The Complete Report: Donna Does Disney...and Universal, too! About This Page:

[disneydonna]

Part I: Makin' a list, checkin' it twice...

It seems like I spent months planning our vacation. Each and every little detail was faithfully recorded in my Passporter, a tome that my husband jokingly referred to as my "Disney Bible." These copious notes are what I now consult to write this, my first-ever trip report. I apologize in advance if I put any of you to sleep as I do tend to be rather long-winded.
My husband and I are in our forties. We were taking our three children to Florida on what would be our fifth trip to Disney. On all of our previous trips, we had stayed at the Poly but, this time, my husband wanted to try "something different". When the Summer Saver rates were published, I booked us for a seven-night stay at the Beach Club. (In order for our family of 5 to occupy one room, we are "forced" to stay at a Deluxe Resort. How terrible, right?) Because my teen-agers love rollercoasters and Islands of Adventure has some of the best, I followed my Disney reservations with a 3 day-2 night stay at Universal Resorts. Then it was time for the serious planning to begin. I began making lists.
First, I needed to arrange transportation to Florida from Connecticut. I decided we would fly. The thought of terrorists hi-jacking our plane was nothing compared to the terrorfying prospect of facing a 25 hour journey with three teenagers in a compact car. I shopped for airfare on the internet. I would have preferred to depart from Bradley Airport in CT but, alas, the only affordable airfare hailed from those squalid airports in New York. When I saw non-stop round-trip tickets from LaGuardia for $160 per person, I pounced on the tickets. Like most inexpensive flights, the departure time of 5:20 am meant that we would have to leave home in the middle of the night. Nothing's ever perfect, right? Anyway, that left transportation to the airport.After weighting all of the options from utilizing airport parking to begging one of our more maleable relatives for a lift, I decided that our only choice (some choice!) was to hire a stech limo for the trip. Without second thoughts, I made the arrangements.
That left food. Following the advice in Passporter, I first determined how often we would like to eat. To our family, it is very important to eat sit-down meals in an air-conditioned room far away from the crowds. So. I planned two big meals per day, allowing that we would supplement this with snacks or take-out food. As soon as I was able, I made PS's for all the restaurants. For the restaurants at Universal that don't participate in the PS system, I was even able to make reservations by calling the restaurants directly.
After much research, I determined which attractions would interest my family and duly noted them under "Things to do" sections of the Passporter, cramming it all in by writing in microscopic print that I wasn't able to see without my reading glasses on.

[ 09-05-2002, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: disneydonna ]

[mom2mudmonsters]

Great Start...3 teenagers in WDW, sounds like fun. We love long winded reports around here!!! Keep it coming, don't make us beg for more...we have no same when it comes to that!!!

[tikibird]

Originally posted by disneydonna:
The thought of terrorists hi-jacking our plane was nothing compared to the terrorfying prospect of facing a 25 hour journey with three teenagers in a compact car.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Oh, I'm SO with you on this one! 15 minutes is about all I can handle with our two guys! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Great start - looking forward to more!

[disneydonna]

Part I: Makin' a list, Checkin' it twice (cont.)

As the weeks went on, I really had little to do except check my lists and make more lists. To occupy my time, I read every Orlando travel guide on the market, checked the message boards daily, and make more lists. I even found a great Disney Vacation Planner program on Intercot which I down-loaded on my computer to make even more lists. My Passporter became even more important to me as it gave me a place to store all those lists.
Much to my disappointment, my family wanted little to do with the actual planning of our trip. My husband didn't want to know any of the details, joking that "I'm sure you'll let me know when I'm scheduled to use the bathroom." For me, though, the reading and list-making helped to build my mounting excitement and I picked up hundreds of tips reading the message boards. Some of my lists even came in handy. For instance, I used the luggage-tag program on this site to print luggage tags long before our suitcases were packed. This gave my kids great packing lists to follow when they finally got around to packing.
As the time for our departure approached, my lists became even more handy as I was easily able to pull them out in order to confirm all of the arrangements that I had previously made. It was a good thing that I did because, when I called the limousine company to confirm the arrangements, they had no record at all of our conversation. (Fortunately, they were still able to accomodate us, although the mix up left me wondering if they would actually show up.)
Finally, it was time for our journey to begin.

