WDWfantasy
WDW Fanatic
- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 471
Trip Report part 3 (end)
When: Saturday May 25 - Saturday June 8
Where: POR 6nts using DVC points 8 nts cash
Who: Me Kami age 33
DH Eric age 34
DD Amy age 11
DD Kelly age 9
DAY 10-Monday, June 3, Today we decided to have a relaxing pool day at the resort. We find out on the morning news that the shuttle will not lift off until Wednesday afternoon. After swimming and sunning all morning we had lunch at the food court and then swam some more. Everyone wanted a nap so we headed back to the room for some down time. Around 6 we decided that we liked the Dolphin Fountain so much that we would drive over there for dinner/dessert. What a disappoint this was tonight. I don't know if the strike in any way affected the restaurants but we had a horrible experience here tonight. First of all the kids ordered the "children's chicken with a side of ranch for the fries" DH and I both heard them say it. We again ordered the chili/cheese fries to share. We waited forever it seemed. A different server brings out the fries and two grilled chicken sandwiches with chips. I said that we had ordered the kid's chicken not grilled chicken. So she takes it all back toward the kitchen. Our server catches her and she must have told him that it was the wrong thing. He kind of rolls his eyes. He then brings the chili/cheese fries and tells us the kid's chicken will be right out. We finish our fries and finally the chicken comes out, a rather large portion of it....with the chips instead of the fries. I politely tell him that we ordered the chicken with fries not chips. He says that the chicken doesn't come with fries. I politely tell him that we were just here a couple of nights ago and the kid's chicken comes with fries. He says yes the kid's chicken comes with fries but not as much chicken as what was in the baskets that he was trying to serve to the kids. I said that we wanted the kid's meals with the chicken and fries. He gruffly takes the baskets back and finally brings out the right thing. He then offers us the bill and we reminded him that we wanted to order dessert and that the kid's meal also comes with ice cream. So he takes our orders for dessert and huffly walks away and brings back these measly cups of dessert that were half filled. The kid's get one scoop of ice cream with their meals and that was fine but DH and I had ordered sundaes that were suppose to be 2 scoops of ice cream, toppings, whipped cream, etc. They were like $5.25 each and I mean they were little. I was not that hungry but it was the principle. It was not like the other times we had been there. So I marched up to the counter and asked to speak to the manager. Our server got all mad at me and said "now what's the problem". The manager comes over and I explained the whole story to her and she finally apologized and asked what she could do to fix things. I told her that we just wanted what we were paying for and nothing more. She remade the sundaes and then brought them over, she also brought our bill and didn't charge us for the sundaes. I told her that wasn't necessary as we did eat our sundaes but she insisted. That was very kind of her and she was being very nice about everything. I think she told the server to not interact with us anymore because she pretty much took over the transaction and we didn't see him again. Anyway, long story, but one of those things that folks should be aware of. So, as my blood pressure was finally starting to come down we head back to the car to drive to POR and have our late night swim.
DAY 11-Tuesday, June 4, We decided to go back to MK to do a few attractions at opening time. We took the bus over this time. It was an extremely busy day here today. We got there right at 9. We went to get FPs for Space Mountain for myself and DD11. We got 4 so that we could go on it twice, DD9 and DH sat this one out. We rode TTA one last time. We then walked over to the Hall of Presidents, rode POC once more. We couldn't do FPs for TM or Splash Mountain because we weren't in our timezone for our Space Mountain FPs yet. The standby time for TM was an hour and the standby time for Splash Mountain was 120 minutes!! No way!! We were able to hop on the railroad and ride around to the other side of the park to get out of the mob and get to Space Mountain. We waited a short time for our FP return time and then DD11 and I rode twice. We got to ride both sides of the ride. We had all had enough of the crowds so we took a bus back to the hotel. It was now noon and we were hot!!!! We threw on the swimsuits and drove to BB just to float in the lazy river. We did a few slides too but didn't stay too long. We left there around 3 as we were getting hungry so we decided to stop at OKW and have a late lunch at Olivias. We got seated immediately and had complimentary smoothies thanks to our DC card. Lunch was delicious as it always has been for us there. We then headed back to POR to shower and head to WWoS for the 7:05 game between the O'Rays and the Greenville Braves. The O'Rays lost again but we enjoyed the game. We were seated behind home plate about 5 rows up and there were several groups of scouts there with radars and clipboards so we had a great time trying to see who they were watching, never did really figure out specific players but it was fun anyway. We went back to POR and ended the day with a late night ice cream at the food court.
