"These 1st timers go to Disney and get hooked!!! (UPDATE 4/10!)" trip report

[momofoneplustwinz]

I just read your report. I have loved reading it! I bet you are all so excited!! BTW, I love the t-shirts(we are Ford's too!)

 

[lilyfrog73]

I just read your report. I have loved reading it! I bet you are all so excited!! BTW, I love the t-shirts(we are Ford's too!)

What a cool coincidence, maybe you can use those designs!!! Thanks for stopping by!!


OK, I could smack my DH. We're down to 2 days left and he hasn't said 2 words about this trip, letting me do all the planning. We are at the mall last night and he's looking at ball caps (he's obsessed with them). He doesn't find one he likes but says "I'll just get one at the ESPN store when we're in Disney". We aren't going anywhere near there!!!!! From what I can find, it's on the Boardwalk?? I'm not really interested in touring resorts but now have to find a way to work this in. What a pain in the butt!!!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

OK, we are leaving in the morning!!!!! I can't believe it's finally here!!! I feel like Santa today. I've been going over my list and checking it twice. I keep checking JetBlue's website to make sure we are able to take what we've packed in the carry on. Everything has tags on it. Gotta drop the dog off after 3. I feel like I'm ready and then I go crazy!!!!



WOO HOO we leave tomorrow!!!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

We are here!!!!! Everything went pretty well today. We arrived at POP around noon. We didn't wait long for DME but Orlando airport is confusing!! We had a really "challenged" front desk clerk at POP. He kept implying that there was a problem with our reservation and we were getting frustrated. He commented that we overbooked our ADR's based on our dining plan and I kept telling him we were paying OOP for some but he wasn't listening. He could tell we were getting irritated and "to do us a favor" he only charged us 1 TS for Mickey's BBQ. We basically just relaxed and walked around looking at the resort. We had an ADR at Chef Mickey's and that was fun. If I have time, I'll give more updates as the week goes on.

 

[bertegirl]

I am so excited!!! How is the weather. Iowa is having a cold spell, but then thats March in Iowa. I hope we get a good CM at check in. I want a great view at AKL. Have fun, can't wait to hear all about your trip when you get back.

 

[momofoneplustwinz]

I am so EXCITED for you that you are there!! Can't wait to hear all the great things that come your way! HAVE A GREAT TIME!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

I am so excited!!! How is the weather. Iowa is having a cold spell, but then thats March in Iowa. I hope we get a good CM at check in. I want a great view at AKL. Have fun, can't wait to hear all about your trip when you get back.

The weather has been pretty decent. Yesterday it rained most of the morning and into the afternoon and then it was gorgeous out and in the 70's. Today was sun and 78.

I am so EXCITED for you that you are there!! Can't wait to hear all the great things that come your way! HAVE A GREAT TIME!!

Thanks so much!!!

We are having lots of fun but it is such a sensory overload. For 1st timers, my first piece of advice is to definitely do the dining plan. I am so glad we did!!! A quick overview so far, yesterday we went to Magic Kingdom. Not a lot of fun in the rain. Macie isn't really into the rides (which is very shocking) so all we rode is "It's a Small World", "Dumbo" and "Haunted Mansion". Cameron absolutely LOVED "Haunted Mansion". We had breakfast at CRT and Macie did BBB before. We ate dinner at Crystal Palace. Today we went to Animal Kingdom and had breakfast at Tusker House (this is our favorite so far). We stayed to late afternoon and went to the Boardwalk for a late lunch at ESPN (this was great too). Walked through Epcot to catch the bus back to POP (we will be going to Epcot for the day tomorrow). POP is a really fun resort and I would definitely come back here. I'll try to update again soon!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

Oh so sad that we had to come home. We had a great time!! Definitely not as planned but still great. I am working on getting my pics loaded and rough drafting my trip report for those that are interested. I should start it within the next few days. I took 1500+ of my own pictures but only 133 photopass pics. To be honest, we really didn't see them much. Hopefully those of you reading will be back to catch up on us once I get started!!

 

[bertegirl]

Can't wait to hear all about it. 130 photo pass sounds great to me. Last time we went to Disneyland we came home with 2 family pictures.

 

[lilyfrog73]

I'm having a heck of a time getting my pictures to upload to photobucket. Anyone know any other sites? My laptop keeps freezing everytime I try.

