You're never too old for a family trip! Trip Report! UPDATED! LAST CHAPTER!!
- Thread starter Nicole786
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Nicole786
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I am jealous you only have a week left.
think of it this way: when i come back, you'll first be going! I'd rather be you! haha
Nicole786
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This will be the last post of the pre-trip report. 
I have one more week to go!
and i bought that camcorder i said I was gonna buy so i can't wait to take videos!
WHen i come back I might make a trip report (or at least attempt to) but if it turns out to not be a success like this one, i probably won't. Oh well! See you guys when I come back! (thanks to those who did comment!
)
I have one more week to go!
and i bought that camcorder i said I was gonna buy so i can't wait to take videos!WHen i come back I might make a trip report (or at least attempt to) but if it turns out to not be a success like this one, i probably won't. Oh well! See you guys when I come back! (thanks to those who did comment!
)This will be the last post of the pre-trip report.
I have one more week to go!
WHen i come back I might make a trip report (or at least attempt to) but if it turns out to not be a success like this one, i probably won't. Oh well! See you guys when I come back! (thanks to those who did comment!
Well, I better see pictures. LOL. Say Hi to my dad while you are in orlando. He is going down there on the 3rd to play golf for a week.
princessjv
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You are such a thoughful girl! I am sure your mom really loves all she is getting from you. I can't wait to hear about the trip...oh my osh, you leave in just a few days...lucky!
momrek06
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NICOLE, great pictures of David's birthday!! 
You are one ORGANIZED young lady!!
Congratulations on the new purchase of your camcorder!! You are so going to love bringing all your memories home with you!! Don't forget to still take pics for us to see when you get back!!
You are one ORGANIZED young lady!!
Congratulations on the new purchase of your camcorder!! You are so going to love bringing all your memories home with you!! Don't forget to still take pics for us to see when you get back!!
Nicole786
DIS Veteran
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- Jan 29, 2007
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They say that the best way to get over a Disney trip is to start planning another one. Lucky for me, I was planning a return trip before I even left for this one! This august, my “guy friend” from NY and I will hopefully be at the mouse house. He’s left the resort choice up to me, so I think I’m splurging for the wilderness lodge! Look for the pre-trip report on that one, as August draws near.
But first on to this trip report! For those who were not reading the Pre-Trip report, you may do so, by clicking here.
Before I get started I have a few thank yous to get through here. Thank you to timandlesley for your fantastic insight and incredible help! Thank you to millerdwfans for a last minute offering of help! Disneyfav4ever for your help on the LMA show! Kimashton for listening to my random shouts of glee, and also a big thank you to anyone who helped me along the way here on the DIS boards. Okay, I hear that speech-ending music starting, so lets get this show on the road!
The pre-trip report explains in very neat details, exactly what the Disney trip was for, and how It was nicely presented, so I won’t go into it here. Just to sum up, this trip was a birthday gift for my mom, and the real surprise was staying inside the resort, something we have never done but always wanted to do. Lets meet the cast shall we?
Mom – Birthday girl, age over 40, but still a kid at heart. Loves everything Disney, and her face lit up when we got front row seats for the parades.
Dad – Also over 40, can’t help but get stressed when lots of money is being spent. But even after everything, he was the one who splurged on the 3 snow globes (or at least that’s what I heard)
David – Scaredy Cat! Also the birthday boy, age 15 and kept getting jealous that moms birthday button was seen before his. He’s still a baby at heart, with his “I don’t want to ride space mountain NOW because my stomach hurts” Enjoyed feeling mature having a room separate from the parents. That might have been his favorite part.
Michael – The Cousin. Age 21. He doesn’t react to change well, so when we went from saying “we’re going to epcot” to “we’re going to magic kingdom” he got a little upset and disoriented.
Me – Age 20. This might be the last family trip for a very long time since I’m moving to New York soon. Tried to cherish with my family the best I could. Also known as the tour guide, and the photographer.
Thursday, March 1st
Unfortunately for me, we weren’t leaving for Disney until dinner time that day, so the entire day was dreadful. Math class took too long, and the simple errands we ran, didn’t seem to be as simple as they could. But nevertheless, around 5:00PM we were finally leaving.
From West Palm Beach, it takes about 2 and a half hours north to get to Orlando. Add a stop to Boynton Beach to drop off the dog, a stop at Wendy’s, and a stop for gas, we arrived finally at Port Orleans Riverside around 9PM.