[Jsbalcio1]

Glad to see you decided to post a TR. Keep it comming. BTW nobody cares how long winded it is, because most of us are long winded, too! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[BostonTeaParty]

Originally posted by disneydonna:
I apologize in advance if I put any of you to sleep as I do tend to be rather long-winded.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">That'll be the day any of us fall asleep reading a TR. We LIVE for them in here! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

You're off to a great start Donna. We stayed at BC last visit and really liked it. Especially Storm Along Bay and Beaches and Cream. Hope you enjoyed it too. Looking forward to hearing about your visit to US and IoA.

[Kasumi2279]

This sounds great so far... and yea, I'd rather fly then to be stuck in a car from Cape Cod to Disney with four younger brothers!!

[wdwlovers]

Originally posted by disneydonna:
My husband didn't want to know any of the details, joking that "I'm sure you'll let me know when I'm scheduled to use the bathroom."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] That's funny. I think I will tell DH that I am scheduling potty breaks. Heehee. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Great report so far! Can't wait to read more!

[TINKN]

Great start! Looking forward to more.

[reinstructor]

[img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] Glad to see that you're writing a report. Little do those people who don't help plan understand that their trip just wouldn't be the same without that meticulous planning. You're off to a great start. Now, let's keep [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]

[luvnwdwgal]

Great report so far, keep it coming! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[AngelaVa]

I can relate to these also.

Passporter as the "Disney Bible."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">And

to scheduled to use the bathroom."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">My family tell me the same things. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Very great report can’t wait for rest of the trip.

Angela

[tikibird]

Looking forward to how the adventure begins! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Shell_of_the_South]

When are you going? Are you staying at a Universal resort?

[disneydonna]

Part II: The best laid plans...

