caribbeanmama
08-17-2010, 02:10 PM
Thank you all who helped us plan this trip. We had a marvelous time at Disney and wanted to give you a synopsis of our stay.
Getting to WDW: We drove from Arlington, VA to FL. We had hesitated to do this and thought we might regret not flying, but we are SO glad we drove in the end. It was a very smooth drive going down and we were so excited that we decided not to break up the drive. So we drove straight through, making several stops for stretching and eating along the way. The original plan was to leave home at 5 am, but of course that didn't happen;) Ended up leaving closer to 7 am and encountered some sporadic traffic jams from Va through NC. After that it was smooth sailing all the way to Orlando. We drove mainly because we had the time - two weeks - and I would probably not do it again if we did not have this length of time. Also, we broke up the trip and took four days off from DW and visited the Gulf cities of Palm Harbor, Clearwater and Sarasota for beach down time. Having our minivan for this was a God send.
We arrived in Orlando at 11 pm (ahead of schedule since we did not stay overnight in Savannah like we had planned). We decided to check in for one night at the Dolphin. What a great resort this is! We lucked out because they ended up giving us an ENORMOUS suite for the same price of a standard room! I mean, this suite was HUGE! The kids were so excited that they did not get into bed until midnight! The next morning, we checked out the rest of the Dolphin and spent time at the Grotto pool before heading to WDW's Polynesian. I would stay at the Dolphin again in a heartbeat!
WDW's Polynesian Resort As far as location, service, and accommodations, this resort was in a word, PERFECTION! This IS the perfect location to stay if you have small kids and plan to spend a lot of time at MK and Epcot. With two single strollers, the best mode of transport from the Polynesian to MK was the ferryboat, followed by the monorail. To Epcot, the monorail was the only choice, which was perfect too. We drove our minivan to AK and DHS. We followed the advice of the Unofficial Guide to WDW 2010 as far as to where to stay if you have small children and it was right on. As far as the deluxe resorts and children, I would stay at the Polynesian over the GF and Contemporary any day. At the Polynesian, we stayed in the Tahiti building and it was perfect for easily walking to the TTC, and easy parking. The Tahiti is also very quite since it is the farthest building from the pool and common areas. If we ever stay at the Polynesian again, I would choose the Tahiti again or the Fiji. The kids loved the volcano pool and the "beach". We had the dining plan which worked fine. We ran out of counter service meals, if you can believe that.
The theme parks
MK: We devoted two full days to MK and could have done a third day here. We chose not to do much in Frontierland (left those rides for next time). The boys' favorite ride in Adventureland was Pirates of the Caribbean. I was hoping they would not notice the women in chains though. We did A LOT in MK and I will not go into much detail about the rides. PM if you have any questions though.
AK: Ahhhhh, the park I wished we would have spent more time in. We really liked AK. We spent only one day here, unfortunately. Didn't do the thrill rides like Expedition Everest or Khali Rapids, but I wish we would have done the Kilimanjaro Safari. Next time ;) We really enjoyed DinoLand. We also came to AK specifically to watch the Festival of the Lion King. This was excellent!!! Don't miss this when you go to AK. We also enjoyed Flights of Wonder. BTW, we had a great lunch at the Flaming Tree BBQ. Highly recommend it!
DHS: My least favorite theme park. Since we are not really into the "theme" of this park, it just didn't appeal to us that much. But we came here specifically to do Star Tours and Jedi Training. We visited on a Thursday, and it was too, too crowded with people staying for Fantasmic. As it turned out, the 9:30 Fantasmic show had to be cancelled and we quickly exited the park.
Epcot: My favorite park (from a mom's perspective ;)) I loved, loved Epcot. The kids really enjoyed too. Older DS really got into the games at Innoventions. We enjoyed The Seas immensely and of course, what can I say about Soarin, it's just superb! We did everything in Futureworld, except for Mission Space. One afternoon, older DS and I went back to Epcot while DD and younger DS stayed with DH back at the hotel. One of the memories I will always treasure about our vacation at WDW is savoring Epcot with older DS. We visited all the countries together and he really enjoyed getting his passport stamped. On another day, we had some time to kill between Fastpasses, and actually saw Captain EO. It didn't scare my older DS, but it could potentially scare younger kids. Surprisingly, I did the most shopping at Epcot than any other theme park. Finally, one cannot go to WDW and not see Illuminations fireworks at Epcot. We thought it was great and saw it twice.
Character Meals We had two and that was plenty for us. We did lunch at Crystal Palace and lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall with the princesses. Both were great and I am glad we did them. The boys really enjoyed the princesses too. They were in awe of all five of them!
What we would do next time:
1. If we are able to splurge, stay at the Polynesian again. If not, we would stay at the Dolphin, or rent a condo.
2. I wish we had added the Park Hopper option, next time we will.
3. Pack LESS. I followed the packing tips in Allears.com and we definitely packed way, way more than we needed. My kids are average when it comes to getting dirty, but I found that the two outfits per day tip really didn't apply to us. They stayed in the same outfit until night time pretty much. We lived in our Crocks for the most time. I am glad I did pack extra swim suits.
4. If the dining plan is available for free, then I would sign up for it, otherwise, this is toss up. DH liked having the DP much more than I had anticipated. He thought it was very convenient to have.