When we got to the resort, I had my own level of expectations for check in. I already knew that whoever I was going to deal with, was going to be super nice, extremely welcoming, and lovely all over. Oh and rosy cheeks. Oh! And a big smile! Yup, I was in my bubble of Disney glory
. And in a matter of 10 minutes, my bubble was popped. First of all, let me back track a bit and say I had added to the request that I wanted building 14. Now I know even with a room request, the chances of receiving the request are pretty slim. When I didn’t receive the request, I wasn’t shocked. (I was a little shocked that they didn’t even TRY to get us close to the lobby) I was upset mostly because the CM was not trying to help, she was kind of being rude about it. I really wanted the resort thing to go as easy as possible so when it came time to plan another family trip, my dad, the penny saver, would “have to” stay at a Disney resort. (lucky for me, they were down the desk with a more pleasurable CM) Maybe it wasn’t Kirby’s fault. Maybe my level of panic that started to fill my head was clouding my judgment. Either way, I wasn’t happy. I was panicking at how far the room would be from the lobby as I glanced down to my itinerary and noticed we had plans for breakfast at Boatwrights. I was concerned at how far away it was from the buses. Would we make it for park opening? I was in a total state of panic. When you’re planning something, and you’re typing you’re little plans in Microsoft Word, making the font pink, and blue, and shade of purple, you’re assuming that you will be in building 14, and you’re in your Disney bubble. When Kirby, your obnoxious CM tells you otherwise, you begin to worry.
Maybe the room thing turns out to be okay, maybe it doesn’t (I guess you’ll have to read and see!) But for now, lets move on. I had ordered gift baskets from Sarah (who, might I add was fantastic, and the following is not a reflection on her. I Highly recommend her) And I figured that because we had such a late check-in, the baskets were going to be in the rooms. (One for mom, one for David) I had a picture in my head of videotaping my mom and Davids reaction when they walked into their rooms and saw the baskets. How happy they would be, how excited! Well, actually, Kirby brought them both out, put them down and pretty much said “here” and that was that. Now, I might be over-reacting because I did manage to capture my moms excitement and joy, and David was so excited he didn’t even realize I was behind the whole thing. But I was already upset, so I couldn’t really enjoy their reactions.
Finally, after we received our room keys, I stood their waiting for more. I kept telling myself there was definitely something missing here. But after Kirby gave me one last “um, you’re done.” I was so happy to get out of there, that I ignored any voices telling me that I don’t have everything I need. As we left the registration, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. Needless to say, check-in made me want to start to cry, and I really truly hope the next resort I stay at will be a much better experience.
We parked in the designated “building 29” parking lot, and made our trek on to the room. It took a while to find it, and more panic began to set in. (Was it really this far away??) We FINALLY found it, and things were starting to look up! We had a corner room with 2 windows. I LOVED the decor! And it just reeked of Disney Magic! We even had this little guy to greet us!
We raced out of the room because we really wanted to go to Downtown Disney. Here’s a few pics of the room, and david with his basket!
We had a corner room with 2 windows and a view of the lake! Things were looking up!
I was so excited to take the boat, but we agreed that the boat would take too long so we took the car and spent about an hour in Downtown Disney. I was there for 30 seconds before racing off on my own to Pin Traders with Michael and David in tow. I knew I wanted to start a pin collection and here is where that began. I bought a nice lanyard and a fantasmic mickey pin to go along with my Mets pin i bought last time. I promised David and Michael that we would do what they wanted as long as they gave me "pin time" (David even started his own collection!) But that came back to haunt me as the rest of the hour was spent in Once Upon a Toy and The Lego Store. Once Upon a Toy was a blast, but tweedle dee and tweedle dum took 25 minutes to build themselves lightsabers, and when we finally left there we only had a chance to race to the lego store, and then we were done.
On the way back, i realized what I was missing from check in! Evil-CM didn't give me my packet of "welcome" stuff! I'm such a baby when it comes to the little things, that i guarantee that if she had given it to me at check-in i would have been 10X happier than I was. My dad had to go to the lobby anyway, and we wanted to see how far the rooms were, so at around 11PM, my dad and I walked to the lobby.
