ILoveMyGirls
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Messages
- 600
WDW, Mickey Halloween Party, Discovery Cove, Aqutica, Crystal Palace, Sweet Tomatoes, Windsor Hills, and Trading Pins.
We arrived in Orlando on Sept. 11th.
We stayed off-site in a spacious 2-bedroom condo at Windsor Hills.
Cast members for our trip.
Me (7th trip to WDW)
DH (6th trip to WDW)
DD6 (4th trip to WDW)
DD7 (5th trip to WDW)
Mode of transportation: SW Airlines, Rental Car, and first time use of a Scooter for me as I am disabled.
Things I have packed as a result of this forum:
- Packing cubes. Worked out well to go but was too tired to repack them for traveling home.
- Plastic soda lids to keep ice cream on sticks from dripping on my kiddos. -Been saving and washing them to bring on the trip ever since I saw this suggestion. These worked out relatively well but ice cream still got on my girl's hands and shirts.
-Purex laundry sheets. Tried them already and they are wonderful. Loved these.
-Chafing Sticks to prevent blisters. Never had to use them.
-Blister Bandaids. Never had to use them.
-Speedo swim towels. Never had to use them.
-Plastic Zip lock bags, two sizes. I don't believe we used these.
-Keen shoes as a result of this forum. My daughter's and husband loved them, they made the bottoms of my feet raw due to the way the shoe is made.
11 Sept 2010
A sad day to travel as the American Flag was draped over the front of our airplane before it took off in memory of 9/11. One could not stop and think of all of those who were lost during that horrific day.
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We made it in to Orlando 22 mins. earlier than scheduled via Southwest Airlines.
To those who are Pooh sized or a 20/22, I was able to buckle in fine without an extension to my seat belt. I suppose if I eat too much of the cake we had made I might not be able to on the way home
The flight was unremarkable aside from the turbulence on the way in to Orlando.
After arriving at our off-site condo rental we noticed that the beautiful front entrance of the complex is under construction, it is a good thing that our condo does not overlook this area.
Once arriving in the unit, we settled in and tried to sign on to the Internet and could not. From approx. 4pm until 7:30 pm we were trying to diagnose this with the owner, rental supervisor, and Internet company to no avail. AARGH.
On top of all of this I could not get service using my Blackberry from our rental unit.
While I was trying to get our Internet service up and running I just told my husband TAKE THE GIRLS TO THE POOL, now mind you it was 7pm by this time. The Internet dude wanted me to stay in this condo from 1-3 pm on Monday in order to fix the Internet problem, YEAH RIGHT, like we came here to just sit in the room.
My husband missed a mandatory Internet conference with his work due to the Internet being out, NOT GOOD.
On top of this, within approx. 15 mins. in comes my husband and daughters with sad looks on their faces as there is a lightening storm outside so the pool was closed!!
So our plans to go out to dinner did not happen, we ordered pizza and spaghetti delivered.
My scooter was waiting by the door of the condo for me upon arrival. I've since driven it up and down the hallway to see how it feels and it reminds me of our ride on lawn mower
All in all, today was a bust, my girls are bored and I am tired.
12 Sept
2:11 a.m and I can't sleep.
A few thoughts. Not sure why I am not feeling the Disney magic, am wondering if it is because we are off site and there are no awesome stores to look in during free time or if it is because our first day got off to a rough start.
Since I was up I decided to do some laundry. When I opened up the washer and dryer area is smells like a sewer backed up in to it, I gagged. Not sure if I should tell the rental manager or not? Not sure if I should use the washing machine or not? Let me know your thoughts.
7a.m.
After taking a shower, have decided that all of the talk about the water down here being different is why the washer area smells bad. When I took a shower, as soon as I turned on the water, I smelled the same smell.
12 Sept 2010 DISCOVERY COVE
There are really no words to describe the experience we had at DC, it was amazing!
First off let me state that we have been to places like Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas (Atlantis), etc. Being at DC was like being on vacation at a tropical paradise.
We arrived at DC at 7:30 am as they will start signing you in at that time but they do not open the doors until 8am. You are signed in inside which is great as it is a very pretty air conditioned huge lobby area. The staff was very courteous.
We ended up getting a 9am dolphin swim which we were very happy about due to the fact that I am handicapped and we did not know how long I could hold out as far as activities go.
As we had about 45 mins. to burn before the swim we went ahead and got our breakfast which is provided as part of the overall package. It is a continental type of breakfast which included fresh fruit, little danishes (little bear claws with either cheery or strawberry and ones with apples), milk (chocolate for my 7 year old), orange juice for my 6 year old, regular coffee for me, and decaf for my DH. It is setup like a cafeteria line, you can go in and take all that you want to take, it is actually an amazing setup. There are plenty of tables and chairs to sit in within an outside area that has umbrellas and canopy type areas some with ceiling fans over you. The area is very pretty and relaxing.
We then made our way over to the area that you get your wetsuit or wetsuit vest and snorkel equipment. Although others have stated that you cannot wear your mask in the dolphin swim, you can. You can also wear your swim shoes even though others have said you cannot. Not one person was asked to take off their swim shoes. Also, you are allowed to wear your wedding rings and waterproof watches. No cameras are allowed in the water. Plus, you have to tuck in your bag and your locker key under your swim vest so the dolphins cannot grab them. We were in group A and were selected to do the deep area dolphin swim (unsure why they only selected two groups to do this and unsure of why they picked our group and another group, not sure of the selection process.) We had the opportunity to swim with two young dolphins. One was named Diego as he was born in San "Diego" and the other ones name began with a "C", she was also young and just learning. The reason we had two was due to the age and inexperience of the dolphins as they gave each of them a break. I can't say enough about how much I lover our dolphins. I'm such a lover of all animals and just could have held our beautiful 450 lb. dolphin forever.
