Ok so I'm a week a and a half late with my trip report :brick: I was confined to the couch last week due to a post trip flu-like illness that hit hard. Thankfully it wasn't the stomach bug, and even more thankfully it waited to hit us until we returned home. So anyways... On with the show!!!
Friday - January 16th
I woke up around 5:00am because my dog woke me up an hour earlier than my alarm lol. I finished getting some last minute stuff done. We brought the dog to my aunt's house who was later bringing both our dog and her dogs to a local kennel. Her and her party weren't arriving in WDW until the following day.
We went to my parents house and helped them get their luggage in the truck, headed off to fuel up and get our last Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffees before heading to the airport.
We arrived at T.F.Green airport in Providence, went through security and had lunch. Then it was time to get on the plane and leave the -8 degree weather behind us!!!
We had a great flight (as always on Southwest) and landed right on time at 5:20pm in Orlando. After the smokers had their cigarette breaks we headed down to the Magical Express desk to get our bus. We got on the bus and about 10 minutes later we were on our way to Pop Century. When we went under the WDW sign, I actually fought back tears because all my life I always wanted my Dad to come to WDW with me. I had been with my mom twice but never my dad. And he never was able to due to finances or work. And now that I was able to share it with him it was almost like going for the first time again!!! We arrived at Pop at around 6:30 and got checked in. We had a 7:15 dinner reservation at Planet Hollywood, but we were tired and my parents really didn't want to have to hurry to get a bus and what not. So we decided to cancel and just eat at the food court and then head to our rooms for the night.
We were in building #2 in the 50's section in rooms 2408 and 2409. This is was Dad's first time to WDW so I knew he would either love it or hate it. So far so good and he was really enjoying the hotel.
Saturday - January 17th
I woke up at 5:00AM!!!! I was so excited I couldn't sleep lol. I got up and got our stuff unpacked and put away while I waited for everyone else to rise and shine. The plan was to head to Epcot for the day, lunch at Le Cellier, then head to MK to meet the other 12 people who we would be meeting for a showing of Mickey's Philharmagic (one of my favorites) before it went down for refurbishment.
My parents, husband and I had breakfast in the food court and then headed to Epcot. It was sunny, but a bit chilly in the morning. We went straight over to the Seas with Nemo. We walked right which was great. After that we looked at the manatees and some of the fish. Then we went to the Land to grab fastpasses for Soarin'. My parents decided they didn't really want to go on so we skipped grabbing fastpasses and went for a ride on Living with the Land. Both of my parents are into agriculture and stuff so they enjoyed that a lot. We went into innoventions for a bit then grabbed some Fast Passes for Test Track and checked out all of the cars at the exit. It was about time for our 11:55 reservation at Le Cellier so we headed to Canada and had lunch. I have never eaten at Le Cellier so I figured we would try it. We weren't as thrilled with it as I thought we would be, but it was still good. And the chocolate mousse was delicious! After lunch we were going to walk around World Showcase. My Dad had taken a bad fall a couple weeks before and injured his tailbone, so he sat and relaxed while my mom, husband and I walked through WS. We met back up with my dad after our "world tour" and then we hit Test Track with our fast passes. After Test Track we took a ride on SSE (I really enjoy the updated version!). Then we hopped a monorail to T&TC and then a ferry over to MK. We thought my Dad was going to be the least impressed with MK but he was like a child when he walked in. I actually teared up because it was so sweet the way he just stood on Main Street absolutely fascinated by everything around him!!! We were waiting for the rest of our party who were staying at the cabins at Fort Wilderness. They were having dinner at the campground so we figured we would have dinner at MK. My husband LOVES Tony's so he checked to see if we could get in, and we did!! Immediately!!! Everyone loved their meals (My dad brought an extra helping back to the hotel of Spaghetti and Meatballs he loved it so much lol). Unfortunately we never got to meet up with the other people in our party. We were so tired after doing Epcot that around 7:00pm they still hadn't arrived yet so we did Mickey's Philharmagic and headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Sunday - January 18th
I woke up Sunday morning not feeling so well. In fact I felt like I was going to :hurl:. I started to panic after reading about that virus going around. But after a couple of pepto chewables, some carbonated water and half of a bagel I was just fine. I had woken up that morning so thirsty and chugged whatever I had in my mug, which ended up being cold hot chocolate, and I think thats what made me feel icky. But an hour or so later I was tip top and ready to go!
