The family vacation 11/15-22/03

[tymegjus3]

The Cast: Brenda (mom), Larry (dad), Tyler (son), Meghann (daughter) and Justin (son)

Saturday, November 15, 2003
We left Manchester NH with a stopover in Charlotte. Arriving in Orlando at 3:25pm After getting our luggage and having a hard time with Alamo (they didn't want to honor a coupon that I had that actually went thru their website...they finally agreed to the price that was already printed out on our alamo booking), we were on our way!
We stayed at the Liki Tiki Resort. Now after hearing tons of horror stories about this place, I was a little apprehensive...but once we checked in and checked out the place...it was actually pretty nice! We stayed in the 1000 building, a short walk to the Liki Tiki Lagoon. If you have kids, they will love this place!!! They have some small waterslides, a mock wave pool, volleyball and basketball set up in the pool and also a toddler section of swings where the little ones can get wet We looked at the "older" section of townhomes and this section I wouldn't recommend. We were actually booked in one of these, but my son has recently started sleepwalking and I was afraid of him falling down the stairs so I requested a one floor unit.
After putting away our things, we headed for a quick bite to Quizno's for a sandwich, then it was off to bed!

 

[tymegjus3]

We woke up to day 2.
Sunday, November 16, 2003

Woke up and had breakfast. We headed to Downtown Disney. I had never been before and we wanted to look around and see what was there. The kids really liked the lego shop and all the things that were built with legos. I especially liked the sleeping man on the bench. After this we headed to Typhoon Lagoon. We all had a great time. Dh and Tyler swam in the shark reef, but stupid me, I dropped the waterproof camera and water got in We all enjoyed the wave pool and the huge waves! There was hardly any wait at all for the slides, maybe 5 minutes at the most! We stayed there until about 2:30pm and then headed back to the Liki Tiki. The kids played on the playground for awhile and then we headed to Downtown Disney to check out the stores that weren't open in the morning. After that it was kids choice for dinner and they chose Pizza Hut. They messed up the pizzas, so they had to make another one, and then they gave us a discount. So we got 3 medium pizzas, an order of breadsticks (w/ cheese) and 5 sodas for $21. We then headed back to the Liki Tiki again for a swim in their pool, then it was off to bed. Next....MGM

 

[tymegjus3]

Monday, November 17, 2003

We got up bright and early to go to MGM! We got there when it opened and headed straight over to rock n' roller coaster. We rode that twice in a row with no wait! Then over to Tower of Terror, we rode that twice with no wait too! After that, we headed over to Muppet Vision 3D, the kids and I always enjoy that show! Dh and the kids go on star tours. I'm not a big fan of that ride, so I wait around for them outside. Once they get out we have an early lunch at the Backlot Express. DD and I split a burger and Dh and ds split a burger. That's a lot of food they give you!
We then went over to get fast passes for WWTBAM, but we could just walk in, yay! That was fun, a school teacher from NJ got one million points and the cruise Then we got our family pic taken with Mickey, then Minnie and then went on the Haunted Mansion set. We decided to go see the Indiana Jones show. Then it was Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
By this time we had reservations at Hollywood & Vine for 4:30 (the latest I could get!). That bill came to $91.46. But we got the Fantasmic seats. The dinner there was ok. The kids just ate chicken nuggets and then I think every dessert there was...there wasn't a whole lot there that I liked. After that, ds#3 wanted to go back on Rock n' Roller Coaster, so again, we walked right back on that again...no wait. We walked around a bit and then went on the Backlot Tour. After this, it was time to head over to Fantasmic. We were in the front row and had great seats! What a great show The kids loved it and ds#3 decided he was going to invite Mickey over to spend the night (how cute!). We then headed out and back to the Liki Tiki.

 

[tymegjus3]

Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Day Four-Magic Kingdom

Kids wanted chocolate chip pancakes so we headed to Ihop first thing. Got to Magic Kingdom at 9am and then headed over to tomorrowland. Did Buzz Lightyear (again...walking on), then Space Mountain twice. After that, we went to see the Timekeeper. Of all the times I've been, I've never been to this show. It was very cute! We went to the Indy speedway and I cannot drive those cars, lol. After this we headed to Toon Town.

Arriving in Toon Town, we went straight to mickey's house and then to get Mickey's autograph. Maybe a 5 minute wait there. Then we headed into the character greeting area to wait for pooh and eyeore. This took forever!!! We were in there maybe 45 minutes (at the head of the line). That's when we found out Janet jackson was there. No wonder we waited. Then we went to Minnie's house and then to Goofy's barnstormer. Goofy was over there, so the kids got his autograph and a picture.

Then it was over to Fantasyland. We got fast passes for pooh and went over to Ariel's grotto. That line was 40 minutes long, so we headed over to the Snow White ride, that was a walk on. After that we went to Mickey's Philharmagic! What a blast that was! It was the best 3d movie I've seen! Even dh (who is not a disney fan like I am) liked it. After that it was peter Pan and then over to Frontier Land to Haunted mansion.

We decided to have lunch at Pecos Bills and then after that we went to Splash Mtn. We got fast passes for it and went on, waited 10 minutes, did the ride, walked around a bit and then got back on splash mountain with our fp. We then headed over to Pirates and then did the Tiki room (not one of us liked that show). The kids did Aladdin's carpet ride and then we headed to Le Chapeau for the kids embroidered Mickey Ears, and then checked out the 75 years of mickey...Mickey's designed by celebrities like Tom Hanks, Tony Hawk, Regis Philbun. We got on the train and went back to toon town for minnie's autograph then back to Tomorrowland and did some more rides. We did Hall of Presidents and then waited for Wishes to start. When 6:55pm came we headed out of Magic Kingdom and onto the ferry to the parking lot. We had the most awesome view of the fireworks from the ferry and we also got right out of Magic Kingdom! It really was a fantastic ending to the day!
Then we had dinner at TGIFriday's, this was very good and there was a balloon guy that came around the tables and made animals for the kids. A very fun day!

