[Val32]

I made it back from my 1st trip to WDW and what a great time it was!!

Saturday 10/30 - We all got off to the airport with no problems, despite the many bags we brought along!
However, we get to Orlando and are waiting for our luggage... and waiting.... and waiting.... and waiting...
It appears USAIR never put any of our bags on our flight!!!! Grrrrrrrrrr!
The only thing that they would tell us is that the belt broke (BS!) and they are down on staff!! (yeah, cutbacks from their bankruptcy action!). The next message we got was that maybe our bags might be on the next flight in from Philly due to arrive about 3pm or so (we arrived at 1:42pm)... so we wait, wait and wait again... while there are 5 flights coming in on this same carousel. It's almost 3:30 and our bags come up but not quite.... we got 3 out of 6 bags!!! My mom got all her things, and my daughter got her suitcase with her costumes in it. But her and I had no clothes or toiletries items. We wait around again because they said the bags could be coming up on the next flight, and they also suggested that we fill out a lost baggage claim which we did before the 3 bags had arrived. We did that and waited a little longer till I was extremely fed up and we finally left. I found the Alamo ticket counter, grabbed the last car left and headed out to our hotel (it is now after 5pm and we had PS @ Ohana's @ 6:20pm). I race to the hotel, check in and bring our bags to the room and then head to the Poly for dinner. After taking a couple wrong turns and driving around the parking lot lookin for a space, we run to the podium @ Ohana's and it's a long line and 6:30pm!! I told 1 of the guys what happened and they said no problem and we were seated after maybe a 10min wait!!!!
The food was all so good (1st meal we had all day and were also exhausted from our escapade at the airport). They had some food to start us out with, some delicious bread, salad, chicken wings, green beans, rice, and I forget what else then they brought out the skewered meats. Everything was good and my mom liked the food too!!! My DD ate the food with no problem too, what a relief!! They later brought out dessert, and I order a special dessert and my daughter did the coconut race and hula hoops.
After dinner, we visited the shops upstairs which had some great merch. then we walked outside towards the beach to catch the fireworks. It was 8:30pm and still warm!!!! People were still in the pool!!!
We found a beach chair and watched Wishes!!! Even though we couldnt hear the music we had a great view of the fireworks and saw a little show on the water afterwards which was awesome too!!!!
We went back to our hotel and we got the rest of our bags 11:30pm!!!! Finally!!!

[Dana]

Oh Val! What a way to start your trip. I am so sorry about your bags. See, I wasn't being mean about US Air..they are horrible. Glad your day ended perfectly with wishes in the sky and the bags at your room. Cant' wait to read the rest. I have been patiently waiting for this report.

[Jen]

Sorry to hear about your problems with your luggage, but looks like it turned out ok. Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR.

Jen

[tinkerbell]

See I have valid reasons for not liking to fly and what you went through is one of them!!!
but It does sound like a wonderful ending to a bad start !!

[cj2004]

Val,

Sorry to hear about the bags...ohhhh...what a pain! Glad to hear you had a nice dinner at Ohanna's:)

[Val32]

Thanks everyone!!
On to to finish my report, I started it this morning at work and didn't get to finish!