We headed over to Hollywood Studios to meet the rest of the family. While waiting for them we rode the Great Movie Ride. By the time we got off they were entering the park and we met them in front of the American Idol Experience. The thrill ride enthusiasts were eager to get on RnRC and ToT so we headed down Sunset. RnRC had a 60 minute wait and ToT had a 50 minute wait. Those of us who didn't ride either went on the Great Movie Ride or waited for everyone. After some of the group rode the GMR, we went on Muppets 3-D. By this time the thrill seekers in our group were done with their rides and we met up for lunch at Pizza Planet. After Pizza Planet we went through One Man's Dream and then headed to Downtown Disney. Once we got to DTD, my Goddaughter decided she wanted to play in the fountains for a bit, so she did. We went into a couple of stores and then checked in for our dinner reservations at Cap'n Jacks. We really enjoyed dinner and even more enjoyed some shopping afterwards. After a couple hours at DTD we went back to the hotel for the night.
Monday - January 19th
My parents, husband and I went to Fort Wilderness to meet the rest of the group for breakfast at Trail's End. I finally got to enjoy some much anticipated Mickey Waffles!!! After breakfast we got a golf cart tour of the campground (I had already stayed there before). There were so many trees cut down not sure why, but they cut trees down everywhere. It looked kind of sloppy - does anyone know why???
After the campground tour we rounded up the troops and headed to AK. We headed straight for Kilimanjaro Safaris and waited about 30 minutes. We got to see all of the animals, and some of them were so close I couldn't believe it!!! Aside from the lions, who were sleeping, everything else was out and the open it was great. I noticed the bridge that "collapses" wasn't collapsing. And now that I think of it, it wasn't doing that on our honeymoon either in Nov 07 - is this a permanent change?
After KS, no one knew what they wanted to do. Let the mass confusion begin!!! I love my family and I was so happy to go with them, but a trip with 16 people is tough. Especially when the ages range from 7 - 74 and you have a couple of first timers, and a couple of Disney veterans lol. So my mom and dad decided they didn't want to walk around aimlessly and my dad's tailbone was bothering him, they went to Rainforest Cafe, had lunch and went to the hotel. The thrill seeker clan was ready for a ride on EE so we made our way over there. FIrst we checked the wait on KRR which we had heard was closed, and it still was. We got to EE and there was a 50 minute wait time. The FP being distribution time was for after 5:00. Hubby and I decided we most likely wouldn't be at the park that late so we opted out and figured we would come back another day. While my aunt, her boyfriend and granparents waited for the group to get off EE, hubby and I headed for lunch at restaurantosaurus, took some time to look at some animals, and then headed back to Pop. After about an hour or so, we got bored, and I went to my parents room next door to see what they were up to. My dad told me they were going to head to DTD for dinner, and I told them Rich and I were probably going to head to MK. My Dad said he loved MK and would much rather go there with us for dinner.
We took the bus to MK and decided to just have a counter service meal at Cosmic's Rays. My dad ordered a turkey bacon wrap and he raved about it the whole night lol. After dinner, we took a relaxing ride on TTA and then headed down to Main Street to do some browsing. My dad kept talking about stopping at the Bakery so we did. I got a chocolate croissant, Rich got an apple turnover, mom got a cherry turnover and my dad got a slice of double chocolate cake. As we continued down Main Street my dad had to stop in the candy store and get some gold coins shaped like Mickey lol. He just kept saying how Main Street is like a perfect little town. And that everything was so beautifully built. It meant a lot to me that he loved MK so much, because it is my favorite place too. As we were walking down Main Street, I was walking with Rich, and my parents behind us, and my dad said "Wow, This is like a dream. Its all so beautiful. Its like a dream". Again I couldn't help but tear up it was such a defining moment in our trip and something I will truly remember for the rest of my life. As silly as it sounds it was just such a sweet moment. After that we headed back to Pop for the night.
