Wish Upon A Star
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2000
- Messages
- 3,869
July 4th - Left Hartford, CT @ 10:35 and arrived in Florida @ 1:10 pm, 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The flight was the best flight we've ever had, no problems, smooth sailing the whole way. Delta has cut back alot, they used to give crackers, fruit bar and a small bite size chocolate as a mid-morning snack, but now they give this small packet of Xpress Mix, which wasn't too bad, it had pretzels, some cheese things, almost like a chex mix.
When we arrived at Orlando International, our driver, Jimmy, from YourRide, was there to greet us. Jimmy is a great guy, and has a funny sense of humor. Our stretch limo was packed with cold drinks and the limo itself was in perfect condition. It was a brief ride over to the Grand Floridian, as we did not stop at Publix for anything. I would highly recommend YourRide!
When we got to the Grand Floridian it was clouding over and started to rain, but it did clear up in a short time. Check-In at Grand Floridian was a breeze! No lines, no waiting. We were told that the Grand Floridian was at 75% capacity and our room was already prepared for us. We were located in Conch Key, Room #7231, which was an end room that had a superb, unobstructed, view of Cinderella's Castle. I cannot even describe how awesome this view was. All my requests that I had on my reservation were granted and we were very happy!
After settling in and unpacking, we headed off to the MK to validate my annual passes, had a little problem with that because at the same time I was upgrading my kids passes and the CM behind the counter didn't fully understand what I wanted to do. She tried to recharge me for the kids passes, all in all, it was a slight lack of communication between the both of us, but it turned out fine in the end.
After upgrading, we headed in to the MK to see if we could purchase any of the July 4th pins, but unfortunately those pins sold out by 11 a.m., so we weren't able to buy any. We left the MK to head back to the GF for our dinner reservation at Narcoossee's.
Narcoosee's is a beautiful restaurant. Our server, Rita, treated us very well. Our dinner consisted of Butternut Squash/Blue Crab Soup, which was absolutely delicious, I would recommend trying it! I had the Shrimp w/pasta and DH had Prosciutto and then Filet Mignon. The kids had chicken fingers, cheeseburger, fruit cup and chicken soup. DH and I shared a cheesecake and DD and DS had make your own smores for dessert. Dinner total was $136.90. Which also included beer and a sea breeze. All in all, it was a GREAT dinner and I'm glad I made ressies to eat there.
After dinner, we walked the GF grounds to digest, checked out the new pool, which seemed nice, but closed early at 8 p.m. The grounds themselves were beautifully kept, fresh flowers all around, the ducks, bunnies and small little lizards everywhere you looked. We then headed back to our room to watch the 4th of July fireworks from our balcony.
The show was incredible! We've never seen so many fireworks! They were all over the place. After ooooing and aahhing over the fireworks show, we headed back to the MK. The monorail, does say the same thing, for those of you who wanted to know.
While heading into the MK the crowds were already settling down to catch the 10:00 Spectromagic, so we headed over to Adventure Land and rode Pirates of the Caribbean 3x in a row, no lines, no waiting. We also headed off to the Haunted Mansion and rode that 2x, no lines, no waiting. Crowds were unbearable leaving the MK that night, even the 12:00 a.m. showing of Spectromagic looked like it was going to be packed, so we headed through the crowds and went back to the GF.
We finally drifted off to a peaceful slumber with the MK train whistle still blowing in the distance.
When we arrived at Orlando International, our driver, Jimmy, from YourRide, was there to greet us. Jimmy is a great guy, and has a funny sense of humor. Our stretch limo was packed with cold drinks and the limo itself was in perfect condition. It was a brief ride over to the Grand Floridian, as we did not stop at Publix for anything. I would highly recommend YourRide!
When we got to the Grand Floridian it was clouding over and started to rain, but it did clear up in a short time. Check-In at Grand Floridian was a breeze! No lines, no waiting. We were told that the Grand Floridian was at 75% capacity and our room was already prepared for us. We were located in Conch Key, Room #7231, which was an end room that had a superb, unobstructed, view of Cinderella's Castle. I cannot even describe how awesome this view was. All my requests that I had on my reservation were granted and we were very happy!
After settling in and unpacking, we headed off to the MK to validate my annual passes, had a little problem with that because at the same time I was upgrading my kids passes and the CM behind the counter didn't fully understand what I wanted to do. She tried to recharge me for the kids passes, all in all, it was a slight lack of communication between the both of us, but it turned out fine in the end.
After upgrading, we headed in to the MK to see if we could purchase any of the July 4th pins, but unfortunately those pins sold out by 11 a.m., so we weren't able to buy any. We left the MK to head back to the GF for our dinner reservation at Narcoossee's.
Narcoosee's is a beautiful restaurant. Our server, Rita, treated us very well. Our dinner consisted of Butternut Squash/Blue Crab Soup, which was absolutely delicious, I would recommend trying it! I had the Shrimp w/pasta and DH had Prosciutto and then Filet Mignon. The kids had chicken fingers, cheeseburger, fruit cup and chicken soup. DH and I shared a cheesecake and DD and DS had make your own smores for dessert. Dinner total was $136.90. Which also included beer and a sea breeze. All in all, it was a GREAT dinner and I'm glad I made ressies to eat there.
After dinner, we walked the GF grounds to digest, checked out the new pool, which seemed nice, but closed early at 8 p.m. The grounds themselves were beautifully kept, fresh flowers all around, the ducks, bunnies and small little lizards everywhere you looked. We then headed back to our room to watch the 4th of July fireworks from our balcony.
The show was incredible! We've never seen so many fireworks! They were all over the place. After ooooing and aahhing over the fireworks show, we headed back to the MK. The monorail, does say the same thing, for those of you who wanted to know.
While heading into the MK the crowds were already settling down to catch the 10:00 Spectromagic, so we headed over to Adventure Land and rode Pirates of the Caribbean 3x in a row, no lines, no waiting. We also headed off to the Haunted Mansion and rode that 2x, no lines, no waiting. Crowds were unbearable leaving the MK that night, even the 12:00 a.m. showing of Spectromagic looked like it was going to be packed, so we headed through the crowds and went back to the GF.
We finally drifted off to a peaceful slumber with the MK train whistle still blowing in the distance.
Krissy
