TRIP REPORT: The be-all, end-all WDW vacation done on a budget – May 3-11, 2008 About This Page:

[korki-rad]

Wow! After so many months of planning, I can’t believe our trip to WDW has come and gone! It was truly a magical vacation, made so much more special because of the people here on this board – I cannot say enough how much all your advice, tips, secrets, etc., helped me plan a truly extraordinary vacation for my family. THANK YOU!

I’ll list highlights here, but if you really want a minute-by-minute visual play-by-play, I have to say that I went a little crazy with the camera. You are welcome to view all the pictures and read the captions that describe nearly every moment of our trip at Kori's photos- powered by SmugMug….just scroll down to the Disney Vacation Photos – it should be the very first photos you come across.

About our trip

I’ve been wishing for a return trip to WDW for several years now. I must admit that my wish materialized into reality in a kind of odd way. I fell while pregnant with DS and had to be on bedrest for several months. During this time, DD often had free reign of the house and it was during one of these times that she decided our living room carpet would look much better if decorated with a giant 10’x10’ mural, done in black permanent marker. After DS was born, we decided to take out a second mortgage in order to remove DD’s carpet artwork and fix a few other things she had decorated during my time on bedrest. DH is pretty handy and was able to do several of the projects himself, so we found ourselves with some money left over after all the house repairs were done. DH asked me what I wanted most in the world and I said I wanted to go to WDW. He said OK. And the whirlwind began!

DH gave me quite a challenge – first of all, he told me this may very well be our family’s only trip to WDW; he could not promise me another trip to WDW in the future, especially since he said he was “Disney’ed out” from having gone so many times as a child. Also, even though we did have this money we wouldn’t normally have, DH wanted us to do the trip as frugally as possible. We used the leftover money for plane tickets, park tickets and hotel room. We then saved every penny, nickel, dime and quarter in a big jar for about six months. (We ended up with about $200 that we used for souvenirs and to pay for DD’s appointment at BBB.) DD asked for Disney Dollars for all gift giving occasions. I started selling on ebay and we held a couple garage sales…money which went to pay for food, special events and other incidentals. We estimate that we spent approximately $3000 for our vacation, including airfare, lodging, park tickets, gas, parking, food, souvenirs and extras.

Our Party

• Me, korki-rad, age 34, my fourth trip to WDW
• DH, age 36, been to WDW too many times to count, but claimed that he’d never had a good time…quite the miser and very concerned with keeping things in budget
• DD, age 5, first trip to WDW
• DS, turned 1 during our trip
  
  In addition, we met up with DH’s family (who all went to WDW dozens of times while they were growing up)
  
• MIL, age 64, drove down from South Carolina. MIL stayed with us for two nights in our condo before going to her own room at the Grand Floridian. She had recently suffered a pulmonary embolism and rented a scooter to help her better manage the parks. She was the only one in our group on a dining plan – the platinum plan – but did not make a single ADR before arriving at WDW
• SIL-1 (let’s call her Drizella), age 34, DH’s sister who lives near Orlando…spent two nights at POR with BF (see below)
• SIL’s BF (Totally Gaston), 40’s, lives with SIL-1 near Orlando
• SIL-2, (Anastasia) age 34, Drizella’s twin sister, flew in from North Carolina and was going to stay with MIL at the GF, but ended up staying with Drizella at POR. Because of the number of times they went to WDW as children, Anastasia and Drizella consider themselves WDW experts, but they never plan a single day, research a single fact and usually only get on one or two rides during a visit to a park.
  
  
• With us in spirit – DH’s grandmother, who was supposed to come, but passed away three weeks prior to the vacation.

Our Journey

• May 3-11, 2008
• Flew from Kansas City to Orlando on Midwest Air, direct flight on their Signature Series (basically an entire plane of first class). Sadly, I understand they are getting rid of these planes, or at least the 2x2 configuration on these planes. I loved riding on Midwest and wish they would reconsider going the route of every other airline out there.

Our Lodging

• We stayed off Disney property in a condo at Windsor Hills, booked through Magical Memories Villas (we booked the elite series to get into Windsor Hills).
• I would highly recommend these accommodations to anyone!! The condo was larger than our first apartment (and for that matter, the bathrooms and closets were bigger than what we have NOW!) and we had plenty of space for everyone to spread out and get comfy. We had a full kitchen, two bathrooms and separate bedrooms for everyone. The décor was simple, but nice. Sure, it doesn’t have the Disney theming, but the kids’ room was done in a cute fish motif -- DD's immediate reaction was that she got to sleep in the Ariel room.
• I forgot to take pictures when we first arrived, so the pictures I have are as we were rushing out the door to catch the plane, but this should give you a general idea of what things looked like.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Our Special Plans

• Before I found Passporter, our plans would have been 1) get on plane; 2) drive to condo; 3) go to whatever park strikes your fancy this particular day; 4) try to find some food somewhere; 5) go home; 6) feel remorseful that I didn’t get to do nearly what I had hoped to do. Thankfully, however, I discovered Passporter just days after we decided to go to WDW and we were able to plans lots of fun things.
  
  A few highlights that I’ll review in more detail in the trip report:
  • An appointment for DD at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
  • Lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table
  • Fantasmic Dinner Package dinner at Hollywood Brown Derby
  • Garden Grill Character Lunch
  • Coral Reef Dinner
  • Grand Floridian Photo Shoot
  • Pirate and Princess Party
  • DS’s 1st birthday at the Crystal Palace, complete with birthday cake
  • Fireworks cruise

TO BE CONTINUED....

[korki-rad]

A few special preparations we made:

• I made a special calendar for DD (a non-reader) so she could see what the plans were for each day. Here’s a sample of what it looked like (it changed after I made this one, but it will give you a general idea of what I made):
  
  
• We counted down the days until Disney on our chalkboard near our dinner table. Every night at the end of dinner, we would have a drumroll and would erase the number and put the new number inside a drawing of a Mickey silhouette.
  