My dad wanted to get the internet hooked up to his room, but while there, i asked a different CM than Kirby for my welcome packet. She happily obliged, so I took the oppurtunity to ask if their were any rooms closer to the lobby. She glanced over to the CM next to her, It was Kirby again! As she was explaining in a forced happy kind of a way that it was because of the king size bed there was nothing available, i said okay, and left the desk. As i turned around, i heard the two of them mumbling under their breath (possibly about me), and i never felt more unhappy at disneyworld in my life.
When I got back to the room, I was so excited for the new day to start that i was up all night. Partially due to the "clicking" noise the AC was making (which Michael and David swear they didn't hear) Even David, who was on an Aero bed next to the AC said i was crazy. But finally the first day of Disney was here! Next stop: Animal Kingdom!
Up Next: How cranky is too cranky? Are the rooms really that far away from the lobby? How many things can we get done in Animal Kingdom? Stay tuned to find out!
PS: There were lots more pics taken, the first day was mainly video. SO keep reading for more pics!
But first on to this trip report! For those who were not reading the Pre-Trip report, you may do so, by clicking here.
Before I get started I have a few thank yous to get through here. Thank you to timandlesley for your fantastic insight and incredible help! Thank you to millerdwfans for a last minute offering of help! Disneyfav4ever for your help on the LMA show! Kimashton for listening to my random shouts of glee, and also a big thank you to anyone who helped me along the way here on the DIS boards. Okay, I hear that speech-ending music starting, so lets get this show on the road!
The pre-trip report explains in very neat details, exactly what the Disney trip was for, and how It was nicely presented, so I won’t go into it here. Just to sum up, this trip was a birthday gift for my mom, and the real surprise was staying inside the resort, something we have never done but always wanted to do. Lets meet the cast shall we?
Mom – Birthday girl, age over 40, but still a kid at heart. Loves everything Disney, and her face lit up when we got front row seats for the parades.
Dad – Also over 40, can’t help but get stressed when lots of money is being spent. But even after everything, he was the one who splurged on the 3 snow globes (or at least that’s what I heard)
David – Scaredy Cat! Also the birthday boy, age 15 and kept getting jealous that moms birthday button was seen before his. He’s still a baby at heart, with his “I don’t want to ride space mountain NOW because my stomach hurts” Enjoyed feeling mature having a room separate from the parents. That might have been his favorite part.
Michael – The Cousin. Age 21. He doesn’t react to change well, so when we went from saying “we’re going to epcot” to “we’re going to magic kingdom” he got a little upset and disoriented.
Me – Age 20. This might be the last family trip for a very long time since I’m moving to New York soon. Tried to cherish with my family the best I could. Also known as the tour guide, and the photographer.
Thursday, March 1st
Unfortunately for me, we weren’t leaving for Disney until dinner time that day, so the entire day was dreadful. Math class took too long, and the simple errands we ran, didn’t seem to be as simple as they could. But nevertheless, around 5:00PM we were finally leaving.
From West Palm Beach, it takes about 2 and a half hours north to get to Orlando. Add a stop to Boynton Beach to drop off the dog, a stop at Wendy’s, and a stop for gas, we arrived finally at Port Orleans Riverside around 9PM.
When we got to the resort, I had my own level of expectations for check in. I already knew that whoever I was going to deal with, was going to be super nice, extremely welcoming, and lovely all over. Oh and rosy cheeks. Oh! And a big smile! Yup, I was in my bubble of Disney glory
. And in a matter of 10 minutes, my bubble was popped. First of all, let me back track a bit and say I had added to the request that I wanted building 14. Now I know even with a room request, the chances of receiving the request are pretty slim. When I didn’t receive the request, I wasn’t shocked. (I was a little shocked that they didn’t even TRY to get us close to the lobby) I was upset mostly because the CM was not trying to help, she was kind of being rude about it. I really wanted the resort thing to go as easy as possible so when it came time to plan another family trip, my dad, the penny saver, would “have to” stay at a Disney resort. (lucky for me, they were down the desk with a more pleasurable CM) Maybe it wasn’t Kirby’s fault. Maybe my level of panic that started to fill my head was clouding my judgment. Either way, I wasn’t happy. I was panicking at how far the room would be from the lobby as I glanced down to my itinerary and noticed we had plans for breakfast at Boatwrights. I was concerned at how far away it was from the buses. Would we make it for park opening? I was in a total state of panic. When you’re planning something, and you’re typing you’re little plans in Microsoft Word, making the font pink, and blue, and shade of purple, you’re assuming that you will be in building 14, and you’re in your Disney bubble. When Kirby, your obnoxious CM tells you otherwise, you begin to worry. Maybe the room thing turns out to be okay, maybe it doesn’t (I guess you’ll have to read and see!) But for now, lets move on. I had ordered gift baskets from Sarah (who, might I add was fantastic, and the following is not a reflection on her. I Highly recommend her) And I figured that because we had such a late check-in, the baskets were going to be in the rooms. (One for mom, one for David) I had a picture in my head of videotaping my mom and Davids reaction when they walked into their rooms and saw the baskets. How happy they would be, how excited! Well, actually, Kirby brought them both out, put them down and pretty much said “here” and that was that. Now, I might be over-reacting because I did manage to capture my moms excitement and joy, and David was so excited he didn’t even realize I was behind the whole thing. But I was already upset, so I couldn’t really enjoy their reactions.
