Dina's Disney Daily/Weekly/Monthly

To Dine or not To Dine

2011-09-22T07:47:00.000-04:00

So the latest and greatest offer out for Walt Disney World has several opportunities to take advantage of their free dining offer when you book a package at a Disney Resort now through October 29, 2011. The valid dates for this offer are between October and May. So what if your stay dates are beyond those valid dates? Well the good news is that as long as you arrive on one of the valid dates, even if you stay beyond the date timeframe the offer will carry through for your entire stay.

The question many people ask is "is this a good deal?" and the answers will vary from family to family or person to person. First you have to understand that this is not an open-ended all-you-can-eat offer. With the Disney Dining Plans you are given a bank of dining credits that can be used however you decide during the course of your stay. The good news is that there is plenty of flexibility in doing it this way. For example, if two adults are dining at a Disney restaurant, but one adult just wants to order an appetizer and a salad while the other wants a full meal the adult with the meal can use their dining credits to cover that portion and the other adult can pay out of pocked for the salad and appetizer, thus saving their table service meal credit to use at another time.

Many people find that the dining plan is way too much food and they feel like they are obligated to eat more on this plan, since each table service credits includes a drink, a main course and a dessert. The counter service credits also include a dessert option, where most people ordering at a counter service would not even bother to order dessert. A great tip regarding this is that if you have the option, package the dessert and save it for another time. If it's a brownie or cupcake in the park at a counter service, have it wrapped up and eat it later for a snack. Table service restaurant diners can just get their dessert to go and take it back to their room and store it in their refrigerator for a late-night snack or, even better, BREAKFAST the next day! Who wouldn't want to eat cake for breakfast, right?

In all of our Disney trips, we have taken advantage of the dining plan only two times. Back then, it was a little bit different and it included an appetizer as well. Both of these trips were shorter trips, so it was more a little more affordable for us at the time. While we enjoyed it I can't say that we have really missed having it for our other trips. We do tend to do most of our eating on Disney property but we tend to get an annual pass and purchase the Tables in Wonderland card instead. This gives us a 20% discounts on all of our table service restaurants, and includes any alcoholic drink purchases as well. We find that we easily recoup the value of the card on a few table service meals and we don't feel restricted on what we eat using it.

Currently I am contemplating a few upcoming Walt Disney World trips, as usual. While the free dining options is once again available for my dates, I've decided instead to hold off and wait for a discount on my room rate instead. With a decent room rate discount and my Tables in Wonderland card, I think I'll do even better on my trip than to book a package with the dining plan.

Getting in shape for Disney

2011-05-01T20:17:00.000-04:00

I was reading online recently that the average person walks anywhere from five to ten miles a day at Walt Disney World. Of course, that's not continuous...you are spending a lot of time just on your feet waiting in lines or checking out exhibits and then there is a little bit of time actually riding the rides. Still all that time on your feet can take a lot of of you if you aren't prepared.

Obviously we've taken plenty of trips to the parks and not once have we done any preparation for the walking and we've been okay. I think the last two trips we even completed without strollers when I thought for sure we'd need them. I recall renting one one day in EPCOT only to spend more time trying to prevent the kids from running each other over with it or fighting over who would push it. I'm sure if I thought it would hold me, I would have easily let them push me around!

Kids are used to be active and on their feet and it really doesn't seem to phase them as much. They wake up the morning after spending all day at a park and on their feet just ready to hit the pavement some more. They are ready for the next adventure! The adults...not so much most of the time...but we trudge on anyway. After all, there will be plenty of time for sitting and relaxing when we're back home!

This upcoming June trip will be one of the longest breaks we've had between Disney trips in several years. It will also be the longest Disney trip we've ever taken as we will be spending 10 days on Disney property. Yes there are a few days set aside for those other parks as we want to introduce our kids to them for the first time as well. However I'm really looking forward to having more time in the Disney parks. I always feel like there's never enough time and we still have yet to do it ALL.

The only way we'll be able to get a little more done this trip will be if we are not exhausted. Therefore at home we've started our own program to get in shape for all of that Disney walking. We are almost finished with our second week of taking daily 2 to 3 mile walks. We get home and we aren't exhausted...which is a good thing. Nobody complains the next day when it's time to hit the pavement again for another walk. It's really going well and with any luck we'll start adding a little more distance to our walks pretty soon. Our goal is to be able to do a 5 mile walk easily every day.

And the other thing we are getting in shape for at Disney...is eating! We know we'll be indulging in some great meals and even better desserts. There are Dole Whips to be had, Mickey Bars to be eaten and the Main Street Bakery has too many scrumptious items that it will require more than one trip for sure! So my husband and I are also working on a weight loss plan to go along with our daily walking plan. We are only a few days in on that, so we'll see how it goes, but it helps to have the support of each other to challenge us to do our best.

The Disneyholic planner

2011-04-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

Some people go to Walt Disney World and imagine it as one big amusement park...or four big amusement parks. They think they can go there and just play it by ear and just ride what they want to ride and eat where they want to eat without any previous planning.

Those of us who are true Disneyholics laugh at those people.

Disneyholics do research, plan meals, have a schedule...at least SIX MONTHS in advance! People think we are crazy...but the people that are travelling with us know that we will deliver them as many opportunities as possible to see the things they want to see, ride the things they want to ride and eat the foods they want to eat.

It begins as much as 11 months in advance. That's the earliest a Disney Vacation Club member can make a reservation at their home resort. Ours is Saratoga Spings and if we want to travel during peak travel times we WILL call EXACTLY 11 months before we plan to arrive...and have our room booked.

Four months later we may call again...because seven months before our trip we can book ANY Walt Disney World Resort room and if we know we want to stay someplace else ON DISNEY PROPERTY, we will once again be on that phone EXACTLY 7 months before our trip. At this point we'll either get the new resort we want or put ourselves on a hold list...and wait oh-so-impatiently, checking the website daily to see if we got our hold list reservation.

One month later...6 months in advance of our trip...we'll be on the computer or on the phone. We'll have a list of restaurants where we want to eat and we'll be booking our advance dining reservations (ADRs), especially if we want to eat with Chef Mickey or in Cinderella's Castle or at Le Cellier. These are the big ones and we know you if we don't call 6 months in advance we have almost no chance of scoring a meal at either of these places at a decent time.

The months following...they are the time for changes. We all suffer from it...just ask any longtime Disneyholic. We'll check park schedules to find out the opening and closing time for each park on each day. We'll find out which days we can utilize Extra Magic Hours (or EMHs for those in the know). We will review crowd trend numbers to see which parks we should avoid on which days and which parks will have the lowest crowds. We'll check our dining plans and make a few (hundred?) changes, adding and cancelling reservations as we plan out our days.

Three months before our trip we'll decide if we want to do any extra tours or excursions. Do we want to plan a special boating cruise for ourselves or for the kids? Do we want to plan a fishing excursion? Do we want to do any of the other fun activities (at an extra cost of course) that Disney has to offer? Then we'll be on the phone making those arrangements.

And if the new arrangements mean a cancellation of some dining plans? Then we start the planning again, we revise our schedule and we make some new ADRs and cancel old ones.

As for me...I'm beyond most of that right now. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with all of my ADRs, I have the EMH parks memorized, I have booked a few special excursions for some members of our group. I had to give up some restaurants I really wanted to try...but there will always be another Disney trip in my future.

Right now I'm quite happy with our new touring plan for June. Some of those days are a little more hectic than others but there are still plenty of free blocks of time for relaxing at the pool or just relaxing in the room. I know June is going to be hot and I know our touring plan needs to be a little more agressive than usual because the crowd levels will be some of the highest we've ever seen there. However I'm happy with the plans and I can relax for now. I have some of our park passes purchased already, I have a card loaded up with Disney Reward Dollars that we can spend on the trip, I'll purchase an annual pass and my Tables in Wonderland Discount Dining card next month and I've already started putting away some of our travel items.

While I'm anxious for June to arrive, part of me is okay with it taking it's time because I know once it gets here the trip will be over way too soon.

The importance of vacation DOWNTIME

2011-02-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

We've been visiting Walt Disney World with kids since September of 2001 and while most of the time the kids have been able to roll with us and keep going, there have definitely been times where we knew they needed some downtime.

Sometimes that downtime meant time in the room for naps. Funny how it always seemed the kids were the ones who resisted the naps the most but the adults had NO problem taking a nice little midday snooze. Very refreshing.

Downtime can even be some time in the parks for running and playing instead of waiting in lines. One of our favorite places to take the kids has always been the Boneyard Playground at the Animal Kingdom. The kids always enjoy having time to run and climb and slide to their hearts content and at times it was hard to get them to leave.

Hollywood Studios has another great playground where we've spent some time. As the kids get older and can ride more rides, I expect we'll visit these places less and less.

Of course, pools and water parks are another great place for downtime. During our May 2009 trip we found that the weather there for a good part of the week was in the high-80s and 90s and was just making us want to spend less time in the parks. Instead we made it a point to tour the parks as early in the morning as possible, then head back to our room and hit the pool for a while. Sometimes we'd have lunch in our room, sometimes we'd take some lunch down and eat by the pool. I think it made for a much more relaxing trip and since most of our previous trips have been during off-season times when the weather was rarely HOT this was a new experience for us. We were lucky enough to also discover on that May trip that we still had some Disney passes leftover from our 2001 trip that had unused Water Park Options on them...2 for each of us and one for Nicolas. We used those 3 free entrances to get us into Typhoon Lagoon and just had to pay for Noelle and Noah. It was great!

During the years we've also had a chance to do many other non-park things. In 2009 we finally had a chance to play Disney's Mini-Golf courses which was fun. In the past we've also rented boats to take out on Bay Lake. Despite the many trips to Walt Disney World in the past 14 years or so, we have yet to see or do it all. There is already a list for this upcoming trip of things to see and do at different parks that are new to some or all of us. We'll focus on those things as well as our favorites, but we'll still try to do our best to make time for some downtime.

Bay Lake Dreaming

2011-01-13T14:53:00.003-05:00

I can remember many years ago when the rumors first started surfacing on many of the Disney boards and forums...Disney Vacation Club is going to build a place at the Contemporary Resort. The rumors seemed to go on forever, nobody at Disney was confirming it...and then the plans were released and we all started dreaming about it: Bay Lake Tower.

For a while we contemplating purchasing more Disney Vacation Club points just to be able to get the home advantage to book this resort, but we realized that just wasn't going to happen. When we started planning our December 2009 Trip (while we were on vacation at Walt Disney World in May 2009) I called EXACTLY 7 months from our planned travel arrival and asked for Bay Lake Tower. We had just enough points to cover a standard view room there...but there were so few of those units that we were put on a hold list.

Seven months on the hold list...and we never got the room we really wanted and ended up at Saratoga Springs Resort instead.

This time around the points values were released for Bay Lake Tower rooms for 2011...and the rates for the rooms were within our price range. In early December of 2010 I called for our June 2011 reservation...and snagged a one-bedroom Lakeview room at Bay Lake Tower.

We were ecstatic.

The Contemporary Resort has always been one of our favorites. We stayed there when we took Nicolas on his very first trip to Walt Disney World in September of 2001. We stayed there on another trip as well...both times in a garden wing room because the Tower was always well above our price range too. We loved the convenience of the nice walk over the Magic Kingdom, of hopping on the monorail to EPCOT and we loved the location on the water. Now to have another tower that we can stay in using our Disney Vacation Club points was just too good to be true.

This upcoming June 2011 trip is going to be fabulous. We can't wait to have our room overlooking Bay Lake, of viewing Wishes fireworks from the Top of the World Lounge at our resort, and of being back at one of our favorite resort locations.

Disney for the adults

2010-11-11T09:54:00.005-05:00

Back in 1998, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Florida with one of my oldest and dearest friends as well as one of her friends. My friend happened to work at the Disney Store so she had some free park passes to use. We booked a VERY cheap off-site hotel for probable less than $50 a night...and split it three ways. We found some great airfares and we went during college Spring Break week...so sometime in March we did a great girls-only Disney trip.

It was a short trip but it was still nice. We had park hoppers so we did get a chance to visit all three parks that were open at the time: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and MGM Studios. We had a really fun meal at the 50's Prime Time Cafe where they did the "airplane" and fed my friend her food. We took a day away from Disney to visit a beach and to take in a Spring Training game with our hometown team the Baltimore Oriole's. It wasn't a long trip but it was nice.

Of course, back then you still had plenty of nightlife fun at Pleasure Island as well. We went to dance clubs and visited just about every place there. We watched Otis Day and the Nights perform outside there. It was great.

There are many other adult-only activities to be enjoyed at Walt Disney World. Just once you should try to secure a dinner at Victoria and Albert's for the experience. My husband and I did this one year and had an amazing multi-course meal.

My husband has had the opportunity to do the EPCOT DiveQuest several times and the kids and I enjoyed watching him in the tanks from inside the Living Seas there. We've rented several different boats from the marina at Disney's Contemporary Resort, from the water sprites to larger boats. One evening in November of 2007 we booked a Specialty Cruise where we were taken on a water tour which ended right in the water area of EPCOT where we had a breathtaking view of Illuminations from the boat. There's no better way to view that show than that!