If you do go on the dolphin swim, be extremely careful when you are walking out to the deeper part of the water as there are gigantic rocks under the water covered in moss which makes it very slippery. One woman in our group fell in front of us and almost hurt herself. It took a few mins. for the guide and her sons to get her upright again.
A dolphin's skin feels rubbery, smooth, and soft. Kissing the dolphin tasted salty. Riding on our dolphin was slow as someone else had pointed out but it worked for me as it was hard for me to hold on as I am handicapped BUT I can say I did it
After our swim which lasted longer than the other groups due to the fact we had two dolphins, we headed toward the area where you can swim with the sting rays and fish. At this point I could no longer function so my husband got me to a chair on the beach where I sat for the remainder of the day as I was too swollen to do anything else. Sitting there reminded me of the many tropical areas that we have been to. Even though I could not go in the water any longer, it was an extremely relaxing day sitting and watching my kiddos and husband in the water with the sting rays and fish. My girls said this was the favorite part of their day at DC as they spent most of the day in this area swimming.
Here is a video of how large the sting rays are. Interesting enough, no one was scared of them and they did not seem to mind the kiddos and adults in the water with them.
I hope you can view this, if you can't let me know and I'll try another link.
http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Wrn310/?action=view¤t=hugestingray.mp4
From 11am until 3pm they serve lunch in the grill area. Again, you can take whatever you want and eat as much as you want.
We saw a tiny/skinny little man with three trays full of food eating by himself. I sure wish I could eat all of that and not be Pooh sized. lol.
I initially got the salmon and my girls got the hamburger. Both were horrible as they were hard as rocks and dried out. My DH went back in and the girls got chicken fingers, black beans and rice, french fries, plantains (yumbo), and my all time favorite which was delicious, shrimp salad on a bed of wonderful lettuce with raspberry vinaigrette.
You can get all of the drink (free beer if you like beer, I don't) all day plus oreo's, I lived on cold bottled water and diet soda, regular soda throughout the day. Also, fig newtons and chips if you like. I did not eat any snacks nor did my DH. My girls only had one,bag of chips each during the day. If you want a pina colada or a daiquiri they are 10.00 each and are small as I saw some folks buying them.
It was amazing/disturbing watching people grab tons of bags of chips/cookies and such and stuffing them in to their backpacks to take home. I saw this easily as the family that I was talking to was doing this, rem. I was sitting all day due to my disabilities so I was able to chat and watch. Interesting enough, this one family got in for 40.00 each as the wife sells timeshares and they get to go and check the place out so they can tell people about it. For us, we paid just under 800.00 and were not hoarding food. WHATEVER. Obvisouly it is not stealing as they say you can take what you want but IMO that means within limits ROTFL.
Here is a photo of the display of food in the grill area so you will know what it looks like.
Back to swimming
Like I said earlier, my girls and DH loved the sting ray pools, there is one with the large sting rays like the video I gave a link to and there is one with smaller sting rays. My girls spent most of the day in the pool with the large sting rays.
I don't like to post photos on the Internet of my kiddos but here is a video link of my girls in the water, you can't see their faces. We have the greatest Canon underwater camera, best money I ever spent. Check this out. Now both my girls can swim, dive off of diving boards and such but as you can see the vest will keep you afloat even if you cannot swim.
I love this video that my DH took. If this video link does not work for you please let me know and I'll post a different link. The camera is the Canon waterproof camera.
http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Wrn310/?action=view¤t=underwater.mp4
There are lifeguards but I did not feel they were paying attn. as the lifeguards do at our beach in our state. This did bother me. Given the vests maybe there is not much of a worry though.
As DC closes at 5:30 we started to hear thunder, very loud, so they started clearing the water, they would not even let people use the outside showers to rinse off (very safe).
Although I had not planned on taking a shower there, we were going back to the condo to shower, we made our way in to the bathroom to use the "potty". OMG was another poster correct, it was a madhouse of naked children and women in the bathroom LOL. I would never recommend waiting in those lines to take a shower, just go back to your hotel/condo and do this as the wait was more than 40 mins. to get in to a shower.
Plus, as we turned in our DC badges to get our Acquatica badges (part of package), we were asked to do a survey. I told the woman that only one thing disappointed me and that was that there was no one in the sting ray pool ensuring that the sting rays and fish were not being hurt. Why did I mention this? Well, much to my dismay, a boy about age 9 took a huge rock and hit one of the large sting rays on it. After that the sting ray could not move. My girls got my DH and my husband went with them and removed the HEAVY rock from the stingray and watched to see if the stingray could move or not. after my DH removed the rock, after a few mins. the stingray started to swim again. We were told to go and tell the mgr. which we did. They said that a wildlife person was suppose to be out there (never saw one) and that the lifeguards were suppose to watch for things like this. As I said, the lifeguards were not really paying attn. as they should be.
IT WAS A WONDERFUL DAY AT DC!!!
