The OCD Trip Planner's Trip Report 6/11-6/22 Updated w/pics!

[catho72]

We returned yesterday from a great trip to WDW. It was me (Cathy), DH (Joel), DD9.5 (Megan), DS8 (Jay) and DD6 (Amy). Also joining us for part of our trip was Joel's entire immediate family, so there were 18 of us total. Whew! Our trip began Wednesday, June 10 at 10:30pm driving from Chicago to Lake Buena Vista. 18.5 hours later, we arrived! We stayed at Regal Sun Resort for our first two nights. I booked it thru Hotwire for $130 total for two nights. After reading some not-so-positive reviews here on the DIS, I was nervous about staying there. My fears were for nothing...it turned out to be a nice-ish hotel. The location is fantastic, as is the pool. Our room was OK...clean and kind of updated. Our first evening, we took our tired and smelly selves to Fuddruckers (at the Crossroads Plaza) for dinner. Our burgers were tasty! We returned to our hotel full, happy and tired!

On Friday, we woke early, enjoyed Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, and spent the entire morning at the pool. For lunch, we again drove over to the Crossroads Plaza. Taco Bell was the unanimous choice for lunch. We then wandered (OK, drove) over to the Boardwalk hotel. Having never been there, we wanted to look around. We also walked over to the Yacht and Beach Club (where the wait for a table at Beaches and Cream was 45 minutes at 2:30 in the afternoon!) and the Swan, took a relaxing boat ride to and from Epcot (didn't go into Epcot...just wanted to get out of the heat for a few minutes), and signed up for a DVC tour. They had an immediate opening at the SSR DVC center so off we went. The kids had fun in the kids center and Joel and I were impressed by the DVC rooms. Didn't buy into DVC, though. After the DVC presentation, we went back to the condo to swim and have dinner.

To be continued.....

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! Hope you'll be posting plenty of pictures. I often say trip reports and pictures are what keep me sane until my next WDW vacation.

Lisa

 

[goofy's_gurl]

cant wait to here more

 

[catho72]

Saturday found us having breakfast at McDonald's (the only time we had McD on this whole trip!). After breakfast, we checked out of Regal Sun and headed over to DTD. While waiting for DisneyQuest to open, we wandered around the shops. Bought some track extenders for our monorail set. DQ was fun but we like it better when it's less crowded. For lunch, we dined at Wolfgang Puck Express. Four kids meals and one adult meal set us back $53! Crazy! Also, we were not impressed with the service. Two of the kids meals didn't come out until 10 minutes after the rest of the food. I went in to let them know of my displeasure and to find out when the food would be ready. The two plates of food were sitting on the counter with three servers standing around. Needless to say, we won't be returning! After finishing up at DQ, Joel, Jay and Amy took a ride in the tethered balloon. They loved it! By this time, it was already 3:30pm and our condo in Windsor Hills was ready for us.

The condo was fantastic! The owner really takes great care of their home. It is very comfortable and homey. She has everything there we needed, down to a needle and thread to sew a hole in one of the kids animals! We unpacked then went to the grocery store to get some food for the week. After eating our newly purchased dinner, the rest of our group arrived in their rental house in Windsor Hills so we went over to welcome them to Florida. Their house was very nice as well.

Our condo

Sunday was our day at DHS. It also happened to be the last day for Star Wars Weekend. We made it for rope drop, as did millions of others (or so it seemed). I ran up ahead in the crowd to get FP's for TSM. The line for FP's was 20 minutes long! Crazy!!! My FIL, Jay and Amy rode ToT while I was getting the FP's. We then rode RnR, ToT and Star Tours before our FP time at TSM. Pizza Planet was where the kids wanted to go for lunch. Boy, was it crowded! The line to order was about 30 minutes and it was another 10 minutes before we received our food. We all enjoyed our pizzas. After lunch, we rode GMR (20 minute wait) and ToT (with FP's). Around the park, we saw many Star Wars characters and Disney characters but the lines we too long to wait to get pics with them. We then went back to the condo for dinner. After dinner we hopped over to Magic Kingdom. It was fairly crowded so we only rode Buzz, Teacups, Indy Speedway and Haunted Mansion.

 

[catho72]

Monday was our Epcot day. We didn't make it for rope drop, though....maybe around 10am. I walked over to get FP's while everyone else waited over by Mission:Space. Amy was finally tall enough to ride M:S. Both times last year she was too short. She was positively beaming! I took her on green while the rest of our group (Joel, Megan, Jay and FIL) went on orange. The posted wait time was 20 minutes for green and 40 minutes for orange. Not too bad! Everyone enjoyed M:S, including my FIL.

