verchad
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 8, 2004
- Messages
- 309
Wow, what a great time. Thank you Alamo rental car company! Stayed June 21 to 27.
Day 1 - morning flight into Orlando great, got a nice chevy impala rental, got to GF around noon, room was ready, Boca Chica 8318 overlooking the pool. Added days to our tickets, no problem. Bellman gave us a tour of the facilities. One minor problem we found out friday night, he said the boat is quicker back from the MK at night, true, except the boat doesn't run during most of extra magic evening hours so we had to monorail it back to the GF. Beautiful, clean room. Took the monorail to tranportation center, and we got to ride in the front. My daughter got her Co-Pilots license for it. Went to Epcot from around 1-2 until midnight, had dinner @ Akershus. Kirby was a great server, he got the recipe for the rice pudding for my wife. Got our free picture in Epcot for Disney Visa Card holders. Rode lots of stuff and saw the seas w nemo.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Day. Saw and did lots. Got my first and definitely not last Dole Whip. Dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern was good. And remember people, if you have very small chhildren, test them at the mall with santa or the easter bunny, one poor little kid was scared to death of all the characters, which made the time a little less enjoyable for those around. Server was ok, we never lacked anything, just not much personality. A nice cast member inside Philharmagic took a picture for us. Got back to GF, after monorail trip, and beds were turned down for us with chocolates waiting.
Day 3 - Dis MGM Day. Had morning coffee on our balcony. Then we went to Star Wars Weekend. Saw the R2D2 mailbox and the morning Star Wars parade. Saw Lights, Motors, .... and loved it. Rode Star Tours & Tower of Terror with FP. Saw lightning McQueen and Mater. My daughter saw Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, when asked where Rufus was, Ron replied, I think he went to Animal Kingdom for awhile. Had an early dinner at Mama Melrose (the fantasmic package). It was good and the server was great, Julie I think. Only problem was they didn't include the main vegetable with my wifes pasta and she had to wait about 5 minutes before they returned the correct dish.
Day 4 - ventured out on my own to Dis MGM. Being the last weekend for Star Wars weekends, much of the merchandise with dates (tshirts, posters, stuffed dolls, and mugs) was discounted 25%, so I picked up a few things for a buddy that's a SW collector. Returned to GF and then we went to MK for lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. We were too early, and went to ride Cinderella's Carousel. Mary Poppins was on it and when our ride was done, she got off and did the pic/autograph thing, so we we followed her and were 2nd in line. The food and characters were great, however we got another server with no personality. He hardly said 10 words. One of the roving servers, she was a supervisor possibly, showed more personality in our brief conversation. Daughter loved the wishing ceremony. We a MAGICAL WISH! We were waiting for the afternoon parade near the bridge between the circle in front of the castle and the Hall of Presidents, near the funnel cakes (thanks for the tip to various podcasts). Kids were playing hopscotch in the roped off street, with a few castmembers supervising. After she finished playing, one came over and said come here princess and bring your family too. They gave her 2 special tinker bell pins, one to keep and one to give away. Then we were taken to a roped off area between the bridge and the circle. We had special seating with about 20 others for the parade. We were coached on how to cheer, who to boo, and to clap and say tick tock to Capt hook. The kids could go right to the rope and many of the characters on foot came over to them. My daughter was wearing pink that day and one of the fairies from Cinderella came over and kept tapping her with her wand, then looked frustrated. My wife then told me the fairy was trying to "change" Rebecca's pink outfit to blue. Wishes was wonderful.
Day 5 - Resort change. Started the day with breakfast at the Poly, Ohana. Food, juice, and server were great. Wandered the poly for awhile. Back to GF, we had express checkout and bill was correct. Drove to Pop Cent. Lucked out again and room was ready early. Building 10 in the 70's resort 133, clean and cool/chilly. Wandered around there a little while. Went out to Animal Kingdom, saw Nemo musical and liked it a lot. Ordered pizza delivery, while not anything near what were used to in the Chicago area (lots of good different types of pizza), it was okay, hot, delivered quickly.