13 Sept 2010 Magic Kingdom
My scooter broke down going up the monorail ramp ): After it was fixed we got on the Epcot train vs. the WDW train so we missed our O'hana breakfast. We bought some food at the Bakery on Main Street, it was yummy so all was good.
Given all of the talk about refillable sodas at Disney, which I never knew existed, when my husband went to get us sodas he was going to buy four of the refillable ones. THEY DON'T DO THAT AT WDW!!! I guess I missed that somewhere. lol. I saw lots of people with them and was perplexed and asked one woman who had one about it. She said she was disappointed that they do not do that at WDW.
For those with disabilities, ones that are not obvious, get a guest services card even if you are on a scooter as one ride attendant asked me for one. When I went to get one the next day for the Halloween party the man said I didn't need one and I told him about the hard time I was given on the Pooh ride. Of course since I had it in my purse, no one asked me for it. ROTFL.
Love the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore interaction at the Crystal Palace but paying over 100.00 for the not so good buffet for four was so not worth it. We won't eat there again.
While I waited for everyone to get ready to go to Aquatica I posted a photo but I'm jumping to the end of the evening at WDW. We never knew that it is best to sit in front of the castle during the fireworks show (due to comments on this forum I learned this). OMG were they beautiful and it was so much fun sitting there watching the show from the front. Here is one photo that I took that I love.
My girls got tons of autographs I bought them the cutest books off of Etsy. They had a blast.
Whomever recommended the "Keen" brand sandals, thanks so much as my DH and DD2 loved them. My 7 year old opted to wear her crocs and I opted to wear my slip on shoes and glad I did due to the swelling I experienced.
For fun, without my DH knowing it, while he was in line for the Dumbo ride with the girls, I found the shop that sells the bride and groom Minnie and Mickey hats lol. I brought them back and my DH put his groom one on and I had my bride one on and we wore them all day lol. We have been married 31 years We went to WDW one year after we were married (our first time there back in 1980), it made me feel young and cute again. I rem. the heat not bothing us back in the day BUT OMG goes age take its toll on you. We sweated like rain was pouring down us. lol.
14 Sept 2010 Mickey Halloween Party
We were able to get in at 4pm.
What can I say, the Halloween party was FANTASTIC! We spent an entire day a WDW from open till close and did the Halloween party the following evening and my girls liked the Halloween party better than spending the entire day at WDW
I believe my girls did everything there was to do. We did not make it to the front of the castle for the fireworks as the girls wanted to go on a ride but I heard what goes on in the front for the fireworks is TDF fun. The fireworks were great from our point of view anyway. The dance party with Goofy, Stitch, and a few others was TDF fun for the girls and we loved watching them dance and take photos. My DH danced with them too while I looked on sitting on my scooter.
The Cinderella carriage was out for viewing and photo opportunities. I'm not the best at taking low light photos and my girls wanted to go on a ride vs. standing in another line. We saw it and it was incredibly beautiful.
The Halloween parade was a lot of fun.
This guy was totally cute, hilarious, and fun
We were in a handicapped area and the characters kept coming by to see my beauty pageant daughter (she was wearing one of her pageant dresses).
Candy Bags. They hold a ton of candy. Our bag was not full at all and my girls have plenty of candy IMO. The girls had their own candy bags that matched their costumes, they hold approx. the same amt. that the bags that are given out hold. My husband and I had a bag to get extra candy for the girls. We did bring it home and the girls had fun going thru the candy on the airplane. They were giving out descent candy with the exception of some formed candy that is like marshmallow that is made in China. Given that China has put things in food that has hurt people over the past couple of years, we threw that candy away just to be safe. Most of the candy was name branded made in the USA.
This skeleton band was a lot of fun.
Although the girls were initially afraid to go in to the Haunted Mansion, when we were there for the full-day, I talked them in to going as I so wanted to go in. THEY LOVED IT. For the Halloween party, they change things out a bit for the party and my DH and girls went in it three times. By this time I could not transfer due to pain so I just scooted around the park shopping while they were on the ride.
During the party you can get your face painted for free!!! We were only in line about 15 mins. (me on my scooter). All of us had our faces painted, it was a blast. I have never had it done before nor has my husband!!! It was so much fun. I had the Tinkerbell design, my daughter had a Minnie one, the guy did a Star Wars one for my DD2 that was not listed as one to do What a nice guy and my husband had a pirate one done.
Trading Pins (this was new to us( and tee shirts
While my DH and daughters were on rides (I rode a couple of times but mostly not as it is too much trouble due to the wheelchair and pain in my feet and legs when transferring to the wheelchair), I rode in to a couple of not crowded stores to buy the Halloween tee shirts and trading pins (not to trade) that were specific to the party. In one store I heard the staff saying not to sell more than two of the same kind of pin/shirt to any one person. I bought what I was there to buy and went on my way to another shop to browse. The staff member told me that he just sold over 700.00 worth of pins to one person including 11 of the HUGE pin (biggest pin I have ever seen). I told him what I overheard in the other store and he said he didn't care lol. I told him I am sure those people were going to resell them on ebay. Again, he didn't care lol
My daughters did trade pins with one woman at a cash register (the woman initiated it) and with a cast member in the line to meet Peter Pan and Wendy.
The best thing ever invented is the locking pin backs as the pins fall off too easily.
15 Sept Hung out at condo pool and went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner (BOGO)
The pool at Windsor Hills is very well kept, the clubhouse is great, and there is a movie theater, only problem is that you have to reserve it and all of the slots were full with the exeption of the times of day when one would be at a park so we rented "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" to watch in our room as this was the day we spent relaxing.