Walt Disney World is really not just a place for kids.

Our Disney Coin Collection

2010-10-17T16:17:00.002-04:00

One of our newest fun things to do at Walt Disney World is to collect pressed coins. It's a fairly inexpensive souvenir and can be a fun activity for the kids. EPCOT is an especially great park for this as you can go into any shop in the World Showcase and get a coin pressed that is specific to the country you are visiting there. Unfortunately when we purchased this nice little book originally, the pressed coins were mostly pennies. Now it seems the pressed coin machines are more often quarter press machines, which makes it more expensive, but the kids still enjoy it.

2010-10-17T16:16:00.001-04:00

Reflections on Resorts

2010-10-12T21:08:00.003-04:00

We have been fortunate enough to have been able to stay at several Walt Disney World Resort properties over the years during our trips there. Here is a quick summary of the places we have stayed and my thoughts about them at the time. I can say with certainty that I would definitely return to ANY of these resorts for future trips. There's just nothing quite like staying on Disney property and having the convenience of Disney transportation is a huge bonus...especially when you have a large group together.

1997 - All-Star Music - We had a King-sized bed for our stay at this resort. Since the trip was in February, we didn't spend any time at the pool there. The food court was convenient though.

1999 - Dixie Landings - This trip included Frank and myself as well as his parents and his sister and her fiancee at the time. We just loved the theming of this resort and the fact that you could take a boat ride to Downtown Disney. Lots of time at the food court....don't remember much pool time though we may have visited there one evening.

2001 & 2006 - Contemporary Resort - This was Nicolas' first trip to Walt Disney World so being close to the Magic Kingdom was important. We couldn't afford a Tower Room but the Garden Wing Room was just perfect. It was unfortunate that during this trip we ended up being in the Magic Kingdom on one of the very few days that it's ever closed - September 11, 2001. We were also travelling with the in-laws but ended up getting them a room at the Wildnerness Lodge due to lack of rooms at our resort by the time we booked, so we had the chance to visit their room there as well. Both resorts were just lovely. We loved watching the geiser at the Wilderness Lodge from their balcony. You really can't beat the convenience of walking to the Magic Kingdom. Is it any surprise we have stayed here twice?

2003 - Polynesian Resort - By far this is the one Frank talks about more than any of them simply because we were able to get a great deal on this room and upgraded to a Lagoon View which also boasted a view of the Magic Kingdom Castle. My favorite video from this trip is when Nicolas and I are sitting in the darkness of our room around 6am and watching the castle turn different colors. We loved being able to ride the monorail to get to the two big parks too.

2004 - Boardwalk Villa - This was when we discovered the joy of the Disney Vacation Club rooms...during our stay in this 2-bedroom villa. It was great to have so much space and our own kitchen...especially with two small kids (and one on the way...I was several months pregnant for this trip with number three). The pool here was great too and we even rented a surrey bike and biked around the loop from Boardwalk to the Yacht and Beach Club. It was really nice to take the back entrance and walk to Epcot as well...especially with a double-stroller!

2006 - Animal Kingdom Resort - This was a trip just for Frank and myself to celebrate our anniversary and enjoy the Food and Wine Festival. We had a great time and ended up taking a tour of the Disney Vacation Club...we would be members by the end of the year.

2007 - Old Key West and Saratoga Springs - This was when we took advantage of our new membership in the Disney Vacation Club. We had a spacious 2-bedroom villa at Old Key West which was lovely. A few days later we moved over to a 3-bedroom Grand Villa at Saratoga Springs which was fantastic. It was nice to be able to walk to Downtown Disney.

2008 - Pop Century - The Pop Century stay was a short one with just myself, Frank and Nicolas. Frank didn't like the fact that he could open the door to our bedroom...while still laying in bed! Nicolas loved both of the pools and the food court is always great...tie-dyed cheesecake is a MUST to try!

(to be continued...I know I'm missing quite a few especially the adult-only trips and the recent trips!)

Disney Blogging done right

2010-09-28T13:57:00.003-04:00

Ok since I'm continuing to fall behind on making this a true "daily" blog I thought it only fair to offer anyone who might be reading this a chance to get their Daily Disney info elsewhere.

Some of my favorite places to get my Disney information are as follows:

Disboards - All the Disney information you could possibly handle at once...including Disneyland. There are tons and tons of forums that cater to everybody from budget travellers to DVC Members. I love reading people's reviews of restaurants here and the trip reports posted by others as well. I even have a few trip reports here myself!

Intercot - Disney information of all kinds but not quite as much of it. This was one of my first Disney boards to visit and provides all kinds of helpful information.

Allears.Net - Another great place to find Disney information. I have used this site especially for meal planning as they have one area just devoted to all of the menus for dining on Disney property...with prices!

Mousesavers - Lots of Disney planning information. They have a great page here devoted to discount codes. We've gotten some great rental car rates by using some of their codes! Sign up for their newsletter for even better deals and discounts.

Undercover Tourist - Looking to buy some Disney tickets? You have come to the right place here. I've purchased our Disney hopper passes here in the past several times. They have some great prices!

Disney Contests and Sweepstakes - Enter a contest to try to win a Disney vacation!

Last but not least...

Disney Bloggers - New blogs every half hour here!

That should help you get your Daily Disney for sure!

Letting the kids run wild in Disney

2010-09-23T07:26:00.003-04:00

I recently had a conversation with a fellow Disneyholic and asked a question that I know varies from parent to parent and that is: at what age did you allow your kids to run around the Disney parks without you? I'm not going to share his answer here but I was surprised. Perhaps it is because I guess it's something I haven't thought too much about quite yet. I can remember as a teenager I was allowed to run free at the local amusement park near our house during a class trip...and I was in middle school at the time.

My youngest starts middle school next year. I'm not at all ready to let him run free through the parks and honestly I don't think he'd want to go through the parks without us.

As much as I encourage my kids to be self-sufficient and independent I also know their limitations. Of course in these times where cell phones are easily available I know at least I would always have the peace of mind when I am ready to make that leap that if I needed to find any of them they would be only a phone call away. Plus I feel that if there was anyplace I would feel they were safe it actually is Walt Disney World.

For the most part, during our trips we really do all enjoy the same things. Sure there are plenty of times when the kids want to do something but we insist on something else...and it usually works out that our suggestion ends up being a big hit with them. It's funny how mom and dad can sometimes be right sometimes about what the kids will like huh?

When we do feel like the kids need a little time to left off some steam without being herded around the parks, one of our favorite places to take them has been The Boneyard at the Animal Kingdom Park. We have taken them there at all ages and it's always been a hit. There is one way in and out, so they can't escape without us knowing about it. There are tons of slides and things to climb on and explore and I'm pretty sure they would spend hours there if we allowed it. It's usually a place where we take kids that are too small for other rides like Dinosaur or Primeval Whirl since those rodes are close to here. Now that the kids are getting bigger and can ride most of these rides, we don't spend as much time here since they would much rather be doing the big rides.

Playgrounds are fun for most kids 12 and under and we always make time during every vacation to give them time on at least one to let off some steam. It is a time when parents can just sit back and relax as well so they are ready to tackle the next park!

Disney with large groups

2010-09-22T11:07:00.006-04:00

We have been lucky enough to be able to include our extended family with us for many of our Walt Disney World vacations. This particular photo was taken during a January 2006 trip that included Dina's parents, Frank's parents and Frank's sister and her family - her husband and their son Zachary. During this trip, Zach was just over a year old, Noah was 18 months old, Noelle was 3 years old and Nicolas was 5 years old but close to six. We had some decent January weather for Florida...some chilly mornings but also some sunny afternoons.

Honestly Disney makes travel with large groups pretty easy. We did have a few meals together and I didn't have a problem securing reservations for all 12 of us. One of those meals included our traditional meal at Chef Mickey's:

We always eat at least one meal at Chef Mickey's and pose for this photo in front of the restaurant...and we always buy it. It's just one of our traditions and sharing it with more family was nice this time. It's so great to see the kids' reactions to Mickey and Minnie visiting them at the table!

Touring the parks with the younger kids was really not that challenging. Sure there were rides that they could not ride but we either took advantage of Disney's Child Swap or one person (usually me) stayed behind with the kids while the others did the riding of the ride. There was also time for the little kids to pose for photos:

Overall we didn't find it a challenge to visit the parks with our larger group. This upcoming June trip we hope to have all of this family back with us again for our trip...and maybe even a few extra people that were not there for the January 2006 trip. We are looking forward to it!

Perhaps I should rename this weekly

2010-09-21T09:42:00.003-04:00

You wouldn't think it would be that difficult for me to come up with a daily topic here...and I probably have enough topics for years...and yet I'm struggling to update this even weekly.

So I've said plenty of about Walt Disney World but what about other Disney parks? I can tell you that I have managed to visit Disneyland TWICE in my life, but don't have a great memory about the trips. My first trip was with my parents back in the mid-1980s and my second trip was in 1996 with my husband. I have yet to visit since Calfornia Adventure opened there. My husband has family in Calfornia and ended up there for a memorial service in September of 2010. While visiting with family, his cousin decided to go to Disneyland and my husband and his sister went along with her. He snapped some of these photos at my request. I am really hoping to take the kids to visit this park once they are a little bit older. If we go I want them to be able to experience everything there so it may be a few more years.

Test Blog from the phone

2010-09-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

Now when I go on trips to Walt Disney World I can post updates right here! Look for lots of Direct from Disney posts in June of 2011!

Taking a chance on the California Grill

2010-09-13T14:08:00.006-04:00

I have perfected the art of the Advance Dining Reservation at Walt Disney World and we never leave home without having many of our dining reservations in place. One of the places I have been known to book, and then cancel, in the past was the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort. There were many trips where we'd have a reservation here, I'd take a peek at the menu, and then change my mind. I'm not an adventurous eater at all...in fact I've always been quite picky. It is not above me at all to walk out of a restaurant after looking at a menu...much to my husband's dismay. So when I finally decided to take a chance on the California Grill in celebration of our 10-year wedding anniversary while in Walt Disney World it was a big deal.

So in October of 2008 we finally kept a dining reservation at the California Grill. Once glance at the menu and I decided to give this flatbread a try. I LOVED it though when I read the description it didn't sound like something I would like all that much. I took a chance though...and I could not get enough!

My husband was a big sushi fan so he ordered this dish...and I decided to have my first try at sushi. I didn't eat a lot but it wasn't bad. I have since become a huge sushi fan too.

You just can't beat this view! We were seated at a table right next to the window, which of course added to the experience. I can't remember our waiter's name but I do remember he was great. I can recall also trying the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli...another thing I would have never ordered in the past because...well goat cheese? As it turned out, I LOVED this one as well and in fact I have since found a copycat recipe and have made something very similar to it at home many times...and even my kids now beg for me to make it for them!

Our main course selections were beef of some kind, which were okay but they didn't compare to the previous selections and I could so go back and just have their appetizers and first course items as a meal.

After dinner, we walked outside to the patio area to watch wishes as they piped in the music there and it was truly a magical experience. We knew we would have to return again.

Needless to say, when we returned to Walt Disney World in May of 2009 with our entire family (the kids and my in-laws) we were sure to make a reservation. We weren't sure how the kids would do there, but our kids are usually very good in restaurants. I must say the wait staff that time went out of their way to keep the kids happy as well as the adults! It was another excellent experience...and I ended up trying OSTRICH of all things at that meal...and found it also fantastic. I guess you could say the California Grill has helped bring me out of my picky eating shell quite a bit by now. Therefore it should come as no surprise that this is one of our must-do reservations for each and every trip now!

Halloween with Mickey

2010-09-13T13:48:00.012-04:00

We have been fortunate enough to make a few trips to Walt Disney World during the fall season. I think if I had to pick a favorite time to go to Walt Disney World, it would probably be October but I might be a bit biased since I think we've been there more times in October than during any other month.

Our wedding anniversary just happens to be in October, so we've been lucky enough to make a few adult-only trips out to Walt Disney World to celebrate. One of the coolest experiences during October is Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This is a ticketed event meaning that you have to purchase an additional ticket to go to this party...you can't just be there with a regular ticket or annual pass and be able to stay for the extra fun. The tickets do entitle you to spend the evening at the Magic Kingdom which is something that is rare during October since the parks tend to close early during that time of year. Experiencing the Magic Kingdom at night is a whole new experience.

Walt Disney World does not discriminate about who can experience the fun at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party, so for those adults who miss being able to trick-or-treat without getting some really odd looks, this is the place for you! You don't even have to have a costume....just bring your treat bag and line up with everybody else at the designated areas and the kind Magic Kingdom Cast Members will gladly deposit some sugary goodness into the bag for you to enjoy.

The special Halloween parade is also fun to watch. There's just something about seeing some living dead characters that look like they are right out of the Haunted Mansion in a parade and seeing the villains get more than their fair share of parade time as well. Even the fireworks spectacular in the evening is particularly entertaining.

In addition to trick-or-treating, there are many other events throughout the park during the course of the evening, like special dance parties where there are usual surprise guest characters out on the dance floor! If you and your kids can hang out late at night, you also have the added bonus of very light crowds as it gets later in the evening and you can ride many rides over and over with little to no wait.

