SPRING BREAKIN IN ORLANDO w/ROADBLOCKS

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When? March 18th - 25th

Who?

Me (29) - 4th Trip to DisneyWorld
Hubby (31) - 3rd Trip to Disneyworld
DD (9) - 3rd Trip to Disneyworld

Where?

Stayed offsite minutes from Disney, close to lots of dining options and
a Walgreens and Urgent Care Clinic (used twice)

Why?

For a fun and leisurely Spring Break Trip so DD didn't have to miss
school. Yes, we were expecting the worst crowd-wise, but we went with
a possitive attitude and a plan to get at each park at opening.


OK... Here goes:



Day 1:

TRAVELING TO ORLANDO AND DOWNTOWN DISNEY

Landed in Orlando arround noon! We were pumped and ready to begin our
adventure. Hubby and DD grabbed the luggage while I waited in the Alamo
line. (took almost an hour to get our car)
Once we got our car, we zoomed off to check in early at our hotel and
grab some chow. We have been staying offsite each time we go so we can
save $$ and travel to Disney More often. We were not planning on spending
much time in our room, as we always stay at the parks for a long time.
This vacation was different than our prior ones because we had a whole
week to stay, but we had some roadblocks thrown at us..... but for now,
our vacation was going smooth.

After check-in we ate at the Olive Garden and had leftovers which we
kept in our hotel fridge.

We were stuffed so we decided to burn off some calories by walking
arround Downtown Disney. The weather was in the low 80's. It was warm
and sunny.
We walked arround for a few hours and purchased some items at the
World of Disney Store. Hubby saw a kick-butt Pirates of the Carribean
Jersey shirt that had the Skull logo on the front and "Captain Jack"
written on the back. He wanted to buy one, but they were out of his
size.

After Downtown Disney, we went back to the hotel to catch some ZZZZ's as
we wanted to be rested up for our 1st Park: DISNEY STUDIOS!!!!

 

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Day 2:

A PERFECT DAY AT DISNEY STUDIOS!! (Sunday: 3/19/06)

We got to park at opening and encountered our 1st rude line-cutter when
we were waiting to do the finger scan.
Blew it off, as it is not worth getting all huffy and letting a rude
lady ruin our day!
After the park opening announcement, we headed to the right on Sunset
Blvd to catch Rockin Rollercoaster. "Dude Looks Like a Lady" played!!
I love this ride so much!

After Rockin Rollercoaster, it was Tower of Terror time! DD went on
this twice before, but decided to take the chicken exit.
I am not a huge fan of drops, this ride sequence was a vicious one.
We dropped down alot. I was glad it was over.

The crowds were NOT bad today! We saw the Lights Motors Action Stunt
show and all of us really enjoyed it. I was amazed at the crazy
stunts they did.

We went on the Backlot Tour and walked through the "Honey I Shrunk the
Kids" prop/play area (a good spot to take some funny pictures)
We ran into the Power Rangers on the Streets of America.

I grabbed a bench for the parade, while Hubby and DD rode Star Tours.
I was fine with skipping this ride, as it is very jerky.
The Stars and Motor Cars Parade is my favorite parade at the parks.
The characters greet you on the streets and the motor cars are all
decked out. I snapped alot of great pics of the parade.

After the Parade, we got seats for the Indiana Jones show.
Hubby loved this show last time, I took some pictures of Indiana's
stunt double.

We ate a counter service meal at the ABC Commissionary.
The food was nothing to write home about. I had the stir fry, DD
had chicken nuggets and Hubby had a Chicken sandwich.

After eating, we went to the Sorcerer Hat to look at pins. DD is
now on her 3rd lanyard, she is now collecting pins each vacation.
(I am on my 2nd lanyard)
We both traded pins with CM's today. It was alot of fun.

Next it was time to ride Rockin Rollercoaster again (Fastpass)
After that, we got a spot for Fantasmic 20 minutes before the show
started. (We sat in the Jafar section in the front row)
We love this show!!!!!

