We went to WDW and all you got was this lousy TR! UPDATED: Now with turbo-flushing!

[RussellDisney]

We just returned Saturday night from our 6 day trip. It was wonderful, by far the best trip to Disney (or probably anywhere) we’ve ever had! We stayed at the CR with the MK view. I will break this down day by day and will take a day or two to complete. Enjoy!

A little about the cast:

Me: Bank officer (yeah I know, don't hate me!), age 39 and this is my 5th trip to Disney. My dream since age 8 and the first trip, has been to stay at the CR! It finally happened! I can still remember that first trip through on the monorail and thinking how cool it was, and how "rich" and "fancy" everyone must be who stays there!

DW: Teacher and her 3rd trip to Disney. Really does not enjoy travelling, would rather stay at home with the dog and cats! She tolerates these trips as she knows how much the kids and I love them. She has many enjoyable moments, but quickly forgets them upon arrival home.

DD: 2nd grader and 7 years old. She is our princess/pop diva - thanks Hannah! She loves anything girly, Splash Mountain and tattling on her little brother.

DS: Kindergartner and 5 years old. He is our wild man and loves anything trains and cars. The CR was as much for him as me - yeah right!! He loves BTMRR, Tomorrowland Speedway and Mickey Mouse!

Arrival Day – Sun March 29

We flew Delta from our little, tiny (only 3 total gates!!) local airport. I just love this little place, so easy to park and no long concourses to walk. Easy time through security. There are no jetways, so we all just walked right out to the plane like we were getting in a car! My son thought this was just too cool and got to touch the outside of the plane.

Our flight left on time, as did our connection on to Orlando. In fact, we had so little time on the stopover that we carried our Max and Erma’s appetizer-lunch onto the plane to eat! This was a very popular move according to the stares and rumbling belly’s of those seated around us!! Oh well, they were no doubt satisfied with the peanuts and cookies offered by Delta.

Arrival into Orlando went well. We did have a bit of a wait for ME and saw many busses leave with folks who arrived after us. Our line was very long by the time we did board a, get this, cruise line bus! One lady flipped out about that, saying she wanted Disney not the cruise. Took some convincing by the ME staff, but she did board. We dropped off at the Poly, GF and WL before getting to the CR. Bus was practically empty by this time. Total time from touch-down to resort just barely shy of 2 hours!!! (Trip better get better than this…)

Upon arrival at the CR, we were greeted just inside the doors by Judy. I told her we checked in online and she immediately called us by name and walked us over to the checkin counter! It was the same as regular checkin, so perhaps CR doesn’t have a dedicated online counter? I told Judy that staying at CR was a childhood dream of mine and asked her if that was “goofy”. She said not in any way was that goofy. My wife and kids, on the other hand, chimed in that it was in fact goofy. Nothing like your fam to bring you back to earth! We were on our way to the room within 5 minutes.

We stayed on the 8th floor, MK view. Wonderful room!!! (See detailed report on the resorts page under CR FAQ thread.) Our Garden Grocer delivery came within an hour and was correct. We then headed to the pool and watched WALL E on the beach that evening. Luggage was in room when we returned. I must say, laying in bed and watching the castle change colors is just the best thing ever!!! We all just ohhed and ahhed over the entire view from the balcony. I, of course, was pointing out the TTC, Poly, GF, EE in the distance, etc. The fam again was there for me, as they had gone back inside the room before I finished my visual/audio tour around 7 Seas Lagoon! Will they ever find out about that other monorail track that goes back to the maintenance facility????????????

Day 1 ended around 11:30 with the castle on dark purple, I think. We all slept well and overplanner Dad here even managed to keep his promise of a relaxing trip – no wakeup call!!!! This was going to be a relaxing, enjoyable trip if it killed me!!!

 

[RussellDisney]

Day 2 – Monday at DHS

The day started at 8:20 sharp with the sound of a turbo-toilet flush by my 5 year old son. This was followed about 1 minute later by another turbo-flush by my 7 year old daughter. I then turned to my never-you-mind-how-old wife and said “Your turn!” I am 39 years old, btw. How’d I get off on age?