• At the 100-days-to-go mark, I made a special Disney dinner so we could celebrate. You can see photos of the dinner here: Kori : photos : 100 Days to Disney Dinner- powered by SmugMug
  
• We were very nervous about DD running off and getting lost at WDW – something she loves to do when we go to stores around our house – so we engraved her name and our cell phone number onto a heart shaped dog tag and put it onto a bracelet that she wore every day. It looked very much like a Tiffany bracelet and was very cute. The only bad thing – we didn’t make the bracelet quite small enough (we had taken some links out, but not enough) and it was too big for her, so we often ended up putting the bracelet through her belt loops or other part of her outfit for the day. Good news – once she saw the sheer number of people at WDW, she stuck to our side like glue!
  
• I made lots of custom clothes for the kids to wear and I think they turned out really cute. You can see photos of the clothes I made here: Kori : photos : Custom Clothes for Disney Trip- powered by SmugMug
• I also made a custom autograph book for DD. I have never done anything like this before. (I always have good intentions of scrapbooking, but so far, haven’t accomplished anything.) I made the cover from items I found at our craft store and decoupaged them onto an artists’ sketchbook. Inside, I glued pages I’d made on the computer – they had a picture of each Disney character, their name and the name of their show. I made extra sheets for the princesses, knowing that we’d see them several times, and I also made blank sheets for people I didn’t plan on seeing (or for characters we saw multiple times.) I tied lots of ribbons along the spiral edge and, at DD’s request, glued TONS of rhinestones all over the book.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A few weeks before we left, I bought a My Disney Girl doll for DD and a big plush Mickey for DS. These were sitting in the kids’ car seats when they got into the car the morning we left for Orlando as a special surprise.

So, come on everybody! Off we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[korki-rad]

DAY ONE: SATURDAY, MAY 3
Off to Neverland!

We left Omaha on Saturday, May 3, and drove to Kansas City in order to get a direct flight to Orlando AND to be able to take advantage of Midwest Airlines’ Signature Service flight, which provides larger, leather seats in a 2x2 configuration. It was the first flight for DD and DS. The kids were very funny – DD couldn’t decide if she wanted to watch the plane take off or not and kept putting her shade up and down. DS was acutely aware of the fact this was NOT a car and would grab DH’s hand and cling to it every time there was a strange noise (e.g. the landing gear going up or down) or a change in altitude. (We bought DS his own seat.)

Thank goodness for MIL

Upon landing, we encountered our first issue with Drizella, DH’s sister who told us her house was less than an hour from WDW (this will come into play later). Drizella was supposed to meet us because she had offered to lend us a car for the week. Instead, she decided to go to a wedding and suddenly no car was available for us to use. Thankfully, MIL came to the rescue and picked us up from the airport in her mini-van and gave the van to us to drive the entire time we were there.

Home Sweet Home

MIL was not supposed to come to Orlando until Monday (this was Saturday), so we were very thankful for the extra space in our condo…she was able to stay with us. The villa was great!! We were on the 4th floor, I think there were only about 3 units in our building that were occupied, so it was always very quiet. We did have a bit of a challenge finding the Magical Memories office – a bit of a pain since we arrived after hours and couldn’t speak directly with their staff. (While I would HIGHLY recommend Magical Memories Villas, I would suggest that you make sure your flight arrives during their business hours. Our first night would have been more pleasant if we’d been able to get assistance from their staff.)

Back to the condo – very nice, a large entry space with a closet that housed a washer and dryer and a galley kitchen to the left. This space opened up into a dining room/living room area with a big screen TV and a screened in verandah. The couch in the living room could open up to be a queen-sized bed, but we didn’t need it. The master suite was off to the right with a very plush-looking queen sized bed (nice bedding, beautiful comforter and décor) and a huge bathroom and walk-in closet. To the left of the living area was the kids’ room – a room with two twin beds, a full bath and another walk-in closet. The closet was so large that we decided to set up DS’ pack-n-play inside of it to keep DD from waking him up (we left the door open). All this for a cost of $94 per night.

We had a couple of hiccups that first night – as I mentioned, we got lost while trying to find the Magical Memories office. Then, we went to set up the pack-n-play provided by Magical Memories, but one side of the crib was broken and would not stay up. Then, DD sat on her bed (okay – I will admit that she PLOPPED onto the bed) and it suddenly collapsed! DH called the emergency line, but they said that they could not do much to help us because their warehouse was closed where they keep all the extra beds and such. DH got their permission to rig a few quick fixes…he used the boards from DD’s bed to secure the side of DS’s bed (thank goodness we packed a small tool kit…that side was never going to move again!) and put DD’s mattress on the floor. MIL slept in the room with the kids and admitted that she got up about every hour to make sure DS was safe.

[korki-rad]

DAY TWO: SUNDAY, MAY 4
Walking Into Wonderland


We got up early Sunday morning so we could make rope drop at the Magic Kingdom. MIL offered to stay behind and meet with Magical Memories and get the bed situation squared away. They came first thing in the morning with brand new beds for both DD and DS and gave us some money back for the first night we were there. We had no more problems with the unit and really feel that the problem wasn’t with Magical Memories, but likely with the people who stayed in the unit before us who may have been a little rough on the kids’ beds.

Close, but not quite…but still special

I’d seen the MK’s opening ceremony on YouTube and really wanted to see it in person, but I had a little trouble getting DH out the door – it had been a long night and DH is definitely NOT a morning person. The condo was only 10 minutes from the WDW gate, but I knew that we would be about five minutes too late. All was not lost, though! As we rode in on the monorail, the train for the opening ceremony rode parallel to our monorail car and we waved to Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter and several other characters from the Contemporary up to the station.

We made a mad dash up Main Street…our goal was to get to Dumbo before the line got ridiculously long. But, with it being our kids’ first time at the Magic Kingdom, we did have to make a few photo stops. DD is such a ham – she was posing in front of the Walt Disney & Mickey statue just like a real diva!



(Allow me to stop here for a moment and brag a bit – I just love the way my kiddos look! I made almost all of the clothes they wore during the trip, and if I didn’t make it, I searched high and low and bought just the right thing…I’m weird that way. J )

We got to Dumbo and had about a 15 minute wait, which was honestly, about the longest wait we had all week. (Lines often looked worse than they actually were.)