The clubhouse also has prepared food that is priced reasonably so we decided to buy our lunch and eat it in the beautiful clubhouse area.
We had a bit of trouble finding Sweet Tomatoes with our GPS as it was not listed on there. We stopped at a grocery store and a nice woman. We pulled in front of a grocery store and asked a woman if she knew where it was and she said no. She saw my handicap placecard and went in and got the mgr. to come and to tell us how to get there. THIS KINDNESS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN OUR AREA.
Sweet Tomatoes is different than ones around here. The food is actually healthy. We would definitively go back again. I had a BOGO coupon which was great. They have different food at different times. It was Greek week so most of the food had a Greek flair to it. My girls even liked the Greek pizza and salads. My daughter loved their corn chowder. Both girls loved the ice creme, brownie cake, and I loved the apple cobbler. The salads and soup were fabulous and were the healthiest food items we had on our trip.
My disabilities
Swelling is still there but I sat with my feet up and I'm not in as much pain as before. This is how swollen my feet are. It might be because I rode the scooter and my feet were never elevated as they are at home. I am going to talk to my doctor about this when I get home. I normally have a narrow foot. My legs we so hard that I thought they were going to split open.
I did see one woman on a scooter with a TDF design. Her entire scooter had well done drawings with large card stock on it. It was totally cute.
16 Sept Aquatica and home.
This was part of our Discovery Cove package. We spent about four hours at Aqutica because we were flying out at 7:25 pm. When we told the girls it was time to go, neither of them hesitated or complained or said "Can we come back?" and that is very telling. They wanted to go back to WDW, Discovery Cove, and the Mickey Halloween Party but did not say that about Aquatica
They do have the 19.99 food plan like SeaWorld does but that was too pricey for us. We bought the kids the turkey sandwiches with the grapes, the girls enjoyed them
While I tooled around on my scooter, I met one of the staff, a real nice woman my age. We talked about Orca's and she said she was friends with the trainer at SeaWorld that was killed by the orca.
I want to mention this so that all with take a moment to think about this woman who was killed. The staff member I spoke to said that the woman/trainer who was killed was like being friends with Tigger as she was so bouncy and friendly. I got tears in my eyes as we talked about it while watching the dolphins swim in front of us that look like Orca's.
Windsor Hills Comments
There were several issues with our unit during our stay: 1) no Internet, broken toilet, not the cleanest unit as we found dirty men's socks, popcorn under a coffee table, and some sort of plastic tube, and the toilets could have been cleaned more thoroughly plus the white towels were just dirty looking even after they were washed. I would have used these towels as rags at home for my husband to wash our cars, etc.
The Internet was resolved by Tues. but that only left us with Tues, Weds, Thurs (home) to have Internet connection for my DH's work.
The property mgr. texted the cleaning person about the not so clean things we found.
Our owner was very helpful and so was the Property Manager.
The pool is real nice, just wished they had a lifeguard on duty. They only have a security guard on duty and when another kid hurt my DD in the water, he was useless.
Misleading info. One of the reasons we picked this unit was it was listed as being able to see the fireworks at Disney. The website shows the Castle with fireworks bursting on top of it. Well, if we sit sideways on the balcony, all we can see are snuffed out fireworks far far away at Epcot, no actual fireworks and not at WDW as the photo shows.
We would prob. stay at Windsor Hills again but not in this unit. Even though I saw the video of the unit, it was not very pretty. Just a note: I would not buy in to any of the owner's stating you can see fireworks from your Windsor Hills condo.
Also, when you approach Windsor Hills, the road is under construction with those large orange construction barrels. I wished someone would have told us about this prior to our arrival as it is not very pretty. The good news is, given where we are located in the development, we could not see the construction from our condo.
Windsor is a quiet community which we loved. In the condo, we never heard anything going on but this could be a result of it being the slow timeframe in Orlando. We loved the quiet and classiness of the condo development.
I agree with many others who said the water in FL is "weird". In our condo is smelled like sewer water.
17 Sept
We arrived home at 11:00. BOO HOO. We miss WDW.
Glad to see our dogs as my DH picked them up from the pet hotel at our vet on Friday prior to going to work.
To all of my friends on the disabilities forum, thank you for giving me the confidence about riding a scooter. I'll write more about my "experience" with it in the Disabilities section.
MY SCORE: I bought myself a Mickey Dooney and Bourke bag plus matching wristlets for the girls.
NOW, I need to save money to go again next year
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If we could afford a 2-bedroom suite at a Disney hotel I would love that but we will again seek out a more affordable option off-site, maybe at Windsor Hills again as I am a creature of habit
We never made it to the M and M store ): We missed the O'hana breakfast due to issues. We never used any of the restaurant.com coupons I bought for the House of Blues and two other places.
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PSA regarding Scooters.
This was my first time using a scooter as I am handicapped. Please do not judge people on scooters. This trip was so magical for me as I could ride around and look in stores when my family was on rides that I could not transfer to due to the pain and swelling in my legs. I felt like a kid again being able to go where I wanted to go vs. just sitting and waiting and feeling lonesome.
PLEASE DO NOT WALK IN FRONT OF SCOOTERS as they do not have brakes. I was using the slowest speed and people would walk in front of me and almost get hit. NO one is trying to run you over, the scooters have to come to a slow stop on their own so please stop and wait for the scooter to go by, don't dash in front of it and expect not to get hit.