Finally, after we received our room keys, I stood their waiting for more. I kept telling myself there was definitely something missing here. But after Kirby gave me one last “um, you’re done.” I was so happy to get out of there, that I ignored any voices telling me that I don’t have everything I need. As we left the registration, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. Needless to say, check-in made me want to start to cry, and I really truly hope the next resort I stay at will be a much better experience.
We parked in the designated “building 29” parking lot, and made our trek on to the room. It took a while to find it, and more panic began to set in. (Was it really this far away??) We FINALLY found it, and things were starting to look up! We had a corner room with 2 windows. I LOVED the decor! And it just reeked of Disney Magic! We even had this little guy to greet us!
We raced out of the room because we really wanted to go to Downtown Disney. Here’s a few pics of the room, and david with his basket!
We had a corner room with 2 windows and a view of the lake! Things were looking up!
I was so excited to take the boat, but we agreed that the boat would take too long so we took the car and spent about an hour in Downtown Disney. I was there for 30 seconds before racing off on my own to Pin Traders with Michael and David in tow. I knew I wanted to start a pin collection and here is where that began. I bought a nice lanyard and a fantasmic mickey pin to go along with my Mets pin i bought last time. I promised David and Michael that we would do what they wanted as long as they gave me "pin time" (David even started his own collection!) But that came back to haunt me as the rest of the hour was spent in Once Upon a Toy and The Lego Store. Once Upon a Toy was a blast, but tweedle dee and tweedle dum took 25 minutes to build themselves lightsabers, and when we finally left there we only had a chance to race to the lego store, and then we were done.
On the way back, i realized what I was missing from check in! Evil-CM didn't give me my packet of "welcome" stuff! I'm such a baby when it comes to the little things, that i guarantee that if she had given it to me at check-in i would have been 10X happier than I was. My dad had to go to the lobby anyway, and we wanted to see how far the rooms were, so at around 11PM, my dad and I walked to the lobby.
My dad wanted to get the internet hooked up to his room, but while there, i asked a different CM than Kirby for my welcome packet. She happily obliged, so I took the oppurtunity to ask if their were any rooms closer to the lobby. She glanced over to the CM next to her, It was Kirby again! As she was explaining in a forced happy kind of a way that it was because of the king size bed there was nothing available, i said okay, and left the desk. As i turned around, i heard the two of them mumbling under their breath (possibly about me), and i never felt more unhappy at disneyworld in my life.
When I got back to the room, I was so excited for the new day to start that i was up all night. Partially due to the "clicking" noise the AC was making (which Michael and David swear they didn't hear) Even David, who was on an Aero bed next to the AC said i was crazy. But finally the first day of Disney was here! Next stop: Animal Kingdom!
Up Next: How cranky is too cranky? Are the rooms really that far away from the lobby? How many things can we get done in Animal Kingdom? Stay tuned to find out!
PS: There were lots more pics taken, the first day was mainly video. SO keep reading for more pics!
princessjv
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- Jul 29, 2005
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Ya!!! Your back! Did they like their arrival gifts? I can't wait to hear how everything went! 
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
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Welcome back!!!! I'm worried about how it starts but since you logged into my TR and told me you had a good time I'm not going to worry too much
Who was the first pic of? Can't wait for more, you are off to a great start, I enjoy your writing style. Glad my tips helped you out, I'm flattered.