Our lunch reservation at LeCellier was at 12:15 so we had to book over there after M:S. LeCellier is our favorite restaurant! I also know it's a hard ADR to get so I was surprised when we walked in and saw 6 empty tables! The whole time we were there, there were at least 4 empty tables and they were not turning away walk-ins. Unbelievable! Our server wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch but the food was delicious! After lunch, we walked over to the American Pavillion to find the rest of our group (it was only the 5 of us for lunch). Once we met up with them, we all rode Malestrom in Norway (30 minute wait) and Gran Fiesta Tour (walk-on). These were the first rides the rest of our family had been on since they arrived at Epcot at 11am! Crazy! By this time, it was our FP time to ride Test Track. Our kids generously allowed their grandparents and aunts/uncles to use their FP's to ride TT. The FP return line was 30 minutes long! Joel and I took all the kids ages 9yrs-10 months (along with his bro, sis and SIL) on Nemo. We were delighted to find Nemo to be a walk-on! Our two year old twin nephews LOVED Nemo as well as the aquarium viewing after the ride. Our day at Epcot ended with all 18 of us riding Spaceship Earth. I was riding with my BIL and afterwards, my husband commented that both of our pictures looked like we were mass murderers! Ha! Luckily, the only rain of the day was during the 30 minutes we were riding SE and fooling around in the exhibits after. I considered this to be a fun Epcot day despite not riding Test Track or Soarin' (two of my favorite rides ever!).

 

[catho72]

Tuesday morning, we had breakfast reservations at Chef Mickey's for our entire party. I had informed the CM when I made the reservation that we would be celebrating my in-law's 40th Anniversary. After a wonderful meal, our server brought out a cupcake and two anniversary buttons. My in-law's were tickled pink! After breakfast, the majority of our group headed over to MK...big mistake as it was after 11am on an EMH morning! Needless to say, they had a miserable time and left early. We went to Epcot after breakfast to ride Test Track, Soarin' and Mission:Space. Since we had done the DVC presentation, we received five special FastPasses that could be used to get FP's for three rides. We used our special FP's for Soarin' and TT and used our regular ticket for a FP for M:S. Those three rides are our kids favorites in WDW! The crowds at Epcot that day weren't huge...there were lots of people but I wouldn't say it was packed. We left Epcot in the early afternoon because we wanted to swim, have an early dinner and go to MK.
Mother-in-law with Mickey

Us with Mickey

Sitting up front in the monorail

We arrived at the TTC around 6pm for an evening of fun at MK. Um, let's just say that didn't happen! What did happen was the great monsoon of 2009!
TTC before the rain (those are some of our relatives in the background)

As we were going thru the turnstiles, the sky became dark. By the time we got our FP's for Splash Mtn, it was positively eerie. We headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree to get out of the heat and wait for the storm to pass. We had never seen the Country Bears....don't plan on returning. It WAS nice getting out of the heat but the kids and I were bored. When it was over, the storm had no passed.....nor did it look like it was ever going to stop. A CM was passing out garbage bags at the exit. We took five because guess where our ponchos were....in the car!

After standing in the doorway at Pecos Bill for about 20 minutes, we braved the elements and headed over to Haunted Mansion. It was walk-on! Woo hoo for us! After HM, the rain had yet to let up so we decided to head home. We ran into some of our other family members waiting under the pass from Frontierland to Fantasyland. While waiting for the rain to stop (the rain had other plans), we found out the rest of our family was nice and dry (from being in the Emporium when the rain started) in front of the Main St. Bakery. Eventually, we all found each other and debated leaving the MK with the throngs of other soggy people or waiting for the rain to let up. We decided to leave and walked over to the Contemporary to catch a monorail, since you couldn't even see the ramp for the monorail for all the people on it. Walked the short distance to the Contemporary and viola', hopped on a monorail. Once we got to the TTC and seeing the lines for the trams, we decided to walk to our car (still in the rain). We had walked quite a distance when a tram pulled over and asked where we were headed. When we told him the location of the cars, he told us that we were on the complete opposite side of the parking lot than where our cars were. Yikes! He had us board the tram and picked up a tram-full of people, but eventually we found our car. This is one night we are never going to forget!!!

 

[pomlover]

Sounds very fun and exciting!
Would love to see pics also.