Mickey's Halloween event is something that you should definitely try to experience at least once!

What makes you a Disneyholic?

2010-09-06T21:44:00.006-04:00

How do you know you are addicted to Disney? When you find yourself sitting on a curb outside of a tire shop, waiting for your tires on your vehicle to be replaced, and you spot this sight across the parking lot. All you can think about is the tree at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Solo driving to Disney, Pop Century Resort and Star Wars Weekend Fun - PART 2

2010-09-03T13:18:00.012-04:00

Ok, so as I mentioned in Part 1, we left EPCOT and headed to the airport to pick up my husband AKA Nicolas' daddy as he was flying into town to join us on the trip. It was a quick drive to the airport, we waited in the cell phone lot until he called (which was crazy crowded and his flight was late) and then picked him up and came back to our hotel room.

We then headed back to EPCOT for a little while that evening. Since Frank also had a season pass there was no extra cost there. We enjoyed a little more of the park, I think we even had dinner there but I can't recall for sure, then headed back to the hotel.

That night Nicolas wanted to experience the much larger Hippy Dippy Pool at our resort. This time Frank and I joined him. This pool was much louder and crazier than the pool closer to our room. It was packed solid even close to 9pm that night. Nicolas still had a great time there.

The next morning was our planned day of the Stars Wars Weekend event at Hollywood Studios. We could not wait to surprise Nicolas with this. We drove to the park and took the tram to the front entrance, while I carefully made sure Nicolas could NOT see the Stormtroopers that I knew from reading would be atop the front gates. When we walked up and he saw the large poster advertising the Star Wars Weekend he finally really GOT it and he was so excited. Not long after that he spotted the Stormtroopers and he was even more thrilled. It was so cool to walk down the street in the park and see them perched high above. While this day did involve hitting some of the main rides at Hollywood Studios, for the most part it was all about Nicolas and the Star Wars events there.

We did ride Toy Story Mania with him for the first time and he LOVED that. I think we got at least two rides out of it that day. There were many long lines for photos and autographs with Star Wars Characters, there was lots of stopping in the streets to greet Stormtroopers and other Star Wars Characters and even though I'm not a big Star Wars fan I couldn't help but enjoy it. Nicolas got photos with Darth Vader and Chewbacca among others, we browsed the large Star Wars Merchandise shop and we secured a great spot early to watch the Star Wars Parade.

It was definitely hot but it was a great day overall. Dinner that night was at the 50s Prime Time Cafe which was another fun event that even Nicolas got into. We really could not have asked for a better trip for him.

We did head back to our hotel earlier in the evening than I would have liked, but with the heat I knew everybody just needed a break. There was more pool time for a little bit and dessert from the food court - Tie-Dyed CHEESECAKE! The next morning we would pack ourselves back into the car and make the 9+ hour drive back to my parents house.

I have to say if you have any friends and family that are even REMOTELY Star Wars fans, attending just one day of the Star Wars Weekends events at Walt Disney World would be totally worth it. I'd love to try to go back someday myself and take some of our friends and family!

Solo driving to Disney, Pop Century Resort and Star Wars Weekend Fun - PART 1

2010-09-02T10:18:00.008-04:00

Back in June of 2008 I completed my very first somewhat solo drive to Walt Disney World with my then 8-year-old son Nicolas. I have never done a trip report from that experience, but I'll try to summarize it here now.

After a few years of struggling through elementary school, Nicolas was on par for a very good school year as a 2nd grader. We (ok mostly me with my husband's blessing) decided to reward him and what better way to reward a child who is a Star Wars fan than with a trip to Walt Disney World for Star Wars Weekend!

I began the trip by driving to my parents' home in North Carolina, about an 8-hour drive from our home in Maryland. It was me and the three kids as my husband had to work and could not afford the time off. I spent a day or two there with them, then I left the two youngest kids with my parents and packed my oldest son into the car for what I would only tell him was a surprise.

He refused to get into the car.

Nicolas was not up for another long car ride (shouldn't have mentioned that) and he didn't want to leave. I refused to give in and tell him where we were going other than it was a special surprise. I finally forced him into the car with much protest...and called up my husband in TEARS about the whole thing.

Not the best way to start out a fun trip.

At some point I mentioned to Nicolas that our final destination was somewhere in Florida and gave him a map to help navigate. This helped a little bit and eventually he was in a little bit better spirits. About 6 hours or so later or so we crossed into Florida...and not too long later we were in a torrential downpour which lasted a good 45 minutes! I have driven in some hard rain in my life...for quick spurts but this was CRAZY! We trudged onward determined to get to our destination though.

When we arrived in the Kissimmee area and pulled into a gas station nearby Nicolas noticed the Walt Disney World front gates. I had been hopeful that he would not notice the big billboards advertising Star Wars Weekends but as I recall he did at one point mention something about seeing Star Wars stuff on signs but I passed it off. After filling up the tank we crossed into the Walt Disney World Resort area and Nicolas' excitement was obvious! He could not BELIEVE we were at Walt Disney World! Nine hours or so after hitting the road we pulled into the driveway for the Pop Century Resort and entered the building for check-in and Nicolas was over-the-moon thrilled and thanking me a million times!

He still had no idea what else was in store for him...he was in Walt Disney World and that was enough for him. He had mom all to himself (rare in our house of five) and we would get to do some fun stuff together. We checked into our room in the 50s section and he saw the bowling pin pool and LOVED it. He couldn't wait to try it out later.

After settling into the room I called a friend of mine from high school...she lives in the area but I hadn't seen her since my 1990 high school graduation. We met her and her daughter, who is just a little younger than Nicolas, for dinner at Downtown Disney. She introduced us to the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant...and it was GREAT! Nicolas and her daughter got along well and we had a chance to catch up which was such fun. It was like we had never lost touch at all and she's now become somebody I talk to quite regularly and see more often too.

That evening I let Nicolas have some time in the pool at the resort, which he loved. It was so nice that I didn't have to get into the pool, but could just watch him safely from the side as he enjoyed an evening swim.

The next day was our solo Epcot adventure. I had a season pass and bought a 2-day ticket for Nicolas for our trip. One day for Epcot and one day for Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend. It was such fun exploring Epcot with just Nicolas and spending time doing many things we had never done before, such as Innoventions. We even got in line for the special Disney Visa character photo which I had never done before...and it was so cool to have a photo with so many characters at once!

As dinnertime approached, I informed Nicolas we had another trip to make...but this one was much shorter. We drove out to the airport to pick up my husband so Nicolas would now get to spend time with both Mommy and Daddy at Walt Disney World!

(coming up next...Star Wars Weekend fun!)

Blog Revival

2010-09-01T14:19:00.004-04:00

So as I am starting to plan out our NEXT Disney trip in June of 2011 I have decided to try to breathe some new life into this old blog. When we last left here, I was updating you on our May 2009 trip...which was just FAB-U-LOUS. We returned from that trip and went back seven months later for another trip, also great. I think it's probably about time I update that and then just try to post more regularly here since it's the one thing I LOVE to talk about...Disney!

I promise to not take another long leave of absence. I'm going to be back very soon to post all about our December trip next!

May 2009 Trip - UPDATED 9/1/10 and COMPLETE NOW!

2009-07-09T13:34:00.013-04:00

Time for our long overdue MAY 2009 DISNEY TRIP REPORT just in case you are still interested. During our trip we introduced the family to two new resorts...well new to them at least. We stayed one night at the Beach Club Resort (2 connecting rooms) and then the next day we checked into the ALL NEW Kidani Village Villas in a 2BR unit for the week. The weather in Florida was HOT HOT HOT...especially for May! To our shock, we did not experience ONE SINGLE FLORIDA RAINSTORM during our nine days there. UNBELIEVABLE!

Will we stick to the schedule I've laid out for us? Will my MIL use the wheelchair we have rented for her or will we end up convincing her to rent a power operated scooter instead? Stay tuned!

PRE-TRIP REPORT - AKA All about US!

Ok, so below you will see the PLAN for each day followed by WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!

Day 1 - Arrive at airport, pick up rental minivan, drive to Beach Club Resort for check-in. Our DVC room has never EVER been ready before 4pm but we have 2 different regular rooms this time so maybe we'll get lucky. Since we arrive around lunchtime, I'm thinking of hitting Beaches and Cream for lunch...how I'd LOVE to try a kitchen sink! Then we'll hang out at the pool for the rest of the day, have dinner that evening at Spoodles around 7pm, then if we are up for it maybe we can hit EPCOT in the evening, even if only to catch Illuminations.

What actually happened:
DAY ONE: Today's the DAY! Here we GO! (AKA We love AirTran!!)
DAY ONE Cont'd: ARRIVAL AT BEACH CLUB RESORT

Day 2: The Original Plan
Early morning checkout of our room, see if our rental stroller is ready for pickup. It's early entry for Hollywood Studios so we'll hop the boat over there and hit Toy Story Mania at rope drop. Lunch that day is at the Brown Derby. We'll catch the 3pm Block Party Bash because the kids want to see it even though DH does not enjoy parades. We'll also try to get in line for photos with the Cars characters as my youngest LOVES them (anyone know if you still have to line up a good 30 minutes for that?) We'll leave around 4pm, boat back to Beach Club, drive over to Animal Kingdom to check into Kidani Villas. Boma for dinner that night.

What Actually Happened:
Day 2: Hollywood Studios 1st Time Riders
Day 2: What a VIEW! Kidani does NOT DISAPPOINT!

Day 3 - The Original Plan
Leave hotel bright and early for breakfast at Chef Mickey's and spend the morning at the Magic Kingdom, hopefully getting there close to opening and heading to Tom Sawyer's Island first thing. Spend most of the morning there, back to the hotel for a light lunch and rest if we need it. If we can withstand, we can stay all day and go right from there to the CA Grill for dinner if we don't feel a need to clean up first. After dinner, catch Wishes from the CA Grill. If we are up for it, MK is open until 1am so we could head there for a little bit.

What Actually Happened:
Day 3: The Chef Mickey's Tradition
Day 3 Cont'd: Hello Dole Whip - Ice Cream is NOT lunch?!
Day 3 Cont'd: That is one TASTY bird...tastes just like...BEEF?

Day 4 - The Original Plan
If we aren't out too late the previous night, we can plan to hit Animal Kingdom by 8am for EMH and do the Safari first thing. Ride all we want to do here, catch Flights of Wonder and maybe Nemo; kids to the playground there if they are up for it (we never miss it). Back to the room in the early afternoon for some pool time and cleanup before dinner that evening at the Kona Cafe. Catch monorail over to MK after dinner for 9pm viewing of Spectromagic.

What Actually Happened:
Day 4 - Where they learn a HARD lesson about listening to MOM!
Day 4 Cont'd - ADRs...just a guideline right? HA!HA!

Day 5 - The Original Plan
Drive to the TTC, park and monorail over to the Poly to hit Capt Cooks and get some Tonga Toast for breakfast! I just didn't want to schedule another Kona Cafe meal for the sake of saving time. Monorail over to EPCOT afterwards and spend some time there, try the Kim Possible Mission with the kids. Leave EPCOT and back to the hotel for rest and cleanup before our dinner at 1900 Park Fare that night. I'm still worried about this one. Never done it for dinner, but reading increasingly bad reviews about it. Maybe some mini-golf this evening?

What Actually Happened:
Day 5: When Lady Tremain speaks, CHILDREN LISTEN

Day 6 - The Original Plan
Weather permitting, this will be a water park day for all. We'll spend most of the day at the water park, return to the hotel for rest, and then dinner that night at Captain's Grill. We'll drive over to the Y&BC or Boardwalk. After dinner, either walk around Boardwalk or head to EPCOT. Mini-golf if we haven't squeezed it in yet.

What Actually Happened:
Day 6: Surfin' and Adventures in All-U-Can-Eat Lobster

Day 7 - The Original Plan
Alternate water park day if the previous day was not a good one. Otherwise, return to Hollywood Studios or maybe Magic Kingdom for the morning. If choice is MK, we'll do another early entry day there and do Tom Sawyer's Island if we didn't do it before. Sometime late afternoon we'll head over to EPCOT and remain there until dinner at Tutto Italia.

What Actually Happened:
Day 7: So THAT'S why they call it SPLASH! Mountain!
Day 7 Cont'd: Yes we are the PERFECT parental examples OBVIOUSLY!

Day 8 - The Original Plan
Our last full day. Our stroller will be returned this morning. We have our choice of parks or shopping or whatever we want to do with this day. This is the day I have Garden Grill for dinner. We'll see if that sticks.

What Actually Happened:

Friday May 8, 2009: This was our designated “3P” day – park, pool and pizza! After some discussion, the best plan of action was to head to the Magic Kingdom since I had already promised Noah a ride on the Rocket Ships and that is such a low-throughput ride we’d have to get there early to not have to wait forever.

We drove to the TTC and then took a boat to the MK. We arrived just after the park opening and headed directly to those RocketShips which had a 10-minute wait, so the five of us got in line while the in-laws lagged behind and ended up doing the Stitch attraction since they had never done it before (only back when it was the Alien version) and knew that it was not something the kids would likely tolerate.

