Day 1
4 Feb
Early start, 0400 wake-up. Showered, got last minute organizing done and woke DS10 about 0530 to get ready to head to the airport. 8AM flight, on time and nice flight. Made it through Toronto smoothly, U.S. Customs had no line at all. Flight to Orlando was half-hour late leaving and fought head-winds and turbulence all the way. 55 minutes late into Orlando and the hardest landing I've ever had on a civilian plane.
DME was easy to find and although the check-in line was quite long, it went quickly. They hadn't managed to get my luggage tags to me in time, but I provided the baggage claim info and a photogragh of the bag [they were very inmpressed by that - much better than searching their chart of every bag known to man!] They checked us in and off to line up for the bus to DAKL. Our only stop on the way was Coronado Springs. Check-in to hotel was fairly smooth, we have a Savanna view of the Uzima Savanna, very pretty. A bit of emergency shopping was then in order... Being the caring father I am :lookaroun, I entirely forgot shoes for DS! Florida parks in insulated snow boots is not a good idea. Fortunately, the hotel store had some very nice sandals that fit well enough. Off to MGM!
We arrived later than originally planned, so we did a stop at the 5 & 10 to get engraved name tags and then headed for our 6PM ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We were a half hour early, but checked in in hopes of eating as soon as we could. So, we ate at 6. :brick:
Dinner was great! I had onion rings, meat loaf and cheesecake, with a strawberry shake to drink. DS had chicken noodle soup, fried chicken and a hot fudge sundae with a root beer float. Neither of us could finish that much and were roundly chastised... "Mom" was gonna hear about this! DDP covered the bill... I could get used to this!
Off we went to make what we could of ur last bit of time before the parks closed. We managed a walk-on on Star Tours [which is a lot smoother ride than I remember] and then headed toward Fantasmic! On the way, we got on to the Great Movie Ride with no wait. Got to Fantasmic! in time enough that we were sitting three rows back in the "Mickey" section, great seats! The show was excellent! We were pretty tired after that and came back to the hotel. Our bag was in the room, so DME came through fine! We went an grabbed some hot chocolate in refillables and a cookie. I unpacked and wrote most of what's in this report so far, but when I clcked on "Submit", nothing happened! The connection for HSIA had timed out while I typed and while I tried to fix it, I lost all that I had done! I was exhausted, so gave up and went to bed.
5 Feb
Today started very early! We had an ADR for CRT at 0810. The front desk had said to allow at least an hour and a half for transport to the Character Breakfasts. I assumed they only had one bus that went to all the breakfasts, so we were out at the stop at 0640. The first bus we saw was a Magic Kingdom bus, we got on and the driver said the park didn't open until 9. I explained that we had an 8:10 reservation and they'd let us in early for that, so he drove us straight there. As a result, we stood outside the turnstiles at MK for about 45 minutes before they let us in. DS was not impressed! It was pretty cold out there.
The Breakfast was really good, it's AYCE with two set choices: Either "healthy" or "traditional". Healthy was yoghurt and granola cereal. Traditional was Scrambled eggs, French Toast, Potato au Gratin, Bacon and Sausage. There was a fresh fruit bowl and a basket of pastries as well. We both ordered traditional :slurp: I couldn't eat it all and they thought I didn't like it. I'm a big man, 6'3" and 250-ish pounds, but I don't eat that much food. Despite DS10 being an "Adult" by Disney standards, they gave him a sword and a flashing "Wishes" pin. Fairy Godmother, Belle, Aurora and Snow White did the rounds. Cinderella was in the lobby for photos. The photo set [included with the meal] is one 6x8 of the Castle, one 6x8 and 4 4x6 of the pic with Cinderella in a cardboard Cinderella frame. Very nice package all around. We had eaten all we could and taken pics with all the characters, so we headed out. On the way, our server asked why we weren't staying for "the show". DS wasn't interested and was tired of sitting.
The park opened at 9 and we had a good time. Rode Space Mountain and Splash Mountain twice with little or no waits. Also hit COP, Philharmagic, BTMRR, TTA and rode the train from Frontierland to Main Street. We used two of our DDP snacks for ice cream treats [got some strange looks - it was still kinda cold out]. Then we came back for a bit of a rest before we head back later for more MK.