Day 2 Sunday - Halloween-
We started off at Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, running late again due to my DM, she is very difficult to get out in the morning. Anyways, after we checked in my DD got in line for a pic an auto. from Mary Poppins and Bert. We then were seated and my DD saw Pooh, Tigger, Pluto and Alice walking around the restaurant. She then got nervous as the drew near to our table (she has always been afraid of characters in costumes). We went to the bathroom and she was almost in tears, I gave her a lil pep talk and told her to give them a hug and she would get over her fear.
Well, Pluto was the 1st to visit our table and she did what I said and she was cured!!!! She gave Pluto a hug, got his autograph and took a pic with him and even talked with him!!!!! I enjoyed this restaurant, thought they had good food selections and nice atmosphere. After Breakfast, I drove to the MK. I park my car and head up to the gate (thinking it's the main entrance and soon had a puzzled look on my face). We soon found out we had to get on the Ferry to get to the entrance to the park!!! LOL
We all got to the park and were very excited, it was Halloween and we were at Disney World!!!!!!
The 1st thing I did was got the Emporium and pick up my Pal Mickey!
We took pictures of the castle and went to Fantasyland first!! I rode all the rides with my DD while my DM held my stuff. My DM did go on the Snow White ride with us. We made are way through the park, went on the tea cups LOL and met the White Rabbit. I stopped at a stand to buy my DD her first Princess Lanyard and pin set! and she ran off for Belle's Storybook reading and when I made my way in, I found my DD on stage as Mrs Potts!!!!!!! I took alot of pic's of her and then we went to Toon fair went to Minnie and Mickey's houses (this was soo much fun!!!) and then went to the Tent to meet ARIEL!! I RAN onto the middle line, not clearly reading the sign above because I was soo excited, and found out we were on line for Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (by this time my DD was a PRO when it came to the Auto. Book, holding her page with her pen and Pic taking! LOL One of the CM told me which line ARIEL was and we or I LOL ran out and ran in the line to meet Ariel. (I was 1st on line for everything! LOL My daughter got to talk to Ariel for a few minutes after her pic and auto. and she told Ariel that she was going to Ariel for Halloween and that she is her fav. and asked her how long the grotto would be closed for.
We left toontown got on the railroad and got off the main entrance. It was now about 4:30 and we had a PS for the Crystal Palace @ 5:30 so I suggested that we go back to the car and get the bag of our costumes. It was too hot to wear them the whole day with the temp. nearly 90!!! My DM decided to stay behind with my DD and see the show @ the castle. I jumped on the Ferry then got on the tram to my car and took the monorail back, running the whole way and I get to the main entrance and dont see my DM or DD anywhere!!!!!!!!! I rushed to the castle and another show was going on and you couldnt find a needle in a haystack!! I then ran to the the CP looking to see if they were waiting for me there and they were nowhere to be found!! I told 1 of the CM's my situation and she said if I could make it back b4 6pm they would seat us. I then ran around again to all the spots (toting a heavy backpack and big bag of costumes), sweating from the heat and from being nervous, I finally ended up at City Hall and explained that I had my DM and DD"s halloween tickets and the park was closing, we started to type a page when I got a call on my cell phone from the CP!!! 1 of the CMs called to tell me my DD and DM were there waiting for us, I rushed over and they were INSIDE waiting for me and my DD broke down in tears worried she would never see me again! I was upset too. We had dinner and then got into our costumes and our waiter was soo nice he gave us drinks to go!!! he then told us to get my daughter to the entrance to get a pic with ALL the characters, a rare chance... it was Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet!! We got a picture and left!!! It was about 7:15 and the halloween party had already started! We made our way to Tomorrowland and got to ride STITCH"S GREAT ESCAPE!!!!!!! It was not as great as I hoped, some of the seats weren't working (the bars wouldnt come down), obviously the ride wasn't 100% finished. We found some trick or treat spots (hard to find at first and they are scattered), found the picture spot, got our group pic taken (it arrived home b4 us and Iam the only one with my eyes open! ) and headed over towards the Haunted Mansion, which my DD liked!! And went to 2 more trick or treating spots, walked back and stopped on the bridge to catch the fireworks (great again!!) and then my DD begged us to go home, she was 1/2 asleep by 9pm!! We watched the very COOL halloween parade and went home!!
It was a GREAT day despite us losing each other! (always make a meeting place in case you get lost in this big park!! Just don't pick the castle because it gets very crowded!!)
I loved all the decorations at the Park and thought they did a VERY Good job!!
I woulda loved to stay longer, maybe next time!!

[Val32]

Day 3 - MGM Studios. I must say I was disappointed with this park thought there would be more rides. The line for Beauty and the Beast was too long so we missed that. I went on the Aerosmith ride and Tower of Terror, OMG!!! Whooooo! We saw the Ariel attraction, the Muppets, we went on the Great Movie Ride, tried to return my Pal Mickey because it wasn't working! (it kept vibrating and saying OH GOSH!) The CM reset it and it seemed to be working... We then had dinner at H&V and went to see Fantasmic! What a Awesome show!!!!!!!!!! I loved it!!