We lazed (I’ve always wanted to use that word!) around, eating our Garden Grocer grapes and apples, watching TV, staring mesmerized (yet another good word!) out the sliding doors, turbo-flushing the toilet, etc. until just a little after 10. We then headed down to the bus to go over to DHS. THIS TOOK A WHILE! We waited 45 minutes for a bus, while watching AK busses come and go, DTD busses come and go, BB busses come and go, etc. Finally, just when I had a good-sized angry, torch-welding mob together, a DHS bus came. We quickly extinguished our torches and boarded.

We arrived and did a little shopping first, just to get some of that out of the kids systems. They had been bugging us to “buy stuff” since we left home. We then actually split up, which was both surprising and pleasurable at the same time!! Wife took the kids to see the animation show, which is actually one of HER favorites, and I got fastpasses for ToT and then did single-rider line for RnR. We then met up at the Beauty and the Beast show, which was nice as always. By this time, it was our fastpass time for ToT. Only my son would do it, which was his first time. He loved it, but the drops were not his favorite part. He spent the rest of the day asking me questions about those people who got sucked into the hotel by the storm, why were they still there, etc. I made up so many answers I’ve lost count. Bad thing is, he remembers every one of them and who knows what’s he’s telling his teacher at school right now!!

By this time it was 1:30 and time for our ADR at Sci-Fi. That should tell you about the crowds, look how much we did between arriving at well after 11 and 1:30!! Weather was nice too, sunny but not too warm. No humidity.

Kids were tired and not all that impressed with Sci-Fi. Wife didn’t like the food, which wasn’t all that great. We all thought the cars were cool, but overall just a ho-hum experience. We did let the kids drink Coke (we usually limit them to juice or Sprite) which perked them right up. I think Disney should caffinate the air...

We then did Voyage of the Little Mermaid, the animation show AGAIN thanks to wifey, and then caught the Playhouse Disney show. All were good, but Mermaid was very short and none too exciting. We then hoofed it over for the last LMA car stunt show of the day. Good as always.

After this, all 144,000 or so of us from the stunt show poured onto Pixar Place. Wow! What a mess. We went through the character greet as opposed to TSM due to a 105 minute wait!!! After that, we hit GMR. This is one of those attractions that I love in concept, but don’t enjoy in reality. It needs updating badly. This was wife’s first ride and she didn’t enjoy it at all.

Forgot to mention that the kids started pin trading on this day. They really got into it and had a blast all week.

After a couple more shops, we attempted dinner at Rosie's Cafe, but it was just way too crowded. This wasn't even a F! night but the park was packed. We stayed just a little into the evening EMH (had to show card for GMR). Too crowded, so we headed back to the CR for a late dinner, TV, turbo-flushing and bed around 10. Day ended with a blue castle I believe…

 

[heaven2dc]

Great report so far! And am I number one to subscribe?!! woohoo! (doesn't take much to excite me )

Your room view sounds awesome - hope there are some pics to show us

ToT is my fav ride - rode it 4x's last trip and that was by myself. It was so cute of your son to ask all those questions - and what a memory he has!

 

[RussellDisney]

Great report so far! And am I number one to subscribe?!! woohoo! (doesn't take much to excite me )

Your room view sounds awesome - hope there are some pics to show us

ToT is my fav ride - rode it 4x's last trip and that was by myself. It was so cute of your son to ask all those questions - and what a memory he has!

Hey thanks! I guess you are the first the subscribe, how flattering! It was a great view from that room, too bad we probably won't be able to do that next time.

My son's a real gem, but so's my little girl. I'm getting some more written on lunch and will post soon, so just wait til you hear what she did at CM!!!

 

[RussellDisney]

Day 3 – Tuesday at MK

Oh, the crown jewel in a very jewel-y Disney crown!!! I just love that walk up Main Street looking at the castle!!