DAY 12-Wednesday, June 5, Finally the shuttle is scheduled to go at 5:24pm. We decided to go walk around the BW and have lunch at ESPN. The kids wanted to go to Community Hall. Forget the parks they could just stay there when we're at BW and be perfectly happy. No one was in there so we let them play a few games while sat in the Adirondack (sp) chairs on the porch. DH and I decided to try to book Hoop Dee Doo for either tomorrow night or Friday night so I called WDW dining from the payphone by the quiet pool at BW and book the 5pm show on Friday, our last night. The kids then came out of CH and we went and looked around the shops at BW and had lunch at ESPN as planned. It was a late lunch like we usually do at around 2. We then went back to POR to confirm that the shuttle was still planning to go. The news said yes so we jumped in the car at 4:30 to drive as close as we could get in the time that we had. We even called my mom in California from our cell phone and had her go online to check on things as we were driving there. At 5:20 we were about 15 miles away from the Cape. We found a radio station that was broadcasting it live. As they got down to 45 seconds we were approaching an overpass on the freeway. We decided to pull over there and jump out of the car (a safe distance off the road of course). We cranked up the radio and left the passenger door open so we could hear everything. Other cars were doing the same thing by now. As they got to the "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5"...etc. we were pumped. When they said "3, 2, 1 and we have lift off of the Space Shuttle Endeavor" we are looking frantically for a glimpse. Then, there it is coming up over the trees...a white/gray mass with the largest fire power you can imagine coming from beneath. We watched it all the way up. We heard them count down until the seperation of the boosters and we could then see the white speck against the blue sky as it hurled its way into the atmosphere. What a thrill!! I was so glad that we finally got to see it. We miss it on every trip and I so wanted to see it this time. A sight I will never forget for sure. Anyway, we decided to drive on over to Port Canaveral since we had come this far. We needed gas anyway, so we drove until we saw the Disney Cruise Line terminal and then fueled up at the nearest gas station so that we could make the trip back to WDW. We decided to have a swim and then shower and go play mini golf at BB Winter/Summerland. We of course then topped the day off with...you guessed it....ice cream at POR food court!!!! Surprise, surprise. Then off to bed.
DAY 13-Thursday, June 6, Today we decide to park at BW and take the boat to MGM for a change just to play Millionaire one more time. We did MuppetVision before the Millionaire show. Last time none of us even made the top ten at any time. This time, wouldn't you know it, after the second person missed a question, the out of time chime plays, and host Dennis says "that's all the time that we have for this show but lets check the top ten board to see who is at the top"....none of us make the top ten except for Amy, DD11, who is in the NUMBER ONE spot!!! So close!! It would have been fun for her to make into the hot seat but she was excited enough just being number 1 out of the 600 and some people there. Oh well, maybe next time!! MGM was pretty crowded by now and it was pretty hot out so we decide to jump back on the boat and head to Y&BC to have AN EARLY lunch at Beaches and Cream. We got in with no wait and had a nice lunch. We opted to walk around the path to get back to BW and our car. We then went back to the hotel to swim at the quiet pool for the afternoon. At around 7 we decided to go to Red Lobster at Crossroads for dinner. We had a great meal here. We've been here before and it's always good food and good service. We have had the best luck with those just offsite restaurants. I'm sure that the competition within the resort itself keeps the service standards at the offsite restaurants pretty high. Back to the room to watch a little tv before going to bed at around 11.
DAY 14-Friday, June 7, Well this is our last full day at WDW. Tomorrow we have an early flight. The girls really want to go to DisneyQuest so after a late start this morning we take the bus to DD. We get there right at opening. We were probably 50th in line. With the little elevator staging thing they do it takes a really long time for a short line to move. Once in we did a few of the virtual attractions but had the most fun playing the free arcade games. All of my favorite games from the 80's are there!! Ms. PacMan, PacMan, Galaga, Centipede, SkeeBall, DonkeyKong. The kids are always wanting to go into the arcades at the hotels but at 50 cents a game the answer is always no. Here they could play whatever they wanted. We shared a couple of orders of cheese fries at the Cheesecake Factory at around noon because we were saving room for dinner at Hoop Dee Doo at 5. We all scrubbed our hands before lunch and then again after we played the games. I always carry that anti-bacterial gel with me too so we lathered that on too as we left DQ. The idea of everyone touching everything that everybody else touches just grosses me out. We left DQ at 2:30 in order to catch a bus and get back to POR in time to get ready for our dinner show. I started packing the clean clothes and making some laundry piles before we left for FW at 4:15. We parked at FW and took the bus to Pioneer Hall. We skipped the photo line as we never buy the photos anyway. We sat on the second floor which we didn't mind as we have been there before and had been part of the show before. It was a full house for sure and we must have got the last seats of the show or pretty close to it as there were no empty seats to be seen. The show was great as always and the food was good too. Too much of course but I just love the chicken and the strawberry shortcake. It was raining outside as we left at 6:45. Back at the resort it was still raining so the kids stayed in the room and DH and I took down a few loads of laundry to do. We always do all of the laundry except for what is on our backs at laundry time and the clothes that we will wear home the night before we fly out. I hate laundry at anytime but if I had to pick a place to do it I guess WDW would be my first choice. I just hate the post vacation "work" and unzipping the suitcases and putting the clean clothes directly into the closets/drawers when you get home sure helps. So at around 11 everything is clean, packed, and the wake up call and alarm clock are set for 5am. And, it's still raining.
