roryc
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2004
- Messages
- 219
Cast: 9 of us including DH (33), Me (32, and 4 months pregnant), DD (2), DMother (62), DFather (63), DSis (34), DBIL (35), DNephew (7), DNephew (3):
Well, my DH, DD and I drove to the Raleigh-Durham airport on the afternoon of 12/18 with no traffic and absolutely no luggage except for a diaper bag for my DD. My parents had driven down earlier in the day and had offered to take our luggage so we wouldnt have to worry about checking anything. Since this was my DDs first flight ever, I was a bit apprehensive of how she would handle it. She did fantastic as she fell asleep before take off and awoke 15 minutes prior to landing at MCO.
Alamo rental counter was packed. Evidently they must have the best prices because all the other counters were empty. It took about 20-25 minutes and voila we had our 8 passenger van. After about a 25 minute trip, we were at Disney World and Shades of Green. My parents had already checked us in and our luggage was in our rooms. We had 3 rooms total. We were in room 145 which was in the older section, but I thought it was very nice and Im used to 4 and 5 star resorts. I thought this was a fantastic hotel and it was a steal compared to the rices of deluxe resorts. I never thought we were paying too much. Its a great value and one anyone with Military connections should definitely look into (www.shadesofgreen.org).
We had dinner at the Garden Gallery at SOG which was a deal at $6.95/per person for the dinner buffet. Im not a fried chicken fan and theirs was very good. The rest of the food was just adequate. But I wasnt overly hungry and I appreciated warm food for a very reasonable price hard to find at Disney.
DAY 2
We drove to the MK parking lot and got the 3rd row (regular parking lot...not handicapped) next to the TTC. It was about 7:40 AM on EMH at MK. We were in the park by 8:05. Both of my parents are in ECV scooters and parked in handicapped parking, so it was definitely tricky getting around. We started with Dumbo which my daughter adored. Then did the carousel, Mad Tea Party, Winnie the Pooh, Snow Whites Scary Adventures, Peter Pan and the Haunted House. Then it was 11:30 AM and the park was getting very crowded so we headed over to Animal Kingdom.
AK was a breeze to get into as well. We used 6 Q&C vouchers at Flame Tree Barbecue and everyone thought that the ribs, barbecue sandwich, corn, beans, drinks, key lime pie and frozen lemonade were good and well worth the voucher price, as we saved a good bit probably at least $35 with all 6 vouchers over the counter price. Next we did Kali River Rapids with no wait. We all got soaked, but luckily did take our $1 store 3/$1 ponchos with us. Then we did Flights of Wonder, watched the Jingle Jungle parade and then waited at the front gate for the rest of our party to show up about 45 minutes later.
We had Vacation Kingdom Lunch vouchers which we used for dinner at Rainforest Café (RFC at AK is the only restaurant on the voucher that will let you use them for dinner) and had a fantastic meal. 5 of the adults ordered the Lobster and Filet. My DSis ordered a shrimp and pasta dish which she said was great. Appetizers consisted of various quantities of the bruschetta, shrimp cocktail, crab dip, and chicken fingers. The kids ate the chicken finger appetizers as their dinner. Our server was very helpful with the vouchers and was happy to suggest what we could order to make the most of our vouchers. We got 6 of the souvenir cups with the toys at the bottom and the 3 kids and the 3 men were thrilled Desserts consisted of 2 Sparking Volcanoes (Yum), bananas foster, and some sort of apple crumble dessert. We paid $186 for the vouchers. The total bill was $435.97 .definitely worth the price of the vouchers to save $249.97. The men were very proud of my voucher purchases
Then we went back to SOG for late night swimming.
DAY 3
I was so lucky to have gotten 2 separate reservations for Cinderellas Royal Table. One reservation was for 5 at 8:50 and one for 4 at 10:00 AM. Me, DD, DH, DM and DF went at 8:50 and it was fun to get into the park early and have main street virtually to ourselves. My DD loved the princesses and it was worth every penny of the breakfast vouchers ($18.25/adult and she was free). CRT was the highlight of her trip and she loved dressing up like Cinderella. My parents really enjoyed seeing her have so much fun and my DH said it was the best part of his trip as well. I thought the food was fine considering all the negatives I had heard. I thought the princesses + the food= good value.
We did MK all day until 3:00 at which point we went back to SOG for a 2 hour nap. Then my DH and I went back to MK by ourselves. My parents babysat all 3 grandkids (our DD and our 2 nephews) for us. My DH loves Splash Mountain and there was no wait at all. We did walk-up for Liberty Tree Tavern and were seated right away at 7:30 PM. We felt a little funny doing a character dinner without children, but the characters were great and I was surprised at how much my DH enjoyed the meal. We watched SpectroMagic and then just walked around and headed home around 10 PM.
DAY 4
We started our day home with breakfast at Ohana at the Polynesian. I thought this was a let down after CRT. The breakfast was okay, but the character interaction was a bit disappointing and my DD cried when Mickey, Chip and Dale came around. Goofy was fine. I will suggest that younger children might prefer CRT or Princess Storybook Breakfast because of the face characters. The other characters dont talk and its a bit difficult for little ones to understand why not. My nephews, 3 and 7, loved CRT. The 7 year old thinks theyre hot
.
DD, DH and I left SOG at 11:00 and dropped the Alamo rental car off which was a breeze. Then we flew back to RDU at 1:30 and even arrived 15 minutes early. The flight was less than half full and my DD did great once again. Now Im ready to start planning our next trip back. Any questions???
