The RussJT Family Trip Report... A perfect week!

Sigh... the only negative about starting the trip report is that means the trip is over. This was our third trip in 4 years, and despite the fact that our first two were spectacular, this one was definitely the best yet.

We (me, my wife, DS8 & DD5) were in the World from 3/29 until 4/5. We stayed at All-Star Movies. I still haven't gotten any of our pics off the digital camera yet, so I'll have to post them later.

Day 1 - Saturday 3/29... The flight / arrival

Our flight left Pittsburgh International Airport at 9:30 AM. Since we live about 1 1/2 hours from Pittsburgh and wanted to be there about 2 hours before, we left home before 6 AM. I had everything packed and loaded into the van Friday night. I didn't even need an alarm cloack as we were all up early due to the excitement.

We had made reservations to park at a lot a few miles from the airport and be bussed in. This worked perfectly. No problems with check-in/security and we were at our gate an hour before boarding. We flew US Airways Flight 1791 from Pittsburgh to MCO. The flight was uneventful. It was the first time my kids had flown in a few years. Watching my daughter's facial expression when she was looking out the window as we took off was priceless.

We arrived at MCO almost 20 minutes early. We made our way to DME quickly. The bus was waiting for us when we got to the line and we boarded quickly. As mentioned above, we stayed at All-Star Movies again. (2nd time there... the choice was made by the kids. We tried to talk them into a Moderate or even a Deluxe, but this is where they wanted to stay... next time my wife and I will choose. She has already let me know she'd like to stay at the Grand Floridian at least once... so that is our likely choice for our next trip.) Our bus stopped at All-Star Sports and Music before Movies, but even with that, from Airport gate to All-star Movies lobby we made it is 52 minutes. Not bad if you ask me.

It was approximately 12:45 PM when we got to the lobby and there was a surprisingly short line for check-in. After less than a 5 minute wait, I was able to start the check-in process. Our room was ready and was in the section we wanted. Two years ago we were in a Toy Stroy building (which is what we requested). This year we requested either Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians or Fantasia (the best locations) and were happy to be in 101 Dalmatians... which is the one my son was hoping for this time.

We went to the room, unloaded our carry-on bags, put on out swim suits and headed straight for the pool. Since it was just about 30 degrees when we left home, it was nice and quite relaxing to be in the 80+ degree weather. We stayed in the pool for about 2 hours. We decided to go back to the room and rest for a while before dinner. Shortly after making it back to the room, our luggage arrived. While the kids rested (and watched Stacy and the Top 7 Must Sees for the first time) my wife and I unpacked.

We went to the All-star Movies Food Court for dinner. I had the hand-carved London Broil which was VERY good. After dinner, we hit the other pool, swam for a while longer and then went back to the room to try to get a good night's sleep before Day 1 at the Magic Kingdom.

More to come later.

 

[RussJT]

Great trip report! Loved hearing about the Bibbiti-Bobbity Boutique experience you had.The next time we go I would really like to do the Fantasmic dinner package. How does that work? Do they give you tickets or something to show you get preferred seating? How was the view?

When we were there in February the only small melt-down my 7yr. old daughter had was when we went to see Fantasmic 45 min. ahead of time and all we could find for a spot was to stand clear at the back by the trees. She was very disappointed and ended up leaving before it was done to avoid the large crowd afterwards. So I vowed next time we would not leave it to chance for her. Any tips/info would be appreciated.

They give you a pass at your restaurant that you need to show at the back entrance to Fantasmic (which is near the entrance to the park). You sit on the right hand side of the stage (I think it is the last two sections of the seats. The view was fine. We got there about a half hour before the show started, but could have come in later and still found a good seat. I will probably never see the show again without getting the package (which is covered by the Dining Plan anyhow if you use that.)

You do not have to go straight from the restaurant and then to the show. Our meal reservation was at 5:30. The show didn't start until 8:30, so we rose several rides before going to the show. We just had to make sure we didn't lose out pass. (And for the record, it indicates the number of people in your party on your pass, so you cannot sneak extra people in there.)

