Annual Florida Family Trip

We just got back from our annual family trip to Florida. We've been doing this trip for the past 7 years, and every trip is a little different. Our group consists of 10 people - me, my DH, DD21, and DS17, my niece(20), nephew(16), nephew(12), their grandparents and aunt. We rented a 7 bedroom home in Poinciana - about a 15 - 20 minute drive from WDW. The house was gorgeous, complete with pool and hot tub:

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We arrived Saturday afternoon, and spent a leisurely night preparing for a family party on Sunday to celebrate my mom's birthday. Since I have lots of family living all over the Florida area, we always invite them all to the rental house for the party and to catch up on each other. This year we had 20 people and 1 small dog there. The weather was cool that day, so it was nice to have a place where we could all be indoors comfortably. The party lasted 'til the exciting end to the Daytona 500 (for all the NASCAR fans), and the food lasted a lot longer! :lol:
Monday was President's Day, and we had week-long tickets to Universal, so we headed to the studios. Universal has never been our favorite, but the others in the group wanted to try it, so we went along. Dispite the holiday, and the huge influx of tourists into the Orlando area, the park was really not crowded at all. Wait times were quite reasonable, and we rode quite a few rides. It was OK, but definitely not Disney! Not bashing, just my own opinion.
 
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Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday we headed to Islands of Adventure. I'm not a big fan of coasters, and I knew what to expect there. We did ride the Suess tram thing, which was cute. Again, the crowds weren't bad. The kids had a great time there, and I did a little shopping, so it was OK.

A view from the Suess tram:

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and, for Dan, the Hulk:

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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Wednesday, the kids' aunt offered to take all the kids back to Universal to catch a few things that they missed and ride the ones that they liked again. DH and I had wanted to check out the Disney Wilderness Preserve (http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/florida/preserves/art5523.html) which was only about 5 or 6 miles from where we were staying.

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It was really a neat place, and we were the only 2 people on the 2 mile trail for most of the way. we saw bald eagles, deer, several different kinds of birds, and the tracks of a few animals that we really didn't want to encounter in the wild...:lookaroun
I definitely plan to go back there.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
By Thursday, DH and I were definitely craving WDW (so close, but so far!), so we talked the group into a trip to Downtown Disney. We all did a little shopping, then DH and I took the kids on our famous "Cheap Disney Tour". We rode the boat over to POFQ and had lunch at the food court there, which was a big hit with the younger kids. From there, we took a bus over to Epcot, then rode the monorail over to the TTC. We switched monorails to the resort one, then spent a little time visiting and shopping at the GF, and the Contemporary, then took the bus back to Downtown Disney for ice cream at Ghiradellis :slurp: ! Then we headed back to the house to swim and relax in the hot tub.
 
tigsmom

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
Nemo14 said:
By Thursday, DH and I were definitely craving WDW (so close, but so far!), so we talked the group into a trip to Downtown Disney. We all did a little shopping, then DH and I took the kids on our famous "Cheap Disney Tour". We rode the boat over to POFQ and had lunch at the food court there, which was a big hit with the younger kids. From there, we took a bus over to Epcot, then rode the monorail over to the TTC. We switched monorails to the resort one, then spent a little time visiting and shopping at the GF, and the Contemporary, then took the bus back to Downtown Disney for ice cream at Ghiradellis :slurp: ! Then we headed back to the house to swim and relax in the hot tub.
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I don't think I could have been so close and not gone into a park! :eek:
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Friday was the day we had looked forward to all week - the Pirate and Princess Party!
We took the kids out for mini-golf in the morning, then after a quick lunch and a little swimming, we all donned our pirate and/or princess fineery and headed for the parks. We arrived just in time for the lowering of the flag, and I was quite proud of how our boys immediately stopped, removed their hats and stood reverendly through it. then off we headed for Adventureland. We knew that Jungle Cruise would be closed for the party,so we decided to ride that first. There was a 30 minute wait, but we were able to get fast passes for it with our party tickets, so we headed to Pirates first and basically walked on to that. After our obligatory Dole whip floats, it was time to "Cruise", and our skipper welcomed us aboard. I love that ride!!!!
We walked on to Splash, Big Thunder (twice), then back to Pirates all before the party officially began. The rest of the evening we spent basically walking onto every ride we had wanted to do (except for Peter Pan, which had the only line we saw all evening). The fireworks were absolutely amazing, and the parade was a lot of fun too. We'll definitely do this again next year if they have it.
A few random pictures:

Aliens in Tomorrowland:
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Sebastian dancing with the crowd:

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Parade princesses:

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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Saturday we had an evening flight out,so we took a little time to explore Celebration and hit a few shops. I didn't take pics there, but it was really neat.
The Orlando airport was crazy when we got there since flights going in and out of Chicago or Pittsburg were cancelled due to the storm. Our flight was not effected, but we met several people who were stranded 'til Tuesday there. Now that we're home and in the midst of a snowstorm here, being stranded for a few days in Florida seems OK to me! :shrug:
 
CAPTAIN HOOK

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
I think thats the first trip report that I've read which barely visits WDW :lol: Sounds like you gad a great time without "doing" Disney

Thanks for the report
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
CAPTAIN HOOK said:
I think thats the first trip report that I've read which barely visits WDW :lol: Sounds like you gad a great time without "doing" Disney

Thanks for the report
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Trust me, we would have loved to have done more Disney, but the price for Universal was so much more affordable for everyone that this was what we had to do this time.
 
DisneyBunny

DisneyBunny

Active Member
Sounds like you had a blast, squishie! You know, I take full credit for any/all fun had at the PnPP... :D ... :lookaroun

tigsmom said:
I don't think I could have been so close and not gone into a park! :eek:
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That's partly why I never got around to doing a trip report for my most recent trip - 8 days there, and only 2 days in the parks! Murder, I tell you!
 
Uponastar

Uponastar

Well-Known Member
Yay!
I loved the party pics!
And your "Cheap Disney Tour".
We've done something similar several times. . .Makes you feel like at least you "touched' the magic. Even though you would have preferred total immersion! :lol:
Thanks for sharing, Betty!
Glad you had a good time with your family!
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
DisneyBunny said:
Sounds like you had a blast, squishie! You know, I take full credit for any/all fun had at the PnPP... :D ... :lookaroun
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That's right - it was you who suggested the tickets for the P&P party wasn't it! It worked out so well - everyone loved it!
 
rlaeromech

rlaeromech

Member
DisneyBunny said:
Sounds like you had a blast, squishie! You know, I take full credit for any/all fun had at the PnPP... :D ... :lookaroun



That's partly why I never got around to doing a trip report for my most recent trip - 8 days there, and only 2 days in the parks! Murder, I tell you!
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ISN't THAT ILLEGAL!!!! How Dare they Bunny!
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
dandaman said:
:drevil:

How were the crowds at Universal, queue time-wise?

(I'm sure when March Break hits, UO will be, too... HARD. :lookaroun)
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I think the longest we waited for anything was maybe 30 minutes, and that's mostly because of the way they load their rides....
 

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