A quick tip here: If I could do it all over again, I would have skipped Dumbo this first day. Everything I’d read said to do Dumbo first and get it over with, but the wait in the line made DD very grumpy right away…it was a very hot morning (Orlando was having record highs the whole week we were there) and Dumbo’s line isn’t very exciting to stand in. We had purchased Pirate and Princess Party tickets and Dumbo’s line was literally non-existent during the party – we could just walk on. I wish we’d just done Dumbo during P&PP and skipped it this first day. Lesson learned!

Riding Dumbo cheered DD up and she was ready to go once we got off. She enjoyed playing in Ariel’s Grotto and was ecstatic to meet Ariel…she counted that as one of the highlights of the trip for her. We went on Small World, which was probably one of DS’ favorite rides, as well as Peter Pan and PhilHarMagic – one that the entire family decided was one of the best at WDW. By this time, it was noon and we headed back to the villa to bring food to MIL and see what was happening with the bed situation.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

Back at the villa, we found things all hunky-dory once again and the kids stayed with MIL while DH and I made a Wal-Mart run. I developed a theory about the Orlando workforce – Disney takes all the best and the other businesses have to take what is left. We waited AN HOUR just in line to check-out at Wal-Mart!

A million magical, musical lights

We had hoped to get back to MK in the afternoon to continue riding rides, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. We had supper and did head back in order to see SpectroMagic, as that was one of only two nights it was showing during our trip. MIL did not yet have park tickets since she hadn’t planned to be there until Monday (she was staying at the Grand Floridian and had a package), so she stayed at the villa with DS. We got to MK in time for the first show, got a great spot just in front of the fire station and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Ursula stopped right in front of DD and said her spiel about how DD would make a nice addition to her collection, and then, of course, Ariel comes “swimming” up and makes Ursula go away. DD was convinced that Ariel “saved” her because they’d met earlier in the day and become friends. J

Another magical moment

Since we were right at the beginning of the parade, we followed the parade up Main Street to try to find a better spot for Wishes. DD thought she was in the parade and waved and danced all the way to the hub. Holding her hand and watching her skip down Main Street will be a memory I will treasure forever!

We found a good spot for Wishes and got friendly with some women from New Jersey who were chaperoning a group of choir students. I was so excited to see Tinkerbell fly – I had never seen that before and it was amazing! DH (who thought he had seen and done everything at WDW) was extremely impressed and wouldn’t stop talking about Tink’s flight for the entire vacation. (Score one for me – DH is having fun!) (I loved the music from both Wishes and SpectroMagic and ended up buying the soundtracks. I am hoping DD will do a skating program to one of them.)

On our way out of the park, DD stopped at Le Chapeau and did the do-it-yourself mouse ears – a pink fur-trimmed cap with rhinestone-studded ears. We chose light blue infant ears for DS.

We rode the ferry back to the Ticket and Transportation Center. DD was asleep before we even got the car started. Usually a very light sleeper, she didn’t even wake up when we put her into bed.

[korki-rad]

DAY THREE: MONDAY, MAY 5
A Day Fit For A Princess

A late night, to be sure, but we had scheduled a sleep-in day the next day. We slept in a bit, then got ready to take MIL to the Grand Floridian to get her all checked in. DD had a little bit of a dilemma that morning because she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to wear her Aurora dress or the princess dress I’d made for her. Thankfully, she chose the cotton sundress over the scratchy polyester costume. She ended up wearing the dress all day long; I think the costume wouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of hours. It was just so hot and humid! And I was glad she wore the sundress, because she really did stand out in the sea of princesses…she had something no one else had and was truly an original.

We figured MIL wouldn’t be able to get into her room until the afternoon, but that would be okay as she would be able to go to MK with us and watch DD at her Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment.

One of my favorite moments

The kids and I strolled around the Grand Floridian while DH helped MIL get checked in and helped her get her rental scooter. This was one of my proud mommy moments – the kids looked SO cute…DD in her homemade princess dress and DS in his very first mouse ears. We got so many compliments and I felt like I was living in a dream where every little thing is just perfect, as if I was a streetmosphere actor hired by Disney. J



During this time, I also went to the concierge desk and ordered a white chocolate Minnie and chocolate dipped strawberries to be delivered to MIL’s room. These were delivered while we were at the MK and were a very nice surprise for her that evening.

When we planned our trip, DH’s grandmother was supposed to have joined us. Sadly, Grandma died three weeks before the trip. While MIL was checking in, the clerk, not realizing WHY Grandma’s part of the trip had been cancelled said something about Grandma not being there and MIL burst into tears at the counter. A few Kleenexes later, MIL found herself whisked away to a suite at the Grand Floridian – they upgraded her room. It was a beautiful room. She had requested a crib for the room, as well, so it was a great place for DS to go when he needed a break.

MIL decided she wanted to get settled into her room (how cool that she could get in so early!) and sent us off to DD’s BBB appointment, saying she would meet us at the castle for our CRT ressie.

We must have had some pixie dust sprinkled on us that day, because we got to ride in the front of the monorail on our trip over to the MK. (DD would be hooked on that little treat for the rest of the trip and would ask every single time we rode the monorail if she could ride up front.)

Salagadoola, Menchicka Boola…

At BBB, we purchased the middle package for DD (hair, makeup, nails) and she chose the hairstyle with the long extensions and then we purchased a tiara to go along with it. I assumed she would go with blonde (she had been talking about how she would look like Aurora) but then, they showed her the PINK extensions and there was no going back. If there’s a pink option, DD will always choose that one. With pink hair, a pink dress, her pink BBB sash and pink toned makeup, we started calling DD the Princess of Pink for the day. J



We ended up with a bit of an awkward amount of time left after the BBB appointment – not enough time to go down to the photo studio to have pictures taken, too much time to sit around and wait for our CRT reservation. We tried to find a PhotoPass photographer over on the bridge so he could take some photos of DD (there’d been two or three there when we were on our way to BBB), but they’d all disappeared. DD had taken a liking to the little path that goes along the back of the castle (Is this the rose garden?) and, in particular, the wishing well that’s there, so we just took a few pictures of our own here and hoped we’d find someone later.