Well, my DH, DD and I drove to the Raleigh-Durham airport on the afternoon of 12/18 with no traffic and absolutely no luggage except for a diaper bag for my DD. My parents had driven down earlier in the day and had offered to take our luggage so we wouldnt have to worry about checking anything. Since this was my DDs first flight ever, I was a bit apprehensive of how she would handle it. She did fantastic as she fell asleep before take off and awoke 15 minutes prior to landing at MCO.
Alamo rental counter was packed. Evidently they must have the best prices because all the other counters were empty. It took about 20-25 minutes and voila we had our 8 passenger van. After about a 25 minute trip, we were at Disney World and Shades of Green. My parents had already checked us in and our luggage was in our rooms. We had 3 rooms total. We were in room 145 which was in the older section, but I thought it was very nice and Im used to 4 and 5 star resorts. I thought this was a fantastic hotel and it was a steal compared to the rices of deluxe resorts. I never thought we were paying too much. Its a great value and one anyone with Military connections should definitely look into (www.shadesofgreen.org).
We had dinner at the Garden Gallery at SOG which was a deal at $6.95/per person for the dinner buffet. Im not a fried chicken fan and theirs was very good. The rest of the food was just adequate. But I wasnt overly hungry and I appreciated warm food for a very reasonable price hard to find at Disney.
DAY 2
We drove to the MK parking lot and got the 3rd row (regular parking lot...not handicapped) next to the TTC. It was about 7:40 AM on EMH at MK. We were in the park by 8:05. Both of my parents are in ECV scooters and parked in handicapped parking, so it was definitely tricky getting around. We started with Dumbo which my daughter adored. Then did the carousel, Mad Tea Party, Winnie the Pooh, Snow Whites Scary Adventures, Peter Pan and the Haunted House. Then it was 11:30 AM and the park was getting very crowded so we headed over to Animal Kingdom.
AK was a breeze to get into as well. We used 6 Q&C vouchers at Flame Tree Barbecue and everyone thought that the ribs, barbecue sandwich, corn, beans, drinks, key lime pie and frozen lemonade were good and well worth the voucher price, as we saved a good bit probably at least $35 with all 6 vouchers over the counter price. Next we did Kali River Rapids with no wait. We all got soaked, but luckily did take our $1 store 3/$1 ponchos with us. Then we did Flights of Wonder, watched the Jingle Jungle parade and then waited at the front gate for the rest of our party to show up about 45 minutes later.
We had Vacation Kingdom Lunch vouchers which we used for dinner at Rainforest Café (RFC at AK is the only restaurant on the voucher that will let you use them for dinner) and had a fantastic meal. 5 of the adults ordered the Lobster and Filet. My DSis ordered a shrimp and pasta dish which she said was great. Appetizers consisted of various quantities of the bruschetta, shrimp cocktail, crab dip, and chicken fingers. The kids ate the chicken finger appetizers as their dinner. Our server was very helpful with the vouchers and was happy to suggest what we could order to make the most of our vouchers. We got 6 of the souvenir cups with the toys at the bottom and the 3 kids and the 3 men were thrilled Desserts consisted of 2 Sparking Volcanoes (Yum), bananas foster, and some sort of apple crumble dessert. We paid $186 for the vouchers. The total bill was $435.97 .definitely worth the price of the vouchers to save $249.97. The men were very proud of my voucher purchases
Then we went back to SOG for late night swimming.
DAY 3
I was so lucky to have gotten 2 separate reservations for Cinderellas Royal Table. One reservation was for 5 at 8:50 and one for 4 at 10:00 AM. Me, DD, DH, DM and DF went at 8:50 and it was fun to get into the park early and have main street virtually to ourselves. My DD loved the princesses and it was worth every penny of the breakfast vouchers ($18.25/adult and she was free). CRT was the highlight of her trip and she loved dressing up like Cinderella. My parents really enjoyed seeing her have so much fun and my DH said it was the best part of his trip as well. I thought the food was fine considering all the negatives I had heard. I thought the princesses + the food= good value.
We did MK all day until 3:00 at which point we went back to SOG for a 2 hour nap. Then my DH and I went back to MK by ourselves. My parents babysat all 3 grandkids (our DD and our 2 nephews) for us. My DH loves Splash Mountain and there was no wait at all. We did walk-up for Liberty Tree Tavern and were seated right away at 7:30 PM. We felt a little funny doing a character dinner without children, but the characters were great and I was surprised at how much my DH enjoyed the meal. We watched SpectroMagic and then just walked around and headed home around 10 PM.
DAY 4
We started our day home with breakfast at Ohana at the Polynesian. I thought this was a let down after CRT. The breakfast was okay, but the character interaction was a bit disappointing and my DD cried when Mickey, Chip and Dale came around. Goofy was fine. I will suggest that younger children might prefer CRT or Princess Storybook Breakfast because of the face characters. The other characters dont talk and its a bit difficult for little ones to understand why not. My nephews, 3 and 7, loved CRT. The 7 year old thinks theyre hot
.DD, DH and I left SOG at 11:00 and dropped the Alamo rental car off which was a breeze. Then we flew back to RDU at 1:30 and even arrived 15 minutes early. The flight was less than half full and my DD did great once again. Now Im ready to start planning our next trip back. Any questions???
What is the gold leaf package? TIA!!