Day 6 - Back to Animal Kingdom. Amazing! did the safari and the walking trail, the gorillas were astonishing, felt like you were right in the jungle with them. Did other things at AK. Back to hotel. Then to Epcot for dinner at Rose & Crown, 7:30 pm res. Asked for table near water and was told by the host that they now just do it as next open table is what you get. Loved the fish and my Black & Tan. Towards the end asked the server about anywhere to watch Illuminations. She said she had just the spot. We paid and she took us outside to a little roped off area (8' x 15') between some tables along the water. She put us right along the wall with another family. It was wonderful. Towards the end, the wind shifted and we actually got a few ashes coming down on us. Rode Test Track late, cool seeing the outside at night from 65 mph.
Day 7 - homeward bound. Packed up, express checkout bill was correct. Loaded up and off to the airport.
A few observations. The Disney bus service is not all it's cracked up to be. 2 times while waiting for the bus to get back to GF from MGM, they put us on the fort wilderness bus. Since we weren't paying for the rooms it didn't upset me that much, but had I been paying for it, I would have been a little p***ed off that it took us an extra 25 minutes or more to get back to our resort. Once they went to FT, wilderness, then the cont/poly/GF route and another time they took all of us just back to the transportation center. Fortunately we weren't cutting it close on any reservations or anything. Also, we definitley got better service at the meals we did that we paid for and tipped for. The Cinderella Lunch, which was prepaid, was probably the worst server we had. We did get some matching tshirts on sale before the trip from a Disneystore and Disneyshopping.com. Quite a few Cast members would greet us with things like, "Well hello blue family." We did take advantage of FP for many rides and it worked well. Still don't like the crowds compared to when we have gone in Sept and Oct but hey, when you get a free trip (for the most part), it's kind of hard to argue. Overall it was a great experience. I almost think any other time we go there, it will never live up to this trip.
Any questions you might have I will try to answer.
Day 1 - morning flight into Orlando great, got a nice chevy impala rental, got to GF around noon, room was ready, Boca Chica 8318 overlooking the pool. Added days to our tickets, no problem. Bellman gave us a tour of the facilities. One minor problem we found out friday night, he said the boat is quicker back from the MK at night, true, except the boat doesn't run during most of extra magic evening hours so we had to monorail it back to the GF. Beautiful, clean room. Took the monorail to tranportation center, and we got to ride in the front. My daughter got her Co-Pilots license for it. Went to Epcot from around 1-2 until midnight, had dinner @ Akershus. Kirby was a great server, he got the recipe for the rice pudding for my wife. Got our free picture in Epcot for Disney Visa Card holders. Rode lots of stuff and saw the seas w nemo.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Day. Saw and did lots. Got my first and definitely not last Dole Whip. Dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern was good. And remember people, if you have very small chhildren, test them at the mall with santa or the easter bunny, one poor little kid was scared to death of all the characters, which made the time a little less enjoyable for those around. Server was ok, we never lacked anything, just not much personality. A nice cast member inside Philharmagic took a picture for us. Got back to GF, after monorail trip, and beds were turned down for us with chocolates waiting.
Day 3 - Dis MGM Day. Had morning coffee on our balcony. Then we went to Star Wars Weekend. Saw the R2D2 mailbox and the morning Star Wars parade. Saw Lights, Motors, .... and loved it. Rode Star Tours & Tower of Terror with FP. Saw lightning McQueen and Mater. My daughter saw Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, when asked where Rufus was, Ron replied, I think he went to Animal Kingdom for awhile. Had an early dinner at Mama Melrose (the fantasmic package). It was good and the server was great, Julie I think. Only problem was they didn't include the main vegetable with my wifes pasta and she had to wait about 5 minutes before they returned the correct dish.