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

Thanks for answering my questions. It sounds like a good deal.

 

[RussJT]

Day 7 - Friday April 4th... Magic Kingdom & Pirate and Princess Party

According to the Weather Channel, it was supposed to be 87 degrees on Friday... the hottest day of the week for us. With the P&P Party not ending until mindnight, we knew we would never be able to last in the park from 9 AM until mindnight, so we decided to get to the park for a few hours in the AM, go back to the room and let the kids nap for a few hours and then go back for the Party. We knew this would help us avoid the hottest time of the day, too.

After breakfast at the food court, we caught the bus and made it to the MK in time for the opening ceremony. We missed this earlier in the week since we had early reservations for breakfast. I was glad to get to see it once during the week.

Since we had not gotten to do Pirates of the Caribbean on our first day at the MK, we decided to hit it first. (We also had missed the Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan, so we planned to get those in during the morning hours.) We were one of the first families in line for POTC, and got to ride it without a wait at all. I think it was closed the last time we were there for the refurb, so I hadn't been on it in years, and hadn't see Jack Sparrow. It was an enjoyable ride. Even my daughter who does not enjoy the dark liked this one.

The kids wanted to ride that Magic Carpets of Aladdin next, so we rode that again. We then worked our way around to the Haunted Mansion. It was my first ride since the refurb. I liked it. My daughter hated it the last trip, but was willing to give it a try this trip. She didn't enjoy it again.

Since we were not too far away from it, we decided to grab some FastPasses for Peter Pan. The wait for it was listed as 45 minutes. For some reason, I have never seen the great attraction to this ride and can never understand why it always seems to have some of the longest lines in the park. To each his own I guess. I like to ride it once per trip if I can get a Fastpass for it... but I don't see this as being one I would ever wait in line for.

Anyhow, my daughter wanted to rise It's a Small World again, but it was temporarily closed. Instead we rode Cinderella's Carousel and Dumbo before using our FastPasses for Peter Pan. After a quick ride on the Tomorrow Land transit Authority it was approaching noon, so we decided to head out and rest before the P&P party. We wandered into Adventureland to get a Pineapple float (Dole Whip Float before leaving). I would have never gotten one without all of the recommendations from people on this board. I liked it. I wouldn't say it is my favorite thing in the World, but it was definitely good. My wife enjoyed hers also (and the kids had pineapple and vanilla swirl ice cream.)

We made it back to our room by 1:00 or so. We all took a nap for about an hour and a half and made it back to the Magic Kingdom by 3:30. We were still a bit tired and it was still very hot, so inseatd of riding much before dinner, we went to carousel of Progress again and then we the the Hall of Presidents.

This got us close to our 5:30 reservation at the Liberty Tree Tavern. We hung out in Liberty Square for a bit before going in to eat. We were taken to our seats after about a 10 minute wait. We placed our drink orders and were waiting on the food/characters to come when my son decided he needed to use the restroom. When we got to the restroom, there were two teenages in there drying themselves off. I assumed they must have come straight from Spals Mountain, as it wasn't raining when we entered the restaurant shortly before. When we came out of the restroom, I looked outside and notice a torrential downpour. We ate and enjoyed the meal. This is another one that we visit every trip.

When we finished it was still raining a bit, so we bought some ponchos and began waiting for the the crowd to thin out for the Pirate and Princess party. Fortunately the rain didn't last long. For those who have never experienced a Porate and Princess Party, I highly recommend you try it. It is well worth the price in my opinion. Lines for rides are non-existant. There are a lot of characters around for meets and greets that aren't always out in the park. The person dressed as Jack Sparrow for the meet and greet this evening had the role (appearance, mannerisms, voice) down perfectly. There were games set up for the kids, various dance parties, performers, treasure spots where the kids could get beads, etc.