Guess what time today started? 8:20. Guess how? Turbo-flushing!!!!!!! We also, again, left the room around 10 for the MK. This time, however, it was by glorious monorail!! You just can’t beat that for convenience.

The kids and I climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse, although my son still thinks it’s all Tarzan. It’s easy to see the similarities, so I just left him alone about it. On Friday, the kids did this twice more! This just goes to show that a Disney classic, even a non-ride, can still hold it’s own with today’s audience. Please Disney, never get rid of these wonderful classic attractions!!

While in this area, we hit Flying Carpets (always fun) and PoC. This was the wife and kid’s first trip on Pirates and they loved it. My kids were scared at first to go into the queue, due to the dark. They also sat huddled up during the ride, but declared it awesome afterwards. My wife loves these movies and enjoyed seeing the attraction. After some more shopping, it was off to Frontierland.

Frontierland holds my kids favorites – son loves BTMRR and daughter loves Splash Mountain. BTMRR had posted a 40 minute wait, which was more like 30. We all loved it. I think we ate at Pecos Bills at this point, but unfortunately this is the point in the week that my expert, photographic memory has failed me. I simply cannot put the vast majority of the week in proper order. Forgive me, but I will probably say “and then at some point we did x” A LOT from here on in! I’m such a failure.

My daughter and I rode Splash Mountain, her in her poncho and me without. Big mistake. Got SOAKED!!! Stupid water cannons…

After riding the train to Toontown, we all did the Tomorrowland Speedway and had a blast. I rode with my daughter, who SAID she was steering but it felt to me more like a demolition derby than anything. In addition, the only words she spoke during this experience was “Faster Daddy!”, as I was in charge of the gas pedal. What a trip!!

We walked through Mickey’s house, Minnie’s house, Pete’s bathrooms TWICE and then did the Barnstormer TWICE. First time was me and my son, who loves this ride too. He made me take a bunch of video of it going overhead, through the barn, etc. He's such a cool kid! We shopped in the tent, then headed back to Tomorrowland.

We all tried to do SM, but my son had simply tuckered out by this time. My wife took him back to the room, so daughter and I again shared a Disney classic. We loved it!! She and I also then did TTA, another classic that I could ride all day long!!! We then took in Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and both ‘bout died laughing.

We then took the train to the Main Street station and were in line for the resort monorail when son and wife decided to come back. So we rode to the CR, stayed on the monorail while wife and son got on with us and all went back into the park, ate dinner and caught the early Spectromagic parade. Wow, it was fantastic!! Kids went nuts over that. We stayed and watched Wishes from the little side walkway that runs slightly below the popcorn wagon, kinda in front of the Plaza (thanks Robo for that great tip!!) and then headed back to the CR. Again, gotta love that monorail. Tonight ended closer to 11, castle traditional blue/gray…

Let me just say at this point that overplanner Dad here is having a great time. I picked the park for the day, then went with the flow. By not rushing the fam, we took our time and really and truly enjoyed ourselves. Stress-free, no fights!! I’m amazed by the end of this day how much we are getting done. The crowds are bigger than I expected and the weather today was a little hotter and more humid, but we’re really doing great! I’m now a reformed planner, I can actually smell roses and not get mad and frustrated that we’re wasting time! This is great!

 

[RussellDisney]

Day 4 – Wednesday at resort and EP

Hey, guess what? Today started at 8:20 with a turbo-flush! I should rename this thread the “8:20 turbo-flush wake-up call”!! My kids are nothing if not consistent.

This was supposed to be our down/resort day. I had nothing planned other than breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and then in the evening the Neverland Club for the kids and some “mommy and daddy” time for me and the wife!

The wife, on the other hand, said that since we had park tickets for today (we had the 4/3 deal) that we were gonna use them! Alrighty then, don’t have to twist MY arm to get me into a park!