Finally the big day arrived. Thankfully, the limousine showed up on time and we loaded the luggage and climbed aboard for a rather uneventful trip to the airport. We checked in curbside and had our boarding passes in moments, breezing past all of the cheap-skates unwilling to part with a few bucks to tip the luggage handlers who were lined up inside the airport. Airport security was much quicker than I thought it would be and our wait was brief. I had finally woken up and was smiling that all of my plans were starting to fall into place. Well, you know how they caution not to count your chickens before they hatch...The first of many unexpected snafus was soon to occur.
I am somewhat claustrophobic and am only able to tolerate flying if I am seated near the window. With this in mind, I had purposely purchased a window seat when I ordered my airline tickets. When I boarded the plane, however, someone was sitting in my seat! Unfortunately for me, it was a rather frail looking lady old enough to be my grandmother who didn't speak a word of English. With my limited command of foreign languages, try as hard as I might I was unable to make her understand that she was sitting in my seat. She began to get a little emotional and I just didn't have the heart to push the matter and make her move. I squeezed into the middle seat, beginning to hyperventilate and secretly wondering if I would survive the upcoming journey. There was a great rumble as the plane began careening down the runway for take-off, accompanied by a great deal of rustling in the seat next to mine. I glanced over to find that my seat-mate had pulled a string of rosary beads from her spurse. The louder the engine of the plane roared, the louder she prayed. Sadly, once we were in the sky the pilot was unable to turn the "fasten seatbelt" sign off because there was so much turbulence. Believe it or not, we traveled the entire 2 1/2 hour flight with our seatbelt on and my seatmate counting her beads. Let me tell you, her litany did little for my confidence level and I was greatly relieved when we finally landed in Orlando. We quickly claimed our luggage and headed to claim our rental car. (After some troubles a few years ago while relying on Disney transportation, my DH will only stay in the World if he has access to a car.) This was the one aspect of our trip that I was uneasy about. I had made reservations through Payless, a company that is not located at the airport. After I had made the arrangements, I read some rather unpleasant trip reveiws about this company and others who are located off-site. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly we were picked up by the rental car shuttle and I would not hesitate to recommend an off-site rental company for having shuttle service. I would hesitate to recommend Payless, however. With a few upgrades, extra days, taxes, etc, our $120 per week rental car ended up costing us over $300. "Oh well, we're on vacation" I told myself.
The drive to Disney was short. We arrived just after nine o'clock at the Beach Club. As we stepped from the car, the heavens opened up. Having read many trip reports citing the recent heavy rains in Florida, I was prepared with disposable rain ponchos from K-Mart. Unfortunately, the rain came so quickly that we didn't have time to pull the ponchos on. Feeling like drowned rats, we swam our way to the front desk. Our room was not yet ready but we were able to pick up our admission media.
My plans called for us to spend the day at DisneyQuest. Everything I had read about this attraction led me to believe it was most busy at night. Wrong. I can personally attest that it is most busy on a rainy day! When we arrived at Downtown Disney there were already a sea of yellow-jacketed tourists swarming the area. Like myself, they didn't realize that no matter what the tourist guides say, Downtown Disney and DisneyQuest do not open until well after 11:00 am. With little else to do, we got in line and waited. Good things do come to those who wait...when we were finally able to enter DisneyQuest I wasn't disappointed. They have a phenomonal number of electronic gadgets in that small building. It has to be one of the most sophisticated arcades in the country. I was impressed but my teenagers, having been born in an era of heightened technology, took it in stride. My favorite attraction was the Pirates of the Carribbean - I had a great time shooting those nasty pirates out of the water. I didn't do as well at Alien Encounter. I couldn't seem to master driving the space vehicle and my DS(12) refused to ride with me on the rest of the attractions. I redeemed myself on Mighty Duck Pinball and taught him a lesson by coming in third, despite ever actually figuring out how the concept of the lever worked. This middle-aged overweight lady sure taught those youngsters a thing about body twisting! Anyway, in spite of the crowds, we were able to see just about all of the attractions at DisneyQuest in about three hours. Surprisingly, my children unanimously agreed that the air hockey tables were the most thrilling attraction. (For thosewho might not have visited DisneyQuest I want to note one observation. Before my trip I had read a comment from someone on the boards who felt that DisneyQuest was a ripoff because the admission price did not cover half the things that his children wanted to do. I found that to be a misleading statement. The admission covers most attractions. It does cost more if you wish to take things to the next level. For instance, if you design a toy a Sid's Create-a-Toy, if you want to purchase a copy of that toy it will obviously cost more money. Likewise if you make a picture on the Living Easels and wish to have a copy of your masterpiece, you should be prepared to fork out extra dough. My family found enough stuff to do without spending anything extra.)
Since we were already downtown, my plans called for us to have lunch at Planet Hollywood. As they do not do priority seating for lunch, we we anticipated a lengthy wait. The place was hopping but we were pleasantly surprised to be seated within 20 minutes. Now, for the first of my restaurant reviews. I want to preface this part of my trip report by furnishing a few details about me and my family. I do not have a very discriminating palette and have even been known to enjoy hospital food. Anything that someone else prepares, serves, and cleans up after is a true feast in my eyes. My family, on the other hand, is riddles with picky eaters who favor "American food" and do not like to even try new dishes. A trip to Boma, for instance, would be a waste of money for my family. With this in mind, I will relate how we reacted to each of the reataurants we visited on our trip. At Planet Hollywood, we ordered basically sandwiches and burgers from their menu. The food was good, not great but good. The service was marred only by an awkward attempt by our server to sell souvenier shirts while we were in the middle of our meal. The music was loud - believe it or not, loud enough that even my teenagers were cringing. Over all, we found this restaurant fair. We would not go back, if only because I would want to try something different.
By the time we returned to the Beach Club, we were able to check-in to our room. I held my breath as we opened the door. I had previously faxed a lengthy list of room requests to the hotel room assignor and I was delighted to see that the room was everything that we had asked for. The room number was 4606 and it was an interior corner room. Because our party consisted of five, a spacious room was our number one priority and this room fit the bill. It even had a separate seating alcove with the daybed. I had wanted a full balcony...this room had both a full balcony and a standing balcony. The view overlooked a private courtyard with a gazebo, although it was directly overtop of those "ugly rooftops" that are mentioned in Passporter. This didn't bother us...we would rather have a quiet area than a room that overlooked the pool because of the noise factor. After we settle into our room, we spent the rest of the day exploring our hotel, Stormalong Bay, and the Boardwalk. None of us were hungry enough after our late lunch to have a traditional dinner. We settled for ice cream at Beaches and Cream. After reading nothing but rave reviews of this eatery, I must say that I was greatly disappointed. By the time our ice cream arrived at our table, it was half melted. We are tough critiques, though. We live in the small town of Bethel, Connecticut that has an ice cream parlour called Dr. Mike's that is almost world famous for their homemade ice cream. The atmosphere was quaint, though, and I could see why some people would find it very appealing. Sated and sleepy, we made an early night of it in order to prepare for the full day of sightseeing I had planned for tomorrow.

Coming up...The remainder of our June 10th vacation at Disney and, yes, a short stay at a Universal Resort