Once off the Rocketships, we headed to Buzz Lightyear, as this was the next repeat ride requested by the kids. That was another quick ride. The kids really wanted to do the Laugh Factory again so we hit that too. They were all hoping to be called on for it, and Nicolas even tried to sit in the same row as before but we forced him a few rows up from that one (center aisle, on the end, about 8 rows up). Noah kept asking before we went into the ride 'where do we live mommy' just hoping they would call on him this time too. They ended up calling on a lady 3 rows in front of us (probably our same row from the previous time) and then highlighted the man behind her and even the people behind our row, even though the kids, especially Noah,kept raising their hands to be called on.

Once the show was over, we decided to hit Haunted Mansion again at the kids’ request, then circled back to Adventureland. We were going to ride Pirates and the Jungle Cruise but Noelle had another major meltdown so I sat down with her as the rest of the gang went on Pirates. When they were finished, we joined them and got in line for Jungle Cruise…about a 20 minute wait…and I got Dibs and some snacks to share in line, which helped everybody. Noelle and I also had a chance, while the rest were in Pirates, to do a bit of shopping…that always helps too!

After Jungle Cruise, the in-laws wanted to stop for a Dole Whip again (we got them hooked on that!) and I got the kids some ice cream bars to eat as well. Then we walked out of the park, stopping to do some shopping on Main Street at the Emporium and we even caught some of the Street Party as it went down Main Street towards the castle. We caught the monorail back to the TTC and drove back to our hotel.

In the room, we changed into swimsuits and we all hit the pool and stayed there for several hours. Noah finally ventured onto the big slide, though he insisted on wearing a free vest to do so. He would put it on with his sister’s help whenever he wanted to ride the slide, then would take it off to play in the rest of the pool. Noelle and I played another game of Bingo but didn’t win. Even my FIL loved the big slide…it was a huge hit and I have to say we love the Kidani pool if only for the extra fun slide. We relaxed by the pool, Frank and I split a turkey sandwich from the bar there and had a few drinks. When the kids were hungry, I returned to the room to retrieve some Uncrustables and some yogurt for them from our refrigerator.

Around 5pm or so we finally headed back to the room to get cleaned up and start packing our stuff. Frank and I ran out to find a pizza place while Nicolas worked on some more homework. We easily located Giadonis on 192 and ordered an appetizer platter and 2 pizzas…well we thought we ordered 2 pizzas but when the order came up about 15 minutes later and we found only one pizza, we realized we had to order the cheese one for the kids again and wait. The $18 appetizer sample was HUGE with calamari, chicken fingers, mozz sticks, fried zucchini and fried mushrooms….it could have been a meal for all of us. The thin pizza was very good as well. We were back to the room about 6:30pm to finish dinner. Then I finished packing myself and the kids and around 8:30pm we headed over to Jambo House to do the Night Vision view of the animals, something we had promised Nicolas he’d see. The bugs were biting out there so we did it quickly and then returned back to our room to retire.

Day 9 - The Original Plan
Our last official day. Check out of our villa, drive to either EPCOT or Hollywood Studios since both parks make for an easy and quick exit. Leave park by 3pm at latest, drive to airport for flight back home!

What actually happened:
Saturday May 9, 2009 - Our last day…always a sad time for us. We were up early and ate some leftovers for breakfast, cleaned out the last of our food, returned the wheelchair and then hit Hollywood Studios. We were there around 8:30am, which was well before the 9am opening for the “regular” folks so we had to show our keys to enter the park for early entry.

We sent the boys to Toy Story Mania to check on Fastpasses for all of us, but the return time was after 2pm and we didn’t plan to be there that long. The girls then hit Tower of Terror while the boys were there and as we came out Noah finally got his Tower of Terror tshirt in the store there. Then the men and Nicolas hit Rock N Roller Coaster while the girls (and Noah) headed over to Animation. Unfortunately, it did not open until 10am but there was a showing of Playhouse Disney and as there was no line I asked Noah if he wanted to go to see it. He said yes, so I took him into that while MIL waited with Noelle outside Animation. The show ended after about 20 minutes and when we came out it looked like everybody was inside Animation but instead of going into the show first we entered the gift shop and headed to the studio bypassing the show and Noah did some interactive stuff there as we waited for the rest of the gang.

The kids had wanted photos with Bolt and the Hamster but we learned they would not be out for another 30 minutes or more and there was already a line forming, so we bypassed that and headed out of the park instead. We drove over to EPCOT.

First for EPCOT was Spaceship Earth (AKA The Big Ball) so the 20 minute wait for that went quickly. When we got ouf of that, we thought about hitting Soarin' but return Fastpass times for that, at just after noon, were up to 4:30pm so that wasn’t happening. We had some lunch then headed to Finding Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush. During the show they called on a girl in a purple 'shell' with a butterfly on it and brown fur and it ended up being Noelle! She asked him "What do turtles eat?" And was quite happy that she got to talk to the turtle. At this point Noah is the only one who has not had an interactive experience at Walt Disney World and so far two out three kids have had the chance to talk to Crush there...pretty amazing considering he generally only talks to about 4 or 5 kids MAYBE per show and we've only seen it two or three times! Hopefully he’ll get his turn soon enough.

After that, we just walked through Mousegear and did some shopping, after Noelle stopped for her photo with Chip and Dale. We left the park around 2:45pm, arrived at the airport around 3:30pm and checkin wasn’t as smooth as possible due to some kind of accounting glitch on our account that took a while for them to clear up. The security line was HUGE as well, and once again the alarms were set off for MIL’s hip so she was ushered into a back room to be wanded and Frank stayed with his dad while I took the kids off to the gate. We stopped at Burger King on the way to the gate for for some dinner, since I knew they would not get food on the flight, and as I’m in line waiting with the three kids for chicken tenders that I paid for to be cooked Frank is constantly calling me to find out where I am, they are seating us, they may give up our seats, etc. I finally get there about 25 minutes prior to our flight time, we don’t’ get upgraded to Business Class, Frank is in a mood because I was so late and did not get him food (or food for myself because I didn’t want to have to wait longer) but the flight went well and we arrived in Baltimore on time. We then waited nearly 30 minutes for the luggage, so long that I took the kids on the shuttle to get the car and everybody else stayed behind to get the luggage we checked…including the carseats. We were home by about 8:30pm and then put the kids to bed as Frank headed to Subway to get us dinner and we chilled at home with a movie to wind down.

Four More Weeks

2008-09-02T14:53:00.005-04:00

In just four weeks, my husband and I will depart for an adults-only trip to Walt Disney World. This is the second time we've done this and we are both looking forward to it. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary while there and enjoying the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT once again.

This will be our first stay at the Beach Club Villas and I'm really looking forward to all that resort has to offer, and especially checking out their very cool pool. The ability to walk over to EPCOT at any time is a big plus there, as we definitely plan to spend more time at that park than the other parks. We've stayed in a two bedroom villa at the Boardwalk and loved it so we are also hoping to be able to walk over to experience more of the Boardwalk as well this time around.

I can't believe I never updated my trip back in June, so I'll do that in my next post. Let me just say that it was a GREAT trip and if you have a Star Wars fan in your family you should definitely make plans to visit Hollywood Studios during one of their Star Wars weekends. We did spend most of our time in lines for autographs and photo ops but that was all my 8-year-old Star Wars fan wanted to do. We also got the chance to check out Toy Story Mania, riding it twice and LOVING it. What a cool addition to the park.

Four More Weeks!!!

2008-05-13T10:53:00.006-04:00

In just over four more weeks, I'll be heading back to Florida. My oldest son (age 8) is a huge Star Wars fan and so I'm surprising him by taking him to Hollywood Studios for one day of the Star Wars Weekend festivities. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he find out about it. It has been really really hard NOT to tell him but I really want my husband to be there with us as we drive up to Hollywood Studios and he sees the Stormtroopers atop the entrance. How cool will THAT be?

This will be my first solo drive to Florida, but I'm only making the trip from southern North Carolina and it's estimated to be about a 9-hour drive. Since I have made the 8-hour drive to North Carolina from Maryland a few times, it shouldn't be too bad. The hardest part of this will be explaining to my younger two kids (age 5 and 3) where I am going, why Nicolas gets to go and they don't and why I'll be gone for about four days. Obviously they will eventually find out that Nicolas got to go to Disney without them, but the plan right now is to only visit Hollywood Studios and EPCOT and those aren't really favorite parks of theirs anyway. Can I handle visiting Disney and NOT seeing the Magic Kingdom? I think so.

Anyway, we have a room reserved at Pop Century for 3 nights. We'll arrive around dinnertime the first night (Wednesday), and I'm considering heading over to the Boardwalk that first night with Nicolas to walk around and have dinner. The next morning (Thursday) we'll get up early and hit EPCOT for most of the day. We'll leave the park around dinnertime where we will then head out to the airport to pick up my husband, who flies in around 5pm that night. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to Disney and then maybe even spend a few more hours in EPCOT that evening. Friday morning we will get up early and be at Hollywood Studios before the park opening. The plan is to spend all day at Hollywood Studios taking in all of the Star Wars events and fun as well as some other stuff. Since it will be Friday the 13th as well, a ride (or two) on the Tower of Terror is a MUST! Nicolas still can't do Rock N'Roller Coaster, which is a shame, but the new Toy Story Mania will be open and I think we'll enjoy that one too. I have a dinner reservation at the Prime Time Cafe there which I think Nicolas will also enjoy.

Saturday morning we'll basically wake up, check-out and head back to North Carolina together. I'm hoping to arrive with plenty of time to take my dad out for an early Father's Day dinner. The next day we'll be heading back to Maryland so we'll have two days in a row of long drives but I think we'll be okay.

Once we return, I'll have only another two weeks before I'll start making calls to DVC to plan out our January of 2009 trip back with the whole family to Walt Disney World. It looks like once again we'll be driving there since flight prices have just continued to go up but I'm okay with that. After all, we'll be flying down there in October for the big 10-year anniversary trip already. So I'll be in Disney 3 times over the course of about 9 months! I think I'll be okay with taking a 2-year break after that.

Planning a Disney Day Trip

2008-04-17T09:03:00.005-04:00

So now that I have finally updated our trip report from November, it's time to address the planning of our next THREE Disney trips. I've never been planning THREE trips in one calendar year, but that is the case right now.

The first trip is not definite yet, but it's looking more and more likely. My 8-year-old is really into Star Wars right now. When I learned that the Star Wars weekends at Disney this year happen to coincide with the time he'll be out of school, I started thinking about a short trip. Airfare is not cheap though and we know it has to be a short trip because of other planned family vacations for the remainder of this year. I already decided that I'd be driving down to the NC/SC border area in June to spend a week with my parents in June. That puts me only another 9 hours drive from Walt Disney World so I've decided to make it a day trip for Nicolas. Right now it looks like I'll drive down with all 3 kids early in the week, spend a few days with my parents at the house. On Thursday morning, I will pack up Nicolas and we'll head out for a drive to Florida, arriving sometime around dinnertime there. Since Frank can't take a lot of time off work, and one-way flights aren't too bad, he's going to fly down sometime that evening as well and he can take the Magical Express (free shuttle) to our Disney resort. Right now we're booked at Pop Century, but I haven't ruled out possibly using our DVC points and booking a DVC resort for free for those 2 nights that we'll be there. Friday we will spend all day at Hollywood Studios, just taking in that park and the sights and all the Star Wars stuff like the parade and different events. I've reserved dinner that night at the Prime Time Cafe as we haven't eaten there in years and I think it would be cool for Nicolas to experience that. We'll head back to our room that evening as late as Nicolas can hang, and the next morning the three of us will drive back to North Carolina. We'll get to have dinner in NC with my parents and on Sunday we'll make the drive back home to Maryland.

Coming up in September/October, we have the big 10-year anniversary trip to Walt Disney World. I was lucky enough to snag a room at the Beach Club Villas for the two of us for 4 nights, which will be cool as I am sure it will be warm enough that we can enjoy the very cool pool there. We'll spend some time at the Food & Wine Festival, have a few nice dinners and just generally enjoy taking in the adult stuff throughout the parks at our own pace. We'll even probably spend one evening attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, because it's just too cool to be in the Magic Kingdom at night!

The last trip is planned for early in 2009 right now, but it's a more difficult planning situation because right now we don't have the points to book the entire trip and we won't get them until December of this year. We are already borrowing into future years for these other trips, and this one will be the same thing. We have plans to head back to Disney in January 2009 for a week. I'll start the process of booking that in June, which is the 7-month mark where I can try for a resort other than Saratoga Springs. I'm really leaning towards a stay at Animal Kingdom for that time, but we'll have to see what is available when I call in June. I'll only be able to book the first weekend and a few of the weekdays for now. Then I'll either have to wait until December to book the rest (cutting it really tight there) or try to purchase some points from another DVC member before that time. We'll just have to wait and see.

Finally...a trip update

2008-01-18T11:03:00.012-05:00

Yes, I know it's been about 5 months now, so it's about time I posted a trip update.