Again, thank you for answering all of my questions before we got to WDW. They were extremely helpful.
Getting to WDW: We drove from Arlington, VA to FL. We had hesitated to do this and thought we might regret not flying, but we are SO glad we drove in the end. It was a very smooth drive going down and we were so excited that we decided not to break up the drive. So we drove straight through, making several stops for stretching and eating along the way. The original plan was to leave home at 5 am, but of course that didn't happen;) Ended up leaving closer to 7 am and encountered some sporadic traffic jams from Va through NC. After that it was smooth sailing all the way to Orlando. We drove mainly because we had the time - two weeks - and I would probably not do it again if we did not have this length of time. Also, we broke up the trip and took four days off from DW and visited the Gulf cities of Palm Harbor, Clearwater and Sarasota for beach down time. Having our minivan for this was a God send.
We arrived in Orlando at 11 pm (ahead of schedule since we did not stay overnight in Savannah like we had planned). We decided to check in for one night at the Dolphin. What a great resort this is! We lucked out because they ended up giving us an ENORMOUS suite for the same price of a standard room! I mean, this suite was HUGE! The kids were so excited that they did not get into bed until midnight! The next morning, we checked out the rest of the Dolphin and spent time at the Grotto pool before heading to WDW's Polynesian. I would stay at the Dolphin again in a heartbeat!
WDW's Polynesian Resort As far as location, service, and accommodations, this resort was in a word, PERFECTION! This IS the perfect location to stay if you have small kids and plan to spend a lot of time at MK and Epcot. With two single strollers, the best mode of transport from the Polynesian to MK was the ferryboat, followed by the monorail. To Epcot, the monorail was the only choice, which was perfect too. We drove our minivan to AK and DHS. We followed the advice of the Unofficial Guide to WDW 2010 as far as to where to stay if you have small children and it was right on. As far as the deluxe resorts and children, I would stay at the Polynesian over the GF and Contemporary any day. At the Polynesian, we stayed in the Tahiti building and it was perfect for easily walking to the TTC, and easy parking. The Tahiti is also very quite since it is the farthest building from the pool and common areas. If we ever stay at the Polynesian again, I would choose the Tahiti again or the Fiji. The kids loved the volcano pool and the "beach". We had the dining plan which worked fine. We ran out of counter service meals, if you can believe that.
The theme parks
MK: We devoted two full days to MK and could have done a third day here. We chose not to do much in Frontierland (left those rides for next time). The boys' favorite ride in Adventureland was Pirates of the Caribbean. I was hoping they would not notice the women in chains though. We did A LOT in MK and I will not go into much detail about the rides. PM if you have any questions though.
AK: Ahhhhh, the park I wished we would have spent more time in. We really liked AK. We spent only one day here, unfortunately. Didn't do the thrill rides like Expedition Everest or Khali Rapids, but I wish we would have done the Kilimanjaro Safari. Next time ;) We really enjoyed DinoLand. We also came to AK specifically to watch the Festival of the Lion King. This was excellent!!! Don't miss this when you go to AK. We also enjoyed Flights of Wonder. BTW, we had a great lunch at the Flaming Tree BBQ. Highly recommend it!
DHS: My least favorite theme park. Since we are not really into the "theme" of this park, it just didn't appeal to us that much. But we came here specifically to do Star Tours and Jedi Training. We visited on a Thursday, and it was too, too crowded with people staying for Fantasmic. As it turned out, the 9:30 Fantasmic show had to be cancelled and we quickly exited the park.
Epcot: My favorite park (from a mom's perspective ;)) I loved, loved Epcot. The kids really enjoyed too. Older DS really got into the games at Innoventions. We enjoyed The Seas immensely and of course, what can I say about Soarin, it's just superb! We did everything in Futureworld, except for Mission Space. One afternoon, older DS and I went back to Epcot while DD and younger DS stayed with DH back at the hotel. One of the memories I will always treasure about our vacation at WDW is savoring Epcot with older DS. We visited all the countries together and he really enjoyed getting his passport stamped. On another day, we had some time to kill between Fastpasses, and actually saw Captain EO. It didn't scare my older DS, but it could potentially scare younger kids. Surprisingly, I did the most shopping at Epcot than any other theme park. Finally, one cannot go to WDW and not see Illuminations fireworks at Epcot. We thought it was great and saw it twice.
Character Meals We had two and that was plenty for us. We did lunch at Crystal Palace and lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall with the princesses. Both were great and I am glad we did them. The boys really enjoyed the princesses too. They were in awe of all five of them!
What we would do next time:
1. If we are able to splurge, stay at the Polynesian again. If not, we would stay at the Dolphin, or rent a condo.
2. I wish we had added the Park Hopper option, next time we will.
3. Pack LESS. I followed the packing tips in Allears.com and we definitely packed way, way more than we needed. My kids are average when it comes to getting dirty, but I found that the two outfits per day tip really didn't apply to us. They stayed in the same outfit until night time pretty much. We lived in our Crocks for the most time. I am glad I did pack extra swim suits.
4. If the dining plan is available for free, then I would sign up for it, otherwise, this is toss up. DH liked having the DP much more than I had anticipated. He thought it was very convenient to have.
Again, thank you for answering all of my questions before we got to WDW. They were extremely helpful.