More soon!
4 Feb
Early start, 0400 wake-up. Showered, got last minute organizing done and woke DS10 about 0530 to get ready to head to the airport. 8AM flight, on time and nice flight. Made it through Toronto smoothly, U.S. Customs had no line at all. Flight to Orlando was half-hour late leaving and fought head-winds and turbulence all the way. 55 minutes late into Orlando and the hardest landing I've ever had on a civilian plane.
DME was easy to find and although the check-in line was quite long, it went quickly. They hadn't managed to get my luggage tags to me in time, but I provided the baggage claim info and a photogragh of the bag [they were very inmpressed by that - much better than searching their chart of every bag known to man!] They checked us in and off to line up for the bus to DAKL. Our only stop on the way was Coronado Springs. Check-in to hotel was fairly smooth, we have a Savanna view of the Uzima Savanna, very pretty. A bit of emergency shopping was then in order... Being the caring father I am :lookaroun, I entirely forgot shoes for DS! Florida parks in insulated snow boots is not a good idea. Fortunately, the hotel store had some very nice sandals that fit well enough. Off to MGM!
We arrived later than originally planned, so we did a stop at the 5 & 10 to get engraved name tags and then headed for our 6PM ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We were a half hour early, but checked in in hopes of eating as soon as we could. So, we ate at 6. :brick:
Dinner was great! I had onion rings, meat loaf and cheesecake, with a strawberry shake to drink. DS had chicken noodle soup, fried chicken and a hot fudge sundae with a root beer float. Neither of us could finish that much and were roundly chastised... "Mom" was gonna hear about this! DDP covered the bill... I could get used to this!
Off we went to make what we could of ur last bit of time before the parks closed. We managed a walk-on on Star Tours [which is a lot smoother ride than I remember] and then headed toward Fantasmic! On the way, we got on to the Great Movie Ride with no wait. Got to Fantasmic! in time enough that we were sitting three rows back in the "Mickey" section, great seats! The show was excellent! We were pretty tired after that and came back to the hotel. Our bag was in the room, so DME came through fine! We went an grabbed some hot chocolate in refillables and a cookie. I unpacked and wrote most of what's in this report so far, but when I clcked on "Submit", nothing happened! The connection for HSIA had timed out while I typed and while I tried to fix it, I lost all that I had done! I was exhausted, so gave up and went to bed.
5 Feb
Today started very early! We had an ADR for CRT at 0810. The front desk had said to allow at least an hour and a half for transport to the Character Breakfasts. I assumed they only had one bus that went to all the breakfasts, so we were out at the stop at 0640. The first bus we saw was a Magic Kingdom bus, we got on and the driver said the park didn't open until 9. I explained that we had an 8:10 reservation and they'd let us in early for that, so he drove us straight there. As a result, we stood outside the turnstiles at MK for about 45 minutes before they let us in. DS was not impressed! It was pretty cold out there.
The Breakfast was really good, it's AYCE with two set choices: Either "healthy" or "traditional". Healthy was yoghurt and granola cereal. Traditional was Scrambled eggs, French Toast, Potato au Gratin, Bacon and Sausage. There was a fresh fruit bowl and a basket of pastries as well. We both ordered traditional :slurp: I couldn't eat it all and they thought I didn't like it. I'm a big man, 6'3" and 250-ish pounds, but I don't eat that much food. Despite DS10 being an "Adult" by Disney standards, they gave him a sword and a flashing "Wishes" pin. Fairy Godmother, Belle, Aurora and Snow White did the rounds. Cinderella was in the lobby for photos. The photo set [included with the meal] is one 6x8 of the Castle, one 6x8 and 4 4x6 of the pic with Cinderella in a cardboard Cinderella frame. Very nice package all around. We had eaten all we could and taken pics with all the characters, so we headed out. On the way, our server asked why we weren't staying for "the show". DS wasn't interested and was tired of sitting.
The park opened at 9 and we had a good time. Rode Space Mountain and Splash Mountain twice with little or no waits. Also hit COP, Philharmagic, BTMRR, TTA and rode the train from Frontierland to Main Street. We used two of our DDP snacks for ice cream treats [got some strange looks - it was still kinda cold out]. Then we came back for a bit of a rest before we head back later for more MK.
More soon!