PHOTOS HERE

DAY ONE: So our drive to Florida went very well. We stopped overnight on the way down somewhere in South Carolina as it was approaching 10pm. We had a great nights rest on some very comfy beds, then were up early the next morning. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel (as promised) for breakfast, then hit the road. By about 3pm we were at Walt Disney World FINALLY and our room was even ready for us too.

Old Key West 2 Bedroom Villa: It was really, really nice. Very spacious for our group of seven. Frank and I took the bedroom with 2 queen beds as it was closer to the main living area. We had 4 nights here, and for every night we had one child sleeping on the couch (which was a sofabed but the kids were fine sleeping on the couch) and two children in the queen bed next to ours. It worked out perfectly. We'd stay there again in a heartbeat.

After arriving at our room and unpacking a little bit, we headed right out that night for dinner. We decided to hit MGM Studios, as it was a smaller park and Noelle was determined to ride the Tower of Terror. We used the first of our dining credits and had dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. Unfortunately, without a reservation we couldn't get a cool car, but we got a "flying saucer" in the back and were seated immediately without a reservation. I wasn't expecting much from the food, as we had eaten there in the past and I wasn't impressed. The kids weren't terribly hungry, so we only got two meals between the three of them, and Noelle was wheezing so bad and wasn't feeling well so she didn't eat at all. The did each get a glowing drink which was a soda with a straw and a clip-on light-up character (Noelle got tink, the boys got Captain Hook) and those cost a small fortune (I think at least $5 each or so). Anyway, they were happy.

Frank and his parents got burgers and enjoyed them. We had a WONDERFUL waitress there as well. I got the Beef and Blue Salad and it was INCREDIBLE. I would later try to recreate the disk at home with some lettuce and beef and bleu cheese but it wasn't the same. I was very happy with my food.

After dinner we headed over to see the Osborne Lights and can I just say it was AMAZING! I was nearly crying with joy just seeing the beautiful lights, having the "snow" falling, listening to the music, and my father-in-law hugged me and thanked me for bringing them on the trip at this time. Truly a magical experience being there and the kids were also in awe of everything. We walked through the street for about 20 minutes or so, watched the dancing lights show with music, and then Noelle was ready to hit the Tower of Terror so that's where we headed next, as it was closing in on 8pm, park closing time.

Of course, Noah wasn't big enough for the ride, and Noelle barely made it, but the attendant had her stand up very straight and measure her. My father-in-law stayed with Noah and the rest of us headed up for the ride. It was a very short wait and the kids weren't sure what to expect, but they still managed to get on the ride. When it was over, they certainly weren't thrilled with it, but they weren't too shaken up about it. It definitely wasn't what they expected, but they would still end up on it again a few days later to our amazement.

After that, it was late and we headed back to the room

DAY TWO - Friday Nov. 16th: Since we would spending the evening at the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, we decided to spend the day at EPCOT. Our first order of business was to make sure the scooter that I had ordered for my mother-in-law to use had arrived at our resort. It was there, so we picked that up first while spending some time figuring out how to use it and get it into the back of our minivan WITH our double-stroller. It was a challenge, but the men got it all figured out and by the next day they'd be pros and getting it in and out quickly. This was a bitter cold day for Florida for sure, and we were all bundled up in sweathshirts, jackets and long pants. We arrived at EPCOT and decided our first stop would be Character Connection to have some photos taken for the kids. This line was longer than we had expected, but it was warm (and a bit smelly) inside so we waited about 30 minutes for the chance to have group photos taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale all in one quick session. It worked out well and this would be where Nicolas would see other kids getting autographs and decided that he wanted to do the same thing. After photos, we headed to the Living Seas to ride the Nemo ride for the first time. This was a bit disappointing, I admit, but it was okay. Then we were right on time for the next showing of Turtle Talk with Crush, something we haven't done before, so we waited for that next. This would be TOTALLY worth it in the end! The show was VERY cute, and when Nicolas learned he could ask questions of Crush, he was already deciding what he would ask him. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he may not be picked to ask his question though. I really didn't know what to expect for the show. It was adorable, all the kids sat in the front on the floor while the adults sat in benches behind them. Nicolas took care of his brother and sister and sat with them. I was running the video camera but I could not see the kids from where I was standing. When I heard Crush say "little dude in the red shell (jacket) holding onto another little dude" I somehow knew they were probably talking about Nicolas. It would be the last question of the session, and Nicolas piped right up with "Where do turtles live?" Crush answered his question, then he had one for Nicolas. He swam off and pulled out a bikini top, then asked Nicolas if he could tell him what it was. Nicolas said "Ummm...those are ladies things!" and the whole audience chuckled. Crush responded "Dude, are you saying these belong to a lady? Dude, does it make me look fat?" More laughter. It was too cute. The show continued and ended about 10 minutes later and then it was the scramble to try to get through the crowds to the front to retrieve our kids. They were all standing together, but Noelle was crying because she didn't see us. Poor kids! They were fine a few minutes later though, and then we headed over to the Land to ride Soarin'. Noah was again too small, but Noelle met the height requirement so they all went to ride Soarin' while Noah and I hung out, walked through the park, stopped and watch a band play.

Now it's approaching 11:45am, which happens to be our time for the Princess Lunch at Akershus and I'm anxiously waiting for everyone else to return. Noah and I wait by the big fountain, we finally get the call that they are out, and we agree to meet at the fountain. There is some confusion, but they finally arrive and we haul tail over to Akershus. We arrive just a bit late, but still wait a good 20 minutes or so for our lunch reservation. Noelle meets and has her photo taken with Belle in front, and then we eat as the Princesses come around to meet us. Noelle is instantly shy about meeting ANY of them, so skip the first meeting, but the next Princess Jasmine arrives and Nicolas goes with Noelle so she gets to meet and have a photo with Jasmine, Aurora and Cinderella (her favorite). Lunch is pretty good, and "free" again due to the dining plan. We leave there and decided to hit Maelstrom right next door next. After a short wait and that ride, we go over to Test Track. Again, Noah is not big enough, but everyone else is so we get a child swap for that ride, and Frank and his dad take Noelle and Nicolas while I wait with Noah and my mother-in-law. They get through the ride in about 35 or 40 minutes, and when the come out we are allowed 3 people to go back, so Noelle goes with us to ride while the boys all stay together. Noah enjoys sitting in all the different cars in the showroom area, and Noelle loves the ride again and proclaims that she was SO excited about it. This is our last ride of the day, as we head back to the room to relax and get ready for dinner that night. We do make a stop at MouseGear in EPCOT, which is where I purchase 3 autograph books and pens for each of the kids at Nicolas' request, and I get myself a pair of tennis shoes as I had managed to leave mine at home!

That night is dinner at Chef Mickey's and the kids, especially Nicolas, are very excited about getting autographs from the characters. We get visit by Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy and head to the front to meet Donald and get his autograph also. Even Noah, who is shy around the characters, warms up a bit for some of them. We leave dinner and head right to the Magic Kingdom for the Christmas party. It is awesome to walk down Main Street and have it snowing! The kids are excited about that once again. We head to Tomorrowland and hit Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which we've never seen. It's very cute and enjoyed by all, but the kids, as always, want to do RIDES! We leave and Frank takes Nicolas and his dad off to ride Space Mountain, while I take the little kids on Astro Orbiter...3 or 4 times while the boys do Space Mountain 3 times as well. We meet back and decide to head to the front of the park to catch the holiday fireworks special at the castle. Very, very cool. After that we head back into the park and ride the Teacups and the Tomorrowland Speedway, before deciding to secure a spot for the parade. By this time, the oldest child has fallen asleep in the stroller, and the youngest one is awake as is the middle child not too long later. We sit and watch the holiday parade together and it's close to 10:30pm when we finally leave the park, after getting some free hot chocolate and sugar cookies.
DAY THREE - Saturday Nov. 17th: We had been up late the night before, so had decided ahead of time that this would be a day to take it easy. We weren't going to risk the little kids NOT getting naps while in a park, so we know if we leave it won't be until much later. We decide to have a late breakfast at our resort, but after checking out the selections there and not finding much, we end up driving over to Saratoga Springs instead to try out their food selections. We sit down for a late breakfast there, then head back to our resort. On the trip back, I realize that I don't have my wallet...which of course contains my park pass/key, as well as the kids passes/keys, my credit cards, driver's license, cash...not good. Since I had promised the kids some playground time at the resort, I take them there while Frank and his dad head back to Saratoga to search for my wallet. The kids play on the great sandy playground and I wait but when the guys return about 20 minutes later they are empty handed. No luck with my wallet.

We go back to the room, get the little kids down for naps, and I decide I want to go back myself and check for the wallet. It's been only a short time, maybe somebody has turned it in by now. We arrive back at Saratoga, I check around where we were eating, and head to the front desk to ask there. A nice manager asks if she can help me, she disappears in the back, and she returns about 10 minutes later WITH MY WALLET. I check through it, and everything is there...except of course the cash, but it's a small price to pay so that I don't have to replace everything else. I'm pretty happy overall and we return back to our room.

Noelle has an appointment at 3:30pm at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney, right before a scheduled 5pm dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. Frank drops us off at Downtown Disney around 3pm and we go to check-in for the appointment. There are already lots of people standing around outside the Boutique and they tell me they are running about 20 or 25 minutes behind. So Noelle and I walk around the World of Disney store. And walk around. And walk around some more. Noelle at this point is tired of waiting after about 20 minutes...she wants to be DOING something...anything but waiting. However I've made this "appointment" and we will have this done because I know she'll love it. At around 4pm or so I take her into the bathroom to change into her Snow White dress. More waiting. At close to 4:30pm they finally call us, a good hour past our appointment time. It's hard for me to concentrate knowing we are already closing in on our dinner reservation pretty fast and although I am in constant communication with Frank by cell phone I'm not sure how long it's going to take, but I really can't rush them through. Noelle is loving life, picking out her nail colors, makeup colors and just being pampered. I'm a wreck trying to videotape, talk to Frank, take photos and figure out our next plan of action. At closet to 4:45pm I tell Frank to just pack up everyone and come over to wait for us in the parking lot, hoping it won't be much longer. He calls 1900 Park Fare to apprise them of the situation, but they have no sympathy for our plight and tell us they can't take us any more than 15 minutes past our reservation time. We finally get out a little after 5pm, but it's clear we won't make it to dinner. We drive around to various resorts, call Disney Dining to try to arrange for dinner, and after about an hour we decide it's just enough. This is not a vacation for the kids, so I make the decision to just head to Disney Studios, we'll catch a quick meal there and then see Fantasmic! since I really wanted the kids to see that. We do just that and it works out very well.

DAY FOUR - Sunday Nov. 18th: This morning we have a planned Family Magic Tour at the Magic Kingdom. We decide to have breakfast at Boma's that morning first thing, which is delicious just as we remembered from the trip that Frank and I took last October. We arrive at the Magic Kingdom for our 10am tour. As it turns out, we are the only ones in the group so the 7 of us head out on the tour. It's very cute, though I guess it would have been much more fun had all of the kids really been more involved. Nicolas is getting into the whole thing though, reading the map, searching for clues, it's clear this tour is definitely for his age. We go throughout the park with our guide, getting to ride Buzz Lightyear (Nicolas rides with our tourguide) and trying to save Tinkerbell from Captain Hook and prevent him from taking over the Magic Kingdom. It ends with a personal meet and greet and thanks from Peter Pan and Wendy, we get a photo with them. Since we are close, we decide to ride Pirates of the Carribean and then see the Country Bears. Now it's lunchtime and I decided that I really want to eat at one of my favorites the Columbia Harbour House. Noah falls asleep in my arms as we are waiting in line for our food, so he naps as we eat. Frank and his parents decide to take Nicolas and Noelle on Spash Mountain while Noah sleeps. He wakes up not too long after they leave, so I feed him some lunch as we wait. Once they get off the ride, we head over to catch the train around to Mickey's Toontown because the kids really want to ride Goofy's Barnstormer coaster. The wait is terrible, but we still hop on it and the kids love it of course, plus Noah can ride too and he loves it. We then take the train back around the park to get our stroller and scooter. We decide on the train ride that it's approaching our dinnertime at LeCellier at EPCOT, and it would be easier if we end our evening there and have the car there. So Frank takes Noelle and they hop off the train at the front of the park, and they will leave and get the car and meet us at EPCOT. The rest of us head back to Frontierland, get the stroller and scooter, and make our way to the front of the park. We exit the park and hop on the monorail to head to EPCOT. We have a 5:50pm reservation at LeCellier so that doesn't give us much time to do anything. As we wait to be called at LeCellier, which takes a long time, the kids make some masks and KidCot there. Dinner at LeCellier is very good, and even more so when it's covered by the dining plan and we aren't paying for it. I'm not sure it's something I feel I HAVE to do again, but at least I can now say that we tried it.

DAY FIVE - Mon. Nov. 19th: This is early entry day at Animal Kingdom, so that's our planned park for the day. Frank's parents have yet to ride Expedition Everest and neither has Nicolas, so that's on our agenda for the day for sure. We head there first thing, decide to child swap, send Frank's parents on first and Frank and I head over to Dinoland with the kids so they can ride Triceratops Spin. We ride that twice with no line, and then head back to Expedition Everest to meet Frank's parents. We then take Nicolas on that, while his parents take the little kids back to Dinoland. Nicolas is quite concerned about the Yeti, but he seems to like the ride. We get off the ride, head to Dinoland, get Frank's parents and the kids and then grab a Fastpass for the Safari and get some breakfast while we wait for our ride time. We ride the Safari and then head back to Dinoland and Frank and his parents ride the coaster in Dinoland while I take all 3 kids into the Boneyard playground. We climb and slide all over the place for quite a while, and when we are done we grab some ice cream to cool off. Frank and his parents meet us at the playground and we head to the Dinosaur ride, which both Noelle and Nicolas are big enough to ride at this point. Once again, I stay with Noah while everyone else heads off for Dinosaur. While they are on that ride, I'm in touch by phone with my parents who have arrived in town, and we make plans to meet them at Saratoga Springs so that we can all check-in for our next 4 nights in the Grand Villa there. We stop for autographs a few times in the park and outside the park for the kids and then make our way out to Saratoga Springs. We meet up with my parents right at the check-in area, our room isn't quite ready yet, so we all head inside Saratoga to grab a bite to eat while we wait. Our room is ready pretty quickly, so we all head over to check it out, unpack our stuff and get settled into the Grand Villa which is GREAT! Frank and I take one of the top bedrooms with the kids, my parents take the other top floor bedroom, and Frank's parents get the king bedroom on the lower level. We stay long enough to unpack and get settled a bit, but at 5pm we have to head out to the Magic Kingdom for our 5:40pm dinner at the Crystal Palace.

Dinner at the Crystal Palace is good as always, it's one of my favorites, especially for a buffet. At one point Pooh grabs Nicolas by the hand for the parade and they end up going around the restaurant together - Nicolas, Noelle and Pooh leading the line! After dinner we just decide to head back to the room, as it's been a long day already and we'll start fresh tomorrow!

DAY SIX - Tues. Nov. 20th: This is our day to visit Disney Studios again. John (my brother) and Rebecca (his girlfriend) are due to arrive in Orlando that morning, so this should be an easy park for them to meet us. We actually get a late start, eating breakfast in our room, and then head out to Disney Studios together. We make a beeline for the Tower of Terror and grab a Fastpass for that one, enough for everyone including my brother and his girlfriend to ride. Frank's parents want to ride Rock N' Roller Coaster and we take the kids over to the Great Movie Ride. When we get out of there, my brother John is at the park, so we meet them over at Tower of Terror. He and Rebecca and the kids (minus Noah) plus Frank head over to the Tower of Terror to ride, while Mom, Dad, me and Noah grab lunch. After everyone is back, we head out to ride some of the other rides in the park. Nicolas and Noelle go on Star Tours with Daddy and the rest of the group. Mom and I walk over to the Cars Meet N'Greet because ALL Noah is talking about is getting his photo taken with Lightning and Mater. We head over there but there is a long line and it has already been "closed" by the cast members. They tell us to come back at the next greeting and to show up early, so Mom and I take Noah to see MuppetVision 3D. We get out and head back to the meet n'greet, it's about 5 minutes beyond the time they told us to be back and once again the line is CLOSED! WHAT? We meet the rest of the group and do the Backlot Tour together and before we know it it is the afternoon. Since John and Rebecca haven't checked into their room yet and we have dinner plans for that night, everybody decides to head back to the hotel. However, I have decided that I will get that photo for Noah so he and I stay behind for the next Cars Meet N'Greet and we will meet everybody back at the hotel room. We make our way over to the meet n'greet area, stopping first at the bathroom because I don't want to be caught in line and have him have to use the restroom with nobody else to hold our place. We get to the line which is already pretty long and it's still a good 1/2 hour until the meet n'greet time. We're in line only about 10 minutes before they announce that the line is now CLOSED! Whew! We just made it. Now we're sitting in the hot sun in line and it's been a long day so Noah passes right out in my arms as we wait. When I hear the announcement about the characters arriving, I try to wake Noah up and he's NOT stirring at all! I decide to just let him sleep since we still have a ways to go before we are at the front of the line. When we are only 3 people away from the meet n'greet, I start shaking Noah to wake him and he is really out cold. I have to stand him on the ground to somewhat wake him up and even then he clings to me so I hand my camera to the cast members there and they snap photos for us. Noah and I then make our way out of the park to the bus stops to head back to the room. Dinner that night for all of us is at the Kona Cafe, another favorite. Nicolas stands outside the restaurant that night and ends up pulling his tooth out as we wait to be seated! Dinner is excellent though as usual, right down to the desserts!

DAY SEVEN - Wed. Nov. 21st: We have breakfast scheduled at O'Hana, a character meal with Lilo and Stitch. The only ones who join us are my parents so it's just the seven of us. Breakfast is good but the characters don't even make it to our table. As we are getting up to leave, Lilo stops by and we snap a photo with her and the kids get an autograph. Then it's over to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Noah really wants to ride Dumbo, which already has quite the line. The other two kids want to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so everybody heads over to that while Noah and I wait for Dumbo. Now here is where I should mention that my mom does NOT do coasters, at all, no fast rides or thrill rides. Yet somehow they convince her to go on this "train" ride with Noelle and when I hear that later I am in shock. She'll never do it again, that's for sure, but she manages it for her beloved granddaughter! As Noah and I get off the Dumbo ride, we meet everybody else at the carousel and the kids ride that and we get some ice cream as it's already quite warm. My brother and Rebecca show up and we decided to head over to Haunted Mansion. This also has quite a line, and Nicolas is determined that he does NOT want to go on the ride. I end up bribing him to get him to stay in line. My dad somehow ends up sitting out while the rest of us go on the ride. Nicolas gets off the ride and loves it and would later proclaim it as one of his favorites...go figure! We then walk over to Frontierland and before we know it Woody and Pals are coming down the street to do a little show and we are right there so the kids are asked to participate. Noah declines and sits in the stroller to watch as Nicolas and Noelle dance with the characters in the street. We then take a stroll over to the Aladdin's Carpets and ride that and then the kids want to do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad AGAIN so Mom stays with Noah this time as I ride with everybody else. After this we head out of the park because Frank has to dive at DiveQuest that afternoon so we're going to head over to EPCOT for that. We get to EPCOT and Frank heads over to do the dive. The kids and I wander around elsewhere, Frank's parents meet us and my parents go grab some food. We head over to Nemo and get on there to ride into the Living Seas. It takes quite a while before we finally see Frank and his group heading up to the tank area, and even longer before he is in the tanks, but we watch him dive for a while. Once he's done, we head out to wait for him outside. My parents head back to the room and Frank's parents join me over to get some Fish N'Chips from the Yorkshire Fish & Chip place, my FAVORITE in EPCOT! We run into my brother and his girlfriend there and the group of us sit and eat along the water while waiting for Frank, who again takes FOREVER to finally show up and meet us. It's now close to 8pm but lines for some of the rides are pretty short so Frank and Nicolas head into Mission:Space. They would end up riding it a few times that night because there were no lines, while the two other kids ran around outside the area with some other kids and had a blast. It's a great evening. We head out of the park close to 9pm or so, well before Illuminations.

DAY EIGHT - Thurs. Nov. 22nd: Thanksgiving Day in Walt Disney World! How cool! Despite some objections by Frank, I decide that I just MUST visit a park that day, since it's our last day. So we decide to hit the Magic Kingdom before it gets too crowded. We arrived and hit many of the rides we haven't had a chance to do yet or that we want to do again, such as Buzz Lightyear, Snow White, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and we get a photo with Stich too! We even end up running into PUSH, the talking trashcan, on the way out of the park which the kids are just thrilled to watch. We manage to leave the park close to 1pm and head back to the hotel for the rest of the day. We decide to do some shopping, since we are within walking distance to Downtown Disney. Frank and I do some shopping alone, and his dad takes Nicolas to a shop to purchase something for him as well as for the other kids. Dinner that evening is at the Concourse Steakhouse with everybody. I must admit, I miss the "real" turkey dinner but this does okay and nobody has to clean up afterwards! We head back to the room after dinner where there is packing to be done for our drive back the next morning. The kids have been BEGGING to get into the pool this entire trip, and now at 8pm that night we decide to take them so we all head over to the pool and have a swim for about an hour or so. The kids think this is one of the best parts of the trip, not only swimming in NOVEMBER but also at NIGHT! How cool! Then it's back to the room, finish packing and preparing for the hardest day of any Disney vacation the next morning....leaving Walt Disney World!

DAY NINE - Friday Nov. 23rd: Time to go home! We hit the road early in the morning for our long drive back. The kids by now I think have had enough vacation and they are ready to get home. We actually make the trip back this time without stopping overnight. This is accomplished by stopping for lunch as well as dinner. Dinner is somewhere in South Carolina at a Cracker Barrel so it breaks the trip up nicely since we arrive home close to 1am. However, it's really not a bad drive at all to make all the way back, but I'm not sure Frank really wants to do it again anytime soon.

2 Days to Go - Preparing to Drive from Maryland to Florida

2007-11-12T10:44:00.001-05:00

The longest drive we have ever had to make with all 3 kids has been about an 8 hour trip to North Carolina. They've always done pretty well in the car. Now we're preparing for a trip about twice as long, so it requires extra planning to keep everyone happy and comfortable. We also won't have the luxury of spacing them out more in the minivan and instead they will all have to sit NEXT TO EACH OTHER in the back seat for the entire trip. That alone may be tough for them to handle.

First of all, I've stocked up on movies for the trip. Yes, most of them are Disney movies. Even though our minivan is equipped with an entertainment system, it is old enough to be VHS-based and of course most of what we have these days is DVD-based. This is easily rendered by hooking up a portable DVD player to the system and that works just great. However, I thought it would be nice if kids could be watching different movies, so I've purchased an additional DVD system with a second external screen. This will be hooked to the back seats and only used for the entertainment of the back seat passengers. The external screen has the ability to hook up other devices, and we'll take along some TV-based battery-operated travel games to add a little fun for the trip for the boys.

We also have older Gameboy Advance systems. Along with the games we already own, I purchase a few new games the kids haven't seen yet and also some cartridges that just have tv show episodes on them. They aren't the highest quality, but they should keep the boys entertained especially.

All this talk of the boys, but what about the girl? Well she is not really interested in television or movies so much, so for her there is a bag packed with coloring books, sticker books, stickers and crayons and markers. They are contained in a small travel lap desk that I know she'll enjoy using.

Of course, there are also snacks for the trip and drinks which we'll try to keep to a minimum so we don't have to stop every hour for bathroom breaks.

I also found a cool site online that allowed me, for a small fee, to download a PDF booklet which details all exit stops from Maine to Florida along I-95. Each exit gives details about restaurants, hotels and gas stations there. This will be very helpful for those times when somebody needs a bathroom, or we need food or fuel and we'll know exactly how far we can drive to get to the appropriate exit without having to rely on those signs on the side of the road to tell us where to exit.

I also have the GPS programmed with some potential stopping points and our route to Disney is mapped out on it as well. I'll be packing some books to read for myself but I'm sure I'll keep busy trying to keep the kids busy also.

I know my husband is dreading this drive, but I'm hoping that he'll be surprised at how well everybody does for the trip. I'll be updating my mobile blog during the trip as much as possible too.

9 Days to Go - Dining Plan Here We Come!

2007-11-06T14:33:00.001-05:00

So it's been a while, but not too much has changed.

Ok, so it's me, and you know I have made changes.

First of all, I finally broke down and decided to schedule Noelle for some princess pampering at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I figured since each of the boys had their very first "professional" haircut at the Main Street Barber Shop in Disney, why shouldn't Noelle get a chance for a professional style at Disney. The prices ranged from $44.95 to (get ready for it) $179.95. Now, that last package would include a costume and accessories and her very own photo session with photos. Well, she has a perfectly good Snow White costume from Halloween and I have plenty of camera power, we opted for the middle package, because that includes nails at a price of $49.95. I think she'll be thrilled. We're having this done just a few hours before a planned dinner at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella, so even better. I can't wait to see her face when she is being pampered by the Fairy Godmothers at Disney!

Next, after going back and forth many times I decided to bite the bullet and get the Disney Dining Plan for the first part of our stay. I know it will be way too much food, but it will still save us money based on the meals we have already scheduled for the first part of our trip. I am sure just having it to use for our meal at LeCellier steakhouse will be worth it. It will be nice to not have to really worry about buying food for the most part for those first five days of the trip. Plus, I have the Disney Dining Experience card on it's way to me as well, which will save us 20% off the rest of our restaurant meals, and includes the alcohol which I know we'll have a few times. I will be sure to save my receipts later so I can really calculate the true "savings" from our trip and share them here.

24 Days to Go - Special Events

2007-10-22T14:05:00.002-04:00

We've managed to be lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World at various times for some special events. So far our favorite event has been attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and we've managed to do that twice.

The first time was in October of 2003 and it was planned as an event we were going to attend without the kids. Since our in-laws were with us for the trip, we made plans to leave the kids with them one night and have a nice dinner and then attend the party. With the park being open until midnight, we figured the kids wouldn't tolerate that anyway.

Little did we know my mother-in-law would fall ill on that trip and they would end up leaving after only 2 days there. We made due without them by purchasing tickets for the kids to attend the party with us instead.

It worked out just fine for us. That day we had dinner at the Garden Grill with the kids. Not only did the kids have fun with the characters there but I also surprised Frank with a re-hitching ceremony where they pronounced us married again and had us kiss in front of everyone, and then brought out a cake for us to enjoy. It was fun.

That evening we hit the Halloween Party. We arrived pretty early and secured a spot on main street when the headless horseman came galloping down on the horse. It was so cool to see the park lit up for Halloween and all of the characters dressed up. The kids had bags for trick-or-treating and even though Noelle wasn't yet walking, we wheeled the stroller up to various lines so even she could get something. The park wasn't terribly crowded and we managed to watch the special Halloween parade which was very cool. I think we only stayed for a few hours, and Noelle slept for some time there, but we still had fun.

Three years later we would get the chance to enjoy the party as adults. This time Frank and I made a special 3-night trip to Walt Disney World for our 8-year anniversary. It also coincided with the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT, which was also very nice. We ran ourselves ragged at the parks for those few days but we still had a good time. We enjoyed hitting the ride at the Magic Kingdom at night and bypassing the parade the first time. We did watch the fireworks show at the castle later in the evening and caught the parade as well. We also did a pretty good amount of trick-or-treating too. It was fun and we plan to do it again for our 10-year anniversary next year.

The Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT was also very nice. We spent one afternoon just eating and drinking our way around the World Showcase at EPCOT. We would look at the booth for each country and determine if there was anything we wanted to try, then purchase a small food item or a drink or both and share them. By the time we made it all the way around EPCOT we were no longer hungry, which was a shame because we had dinner reservations a few hours later at Narcoossee's which ended up being a fabulous meal, and I'm not saying that just because I had already had plenty to drink before we arrived. We are looking forward to returning next year to the Food and Wine Festival and this time we'll be smart about it and NOT make dinnner plans early on the night we plan to visit the festival.

This year we'll experience another special event at Walt Disney World and that will be Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It will be cool to see the parks all decorated for Christmas and be able to see the lights and everything else which I'm sure will be great since it's Disney.

31 Days to Go - Disney Planning Spreadsheet

2007-10-15T09:08:00.001-04:00

I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world when it comes to most things EXCEPT travel. I always plan trips way in advance, and Disney is no exception. Disney trips made with me are planned out quite a bit. See below:

This is my typical Disney spreadsheet. At the top, you'll notice the dates of travel. The next row, in light orange, are each Disney parks operating hours during that day. Park hours in the darker bold font are the parks operating under Extra Magic Hours, which means they are open earlier or closing later than normal.

The next row in the purple and yellow background are the resorts information. For this trip, we are splitting our stay between Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. We haven't had the opportunity to stay at either one of these resorts in the past, though we've visited both before.

The next row with the light green background shows the planned parks for that day. These are always subject to change depending on weather and other factors, so it's just a guideline and some of these are due to restaurant dining reservations.

The next few rows are just open places for different information. The yellow background in these rows are planned tours. For this trip we have planned a Family Magic Tour one morning and Frank will dive at EPCOT on another day. The light blue background indicates our dining reservations. These are restaurants where we have secured ADRs - Advanced Dining Reservations. I indicate in these blocks the time of the reservation, the restaurant, it's location, the number of people as well as the ADR number that was assigned when I made the reservation. This comes in handy if I ever have to call back Disney for any changes as sometimes they have trouble looking it up by name or phone number. I have a green background block do indicate the day that we plan to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party this year also, and a gray block to indicate the day other people will arrive to join us, specifically my brother and his girlfriend on this trip. The last row contains times for other special evening events, such as nighttime parades, fireworks, etc. including the Wishes fireworks show at the Magic Kingdrom and Fantasmic! at MGM Studios. There is also Illuminations at EPCOT in the evening but that is usually run at the same time every night, where Wishes and Spectromagic can change times depending on the park hours.

I'll make several copies of this in a final version and distribute them to be used during our trip to make sure everyone knows our gameplan. I don't expect everyone in our group (which will be 11 people at it's maximum) to have to follow this exactly. Dining reservations are there if they want to join us on some dates, but they certainly don't have to if they want to try something else.

37 Days to Go - Character Meals

2007-10-09T10:17:00.001-04:00

We've had the fortune of being able to eat at many different character buffets during our visits at Disney. Even when we go without the kids, there are still some meals that I insist on attending.

My favorite character dinner buffet is the Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends at the Magic Kingdom. First of all, you are eating at the Magic Kingdom and some tables even have a view of the castle. What could be better? However, the food there is really quite good for buffet and I especially enjoy the prime rib and the shrimp, but everything is always good. I think we've done this particular buffet for at least our last 3 or 4 trips.

We've had breakfast at the Crystal Palace also, but I'm not a huge breakfast eater anyway so I can do without it. It's still good though.

My next favorite character meal has to be Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, if only for the fun atmosphere that takes over the place. Most of the time we've had breakfast there and really enjoyed it. We had dinner once and I wasn't as impressed with it, but for our upcoming trip we'll try dinner again just because he fits better into our schedule and I figured we should give it another shot. We always have our photo taken there and purchase it too.

Another favorite breakfast character meal is O'Hana at the Polynesian. I love the pineapple bread they serve here. This is a family-style meal, meaning they just bring the food in a big plate to your table and pick and choose what you want to eat and can order more of anything. It's now been changed to include Lilo and Stitch, so we have plans to do this one again for our upcoming trip to see the new characters. I guess this means we may not see Chip, Dale or Goofy now, but we'll have to wait and see.

One other character meal we've done a few times in the past is the Garden Grill for dinner. This is located at EPCOT and the entire restaurant rotates with great views of some of the fish tanks. This is another family style meal, and it's not recommended for larger parties because the seating isn't made to accommodate them, but we've enjoyed a few meals there and the character interraction has been great. This is also where the perform the re-hitching ceremony so if you are celebrating an anniversary you should have that done there. It's cute.

Of course, the other character meal that is worth doing at least one time is eating in the castle at Cinderella's Royal Table. We've had the good fortune of securing this for breakfast about 3 or 4 times in the past, though the prices continue to increase so much there that even though I had a reservation this time around I just couldn't bring myself to pay that kind of money for BREAKFAST. Yes, it is truly wonderful to be eating in the castle and looking out over Fantasyland. You will most likely get a visit from a few princesses too. It used to be that Peter Pan would also show up and a few others, but we didn't see him on our last visit there. The food was really good. It's all-you-can-eat but it's preplated so they bring each person a plate full of food and you can have more of anything. If you only get to Disney one time, it's worth it to try to get this meal experience. However, you ABSOLUTELY have to book this one exactly 180 days in advance of the day you want to attend. You need to call the number for Disney dining (407-WDW-DINE) beginning just before 7am at the 180 day point and be quick about telling the person that finally answers that you want Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast at this date and time. I'm not sure if we'll do it again in the future with the prices so high now, but I'm glad each of our kids have had the chance to experience it once.

For our upcoming trip next month, we're trying out a few new buffets mixed with our old favorites. In addtion to Chef Mickey's for dinner, Crystal Palace for dinner and O'Hana's for breakfast, we're also going to attempt the Princess Storybook Lunch at Akershus in EPCOT one day and Cinderella's Gala Feast at 1900 Park Fare for dinner.

One of the highlights of any Disney trip for us is the meals. Yes, they are pricey but we always enjoy them and having the opportunity to sit down and relax at a table meal every so often after spending all day on your feet roaming the parks is well worth it.

43 Days to Go - My daughter's first Disney trip

2007-10-03T09:09:00.001-04:00

In September of 2003, we planned a Disney vacation for our family once again. This time we'd be taking my daughter, age 11 months, for the very first time. This would be my son's second trip at age 3.5 and my in-laws were joining us again. It was going to be great fun.

I managed to get a great deal on 7 nights at the Polynesian Resort hotel. They special they were running was 7 nights for the price of 4 and it was such a great bargain that we even upgraded both rooms to a Lagoon View room. I requested a view of the Magic Kingdom and we had two great rooms located right on the water where we could view Cinderella's Castle in the distance.

The morning after our first night there, my son awoke bright and early. It was still dark outside but in the distance we could see the castle, changing colors every few minutes and he and I just sat there and watched together. I captured this on video as well. It was truly a magical moment, one of many we would have during the trip.

Unfortunately, after our second day there, my mother-in-law became very ill. We ended up booking her and my father-in-law on a flight back home on day three. We spent the rest of our vacation without them but still managed to have a great time.

Our plans to go to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party on our anniversary without the kids were changed to include the kids, but that was fine. The kids had a great time there at night, being able to ride many rides with very few lines and trick-or-treating. We also still managed to have our anniversary dinner at the Garden Grill in EPCOT where we were presented with a small cake and they had a rehitching ceremoney for us too. It ended up being a great 5-year anniversary.

As for my daughter, being so young at Disney wasn't a problem for her at all. No, she wasn't able to walk yet, but she was content to ride in the stroller. She fell asleep in my arms plenty of times, usually in the loudest places. I think she fell asleep during the Universe of Energy ride amongst all of the loud noises and she also fell asleep during the Tarzan ROCKS show.

However, seeing her interract with the characters there was truly something special. We had several Character meals planned, including Chef Mickey's, the Crystal Palace and O'Hana as well as the Garden Grill for our anniversary. Noelle could not get enough of each and every character that approached her and they seemed to love her too. She was picked up by Minnie Mouse for a photo. She touched noses with Mickey Mouse. It was just so great to watch her light up and smile and laugh at each character. See for yourself here:

Kids with Characters at Disney in 2003

So whenever people tell me they don't want to take their kids until they are older, I just think how lucky we were to be able to take our kids at such a young age. The memories we have of them there are priceless.

52 Days to Go - My very first Disney trip

2007-09-25T13:10:00.001-04:00

I honestly don't really remember much about my very first Walt Disney World trip. As my mom tells the story, she basically decided one night she wanted to go, they packed up the Chevy Nova hatchback and she told my dad they would drive until my brother and I had had enough and then they would stop.

We went from Maryland to Jacksonville before we stopped.

I remember staying at the Dutch Inn, a resort which had a pool shaped like a windmill. I believe this was the same place where I chose to climb outside the balcony rails and HANG there with my arms hooked in the balcony rails behind me. This, as you can imagine, scared my mom when she saw me, at about age 5, standing outside the balcony on a ledge a few inches wide and hanging there. Rather than scare me, she went back inside, called my name, and I climbed back onto the balcony and came inside.

I can remember my mom teaching me how to count and say a few phrases in French as we were riding the bus. It's strange how I can remember that for some reason.

I don't remember much about Disney itself. I'm sure I enjoyed it though. I'm not sure we have too many pictures. Not like the hundreds I take now on just about every trip. It's crazy but I can't stop taking photos. I loved to look back through the albums and revisit our trips though.

57 Days to Go - My First Disney trip as an adult review

2007-09-20T13:04:00.001-04:00

I had really hoped to be able to enter something here daily, but this week has been crazy and I haven't met my goal. I promise to try harder.

I wanted to talk a little more about the very first trip I took to Walt Disney World as an adult, only because it also happened to be my husband's first trip EVER to Walt Disney World.

We happened to plan our trip for February of 1997 which fell during one of Disney's birthday celebrations. The castle was decorated like a huge birthday cake. I'll have to post a picture of that sometime soon.

We decided to stay at the All Star Music resort for our trip. Our room was spacious enough for the two of us, with I think a king sized bed. We ended up in a handicap room, so the bathroom was like walking into on big shower stall, but it was fine with us.

I wish I could remember the details of our trip in particular, but I'll try to touch on some of the highlights.

We were able to attend two of Disney's dinner shows during this trip. We chose the Polynesian Luau and the Hoop-De-Doo Musical Revue.

The Luau was really cool and I can remember all of the food there being wonderful. The show was very entertaining for adults, especially one of the guys who was twirling fire.

The Hoop-De-Doo show was even better. We were seated at a table near the front and center. Frank was chosen by one of the cast members to participate in the show, which made it even more entertaining, especially for me. It was so cute to watch him on stage being part of the whole show. The food was wonderful again there. I have to say, that we have never been back to attend either one of these shows since that time, but I think we'll make it a point to go in a few years when the kids are a little older and may enjoy it more.

One of our meal choices was to eat at the Prime Time Diner at MGM Studios. That was an interesting experience, especially since I am definitely a picky eater. I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into by choosing this place. I can remember not quite being able to finish my meal and the water picked up a spoon and started doing the airplane with it to feed me. I wasn't sure he was going to let me order dessert after I didn't eat my meal, but he did and I got the s'mores which were fantastic.

We also decided to even brave some of the water parks during February, which wasn't exactly the best idea at the time. I know it wasn't terribly hot that week. We started out at Blizzard Beach but found the water there lived up to the name of the park...it was COLD like a blizzard. We would later decided to brave Typhoon Lagoon and we absolutely LOVED this waterpark. The wave pool there was fantastic and I think we could have spent all day there enjoying that. We even bought a disposable waterproof camera so we could take all kinds of photos. Frank even went off to do the snorkel with the fish that they had there and although it wasn't quite as exciting as scuba diving he still enjoyed it.

