Finally found sometime to post about our family trip. Pictures are on the way.
Started off with checking in at the Grand Floridian - great hotel but really need to work on their "food court". With young children it is nearly impossible to "sit down" for a meal. Oh, well, we will probably be back at POR anyway. Loved the pools and robes. Great watching the fireworks and water pagent from the pier! Monorail rocks! Buses to GF - suck! Usually we waited 30 minutes or more for any bus to anywhere and were crammed on them like sardines since we shared with three other hotels. Trips anywhere took 20 minutes or more depending on how many stops we had to make. I don't remember having this much problems when at POR. Never really had a problem there.
Bought a Pal Mickey - mostly corny, but did come in handy especially at AK - kept pointing out things we would have missed normally. Kept going off in CoP though - tried to tell us about the fireworks.
Went to Epcot first. Daughter really loves the giant "basketball" as she called it - rode it seven times while on the trip. It even broke down once and we heard a security guard say he has worked here for three years and it has never broke down. Land for lunch :slurp: and then hopped over to the Living Sea and caught the dolphin show. We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom where we found the ourselves riding Buzz Lightyear over and over for our daughter. (The second daughter slept through most of the trip.) Got to ride CoP - it was great! I really missed the show. Caught Wishes which was great.
Next day we headed to Disney Studios and finally got to eat a the Sci-Fi theater (at least one at a time did in between screaming girls). What a cool place. Can't wait to try it when they are a little older. Playhouse Disney still is great and we tried to get into Ariel but just missed the show and the line was getting long. Rode the Great Movie Ride three times and although I still love it, I think the skits need to be updated a little. Star Tours had no line the entire time we were there. Pal Mickey kept reminding us. Saw the Kermit and Toy Story characters and I actually got to meet them since my DD was finally not scard of the characters.
That evening we headed to the MNSSHP and had a blast. I don't remember the wrist bands from last year but they had them this year and were doing checks as you went around occasionally. Toon Town definetly had the best candy and most of the rides had little to no wait. Saw PhilharMagic - GREAT! I almost cried it was so good and really brough home what Disney is about. There were Princesses everywhere (even one of mine). A DJ actually commented on it during one of the kid activities. Got the DD picture taken with Minnie Mouse - dressed in her own costume. Everything was decorated great. Didn't get a chance to catch the parade, but caught the fireworks from Toon Town. GREAT!
Next we goofed of at the pool for most of the morning and then headed to Epcot to catch the Food and Wine Festival. Didn't make it far since the kiddie wanted to ride rides in the countries, so we made it no further than Norway. Great Irish Cream at the Irerland booth. Went back for that two more times.
On Tuesday we had Priority Seating for Cinderella's Royal Table. We enjoyed the food, but enjoyed our DD reaction to the princesses. She was rivoted and would not eat. Only complaint I have is the Sleep Beauty needed some work. She was really rough and made some comments about our other daughter that I would not have thought would come out a princess's mouth. All of the other characters were great, they really played their role well and convinced my daughter. After breakfast it was another day at MK. Still a great day. Got to see Timekeeper which was a first for me. It was good, but after a long day at MK standing was the last thing I wanted to do.
Wednesday back to Disney Studios where we finally caught Ariel. Ended up running throught he line to make it into the doors. I had never seen it but both my daughter and I loved it. There was even a little girl behind us that yelled "Ariel" through the entire show. It was sooo cute. We did the normal things around DS except for the Backlot Tour. Also caught the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Another one I had never seen. Pretty cool.
Headed to DTD that evening and spent way to much money on Disney Merchandise. One complaint though - not much in the way of good food/restaurants there. Ended up having a ice cream sundae for supper.
Thursday we did AK, which we usually do in a 1/2 day. Ended up staying all day. Caught the Festival of the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks. Interesting shows. The Safari was great as ever. I have never been to Dinoland, but what is up with the carnival atmosphere? It really seemed to be out of place.
Headed to Epcot hoping to get in more of the Food & Wine. Started on the other end from Mexico this time in hopes of making it further. Both daughters fell asleep and we got through it all but at a fast pace since we wanted to be gone before Illuminations - fighting crowds with children is a pain.
The last day - we decided to treat ourselves to a full day at Epcot since it is my favorite park. Rode SSE and then Imagination after getting Fast Passes to Mission Space. Mission Space was great for my husband, but I was really sick. But I can say I rode it once. We then got FP to Test Track when my daughter started throwing a fit on what she wanted to ride. We ended up back at MK for the afternoon - luckly it closed at 6:00 and we headed back to Epcot....which we then did a race through the countries again.
