BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,100
Friday 8th August
Cast List
Me: No introduction required, I suspect most of you know me by now!
DW: Long suffering DW of the above
Alex: 15 - Coaster and Disney freak
Laura: 13 - Style queen
So, today is our first full day. Well all had a reasonable nights sleep despite the best efforts of the late night soccer and baseball teams outside the bedroom window last night! :mad2: I think we were all so tired that it didnt matter too much. Not sure how Ill feel if its like that for other nights though.
Ok - Who was playing soccer and baseball last night?
I got up at 5am local time and tossed and turned for a while until Alison woke up. Oh, what a joy it was to have two separate double beds, no surreptitious kicking for snoring during the night or waking up with a mysterious dead leg. (Alison here well if he didnt snore I wouldnt need to kick him!)
We roused the girls from their den next door and they looked like bears coming round from hibernation they loved having their own room for the first time (well, not including the Gatwick Worth hotel of course!). For the last couple of years theyve been complaining long and loud at having to share a room so much so, that last year Alison lost it and said that was it, no more Florida holidays as we couldnt afford 2 separate rooms.
Cue tears and tantrums, until Alison pacified me and reassured me that we would still be able to come to Disney! To be honest it was one of the many reasons that we bought into DVC the lure of having separate rooms!
Net!
So, all showered and dressed we set off to Sizzler for breakfast as is our family tradition for the first day. So, ably navigated by Alison we end up at the one on the 192.
Great but (a) its not the usual one and (b) we dont have a money off coupon! What a miserable state of affairs and how the mighty have fallen! :nonono: I think we usually go to the one just up from Crossroads near Downtown Disney but this one was closer to the All Stars. That didnt pacify Alexandra though shes a real creature of habit and likes things to be the same!
It was very quiet in Sizzler only about 3 other families were in there as we arrived (all British I think!) The food was good, freshly prepared.
Cost $30 for 4 buffets, 2 coffees and 2 juices. (Could have been less if wed had a flippin coupon!).
Fully satisfied by the food but not the cost or location we headed off to MK for the day. Parked up in Minnie 38, started to get excited at being parked so close until we realised we were parked at the wrong end of the row! much gnashing of teeth!
Its not going to be our day today really and I blame it all on Alison to be honest.
Anyway we headed towards the monorail (which we usually do as opposed to the ferry) and started looking out for the different coloured monorails. We knew there were 12 different coloured monorails and we were going to try to spot them all this holiday (just for a bit of fun).
Would you believe that while we were queuing up waiting to get on a monorail we spotted 9 of the 12 monorail trains!
Light Blue
Gold
Lime Green
Orange
Silver
Coral
Yellow
Red
Black
Yawning over?
then well press on. We pulled up at the Magic Kingdom proper and passes popped in ticket machines, fingers in readers were through, just as they start to let people in. Good timing!
Through the gate and aaaahhh the holiday had started properly once we saw Cinderellas castle!
First stop was to head over to Tomorrowland so we picked up some fastpasses for Buzz for later then went over to Space Mountain.
We remembered that between 09:00 10:00 there are no FP returns so there are two ride lines open up to 10:00 which gives greater chance of riding quickly. We all love Space which is always faster than I remember (I must look back at my old trip reports as Im sure I say that every year!)
Then, for the first time in goodness know how many years, Alexandra and I rode the Astro Orbiter as the queue is non-existent. Its such a slow loader and quite quaint but glad we rode it while Alison and Laura rode the TTA (they dont do rides that go in circles!)
We then set off to do a whole host of rides that weve done many times before, so Im not too sure what I can say about them! They are all old favourites so Ill just list them here:
Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear (again this time with our FPs) and we picked up another FP on the way out!
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion -
Its a Small world
By now we were getting hot, tired and hungry. As always the August sun and humidity is draining. Laura and I always suffer more than Alison and Alexandra for some reason. We head over to Pecos Bills for lunch (we love the fixins bar here).
Me - BBQ pork sandwich and chips, soda
Alison - enormous chicken wrap,
Girls - 2 x kids burger and chips and drinks
Total $26
As we leave Pecos Bills its starting to rain, so we headed quickly to Philarmagic. Why oh why do so many people ignore the move to the end command by the CMs? There was nearly a pitched battle as some people refused to move from the centre
When we come out the rain is just stopping so it hasnt affected us at all really.
Buzz again
Carousel of Progress (gotta love this!)
TTA
The queues have all been very reasonable really certainly all within my tolerance (which isnt high!) Were relieved by this as were here a week earlier than we would normally be, and wed wondered what the crowds would be like.
Left at 2pm (bit late really as wed all started flagging a good hour ago, so we should have called it quits then and gone for a swim).
We drove back to All Stars and went back to the rooms. The girls got costumes on and went straight to the pool, while Alison and I went to the foodcourt to get drinks in the refillable mugs (ok maybe a couple of small cakes were purchased also! (Alison here SMALL??? They could have fed a small African Nation!)
We went back to the room and got our costumes on and went and joined the girls in the pool. After cooling down and feeling refreshed we headed back to the rooms and flopped. Apparently Laura and I fell asleep, so Alison rang through to register the Trac Phones , then left one with me while she took the other one and went off to Downtown Disney with Alexandra (not driving though the US isnt ready for that! They got the bus). Ill hand over to Alison now as my crystal ball isnt working so I dont know what she and Alexandra did!
We only had to wait a few minutes for a bus it was all very efficient. I think if I was only here for a week or so Id be happy to not bother hiring a car and just use the Disney transport, but for me a fortnight of on site food might be a bit much, and of course theres no internal shuttle to the other places were staying like Vero Beach, Universal etc!)
We wandered around the shops and generally pottered about (which would have annoyed Shaun no doubt!) Alexandra bought herself some shoes, I just bought postcards. We got free chocolate samples from Ghirardellis (peanut butter chocolate I think it was). There was a heavy shower while we were in shops so it didnt affect us at all. At about 7.50 I rang Shaun to say we were getting hungry and suggested they could come to pick us up to get some food. They were just in the process of getting ready to leave anyway so about 15 minutes later they rang to say exactly where they were and Alexandra and I jumped in the car. (These phones are proving very useful already!)
Back to Shaun now:
We decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner but there was a 50 minute wait erm, no thanks! At that point we realised it was Friday night - hmmm, maybe we should have got going earlier!
We decided to give Chevys a go instead and luckily it was just a 10 minute wait there.
Shaun Taste of Chevys combo, beer
Alison shrimp and chicken fajitas, soda
Alexandra - kids cheese quesadilla, fries, ice cream, soda
Laura kids chicken tacos, fries, ice cream, soda
Total $58
The food was good (as always) but the service wasnt up to much this time. Im always wondering if they think were Brits and therefore not very good tippers Im tempted to say at the start, Look, well tip well for good service, so look after us! but I can never quite bring myself to say anything!
Feeling fairly stuffed, we go back to the room and the girls decide that they want another swim (youd think that theyd want a break from the water, what with their swimming training 5 times a week at home, but no!)
Alison and I got a coffee in our mugs and watched the girls swim and muck about together. Theyve always been fairly close but they got on really, really well this holiday no squabbles or disagreements at all. Long may it last! After a while we watched a few teenage boys leaping off the lifeguard chair (the lifeguards had left by this time).
This was not a good idea the water wasnt that deep and it was all very slippery. Eventually a security guard came round and read them the riot act.
After the girls got out of the water they said they were wide awake and want to go out to EMH at Magic Kingdom. Against my better judgement I agreed and pulled up in the car park at 12.10am (it was open until 3am!!) It turned out to be very busy, which was a surprise, and still very hot and humid.
We headed over to Space Mountain, but it had broken down, so decided instead to do Fantasyland in the hope that all the kiddywinks would be in bed by now.
We ended up doing Winnie the Pooh but everything else had lines over 45 minutes or more. We went over to do Pirates of the Caribbean and stopped on the way to do Aladdin as it was empty.
After POTC we decided to call it a night and finally got back to the room at about 1.30am and crashed. At least it was so late that there were no kids outside playing!!
So, Bedtime for Bonzo!
Cast List
Me: No introduction required, I suspect most of you know me by now!
DW: Long suffering DW of the above
Alex: 15 - Coaster and Disney freak
Laura: 13 - Style queen
So, today is our first full day. Well all had a reasonable nights sleep despite the best efforts of the late night soccer and baseball teams outside the bedroom window last night! :mad2: I think we were all so tired that it didnt matter too much. Not sure how Ill feel if its like that for other nights though.
Ok - Who was playing soccer and baseball last night?
I got up at 5am local time and tossed and turned for a while until Alison woke up. Oh, what a joy it was to have two separate double beds, no surreptitious kicking for snoring during the night or waking up with a mysterious dead leg. (Alison here well if he didnt snore I wouldnt need to kick him!)
We roused the girls from their den next door and they looked like bears coming round from hibernation they loved having their own room for the first time (well, not including the Gatwick Worth hotel of course!). For the last couple of years theyve been complaining long and loud at having to share a room so much so, that last year Alison lost it and said that was it, no more Florida holidays as we couldnt afford 2 separate rooms.
Cue tears and tantrums, until Alison pacified me and reassured me that we would still be able to come to Disney! To be honest it was one of the many reasons that we bought into DVC the lure of having separate rooms!
Net!
So, all showered and dressed we set off to Sizzler for breakfast as is our family tradition for the first day. So, ably navigated by Alison we end up at the one on the 192.
Great but (a) its not the usual one and (b) we dont have a money off coupon! What a miserable state of affairs and how the mighty have fallen! :nonono: I think we usually go to the one just up from Crossroads near Downtown Disney but this one was closer to the All Stars. That didnt pacify Alexandra though shes a real creature of habit and likes things to be the same!
It was very quiet in Sizzler only about 3 other families were in there as we arrived (all British I think!) The food was good, freshly prepared.
Cost $30 for 4 buffets, 2 coffees and 2 juices. (Could have been less if wed had a flippin coupon!).
Fully satisfied by the food but not the cost or location we headed off to MK for the day. Parked up in Minnie 38, started to get excited at being parked so close until we realised we were parked at the wrong end of the row! much gnashing of teeth!
Its not going to be our day today really and I blame it all on Alison to be honest.
Anyway we headed towards the monorail (which we usually do as opposed to the ferry) and started looking out for the different coloured monorails. We knew there were 12 different coloured monorails and we were going to try to spot them all this holiday (just for a bit of fun).
Would you believe that while we were queuing up waiting to get on a monorail we spotted 9 of the 12 monorail trains!
Light Blue
Gold
Lime Green
Orange
Silver
Coral
Yellow
Red
Black
Yawning over?
then well press on. We pulled up at the Magic Kingdom proper and passes popped in ticket machines, fingers in readers were through, just as they start to let people in. Good timing!Through the gate and aaaahhh the holiday had started properly once we saw Cinderellas castle!
First stop was to head over to Tomorrowland so we picked up some fastpasses for Buzz for later then went over to Space Mountain.
We remembered that between 09:00 10:00 there are no FP returns so there are two ride lines open up to 10:00 which gives greater chance of riding quickly. We all love Space which is always faster than I remember (I must look back at my old trip reports as Im sure I say that every year!)
Then, for the first time in goodness know how many years, Alexandra and I rode the Astro Orbiter as the queue is non-existent. Its such a slow loader and quite quaint but glad we rode it while Alison and Laura rode the TTA (they dont do rides that go in circles!)
We then set off to do a whole host of rides that weve done many times before, so Im not too sure what I can say about them! They are all old favourites so Ill just list them here:
Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear (again this time with our FPs) and we picked up another FP on the way out!
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion -
Its a Small world
By now we were getting hot, tired and hungry. As always the August sun and humidity is draining. Laura and I always suffer more than Alison and Alexandra for some reason. We head over to Pecos Bills for lunch (we love the fixins bar here).