So we go downstairs for our 9:30 CM ADR. This place was great! We absolutely gorged ourselves and didn’t care who saw the dirty plates stacked up on the table. I paid for this trip, dang it, I’m gonna eat! Character interaction here is very good and the food was nice and simple, just the way the fam likes it. Could have eaten here every meal. I have to tell one story on my daughter. She was going for a whole, hard-boiled egg and it slipped out of the tongs and went straight into the pan of blue yogurt! Funny all by itself, right? Want it to get even funnier? Before we knew what was happening, she – wait for it - STUCK HER HAND INTO THE BLUE YOGURT AND PULLED THE EGG OUT!! Talk about an OMG moment! We absolutely laughed our heads off! Nobody else was around, so we cleaned her up and then told a server what happened. Should have seen the look on HIS face – this may have been a first for him!!! She’s just the sweetest kid and I get such a kick out of her antics!

After breakfast and a little more turbo-flushing, er I mean room time, we headed off to EP. We had great timing with monorails all week and had no wait at all to transfer to the EP train. In fact, we even scored the front with the driver. He was nice and talkative, better than others I’ve had up there. We arrived a little after noon and immediately rode SE. Very cool ride and we all four had goofy, silly pics of ourselves for the ending/ride down. The kids played for almost an hour on the race car rides and energy games that are just after you finish the ride. This is the kind of stuff that drives you overplanners nuts, isn’t it? Well this was a highlight of our week that I would have missed before. It was great to relax and let them play and have fun.

Next, we did a Kim Possible mission. Ours was in Mexico, which was nice since it wasn’t very far, but it is very noisy in there. We couldn’t really enjoy it and was a real let down. We had all been looking forward to it. But we did the Kidcot stations in Mexico and Norway, which the kids loved. We spent a long time in these two countries and it was a nice, relaxing time.

We next headed back up to Innoventions West and did the Velcro/frog thing. What a blast. The kids made custom frogs and we all just enjoyed the heck out of this place. I can’t believe people miss this kind of stuff by only doing rides and major attractions!

By now it was almost 4 and we had Neverland Club ressies for 5. It had also started POURING the rain while we were making frogs (poetic justice, no?) and so out came the ponchos and off we went. We were plenty wet by the time we got on the monorail, but were laughing and still having fun. Got to the room, changed and dried and also called Neverland to let them know we would be 5:30 or so getting there. No problem they said.

Well, there was a problem. The resort monorail went down for about 30 minutes right around 5:15, just the time we arrived for the usually short trip to the Poly and the Neverland Club. We didn’t get to the club until almost 6, but still no problem. This place is great, btw, and I would highly recommend it to parents. They take lots of safety precautions.

I got back to the CR and wifey a little after 6. We ordered room service, I had salmon and she had chicken and pasta. Wonderful food and came earlier than expected. We had a nice relaxing dinner on our balcony, overlooking MK on a now clear and pleasant evening!! What a nice evening we had. Nevermind what else went on, this is a family board!!! Picked up the kids at almost 9. My son met me at the door in a cape and crown! They had a blast and hated to leave.

While the down day was turned into a partly park day, it was perfect. We got a couple must-dos out of the way for EP and experienced Innoventions too. How perfect and nice this relaxing trip is turning out! We would have missed all of this with me overplanning. Thanks wife!

Evening ended earlier than most, at around 9:45. Castle blue.

 

[RussellDisney]

Day 5 – Thursday and EP

7:50 wake up call from front desk. And you thought I was gonna say “8:20, turbo-flush”.

After much prodding and fussing (this is why I usually let the fam wake up and get ready just whenever) we got out the door at 9:00 for our 9:45 ADR at the princess breakfast in Norway. Monorail was waiting on 4 and EP monorail waiting at TTC. Man, other than Wed evening we had good luck all week with those things. Monorails rule! I also taught my kids how to properly say their names, i.e. Monorail Blue. Wife still calls it “the blue one”…I think she does this on purpose.

Got to EP with enough time before breakfast to pick up 2 front of the line attraction passes we had received from our last trip. These were just hand written passes from Guest Relations, worked just like a fastpass. We then headed back to Norway. Note: It was hot and humid today. Wife and kids, OK and me too, don’t like heat. Or humidity. Look out!!!!!!!!!!!!