DAY 15-Saturday, June 8, Up at 5 and out the door by 5:20. We all showered and laid out everything we needed last night. We stopped by the front desk on our way out to get a copy of our charges and we were on the road by 5:35. Returning the car was smooth as usual and we were in the long Delta check-in line by 6:15. By the time we checked in there was no line at security at all. We were at the gate at 6:45 ready for our 7:40 flight. Flight left on time and after a plane change in Salt Lake City we landed in Sacramento at 12:10. We were on the road by 1 and were home by 4 (we stopped for lunch on the way). Put those clean clothes away and was ready to type this report by 5. But then I was exhausted. We all skipped dinner and were in bed by 8.
Anyway, it was a great trip as usual. The magic of WDW is the same as ever. We were bothered neither by the heat nor the crowds. We do love staying at the BWV but I would stay in a tent if I had to just to be at WDW....well that might be exaggerating a bit <g>. POR is a beautiful resort and I'm sure we'll stay there again. At least for the "arrival night" kind of stay. But it just can't compare to that 1 bedroom at the DVC resorts. The next trip will be just DH and I. We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary on Nov. 28th. That is Thanksgiving Day so we plan to spend the next week at BCV. Hope you've enjoyed the report. It has been fun writing it and getting to experience the events over again in my mind.
When: Saturday May 25 - Saturday June 8
Where: POR 6nts using DVC points 8 nts cash
Who: Me Kami age 33
DH Eric age 34
DD Amy age 11
DD Kelly age 9
DAY 10-Monday, June 3, Today we decided to have a relaxing pool day at the resort. We find out on the morning news that the shuttle will not lift off until Wednesday afternoon. After swimming and sunning all morning we had lunch at the food court and then swam some more. Everyone wanted a nap so we headed back to the room for some down time. Around 6 we decided that we liked the Dolphin Fountain so much that we would drive over there for dinner/dessert. What a disappoint this was tonight. I don't know if the strike in any way affected the restaurants but we had a horrible experience here tonight. First of all the kids ordered the "children's chicken with a side of ranch for the fries" DH and I both heard them say it. We again ordered the chili/cheese fries to share. We waited forever it seemed. A different server brings out the fries and two grilled chicken sandwiches with chips. I said that we had ordered the kid's chicken not grilled chicken. So she takes it all back toward the kitchen. Our server catches her and she must have told him that it was the wrong thing. He kind of rolls his eyes. He then brings the chili/cheese fries and tells us the kid's chicken will be right out. We finish our fries and finally the chicken comes out, a rather large portion of it....with the chips instead of the fries. I politely tell him that we ordered the chicken with fries not chips. He says that the chicken doesn't come with fries. I politely tell him that we were just here a couple of nights ago and the kid's chicken comes with fries. He says yes the kid's chicken comes with fries but not as much chicken as what was in the baskets that he was trying to serve to the kids. I said that we wanted the kid's meals with the chicken and fries. He gruffly takes the baskets back and finally brings out the right thing. He then offers us the bill and we reminded him that we wanted to order dessert and that the kid's meal also comes with ice cream. So he takes our orders for dessert and huffly walks away and brings back these measly cups of dessert that were half filled. The kid's get one scoop of ice cream with their meals and that was fine but DH and I had ordered sundaes that were suppose to be 2 scoops of ice cream, toppings, whipped cream, etc. They were like $5.25 each and I mean they were little. I was not that hungry but it was the principle. It was not like the other times we had been there. So I marched up to the counter and asked to speak to the manager. Our server got all mad at me and said "now what's the problem". The manager comes over and I explained the whole story to her and she finally apologized and asked what she could do to fix things. I told her that we just wanted what we were paying for and nothing more. She remade the sundaes and then brought them over, she also brought our bill and didn't charge us for the sundaes. I told her that wasn't necessary as we did eat our sundaes but she insisted. That was very kind of her and she was being very nice about everything. I think she told the server to not interact with us anymore because she pretty much took over the transaction and we didn't see him again. Anyway, long story, but one of those things that folks should be aware of. So, as my blood pressure was finally starting to come down we head back to the car to drive to POR and have our late night swim.