Lesley
Who was the first pic of? Can't wait for more, you are off to a great start, I enjoy your writing style. Glad my tips helped you out, I'm flattered.Lesley
serendipity
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Great start! The gift basket was *sooooooo* cute. I can't wait to read more!
disneyaddicted
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- 2,499
You are so right about nothing getting you over a Disney trip but planning the next one. I am enjoying your trip report, can't wait for more to come
ReneeDisney
Off to Neverland.....
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I agree! Check-In for me is the official start of my Disney trip and am very disapointed when I get a CM that just isn't happy or smiling! Also, I LOVE getting the packet of guides, maps and more- so FUN!!
Can't wait to read more!
Nicole786
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Thanks! i'm working on it right now
Ya!!! Your back! Did they like their arrival gifts? I can't wait to hear how everything went!
They loved the arrival gifts!! David's a little too young to appreciate it, but my mom loved it!
I want more pics. Pouts. LOL.
Sigh I will drop kick the mean CM for you when I go.
Thanks Kim, i knew i can count on you! LOL
Can't wait to read more, just love the trippies. But they make me a little sad, I can't wait to go back.
I can't wait to go back too! lol i know how you feel
Welcome back!!!! I'm worried about how it starts but since you logged into my TR and told me you had a good time I'm not going to worry too much
Lesley
You'll soon see how much your tips helped out! The first picture is of my cousin, Michael
Thanks! Yeah, Sarah did a great job!
I'm hoping to start planning a new one shortly! thanks for reading!
I was so upset at check-in, i really wanted the vacation to start off right!
Thanks to everyone whos been reading! I'm working on the next installment right now!
Nicole786
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- Jan 29, 2007
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- 4,076
Mickey Mouse 
and Stitch 
woke our room up at a very early 6AM 
. Today was Animal Kingdom, and I was so excited to finally start my Disney vacation! Why 6AM? I hadnt the slightest idea what time I should get up, where we would have enough time to eat breakfast and still catch the bus, so i made it for 6AM, lesson learned. 
Because Michael likes to shower every morning religiously, we promptly left the room at 7AM and met my parents down the hall, where we made our journey to the lobby! We were happily surprised to find that the walk to the main hall was only about ten minutes long, and it was a beautiful walk at that! Along the way we traced the sassougoula river and pointing out the landscaping definitely helped make the walk that much more enjoyable! See? All that worrying for nothing! Silly me.
So we get the food court, only we didnt feel the $11.99 price tag justified the cafeteria-type food they were offering (because the food court is under construction) so we walked to the river roost right next door for a simple continental breakfast. Im not used to paying for a continental breakfast (and still feel that Disney should provide this with no cost) but my croissant and apple juice hit the spot, and it was just light enough where I could grab something for an early lunch, so Id still be hungry for our early dinner.
Now it was about 7:20AM and we walked to the buses. We waited a minute or two until the bus came rolling in. A few people already on it + our family and one other family waiting, still left plenty of room on the bus, which was awesome. (Sidenote: This was such an awesome time to be in Disney, off season at its best!)
We arrived in Animal Kingdom around 7:45. Okay, now what? What to do, what to do? We pretty much spent majority of that one hour in exhausted silence, watching the lucky families make their way into Donalds Breakfastausarus (Ohhh, thats where the people on the bus went) I kept getting evil "why did you wake me up so early?" glares
Finally it was time to utilize our first TGM tip of the trip! His secret entranceway into the park! Now all TGMers should know what entrance Im talking about! (IF you dont, sign up with TGM now! His tips are GREAT!) We walked over to the secret entrance, and hit the turnstiles. At about 8:45, we were let through and WOW! We were ahead of EVERYONE!!! TGM WAS RIGHT! We were brought over to the ropes where the morning ceremonies were to take place, and then the bus of characters came out, did their thing and we were off!