ILoveMyGirls
We arrived in Orlando on Sept. 11th.
We stayed off-site in a spacious 2-bedroom condo at Windsor Hills.
Cast members for our trip.
Me (7th trip to WDW)
DH (6th trip to WDW)
DD6 (4th trip to WDW)
DD7 (5th trip to WDW)
Mode of transportation: SW Airlines, Rental Car, and first time use of a Scooter for me as I am disabled.
Things I have packed as a result of this forum:
- Packing cubes. Worked out well to go but was too tired to repack them for traveling home.
- Plastic soda lids to keep ice cream on sticks from dripping on my kiddos. -Been saving and washing them to bring on the trip ever since I saw this suggestion. These worked out relatively well but ice cream still got on my girl's hands and shirts.
-Purex laundry sheets. Tried them already and they are wonderful. Loved these.
-Chafing Sticks to prevent blisters. Never had to use them.
-Blister Bandaids. Never had to use them.
-Speedo swim towels. Never had to use them.
-Plastic Zip lock bags, two sizes. I don't believe we used these.
-Keen shoes as a result of this forum. My daughter's and husband loved them, they made the bottoms of my feet raw due to the way the shoe is made.
11 Sept 2010
A sad day to travel as the American Flag was draped over the front of our airplane before it took off in memory of 9/11. One could not stop and think of all of those who were lost during that horrific day.
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We made it in to Orlando 22 mins. earlier than scheduled via Southwest Airlines.
To those who are Pooh sized or a 20/22, I was able to buckle in fine without an extension to my seat belt. I suppose if I eat too much of the cake we had made I might not be able to on the way home
The flight was unremarkable aside from the turbulence on the way in to Orlando.
After arriving at our off-site condo rental we noticed that the beautiful front entrance of the complex is under construction, it is a good thing that our condo does not overlook this area.
Once arriving in the unit, we settled in and tried to sign on to the Internet and could not. From approx. 4pm until 7:30 pm we were trying to diagnose this with the owner, rental supervisor, and Internet company to no avail. AARGH.
On top of all of this I could not get service using my Blackberry from our rental unit.
While I was trying to get our Internet service up and running I just told my husband TAKE THE GIRLS TO THE POOL, now mind you it was 7pm by this time. The Internet dude wanted me to stay in this condo from 1-3 pm on Monday in order to fix the Internet problem, YEAH RIGHT, like we came here to just sit in the room.
My husband missed a mandatory Internet conference with his work due to the Internet being out, NOT GOOD.
On top of this, within approx. 15 mins. in comes my husband and daughters with sad looks on their faces as there is a lightening storm outside so the pool was closed!!
So our plans to go out to dinner did not happen, we ordered pizza and spaghetti delivered.
My scooter was waiting by the door of the condo for me upon arrival. I've since driven it up and down the hallway to see how it feels and it reminds me of our ride on lawn mower
All in all, today was a bust, my girls are bored and I am tired.
12 Sept
2:11 a.m and I can't sleep.
A few thoughts. Not sure why I am not feeling the Disney magic, am wondering if it is because we are off site and there are no awesome stores to look in during free time or if it is because our first day got off to a rough start.
Since I was up I decided to do some laundry. When I opened up the washer and dryer area is smells like a sewer backed up in to it, I gagged. Not sure if I should tell the rental manager or not? Not sure if I should use the washing machine or not? Let me know your thoughts.
7a.m.
After taking a shower, have decided that all of the talk about the water down here being different is why the washer area smells bad. When I took a shower, as soon as I turned on the water, I smelled the same smell.
12 Sept 2010 DISCOVERY COVE
There are really no words to describe the experience we had at DC, it was amazing!
First off let me state that we have been to places like Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas (Atlantis), etc. Being at DC was like being on vacation at a tropical paradise.
We arrived at DC at 7:30 am as they will start signing you in at that time but they do not open the doors until 8am. You are signed in inside which is great as it is a very pretty air conditioned huge lobby area. The staff was very courteous.
We ended up getting a 9am dolphin swim which we were very happy about due to the fact that I am handicapped and we did not know how long I could hold out as far as activities go.
As we had about 45 mins. to burn before the swim we went ahead and got our breakfast which is provided as part of the overall package. It is a continental type of breakfast which included fresh fruit, little danishes (little bear claws with either cheery or strawberry and ones with apples), milk (chocolate for my 7 year old), orange juice for my 6 year old, regular coffee for me, and decaf for my DH. It is setup like a cafeteria line, you can go in and take all that you want to take, it is actually an amazing setup. There are plenty of tables and chairs to sit in within an outside area that has umbrellas and canopy type areas some with ceiling fans over you. The area is very pretty and relaxing.
We then made our way over to the area that you get your wetsuit or wetsuit vest and snorkel equipment. Although others have stated that you cannot wear your mask in the dolphin swim, you can. You can also wear your swim shoes even though others have said you cannot. Not one person was asked to take off their swim shoes. Also, you are allowed to wear your wedding rings and waterproof watches. No cameras are allowed in the water. Plus, you have to tuck in your bag and your locker key under your swim vest so the dolphins cannot grab them. We were in group A and were selected to do the deep area dolphin swim (unsure why they only selected two groups to do this and unsure of why they picked our group and another group, not sure of the selection process.) We had the opportunity to swim with two young dolphins. One was named Diego as he was born in San "Diego" and the other ones name began with a "C", she was also young and just learning. The reason we had two was due to the age and inexperience of the dolphins as they gave each of them a break. I can't say enough about how much I lover our dolphins. I'm such a lover of all animals and just could have held our beautiful 450 lb. dolphin forever.
