The Waltons at Disney Day 1
Cast
Travis 34 (My wonderful, supportive husband)
Renee 38 ME (the obsessive planner usually!)
Kylee 5 (Our very independent daughter who tends to be a bit spoiled)
Owen 17 and too stubborn to go along He stayed home with G&G
Ok, Wow! We got up at 4:30 am in order to be at the airport in Rapid City by 5:50am. Our flight wasnt until 7:50 but due to the new airline security measures, we wanted to have plenty of time to get through security. When we got to the gate and saw that our plane to Denver was actually quite small (you know the ones where the BIG propellers are right off the wing and next to the windows.) Travis got a little nervous right then and there. I knew that when he felt the need to go find the nearest place to smoke. He is really good about not smoking around us or in our house or vehicles. His plan was to try to quit smoking this week (it didnt work!)
Anyway
I know you dont really want to know about our actual travel info. So I will move along to the good stuff. We landed at MCO at 3:35pm and went right over to side A of the airport and went down to the ME welcome desk. They took us right out and put us on a bus headed for the resort. If I remember right, that bus stopped at Old Key West and then POFQ before taking us to POR. Kylee and I raced in to be the first to check in from our bus. Yes, we were slightly excited. Just so you know though, we were at the front of the bus and poor Travis opted to stay behind to grab our carry-on and mostly to grab a much needed cigarette. We didnt have time for him to smoke at the airport in Denver. As soon as we landed at MCO, we raced down to the ME desk. I didnt give him time to even catch his breath I dont think. Check in went fairly well. I was excited because I had requested Magnolia Terrace or Oak Manor and we got room 9420 at Oak Manor.
The ROOM ??!!
We got a bit lost walking to our room but we were in the room by 5:30pm. Thats less than 2 hours after we landed at MCO. I thought that was pretty darn good. HOWEVER immediately upon entering the room, we noticed a really yucky musty smell and we had paid for a water view and had a view of some very large trees. If we looked through the leaves of the tree, we could see a little of the river though. This wasnt going to work for me. So of course, I immediately told Trav and Kylee not to touch anything or unpack. I called the front desk. The lady that answered informed me that this room was considered water-view even with the trees that blocked the view. I then complained about the smell and she told me that she would call someone to come in and check on that. We had 7:50pm reservations for 1900 Park Fare though so we couldnt stay and wait. She said she would take care of it ASAP and it would be better when we returned. Deep down of course I knew better and I was pretty bummed about the view issue as well BUT I was at Disney and I promised to just make the best of it.
We then headed up to the main building and grabbed a quick snack since we were all starving after only eating the pretzels they gave us on the plane. If you remember right, I was in commando mode at the airports. We went into the food court at POR and purchased 2 single serve pizzas and 3 drinks. This cost us $16+ as we didnt want to use a counter service meal just yet. I had those pretty well planned for. Travis didnt care about spending money already, he was just hungry. The pizzas were OK. They did the trick. As soon as we finished eating, we headed up to the bus stop and caught a bus to MK. I was determined not to let the room issues bother me until we got back. We had decided to catch a boat across to the Grand Floridian and check in at 1900 Park Fare. I was just excited to get to see MK again finally even if we werent going into the park this night. I just knew that once we got off the bus there, we would start feeling the magic of Disney again. It worked! We got off the bus at MK and Kylee got her energy back after the long day of travel. Travis seemed to feel better after my making him race all day and I heard a little of the music they tap in there and it sounded wonderful. Then we caught a boat across to GF and we watched the castle behind us and breathed in the fresh Disney air.
1900 Park Fare Dinner
We checked in at the desk at 1900 Park Fare at 7:10 and got in to eat by 7:20. This was 30 minutes before out scheduled ressie. The buffet was awesome. They had fresh fruits vegetables, salad and a great choice on the chidrens buffet. Kylees favorite was the pasta with butter. They even had little PB & J sandwiches like the Smuckers ones. For Trav and I, they had prime rib and mashed potatoes and lots of other choices too numerous to remember or mention. I think they had some sort of seafood but I am not a seafood eater so I didnt check into that too closely. Sorry!! All of the food that we did eat though was delicious tasting and the dessert bar was Marvelous!
The Characters
We saw
Cinderella, Suzy, Perla, Aurora and the Fairy Godmother was out in the entry way. Most of them were really good. Not to ruin the magic for anyone but Cinderella needs to go back to training. She almost seemed irritable and was not even really friendly. Kylee had a picture that she had colored for her and Cinderella didnt even pay attention to her. Of course that really hurt Kylee and we had to try to explain that she was just too busy and was maybe worried about her Prince Charming who wasnt at dinner that night. He was there two years ago when we went to the same dinner.
Back to the resort We had originally planned to watch Wishes from the dock at GF but we were tired and a little concerned about our room situation. So we headed straight back to the resort after dinner. We noticed that they had sprayed some kind of floral spray in our room because now it had a floral musty smell which was not much better. Our luggage had magically appeared in our room by this point though so that was encouraging. Travis told me to call the front desk right away and try to change rooms so we could go to bed. No such luck, the resort had been over-booked and we needed to call in the morning to change rooms. By this point, my throat was raw and sore and my allergies were kicking into high gear. I told the girl that I knew it wasnt her fault but that we were not happy so far with POR and would be calling early in the morning for a room change. I was pretty bummed because I had planned to go to MK early in the morning. When I asked how this works. She explained to call at 7am and explain the situation and then call bell services so they could put our bags in storage while we went to the parks. So, we went to bed in our musty room with the not so great view BUT we were at Disney so we were going to be just fine. Oh! I forgot to mention that when we got back to POR, we went into the bar and watched the PianoMan for a little while. Hes a hoot! He is very entertaining and if we hadnt been in a hurry to get to our room we probably would have stayed much longer. We did have fun for the little while we were there though!
I am going to try to attach a couple pics in here. One will be of the Piano Man and one will be of Trav and Kylee trying on Hats at Fultons General Store. This happens to be one of our favorite picture taking opportunities. We usually dont buy the hats but we do like to try them on. I promise, we are very clean people and we just do this for fun!
Stay Tuned for Day 2 Our first official day in the parks Room Change Yeah!! Just so you know though, my baby brother is getting married this weekend and I will not be able to add Day 2 until after the weekend.
Can someone please tell me how to make my pics smaller? I used Photobucket and and a little technologically slow sometimes!
Have a Disney Day, Renee
