The Girls take on the World....Disney World Trip Report! Updated 10/3/07 DAY ONE: 9/22/07 Saturday This was the first day of what we had planned and dreamt of as our 'girls take on the world, do what we want, sleep til noon, ride what we want, swim when we want, eat what we want vacation'. No limitations, no rules. We packed the van the night b4 and were up ready to go at 3 am! 
Yes, 3 am with me and 4 girls is no easy chore. So on the road we went..
.....Arrived at Flint Airport 
at about 5 am and checked in for our 7 am flight. Parked in the long term, economy lot and the bus driver gave us a nice little reminder slip of where we parked, along with the 5000 other mini vans that looked incredibly similar to mine. Yep, put that slip right in a special place where I won't lose it. And eleven days from now when I return that special hiding spot will be so amazingly special that even I won't remember where it is! 
So when we ride around in the shuttle when we return I will be clueless where my vehicle really is and will wonder why so many people buy gold mini vans, dang it!!!! 
Next time forget hanging a bright red ribbon on my luggage like everyone suggested to recognize my luggage....I am hanging a HUGE RED flag on my van attenea!!!! 
So anyway...arrived at MCO about 15 minutes early...great flight! Magical Express was great! Amazing! They scooped us right up and scurried us off to POP CENTURY! Yeah for us! The feeling of being on that bus was utterly amazing! 
I am at Disney! We checked in and so far everything was smooth sailing. I did ask for a print out of my ADR's though and the lady at the desk looked at me like I was nuts and said "what is an ADR??" I must have had a dumb founded look on my face 
...I could tell from the way she was looking at me. 
Anyway, got the print out and was off. Decided to take a quick dip in the 'dippity' pool and head for the Kingdom to see the castle. Pool was great, room was nice...first floor right next to the kiddie pool! Headed to see the castle. Love the Disney busses. We jumped off at Magic Kingdom and seen the castle....AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS! 
This is our true indicator that we are Disney. We admired the castle, got started with photopass
and caught a few rides. Then we decided we wanted to ride the mono rail, the kids got to ride up front, and head over to Concourse Steakhouse for some dinner. 
The mono rail was fun, Kimmie convinced my oldest daughter at one point that the reaon we stopped on the tracks is we were lost and had to ask for directions. LOL Concourse Steakhouse was so wonderful! Love steak places but this place had the most amazing wings that I have ever had.....no kidding. Some kind of sesame honey combo....awesome! We are really going to hate to see that restaurant go. 
Although the waitress let it slip that they aren't really leaving but moving upstairs at the Contemporary Resort and operating under a different name. 
She was very vague at what would take up the space of the current restaurant but lead us to believe that it might just be an expansion of Chef Mickeys. 
The day was going so well, until we got back to our room and found MOST of our luggage. The missing bag belonged to my 8 year old who was in tears. And her asthma medicine was in the bag, so we called magical express/luggage delivery and they KNEW we were missing a bad and had already filed the appropriate paper work with Airtran. The amazing part here is that they knew it was a red duffle bag with leather handles and I have NO idea to this day how they knew that. Magical Express was so persistant with Airtran, checking with them every 2 hours, that Airtran eventually called me and told me to 'call off the dogs' and tell Magical Express to leave them alone. That trip insurance that you buy is awsome though, always hoped I would never need it but glad I know how reliable they are. They called my doctor 
on Saturday evening and had refills called into a local pharmacy down there that delivers to DW. They called me frequently to make sure all was well. I honestly can't say enough good about Magical Express or the trip insurance. And when our bag was found the next day, magical express went and reteived it and delivered it to our room while we were at Downtown Disney! 
So, that was our first day.....I will update with more tomorrow. Still suffering from a tad bit of jet lag I think. But its the best kind of jet lag...the Disney kind!
PRE-TRIP REPORT COPIED FROM PREVIOUS POST, just to refer to. Adventurers: 
Me, Mom, Liz (37) A total Disney freak, some would probably say just a freak in general but........anyway! Can't wait to go where "everything is right in the world!". Sometimes refered to as 'roller coaster challenged'
although they have been a passion for me since I was old enough to ride. Some people just don't appreciate my extreme effort at trying to hold my head onto the rest of my body during the rougher part of the rides.
And, yes, give credit where credit is due....the Vortex at Kings Island did make me just a 'tad bit' queezy
for a few minutes or the better part of the weekend.....time is such a vast thing.
Ashleigh (16) My Cheerleading Captain
, Junior in high school, Air Force bound, oldest daughter! She has been to DW numerous times, the first time she was 5. An all around wonderful young lady.
Kimmie (13) Wow! What do I say about Kimmie? My Junior High, tell it like it is, will try ANYTHING once, "please God stay out of jail" daughter! Seriously, an awesome child! I can joke with her useing my warped sence of humor and she relates! The child that when I talked of my new bath gel making me smell like something from DW ( I was thinking tropical) she said "yeah, something from Animal Kingdom!".
Victoria, ie Tori. (12) (BTW that is a pepsi in her hand) My Junior high, Pepsi drinking (and I know who I can thank for that corruption!!), brilliant, fun loving, heart breaker! Amazing flute player who can bring anything alive through music
. The girl that taught me to never take things at face value...the doctors said she would never make it past delivery....and let me tell you she is nothing short of a perfect miracle that God intended her to be!