DAY 11-Tuesday, June 4, We decided to go back to MK to do a few attractions at opening time. We took the bus over this time. It was an extremely busy day here today. We got there right at 9. We went to get FPs for Space Mountain for myself and DD11. We got 4 so that we could go on it twice, DD9 and DH sat this one out. We rode TTA one last time. We then walked over to the Hall of Presidents, rode POC once more. We couldn't do FPs for TM or Splash Mountain because we weren't in our timezone for our Space Mountain FPs yet. The standby time for TM was an hour and the standby time for Splash Mountain was 120 minutes!! No way!! We were able to hop on the railroad and ride around to the other side of the park to get out of the mob and get to Space Mountain. We waited a short time for our FP return time and then DD11 and I rode twice. We got to ride both sides of the ride. We had all had enough of the crowds so we took a bus back to the hotel. It was now noon and we were hot!!!! We threw on the swimsuits and drove to BB just to float in the lazy river. We did a few slides too but didn't stay too long. We left there around 3 as we were getting hungry so we decided to stop at OKW and have a late lunch at Olivias. We got seated immediately and had complimentary smoothies thanks to our DC card. Lunch was delicious as it always has been for us there. We then headed back to POR to shower and head to WWoS for the 7:05 game between the O'Rays and the Greenville Braves. The O'Rays lost again but we enjoyed the game. We were seated behind home plate about 5 rows up and there were several groups of scouts there with radars and clipboards so we had a great time trying to see who they were watching, never did really figure out specific players but it was fun anyway. We went back to POR and ended the day with a late night ice cream at the food court.
DAY 12-Wednesday, June 5, Finally the shuttle is scheduled to go at 5:24pm. We decided to go walk around the BW and have lunch at ESPN. The kids wanted to go to Community Hall. Forget the parks they could just stay there when we're at BW and be perfectly happy. No one was in there so we let them play a few games while sat in the Adirondack (sp) chairs on the porch. DH and I decided to try to book Hoop Dee Doo for either tomorrow night or Friday night so I called WDW dining from the payphone by the quiet pool at BW and book the 5pm show on Friday, our last night. The kids then came out of CH and we went and looked around the shops at BW and had lunch at ESPN as planned. It was a late lunch like we usually do at around 2. We then went back to POR to confirm that the shuttle was still planning to go. The news said yes so we jumped in the car at 4:30 to drive as close as we could get in the time that we had. We even called my mom in California from our cell phone and had her go online to check on things as we were driving there. At 5:20 we were about 15 miles away from the Cape. We found a radio station that was broadcasting it live. As they got down to 45 seconds we were approaching an overpass on the freeway. We decided to pull over there and jump out of the car (a safe distance off the road of course). We cranked up the radio and left the passenger door open so we could hear everything. Other cars were doing the same thing by now. As they got to the "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5"...etc. we were pumped. When they said "3, 2, 1 and we have lift off of the Space Shuttle Endeavor" we are looking frantically for a glimpse. Then, there it is coming up over the trees...a white/gray mass with the largest fire power you can imagine coming from beneath. We watched it all the way up. We heard them count down until the seperation of the boosters and we could then see the white speck against the blue sky as it hurled its way into the atmosphere. What a thrill!! I was so glad that we finally got to see it. We miss it on every trip and I so wanted to see it this time. A sight I will never forget for sure. Anyway, we decided to drive on over to Port Canaveral since we had come this far. We needed gas anyway, so we drove until we saw the Disney Cruise Line terminal and then fueled up at the nearest gas station so that we could make the trip back to WDW. We decided to have a swim and then shower and go play mini golf at BB Winter/Summerland. We of course then topped the day off with...you guessed it....ice cream at POR food court!!!! Surprise, surprise. Then off to bed.