Day 4 - ventured out on my own to Dis MGM. Being the last weekend for Star Wars weekends, much of the merchandise with dates (tshirts, posters, stuffed dolls, and mugs) was discounted 25%, so I picked up a few things for a buddy that's a SW collector. Returned to GF and then we went to MK for lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. We were too early, and went to ride Cinderella's Carousel. Mary Poppins was on it and when our ride was done, she got off and did the pic/autograph thing, so we we followed her and were 2nd in line. The food and characters were great, however we got another server with no personality. He hardly said 10 words. One of the roving servers, she was a supervisor possibly, showed more personality in our brief conversation. Daughter loved the wishing ceremony. We a MAGICAL WISH! We were waiting for the afternoon parade near the bridge between the circle in front of the castle and the Hall of Presidents, near the funnel cakes (thanks for the tip to various podcasts). Kids were playing hopscotch in the roped off street, with a few castmembers supervising. After she finished playing, one came over and said come here princess and bring your family too. They gave her 2 special tinker bell pins, one to keep and one to give away. Then we were taken to a roped off area between the bridge and the circle. We had special seating with about 20 others for the parade. We were coached on how to cheer, who to boo, and to clap and say tick tock to Capt hook. The kids could go right to the rope and many of the characters on foot came over to them. My daughter was wearing pink that day and one of the fairies from Cinderella came over and kept tapping her with her wand, then looked frustrated. My wife then told me the fairy was trying to "change" Rebecca's pink outfit to blue. Wishes was wonderful.
Day 5 - Resort change. Started the day with breakfast at the Poly, Ohana. Food, juice, and server were great. Wandered the poly for awhile. Back to GF, we had express checkout and bill was correct. Drove to Pop Cent. Lucked out again and room was ready early. Building 10 in the 70's resort 133, clean and cool/chilly. Wandered around there a little while. Went out to Animal Kingdom, saw Nemo musical and liked it a lot. Ordered pizza delivery, while not anything near what were used to in the Chicago area (lots of good different types of pizza), it was okay, hot, delivered quickly.
Day 6 - Back to Animal Kingdom. Amazing! did the safari and the walking trail, the gorillas were astonishing, felt like you were right in the jungle with them. Did other things at AK. Back to hotel. Then to Epcot for dinner at Rose & Crown, 7:30 pm res. Asked for table near water and was told by the host that they now just do it as next open table is what you get. Loved the fish and my Black & Tan. Towards the end asked the server about anywhere to watch Illuminations. She said she had just the spot. We paid and she took us outside to a little roped off area (8' x 15') between some tables along the water. She put us right along the wall with another family. It was wonderful. Towards the end, the wind shifted and we actually got a few ashes coming down on us. Rode Test Track late, cool seeing the outside at night from 65 mph.
Day 7 - homeward bound. Packed up, express checkout bill was correct. Loaded up and off to the airport.
A few observations. The Disney bus service is not all it's cracked up to be. 2 times while waiting for the bus to get back to GF from MGM, they put us on the fort wilderness bus. Since we weren't paying for the rooms it didn't upset me that much, but had I been paying for it, I would have been a little p***ed off that it took us an extra 25 minutes or more to get back to our resort. Once they went to FT, wilderness, then the cont/poly/GF route and another time they took all of us just back to the transportation center. Fortunately we weren't cutting it close on any reservations or anything. Also, we definitley got better service at the meals we did that we paid for and tipped for. The Cinderella Lunch, which was prepaid, was probably the worst server we had. We did get some matching tshirts on sale before the trip from a Disneystore and Disneyshopping.com. Quite a few Cast members would greet us with things like, "Well hello blue family." We did take advantage of FP for many rides and it worked well. Still don't like the crowds compared to when we have gone in Sept and Oct but hey, when you get a free trip (for the most part), it's kind of hard to argue. Overall it was a great experience. I almost think any other time we go there, it will never live up to this trip.
Any questions you might have I will try to answer.