When it was over, Hubby wanted to ride Tower of Terror at night and
the wait was only 20 minutes, so we got in line.
DD took the chicken exit again. This time on the ride when the
elevator doors opened we could see the Expedition Everest Mountains!
WOW! Then I remembered that I was on a scarey ride and we started
dropping down ... down.... down..... (will this ride ever end?)

After Tower of Terror, we decided to call it a night, so we
started to head towards the exit. Then we noticed a photographer
taking pictures in front of the hat lit up at night.
So we posed for some pics and then heard the announcement that the
park was closing for the night.
Wow!!! We made for 12 hours!!!!!

We ate our Olive Garden leftovers in the hotel room and then
crashed.

 

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Day 3: SEA WORLD (Monday: 3/20/06)


Woke up bright and early and got to Seaworld arround 9am.
The parking was the same price as Disney Parks ($9 per car)
Seaworld seemed so much more laid back than Disney. The walkways
were quiet and the lines were short.
The first thing DD wanted to do was pick a pearl out of an Oyster.
At Seaworld they have Oyster divers that pick the Oysters and once
you select your oyster, they do this opening ceremony for you to
find your pearl. DD's oyster had a gold pearl in it that was
worth $30. Others who did this arround the same time as us found
blue pearls. The cost was $15 for the pearl. (jewelry settings
were additional)

We went to the dolphin nursery to see the baby dolphins with their
mothers and watched during feeding time.
We watched the Clyde and Seamore show, which was cute and funny.

Blue HOrizons was a newer show at Seaworld and it was very good.
There was alot going on at the same time.
We tried to see the 1st Shamu show at 3pm, but all seats were
filled at 2:30.
We made it to the next show at 5pm. One of the whales had a baby
in November. The baby whale swam alongside it's mother, it was
really cute.

The counterservice food here was very pricey, but there were lots
of selections and it was pretty tastey. (We ate the wood-fired
pizza)

We also saw the manatee rescue exhibit and the dolphin cove.
We stayed until 7ish.
Afterwards we went to Wendy's for burgers. Hubby also ate chilly.

 

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Day 4: Magic Kingdom was the original plan.....
Roadblock #1 (Tuesday: 3/21/06)


We woke up bright and early planning to get to the Magic Kingdom
at park opening ceremony. DD's cough was getting worse and she
was now running a fever. She has had a sore throat off and on for
10 days and I was concerned that she might now have strep, so I
decided to take her to the Florida Hospital Centra Care clinic
which was a minute away from our hotel. This is a walk-in urgent
care clinic for all ages. We checked in arround 8:30 am and
waited about an hour and a half. (Alot of sick people were there)
DD didn't have strep, but her ears were starting to get infected
so the Doctor prescribed some antiobiotics, which I picked up at
a close Walgreens. When we got back to the hotel, Hubby was in
bed miserably sick to his stomach.
He was so glad we decided not to go to Magic Kindom today, as the
bathroom was his new hangout.

DD and I decided to let him have free roam over the hotel room,
so we went to Downtown Disney took walk arround.
We ate some chocolate the Guiridelli shop (sure this is spelled
wrong) They were giving out samples of the caramel chocolate
squares.... yummmmm.
DD wanted to go to the pin trading store to view people's pin
collections. We learned really fast to only "look" at the hard-
core pin collection books, and not even act like we liked a
certain pin, otherise the pin owners would try to make a shady
deal with you. "You can buy me a pin for $10.95 or higher and then
I will maybe consider if we have a deal".... or better yet,
"I'll trade you if you give me one of your laynard pin plus 1 of
your other pins for 1 of mine so I can make my 3rd set......."
AUUUGGHHHH!!!!
It was hard to keep DD from getting excited about anyone's pins,
so I had to creatively pull her away from the hard-core collector's
books.
We like to buy and collect some pins, but this was such a turnoff.
A CM at the shop told DD to not even bother confronting anyone with
a collection, but to feel free to trade with any CM wearing a lanyard.