Storytime with Belle

After taking a few pictures, we realized that Belle’s Storytime was starting, so we watched that, then it was time to meet MIL at the castle. We wanted to be plenty early because we were crossing our fingers and hoping against hope – since MIL hadn’t planned on being with us this day, I hadn’t made a reservation for her at CRT. I really hoped that if I explained the situation (and since one of our party was an infant) that we could squeeze her in at our table. The CRT cast members were wonderful and kindly accommodated MIL, so she got to join us for our CRT meal!

The CRT negotiation went much smoother and happened much quickly than we had expected, so we again found ourselves in hurry-up-and-wait mode. DD was upset because we hadn’t bought something she’d seen at the vendor cart over by Belle’s Storytime, so MIL gave her some money to go buy what she wanted. As she and I were turning to go back to the castle, here comes Mickey Mouse, just crossing the bridge! This was the first time she’d seen Mickey and she was ecstatic! Of course, they were just hurrying him off to who-knows-where, but DD did get a quickie handshake and was pleased as punch!



Hey, Cindy, baby! Let’s do lunch!

It was time for CRT. We got pictures with Cindy – and because we added MIL to our party, we got two sets of pictures. We tried to have Cindy hold DS, but he was none too happy to have a stranger hold him and wiggled out of her arms. So we just had two sets of pictures made with DD.

A note, though – there is a code on the CRT photos that they give you that allows you to put the CRT pictures on your PhotoPass. This includes ALL the pictures they take, not just the one they print. I was able to crop the picture of Cindy and DS and get a very nice picture of the two of them included on our PhotoPass CD…one that doesn’t look like Cindy’s about to drop DS!

Waiting to go up to the banquet hall was a little crazy – I think they over-estimated how many people were waiting in the throne room. We were there with several very large groups of people (I think one group had about 20 people). We almost missed our reservation because we couldn’t hear them calling our name and they couldn’t see us jumping up and down letting them know we were there.

We eventually got seated, though, and Belle came up behind DD, who was very engrossed in her coloring sheet. I think DD just thought she was the waitress, because she didn’t really look up or talk to her or anything. Belle helped her with the puzzle she was working on, then came over to DS. At that moment, DS fell madly in love! I don’t know what happened or why he reacted the way he did, but he just LOVED Belle! He didn’t react the same way to any other princess, even though they all covered him in kisses.



Once DD saw that it was BELLE talking to DS, she got her head out of her coloring page and paid attention to what was going on around her. We saw Jasmine, Aurora and Snow White, in addition to Belle.

TO BE CONTINUED....

[korki-rad]

I thought the food was very good, but DH and MIL were not so impressed. We all ordered Major Domo’s Pie (I didn’t realize we were all ordering the same thing – I usually have a “rule” about that sort of thing), but DH said in the end he wished he’d order the foccacia sandwich. I can’t remember what DD had (probably chicken), and they brought DS noodles.

We had pre-ordered a chocolate glass slipper dessert for DD as a “just because,” since this was supposed to be “her” day. (DS would celebrate his first birthday later in the week and that was “his” day.) She ate all the berries, but refused to touch the slipper or cake “pillow” because they were too pretty.





Even DS’s little scoop of ice cream was adorable.



I had the chocolate cake and MIL had the sorbet. DH’s dessert disappeared so quickly, I can’t remember what he had! LOL

Close, but yet so far

Following lunch, we made a pit stop by Belle’s storytime theater and as we were waiting for DH, a member of the Dream Team came up and talked to DD for quite some time. I knew right away that it was a Dream Team member and had my fingers crossed that she’d give DD something special, but it wasn’t to be. Oh well. J The conversation was delightful, even if we didn’t get a prize.

One busy day!

It was DD’s day and DD wanted to RIDE!! We went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Buzz Lightyear, Monsters, Inc., Haunted Mansion, the Teacups, Minnie’s house, Mickey’s house (DD met Minnie and Mickey), Goofy’s Barnstormer and Donald’s Boat. DH said that one of the highlights of the trip for him came during Monsters, Inc. (And maybe they do this all the time, but it was a thrill for us!) At the very end, the monster said, “Hey, you all want to see something cute?” And then, they put DS’s picture up on the big screen! It was very cool!!

It was starting to get late by this point and we wanted to see how long the line for Splash Mountain was. Just as we got there, a family handed us some FastPasses they weren’t going to use, so we were able to walk right on! It was on this ride that our thrillseeker was born! DD absolutely LOVED Splash Mountain. She wanted to ride again and again and again! On our way out of the park, we were even able to convince her to go on Pirates – the only ride she watched on YouTube and felt was too scary for her. She was very brave and ended up loving the ride.

By this point, the fireworks were going off and DD looked pretty bedraggled, so we didn’t bother doing the BBB photo shoot. Instead, we helped MIL get back to her room, then headed off to our condo and right to bed. We had intended for this to be an early evening, but everyone just wanted to keep going! Two very sleepy kids never even made it out of the parking lot at WDW before they were sound asleep!

[korki-rad]

DAY FOUR: TUESDAY, MAY 6

Even Bad Days are Sunny at WDW

We had to be up bright and early on Tuesday because we were scheduled to take the Family Magic Tour. We stopped by the Grand Floridian and dropped off DS with MIL, who after the big day we’d just had, planned to sleep as late as possible – which DS was happy to do as well!

The tour started off well – if you haven’t read anything about the Family Magic Tour and intend to do it someday, you may want to skip this part as it may contain spoilers. Our tour guide came in and said he was so upset because he was going to have to cancel our tour – Mickey had just called him because Captain Hook was threatening to take over the park! It seemed that Peter Pan had stolen his favorite hook and unless it was returned by noon, Captain Hook would take over the park, kick everyone out and turn it over to the pirates!

DD was ready and rearing to go – let’s go find that hook! Our guide even had to stop her before she ran off without the rest of the group!



Thankfully, Peter Pan had given our guide a map and some clues. DD was 100% committed to the search, as were two or three other kids in our group. A few other kids were much more reserved, and about half our group consisted of adults and college-aged kids who mostly just held back. I had to laugh at one of the early clues – you can definitely tell that we are an imaginative family! The clue required us to go to the Partners statue and perform as our favorite Disney character. The guide picked DD to go first and she stood in the middle, crossed her legs to look like a tail and sang out in her best Ariel impression.