Day 4-
We started off with the Epcot PS Princess Storybook Breakfast @ EPCOT. I told my DM the PS was 1/2 hr earlier than it really was! hehehehe... So we got there ON time, LOL My DD had her Princess Aurora costume on and broughter her doll with her and had a princess hat that I bought the day before. She looked so cute!! Almost all the Princess were there. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan and Belle I think. My DD loved them all!!!! And as usual everyone was gracious to my DD and called her Princess Aurora!
The breakfast was brought to our table, pretty good I think and after breakfast we headed over to Animal Kingdom because they close early. I literally ran around the park picking 1 attraction out of each land. My first stop was Dinoland USA where we rode Dinosaur, even my DM went on and told the CM afterwards that she left her Breakfast behind! LOL! We then went on the tricera top spin ride, and headed over to Asia and went on the Kali rapids where my DM decided at the last minute to go on! She tried to put the poncho I had over her but it was too late, we were partially wet! We didn't get all that wet but it was fun and we were all laughing as the waves hit our boat! After we got off, I ran us over to Africa and got on the Kilimanjaro safari. Not as many animals as I thought they would have. The lion was hiding and the cheetah was in a distance We took lots of pics again and I ran us over to Camp Minnie/Mickey for our PS shows Pocahontas and then Lion King. I had PS because we were booked on the Princess/Prince Plan where we had a book of vouchers good at select shows for PS. You had to call at least 24hours ahead of time to get a res. The directions on the Pocahontas voucher said to get there 1/2 hr ahead time and present your voucher at the Entrance! We were there a 1/2 hr ahead of time and was standing there with the rest of the people, first on line then a CM came out and scooted us over to the Exit. We rushed over and were 1st on line and finally they let us in the theatre and the family behind us rushed past and took all the spots in the 1st row and then the mother got snippy with me and said the rest of the seats were reserved for her husband and son who were in the bathroom and that they were there in line ahead of us!! Grrrrrrr! I told her we were there too and waiting a 1/2 hour and I took the seat at the end, surely they didnt need the whole row! Also all the other people were piling in the threatre at the SAME time as us and took all the front seats, I found a seat for my DD in the middle KIDS section, first row (which was better than my reserved PS seat section). Afterwards we went over to Lion King and I told the CM our problem and he seated us in the LION section and we were seated as we shoulda been FIRST! Then the rest of the crowd. And they also called upon my DD to help out a few times!!!! The show was really Fantastic!!! Very colorful and the actors/actresses are very talented!!! 2 thumbs up!!! Afterwards, the park was closing and we had to leave!!! After we left I remembered I forgot to stop at the Tree of Life for Pictures!!!!!!
I bypassed it a few times thinking I had all day to do it, and If I had time I would do It's a Bug's Life last. Oh well! Next time for sure!!!
We then went back to EPCOT cuz they are open till 9pm, had dinner at The Grove (dining room rotates about Living with the Land). The Food is brought to your table and again was pretty good! We downstairs and went on Living with the Land! Fascinating show!!! Afterwards, alot of the other attractions were closed down, I went on Test Trak and we went to world showcase but my DM was walking too fast and we didnt stop to look at anything!
we then crossed over on the bridge after England and waited for Illuminations!!
Was a pretty good show! They had this globe which was difficult to see the images, but I liked it none the less.
I definately have to come back here and see the things I missed!
I enjoyed Epcot from what I did see of it!!

[Val32]

Day 5 - This was a free day for us which I decided to check out The Titanic Exhibit @ the Mercado after walking into Chef Mickey's with NO PS!!!. We did the Titantic exhibit which was very interesting, and then we headed to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the RainForest Cafe and then walked around the Marketplace and did a little bit of shopping. I had ice cream at the Ghiradelli Soda shop... let me just say... OMG!!!!!!!!! I had a sundae which was to die for and $7.00!!! After walking around I noticed my DD had a bathroom "problem" which I suspected to be a UTI, we left DD and found a Walgreens off-site and asked a pharmacist what I could give her and she suggested an After hours Pediatrics office which was really good! They gave her a Rx for an antibiotic and then we went home, it was now 11:30pm!

Day 6- Another free day. We had breakfast at the hotel, ventured off site to find a pharmacy to fill my DD's prescription and then we were off to Typhoon Lagoon!! Woohoo! We went to the wave pool while my DM sat down and waited for us, we then checked out the kid's section, My DD did the kids tube ride and the slides which I forced her on and she Loved them all!!! I took her back to my DM and I went on the Big Raft rides And then we left! We had dinner @ Chef Mickey's and then went back to DD to do DisneyQuest which was ok then back to the hotel.

[Val32]

Day 7 - We had breakfast at The Grand Floridian Cafe. Although the food was very good, we waited over a 1/2hr for our table. When we were finally seated it took forever for our drinks then our meal. The party next to us was seated right after us and was about done eating by the time we got out food!! I said something to somebody who looked like a manager and they said we only waited 15mins (whatever!) but took 10% off the bill.
We then jumped on the monorail and went back to MK starting in Adventure land, we went on the Aladdin ride, did the Tiki room, went on Pirates of the Caribbean and did the Swiss Family treehouse, Thunder Mountain (I sneaked my DD in line, hehehe) and also did the Country Bears Jamboree, watched the Parade while eating a Turkey Leg (the meat was too pink in the middle!) it was ok. Then went to Liberty and saw the President's, did the Riverboat cruise then back to the Grand Floridian on monorail for the Cinderella dinner @ 1900 Park Fare (Love their food!!!!!!!!!) and jumped back on the Monorail back to MK for more Fun! We had Fastpass tickets for Peter Pan so we did that and went to Tomorrowland while I went to Space Mountain (Wicked ride!!) and then we watched Wishes in front of the Castle, which I missed Tink in my picture! I didnt expect her to come out till the end! At least I saw her!!! And jumped back on the monorail to the GF to go back home!!!!! We left and I saw Mickey saying goodbye and I ran to out in front (outside the park) to get a good Pic of Mickey yelling "Wait!!!" Which somebody said: "Don't worry he's been saying goodbye for awhile now! We all waived and said goodbye to Mickey!