Michael and I followed the ropes to Expedition Everest to nab our Fast Passes (with the other billion people who were doing the same). Mom, Dad and David were back at Its tough to be a bug, and it only took us a total of about 15 minutes to run to Asia, and then run back with our FP in tow! We walked on to its tough to be a bug (which is cute, btw but I sat on the edge of my seat in preperation lol!) and headed over to dino land. The park at this point was EMPTY, and I mean EMPTY, We headed straight to Dinosaur for our second walk on, and since this was a ride I had remembered from 1998, I held my ears at the proper moment:
We left Dinosaur and did a time check. What?? It was only 9:00AM and we had finished 2 attractions? I underestimated the power of being at park opening! We ventured on towards Asia to use our EE FP and realized when we got there that we should ride Kali before going on everest. So we walked past EE and straight onto Kali! Another Walk On!! Now Im gonna sing TGMs praises again: The price of his service is worth it just for the daily park suggestions alone! I took his advice to visit AK on this day, and it paid off! We walked on everything!! Okay enough TGM praisal for now haha. We got drenched on Kali, Which was a nice refresher for this warm day, but we mentioned we enjoyed Popeye better at US. At this point we decided it was a good time to go on EE (to dry of course) So we made plans to meet up at Kiliminjaro Safari. Michael and myself headed towards that huge mountain in the sky. Here is what the other half of our party did while we were on this awesome ride!!
Now myself? I am a HUGE ride enthusiast. If it goes fast? YES! If I goes upside down? OMG YES! If it spins? Okay, not so much BUT DOES IT DROP? YYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!!! I was PUMPED for everest! I think I might have danced on the way over there. Michael on the other hand, could take it or leave it. He went on it mostly because he didnt really know what to expect (muahahaha 
) although he swears he watched it on youtube with me. We walked on the FP line and I danced in my seat . Michael had this look on his face like he wished he had made a will, but whatever, I was on everest! YES!
Okay Everest kicked butt for me, but when we got off, Michael felt a little nauseous. All I kept hearing from him for 5 minutes straight was thats my last crazy ride for the day, thats my last crazy ride for the day YOUR LAST? THAT WAS MY FIRST! I loooooved everest! I thought it was kind of like if BTMR and Splash Mountain had a love child, Everest would be its bundle of joy! It rocks, go on it.
On our way to KS, We made an educated decision to stop and get Mickey Mouse ice cream. We shared an ice cream bar as we walked towards Africa, and it made Michael feel better. (I mean why wouldnt it?) We found them in front of the line and walked on. We waited for about 10 minutes, and then we were on. All of the animals were out, and it was truly something else for it to only be about 10:45 and we had already accomplished most of what we wanted to:
Little Sidenote: At this point David and Mom were wearing their birthday pins, and David was feeling neglected because everyone kept seeing my moms pin but not his.
Okay, LUNCHTIME! Yay! I was so excited that everyone wanted to stop for lunch! I was worried that since we had such an early ADR at Coral Reef, we would skip it, but I really really wanted to try Tusker House, which we were right in front of after the safari! Tusker House was awesome! Definitely the best CS Meal of the trip, we all agreed we would more than try to make a return trip there! While we were on line, the CM noticed moms pin and asked her what kind of cake she wanted, David was upset because she didnt see his pin, so we pretty much pushed him up to the front of us and she saw his pin when she returned. The tusker house CMs sang happy birthday to them, and off we went with our delicious food:
David with his Cake
My food, it was sooo good, I want it right now!
So when we left tusker house it was around 12:15 so we started heading towards Camp Minnie Mickey to see the 1:30 Lion King show. When we got there, We had about an hour to spare, so mom and I waited on the lines to see the characters. (The boys were already feeling the exhaustion and didnt want to)
We went to Festival of the Lion King, and while waiting, the heat and exhaustion began to get to us. Dad mentioned something ridiculous like "lets go to Magic Kingdom when we're done with Dinner and than come back to EPCOT for Illuminations" Um WHAT!?
I pleaded my case in an angry fashion that his idea was stupid and ridiculous, and he was stupid and ridiculous for mentioning it, and he yelled back that why do we have to follow your plans? Than mom interjected and said how wonderful the plans were so far because we hadn't waited, and then David yelled that we were yelling!
We took a moment of silence, and calmed down, and my father and I agreed we would stick with the plan because we were going to MK tomorrow.
David however, continued his "mood" See, when David is tired, he goes from being 15 to 3, and has a fit. He used the "we're fighting on vacation" to fuel his frustration and exhaustion. When we got to the front of the doors, he was already yelling at my dad not to touch him, not to run his fingers through his hair, not to rub his shoulders, not to breath on him...you get the picture: typical three year old. I filmed him for a little while going "The magic is not within David" and got him to crack a smile, and when we were inside Festival , and out of the sun, all was well again.
