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View Full Version : Got back a month ago & FINALLY writing a review!!



sewarsh
12-20-2010, 11:33 PM
First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who helped answer all my questions. You truly made the planning process SO much easier and better for me.

Okay, so here is my synopsis/review, etc. Its LOOONNNGGG!! And I actually wrote it as a journal so you'll see names, etc.



Disneyworld 2010:
November 13-November 20
Madelyn: 4 yrs 4 months, Joshua: 2 yrs 3 months

So, I’m writing this as both a journal for myself to remember our vacation as well as a review of what we liked/disliked and what worked best for our family.
First off, we had such a GREAT time. It was better than I expected and more than I could’ve asked for. Going in to the trip, I was somewhat excited, but felt it was going to be more work than vacation. I now understand why Disneyworld is as expensive as it is and why people love this place so much. Disneyworld spares no expense on anything. Everything is clean and top-notch. The shows were fantastic, most of the rides were a blast and the characters and staff were all so great. I think we’ll have to make a vacation every 3 years or so and possibly a day/2-day trip every other year when visiting my mom in Florida.

The kids were great. They persevered. By the end of the week (heck, by the middle of the week), they were exhausted. We knew when enough would be enough and that came on Day 3. Day 1 & 2 we stayed at the parks all day and the kids napped off and on in the stroller, Days 3-7 we came back to the hotel for naps.

We literally got EVERYTHING in that I wanted. Now that is quite a feat. The only thing we didn’t do that I wished we had was the lights at DHS at night which I didn’t even know about until after we were home.

We stayed offsite about 5 miles away and it really was fine. We were able to use my in-laws timeshare points for the Holiday Inn Orange Lake Resort for only $139 for the week. In a way, I’m glad we stayed there because I know we would’ve gotten roped into the Disney Dining Plan if on site, but on the other hand, it may make sense to stay onsite to avoid having to haul car seats down there (and pay to fly with them), rent a car and pay $12 a day for parking.

Some Things I’m Glad We Did:

• Ordered groceries ahead of time and had them delivered to our hotel (www.wegoshop.com). We made breakfast in the room every day and packed snacks, fruit, PB&J & water for the parks. This worked out wonderfully because when the kids were hungry, we had food for them right away rather than deal with tired AND hungry cranky kids! Besides, how many chicken fingers can they eat and I was not interested in paying $5 for a Smuckers PB&J meal.
• PHOTOPASS! SO happy we did this. And SOOO happy we preordered this for $100 ahead of time. This is such a great service and I’m so happy we have pictures that include ALL of us, especially Jason & Brian. It took awhile, but once we got home, I added the special Disney borders to every picture.
• Photopass special effects pictures – call the Photopass customer service # and ask them where these will be held and make sure to hit them up throughout the week rather than on the last day like I did. Examples: Holding baby Simba, holding Tinkerbell, holding Disney balloons that lift you up in the air, Screech coming out of the ground (or Christmas present in our case)
• Purchased souvenirs ahead of time on sale here, full price at Disney! I got a Tinkerbell wand, wings, sillybandz, mini Toy Story figurines, coloring/art sets from $1 Target section, etc. We ended up only purchasing 2 toys all week!
• Cancelled almost all of our dining reservations!! I spent a lot of time ahead of time making reservations, but when we were at the parks we were so not interested in leaving to go to another park for lunch/dinner. In the future, I’ll find out what restaurants are actually located IN the parks and make reservations there, rather than make plans to leave to go to restaurants at hotels, etc. We kept our reservation for Cinderella’s Royal Table and also just showed up for brunch at the Cape May Café and only had to wait 10 minutes.
• Go with grandparents! Live-in babysitter, assistant stroller pusher and another person to stand-by while we swap going on rides.
• Tied a pink ribbon on our strollers so that they could be found fast!
• Fastpass
• Got park hopper passes.
• Skipped the water parks (kids too young).

Day 1 – Arrival day & ˝ day at Magic Kingdom: After getting luggage, rental van, check in, etc. we got to Magic Kingdom at 3:30. We spent most of the time leisurely walking around Tomorrowland and part of Fantasyland. We just had quick service for dinner and the kids enjoyed their first Mickey Mouse ice cream!

