Yep, for all of you out there who wonder if these radio stations really do come through with legit "free" trips, I am here to tell you that we really won a 4 day-3 night trip to Orlando. It was sponsored by Southwest Air & Seaworld. Round trip air, hotel accomodations, 4 2-day passes to SeaWorld, 4 behind the scenes tickets, & gift bags.
The cast of characters: Me, 46, planner of this cool free trip, Hubbie, 47, the actual winner of the contest, 17 yr old son, 9 yr old daughter
A little background: We have been on 2 previous Disney trips, both on site. Never rented a car, always used Disney transportation....stayed at All Star Movies & CBR....used Tiffany Town Car to get to hotel & back.....I majorly planned these trips to get all I could out of hoppers.....So we were quite familiar with all 4 parks, Downtown Disney, Boardwalk area, many restaurants, etc.....also, we went the end of August both times so we could go when the kids were out of school & it was also less crowded.
OH! One thing I forgot to mention!!!! When we stayed at CBR in 2003, they goofed up my requests so they issued us 4 1-day passes to 1 park that expired Dec of 2006, so we got to spend a day at Magic Kingdom for free too!!!!!
So our adventure started on Southwest out of Buffalo NY on Sunday April 30th at 7:10 am....NONSTOP! Or so we thought....it ended up having to stop in Pittsburgh to refuel.....so we were a tad late getting into MCO....now on to get our rental car from Alamo....this was out of pocket....a fantastic rate with a coupon from the Entertainment book.....$65 with tax!!! Too bad there were like 50 people ahead of us! We finally got out of the airport around 11:30 & headed to our hotel, the Residence Inn/SeaWorld, 3 minutes from SeaWorld's gate.....Beautiful hotel, a one-bedroom suite, complimentary breakfast each morning....lovely pool.....4 star all the way.....we were given our 4 gift bags (Seaworld t-shirt, little stuffed Shamu, pen, post-it notes)....
After settling into our room, we checked out the hotel & had a bite to eat down by the pool.....then we headed to SeaWorld around 3....it always takes our family a little time to get our bearings.....the park map isn't the greatest....we did quite a bit of un-necessary walking....loved the penguin exhibit....I could have stood & watched them for an hour.....then onto Journey to Atlantis (water floom)....another sort of problematic thing is timing all the shows right....we saw the most wonderful dolphin show call Mystify....gorgeous set, beautiful music, trainers who absolutely love their work....I got teary eyed....we stayed until it closed at 7:00....we found a grocery store & got some drinks & sandwich stuff for the fridge....a little pool time (in the pool it was warm, outside of pool we froze)....bed fairly early since we were up at 4:00 am....I was very excited because the next day I would be "home".
Day 2: Monday, May 1st - MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!
So, did I mention that this trip was FREE!!!! I gotta tell you, free is good....there are no expectations....I never felt like "hurry up, we have to get to the parks EARLY.....move it, move it, move it!" Because I can be that way....but not this trip....we got up, with no alarm! The complimentary breakfast was until 9:30, so we got there roughly 8:30, read the paper, & headed over to MK....now keep in mind we have never seen the parking lots of any park....after we paid $10 to park, we headed over to the AAA lot & had a pretty good spot, we thought.....I look for the castle, only to realize we still have to take the monorail to the park....herded with the masses, we finally arrive at the front gate! Hey, I thought this was off season....
I won't go into every single thing we did that day, but, we got there at 10 AM & left at 10 PM....it was one of only 3 nights Spectro was being done that week, & I had never seen it or Wishes before....my goal was to do everything we never did before at MK....alot of it ended up being stuff we would never do again....Speedway, Stitch, Astro Orbiter, yuck.....Jungle Cruise, loved our girl....she was hysterical....loved Mickeys Philharmagic....Fast Pass is just the best thing since sliced bread.....one guy asked me how much more I paid to get that Fast Pass....I couldn't believe it....ate at Pecos Bills.....jam packed.....crazy.....had dinner at Columbia Harbor House....both were very good....then headed over to the parade....I swear it was 10 people deep.....I am sure it was beautiful, but my little one couldn't see anything but knees....we were oblivious to how crowded it was on the parade route cause we were eating....hmmm, no wonder it was so empty at the restaurant! Oh well, live & learn.....bottom line is, I was so happy to be at disney, I didn't care what happened to us that day....we ended up leaving before Wishes just to beat the traffic....guess I'll have to return another time to see it.....