DAY 13-Thursday, June 6, Today we decide to park at BW and take the boat to MGM for a change just to play Millionaire one more time. We did MuppetVision before the Millionaire show. Last time none of us even made the top ten at any time. This time, wouldn't you know it, after the second person missed a question, the out of time chime plays, and host Dennis says "that's all the time that we have for this show but lets check the top ten board to see who is at the top"....none of us make the top ten except for Amy, DD11, who is in the NUMBER ONE spot!!! So close!! It would have been fun for her to make into the hot seat but she was excited enough just being number 1 out of the 600 and some people there. Oh well, maybe next time!! MGM was pretty crowded by now and it was pretty hot out so we decide to jump back on the boat and head to Y&BC to have AN EARLY lunch at Beaches and Cream. We got in with no wait and had a nice lunch. We opted to walk around the path to get back to BW and our car. We then went back to the hotel to swim at the quiet pool for the afternoon. At around 7 we decided to go to Red Lobster at Crossroads for dinner. We had a great meal here. We've been here before and it's always good food and good service. We have had the best luck with those just offsite restaurants. I'm sure that the competition within the resort itself keeps the service standards at the offsite restaurants pretty high. Back to the room to watch a little tv before going to bed at around 11.
DAY 14-Friday, June 7, Well this is our last full day at WDW. Tomorrow we have an early flight. The girls really want to go to DisneyQuest so after a late start this morning we take the bus to DD. We get there right at opening. We were probably 50th in line. With the little elevator staging thing they do it takes a really long time for a short line to move. Once in we did a few of the virtual attractions but had the most fun playing the free arcade games. All of my favorite games from the 80's are there!! Ms. PacMan, PacMan, Galaga, Centipede, SkeeBall, DonkeyKong. The kids are always wanting to go into the arcades at the hotels but at 50 cents a game the answer is always no. Here they could play whatever they wanted. We shared a couple of orders of cheese fries at the Cheesecake Factory at around noon because we were saving room for dinner at Hoop Dee Doo at 5. We all scrubbed our hands before lunch and then again after we played the games. I always carry that anti-bacterial gel with me too so we lathered that on too as we left DQ. The idea of everyone touching everything that everybody else touches just grosses me out. We left DQ at 2:30 in order to catch a bus and get back to POR in time to get ready for our dinner show. I started packing the clean clothes and making some laundry piles before we left for FW at 4:15. We parked at FW and took the bus to Pioneer Hall. We skipped the photo line as we never buy the photos anyway. We sat on the second floor which we didn't mind as we have been there before and had been part of the show before. It was a full house for sure and we must have got the last seats of the show or pretty close to it as there were no empty seats to be seen. The show was great as always and the food was good too. Too much of course but I just love the chicken and the strawberry shortcake. It was raining outside as we left at 6:45. Back at the resort it was still raining so the kids stayed in the room and DH and I took down a few loads of laundry to do. We always do all of the laundry except for what is on our backs at laundry time and the clothes that we will wear home the night before we fly out. I hate laundry at anytime but if I had to pick a place to do it I guess WDW would be my first choice. I just hate the post vacation "work" and unzipping the suitcases and putting the clean clothes directly into the closets/drawers when you get home sure helps. So at around 11 everything is clean, packed, and the wake up call and alarm clock are set for 5am. And, it's still raining.
DAY 15-Saturday, June 8, Up at 5 and out the door by 5:20. We all showered and laid out everything we needed last night. We stopped by the front desk on our way out to get a copy of our charges and we were on the road by 5:35. Returning the car was smooth as usual and we were in the long Delta check-in line by 6:15. By the time we checked in there was no line at security at all. We were at the gate at 6:45 ready for our 7:40 flight. Flight left on time and after a plane change in Salt Lake City we landed in Sacramento at 12:10. We were on the road by 1 and were home by 4 (we stopped for lunch on the way). Put those clean clothes away and was ready to type this report by 5. But then I was exhausted. We all skipped dinner and were in bed by 8.
Anyway, it was a great trip as usual. The magic of WDW is the same as ever. We were bothered neither by the heat nor the crowds. We do love staying at the BWV but I would stay in a tent if I had to just to be at WDW....well that might be exaggerating a bit <g>. POR is a beautiful resort and I'm sure we'll stay there again. At least for the "arrival night" kind of stay. But it just can't compare to that 1 bedroom at the DVC resorts. The next trip will be just DH and I. We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary on Nov. 28th. That is Thanksgiving Day so we plan to spend the next week at BCV. Hope you've enjoyed the report. It has been fun writing it and getting to experience the events over again in my mind.