We were lucky enough to meet Buzz Lightyear outside of his ride and the nighttime Main Street Electrical parade was fabulous (too bad the kids were sleeping!).

Day 2 – Epcot during day, DHS at night:
As soon as we arrived, we went straight to the character spot near Innovations where we met Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. It was a short 30’ish minute wait and while we waited, my husband went and grabbed fast passes for Soarin.

In the evening we rushed to DHS to see Fantasmic, since the only other night the show was playing was when we had reservations at CRT. It was really great. Joshua loved it and Maddie was scared only a little bit during the villain part of the show.

We ate Quick service (Mexican) for lunch and ate a late dinner at a restaurant near our hotel so that we could watch Sunday Night Football (Steelers). It was the last day of the International Food & Wine festival so we also got to nibble on some miscellaneous eats throughout the countries.

Day 3 – Animal Kingdom during day, MK at night:
As soon as we arrived at AK, we went straight to the Safari. We saw a lot of animals and were very pleased. We also randomly walked by the character spot where we got to meet Winnie the Pooh, Eyero and Tigger and no line! We missed the parade in AK because the kids hit a wall and HAD to go back to the hotel to have naps.

After naps and since the AK closes at 5pm, we headed to Magic Kingdom so the kids could see the Electrical parade. They loved it about as much as me!

We ate Quick service BBQ for lunch and ate a late dinner at a restaurant near our hotel so that we could watch Monday Night Football (Eagles). Thanks again to Nana for staying home with the kiddos!

Day 4 – Disney Hollywood Studios:
Again we were fortunate enough to be randomly walking past the character spots for Handy Manny and Monsters Inc. Also we got to see the parade that was more of a dance party and was very cute (plus lots of Toy Story interaction!).

We left the park about 3pm so the kids could go back to the hotel and nap. We had Quick service for lunch once again and I don’t remember where we ate dinner.

Day 5 – Character brunch in the AM and Magic Kingdom in PM:
Since this was mid-week, both kids were sick and Jason’s parents were leaving and my mom was coming we decided to take our chances and show up at the Cape May Café in the Beach Club for a character brunch with Minnie, Donald & Goofy.

The kids napped in the hotel again today and then once they awoke we headed to Epcot in evening primarily to see Illuminations. Wow! Again another fabulous evening show. Really outstanding. We also made it a point to be the first in line to meet Belle & the Beast in France (my daughter’s favorite!).

We ate quick service fish & chips at the stand in England for dinner and they were really good!

Day 6 – Magic Kingdom:
We made sure to go straight to Toon Town at 9:30 for rope drop to see the fairies. This was excellent advice. We were 3rd in line and waited for about 40 minutes in total but they are my daughter’s (and my!) favorites. Each fairy spent a lot of time with Maddie & Josh and the character spot is really decorated awesomely! We got to meet Tinkerbell, Rosetta and Vidia. Other than here and when Tinkerbell flies out of the castle at the beginning of Wishes fireworks, Tink is seen nowhere else.

We spent most of the day in Fantasyland and then headed back to the hotel again for naps. In the evening we went back to MK because we had dinner reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table at 7:30. Madelyn was really in her glory here! She LOVED it and since our reservations were on the later side (possibly the last seating), Cinderella spent SOO much 1 on 1 time with her while we waited to be seated. At dinner we got to meet Cinderella, Belle (in blue again), Ariel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. They really fussed over Joshua. The food was mediocre at best but we weren’t there for the food, we were there for Maddie. Given the cost and the mediocre food, not sure if we’ll ever go there again!

After dinner we were being escorted out of the park because it was Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that was an additional $50 or so per person. As we SLLLOOOWWLLY followed our escort out of the park, taking pictures along the way she finally got to Main Street and said, “okay, you want to make a left here and exit out of the park at the end of Main Street.” Sweet! We got a free pass to the party! Well, sounds great and all, but the kids were tired (and still sick) so they stayed in the strollers while we watched part of the Christmas parade and the fireworks. We didn’t try to ride any rides since we didn’t have wristbands, but my feeling was that if you were at the park during the day and it wasn’t that crowded than skip the party and save your money. Wasn’t all the great. The decorations are beautiful, but they are up every night and the fireworks were great, but so are Wishes. I suppose it would be a great way to have faster lines, but crowds weren’t an issue for us.