Then, he picked DH and he does his Donald Duck impression, which is spot-on. I was next and sang Supercalifragilistic – not a bad rendition, if I do say so myself. Most of the others didn’t act out their characters, but instead, just said, “I’m Goofy,” or whatever their favorite characters were. Like I said, we were into it!

Well, at least at first we were. It’s a LOT of walking! And for a five-year-old who can’t read the clues on the map, after about four clues, DD was ready to just give the park over to Captain Hook! Just consider that within about 90 minutes, you traverse almost the entire park – like I said, LOTS of walking! By the end, DH was carrying DD on his shoulders because she just couldn’t walk any more.

We finally reached the end and out popped Peter Pan and Wendy, the hook was found and all was well.



We took photos with Peter and Wendy – and then, I got a little disappointed. One of the things that clinched me wanting to do this tour was that in every review I’d seen, Peter and Wendy took the kids on a ride. I just loved the stories of kids sitting on Peter’s lap as they watched PhilHarMagic, cheering when Peter came on the screen. Or reports of girls snuggling with Wendy on the Peter Pan ride…but, for our group, nothing. A few reports I’d read in the last two months or so said that they ran out of time for Peter to ride, so they gave everyone on the tour a special FastPass for a ride of their choice – but, again, not for us. DH was a little irritated – he didn’t enjoy the tour at all and felt we would have been much better to have just gone to a park and done our own thing. It was the first time I was disappointed during our trip.

Oh, my aching feet!

The tour got over a little early, so we stopped by Casey’s and had a hot dog, then made a quickie stop at the Emporium so I could buy some Crocs. I had purchased really expensive Z-Coil shoes about two months before our trip and had been breaking them in, but during the tour, something happened and my feet were in absolute AGONY! The Crocs were a big improvement. Then it was back to the Grand Floridian to get DS.

We rode back to the Grand Floridian on the resort launch boat, which is a really beautiful boat and a very nice ride! If you ever get a chance, definitely do that!!



I thought we were doing well, but….
I was very jazzed because we were running ahead of schedule, and our plan for the day was to hop over to Animal Kingdom – our only day to go to AK. I really wanted to see the Finding Nemo musical…it was one of the top things on my list! We got to the GF and DH went up to get DS while DD and I waited by the door of MIL’s building. We waited and waited and waited and waited…no DH. I couldn’t remember what the room number was or I would have gone after him. He had forgotten his cell phone back at the condo and had mine in his pocket, so I couldn’t call him or his mother.

An hour and a half later, he came down to tell us what was going on…when he went up to the room, DS and MIL were still sleeping. DS woke up as soon as DH went in the room, but as he was getting ready to leave, MIL decided she wanted to go with us to AK. MIL is a stereotypical Southern woman and never goes anywhere without full makeup and fully coifed hair. We waited another half-hour and finally MIL came down, ready to go.

We had something of a brain lapse and thought we had to take the monorail over to the TTC to catch a bus (instead of just grabbing an AK bus at the GF). On the monorail, DH stayed with MIL to help her get on the handicapped car while I took the kids and got on another one with more space. During the ride, DD had a major meltdown, was kicking me and even kicked another passenger. It was probably the worst tantrum I’ve ever seen with her. My little perfect dream life I’d imagined strolling through the Grand Floridian the day before faded away….

We then took the Disney buses to AK, which took longer because of MIL’s scooter and getting it all squared away. We had planned to be at AK by 1 p.m. – it was 3:45 when we got there, and the park closed at 5 p.m. And worst of all, we had missed the last showing of Nemo. There were some cast members passing out FastPasses for Kilamanjaro Safari, so we took those and got on one of the last trucks of the day. Saw lots of animals, most notably, the white rhino that tried to ram the truck just in front of us!! Thankfully, he calmed down and we got by without incident.

By the time we got off the safari, the park was closing and we weren’t able to get on any other rides. I was really sick because this day was the only reason we got Park Hoppers – we spent nearly $150 just so we could come and ride the safari.

I admit that I was upset and disappointed… the Nemo show was in my top five things I wanted to see. And it really rattles me when DD has a tantrum like she did on the monorail, especially when I am dealing with it all alone in front of strangers. So I probably didn’t handle the next little thing very well….

Way back on Sunday, MIL asked us if we ever wanted to go to Drizella’s house to eat supper. We were under the impression that Drizella’s house was less than an hour away. She had a swimming pool, so the kids could swim, she said. I felt very conflicted on this…I had told Drizella numerous times in the past few months that we would not go to her house because it just wasn’t going to work into our schedule. (We had originally planned to go to her house on the Friday we were there, but then Disney scheduled the P&PP that night and we changed our minds.) But then, DH piped up that our AK day would be an early day because the park closed at 5 p.m. that day. So MIL told Drizella we would come for supper that day.

On the bus back to the Grand Floridian, DH calls Drizella to get directions to her house. Turns out, it is actually over 90 minutes to her house from WDW. At this point, it is 6 p.m. and the kids haven’t eaten anything since 11 a.m. Drizella had not even started making any food (not any prep whatsoever). I quickly did some math in my head and realized we were talking about one very late night if we went to her house!!

(I estimated we couldn’t be at her house before 8 p.m. and probably later by the time we dropped off MIL’s scooter at her room – it didn’t fit in the van – and got everyone settled in the van. And I have never been to a meal with DH’s family that didn’t start 30 minutes to an hour after they thought they’d have it ready…we probably wouldn’t even eat until 9 p.m. They are lingerers, so no one would leave the table until 11 p.m. Factor in swimming, socializing, etc. – I didn’t think we’d even leave Drizella’s house until midnight at the earliest, plus we’d have to take MIL to the Grand Floridian and it was taking DH about 45 minutes to an hour to get her settled in her room – it could easily have been 3-4 a.m. before we got the kids back to the condo…and we had an early start planned for the next day.)

So, I started World War III…I told DH we just couldn’t do it. I was sorry, but it just wasn’t going to work – the kids were too tired, it was just too late, her house was too far, and it wasn’t in the best interest of the kids. Drizella told DH that was fine, she understood. But I would soon find out that she didn’t.