Overall it was a good trip, but not one of the bests. Learned a valuable lesson - The kids rule the vacation - we just get to pay for it. :lol:
Started off with checking in at the Grand Floridian - great hotel but really need to work on their "food court". With young children it is nearly impossible to "sit down" for a meal. Oh, well, we will probably be back at POR anyway. Loved the pools and robes. Great watching the fireworks and water pagent from the pier! Monorail rocks! Buses to GF - suck! Usually we waited 30 minutes or more for any bus to anywhere and were crammed on them like sardines since we shared with three other hotels. Trips anywhere took 20 minutes or more depending on how many stops we had to make. I don't remember having this much problems when at POR. Never really had a problem there.
Bought a Pal Mickey - mostly corny, but did come in handy especially at AK - kept pointing out things we would have missed normally. Kept going off in CoP though - tried to tell us about the fireworks.
Went to Epcot first. Daughter really loves the giant "basketball" as she called it - rode it seven times while on the trip. It even broke down once and we heard a security guard say he has worked here for three years and it has never broke down. Land for lunch :slurp: and then hopped over to the Living Sea and caught the dolphin show. We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom where we found the ourselves riding Buzz Lightyear over and over for our daughter. (The second daughter slept through most of the trip.) Got to ride CoP - it was great! I really missed the show. Caught Wishes which was great.
Next day we headed to Disney Studios and finally got to eat a the Sci-Fi theater (at least one at a time did in between screaming girls). What a cool place. Can't wait to try it when they are a little older. Playhouse Disney still is great and we tried to get into Ariel but just missed the show and the line was getting long. Rode the Great Movie Ride three times and although I still love it, I think the skits need to be updated a little. Star Tours had no line the entire time we were there. Pal Mickey kept reminding us. Saw the Kermit and Toy Story characters and I actually got to meet them since my DD was finally not scard of the characters.
That evening we headed to the MNSSHP and had a blast. I don't remember the wrist bands from last year but they had them this year and were doing checks as you went around occasionally. Toon Town definetly had the best candy and most of the rides had little to no wait. Saw PhilharMagic - GREAT! I almost cried it was so good and really brough home what Disney is about. There were Princesses everywhere (even one of mine). A DJ actually commented on it during one of the kid activities. Got the DD picture taken with Minnie Mouse - dressed in her own costume. Everything was decorated great. Didn't get a chance to catch the parade, but caught the fireworks from Toon Town. GREAT!
Next we goofed of at the pool for most of the morning and then headed to Epcot to catch the Food and Wine Festival. Didn't make it far since the kiddie wanted to ride rides in the countries, so we made it no further than Norway. Great Irish Cream at the Irerland booth. Went back for that two more times.
On Tuesday we had Priority Seating for Cinderella's Royal Table. We enjoyed the food, but enjoyed our DD reaction to the princesses. She was rivoted and would not eat. Only complaint I have is the Sleep Beauty needed some work. She was really rough and made some comments about our other daughter that I would not have thought would come out a princess's mouth. All of the other characters were great, they really played their role well and convinced my daughter. After breakfast it was another day at MK. Still a great day. Got to see Timekeeper which was a first for me. It was good, but after a long day at MK standing was the last thing I wanted to do.
Wednesday back to Disney Studios where we finally caught Ariel. Ended up running throught he line to make it into the doors. I had never seen it but both my daughter and I loved it. There was even a little girl behind us that yelled "Ariel" through the entire show. It was sooo cute. We did the normal things around DS except for the Backlot Tour. Also caught the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Another one I had never seen. Pretty cool.
Headed to DTD that evening and spent way to much money on Disney Merchandise. One complaint though - not much in the way of good food/restaurants there. Ended up having a ice cream sundae for supper.
Thursday we did AK, which we usually do in a 1/2 day. Ended up staying all day. Caught the Festival of the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks. Interesting shows. The Safari was great as ever. I have never been to Dinoland, but what is up with the carnival atmosphere? It really seemed to be out of place.
Headed to Epcot hoping to get in more of the Food & Wine. Started on the other end from Mexico this time in hopes of making it further. Both daughters fell asleep and we got through it all but at a fast pace since we wanted to be gone before Illuminations - fighting crowds with children is a pain.
The last day - we decided to treat ourselves to a full day at Epcot since it is my favorite park. Rode SSE and then Imagination after getting Fast Passes to Mission Space. Mission Space was great for my husband, but I was really sick. But I can say I rode it once. We then got FP to Test Track when my daughter started throwing a fit on what she wanted to ride. We ended up back at MK for the afternoon - luckly it closed at 6:00 and we headed back to Epcot....which we then did a race through the countries again.
Overall it was a good trip, but not one of the bests. Learned a valuable lesson - The kids rule the vacation - we just get to pay for it. :lol: