The Third Time's a Charm! Our 2012 spring break trip report. We found Perry!

[preschoolmom]

Well, we brought Perry with us anyway

Hello Everyone!

I've never written a trip report, but I've read lots of them We just returned from our third trip to Disney World as a family - it was our best trip ever. Truly. And I want to get it all down so I can remember it. And share it with all of you!

Introductions... Let's see.

I'm Suzi, mom and Disney Planner for our family. I'm a Stay At Home Mom. I do laundry. And Dishes. And Bathrooms. And in Disney World, we stay on site and leave good tips for housekeeping We live in the suburbs of Chicago.

My DH is Joe. He works, LOL. And has become a big Disney fan. And he is an amazing dad and husband.

My kids are Will (9, 3rd grade) and Rebecca and Isabelle (8, 2nd grade).

Will has PDD-NOS, which is sort of a very mild form of Autism (for him, the diagnosis really varies). His main symptoms are severe anxiety and ADHD. Good times. We got the GAC for the first time this trip - but you'll have to read this trip report to see our thoughts/experiences about that

Rebecca and Isabelle are identical twins. That's all I have to say about that.

We have always wanted to go to Disney in October - to see the Halloween Party. But the truth is, I couldn't wait until fall for this trip, LOL. Our first trip (as a family - I went a couple of times growing up and as a young adult) was in Feb. 2008. Then we returned late May/Early June 2010. So, it had been about a year since our last trip when I started thinking about this one.

We really planned for October - picked our week, wondered about free dining or a pin code... And then I got cold feet about pulling the kids out of school. And I really didn't want to wait until Oct. 2012. And last spring break we were so bored (and cold!) at home - and I really thought that instead of staying home for spring break and going to the aquarium and a movie and etc. etc. etc. - we might as well go to Disney!

So, I was scanning the free dining offer at some point, when I realized that our spring break week for school lined up with free dining - and I called and booked it that afternoon! I just couldn't believe it! I had hopes that because our spring break was a free dining week that Disney was predicting lower than usual crowds for spring break...

So, I know you are all mostly just curious about what we look like - so here is a picture from this trip - and I'll be back to start the actual report when I learn how to make the links

Gatorland - We went there, too

 

[preschoolmom]

On Saturday, March 24th, we got up at 3:30am. We got the kids up and into the car. Yes, we were driving. Yes, it would take two days down and two days back. We don't mind the drive too much - and our kids are veteran car riders... And it's cheaper. And I can over pack.

Here are the kids for our departure picture:

That's pretty excited for 3:30am. If only we could get them up this easily for school!

We had packed and loaded the car the day before. Here are the girls with some of the 500 stuffed animals they brought with them. Oh, There's Perry

And we were off! We like to get out of Chicagoland before everyone else even crawls out of bed.

I promise this trip report will not be filled with political comments - but as we drove into Indiana, my pretty independent, not strongly politically affiliated husband said, "Did you feel the tax burden lift?" Yes, yes I did.

Our plans were to get into Indiana and stop at a Waffle House for Breakfast. We actually made it south of Indianapolis before we stopped.

We were making great time. On our first trip, we drove - and two of the three kids had a stomach virus. I'll spare you the details, but someone threw up in every state from Illinois to Florida. So, needless to say, we are always (always!!!) incredibly thankful when no one is sick for our trip.

We did not make a hotel reservation for this night, because we didn't know how far we would make it. Chattanooga is halfway. Dalton, GA was the goal. The dream was south of Atlanta. Here we are in Georgia with Perry:

We did make it south of Atlanta! Which we were thrilled about! We stopped in Locust Grove and got a functional, cheap, not our first choice room at a Super 8. It was cheap.

 

[Lynn57]

I'm excited to follow along!

I teach third grade and one of my students will be going in April and needs a GAC card. Can't wait to hear how it all works out for your family!

 

[15isto2]

I love wills smile in the departure pic

 

[preschoolmom]

Okay, hopefully I'll figure out how to link this post back on the first one. Meanwhile, we spent the night at the Super 8 No, honestly, it was very clean, but run down and not where I would have liked to spent the night. But, nothing else was available, and we were wiped.

So, we got up at 6 and were on the road by 6:30. We didn't have breakfast, we just fed the kids snacks in the car (I had packed just a ton of cereal, crackers, snacky type stuff, so no one was going hungry).

We were excited when we made it into Florida! We had to stop at the official welcome center!

It was CROWDED. You could tell it was spring break for sure. Everyone was excited and lots of people were headed to Disney World.

At that point, we were pretty excited to get to Disney.

Perry was enjoying the ride. We were all playing I Spy. Listening to 80's music. The weather was gorgeous and we were all having a blast.

We stopped at some point to eat lunch at a Bob Evans. We weren't in a rush to get to Pop, because we had no plans to go to a park that day. For our family, taking the first night to just rest seems to work the best.

Finally - we got there:

We drove directly to Pop to check in. We got our connected rooms - but the location was... Not the best. We didn't pay for preferred and we had free dining - so I'm not complaining. And we don't have any little ones that ride in a stroller or any older family members that need a wheelchair - so really - the walk would be fine. Our rooms were in the 90's section, but facing the computer pool (but you couldn't really see the pool because it was behind a building). But really, it was very close to the computer pool, and fine for our family.

The kids couldn't wait to climb into this zero:

Here is Joe showing them where the rooms were on the map:

They were thrilled to be back at Pop:

So first things first - off to the pool! We were so excited to have perfect swimming weather.

And Will was pretty excited to see all these Pac Man icons.

Tomorrow is our first real day - Gatorland and Epcot. (Photobucket is giving me fits, so I'm having to wait on uploading pictures).

 

[bna16]

Looking forward to follow along!

 

[TillyDe]

Your Children look so sweet.

 

[preschoolmom]

I'm excited to follow along!

I teach third grade and one of my students will be going in April and needs a GAC card. Can't wait to hear how it all works out for your family!

Thanks for reading! The GAC is coming up

 

[preschoolmom]

I love wills smile in the departure pic

Awwww, Thank you! And thanks for reading!

 

[preschoolmom]

Looking forward to follow along!

I'm happy to have you reading!

 

[preschoolmom]

Your Children look so sweet.

He He... It could be that I just spent 2 days in the car with them, but I think looks can be deceiving! Thanks for reading! I'm getting the next chapter up now!

 

[preschoolmom]

Okay - First things first - I can't figure out how to link these posts back to my original - so I'm sorry, but you'll have to scroll through to read.

Moving on. When I left off, we had just gotten to Pop Century and finished swimming. We went back to the rooms and got changed for dinner. We went to the Pop food court for our first dinner. We had the quick service dining plan - which was perfect for our family. We didn't do any ADRs this trip. The kids are not as into the characters (already? sniff...) and it was so nice not having to be at restaurants at the prearranged times.

So, Day 3 - Gatorland! I've wanted to go to Gatorland since I was a kid and saw the billboards when we took our family trips to Florida. Thanks to a trip report here on the Dis, I also knew I wanted to do the Adventure Hour - so we could feed the gators and get a picture with them, inside their enclosure.

Gatorland opened at 10:00. We left Pop around 9:15. It took us about 15 minutes to drive there (and a few dollars in tolls).

Here we are with the famous entrance

Joe's picture is funnier

We were the second car in the Gatorland lot. We did sunscreen, and then walked through the gift shop. We decided to buy things on the way out of the park. In the gift shop they had a little tank filled with baby gators (like 6 inches long) and a tiny baby turtle swimming with them (the turtle was about 1"). So cool!

So we paid to get in, and it was exactly what I was expecting/hoping. There were a TON of alligators. They were everywhere. Sunning themselves, swimming - so very cool. It was only March, and not hot in the morning - so they were pretty inactive. We tried to watch the first Jumparoo show, but the gators weren't that interested in the food. It turns out, in the wild, gators only eat 5-7 times per year. Turns out that the alligators at Gatorland are very, very well fed (and chubbier than most gators in the wild ). One employee said that they could probably live the rest of their lives not eating ever again. Fascinating!

This is one of the kids' favorite pictures from our whole trip!

After checking out all the alligators and snakes on display, we did the swamp walk. It was so COOL. And so beautiful in such a unique way. These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

At some point we had lunch (I can't recall exactly when) - it was good - simple hot dogs and pizza.

Then we attended our Adventure Tour. I don't want to ruin it if you attend - but we got to throw raw meat to the alligators inside their enclosure. It was so cool. A once in a lifetime experience. Then we got to turn our backs on the alligators and take a picture with them.

I know I already posted this one - but really - what a cool picture! That one might just end up on the Christmas Card!

This next one cracks me up

And this one is a classic

Before we left, we got one last shot

Gatorland was exactly what we were expecting. Feeding the alligators and the swamp walk were well worth the price of admission. It was a nice, relaxing start to our vacation. We didn't do it all - so we could easily go back and spend another half day. Some of their advertising calls it Orlando's best half day attraction. We were there at open - and stayed easily through lunch. We left around 2:30. We bought several things in the gift shop - Isabelle found a purple hat that she just loves - and both girls got a very round alligator stuffed animal. Will got a little electrical fan and a Gator Head claw thingy. Joe got a hat. I got the two pictures on the CD.

So, we headed back to Pop to swim and change for Epcot. Continued in the next post.

 

[preschoolmom]

After spending the morning and early afternoon at Gatorland, it was time to head back to Pop to swim. We swam every day on this trip (or rather the kids and Joe swam every day - I really wasn't up for swimming).

After getting cleaned up and changed, we got on a bus for Epcot. We originally only planned for four park days on this trip - we were planning to skip Epcot... But, in looking over the pictures from our previous trips - the only one that I got exactly the same was the Epcot ball (see my siggy pictures)... So, we added the fifth day to our tickets so we could run over to Epcot and get a picture in front of Spaceship Earth.

So, that was our main goal for this evening. And the first thing we did.

Then we rode Spaceship Earth.

I figured we might as well do the Character Spot, since we weren't doing any Character Meals on this trip - and it was right there. The kids really surprised me by seeming awkward with the characters. Isabelle LOVES animals, so she was the warmest with them - but Rebecca was pretty tentative. They mostly just stood where they were supposed to stand and smiled for the pictures. There were a few high fives - and I'm sure Isabelle hugged Pluto and Donald.

After the Character Spot, we headed over to The Land for dinner. There was no wait for Living with the Land, so we hopped on. Then we walked over to the Sunshine Seasons for dinner. We were totally unimpressed with the options for the kids. That was disappointing, as we had eaten there more than once on each of our previous trips. So, we went to the Electric Umbrella instead.

One disappointing thing we found on this trip is that the new children's options are really limited. I guess they were limited on our previous trips as well - but it seems the main go to option everywhere is Mac and Cheese - and unfortunately - none of our kids like Mac and Cheese. So, we ordered some adult meals for the kids - and Joe and I ate the kids' choices (a chicken wrap and cheeseburger, I believe).

After dinner, Joe and the girls went to ride Mission Space, and I went with Will to get his GAC at guest services. Will and I walked over to Mission Space to wait for Joe and the girls - but they never came out. We waited and waited (and then walked around in the gift shop while we waited). I didn't realize there are two exits for Mission Space, and we were waiting at the wrong one. The girls hated it - they were terrified. I'm glad I didn't ride

So, the kids really wanted to ride Test Track. We thought we'd give the GAC a spin (we never got one on our first two trips). We rode Test Track, and everyone LOVED it. Then, we left the park.

We were happy to get out of the park right at 9 (as Illuminations was starting) - we wanted to be out ahead of the major crowd.

Tomorrow is our first Magic Kingdom Day!

 

[Cinderaven]

Glad to know we are not the only one's that get out of the park by the time the fireworks start. Waiting for the buses is bad enough, after the show it's terrible.

We use the GAC card everytime we go. I have had 7 back surgeries, and 2 back and 1 neck fusion, it is a life saver for us.

Thanks for the pics, they great.

 

[preschoolmom]

Glad to know we are not the only one's that get out of the park by the time the fireworks start. Waiting for the buses is bad enough, after the show it's terrible.

We use the GAC card everytime we go. I have had 7 back surgeries, and 2 back and 1 neck fusion, it is a life saver for us.

Thanks for the pics, they great.

I'm so glad the GAC is available for those that need it!

We really did a lot of staying ahead of the crowds on this trip - more on that coming up

Thanks for reading!

 

[preschoolmom]

We got up early the next morning (6:00 am to be exact) to be at Magic Kingdom nice and early. Here is where I should share that I'm a huge planner - and I followed Easy WDW (Thanks, Josh!) for recommended park days and Touring Plans for, well, our Touring Plans

We left our room by 7:30, and got on the bus to the MK.

We were first in line at our turnstyle!

Perry got ready to use the paw scanner

We brought Perry for fun - and I'd have to say he really did add an element of fun for us. Fun for the kids - fun for all of us taking turns holding him. He went on all the rides - and gave us a fun reason to take pictures. Plus - we had some diffferent interaction with cast members, it gave them an easy thing to say I'd definitely recommend it - but only if you don't have a stroller or lots of little ones to keep track of. Having five people capable of carrying him made it no big deal to keep track of. I wouldn't have done it when the kids were little.

So, they let us in the turn styles, and we were at the absolute front of the crowd at the entrance. It was really a rush to be up at the front and watch all the thousands of people file in behind us. It was a little scarier than feeding alligators without a barrier

When the countdown ended - we took off with the crowd toward Space Mountain. We didn't run - but we saw a LOT of people running. We just walked quickly and enjoyed the moment. We walked quickly enough to get to the Space Mountain rope drop - which I thought was pretty remarkable - since we are just a family of five with three kids and we didn't run at all. We were with all young adults that ran (and in some cases, dodged underneath ropes/chains while cast members just glared at them).

But, our first attraction wasn't Space Mountain (we all find it too scary), it was Buzz Lightyear! We were the second to ride - at the last minute, a pair of young girls jumped in front of us in the queue. Ah well! It was fun to be there so early - and very exciting.

After Buzz, we headed to Winnie the Pooh. Then the Mad Tea Party. Joe doesn't ride this one, so it was me and the kids. Really, the first 30 seconds are not bad, it's the last 30 seconds.

After Tea Cups, it was Peter Pan's Flight. The Haunted Mansion was supposed to be next, but it was down, so we headed to Splash Mountain. There was no wait. We were super excited, as this was our FAVORITE ride on our last trip. We loaded into the log and we were off! I got absolutely drenched. From the side. I mean SOAKED. Gross. Then, because there was still no wait, and it is our favorite, we rode again Fun. And now we were all pretty wet.

We stopped for a snack

Then we hit The Haunted Mansion (it was back up). We took the longer line through the cemetery and the kids liked the interactive exhibits. Will didn't like this. Actually, I don't think the girls liked it much either. We're not really into "scary" entertainment.

After The Haunted Mansion, we went to Pecos Bills for lunch, but again we had trouble finding something for the kids to eat - so instead we went to the Pinocchio Village Haus. I don't recall what we had, but I'm guessing it involved pizza? I liked that no one was allowed to sit until they had their food. It kept people from poaching our table as we ate.

After lunch, we went on the Jungle Cruise. Then we headed out of the park for our afternoon swim break.

We also stopped at the Chapeau for Mouse Ears.

Isabelle is in a hat phase.

Continued in the next post.

 

[preschoolmom]

Today we had our swim break at the Bowling Pin pool (Joe swam with the kids while I read The Hunger Games, I just could not put it down, LOL). On Sunday and Monday we had used the Computer pool. They liked it.

After swimming, we had an early dinner in the Pop Food Court. This schedule worked beautifully for us - Open a park, follow a Touring Plan in the morning. Eat an early lunch before the crowds. Do something with little to no wait after lunch (or with a fast pass) and then get out of the parks to go for a swim during the hottest/most crowded part of the day. After a short swim (45 minutes to an hour), eat an early dinner around 5. Then, head back to a park.

This was our first time following this schedule - and during a week with a fairly high crowd level. It really worked for our family. Not having ADRs helped too.

So, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We mostly just let the kids choose what to do.

We rode the train.

and the Speedway

We rode the People Mover - which we LOVED. So peaceful - and pretty - seeing Tomorrowland all lit up for night time. There was some kind of dance party going on in Tomorrowland, too - so that was fun to see.

After the People Mover, we saw the Laugh Factory for the first time. So funny - we really enjoyed it.

The girls had been begging to ride the Flying Carpets - so we walked over and did that, too. Then we grabbed some ice cream and headed out of the park. We saw a good amount of the Electrical Parade as we walked down Main Street to leave. We were saving the fireworks for Friday night, because I had reservations for the dessert party.

What a great, great day - it was so fun. The weather was PERFECT. And we just had a blast.

Do you think we wore them out?

 

[simplymama]

Great report so far Suzi. Love all the pictures. I rode the People Mover this last trip with Joseph at night while Brian took Anna, Jack,and Grace on Space Mountain. I agree it's just so pretty and peaceful up there with all the lights!

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[preschoolmom]

Great report so far Suzi. Love all the pictures. I rode the People Mover this last trip with Joseph at night while Brian took Anna, Jack,and Grace on Space Mountain. I agree it's just so pretty and peaceful up there with all the lights!

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

Thanks, Kathy! I'm glad you're reading! I've never done a trip report before, but I want to get it all down to help me remember it.

 

[preschoolmom]

I apparently took less pictures starting on this day... And I didn't take notes while we were in the parks (but I did check off my touring plans - so between that and the pictures - and the fact that the trip was just last week, I'm piecing it together the best I can).

We got up at our usual time this morning - 6:10.

We were out to the bus stop by 7:30. That's getting the kids dressed and ready - brushing teeth, doing hair, and eating snacks in the room for breakfast. Joe and I both showered as well. (The kids were showering at night).

Anyway, we were on a nice early bus that morning.

We were second in line at a turn style. We were just waiting - the kids were sort of sitting on the ground. We watched as people started to fill in behind us. Then, I overheard the family in front of us say that they had just gotten a picture with Daisy Duck out front. Isabelle had asked about Daisy at the Character Spot in Epcot, and then she saw her on the way out of the Magic Kingdom the day before (but her line was ridiculous) - so I grabbed the girls and we RAN over to Daisy. There was a little line - not too bad, but I was so worried that they were going to open the gates and we would miss it. So, I was waiting politely with the girls, and glancing over at the turn styles. It was pretty stressful. And then the girls got to the front of the Daisy line - and we snapped one quick photo:

We waved a quick thank you, and took off as quickly as we could back toward the turn styles. It turns out that they had started letting people in, and Joe was frantically waving and texting me to get over there. Luckily, at HS, people stand in lines at the turn styles - so we were able to get back to him. I handed out the cards and we made it with about 45 seconds to spare. Maybe 45 seconds.

And, were off! Joe walked quickly to get fast passes for Toys Story Mania, and the kids and I walked quickly behind him. We kept up pretty well, and once he had gotten fast passes -we all walked through the stand by line. No waiting at all. Right on the ride.

I LOVE the new soft opening/turn style approach. So, so, so much better than the previous herd deal.

Then, because they wanted to, and there was still no line - we rode again! This time, we had a few seconds to snap this picture:

After riding Toy Story Mania twice and with fast passes for later secured, we took off to visit Phineas and Ferb. Perry wanted to see them, after all.

We were second in line for this meet and greet.

Love this picture

Then we were off to Star Wars. I can't recall exactly what happened here, we rode once with no wait I think.

Then got this picture

Then I think our fast passes for Toy Story Mania were up, so we got fast passes for Star Wars and went back to ride TSM again

After that, we either rode Star Wars again, or went to lunch at Pizza Planet. We were eating right at 11:00, because we wanted to do our standard crowd avoidance. The weather was gorgeous, so we ate outside.

I know we rode Star Wars a total of three times and TSM a total of three times. The kids didn't want to ride Rock N Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror. After lunch, we saw the Muppets. Then we saw the Lights Motor Action show - which we all really enjoyed.

Then we got out of HS and went back to Pop. It was our Hippy Dippy pool day!

After swimming on this day, we decided we'd stay at Pop and hang out. The girls got their hair wrapped and Will and Joe played in the arcade. It was a fun night.