We went to World of Disney and found the Pirates Jersey in hubby's
size!!!! WOO HOOO!!! Hopefully this would cheer him up a bit.

The World of Disney Store wore me out for some reason, I started to
feel really achy all of a sudden and told DD that we needed to sit
on a bench or something.
Sadly, my energy level was going downhill.....
I took some flu medicine and we left early hoping for the best.

When we got back to the hotel, hubby was still miserable so DD and
I ate a buffet dinner at our hotel, then called it a night.
We all went to bed early hoping we would be feeling better.






Day 5: Magic Kindgom (Wednesday: 3/22/06)



We woke up at our normal time and hubby was feeling better, but was
running on low energy. DD felt better and I felt OK.
We took some cold/flu medicine and ventured to the Magic Kingdom and
made it to the train station a few minutes before opening ceremony
began. The Magic Kingdom had the most elaborate opening ceremony.
It was nice to see.
Once the gates opened, we walked down Mainstreet USA and posed for
some Disney photographers. (We were planning to purchase a photopass
CD so we would have lots of pics with all of us together... it's a
pain asking for people to take pictures for you, especially when
everyone is in such a hurry)

The castle was stunning! After taking pics and "ohhing" and "ahhing"
we traveled to Fantasyland and rode "Snow White's Scarey Adventures"
and Peter Pan's Flight" with very short waits.

Next we went to the Haunted Mansion. We remembered to look up when
the lightning flashed in the stretching room to see the hanging body
from the ceiling. (creepy)
We all enjoyed the ride because it was closed last time we went
in November.

Ariel's grotto opened at 10am so we got there at opening to meet
Ariel with little wait time. Ariel was very nice and admired DD's
pin collection.

Fantasyland was starting to get busier, so we ventured to Splash
Mountain and Big Thundar Mountain.
Hubby was starting to get his appetite back, so we purchased the meal
deal at a hot dog stand in Frontierland. We got 1 jumbo hot dog, 1
bag of chips and 1 bottle of soda for the bargain price of $7!!!!

Luckily all of our food stayed down.

Adventureland was not the same with Pirates of the Carribean not open!
Captain Hook and Smeed were meeting and greeting at the Pirates entrance.
We didn't want to do anything else in Adventureland, so we walked over
to Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland was swamped with people!
Space Mountain had an 80 minute wait so we got fastpasses for a while
later. (Although Hubby chose not to get a fastpass because he didn't
want to induce any more hurling)
We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and then went on the Carosel
of Progress. We have never done this before. DD was getting sick of
the theme song, so I sang it later throughout the day to make her
crabby: "Cause it's a great big beautiful tomorrow!!!"

Then we walked over to Toontown to tour Mickey and Minnie's houses.
We saw Pluto in Minnie's garden gazebo and met Mickey in the judge's
tent with a short wait.
The lines to meet the princess, pooh characters and classic
characters were way too long to wait in.

We stumbled accross Storytime with Belle right before the show started.
DD got a spot up front and Hubby and I stood against the wall. It was
a cute and short show. Afterwards, Belle stuck arround for a few pics
and autographs.
After meeting Belle, Cinderellabration was starting, so we watched the
show near the drinking fountain. (It was a decent view).
The costumes were beautiful, but the storyline was a little blah.
I am sure Hubby would have rather eaten paint chips than watch the show,
but it was a nice thing to see (once).

It was now time to make it back to tomorrowland for Space Mountain.
On the way, we saw Stitch so we snapped a few pics.
Then we got banged up on Space Mountain. Man that ride hurts!!!!
The sun was starting to go down and the Castle was starting to change
colors, so we had a photopass photographer take some pictures of us
in front of it. Our energy levels were running very low.
We wanted very much to stay for Spectromagic and Wishes, but new we
would probably keel over if we did. So sadly, we walked down mainstreet
and caught the monorail out of the Magic Kingdom.

