picked out and I made them wait to buy. $32.00 for a Lanyard and 5 pins! They are excited and we make our way tired but happy back to the HIFS, which is only 5 minutes away. We tuck the kids in by 9:30pm. I tell them sleep now because our wake up call is at 7am. We are going to the Magic Kingdom first thing...Sarah is going to ride DUMBO on the first ride of the day...or I will die trying! In May we waited 1 1/2 hours in the heat to get Sarah on that ride and I figure if I get her there early she can ride a few times. We all fall asleep before 10pm we are going to be ready for our big day tomorrow!