If you do go on the dolphin swim, be extremely careful when you are walking out to the deeper part of the water as there are gigantic rocks under the water covered in moss which makes it very slippery. One woman in our group fell in front of us and almost hurt herself. It took a few mins. for the guide and her sons to get her upright again.
A dolphin's skin feels rubbery, smooth, and soft. Kissing the dolphin tasted salty. Riding on our dolphin was slow as someone else had pointed out but it worked for me as it was hard for me to hold on as I am handicapped BUT I can say I did it
After our swim which lasted longer than the other groups due to the fact we had two dolphins, we headed toward the area where you can swim with the sting rays and fish. At this point I could no longer function so my husband got me to a chair on the beach where I sat for the remainder of the day as I was too swollen to do anything else. Sitting there reminded me of the many tropical areas that we have been to. Even though I could not go in the water any longer, it was an extremely relaxing day sitting and watching my kiddos and husband in the water with the sting rays and fish. My girls said this was the favorite part of their day at DC as they spent most of the day in this area swimming.
Here is a video of how large the sting rays are. Interesting enough, no one was scared of them and they did not seem to mind the kiddos and adults in the water with them.
I hope you can view this, if you can't let me know and I'll try another link.
http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Wrn310/?action=view¤t=hugestingray.mp4
From 11am until 3pm they serve lunch in the grill area. Again, you can take whatever you want and eat as much as you want.
We saw a tiny/skinny little man with three trays full of food eating by himself. I sure wish I could eat all of that and not be Pooh sized. lol.
I initially got the salmon and my girls got the hamburger. Both were horrible as they were hard as rocks and dried out. My DH went back in and the girls got chicken fingers, black beans and rice, french fries, plantains (yumbo), and my all time favorite which was delicious, shrimp salad on a bed of wonderful lettuce with raspberry vinaigrette.
You can get all of the drink (free beer if you like beer, I don't) all day plus oreo's, I lived on cold bottled water and diet soda, regular soda throughout the day. Also, fig newtons and chips if you like. I did not eat any snacks nor did my DH. My girls only had one,bag of chips each during the day. If you want a pina colada or a daiquiri they are 10.00 each and are small as I saw some folks buying them.
It was amazing/disturbing watching people grab tons of bags of chips/cookies and such and stuffing them in to their backpacks to take home. I saw this easily as the family that I was talking to was doing this, rem. I was sitting all day due to my disabilities so I was able to chat and watch. Interesting enough, this one family got in for 40.00 each as the wife sells timeshares and they get to go and check the place out so they can tell people about it. For us, we paid just under 800.00 and were not hoarding food. WHATEVER. Obvisouly it is not stealing as they say you can take what you want but IMO that means within limits
ROTFL.Here is a photo of the display of food in the grill area so you will know what it looks like.
Back to swimming
Like I said earlier, my girls and DH loved the sting ray pools, there is one with the large sting rays like the video I gave a link to and there is one with smaller sting rays. My girls spent most of the day in the pool with the large sting rays.
I don't like to post photos on the Internet of my kiddos but here is a video link of my girls in the water, you can't see their faces. We have the greatest Canon underwater camera, best money I ever spent. Check this out. Now both my girls can swim, dive off of diving boards and such but as you can see the vest will keep you afloat even if you cannot swim.
I love this video that my DH took. If this video link does not work for you please let me know and I'll post a different link. The camera is the Canon waterproof camera.
http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Wrn310/?action=view¤t=underwater.mp4
There are lifeguards but I did not feel they were paying attn. as the lifeguards do at our beach in our state. This did bother me. Given the vests maybe there is not much of a worry though.
As DC closes at 5:30 we started to hear thunder, very loud, so they started clearing the water, they would not even let people use the outside showers to rinse off (very safe).
Although I had not planned on taking a shower there, we were going back to the condo to shower, we made our way in to the bathroom to use the "potty". OMG was another poster correct, it was a madhouse of naked children and women in the bathroom LOL. I would never recommend waiting in those lines to take a shower, just go back to your hotel/condo and do this as the wait was more than 40 mins. to get in to a shower.
Plus, as we turned in our DC badges to get our Acquatica badges (part of package), we were asked to do a survey. I told the woman that only one thing disappointed me and that was that there was no one in the sting ray pool ensuring that the sting rays and fish were not being hurt. Why did I mention this? Well, much to my dismay, a boy about age 9 took a huge rock and hit one of the large sting rays on it. After that the sting ray could not move. My girls got my DH and my husband went with them and removed the HEAVY rock from the stingray and watched to see if the stingray could move or not. after my DH removed the rock, after a few mins. the stingray started to swim again. We were told to go and tell the mgr. which we did. They said that a wildlife person was suppose to be out there (never saw one) and that the lifeguards were suppose to watch for things like this. As I said, the lifeguards were not really paying attn. as they should be.
IT WAS A WONDERFUL DAY AT DC!!!
13 Sept 2010 Magic Kingdom
My scooter broke down going up the monorail ramp ): After it was fixed we got on the Epcot train vs. the WDW train so we missed our O'hana breakfast. We bought some food at the Bakery on Main Street, it was yummy so all was good.