 

[tymegjus3]

Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Day 5-Daytona

Extremely windy and rainy today, and we wanted to go to Daytona Beach and check out the speedway. We got completely soaked, but had fun, lol. On the way back, we got a flat tire in front of the racing cafe (on I-drive, near Olive Garden). We then had to go back to Alamo at the airport to exchange cars after we changed the tire. After this we headed back to the Liki Tiki to swim.
We then went to the Olive Garden for dinner and then back to the Liki Tiki to relax.

 

[tymegjus3]

Thursday, November 20, 2003
Day 6-Animal Kingdom/Epcot

Got to Animal Kingdom at 9am and went straight to dinoland. Did Dinasaur, then the coaster that spins around (hard on the back). We then went and did Its Tough to be a bug (5 minute wait), then the Kilimanjaro Safari's. Our driver was hilarious! We then did the Pagoni trek and after that did lunch at Pizzafari. We purchased 3 kids vouchers for $6.38 each (includes entree, drink, chips + 1 soda or water + 1 ice cream for later). There was enough food that we shared the pizza and just bough extra drinks. Then over to Camp Minnie Mickey for autographs and pictures. We got minnie, and the bears from Brother Bear. My children were a bit impatient so we didn't stick around for the lion king show (that I really wanted to see), so we headed over to Asia.
We did Kali River Rapids, and then the jungle trek. We then headed out of Animal Kingdom where we see Timon, Chip & Dale, Terk and Pluto were out front, so we got autographs and pictures of them We've never gotten Timon anytime we've been there, so we were pretty excited. We left and went to Epcot.

Upon arrival at Epcot...a few of the characters came on that double decker bus out in front, so there we got Donald, Rafiki, Pinocchio, Mickey (again), and Minnie (again). We did Spaceship earth, then Innoventions West, Honey I shrunk the audience, The Living Seas, Test Track and mission Space (I won't be riding that one again, lol). The kids and dh loved Mission Space. At least I can say I did it. After that we went to the International Gateway to Beaches & Cream and used the Quick & Casual Lunch vouchers. Our bill came to 101.90, but with the vouchers it was $56.25 The sundaes there were huge. My dinner was ok. DS and I had the turkey sandwich, but the roll was hard, so we at the turkey and the fries. Everyone else loved their dinner. We then walked around the countries and went back on test track and found a spot to watch Illuminations. What a spectacular show! It was a long day, but a good one

 

[tymegjus3]

Friday, November 21, 2003

Dh goes to Krispy Kreme for donuts. He's never had them before and he agrees with me...they are much better than dunkin' donuts. But Dunkin donuts coffee is much better!

After breakfast, we head to the Richard petty Driving Experience. Dh does the ride a long program and loved every minute of it! I think he'll want to do the rookie experience next time.

We are then in search of a disney outlet. After asking at Downtown Disney, we find the outlets! We get a few things, pj's for dd for $5.99. Pj's for me for $9.99, plus some toys at a reduced price. We then have lunch at Red Lobster and then spend the rest of the day at the Liki Tiki Lagoon.

We go to Western Sizzler (terrible for the price) for dinner and I finish doing laundry, while kids go back to the pool and I take a nap in the jacuzzi

Early night, waking up at 4am for early check out. flight leaves Saturday, november 22 at 7am, back in Manchester at 11:15am.

 

[Brat862]

Thanks for the report.. how old were the kids? We had a 8, 6 and 2 yo on our trip... hard being out numbered isn't it?

 

[tymegjus3]

The kids are 12, 7, and 7. Yes, it is hard being outnumbered

 

[ptcruisermom]

How much was the Richard Petty Ride a long, how many laps. Did you do it at disney speedway or daytona. Want to let my DS(16) for christmas. Thanks for any info

 

[Cindymere]

Huummm, I wonder if we ran into each other on Thursday since we basically had a similar itenary

 

[tymegjus3]

Originally posted by ptcruisermom
How much was the Richard Petty Ride a long, how many laps. Did you do it at disney speedway or daytona. Want to let my DS(16) for christmas. Thanks for any info

Hi, I had a gc that I won a while ago for the Richard Petty. He did the ride along and it was 3 laps. I believe you have to be 18, but I'm not sure.
http://www.1800bepetty.com

check out there website

 

[tymegjus3]

Originally posted by Cindymere
Huummm, I wonder if we ran into each other on Thursday since we basically had a similar itenary

I wonder, I did go right by someone that had the home depot lime green mickey on their shirt. Tall, dark hair pushing a stroller. I was going to say hi, but who ever it was went by so fast, lol.
I said to my dh, "hey, that's a disboard member!".

 

[Princess_Eeyore]

Thanks for the reviews

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[corky805]

The reviews are great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[heart4dis]

Was there a long wait for K. Safari? I noticed you didn't bolt there first...

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Enjoyed you trip report, I rode Mission Space Saturday Nov 15th loved it. I also agree PhilharMagic is the best 3-d movie.

 

[wdwdvcdad]

so, how would you rate the tiki liki....already booked through my in-laws' time share, so no turning back now (despite som other reviews). we have 3 girls, 8,6 & 2. will it be ok for them?