 

[lilyfrog73]

Ok, I'm gonna start on this report. Hopefully I'm half as good as some of the others I have read!!

Our flight was at 7am. We had loaded up the suitcases in the car the night before and all that was left was carryons. We woke up at 4am with the anticipation to leave at 4:30, wanting to be at the airport by 5:30 (an obvious hour trip). We were well on track, kids in the car, when I start 2nd guessing my packing. I say "where's my camera"? DH starts getting mad while I'm searching through the 2 overstuffed carryons. I have everything spread on the hood of the car and I can't find it!! He's getting ticked that it's now 4:35 and we haven't left. I know I packed it in one of the carryon bags... I KNOW IT!! It's now 4:40 and DD is in the back and says "Is this it?..holding up my camera case. I forgot about my "purse" baggelini (my 3rd carryon)!! Crisis solved We arrived at the airport at 5:40, got everything unloaded, check the bags and are in line for security by 6. Now I ask DH, "Did you grab your sunglasses"? NO!!!! Of course he wants to go back to the car. So me and the kids wait while he goes and gets his sunglasses out of the car. Fortunately the parking garage elevator was right down the hallway from where we were. We had to go up 1 floor to get in so I tell him "Go down 1 floor and we're straight out the door". He leaves and 15 minutes go by. He comes back and says " You told me to go up and I was supposed to go down". I decide not to dispute and DD says "but Mom said...". I shushed her quickly and off we went to security. Now DD was bringing her Nintendo DS, an old gameboy advance for her brother, an iPod and her camera. She had these in one of her purses. Of course she never ends up carrying her own things so I had shoved this bag in one of the carryons. We brought my laptop and that has to be taken out for security. Well, I forgot about DD's stuff. We put the bags on, go through the walk through and get escorted over to another table because they want to go through our stuff!! Her "stuffed little bag of electronics" didn't look so innocent. Of course I get the evil eye from DH, which I then pass on to DD. The security guy is laughing at us and leaves us to re-pack our bags. Finally we are now seated to wait for our flight!!!

Boarding goes without a hitch. The plane ride was making me nervous because it was the kids 1st time. DS is very "on the go" so I was concerned on how well he was going to sit still (lap child). My concerns were definitely warranted. He didn't sit still all but a 30 minute nap before landing. Our plane had 2 seat rows so DD and I were on one side and DH across the aisle from us. The man who was supposed to sit in the window seat next to DH was a pilot and took another open seat because he saw that we had a "youngun' and knew how that was going to go". Other than DS going back and forth between DH and myself every 5 minutes, the flight wasn't bad. DD thinks she has to go to the bathroom all the time (no health problems, just likes public restrooms for some reason ) so I had told her there were no bathrooms on the plane. Our flight was only 2 hours and 45 minutes so she would be OK until we landed (we went twice before boarding). Doesn't DH say with 30 minutes left, "where's the bathroom?" I gave up!!!

All I have to say about Orlando airport is chaos!! Maybe it's just me but nothing made sense. Our little map in our DME book was no help either. I was bound and determined to figure it out myself but DH asks someone for directions (a man..go figure). We get to DME and are hearded in line to wait for an available bus. It was amazing to see all the people headed to Disney like us!! We only waited about 20 minutes, not too bad I thought. We get on the bus (which is another repeat of the plane ride for DS) and are on our way to POP!!!!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

We arrived at POP a little after noon. DME was great, nice to have no worries. The check in line was pretty long but they were moving pretty well. DH asked a CM standing at a podium and he said they had 1000 check-ins expected that day. When it was finally our turn, I think we were being tested. This guy drove us absolutely nuts. He kept saying our reservation was wrong and typing away. I said there was anything wrong and he kept saying "hang on, hang on". He gives me a print out of all our ADR's and says your overbooked to your DDP. I say, "I know that, we paying OOP for some". I did need to cancel 2 and asked if he could take care of that. We decided to cancel Sci-Fi and a Chef Mickey breakfast that I changed to Ohana. He says he can and then cancels our MBYBBQ, but didn't tell us right away. He keeps typing and saying "I'm sorry folks, but I'm gonna do you a favor". Five minutes go by and he has said this 4 more times. DH finally says, "OK what's the favor"? Now he tells us he cancelled the BBQ by mistake but he's fixing it. I then "explain" to him that I pre-paid this with our credit card and this was one we were paying OOP for. He says "Ohhh, that's a problem since I fixed it by doing you a favor and only charged you 1 TS on your DDP" and he charged the DDP already. Since the tickets were supposed to be waiting for us, now we had to credit the original charge and start all over. It ended up working out in our favor to use 1 TS but this was like a half hour process.