We stopped by a seafood restaurant near our condo and I got my fix of crab legs (MMMMM!) then we all went back to the condo and went to sleep.

[korki-rad]

DAY FIVE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 7
Hooray for Hollywood!



Wednesday was our day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the first day we had scheduled without a break of some sort. I know many people don’t like DHS, but it is my favorite park (behind MK). DH had never been here and didn’t know what to expect. MIL had some spa time as part of her Magic Your Way package and chose to stay at the GF and get some pampering. (She also went to La Nouba.) We made it to DHS just after rope drop and the kids and I waited near the hat while DH ran to get FastPasses for the Tower of Terror.

My daughter, the supermodel

While we were waiting, a PhotoPass photographer came up to me and said that he just had to take pictures of my daughter! I said sure and he took her up by the hat and did a little mini-photo shoot with her, using some High School Musical props. They are some of our absolute favorite pictures – he really did a fantastic job!



Just as he finished, the High School Musical show came along…the noise started to bother DD, but DS was bopping and dancing along with the music. The crowd made it a little difficult to find DH, but soon we were all reunited.

We headed over to Star Tours – DH is a huge Star Wars fan, so this was top on his list. This was our first time to try the parent swap and we LOVED it!! DD’s after-ride mantra was always, “Can we go again,” so not only did this help us with DS, but it relieved DD’s desire to ride again and again. And as parents, we felt it was nice to have a forced break, to just sit and relax with DS. We had bubbles, snacks and other little toys and things in our bags, so we were usually able to keep DS entertained, and it was often during these parent swap times that he got in a quick catnap. (BTW – thank you to everyone who suggested we bring bubbles! DS absolutely LOVED them and they were my ace in the hole whenever he got a little crabby! I was able to find 25 of the little bottles they have at weddings for just $5 and they were a godsend! At one time, I think I was entertaining half of WDW with my bubble-blowing.)

After Star Tours, we went to Muppets and then decided we were ready for an early lunch. I hadn’t made any lunch plans for us, and since we were close to Sci-Fi, I decided to just see if there was any chance we could get in there, but no such luck. We ended up at Pizza Planet.

We caught the Lights! Motors! Action! stunt show after lunch – another of DH’s favorites of the trip.





We also saw The Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Honey I Shrunk the Audience – and, I can’t believe I’m saying this – DH and DD did Tower of Terror! This was at DD’s request…I didn’t think she’d do it – I thought they’d end up taking the chicken exit. But, no. ToT ended up being DD’s favorite ride! They went two more times! I am forgetting something in there…the only things we had wanted to see that we couldn’t squeeze in were Beauty and the Beast and Indiana Jones.

We had a Fantasmic Dinner Package meal at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which I, again, thought was very good (cobb salad, steak, cheesecake), but DH just thought was so-so. I went with HBD because I thought their menu had the most potential to match DD’s liking (she’s very picky) but it wasn’t to be…she was very unhappy with her food (grilled chicken) and had a bit of a meltdown.

We ended the night with Fantasmic, which I have loved every time I’ve seen it. DD was particularly impressed, and DS fell asleep before it even started.






The kids were once again carried to their beds and never even knew how they got from the car to the condo.

[korki-rad]

DAY SIX: THURSDAY, MAY 8
So much to do…so little time!






Thursday found us at Epcot. MIL was not interested in making rope drop, so she decided to sleep in and meet us later for our Garden Grill ADR. We were one of the first people in the gates and DH ran over and got FastPasses for Soarin’ while the kids and I played with the dancing fountain. DD was a riot – she loved the emptiness of the park and decided the space in front of the fountain was her own special stage! She danced and sang, occasionally got splashed by the fountain, and had a wonderful time!



Once DH got back, we headed over to Test Track, which quickly became one of DD’s favorite rides. (Again, thank goodness for rider swap – DD got to ride twice in a row, which made her very happy!)

Just like a commercial!

After Test Track, we saw the line at the Epcot Character Spot didn’t look too long and thought we’d give it a try. Up until now, DS had only seen face characters and we were curious about how he would react at our lunch ADR – a character meal at the Garden Grill.



The line ended up to be longer than we anticipated, but DS’ interaction with the characters was well worth the wait!!

DS can be shy and often has stranger anxiety, so we approached the characters very slowly. Mickey was first. We let DD go up first and just let DS watch everything unfold while I held him. (DH was in charge of the camera.) Mickey came up to us very slowly (Mickey was GREAT in making sure DS didn’t get scared!) and DS carefully reached out his hand to touch this strange creature in front of him. Mickey shook his hand, then went back to DD.

Well, this was NOT enough for DS – he had tasted the character waters and he wanted MORE! He wiggled his way out of my hands and crawled over to Mickey. Everyone in line was ooh-ing – it was literally just like a Disney commercial! DS carefully climbed up on Mickey and suddenly it all clicked with him that these were the best stuffed animals on the planet! He giggled and cuddled with Mickey, gave him kisses on the nose, snuggled right up into his arms – it was everything we’d dreamed would happen, but assumed would not.



We went down the line, getting wonderful memories with Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Goofy. DS loved them all!





As we were leaving, DS and I headed one direction and in the process, lost DD and DH. Turns out Belle was just coming down the hall and they’d gone over to meet her. We found them again as they were leaving the building.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[korki-rad]

Welcome to Family Feud!

By this time, we needed to head over for our reservation at the Garden Grill. We were supposed to meet up with MIL, Drizella, Gaston and Anastasia, who had checked into Port Orleans Resort earlier in the day. MIL was there waiting for us, but the rest of the bunch hadn’t made it. We called them, only to find out that they weren’t coming. They decided to go to Downtown Disney instead and didn’t bother to tell us.

Well, it turns out that Drizella and Gaston were furious at us for not coming to their house for supper after our day at Animal Kingdom. MIL told DH all kinds of nasty things they’d been saying about us – all completely out of proportion for the situation. You’d think we’d done something really horrible, not just missed a dinner, which we apologized for and even offered to pay them $50 for the food they’d bought. Oh well – we felt that if they were going to act like babies, we’d rather not have them around anyway…we had enough to do dealing with our REAL kids without having to deal with adults acting like three-year-olds.