We loved Festival, what a great show and a much needed break! When we were done at around 2PM, we were done with Animal Kingdom!! We slowed our pace as we made our way towards the exit. We stopped at some shops, trying to achieve our ultimate goal: Send something to the room. We didnt, so we moved on.
We boarded the near empty bus as we headed towards our next destination: EPCOT! We had ADRs at 4PM and Epcot was doing EMH, so we assumed we wouldnt be able to get anything done. You know what they say when you assume
Join me next time for EPCOT, The Coral Reef, A Hidden Mickey? You be the judge, and more fun filled times in this trip report!
and Stitch woke our room up at a very early 6AM . Today was Animal Kingdom, and I was so excited to finally start my Disney vacation! Why 6AM? I hadnt the slightest idea what time I should get up, where we would have enough time to eat breakfast and still catch the bus, so i made it for 6AM, lesson learned. Because Michael likes to shower every morning religiously, we promptly left the room at 7AM and met my parents down the hall, where we made our journey to the lobby! We were happily surprised to find that the walk to the main hall was only about ten minutes long, and it was a beautiful walk at that! Along the way we traced the sassougoula river and pointing out the landscaping definitely helped make the walk that much more enjoyable! See? All that worrying for nothing! Silly me.
So we get the food court, only we didnt feel the $11.99 price tag justified the cafeteria-type food they were offering (because the food court is under construction) so we walked to the river roost right next door for a simple continental breakfast. Im not used to paying for a continental breakfast (and still feel that Disney should provide this with no cost) but my croissant and apple juice hit the spot, and it was just light enough where I could grab something for an early lunch, so Id still be hungry for our early dinner.
Now it was about 7:20AM and we walked to the buses. We waited a minute or two until the bus came rolling in. A few people already on it + our family and one other family waiting, still left plenty of room on the bus, which was awesome. (Sidenote: This was such an awesome time to be in Disney, off season at its best!)
We arrived in Animal Kingdom around 7:45. Okay, now what? What to do, what to do? We pretty much spent majority of that one hour in exhausted silence, watching the lucky families make their way into Donalds Breakfastausarus (Ohhh, thats where the people on the bus went) I kept getting evil "why did you wake me up so early?" glares
Finally it was time to utilize our first TGM tip of the trip! His secret entranceway into the park! Now all TGMers should know what entrance Im talking about! (IF you dont, sign up with TGM now! His tips are GREAT!) We walked over to the secret entrance, and hit the turnstiles. At about 8:45, we were let through and WOW! We were ahead of EVERYONE!!! TGM WAS RIGHT! We were brought over to the ropes where the morning ceremonies were to take place, and then the bus of characters came out, did their thing and we were off!
Michael and I followed the ropes to Expedition Everest to nab our Fast Passes (with the other billion people who were doing the same). Mom, Dad and David were back at Its tough to be a bug, and it only took us a total of about 15 minutes to run to Asia, and then run back with our FP in tow! We walked on to its tough to be a bug (which is cute, btw but I sat on the edge of my seat in preperation lol!) and headed over to dino land. The park at this point was EMPTY, and I mean EMPTY, We headed straight to Dinosaur for our second walk on, and since this was a ride I had remembered from 1998, I held my ears at the proper moment:
We left Dinosaur and did a time check. What?? It was only 9:00AM and we had finished 2 attractions? I underestimated the power of being at park opening! We ventured on towards Asia to use our EE FP and realized when we got there that we should ride Kali before going on everest. So we walked past EE and straight onto Kali! Another Walk On!! Now Im gonna sing TGMs praises again: The price of his service is worth it just for the daily park suggestions alone! I took his advice to visit AK on this day, and it paid off! We walked on everything!! Okay enough TGM praisal for now haha. We got drenched on Kali, Which was a nice refresher for this warm day, but we mentioned we enjoyed Popeye better at US. At this point we decided it was a good time to go on EE (to dry of course) So we made plans to meet up at Kiliminjaro Safari. Michael and myself headed towards that huge mountain in the sky. Here is what the other half of our party did while we were on this awesome ride!!
Now myself? I am a HUGE ride enthusiast. If it goes fast? YES! If I goes upside down? OMG YES! If it spins? Okay, not so much BUT DOES IT DROP? YYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!!! I was PUMPED for everest! I think I might have danced on the way over there.