 

[catho72]

Wednesday, we decided to hit Beaches and Cream at opening so we wouldn't have to wait very long for a table. Luckily, we were one of the first families to get our name on the list so we were one of the first families to get a table. The five of us shared three double cheeseburgers with fries. These were the best burgers and fries we'd had at WDW!!!! We had to get the Kitchen Sink for dessert! YUM! Our family gets a kick out of it! Needless to say, we didn't finish it. While we were finishing up, the rest of our family (the other 13 people) was seated (the came after us), so we got to see their faces when THEIR Kitchen Sink was brought out. Everyone agrees Beaches and Cream is awesome!
Before

And after....

Initially, we had planned to go to a waterpark that day. With us leaving B&C around 1:30, it was decided we would forgo the waterpark and swim at our condo. The kids were bummed about not going to either TL or BB, but we thought we'd go a few days later. After swimming at our pool, we ate dinner at the condo and hung out watching TV in the evening. It was a VERY low key kind of day. I think the heat had finally gotten to us. Relaxing was exactly what we all needed!

The pool area at Windsor Hills is huge! Each time we were there, plenty of seats were available, there weren't intoxicated people hanging out and all the kids were well behaved. My kids had fun on the waterslide and playing catch with a water football. Amy was able to touch the bottom of most areas of the pool which was great. There's also a big hot tub and a ping-pong table in the pool area. The ammenities at WH are wonderful!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

sounds like fun minus the rain.

 

[catho72]

Signing on for more! Hope you'll be posting plenty of pictures. I often say trip reports and pictures are what keep me sane until my next WDW vacation.

Sorry it took me so long to add pics!

Lisa

cant wait to here more

Thanks!

Sounds very fun and exciting!
Would love to see pics also.

We did have a fun trip! Thanks!

sounds like fun minus the rain.

It was! The only rain that was bothersome was the monsoon. All the other rain was bearable.

 

[catho72]

Thursday, we had initially planned on going to Epcot but we decided instead to go to DHS. We arrived about 30 minutes before rope drop to large crowds already gathered. We rode TSM right away....had about a 15 minute wait.

We then rode RnR using child swap and ToT using FP's.

After doing the three "biggies", it was around 11am and we were hungry. Last year, we ate at Yak and Yeti and really enjoyed our meal. Joel had been sick so he had never been there, but wanted to go since the kids raved about it. It was also VERY hot that day and we knew we wanted to eat inside. I suggested that we go to AK for lunch and to ride a few rides. We called to see if we could get an ADR at Yak and Yeti while en route via a Disney bus. I was able to get an ADR for 1:30.

When we arrived at Yak and Yeti, we asked if we could be seated early (like an hour and a half early) and they said yes. They were also accepting walk-ins. By the time we left around 1:00, there was quite a crowd waiting for a table. We felt lucky that we had arrived just in time! While we were waiting for a table, I walked over to EE to get FP's. The standby time was 50 minutes and the FP return time was for 4pm. After lunch, the line for Kali and EE was 50 minutes so we rode Dinosaur. The girls and I had never been on it before. Joel and Jay loved it previously so they convinced us to ride it. I thought it was OK...not as scary as I thought it would be but I didn't care for the bumpiness. It got old after the first minute. I have to admit, I did duck my head when the last dinosaur came at us! We then saw ITTBAB. I love that show! Joel, who had never seen it, enjoyed it as did the kids. The wait time was about 15 minutes (not too bad!). We walked back to EE to see if the standby line had gone down any since we were still an hour away from our FP time (it hadn't ) As we were deciding which ride to go on next, the rain came. Guess where our ponchos were.....in our stroller!!! Yay us! Rain is much easier to tolerate when you are wearing ponchos! We followed the crowd out of the park and took the bus back to DHS.

The rain seemed to let up when we got off the bus so we decided to stay at DHS. The line for TSM was 75 minutes! Yikes! We tried to see American Idol Experience but the theater was filled to capacity because of the rain. Megan was disappointed...she really wanted to see it. We then met up with some of our family and rode GMR (20 min wait). I enjoy that ride the more I ride it! We got the cowboy scene instead of the mobster one!
We then saw The Magic of Disney Animation. I know some people don't like the Mushu conversation with the CM but we all found it funny. Afterwards, the line for Mickey and the Up! characters was crazy! We did get pics with Chip and Dale, Frozone and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. By this point, we were wet (the rain was still coming down) and tired so we headed home.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thank goodness the castmembers were passing out garbage bags so you guys didn't get soaked. I've never seen them do that so it must have been raining pretty badly. Love all of the pictures.