 

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Day 6: EPCOT (Thursday: 3/23/06)


We woke up at our normal time and sofar, we were all feeling great.
We got to EPCOT a little bit after park opening. Today was a little
bit cloudy and there was a chance of rain.
First we went to Test Track to ride it in stand-by and get a Fast pass
for later. Test Track is our fav ride at EPCOT.
We took some goofy pictures by the dummy diagrams before entering the
pre-ride show. This ride is a fun way to mess your hair up.

After Test-Track we walked over to Club Cool to try sodas from arround
the world. I told DD to try a sip of Beverly (she had no idea that it
was going to taste nasty) The look on her face was priceless.
I took a little sip after her and was amazed at how bitter that drink is!
My tongue was tingling for a few minutes afterwards.
We all loved the watermellon soda from China. The lemony soda from
Isreal was good too.
Next we checked out the Character Connection which is right next door
to Club Cool. There were NO lines for any of the characters! We saw
Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Donald and Goofy with no wait. Minnie spent
alot of time with DD and laughed when she told Minnie that our cat is
named after her.

After meeting the characters, we got a fastpass for Soarin, then went
back for our 2nd ride on Test Track.
After Test track we went to Norway to ride Maelstrom, but decided that
we didn't want to rush arround the world showcase so we went back to
Club Cool for more soda then to the Land to ride Soarin.
The stand-by line was 80 minutes, we were glad to walk right on with
fastpasses. We lucked out and got the front row glider!!!
Last time we sat in the back glider and were not impressed with the ride.
The front row made a HUGE difference the ride was incredible this time.

After soarin, I started feeling gross.
I drank some sprite and we decided to watch the Circle of Life show at
the Land. The show was very cute, but I was feeling worse as the show
went on. When we exited and I smelled the food from the cafe, I had to
high-tail it to the restroom.
I guess the stomach virus was starting on me now.
There was no way I could tackle the World Showcase now.
I felt bad for DD, because EPCOT is her favorite park, but sadly we had
to cut the day short.

Hubby and DD dropped me off at the Hotel and they went to Jungle Jims for
Lunch and saw a movie at Downtown Disney.
The rest of my day stunk, but I rested and hoped for a quick recovery.

 

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Day 7: Animal Kindgom (Friday: 3/24/06)


The morning came and I felt better.
I didn't want to risk anything by eating breakfast, so I stuck to Sprite.
DD and Hubby ate muffins, then we headed to Animal Kingdom.
We got there shortly after opening.

We were so excited to go to Animal Kingdom because the last time we went
was in 1999 when DD was 3. This time she could enjoy more attractions.
The 1st thing we did was head over to Expedition Everest and hopefully hop
right on! We could hear the screams so we knew it was running! We were
so excited to try this ride before the "official" opening.
The stand by line said 20 minutes, so we got a fast pass for later and got
in line to ride it right away. I rode in the front seat and Hubby and DD
rode towards the back. WOW! It was such an amazing ride. The backwards
part in the dark was very thrilling. We all loved it!!!

Next we went to Camp Minnie Mickey to catch the first showing of the
Festival of the Lion King. We got great seats 10 minutes before the show
started. This is a great show. The audience gets involved and you can't
help but sing along. There is so much energy in this show! It is
definately a Must Do!

After the show,Hubby ran to Africa to get fastpasses for the safari and
met us at Expedition Everest to use our fastpasses.
(This timewe sat in the back.) I think sitting in the back gives you a
closer view and encounter with the Yeti.
Then we headed to Dinoland and got in the stand-by line for Dinosaur.
(20 minutes) We saw many small children on this ride and I definately
think this ride is too jerky and scarey for little kids.
When we viewed the ride photos there were alot of little kids with
traumatized looks on their faces and their hands covering their eyes,
or their faces buried in their parents' chests. DD handled the ride
well, but it upset mine and Hubby's sensitive tummys.
Luckily none of us hurled, instead, magically, we were feeling hungry!
We went to the Tusker House for a counterservice meal. This was our
favorite counterservice meal of the entire trip.