I don't remember all the rides we rode during the 5 hours of the party as there were too many of them (we did finally get my daughter on Its a Small World again). With no waiting whatsoever, there were a few times we got off a ride and immediately got back on it again.

The parade was awesome and may have been the best I have see at any Disney park. The Magic, Music and Mayhem fireworks were in my opinion better than Wishes. We stayed in the park until midnight. To me, it was the perfect way to conclude the trip. By midnight, I think I was too tired to be sad about leaving the parks for the last time. Don't get me wrong, I was sad it was over... but I was exhausted. We all were, and that exhaustion seemed to make us realize that it was time to get ready to head back home.

In the two days at MK, I think the only rides/shows we missed were Astro Orbiter, Snow White's Scary Adventures, the Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island... not of which bothered me to miss. I wouldn't have minded to ride Snow White, but for some reason none of the others wanted to. I almost rode it by myself during the P&P Party since there was no line, but decided not to at the last minute.

The sadness hit more on Day 8 as we packed to get ready to leave. We used our last counter service meal for breakfast, I went with waffles with strawberry topping, bacon, juice and milk. Our flight was at 2:55 PM, and were were being picked up by DME at 11:45. The bus arrived promptly and we loaded everything up. We had to stpo at the other two All-Star resorts and then the Wilderness Lodge (which I had never seen before) before going to the airport.

Our flight was about a half hour late taking off, and we hit some turbulance over Florida and Georgia due to rain... but we made it back to Pittsburgh by about 5:00... 15 minutes early. The pilot must have gone full throttle the whole way. After getting out luggage and picking up the van, we made it back home by 7:45. We were tired and sad, but are looking ofrward to the Summer.

We are planning to start building our dream house within the next year... and have already begun looking at specific plans, etc. since we have been home. Since we are sinking a lot of money into the house plans, we probably will not travel in 2009. We are already targeting a 2010 trip to the Grand Floridian. Most likely in late March/early April again. Hopefully our dates will coincide with another Pirate and Princess Party if they are still having them.

I know I left out details... it is impossible to put everything into one of these reports. If any of you have any additional comments (thanks for the positive ones so far) or specific questions please post them.

It was a great week. We enjoyed the time as a family and will not forget this trip for a LONG time... if ever. While we were planning the trip, we had dreams about how great it could possibly be. With the way the trip went, there is no doubt that at Walt Disney World dreams do come true.

 

[smk]

It sounds like you had a perfectly wonderful vacation, one that your kids will remember all their lives. So good to make those memories together, isn't it?

 

[lpet11984]

Thanks so much for sharing so many details of your trip!! It was great reading your report.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Great report - thanks for posting

 

[bayoumoon]

Thank you so very much for sharing! I feel as though I just took a mini trip vicariously through your trip report. I wish this year would hurry up so we can take our trip in Dec. Can't wait to see all the great pictures. So glad you had a safe and very Magical vacation.

 

[UKHelen]

Great trip report - thanks for sharing can't wait for my turn in October!

 

[disneygirl1]

Sounds like you and your family had a very magical trip!! Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I wish December would huury up and get here so I can enjoy the magic with my son...

 

[disney21]

Great trip report. I loved it all. Thanks for sharing it so quickly and putting in so many details...!!:wave:

 

[SoHkJerry]

:sohappy: Nice report enjoyed reading it ! I don't think ill last until October if you guys keep on writing these reports !!!! :brick:

 

[myhappyplace]

thanks for sharing your TR-it made me feel as if I were there. It was really well written and I'm glad you and your family had such a magical time!

 

[RussJT]

Thanks for all of the positive comments. Writing it helped me get over the sadness of being back home already.

 

[NewfieFan]

thanks for sharing your TR-it made me feel as if I were there. It was really well written and I'm glad you and your family had such a magical time!

Yeah, I felt like I was on vacation with you after reading your TR! I like a TR with lots of detail and yours was great! So glad you had a great family vacation!:wave:

Come on September...