 

[MLC2002]

Cathy, I want to see the pic following your ride on Spaceship Earth... the one where you looked like a mass murderer. :-0

Must keep reading now. Thanks for the link on FB, by the way.

 

[MLC2002]

Love the ultra-cute family t-shirts... and your blonde hair (I don't think I have ever seen you blonde!).

Doesn't it just figure you would leave the ponchos in the car when the monsoon hit! We carried ours with us EVERYWHERE last year and never needed them. I'm certain had we ever forgotten them that it would have poured buckets on us!

Going to keep reading now... I'm reading one entry at a time, commenting & then reading the next entry... thus, so many comments.

Tuesday morning, we had breakfast reservations at Chef Mickey's for our entire party. I had informed the CM when I made the reservation that we would be celebrating my in-law's 40th Anniversary. After a wonderful meal, our server brought out a cupcake and two anniversary buttons. My in-law's were tickled pink! After breakfast, the majority of our group headed over to MK...big mistake as it was after 11am on an EMH morning! Needless to say, they had a miserable time and left early. We went to Epcot after breakfast to ride Test Track, Soarin' and Mission:Space. Since we had done the DVC presentation, we received five special FastPasses that could be used to get FP's for three rides. We used our special FP's for Soarin' and TT and used our regular ticket for a FP for M:S. Those three rides are our kids favorites in WDW! The crowds at Epcot that day weren't huge...there were lots of people but I wouldn't say it was packed. We left Epcot in the early afternoon because we wanted to swim, have an early dinner and go to MK.
Mother-in-law with Mickey

Us with Mickey

Sitting up front in the monorail

We arrived at the TTC around 6pm for an evening of fun at MK. Um, let's just say that didn't happen! What did happen was the great monsoon of 2009!
TTC before the rain (those are some of our relatives in the background)

As we were going thru the turnstiles, the sky became dark. By the time we got our FP's for Splash Mtn, it was positively eerie. We headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree to get out of the heat and wait for the storm to pass. We had never seen the Country Bears....don't plan on returning. It WAS nice getting out of the heat but the kids and I were bored. When it was over, the storm had no passed.....nor did it look like it was ever going to stop. A CM was passing out garbage bags at the exit. We took five because guess where our ponchos were....in the car!

After standing in the doorway at Pecos Bill for about 20 minutes, we braved the elements and headed over to Haunted Mansion. It was walk-on! Woo hoo for us! After HM, the rain had yet to let up so we decided to head home. We ran into some of our other family members waiting under the pass from Frontierland to Fantasyland. While waiting for the rain to stop (the rain had other plans), we found out the rest of our family was nice and dry (from being in the Emporium when the rain started) in front of the Main St. Bakery. Eventually, we all found each other and debated leaving the MK with the thongs of other soggy people or waiting for the rain to let up. We decided to leave and walked over to the Contemporary to catch a monorail since you couldn't even see the ramp for the monorail for all the people on it. Walked the short distance to the Contemporary and viola', hopped on a monorail. Once we got to the TTC and seeing the lines for the trams, we decided to walk to our car (still in the rain). We had walked quite a distance when a tram pulled over and asked where we were headed. When we told him the location of the cars, he told us that we were on the complete opposite side of the parking lot than where our cars were. Yikes! He had us board the tram and picked up a tram-full of people, but eventually we found our car. This is one night we are never going to forget!!!

 

[MLC2002]

Great trip report. Sounds like you had a lot of fun! I've been in Disney planning mode... making ADRs, etc.... so, your trip report came at the perfect time to give me my Disney fix... I think I'll make it through until our trip in September now!

We decided to check out Disney's Vero Beach resort this year. Thus, we are spending 3 nights there before 4 nights at Disney. Although we're looking forward to beach-time with the boys, I must say that I am second-guessing our choice... 4 days at WDW is just not gonna be enough!

Thanks for the trip report... and for thinking to send me a link via FB!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

love the pictures.!!

 

[catho72]

Great trip report. Sounds like you had a lot of fun! I've been in Disney planning mode... making ADRs, etc.... so, your trip report came at the perfect time to give me my Disney fix... I think I'll make it through until our trip in September now!

We decided to check out Disney's Vero Beach resort this year. Thus, we are spending 3 nights there before 4 nights at Disney. Although we're looking forward to beach-time with the boys, I must say that I am second-guessing our choice... 4 days at WDW is just not gonna be enough!

Thanks for the trip report... and for thinking to send me a link via FB!

Thanks Michelle!

 

[catho72]

love the pictures.!!

Thanks Amanda!