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.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
9 Days to Go - Dining Plan Here We Come!
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.
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.
Monday, October 22, 2007
24 Days to Go - Special Events
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.
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.
Monday, October 15, 2007
31 Days to Go - Disney Planning Spreadsheet
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
37 Days to Go - Character Meals
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
43 Days to Go - My daughter's first Disney trip
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
52 Days to Go - My very first Disney trip
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.
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.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
57 Days to Go - My First Disney trip as an adult review
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.
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.
Monday, September 17, 2007
SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING
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.
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.
Friday, September 14, 2007
63 Days to Disney
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!
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!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Disney Question of the Week: Where should I stay at Walt Disney World?
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
64 Days until Disney Trip 2007
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.
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.
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