Day 7 – Animal Kingdom during day, MK at night:
Our last day at Disney. Our kids are finally on the mend. We headed back to AK because we didn’t get to see the Lion King show on Day 3. We spent a few hours here in the morning and then headed back to the hotel for the kids to take a nap.

In the evening we went back to Magic Kingdom just to hit some more rides in Fantasyland before we left the next morning.

Based on everything we did at the Parks, these are the things that we really enjoyed and would definitely recommend. If I don’t have something listed its because it was just average or we didn’t do it. Here is how I would rate them:

Magic Kingdom:
• It’s a Small World – so adorable, Maddie wanted to keep going on this!
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – fabulous!
• Getting to rope drop early to see the fairies.
• Minnie’s house – so cute!
• Space Mountain
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Staying for the Electrical Parade & also seeing Wishes fireworks
• Indy Speedway – skip, just like go-carts at any park, fumes smell bad!

Epcot:
• Epcot Character Spot – got to bang out lots of the main characters first thing
• Turtle Talk with Crush (show)
• Soarin
• Living with the Land
• Captain EO – HORRIBLE!
• Test Track – okay, not worth long wait
• Illuminations! – awesome
• Seeing Belle & Beast in France

Disney Hollywood Studios:
• The Little Mermaid (show) – fabulous!
• Toy Story ride
• Beauty & the Beast (show) – almost seemed like it was a Broadway show
• Aerosmith Rock & Roller coaster
• Fantasmic! (night show)

Animal Kingdom:
• It’s Tough to be a Bug – GREAT! A little creepy at times. Maddie definitely scared during a couple small parts, but did great overall.
• Lion King show
• Character spot to meet Winnie the Pooh, Tigger & Eyore (found by mistake)
• Expedition Everest roller coaster – great!
• Finding Nemo musical - excellent


Would’ve liked to have done/seen:
• Lights on the main street in DHS
• Get Josh a haircut at Harmony Barbershop in MK
• Made dining/character reservations at restaurants ON SITE!
• Head down to Downtown Disney at some point
• Conservation studio in AK
• Dinoland in AK – had no idea our kids were obsessed with dinosaurs until 2 weeks after we came back home!
• Jedai training academy for when kids are older at DHS

liz
12-21-2010, 05:51 PM
Thanks for posting about your trip. Sounds like you had lots of fun!

Dream
12-21-2010, 06:21 PM
Great report, thank you for posting.

What happens at Rope Drop?

smiles33
12-21-2010, 07:23 PM
Wow, what great details! Thanks for sharing.

WatchingThemGrow
12-21-2010, 09:07 PM
Thanks for the recap! It gave me some really good ideas for when we go again. We have planned on visiting 1-2 days once or twice a year when we go see my mom in FL. Maybe an actual vacation there would be better...then, just do the short trips every other year. Hmmm...

crl
12-21-2010, 10:55 PM
Thanks for posting! Glad you had a good trip.

Catherine

sewarsh
12-22-2010, 12:45 AM
Great report, thank you for posting.

What happens at Rope Drop?

Rope drop at ToonTown in MK is at 10am (park opens at 9am). Basically, we were told to get there 30 minutes ahead of time (9:30ish) and then at about 9:45 the park attendents let down the rope and you follow them to the building where there are 2 lines....1 for Fairies, 1 for Princesses. Since the Fairy line is supposed to drag out really really long we made sure to get there at 9:30 and we were #3 in line. The fairies spend at least 10 minutes with my kids.

The bummer is you have to go back and stand in line again to see Princesses, but since we were doing the CRT and saw Belle in France we didn't do that. But hte Princess line apparently is much faster.

TwinFoxes
12-23-2010, 03:02 PM
Thanks for posting, I'm glad you had so much fun. :)

billysmommy
12-23-2010, 05:55 PM
Sounds like a great trip :)