Given all of the talk about refillable sodas at Disney, which I never knew existed, when my husband went to get us sodas he was going to buy four of the refillable ones. THEY DON'T DO THAT AT WDW!!! I guess I missed that somewhere. lol. I saw lots of people with them and was perplexed and asked one woman who had one about it. She said she was disappointed that they do not do that at WDW.
For those with disabilities, ones that are not obvious, get a guest services card even if you are on a scooter as one ride attendant asked me for one. When I went to get one the next day for the Halloween party the man said I didn't need one and I told him about the hard time I was given on the Pooh ride. Of course since I had it in my purse, no one asked me for it. ROTFL.
Love the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore interaction at the Crystal Palace but paying over 100.00 for the not so good buffet for four was so not worth it. We won't eat there again.
While I waited for everyone to get ready to go to Aquatica I posted a photo but I'm jumping to the end of the evening at WDW. We never knew that it is best to sit in front of the castle during the fireworks show (due to comments on this forum I learned this). OMG were they beautiful and it was so much fun sitting there watching the show from the front. Here is one photo that I took that I love.
My girls got tons of autographs
I bought them the cutest books off of Etsy. They had a blast.
Whomever recommended the "Keen" brand sandals, thanks so much as my DH and DD2 loved them. My 7 year old opted to wear her crocs and I opted to wear my slip on shoes and glad I did due to the swelling I experienced.
For fun, without my DH knowing it, while he was in line for the Dumbo ride with the girls, I found the shop that sells the bride and groom Minnie and Mickey hats
lol. I brought them back and my DH put his groom one on and I had my bride one on and we wore them all day lol. We have been married 31 years We went to WDW one year after we were married (our first time there back in 1980), it made me feel young and cute again. I rem. the heat not bothing us back in the day BUT OMG goes age take its toll on you. We sweated like rain was pouring down us. lol.14 Sept 2010 Mickey Halloween Party
We were able to get in at 4pm.
What can I say, the Halloween party was FANTASTIC! We spent an entire day a WDW from open till close and did the Halloween party the following evening and my girls liked the Halloween party better than spending the entire day at WDW
I believe my girls did everything there was to do. We did not make it to the front of the castle for the fireworks as the girls wanted to go on a ride but I heard what goes on in the front for the fireworks is TDF fun. The fireworks were great from our point of view anyway. The dance party with Goofy, Stitch, and a few others was TDF fun for the girls and we loved watching them dance and take photos. My DH danced with them too while I looked on sitting on my scooter.
The Cinderella carriage was out for viewing and photo opportunities. I'm not the best at taking low light photos and my girls wanted to go on a ride vs. standing in another line. We saw it and it was incredibly beautiful.
The Halloween parade was a lot of fun.
This guy was totally cute, hilarious, and fun
We were in a handicapped area and the characters kept coming by to see my beauty pageant daughter (she was wearing one of her pageant dresses).
Candy Bags. They hold a ton of candy. Our bag was not full at all and my girls have plenty of candy IMO. The girls had their own candy bags that matched their costumes, they hold approx. the same amt. that the bags that are given out hold. My husband and I had a bag to get extra candy for the girls. We did bring it home and the girls had fun going thru the candy on the airplane. They were giving out descent candy with the exception of some formed candy that is like marshmallow that is made in China. Given that China has put things in food that has hurt people over the past couple of years, we threw that candy away just to be safe. Most of the candy was name branded made in the USA.
This skeleton band was a lot of fun.
Although the girls were initially afraid to go in to the Haunted Mansion, when we were there for the full-day, I talked them in to going as I so wanted to go in. THEY LOVED IT. For the Halloween party, they change things out a bit for the party and my DH and girls went in it three times. By this time I could not transfer due to pain so I just scooted around the park shopping while they were on the ride.
During the party you can get your face painted for free!!! We were only in line about 15 mins. (me on my scooter). All of us had our faces painted, it was a blast. I have never had it done before nor has my husband!!! It was so much fun. I had the Tinkerbell design, my daughter had a Minnie one, the guy did a Star Wars one for my DD2 that was not listed as one to do
What a nice guy and my husband had a pirate one done.Trading Pins (this was new to us( and tee shirts
While my DH and daughters were on rides (I rode a couple of times but mostly not as it is too much trouble due to the wheelchair and pain in my feet and legs when transferring to the wheelchair), I rode in to a couple of not crowded stores to buy the Halloween tee shirts and trading pins (not to trade) that were specific to the party. In one store I heard the staff saying not to sell more than two of the same kind of pin/shirt to any one person. I bought what I was there to buy and went on my way to another shop to browse. The staff member told me that he just sold over 700.00 worth of pins to one person including 11 of the HUGE pin (biggest pin I have ever seen). I told him what I overheard in the other store and he said he didn't care
lol. I told him I am sure those people were going to resell them on ebay. Again, he didn't care lolMy daughters did trade pins with one woman at a cash register (the woman initiated it) and with a cast member in the line to meet Peter Pan and Wendy.
The best thing ever invented is the locking pin backs as the pins fall off too easily.
15 Sept Hung out at condo pool and went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner (BOGO)
The pool at Windsor Hills is very well kept, the clubhouse is great, and there is a movie theater, only problem is that you have to reserve it and all of the slots were full with the exeption of the times of day when one would be at a park so we rented "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" to watch in our room as this was the day we spent relaxing.