Tuesday - January 20th
Today we were going to spend the day at MK. It was also quite cold. It was about 52 with 30 mph wind gusts. Everyone was bundled up lol. All 4 of us had breakfast at the food court then headed to MK to meet the rest of the family. We got to MK before they did and took a ride of PotC. After PotC we went for a ride on BTMRR. It was only a 20 minute wait, which ended up only being 10 minutes. By this time the rest of the group had arrived. We headed over to the temporary Pecos Bill's for lunch (except my dad who went a little later to Cosmic Ray's to get his beloved turkey wrap lol). After lunch we made our way to Liberty Square. My parents, grandparents, husband and I went on the Liberty Belle Riverboat while the other crazies in our group took a ride on Splash Mountain on this chilly day lol. Once we got off of the boat, some of the group took a smoking break while we waited for everyone else to get off of Splash. My dad decided now he would go get his turkey wrap, and the rest of our group joined us for a ride on HM. It was about a 10 minute wait. When we got off HM we looked for my dad, who should have been back by now. But wasn't. We waited... and waited... and waited... :lookaroun. We got nervous and went to go look for him, then saw him strolling across the bridge over towards us in Liberty Square. He told us that he ate his wrap, and then decided to go on the Tomorrowland Speedway by himself haha. Now that the group was all together again, we grabbed FP for Buzz, went on Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (which they used my joke!!! What is the nicest kind of vegetable? A SWEET POTATO!!!:lol
, then watched the parade (kind of, we didn't get good seats in time). After the parade we went on Buzz and then had dinner reservations at Tony's. Dinner was good but when it came time to scan our dining plan cards, the computer went down, so it took a while to get out of there. At this point it was in the 40's, windy and cold, so we decided to head back to the hotel. My parents were leaving the next day, so I wanted to go hang out with them at the hotel. Everyone said their goodbyes and tears started. I cried the whole bus ride back to the hotel. I was so upset that they couldn't stay longer, but they own their own business so, its tough to leave for a while. We got back to the hotel and I helped them pack.
Wednesday - January 21st
Rich and I went down to the food court with my parents while they had breakfast before they left. After they got their breakfast and ate, they were going to wait for the Magical Express bus and we were heading to O'hana to meet the rest of the family for breakfast. I couldn't help but be sad that day. Especially when I realized we never got a family photo of us in WDW. I was going to get one of just the 4 of us in front of the castle, but decided it would be good to wait until everyone was able to get in the pic. Little did I know we would all be split up most of the time, and we never got that picture. I think its on one of my most regretted list.
So we got to O'hana and head a yummy breakfast. We then took the monorail over to Epcot (the rest of the family hadn't been there yet on this trip). We took another trip through the Seas with Nemo, grabbed fastpasses for Soarin', visited Figment for a ride through JII, and then headed to WS. We took a boat ride through Mexico, then headed to Norway. Rich and I skipped out on Maelstrom and took a break sitting on a bench just taking in the WS atmosphere. The rest of our group finished their Norway tour and made our way around the world... until... one of them got a surprise. A seagull in Germany decided my cousin Cassi's head was a perfect landing spot for his, um, waste shall I say. So my poor cousin had to scrub bird poo out of her hair. We finished walking around WS, grabbed a crepe in France, and then stopped for some shopping in the UK. We stopped and watched an Off Kilter performance and then my grandmother decided she wanted one of their CD's so we stopped in Canada and she picked one up. Our time had come to use our FP for Soarin.
Then a not so good event occured. My aunt had bought my grandparents a Birnbaum's guide for Christmas so they could read which rides they may not want to go. My grandmother has a problem with her ears and also gets dizzy easily. So we described to her what Soarin' was, she watched videos of it, and read all the warnings before getting on. She said she would be fine and if it scared her we told her to just close her eyes. So the ride starts, we were in the second row. I look over and my grandmother is smiling. Then all of a sudden shes in tears. And then laughing. And then in tears. So we didn't know what was wrong with her. Once we "landed" she could barely get out of the chair. The rest of us walked ahead while a couple stayed behind with her to help her. Apparently she said she was fine, but a CM insisted that they get her a wheelchair. She said she was fine, but as soon as she saw the wheelchair, she said "OH THANK GOD!" and just plopped herself into it. Now some people may think I sound insensitive to her reaction to Soarin'. But if you knew my Grandmother, you would know this was just another one of her "dramatic" episodes. I love her to death, but she is one of those who has to make a scene everywhere we go lol. We asked her why she didn't just close her eyes, she said "it all happened too fast". I don't know. Please don't bash me for sounding insensitive, I felt bad for her, but I know she escalated the situation much more than what it originally was.
So anyways, after that, Rich and I called it a day with the family and headed back to the hotel for some arcade time. My cousins and my cousins boyfriend met us at Pop to use our arcade. We all had won a total of about 1500 tickets and scoped out a child to give them too. We gave them to a little boy who just didn't know what to do with himself lol. He just kept giving us the thumbs up and saying "thank you". It was adorable.
Thursday - January 22nd
Happy Birthday RICH!!!! Today was my husbands 28th birthday. We went to DHS in the morning to get on TSMM. We stopped and got his birthday button and his $75 gift card then we ran to TSMM. The wait was already 50 minutes. FP were for between 5 and 6. We were waiting for the rest of our group to get there and decided to just get in line. Well we waited in line for about 20 minutes and then we were about to get our glasses and a CM told Rich "Happy Birthday follow me" and brought us through the handicap entrance and we got right on. I have to say it was so much fun!!! Both hubby and I loved it and were so happy we went on it. He beat me by like 8,000 points, but I let him bask in his glory because I always beat him on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin lol. After TSMM we spoke with a DVC Rep and set up an appointment for the next morning. Then we met up with our group and headed to the Backlot Express for lunch. After lunch, my cousins wanted to take a ride on ToT and the others wanted to ride Star Tours. Rich and I really didn't care for either so we spent some alone time at MK and would meet up with everyone else later for dinner at Chef Mickey's. We got to MK and did some shopping. Then we decided to take a snack break. I decided I wanted to try the Dole Whip Soft serve swirl and was I glad I did it was so delicious!!! I have heard so many good things about the dole whips and I finally tried one. It was so yummy!!! And DH had a coke float. After our snack, we took a spin on Buzz. However on the way in, a bird hit me right in shoulder with some bird waste lol. I'm telling you those birds are dangerous! lol. We were going to take a ride on TTA but I noticed TTA was under an Evac so we scrapped that idea. We took our time to shop on Main Street and then walked over to the Contemporary for some more shopping. The rest of the family arrived a bit later (sans grandmother who now had a cold). We had a yummy dinner at Chef Mickey's and they brought Rich a cupcake for his birthday. Then we hopped the monorail back to MK to watch Spectromagic and Wishes! We rushed out of the park as soon as Wishes! ended and got right on the bus. However the bus was making some awful sounds and I think we only got back to the hotel on a hope and a prayer lol.
Friday - January 23rd
Well we woke up to find that lovely Magical Express envelope on our door.
We went on our DVC tour. We are seriously considering it, but not right away. We got a tour of the Animal Kingdom Villas and Bay Lake Tower (which we loved!). So we have lots to think about and we will eventually buy into it.
After our tour, Rich and I headed to MK and had breakfast at the Bakery. We couldnt decide between the ham, cheese and egg sandwiches or a cinnamon roll, so we got one of each and split them. Because we went on the DVC we got the Fastpass cards so we could get fastpasses for whenever we decided we wanted them. We headed to Tomorrowland and took a ride Buzz. Then we decided to get a FP and go on again lol. Liberty Square for some shopping and then walked on to HM. We got into our doom buggy and noticed that the sound was very quiet. We could hardly hear anything. Well then we got into the seance room, and all the sound went off, and the lights came on. I waited for them to shut off again, but they never did. Then we continued into the dining room/dancing scene, and they stayed on. Still no sound. And then into the graveyard scene they stayed on. All this time the sound stayed off too. It was quite an experience, I'm glad I was on at that time. It looks totally different with the lights on. I actually videotaped it. (There was no warnings that came over that said not to). But I didn't start taping until we descended into the graveyard scene (I just figured the lights were going to shut off soon). It was kind of creepy to see all of the AA's in action but without sound (all I heard was lots of clicking - similar to that of the sound of typing - and some air pressure sounds). We got off HM and they had shut the ride down and were bringing people out through the "secret hallway". I actually had never seen it, but I got to see it both times I rode HM on this trip because both times the door was open when I went by it. There were CM's from all over the place heading to HM it was crazy lol. We then headed to get our boarding passes printed at Guest Relations. After that we grabbed some lunch at Cosmic Ray's and headed for a ride on IASW. We strolled through Fantasyland up to Toontown Fair. We caught the train from TTF and headed to Frontierland for a ride on BTMRR. We used our handy FP Cards from the DVC tour and got right on. After that we grabbed a seat for the very first showing of Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade in Frontierland. I really enjoyed it. Very energetic and upbeat - and I LOVED the soundtrack!!!
After the parade we met up with the rest of the family for dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had our dinner and then spent the remainder of the day doing whatever my Goddaughter wanted. We went to TTF so she could meet Tinkerbelle and then we hopped the train to Main Street and waited for the rest of the group to get back from doing whatever rides they wanted. Faith (My Goddaughter) and Rich did some hula-hooping on Main Street. When everyone was finally together we said goodbye to everyone and headed back to Pop to get our last minute souveneirs and start packing.
Saturday - January 24th
We woke up early and finished our packing and then checked out via phone. We headed down to the food court for breakfast and then waited for our 9:45am Magical Express Pickup. Our bus didn't arrive until 10:20am :brick:. We got to MCO at roughly 11:00. Got checked in, went through security, got on the plane and came back to freezing cold Providence.
Overall, the trip was good. I especially enjoyed having my parents with me. It was a great to share such a special place with them!
We never got back to AK to finish the rides we wanted to do. But thats okay we enjoyed the many hours we spent at MK.
I probably wouldn't ever go with 16 people again. Some people didn't like to wait while others did the rides they wanted. Some people didn't mind waiting. It was hard to get everyone to eat at the same time, go to the bathroom at the same time, and it was hard to keep everyone happy. We spent half of our trip on our own because we were doing a lot of just standing around trying to figure out what to do next. Some of the people in our group were acting immaturely and obnoxiously and at some points it got to be really embarassing :brick: I love my family but there were just too many of us.
WDW hasn't lost its magic in my eyes. However, I will admit, I need a break. I found on this vacation we didn't do a lot of attractions because we just did them a year ago, and the year before that, and the year before that. I feel like we bypassed a lot of stuff because "oh we did that last year we don't need to do it again". And after spending all the $ on our tickets, we didn't do a lot of attractions at AK and DHS because we felt like we were just there.
So it has been decided at the end of this year we will probably do a cruise and in 2010 we will go to Disneyland. A change of scenery (somewhat) and a new experience.
WDW will always be #1 in my heart and will always be my favorite home away from home. But I think we need a little absence so on our next visit we don't take it for granted so much.
The weather was nice except for a couple of quite chilly days. Of course the week after we left was in the 70s every day lol. Oh well, you can't win them all lol.
I don't have any complaints except for the people who don't read the signs to not feed the birds!!! I can't tell you how many times I thought I was going to lose my Mickey Ears to some low flying seagulls trying to get a fry or a piece of popcorn!!! It was crazy lol.
The crowd level was higher than expected. Many waits were over 30 minutes which (I know this sounds silly) I am not used to. Usually when I go I'm used to seeing 10 - 15 minute waits.
I overheard a guest in the Emporium say "Whoever came up with the bad economy theory must have been the one who came up with global warming" because it was so crowded and so cold in WDW. lol. I know the crowd level in WDW has no reflection on how the economy really is, but it was funny the way he said it.
So all in all, it was a good trip. Lots of memories were made having my parents there with us, along with the rest of the family. I love WDW and always will. Its such a special place to enjoy.
Hope you all liked my report!!! I will have some pics up soon!!!