After chowing, we went on the Safari. We saw alot of animals and enjoyed
the ride. Afterwards we went to Camp Minnie-Mickey and met Minnie,
Mickey, Goofy and Donald with minimal waits.
Goofy was the best! He really enjoyed being Goofy. Hubby had a Goofy
shirt on and Goofy made a huge fuss about it, it was hilarious.
Goofy even struck a pose by himself so we could snap a picture.

We watched the Pocahontas show, which was very nice.
Right after her show, we grabbed a last-minute standing spot for the
Jammin Jungle Parade. This parade was our 2nd favorite in the parks.
The drum beat makes you feel like groovin, and the animal sculpture
floats are really cool.

Animal Kingdom is such a cool park. I enjoyed this park the most
because you don't feel like your in a "theme park", more like a
exploration adventure. There are so many cool details in this park.
They even make the soda carts and snack stands artisticly blend in
with the surroundings.

We walked both the trails and saw so many beautiful birds roaming
arround. (Watch out for flying bird poop, DD had a bird plop a
little bit on her head. A nice CM led us to a secret bathroom so
she could clean up)

Before leaving, we rode Expedition Everest a 3rd time and sat in the
back again. We felt so lucky to have a chance to ride this, as I was
keeping my fingers crossed beforehand that the ride would be open.

We stopped at a gift shop and then called it a day.

Our last roadblock was my late-night visit to the Urgent Care Clinic
because I
had green gunk coming out of my eye.....
got a prescription to treat pink eye!!! (yikes)

 

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Day 8: Free Visit to SeaWorld and Departure Day (Saturday: 3/25/06)



It was time to check out of our hotel and kill some time before our
5:55 flight back to Minnesota.
Since we went to Seaworld earlier in the week, our ticket was validated
and we could go back for the next 7 days free of charge, so we decided
to walk arround there for a while.
We arrived arround 11am and went to the Dolphin Cove to interact with
the dolphins. A lady next to me told me she visits the cove once a week
and plays with the dolphin's toys. She would throw out a toy and the
dolphin would retrieve it and bring it back to her. It was pretty cool.
I didn't touch any of the dolphins, but it was so cool to see them
swimming so close.
We saw the Manatees again and saw the Penguin encounter and Wild Arctic.
We left Seaworld at 2pm and headed out for a late lunch and to return
our rental car.

We ate at the Macaroni Grill and could barely eat half of our entrees.
The portions were very large.
Then we checked in for our flight, shopped a little and waited.......





Final Thoughts:

- All in all, even with the roadblocks, we managed to have a good time.

- Crowds were NOT as bad as I imagined. The Magic Kingdom seemed the
busiest, but we went with the flow and kept positive.
USE FASTPASSES to avoid the long lines!

- Do your "MUST SEE's" early in the morning and go at your own pace
for the rest of the attractions for the rest of the day, or get fastpasses
for later.

- I learned that even with using hand sanitizer and taking airborne and
vitamins, you still can't protect yourself completely from getting sick.

- Bring cold and flu medicine with you just to be on the safe side

- Crocs with Socks!!!! Our feet felt comfy the whole trip!!
we saw ton's of people wearing them too!

- Have a positive attitude and go at your own pace!!!

- It's OK if you have to leave early or are not able to do it all, it
gives you a reason to take another trip back!!!


If anyone has any questions, please ask, and I will be happy to answer
to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for reading my report!
Happy trip planning and Disney Dreaming!!!!

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Wow!! You were a very busy family on your trip. Just like we were!