There were other opportunites during our short trip to become part of the Disney experience. We attended a show at MGM Studios where they showed the art of studio television. They incorprated a scene from Cheers and asked for volunteers. Frank was chosen to go up on stage and I got to watch as he basically sat at the Cheers bar on the screen and became part of the show.

We went on the Jungle Cruise one day and I was chosen to drive the boat. The driver gave me his hat to wear and I became a part of the ride. It was fun.

I know I came away from my first trip to Walt Disney World as an adult with a renewed sense of the need to return more often. I hadn't been to Walt Disney World since about 1985 and it was a whole new experience for me, especially now that MGM Studios was there, a park which I had never been able to visit before. Plus it was only my second visit to EPCOT and I found I really enjoyed that park as well, despite it's massive size. There's no way I would miss going there and especially seeing Illuminations, which I love every singe time I see it.

Frank came away from the trip with a real sense of just how different the World was from the Land of Disney. We couldn't wait to return and we've managed to go back there at least every two years ever since that first trip.

SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING

2007-09-17T21:28:00.002-04:00

Well my plan for posting here daily went by the wayside over the weekend but I'm back!

The best news about today in particular was that I arrived home to find a piece of mail for me from the Disney Vacation Club. Now I've been waitlisted for any available studio room in Disney during Thanksgiving week. My brother and his girlfriend are arriving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I wanted to be able to use my Vacation Club points to reserve a room for them as well, since our 3 bedroom villa for that week was already booked. I had even arranged our original reservation into a split stay at two different room types in two different resorts just to have the points available to borrow for this purpose. Anyway, today the letter arrived confirming a reservation for a studio room for my brother to use. I couldn't wait to call him tonight to share the good news. It's nice to be able to basically pay for the rooms for everyone in our family that will be joining us during Thanksgiving.

So, we arrive the Thursday before Thanksgiving, probably sometime that evening after a long drive from home. It will be our family of five plus my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We will check into our 2 bedroom room at Disney's Old Key West for that weekend and the first 4 nights of our stay, checking out on Monday morning.

Monday afternoon my parents will join us in Disney. At that point, we will all be checking into a 3 bedroom vacation villa at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort for the remainder of our vacation, or four more nights. My in-laws will take one bedroom, my parents will take another bedroom, Frank and I will take the 3rd bedroom and the kids will use the pull-out sofa. It should work out just fine for all of us, considering most of our time will be spent in the parks anyway. My brother arrives on Tuesday and they will check into their studio room at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights.

I have already made plans for a few meals for all of us together, especially on Thanksgiving day. It seems a bit strange to not be eating at home on Thanksgiving considering Frank and I have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner together ever since we were married for our whole family. At least we will all be together for Thanksgiving. We'll just be paying somebody else to cook and the menu will be much bigger considering we're eating in a steakhouse. They will still have traditional Thanksgiving fare there, but I wonder what the chances are that I can get that coveted turkey drumstick as I always do for Thanksgiving? Probably not.

I guess that's just the sacrifice I'll have to make to be able to have Thanksgiving dinner away from home. The important thing is that most of our family will be there with us this year. I'm really looking forward to that.

63 Days to Disney

2007-09-14T13:55:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Sept. 15th and on November 15th we'll be on our way to Walt Disney World. This will be our very first time driving and I'm not sure everyone is looking forward to the trip. Sure, the final destination will be great, but getting there will be a long road. From our home, we're estimating about 16 hours and right now the plan is to leave as early in the morning as possible.

So far, our departing time has changed many times and right now I think we may be looking at about the 4:30am to 5:30am hour. This is mosly to make sure we get through the better part of the state of Virginia before the ugly rush hour traffic builds there.

Will this drive be tough on the kids? I'm sure, but in this age of electronics there are so many things to keep them busy and I am known as a mom to be as overprepared as possible. I'm sure not only will we have movies and the gameboy and other video games with us, but crayons and markers and books and snacks and perhaps I'll even buy a few new surprise items to bring out for them just when the ride gets rough for them. I'm hoping having all of that stuff will make things easier on everyone, inlcuding the adults who will have to listen to what I'm sure will be some squabbling along the way about something.

All of our previous trips with the kids have been flights. However, as a child my parents did the driving thing with myself and my brother more than once. I'll be sharing some stories about my Disney visits as a child, what I can remember of them, in future posts so stay tuned!

Disney Question of the Week: Where should I stay at Walt Disney World?

2007-09-13T14:17:00.003-04:00

It's tough for me to answer this one really, as it all depends on the travel party and what you like to do there. Typically our travel party consists of myself, my husband and our 3 kids PLUS usually my husband's parents as well. We usually arrange to meet other family members down there at some point also, like my parents. However, my parents are not as into seeing all the parks as we are and they are big golfers, so they may spend some time doing some golfing while at Disney.

I can tell you one thing I NEVER recommend is staying offsite. I don't care about your budget and if you think it's a great way to save money, I just believe to get the whole Disney experience you need to be at a Disney hotel, or at the VERY least one of the hotels right in the Downtown Disney area. Otherwise, you are dealing with the commute TO the parks as well as the commute WITHIN the parks. You have to pay for parking each time you visit a park and you don't get the advantage of the Extra Magic Hours. There are certain days of the week that Disney parks are open 1 to 3 hours early or stay open 1 to 3 hours later in the evening and you can't take advantage of that unless you are staying in a Disney resort. Perhaps I'll change my thoughts on this in later years but for now that's just my advice.

I'll never forget the first time I took my husband to Walt Disney World. This was before we were married and I had a friend who had a wedding in Florida in February. This was the perfect chance for me to make a return to Walt Disney World as an adult. Frank and I had previously had a trip to Disneyland in California, but he had never visited WDW. As a child he had grown up in California so he had all kinds of DisneyLAND experience but he couldn't quite comprehend a visit to Walt Disney World. I was looking forward to showing it to him.

Once we were there, one of the things he couldn't get over was the sheer SIZE of the parks. This was not Disneyland with one little park. This was a group of parks scattered around the area and all of them huge. Two years later we would return, this time bringing his parents along with us and also introducing them to WDW for the very first time. Their reaction was the same regarding the size. They now return with us on just about every trip, especially with the kids, and I think sometimes they look forward to it just as much, if not more, than we do.

Despite the size of the Walt Disney World area, all Disney properties offer continuous service to and from their parks in some form or another. Even the Value resorts offer bus service to all Disney parks as well as Downtown Disney and the water parks. Going up another level to a moderate resort gains you a slightly larger room some additional ameneties and sometimes other transportation options such as boats. Stay at a deluxe or home away from home resort, you get more options available at your resort and more transportation options too, such as monorail service.

Some people will stay at off-site hotels because the hotels offer shuttle service to the parks, but most of the time those shuttles only run on certain schedules at certain times of the day, and those buses don't drop you off at the parks or pick you up at the parks in areas that are as convenient as the Disney buses in most cases. Do you really want to spend more time waiting for a bus? I would say probably not.

The Disney value properties such as Pop Century and the All-Star Movies, Music or Sports hotels are great for families wanting to stay within a budget. You can get some great deals on these rooms especially during Non-Peak times of the year. All of these properties offer free bus service to and from each of the Disney parks that runs on a continual basis. I stayed at the All-Star Music resort during a trip in February of 1997 and even though it was just my husband and myself we still enjoyed it. We liked the convenience of the food court to get drinks and food quickly at our hotel, and the bus service worked out great for us too.

Moderate hotels such as Port Orleans Riverside offer a little more than value hotels. You still get several pools on property and the food court, but you also get some other kind of food options, like a sit-down restaurant on the property. The Port Orleans properties also offer boat service to the Downtown Disney area and you can rent bikes and boats on property to ride around in the water around that area. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (formerly Dixie Landings) in 1999 when it was myself and my husband, as well as my father-in-law and mother-in-law and my sister-in-law and her husband. We each had our own room and they were a bit bigger than the value rooms but still nothing too fancy for us. There was no need when we tended to spend most of our time wandering the parks anyway. We loved the grounds of the resort, despite the hike from our rooms to the food court. Heck, we were at Walt Disney World, where you walked all over the place anyway, what was another walk?

Deluxe hotels like the Contemporary or Polynesian are really something to see. Many people shun the Contemporary for the fact that it's NOT really so Contemporary any longer, but you simply can't beat the convenience of being able to walk directly to the Magic Kingdom from that resort. It's perfect if you have small kids who really want to spend most of their time in the Magic Kingdom anyway. Plus, if you are bringing your own stroller to the parks, you don't have to drop it off at the end of the day at the park and haul a sleeping kid on a tram or a monorail or a bus. You just walk right back to your room and drop that sleeping kid right off in the bed at the hotel room. It's great. We've stayed at the Contemporary twice and loved it.

We have also stayed at the Polynesian where we had a great lagoon view room. We could see the castle across the water. I can remember getting up with my 3-year-old son during the early morning hours when it was still dark outside and we sat together and watched the castle change colors and it was great.

The highest and most expensive level is the Home Away From Home resorts. Here you get bigger rooms and suite options, kitchen or kitchenettes, and additional options such of boat transportation or the ability to walk to some of the parks. For example, if you stay at the Boardwalk or Beach Club you can walk to EPCOT where you enter the park through a different entrance than the rest of the general public. There are currently no HAFH resorts on the monorail line, but there is increasing speculation that the Contemporary is in the process of building a group of Disney Vacation Club resorts on their property. We'll just have to wait and see.

So, if you are a Disney Vacation Club member, you stay at the Home Away From Home properties and it's a great way to take advantage of additional Disney perks. We became Disney Vacation Club members last year finally and our next trip this November will be taking advantage of our membership to stay at both the Old Key West and the Saratoga Springs resort. We are looking forward to it. Previously we have stayed at the Boardwalk resort and we just LOVED it. With small kids, it was great to come back to the room, put them down for a nap, then sneak into another room to watch tv. Plus we had a full kitchen so we could prepare meals and snacks whenever we wanted to do so to save money. Although I have to admit, half the fun of going to Walt Disney World is being able to enjoy the many various food options that are there. Yes the food is expensive, but it's very rare that we are every disappointed in a Disney restaurant.

So where should you stay at Walt Disney World? My answer to that is ANYWHERE as long as it's a Disney resort. I don't really think you can be disappointed in any of them and the service at each one is usually top notch. If you still can't decided, send me your information about your party size, the ages of people in your group, and I'll give you some suggestions though.

64 Days until Disney Trip 2007

2007-09-12T21:55:00.001-04:00

As of today we have 64 days until we leave for our next Walt Disney World Vacation. I've started this blog to keep track of my countdown. My goal right now is to post an entry each day about Walt Disney World, whether that be a little excerpt of trips of the past, a photo or a video.

With this being a day after September 11th, I thought it fitting to write about where I was during that day in 2001, and the simple fact is I was in the Happiest Place on Earth...Walt Disney World.

This was Nicolas' first trip to Walt Disney World and it was our second day there. He was almost 18 months old at the time. We started off the morning having breakfast with Mickey and the gang at Chef Mickey's. We headed to the park afterwards but Nicolas was a bit cranky having not slept well his first night there. We walked back to our hotel, the Contemporary, to see if he'd nap.

That wasn't happening so a little while later we took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom to meet up with Frank's parents there. I vaguely recall some conversation on the monorail from strangers about airplanes and New York but wasn't paying much attention.

Once inside the park, we rented a stroller and I walked into the baby changing station to get Nicolas a new diaper. When I came out, Frank informed me they were closing the park.

"They don't CLOSE the Magic Kingdom" I told him. Yet, they sure were and as we got bits and pieces of info about what was happening in the rest of the country, I was in a bit of a panic. I remember hearing that there were several planes that were unaccounted for and I remember thinking how perfect Disney would be as a target. It was scary to think about. We walked back to our hotel room and Frank's parents met us there not too long afterwards.

There, in our hotel room at the Happiest Place on Earth, we watched the events of the morning and day unfold. It was terrible. Hearing about the attack at the Pentagon was even more frightening, as my mom was working in Washington, DC, at the time. I called my dad who said she was trying to get home, but as you can guess that was no easy task. I didn't hear until much later that evening that she had arrived home safely but she had to catch a ride with somebody else out of the city and my dad had to go pick her up.

I can remember walking through the lobby of the Contemporary later as we got food and hearing people at the front desk crying, talking about how they needed to get home.

Of course, knowing that we were scheduled to fly out on Friday of that week, we also wondered how easy that would be especially as the days following the attacks had airports in such a disarray.

Despite all of this, we did have a lovely trip. It was even extended another day for free, but not for the reasons we expected. That Thursday evening Hurricane Gabriella came into town and that had our flight for Friday cancelled. Disney put us up in the room for one more night for free. We used the free park pass we got on September 11th, the day we had to leave the park, to go back to the Magic Kingdom one last time that trip. It was a perfect day, weather was perfect and crowds were light. We couldn't have asked for more.