Cheyenne (8) Sheer perfection at its best. The child with a heart of gold, and animal lover to no fail. The child who is happy digging in the dirt or dancing with the princesses! An angel without wings,,,,,,and the loudest screamer in the world on the amusement park water slides! Extreme lover of anything Lion King or Simba related!
Oh where to start.....well we have been to DW before and l-o-v-e-d it! This trip could very well be the last one that we take as "me and ALL the girls", as my oldest will be a senior next year and has a social schedule longer that the presidents list of engagements! Hopeing to squeeze in one more year with all the girls, but we are going to live this one to the limit just incase! So that said....no rules! Well maybe a few....like it is the childrens job to keep moms refillable mug filled with diet coke at all times!
(yes that is diet coke!) But hey, I am reasonable, I can be lax on bed times and such!
LOL
In all seriousness this is our trip to be girls! Sleep if we want...swim if we want....sneak
into the other side of POP century to see how it looks if we want....ok well maybe not that....at least not til the kids are asleep and I can do it alone. This trip is about the magic of what Disney brings to everyone....about the spark of life and happiness that lives in each one of our souls....about the person in there screaming "I am never going to grow up!", about the reason we all get out of bed every morning, because regardless of everything bad in the world there is that glimmer that so much is right, about the choices we make every day to be happy and seek that spark of magic because we know it is there, too many people lose that and become old beyond their years. Its sad. I refuse to do that.
We make a conscious choice every day to allow ourselves to be happy, to create our own circumstances to enhance our happiness. I am a firm believer in "life is what you make it!". There will be times we feel sad but that is only because we are 'alive' enough to allow that to happen, that is good. But we can't get stuck there. I did that for a short time, I refuse to go back there! So anyway...enough life philosophy....here we go!
I decided last October when we were in DW that I was going to go back this year. I usually am prone to think of the next vacation as it keeps me looking forward to something. So when we got back I started watching for the free dining promotion, as that saves us a fortune with 5 of us! As you all probably remember from reading my frantic posts on here, I was pretty persistant! I booked!
All was good with the world! Then I hit a snag at work and had to reschedule, although still got the free dining because we are catching the last day of the promotion....what a nightmare....but it gave me some extra vacation time at work which I have put toward some WONDERFUL times this summer!
So, its all good!
We are starting our trip on September 22 and oddly enough that is my dads birthday (who passed away 4 years ago), he was my best friend and I miss him terribly, so in a way this seems like a little birthday celebration for him too. We didn't plan it that way....it is just coinsidence. We are staying at POP Century, which we love and can't imagine staying anywhere else. I was fortunate enough to be able to add an extra day at the end of our trip since airfare
went down for the day after we planned to come home and it was cheaper to add a hotel day than to fly home on the weekend. It took some strength on my part to deal with the change of plans but I think I am coping fairly well under the circumstances.
My kids are not fond of flying but short of teleportation
it is really the only smart plan for us.
So here are the tenative plans:
9/22 MK (ya gotta see that gorgeous castle to know you have really landed at DW!)
Concourse Steakhouse for dinner
9/23 Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney at night
Raglan Road for dinner
9/24 Epcot Maybe some eve hours at the Boardwalk
Breakfast with the Princesses at Akershus!
9/25 Blizzard Beach
Dinner at O'Hanna
9/26 Animal Kingdom with eve EMH!
Dinner at Boma
9/27 Spontaneous day! Anything goes!
Cinderella Dinner at the Grand Floridian (1900 Park Fare Cafe)
9/28 Breakfast at Chef Mickeys
One of the Water Parks
Eve EMH at Epcot
9/29 MGM! with PM EMH
Dinner and Fantasmic! with some great people!
9/30 MK
Lunch at Tonys
10/1 Back to reality in the evening. Not sure about the day. This is the day that we
sorta stumbled across with the airfare deal.
I am sure I left out some things but I will add more later! Oh yeah! Received my DME papers in the mail the other day!
YES! YES! YES! It seems so real now.....I can't wait!!!!
Liz
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Ok, we got home late last night. And let me tell you, I am sure somebody moved Michigan while we were gone cause that was the longest, bumpiest, flight I have ever been on! I am sure it took us about 25 hours to get home when it only took 2 and a half to get there!! I think at some point I even seen China en route from Florida to Michigan and I don't think that is supposed to happen!! LOL Even the Captain apologized for how bad it was. It seemed like we were in the air forever! Have to give the crew of Airtran Credit though, they were awesome and very persistant at keeping us all happy and comfortable. But, I was never so happy to see Flint Michigan Airport! Heck, I was never so happy to see the GROUND! From the very start of this trip the girls and I were determined it would be a trip like no other. No racing from ride to ride. No huge agenda to follow. Sleep til noon if we want. Swim if we want. Just relax, chill, enjoy each others company and take a vacation! This is the first vacation ever with that tone to it and ya know what? I came home relaxed and feeling like I had a vacation! Not like I needed a vacation from my vacation! We missed some big ticket rides like Everest but ya know, why stand in line for an hour for something no one really wants to ride just to say that you did it? Luckily the girls are at the age now that they make their own decisions and if they want to ride they do, if not, the don't. We all agreed that Soarin' was the most amazing ride again by far and only wish that we would have had time to ride it over and over again. So, I am going to grab a diet coke and my passporter to refresh my memory on details and once the tikes are off to school I will sit down and get started! Glad to be back here with you all! Liz