We had such a great time and my DD and I can NOT wait to go back!!!!!!!
I just wish we had more time to do everything, It seemed like we were always rushing to go somewhere or do something!

[Val32]

Day 8 - It was time to go home!!!!
we had breakfast at the hotel and then proceeded to the airport.
we arrived back home and had to wait over an hour for a luggage but we got every piece!! yeah!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention.....
I picked the CBR because I always wanted to stay there and liked the pool area and theme. However, out of the whole week we never got to go in the pool!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went outside to see the pool 1 day after breakfast on our way to the parks. Another day we went out and got my DD's hair wrapped!
Also I forgot to mention, that I book a standard room but requested a room near OPR. When we arrived at the hotel, I was tired hungry and upset about my baggage, I asked if they had anything near OPR and the CM gave me 2 options either Aruba or all the way in Jamaica South (I believe), it was either the 1st building in Aruba or the very last building of the resort in Jamaica or was it Trinidad? I dont remember right now. Before I left ck-in I asked the girl if something should become avail. near OPR to let me know and I will switch rooms. She told me to wait and went in the back to speak with a mgr. and when she returned I was moved to Martinique Bldg 21, for having a rough day!!!!!! The room was on the 2nd floor and I said I didn't care! Location, Location, Location! LOL
I wanted to take a walk around but never got around to it!
My DM complained there was no elevator in the building and you have to walk/drive to everything but I explained this is a resort and that's how it is!!!
I had no problems with my room or the hotel!! I would gladly stay there again!!!! I would just hope to have time to explore the hotel more!!!

[Val32]

Also I wanted to say the weather was soooooooooooooo Beautiful!!!
Got up to almost 90!!! And nice at nite too! I LOVED IT!!
It didnt get cool until the last 2 days of our trip. The last nite I was wearing a sweater and pants!
So needless to say all those clothes I brought, went to waste!!!! I filled my largest suitcase with DD's and I clothes we didnt end up wearing!!!! All pants and long sleeves and such!!! And I went over the 50lb weight limit which the ticket agent waived because I was soo aggravated trying to cart all the luggage around. He asked if I could shift the weight to another bag and I was like "all my bags are filled to capacity!!!!:
And after you put the luggage on the scale at the ticket counter you have to put your luggage back on your cart and dump them somewhere else!!! What a stupid system!!! What happened to leaving your bags at the ticket counter? Grrrrrr

Now it's in the 30's here!! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[MrDisneyfan1]

All in all sounds like a great time.
And don't worry about those pink turkey legs, there always that color. Not under cooked maybe just cured?

I hope we don't have luggage issues, flying this time also!
Was Pal Mickey worth the $$$, I have always been wanting to do that for my family...
Den

[Val32]

Originally Posted by MrDisneyfan1

All in all sounds like a great time.
And don't worry about those pink turkey legs, there always that color. Not under cooked maybe just cured?

I hope we don't have luggage issues, flying this time also!
Was Pal Mickey worth the $$$, I have always been wanting to do that for my family...
Den

I thought the turkey legs were a lil raw from the "pink" meat so I threw out the rest. Iam paranoid about eating undercooked meat. One of my friend's sisters wound up in the hospital because of that with kidney failure and got real sick!!

I dont think Pal mickey was worth it.
After the CM @ MGM reset it, it was working but then at times it would stop vibrating and didn't stop!!! LOL So I would turn it off. That happened a few times. The CM told me (after talking to her manager), that when I returned it to ask for credit for the 1st day I had it because it wasn't working right. I ended up paying for 1 day out of 3 though!!
It did tell you some facts, when I was @ AK it told me alot of facts, not much else. It did say a few things at MGM, like there was a short line at 1 of the attractions, but I would not rent it again!
I only got it because it was my 1st time there and wanted some useful info around the parks.
And if you have been at WDW b4, I would say definately not!

[MerlinMatt]

Val:

With all the anxiety you went through to get the MNSSHP tix, I'm glad you had a good time. It also sounds like DD did a little growing up too.

Thanks for the great TR. It's getting me even more in the mood.

[Leigh]

I am so sorry you had trouble with your luggage. But it sounds like you had a really good time though. Your trip report was great. I enjoyed reading it.