Breakfast was nice, but it was no Chef Mickey’s. Food good, but not as good. Characters good, but not as good. Pic was free, er I mean included, this time. Kinda like Sci Fi, just ho-hum. A rather expensive ho-hum! Wife and son headed on to China, as they neither wanted to do Malestrom. Daughter and I rode it, same fun ride as last time. And as before, we skipped the movie at the end. Sorry Norway, no offense intended!

Next was World Showcase. This is where the trip goes downhill for just a bit. It picks up later, so stay with me. We did Kidcot and pic of Mulan in China. I then break off for a solo race to FW for fastpasses on Soarin’ and M:S. We would do our front of the line passes for TT and one complete family ride on Soarin’, then two can do that one again and two can do M:S. This little trip took WAY longer than I had estimated to wifey when I left her in China with the kids. FW was way crowded by now and I simply couldn’t get through quickly.

Things were ugly at the playground next to Germany when I returned. Kids were running wild, son’s asthma was flaring up due to the humidity and there sat wifey. There I was, 25 minutes later than I had said I would be. Uh oh! If any guys are actually reading this, you know this situation well. I have these from time to time, me being a man and married and all. Also being a man, I tend to relate most everything to sports. This is one of those moments where I get that overwhelming urge to grab my face mask from my days of catching in Little League. I can just see it coming right at me! And after wife’s response to my first question, I would like to grab my catcher’s cup too. Yeah, definitely the cup!

OK, I take charge in order to save the day! I take son into the gift shop in Germany, pull out the nebulizer from my backpack (In addition to playing Little League, I was also a Boy Scout – prepared!) and give him a breathing treatment right there on the spot! This helped tremendously. We then proceeded to the mini trains, then to Italy, then the USA, then Japan and finally Morocco. Yeah, it was just about that fast. Basically we went to the Kidcot stations, browsed shops just a little. Jasmine was in Morocco, which is daughter’s favorite, so we stood in a REALLY long, hot line for her. And with that, I knew we were done with WS! France, UK and Canada will still be there next time.

Wife was not doing so good at this point. Heat and humidity, son’s asthma, fact that I was still taking up space and breathing this planet’s air, was all taking a toll on her. So, I suggest FW and a cool, inside attraction – Soarin’! And what better way to get there than the Friendship boats. So, we caught the one in Morocco for a quick ride to Canada. This, believe it or not, helped us all a lot! More than you would think a 10 minute boat ride would! Rode Soarin’, which everyone loves, and then on to the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk. We all love those. By this time, wife loves me again and all is well. Or so I think.

We hoof it over to TT, which we all love except wife. She thinks it’s ok, nothing special. Problem: now we’re hungry. No problem I say, let’s go back to The Land and Sunshine Seasons, as Electric Umbrella is closed. Back out in the heat, humidity and a long walk up hill to SS. Then, guess what? None of us want anything they have to eat! OMG, where’s that cup again?????????

Another boat BACK over to Morocco and up hill again to the good ole US of A. Burgers, chicken and fries to the rescue. And this time, it was a true rescue. Back to sports for a minute and the ’80 Olympic hockey team – U S A, U S A – can’t you just hear the chanting? This satisfied everyone and the trip got back on track. We took a boat from Italy to Mexico, daughter and I did Soarin’ while wife and son did Character Spot. Daughter and I then did M:S – which we both loved, because we did the “chicken” side – while wife and son did SE again.

We all meet up together and at this point it is 8:15. Do we stay for Illuminations? We’ve been here since 9:30 a.m., what’s another 45 minutes? But then another 20 minutes for the actual show, then at least an hour (probably more) back to the CR. Wife and I take one look at each other and in unison say “Scr*w Illuminations, I’m going to bed!” And with that, we were off to the monorail.

Back to the CR by 9:00, caught Wishes from the balcony, then TV, turbo-yada, yada, yada. Another blue castle and lights out at 11:00.