Me - BBQ pork sandwich and chips, soda
Alison - enormous chicken wrap,
Girls - 2 x kids burger and chips and drinks
Total $26
As we leave Pecos Bills its starting to rain, so we headed quickly to Philarmagic. Why oh why do so many people ignore the move to the end command by the CMs? There was nearly a pitched battle as some people refused to move from the centre
When we come out the rain is just stopping so it hasnt affected us at all really.
Buzz again
Carousel of Progress (gotta love this!)
TTA
The queues have all been very reasonable really certainly all within my tolerance (which isnt high!) Were relieved by this as were here a week earlier than we would normally be, and wed wondered what the crowds would be like.
Left at 2pm (bit late really as wed all started flagging a good hour ago, so we should have called it quits then and gone for a swim).
We drove back to All Stars and went back to the rooms. The girls got costumes on and went straight to the pool, while Alison and I went to the foodcourt to get drinks in the refillable mugs (ok maybe a couple of small cakes were purchased also! (Alison here SMALL??? They could have fed a small African Nation!)
We went back to the room and got our costumes on and went and joined the girls in the pool. After cooling down and feeling refreshed we headed back to the rooms and flopped. Apparently Laura and I fell asleep, so Alison rang through to register the Trac Phones , then left one with me while she took the other one and went off to Downtown Disney with Alexandra (not driving though the US isnt ready for that! They got the bus). Ill hand over to Alison now as my crystal ball isnt working so I dont know what she and Alexandra did!
We only had to wait a few minutes for a bus it was all very efficient. I think if I was only here for a week or so Id be happy to not bother hiring a car and just use the Disney transport, but for me a fortnight of on site food might be a bit much, and of course theres no internal shuttle to the other places were staying like Vero Beach, Universal etc!)
We wandered around the shops and generally pottered about (which would have annoyed Shaun no doubt!) Alexandra bought herself some shoes, I just bought postcards. We got free chocolate samples from Ghirardellis (peanut butter chocolate I think it was). There was a heavy shower while we were in shops so it didnt affect us at all. At about 7.50 I rang Shaun to say we were getting hungry and suggested they could come to pick us up to get some food. They were just in the process of getting ready to leave anyway so about 15 minutes later they rang to say exactly where they were and Alexandra and I jumped in the car. (These phones are proving very useful already!)
Back to Shaun now:
We decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner but there was a 50 minute wait erm, no thanks! At that point we realised it was Friday night - hmmm, maybe we should have got going earlier!
We decided to give Chevys a go instead and luckily it was just a 10 minute wait there.
Shaun Taste of Chevys combo, beer
Alison shrimp and chicken fajitas, soda
Alexandra - kids cheese quesadilla, fries, ice cream, soda
Laura kids chicken tacos, fries, ice cream, soda
Total $58
The food was good (as always) but the service wasnt up to much this time. Im always wondering if they think were Brits and therefore not very good tippers Im tempted to say at the start, Look, well tip well for good service, so look after us! but I can never quite bring myself to say anything!
Feeling fairly stuffed, we go back to the room and the girls decide that they want another swim (youd think that theyd want a break from the water, what with their swimming training 5 times a week at home, but no!)
Alison and I got a coffee in our mugs and watched the girls swim and muck about together. Theyve always been fairly close but they got on really, really well this holiday no squabbles or disagreements at all. Long may it last! After a while we watched a few teenage boys leaping off the lifeguard chair (the lifeguards had left by this time).
This was not a good idea the water wasnt that deep and it was all very slippery. Eventually a security guard came round and read them the riot act.
After the girls got out of the water they said they were wide awake and want to go out to EMH at Magic Kingdom. Against my better judgement I agreed and pulled up in the car park at 12.10am (it was open until 3am!!) It turned out to be very busy, which was a surprise, and still very hot and humid.
We headed over to Space Mountain, but it had broken down, so decided instead to do Fantasyland in the hope that all the kiddywinks would be in bed by now.
We ended up doing Winnie the Pooh but everything else had lines over 45 minutes or more. We went over to do Pirates of the Caribbean and stopped on the way to do Aladdin as it was empty.
After POTC we decided to call it a night and finally got back to the room at about 1.30am and crashed. At least it was so late that there were no kids outside playing!!
So, Bedtime for Bonzo!
.x.