Finally off to our room. We booked preferred and were put in the seventies building (room 6110). It was like a 2 minute walk from Classic Hall which was nice. We were before the big wheel and the mickey phone. The rooms were nice and we were happy with where we were.

Our bags weren't there yet of course so we decide to go get some lunch. (I totally forgot to take food pics on this trip. I did take a few later on). DH and I split a cheesesteak wrap and DD got chicken nuggets, fries and a fruit bowl. The cheesesteak was actually pretty good. DS ate from ours and DD's. For the kids meals you got the entree and a choice of 2 from grapes, applesauce, jello, pudding, carrots, cookie or fries. DD is a big fruit eater so she always wanted the big fruit bowl. I would just get that as a dessert and give to her and let DS have a dessert from one of the choices she had. It took us a few days to get the hang of the DDP and how to use it best. We didn't really have any complaints about the food here. We did get the refillable mugs for the 3 of us and it was worth it. DD thought she was cool she had her own and got the icee's quite a bit.

I have to finish later, got a distraction (no school today )

 

[lilyfrog73]

After eating lunch, we decided to walk around the resort for a while. We weren't going to go to any parks today, just relax and unpack. We went to the gift shop to pick up our autograph book. We had an ADR at 5:45 at Chef Mickey's. DD had fun posing in front of everything!!

This is the Hippy Dippy pool facing Classic Hall.

This is facing the Classic Years from the bridge.

DS "hanging out" while we stroll.

We decided to check out the arcade for a bit too. It's not very big but they have a decent variety of games. DS likes anything that has a steering wheel.

This girl on the right, with the striped shorts, kept hitting the jackpot on that machine. She must have had thousands of tickets.

We went back to the room and our bags were there. We had requested a pack 'n play and it wasn't in the room when we got there. I called to find out and was told to call housekeeping. They had it to our room within 15 minutes. We unpacked everything and set up the pack 'n play. Now we were heading off to the Magic Kingdom, then monorail to the Contemporary and Chef Mickey's!!

A few shots of the lobby on the way out.

Macie was real excited to ride these.

We got to the Contemporary a little after 4 so we had a little while to wait. I wasn't sure how to gage travel time so I wanted to be early. *sidenote* we didn't really have any long waits for anything. The longest we waited for a bus or monorail was 15 minutes and that may have been 3 or 4 times. 10 minutes was usually the norm. We walked around the resort a bit checking out the shops and then outside in the awesome 77 degree weather. Here are some pics from outside.

We went back inside and cleaned up from the sand and it was now 5:30. I figured we could check in at the restaurant and wait. They took us right in!!

This would be our first character experience so I was curious how it would go. Cameron absolutely loved the characters. Macie was so serious about getting her autographs.

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald were here. We missed Donald some how. The food was pretty good. The only thing I can remember that I ate was this turkey pot pie and it was delicious!! This meal we used the DDP for and we paid all our tips in cash. We did buy the pre-meal picture and they run $31.90 after tax. *a tip* these pics can also be added to your photopass once you get home. There's a code printed on the top of the large picture as well as on the receipt. I entered them and got all the poses they take.

After dinner, we went back to POP to relax and get ready for the Magic Kingdom and BBB the next day. DH went to Petals Pool bar and got a beer for himself and a Pinacolava for me (very yummy!!) So far we were pretty relaxed and ready for an awesome vacation. It's funny how stressed out you can get after a good nights sleep...

 

[bertegirl]

I think you need to contact a dis veteran and have it moved over to post trip reports!!! Love the photos. I am so nervous about the airline trip with my kids. Can't wait to keep reading more.

 

[jenharring]

great trip report cant wait to read more. We leave in 40 days, well technically 39 days, but the kids dont know that. I am getting so excited. I am about like you ready to back now. I have one of those big bath and body works bags filled with stuff and started another big bag. I am also doing shirts. My dh acually wants us to have them.