 

[rimmer]

loving the report so much I had to share it to dh! We were there the same week and experienced much of the same types of situations. Except for the fact we were camping at FW for the first time, pretty sure my dh is still searching for his cup for making that decision.

 

[SunnieRN]

Really enjoying your report!! I grew up on the west coast and always wanted to stay at the contemporary!! Last sept. we made our first trip to wdw and ended up buying dvc and then added on to bay lake!! So even though I've never stayed in the contemporary I'll at least get to stay at bay lake! Looking forward to more!

 

[RussellDisney]

Day 6 – Friday and MK

I swear I’m not making this up – 8:20, turbo-flush!!

And in addition to the sound of water being turbo-flushed quite forcefully into the Disney sewer system, we hear the sound of water being dropped from the sky quite forcefully onto our balcony and sliding doors. A lot of water.

So again, the now recovering overplanner Dad just went with the flow (not of water, but of the whole experience) and we just bummed around the room that morning. We watched the rain, watched TV and just generally enjoyed being together as a family. The rain slowed us down and that was fine. Kids played nicely with each other. Wife read quietly in bed. I read the delivered-to-our-door newspaper, drank some brewed-in-the-room coffee and relaxed – and due to my going with the flow (and sports for another quick second) I did it all comfortably cup-free!!!

Rain stopped around 11:30, so we hauled ourselves up to get ready for the park. Son and I hit the arcade with our AAA 30 minute card while wife and daughter got ready. This was fun, he did a race car game a few times and the proceeded to beat me 3 games in a row at air hockey! (I did manage to pull out a win in game 4!) We were then all ready and out the door by 1:00-ish. Weather is now beautiful, humidity mostly gone and sunny. We monorailed over to the MK and got fastpasses for BTMRR. We then rode the Liberty Belle boat, which was a first for all of us and we loved it! This is again one of those attractions that I always enjoyed watching, but never knew how neat it would be to experience. My kids raced up and down all three decks (sorry to anyone reading this that was actually ON that particular boat with us!). My wife had a nice conversation with another teacher she met from Nevada. Then, it was IASW followed quickly by Peter Pan, again a first for us all. Nice ride, but with a really long line for a way too short experience. I would fastpass this one if you can. We then backtracked to Columbia Harbour House for a late lunch, then back around to the carousel. We then caught Mickey’s Philharmagic. I’m telling you, this was HUGE. I had seen it once before, but the rest of the fam just fell in love with it. Talked about this for the rest of the day.

Next, was Storytime with Belle next to the castle. We love this show and it’s wife’s favorite. So after yesterday, we were gonna see this if we did nothing else!!!!! I had been picked as the Beast on the Christmas 2007 trip, so this time I actually got to see the whole thing. I love it too, honey!!!

We then hit Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor as a family, but it was just so-so this time. Part of the reason is that during the show certain audiance members are, well, how do I say this? OK, they are made fun of and the butt of jokes! No easy way around that. I personally find this funny, even if I were the one singled out. Not so with the wife and even though none of us were on the "hot seat", she doesn't enjoy watching others go through that experience. We then caught the Move It Shake It at the hub, which was great. The kids had a blast and we got some good pics. Who knows if I’ll ever get them posted on here, but they are a hoot!

We then headed over to use our fastpasses for BTMRR, but got sidetracked by the treehouse again. That was fine, the kids did it twice right in a row! We then shopped, mostly for pins in Frontierland, then headed to BTMRR. A hit as usual. Son and wife headed to Main Street to shop, daughter and I caught PoC again. It said a 5 minute wait but the ONLY wait was the time it took to walk briskly to the boats!! Absolutely no line! We then joined up on Main Street, saw 3 good high school marching bands (it was Magic Music Days) and then wasted more money on some light-up junk. Just as the 8:00 Spectro was coming out of the gate, we were going out the front gates to the monorail.