Michael on the other hand, could take it or leave it. He went on it mostly because he didnt really know what to expect (muahahaha ) although he swears he watched it on youtube with me. We walked on the FP line and I danced in my seat . Michael had this look on his face like he wished he had made a will, but whatever, I was on everest! YES! Okay Everest kicked butt for me, but when we got off, Michael felt a little nauseous. All I kept hearing from him for 5 minutes straight was thats my last crazy ride for the day, thats my last crazy ride for the day YOUR LAST? THAT WAS MY FIRST! I loooooved everest! I thought it was kind of like if BTMR and Splash Mountain had a love child, Everest would be its bundle of joy! It rocks, go on it.
On our way to KS, We made an educated decision to stop and get Mickey Mouse ice cream. We shared an ice cream bar as we walked towards Africa, and it made Michael feel better. (I mean why wouldnt it?) We found them in front of the line and walked on. We waited for about 10 minutes, and then we were on. All of the animals were out, and it was truly something else for it to only be about 10:45 and we had already accomplished most of what we wanted to:
Little Sidenote: At this point David and Mom were wearing their birthday pins, and David was feeling neglected because everyone kept seeing my moms pin but not his.
Okay, LUNCHTIME! Yay! I was so excited that everyone wanted to stop for lunch! I was worried that since we had such an early ADR at Coral Reef, we would skip it, but I really really wanted to try Tusker House, which we were right in front of after the safari! Tusker House was awesome! Definitely the best CS Meal of the trip, we all agreed we would more than try to make a return trip there! While we were on line, the CM noticed moms pin and asked her what kind of cake she wanted, David was upset because she didnt see his pin, so we pretty much pushed him up to the front of us and she saw his pin when she returned. The tusker house CMs sang happy birthday to them, and off we went with our delicious food:
David with his Cake
My food, it was sooo good, I want it right now!
So when we left tusker house it was around 12:15 so we started heading towards Camp Minnie Mickey to see the 1:30 Lion King show. When we got there, We had about an hour to spare, so mom and I waited on the lines to see the characters. (The boys were already feeling the exhaustion and didnt want to)
We went to Festival of the Lion King, and while waiting, the heat and exhaustion began to get to us. Dad mentioned something ridiculous like "lets go to Magic Kingdom when we're done with Dinner and than come back to EPCOT for Illuminations" Um WHAT!?
I pleaded my case in an angry fashion that his idea was stupid and ridiculous, and he was stupid and ridiculous for mentioning it, and he yelled back that why do we have to follow your plans? Than mom interjected and said how wonderful the plans were so far because we hadn't waited, and then David yelled that we were yelling! We took a moment of silence, and calmed down, and my father and I agreed we would stick with the plan because we were going to MK tomorrow.
David however, continued his "mood" See, when David is tired, he goes from being 15 to 3, and has a fit. He used the "we're fighting on vacation" to fuel his frustration and exhaustion. When we got to the front of the doors, he was already yelling at my dad not to touch him, not to run his fingers through his hair, not to rub his shoulders, not to breath on him...you get the picture: typical three year old. I filmed him for a little while going "The magic is not within David" and got him to crack a smile, and when we were inside Festival , and out of the sun, all was well again.
We loved Festival, what a great show and a much needed break! When we were done at around 2PM, we were done with Animal Kingdom!! We slowed our pace as we made our way towards the exit. We stopped at some shops, trying to achieve our ultimate goal: Send something to the room. We didnt, so we moved on.
We boarded the near empty bus as we headed towards our next destination: EPCOT! We had ADRs at 4PM and Epcot was doing EMH, so we assumed we wouldnt be able to get anything done. You know what they say when you assume
Join me next time for EPCOT, The Coral Reef, A Hidden Mickey? You be the judge, and more fun filled times in this trip report!
princessjv
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2005
- Messages
- 3,080
Thanks! i'm working on it right now
They loved the arrival gifts!! David's a little too young to appreciate it, but my mom loved it!
Thanks Kim, i knew i can count on you! LOL
I can't wait to go back too! lol i know how you feel
You'll soon see how much your tips helped out! The first picture is of my cousin, Michael
Thanks! Yeah, Sarah did a great job!
I'm hoping to start planning a new one shortly! thanks for reading!
I was so upset at check-in, i really wanted the vacation to start off right!
Thanks to everyone whos been reading! I'm working on the next installment right now!
I'm hijacking your trippieee...How'd ya do this...up there?
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