Days 3 & 4 coming soon......
The cast of characters: Me, 46, planner of this cool free trip, Hubbie, 47, the actual winner of the contest, 17 yr old son, 9 yr old daughter
A little background: We have been on 2 previous Disney trips, both on site. Never rented a car, always used Disney transportation....stayed at All Star Movies & CBR....used Tiffany Town Car to get to hotel & back.....I majorly planned these trips to get all I could out of hoppers.....So we were quite familiar with all 4 parks, Downtown Disney, Boardwalk area, many restaurants, etc.....also, we went the end of August both times so we could go when the kids were out of school & it was also less crowded.
OH! One thing I forgot to mention!!!! When we stayed at CBR in 2003, they goofed up my requests so they issued us 4 1-day passes to 1 park that expired Dec of 2006, so we got to spend a day at Magic Kingdom for free too!!!!!
So our adventure started on Southwest out of Buffalo NY on Sunday April 30th at 7:10 am....NONSTOP! Or so we thought....it ended up having to stop in Pittsburgh to refuel.....so we were a tad late getting into MCO....now on to get our rental car from Alamo....this was out of pocket....a fantastic rate with a coupon from the Entertainment book.....$65 with tax!!! Too bad there were like 50 people ahead of us! We finally got out of the airport around 11:30 & headed to our hotel, the Residence Inn/SeaWorld, 3 minutes from SeaWorld's gate.....Beautiful hotel, a one-bedroom suite, complimentary breakfast each morning....lovely pool.....4 star all the way.....we were given our 4 gift bags (Seaworld t-shirt, little stuffed Shamu, pen, post-it notes)....
After settling into our room, we checked out the hotel & had a bite to eat down by the pool.....then we headed to SeaWorld around 3....it always takes our family a little time to get our bearings.....the park map isn't the greatest....we did quite a bit of un-necessary walking....loved the penguin exhibit....I could have stood & watched them for an hour.....then onto Journey to Atlantis (water floom)....another sort of problematic thing is timing all the shows right....we saw the most wonderful dolphin show call Mystify....gorgeous set, beautiful music, trainers who absolutely love their work....I got teary eyed....we stayed until it closed at 7:00....we found a grocery store & got some drinks & sandwich stuff for the fridge....a little pool time (in the pool it was warm, outside of pool we froze)....bed fairly early since we were up at 4:00 am....I was very excited because the next day I would be "home".
Day 2: Monday, May 1st - MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!
So, did I mention that this trip was FREE!!!! I gotta tell you, free is good....there are no expectations....I never felt like "hurry up, we have to get to the parks EARLY.....move it, move it, move it!" Because I can be that way....but not this trip....we got up, with no alarm! The complimentary breakfast was until 9:30, so we got there roughly 8:30, read the paper, & headed over to MK....now keep in mind we have never seen the parking lots of any park....after we paid $10 to park, we headed over to the AAA lot & had a pretty good spot, we thought.....I look for the castle, only to realize we still have to take the monorail to the park....herded with the masses, we finally arrive at the front gate! Hey, I thought this was off season....
I won't go into every single thing we did that day, but, we got there at 10 AM & left at 10 PM....it was one of only 3 nights Spectro was being done that week, & I had never seen it or Wishes before....my goal was to do everything we never did before at MK....alot of it ended up being stuff we would never do again....Speedway, Stitch, Astro Orbiter, yuck.....Jungle Cruise, loved our girl....she was hysterical....loved Mickeys Philharmagic....Fast Pass is just the best thing since sliced bread.....one guy asked me how much more I paid to get that Fast Pass....I couldn't believe it....ate at Pecos Bills.....jam packed.....crazy.....had dinner at Columbia Harbor House....both were very good....then headed over to the parade....I swear it was 10 people deep.....I am sure it was beautiful, but my little one couldn't see anything but knees....we were oblivious to how crowded it was on the parade route cause we were eating....hmmm, no wonder it was so empty at the restaurant! Oh well, live & learn.....bottom line is, I was so happy to be at disney, I didn't care what happened to us that day....we ended up leaving before Wishes just to beat the traffic....guess I'll have to return another time to see it.....
Days 3 & 4 coming soon......
Cameron 
Grandma 
Grandpa 