The clubhouse also has prepared food that is priced reasonably so we decided to buy our lunch and eat it in the beautiful clubhouse area.
We had a bit of trouble finding Sweet Tomatoes with our GPS as it was not listed on there. We stopped at a grocery store and a nice woman. We pulled in front of a grocery store and asked a woman if she knew where it was and she said no. She saw my handicap placecard and went in and got the mgr. to come and to tell us how to get there. THIS KINDNESS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN OUR AREA.
Sweet Tomatoes is different than ones around here. The food is actually healthy. We would definitively go back again. I had a BOGO coupon which was great. They have different food at different times. It was Greek week so most of the food had a Greek flair to it. My girls even liked the Greek pizza and salads. My daughter loved their corn chowder. Both girls loved the ice creme, brownie cake, and I loved the apple cobbler. The salads and soup were fabulous and were the healthiest food items we had on our trip.
My disabilities
Swelling is still there but I sat with my feet up and I'm not in as much pain as before. This is how swollen my feet are. It might be because I rode the scooter and my feet were never elevated as they are at home. I am going to talk to my doctor about this when I get home. I normally have a narrow foot. My legs we so hard that I thought they were going to split open.
I did see one woman on a scooter with a TDF design. Her entire scooter had well done drawings with large card stock on it. It was totally cute.
16 Sept Aquatica and home.
This was part of our Discovery Cove package. We spent about four hours at Aqutica because we were flying out at 7:25 pm. When we told the girls it was time to go, neither of them hesitated or complained or said "Can we come back?" and that is very telling. They wanted to go back to WDW, Discovery Cove, and the Mickey Halloween Party but did not say that about Aquatica
They do have the 19.99 food plan like SeaWorld does but that was too pricey for us. We bought the kids the turkey sandwiches with the grapes, the girls enjoyed them
While I tooled around on my scooter, I met one of the staff, a real nice woman my age. We talked about Orca's and she said she was friends with the trainer at SeaWorld that was killed by the orca.
I want to mention this so that all with take a moment to think about this woman who was killed. The staff member I spoke to said that the woman/trainer who was killed was like being friends with Tigger
as she was so bouncy and friendly. I got tears in my eyes as we talked about it while watching the dolphins swim in front of us that look like Orca's.Windsor Hills Comments
There were several issues with our unit during our stay: 1) no Internet, broken toilet, not the cleanest unit as we found dirty men's socks, popcorn under a coffee table, and some sort of plastic tube, and the toilets could have been cleaned more thoroughly plus the white towels were just dirty looking even after they were washed. I would have used these towels as rags at home for my husband to wash our cars, etc.
The Internet was resolved by Tues. but that only left us with Tues, Weds, Thurs (home) to have Internet connection for my DH's work.
The property mgr. texted the cleaning person about the not so clean things we found.
Our owner was very helpful and so was the Property Manager.
The pool is real nice, just wished they had a lifeguard on duty. They only have a security guard on duty and when another kid hurt my DD in the water, he was useless.
Misleading info. One of the reasons we picked this unit was it was listed as being able to see the fireworks at Disney. The website shows the Castle with fireworks bursting on top of it. Well, if we sit sideways on the balcony, all we can see are snuffed out fireworks far far away at Epcot, no actual fireworks and not at WDW as the photo shows.
We would prob. stay at Windsor Hills again but not in this unit. Even though I saw the video of the unit, it was not very pretty. Just a note: I would not buy in to any of the owner's stating you can see fireworks from your Windsor Hills condo.
Also, when you approach Windsor Hills, the road is under construction with those large orange construction barrels. I wished someone would have told us about this prior to our arrival as it is not very pretty. The good news is, given where we are located in the development, we could not see the construction from our condo.
Windsor is a quiet community which we loved. In the condo, we never heard anything going on but this could be a result of it being the slow timeframe in Orlando. We loved the quiet and classiness of the condo development.
I agree with many others who said the water in FL is "weird". In our condo is smelled like sewer water.
17 Sept
We arrived home at 11:00. BOO HOO. We miss WDW.
Glad to see our dogs as my DH picked them up from the pet hotel at our vet on Friday prior to going to work.
To all of my friends on the disabilities forum, thank you for giving me the confidence about riding a scooter. I'll write more about my "experience" with it in the Disabilities section.
MY SCORE: I bought myself a Mickey Dooney and Bourke bag plus matching wristlets for the girls.
NOW, I need to save money to go again next year
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If we could afford a 2-bedroom suite at a Disney hotel I would love that but we will again seek out a more affordable option off-site, maybe at Windsor Hills again as I am a creature of habit
We never made it to the M and M store ): We missed the O'hana breakfast due to issues. We never used any of the restaurant.com coupons I bought for the House of Blues and two other places.
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PSA regarding Scooters.
This was my first time using a scooter as I am handicapped. Please do not judge people on scooters. This trip was so magical for me as I could ride around and look in stores when my family was on rides that I could not transfer to due to the pain and swelling in my legs. I felt like a kid again being able to go where I wanted to go vs. just sitting and waiting and feeling lonesome.
PLEASE DO NOT WALK IN FRONT OF SCOOTERS as they do not have brakes. I was using the slowest speed and people would walk in front of me and almost get hit. NO one is trying to run you over, the scooters have to come to a slow stop on their own so please stop and wait for the scooter to go by, don't dash in front of it and expect not to get hit.
ILoveMyGirls
Hope you enjoy!