And thank goodness you recovered quickly from your "bug". It is no fun to be sick on vacation!!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[pumba]

Fantastic trip .....I got all excited about going in four weeks and the sounds of yours made me more anxious......even with the stomach bug......thanks so much for your great report......it was amazing

 

[KelnRon]

Great trip report... I enjoyed reading it! So sorry you all had the flu though!

 

[OhMari]

I see you didn't park hop at all, was this maybe a concern you had. I'm just trying to decide if I want to pay the extra for park-hopping.

Thanks for posting.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a great trip you had - thoroughly enjoyed your report! Sorry you all had a to get sick on such a magical vacation but you definitely made the best of it. Did you have hopper passes, AP or day tickets? Seems each day was devoted to a one park and I'm wondering how to schedule our 6 day vacation this fall.

 

[AmyBennett]

We are leaving tomorow and your family almost is identical to mine. I'm 29, DD will be 9 soon(hubby is a bit older than yours) We also are staying offsite,(right by the Walgreens, btw, where did you stay???) DD has been around a few kids this week with strep and now has a runny nose. It is my worst fear. I even called the doc. to see if I could get antibotics just in case, but he wouldn't write me a script.

I just had to reply to this report, b/c it so mirrors our upcoming trip(hopefully w/o illness) I'm glad you managed to have fun in spite of the sicknesses though!!!! I enjoyed reading it!

 

[Demon Llama]

I learned a lot from your trip report! I didn't know about the hanging body in the Stretching Room, the free samples at Club Cool or the Character Connection!

Thanks, and I'm happy to hear you had such a great time despite getting sick!

 

[bbump]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words! I am glad you enjoyed my cheesy report. I am in the process of getting my pictures develped from the trip and can't wait to re-live the memories!!

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OhMari & heaven2dc:
We purchased 10-day non-expire basic my-way passes to use for our Nov 05 trip, as were were planning to go back again to use the remaining days.
We chose not to park-hop as we stay offsite, and it is stressfull going through all the gates sometimes. We like to just go at our own pace.
10-day non-expire ended up working great for us because we still have 3 more park days to use on a future trip!!!!
However, if you prefer to leave a park when it gets crowded to move to another one, I would suggest getting hopper tickets.
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AmyBennett: We stayed at the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista on Palm Parkway. (not a flashy hotel by any means, but it fit our purpose) The Lake Buena Vista area is so close to everything. The CentraCare clinic was right before the Downtown Disney entrance from Buena Vista, so it was very convenient for us. There were 3 Wallgreens stores in the area, along with many restuarants and shops. We have stayed in this area 3 times.
Hope your family stays healthy for your vacation. You probably won't need to pack alot of meds, as you will have a Wallgreens close by just in case (open 24 hours) Hopefully some vitamins and airborne will work for your immune systems. HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME!!!!
****************************

 

[Joann]

great report I enjoyed it! About discovery cove can you get in there with the sea world pass or do you have to pay seperate to get in there to walk around?

 

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Joann:

If you choose to visit Discovery Cove where you swim with dolphins and tropical fish, it is an additional cost. You can visit Discovery Cove without purchasing Seaworld admission.

We visited the Dolphin Cove in Seaworld, which is included with your admission. For the Dolphin Cove, you can interact with the dolphins and may even touch them because they swim so close to your hand, but you do not get in the water with them.

If you have any other questions about Seaworld, please let me know.
I highly recommend visiting this park, it is very laid back and beautifully landscaped. Happy trip planning!

 

[abevans]

We were there the same time as your family and also spent a morning in the Urgent care center the morning of the 21st! Our DD (4) asthma was in overdrive and nothing we had worked. My husband had to sit in the hotel with our DD (10), DS (8), and other DD (6). Everyone was very patient though and like you we made the most of our trip!

 

[TLinden16]

Sorry that your family got sick. Not fun on vacation, but it sounds like you had a good time despite that.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and tips! And thanks for posting!