Again, look at what we accomplished in a relatively short time at the MK. There were crowds, but we still did a lot. Did we do everything? No. (I wanted to do the Jungle Cruise, 45 minute wait, and the CoP.) But we did most everything we wanted and had a relaxing, enjoyable time.

We had a late dinner in the room from Contempo at the CR, a quick swim and caught some of Wishes from the pool/beach, saw a good portion of Finding Nemo, then did some packing. Lights out at 10:45, castle purple.

I can't believe this is our last night here! I don't think I can sleep without the castle out my window - or wake up to anything other than than turbo-flushing. Can you get those things for your house?

 

[RussellDisney]

Departure Day – MK and airports

Guess what? 8:20 came and went with no turbo-flush! I had to wake my daughter at 9:00, as we were heading to MK for one last ride on Splash Mountain. We were almost ready when the wife and son woke up about 9:30! He still didn’t want to go with us to the park, so he and wife stayed and got finished packing! (This is the way to do it, guys!!) We weren’t being mean or selfish by leaving them behind, they truly didn’t want to go. My son was content to race his little cars on the balcony and through the room. Again, I’m going with the flow here.

Daughter and I monorailed over to MK and did Splash with an advertised 20 minute wait, in reality it was only 10. We BOTH wore ponchos this time and a good thing, too. Wow, what water.

We then took the train from the Frontierland station to the Main Street station, out and on to the monorail to the CR. By now it’s just after 11 and I could only get late check-out until noon instead of 1. We finished up the last of the Garden Grocer stuff and left the room, son literally in tears!!! He just LOVED the CR and hated leaving it and Mickey behind to go back to "dumb ole school"! He hung onto the balcony door and had huge tears streaming down his face. Then we hauled the luggage down to bell services. We were able to get the luggage all checked in with Delta, stored our carry-ons and then back upstairs to Grand Canyon Concourse to - what else? Shop!!! Ugh, thank goodness for that Disney gift card with the 4/3 deal. We then had time for a complete monorail loop and back for our 1:55 ME pickup. Again, also had to pick up at WL, Poly and GF before heading to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time, though, for a late lunch at the airport. Flight out was about 5 minutes EARLY, as was the connection back to home airport. All of the luggage arrived with us and we were in our driveway at 9:00 Saturday night! The dog was so pleased.

So, there it is. A wonderful trip. I can’t say it enough, relax guys. It’s Disney. Don’t overplan. You can still see and do a lot – in fact, just about everything we wanted to do even with the sleeping in! We hadn’t planned on AK, that will be the next trip. Water parks and DTD the same…they will still be there next time.

And speaking of next time, for us it will be several years. I’m talking at least 4, maybe 5 years. The reason being that this trip, as wonderful as it was, was just too soon after our Dec 2007 experience. The resort was new and fresh, but the parks just felt a little too familiar to me. I got the same feeling I get at Kings Island, a nice theme park nearby us that we visit most every summer – twice last year. That feeling is OK for our local park, but I don’t want WDW to seem stale. It almost did this time. Plus, we’ve done 3 trips with the kids in just under 4 years. I want to experience WDW with older kids, a new look at things. The kids are of course already begging to go back, but I think they have had a good run at being “little” at Disney. I think they will enjoy it more if they are several years older for the next trip. Plus, we can save up for that CR MK view again!!!

Trip complete and thanks for reading. Enjoy!!!

 

[RussellDisney]

loving the report so much I had to share it to dh! We were there the same week and experienced much of the same types of situations. Except for the fact we were camping at FW for the first time, pretty sure my dh is still searching for his cup for making that decision.

Teehee, yeah last week was a little wet for camping. Tent or RV?

 

[rimmer]

Teehee, yeah last week was a little wet for camping. Tent or RV?

dh, ds and myself in a pop-up that we determined we have Totally out grown and dd and her friend in a tent that began leaking so we made an unplanned trip to Bass Pro shop for a new one.

We normally stay at WL but I have always dreamed of staying at CR. Dh owes me now, so I will soon be planning that trip.

Thanks for a wonderful trip report. Don't wait too many years to return.