Do the Garden Grill!

The positive – we got into Garden Grill much more quickly than the restaurant originally told us because we were a smaller group. I highly recommend the Garden Grill! I thought the food was very good and the character interaction was truly wonderful!! DS was so excited to see Mickey again!



Pluto was a riot and Dale was tons of fun. (Not sure where Chip was – we didn’t see him.) The characters came to our table multiple times and spent a good deal of time with our kids. Mickey played peek-a-boo with DS, Pluto spent a lot of time playing with DS and Dale ‘answered’ several questions that DD put to him.



My only issue with the Garden Grill was that it was pretty tight quarters – with five people at the table, there wasn’t a lot of room for the platters of food, our own plates, etc. (all of it aggravated, of course, because we had to leave a large space cleared around DS because he tends to throw everything on the floor) and the space between tables is pretty tight (made worse because the three adults in our party are all Pooh-sized). But even with the tight quarters, I would definitely go back to Garden Grill!

After the Garden Grill, MIL wanted to go do some shopping in the World Showcase (in particular, she was looking for some crystal goblets) and we were more interested in doing things in Future World, so we split up. We did Soarin’ and then went over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends – we spent a lot of time here and literally had to pry the kids away from the aquariums!! DD started crying after Turtle Talk with Crush because she didn’t get to ask her question, so the cast member let her say “Goodbye Crush” in the microphone. We went on Spaceship Earth (loved it!) and played quite a while in the pavilion afterward, then got a phone call that Anastasia and Drizella had met up with MIL and wanted to see us.

The in-laws cometh

We went to the place where we had been summoned, just outside of Spaceship Earth. Anastasia was nice, but Drizella would not even look us in the eye. (Gaston refused to come at all.) We sat there for about five minutes, then Anastasia and Drizella said that they wanted to go to Pleasure Island for the night and didn’t want to go to Epcot because our kids were just interested in Future World. So they took MIL on Spaceship Earth while we took the kids to Innoventions.

Another yummy meal

We then met MIL outside of the Coral Reef, where we again talked the cast members into adding MIL to our ADR (Anastasia and Drizella left to go to Pleasure Island before we met up with MIL again). Before long, we were inside the Coral Reef enjoying the atmosphere. (If we hadn’t added MIL, we would have been right beside the aquarium, but we had to go up to the second tier because we had more people. Oh well!)



I enjoyed my meal very much – Alaskan king crab legs. We ordered DS a regular meal (he eats like a horse) so I also ate his lobster bisque, which I really enjoyed. DD had pizza, which she didn’t like very much and she started trading me pieces of pizza for crab legs (which she absolutely LOVES). I tried a bite of the pizza and I have to say that I agree with her – the pizza was pretty horrid! DH had a seafood medley of some sort that looked delicious, but he was only half-sold on. (I think he was stressing out about his sisters and was having a hard time enjoying the day after that point.) We had the chocolate wave for dessert, which I loved, but DH kept saying that he thought they hadn’t cooked enough (ummm….that’s the point!) I enjoyed the meal, but DH left thinking it was just so-so.

We had just enough time after dinner to find a spot for IllumiNations, DH’s favorite fireworks show.



After the show, DD was fascinated by the “pixie dust” on the sidewalks in Future World. At first, she tried to pick it up, but when she found that wouldn’t work, she was content to just dance among the “stars.”



Once again, the kids zonked before we even left the parking lot.

[sassymom]

What a great TR! Thanks for all of the details. Your family is beautiful. It looks like you are posting this as I was reading it.

[DoraDoug]

It sounds like you had alot of fun in spite of the in-laws. Your kids are just way too cute and I absolutely love the photos from the Studios of your DD with the HSM props. She matches them perfectly!

[korki-rad]

DAY SEVEN: FRIDAY, MAY 9
A down day?

Friday was supposed to be our one “down” day, but I am convinced there is so such thing when at WDW! We slept in a bit, then headed over to the pool at the condo. We had originally planned to invite all of DH’s family to join us at the pool (no rules against it, as all of them could have stayed at the condo with us), but since they were being so poopy, we decided not to. The pool was beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the water, despite it being very COLD that day!



DD was a little disappointed she couldn’t go down the big water slide because it had a 48” height requirement, but she was content to go into the cove with the shooting water fountain instead.



Some days we are just a comedy of errors

We went back to our condo for lunch and to get ready for our Grand Floridian pictures. I got the kids all ready, then after getting out of the shower, discovered that my hair dryer had completely died!! YIKES! I haven’t styled my hair without a hair dryer since before junior high! DH went to the Walgreens down the street to buy me a hair dryer, but their computer was down and they couldn’t sell him one. (HUH? Just supports my theory that if service people in Orlando aren’t working for Disney, there’s probably a reason.) So I did the best I could with towels and scorching my hair dry with the curling iron.

Oh – and DH forgot to bring a white shirt! So instead of the nice dress shirt he was supposed to wear, he was in a Ralph Lauren T-shirt.

We arrived at the Grand Floridian and met MIL…but no Anastasia, Drizella or Gaston. They were also boycotting the family portrait because we didn’t go to dinner Tuesday night. I was just sick – we had intended for the family portrait to be a Mother’s Day present for MIL, something really special since we are only all together maybe once every four or five years. But what could we do but just push on – their loss, I suppose.

I thought the PhotoPass photographer did a pretty good job, considering all he had to deal with. MIL gave DD a plush Minnie Mouse right before the pictures, which DD insisted on holding all through the photos. The photographer did a good job of getting DD to play a game where she would throw Minnie to him, then he would quickly snap the photo. DD was also being very coy and fought having her picture taken the whole time, making funny faces, weird poses, etc. The photographer handled it all very well. DS wasn’t feeling very happy – the sun was often in his eyes and he didn’t think he liked this photo business. And, to be honest, we adults are not the most photogenic people in the world. But with all that being said, I think the photos turned out nicely. You can see all of them here: Kori : photos : Walt Disney World PhotoPass Pictures- powered by SmugMug (note: I'm not crazy about the first ones, but I think the ones done a little later in the shoot are significantly better), but here are a few of my favorites:














TO BE CONTINUED....

[korki-rad]

Anastasia and Drizella meet Anastasia and Drizella

We had an ADR for 1900 Park Fare following the photos and I really didn’t expect DH’s sisters to show up, but they did, along with Gaston. Again, Drizella and Gaston wouldn’t speak to us or even look us in the eye, but they were at least there.

1900 Park Fare is on my list of restaurants to DEFINITELY do again! Very good food and a very good value. The character interaction was okay – not quite as crazy as what I’d heard, but just enough.



DD refused to put on her Cinderella dress (we were going to the P&PP following dinner and she was afraid she’d spill on it), but still looked cute in her sundress from the photo session.



Anastasia, Drizella and Gaston were annoyed that we were leaving so quickly to go to the Pirate and Princess Party (we’d told them we were doing this for the past six months) and Anastasia scolded us for not helping MIL more. (HUH? We were with her nearly all the time – they were the ones going off to Pleasure Island!) MIL had purchased a P&PP ticket (very unexpected!) so she went with us to the party while the rest once again went to Pleasure Island.

Here's a photo of DD all dressed up for the P&PP:



A party for our little princess and pirate

If you ever have a chance to go to a P&PP, I have two words of advice – DO IT!!!! It was the best thing we did the whole trip, even frugal DH said so! Once the non-ticket holders left, the park was so empty! We never waited in lines for rides, we rode multiple times in a row – it was awesome! DD didn’t want to see any princesses, much to my surprise! She was just so excited to have zero lines, she wanted to get on as much as she could. (I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to see Jack Sparrow, but she didn’t want anything to do with that.)

Another piece of advice – if you plan to go to the P&PP, do not bother with riding Dumbo before that night! We went to the MK at rope drop our first day primarily so we could get on Dumbo before the lines got long and we still had a 15-20 minute wait. There was no wait for Dumbo the night of P&PP and it would have been a better first morning if we had skipped Dumbo and done something else. (DD was a little disenchanted that first day after waiting in a long, hot, boring line first thing…I would have preferred to take her to something a little more engaging first.)

DD got to play out in the street with a cast member and some other little pirates and princesses before the parade started – she loved that! The parade was great, although my pictures of it didn’t turn out at all. After the parade, we found a nice little path just off Main Street behind the “hub.” We were the only ones there, so DD danced and did a “show” for us while we waited for the fireworks. I’d found her a dress that had lights inside, so she really felt special as it got darker – she was the only girl we saw with a light-up dress and she loved how it looked in the dark when she spun around.



No one else ever came to our path -- we had the whole path for ourselves. Tinkerbell flew directly over our heads! We absolutely LOVED the P&PP fireworks – we still rant and rave about how amazing they were!

Following the fireworks, we headed over to Sebastian’s Dance Party, which was just DD’s cup of tea.



MIL was tired and decided to leave after the fireworks. DS also crashed around this time. (To be honest, we hadn’t really expected to take DS to the P&PP, but we were surprised when MIL bought a ticket and we didn’t want to do anything more to irritate Anastasia and Drizella, so we didn’t want to ask if they would watch him.) We then rode Snow White, Dumbo, the Flying Carpets and Splash Mountain. DD and DH climbed up into the Swiss Family Robinson’s Treehouse (DH declared this a must-do – he said it is an entirely different experience at night, a little eerie and very cool.) Me – well, I sat at the bottom of the treehouse with DS and had a Dole Whip, so I didn’t feel that I’d missed out. J

They literally had to shove us out of the park that night. It was really a lot of fun and I would recommend everyone go to one at least once!

Our little pirate and princess collapsed in the car once again – is there any better way to show how much fun can be crammed into one day?

[korki-rad]

DAY EIGHT: SATURDAY, MAY 10
My baby turns ONE!

Saturday was another special day – my DS turned ONE! We slept in after the big P&PP, then, met MIL at the Grand Floridian. I made DS a special birthday hat to wear and he looked very cute. I had intended to attach mouse ears to the hat, but I forgot to buy them at Le Chapeau until the day of his birthday and simply ran out of time.



DD was looking pretty cute, too!



Once again, DD got to ride in the front of the monorail as we headed to the park about 2 p.m. in order to see the MK parade before DS’s birthday party at the Crystal Palace. We got to the MK in time to find a good spot for the parade; Anastasia, Drizella and Gaston had come to the MK earlier and joined us about midway through the parade.

The best food we had all week

Everyone who has recommended the Crystal Palace – THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! This was the best food we had the whole trip and the characters were wonderful! When I made the ADR, they said they wouldn’t be able to put us at one table, but when we got there, they had one big table for all of us, sprinkled with Mickey dust confetti, right in the middle of all the fun! We will definitely come back here again!

DS was so excited to see Tigger (his favorite on TV) and started bouncing up and down when he came by.



Pooh got a similar greeting as Tigger.



At the P&PP, we found a plush birthday Pooh sitting with a birthday cake with one candle; when you squeezed his hand, he played “Happy Birthday.” It was just too perfect, so we’d bought it and used it as the centerpiece for the table.



Another special little thing we did – since DS didn’t have (or need) an autograph book, I found an audio birthday card with Pooh on the front. When you open it, it has Pooh’s voice giving a birthday greeting. We asked each character to sign DS’s birthday card as a special memento of the day. (They also gave us the standard card signed by all the characters, but the audio card was fun since DS can’t read…but can recognize Pooh’s voice.)

I am a little sad because I must have gotten something on my camera lens; all my pictures from Saturday have a smudge of some sort on them. L I’ve Photoshopped them all that I can to try to salvage them, but they are not terrific. Lesson learned – always clean your camera lens before taking pictures at an important event.

WOW! What a cake!

We ordered a cake that was delivered at the Crystal Palace. It was chocolate with chocolate cream filling and chocolate frosting. Let me tell you, I am known as “the cake girl” in my circle of family and friends and this was the best cake I have ever eaten!! The decoration was printed with edible ink on fondant (classic Mickey with a personalized Happy Birthday message). It was sooooo yummy!





TO BE CONTINUED...