[Jen]

Day 1 ~ A day of Endless Travel

Day 1 pictures: http://www.jensfamily.com/disneyday1.html

Cast: Stu & Me
My children Nik, Valerie, Zoe & Matty
Nadia, Tommy, their daughter, Rio and Nadia’s Father, Matti (hereinafter “Pops”)

Where we went: LaGuardia Airport, Stu’s parents house in Port St. Lucie and Ohana’s for Dinner

Where we stayed: Wyndam Palms in Kissimmee

Breakfast: Bagels at Hess Station at 3 am ($15) Airport Burger King ($25)
Lunch: Lasagna & Salad at Stu’s Parents ($0)
Dinner: Ohana ($287 with cake)

What we discovered: It takes a lot longer to get from Port St. Lucie to Kissimmee, never trust internet rental companies, Route 95 looks just like the Jersey Parkway with palm trees.

What we liked: The house we got instead of the one we thought we were getting, Song Airlines, LaGuardia Airport (despite everyone’s horror stories)

What we didn’t like: too many surprises at check in, the long drive from Palm Beach International to Kissimmee (2 hours 45 minutes)

Souvenirs we got: Stu surprised me with a pink princess hat I was admiring at the Poly. He gave it to me just before we left and I wore it all week.


I tried to fall asleep the night before, but I was so excited, I got about 45 minutes of shut-eye before the alarm went off. No problem getting the kids up. We loaded the car and pulled out of the driveway at 2:30 on schedule. We met up with Tommy (T) Nadia (N) Rio (R) & Pops (P) in Jersey and headed to LaGuardia. Nice airport, I was a bit nervous due to a lot of negative things I’ve heard about it. Curbside check in and we were at the gate by 5:30am. Had breakfast, the kids enjoyed seeing the planes takeoff. The plane was great! I will definitely fly Song again. The kids love their individual TV’s. We let Nik rent I, Robot for $5, he enjoyed it and since he’s a bit prone to motion sickness, anything to keep him comfortable.

We left New York, it was 28 degrees, and we arrived in WPB to beautiful sunny skies, around 80 degrees at about 9:40 am. Right over to the Dollar Rental counter ~ guess what our two choices of car were? Mitsu Montero Limited or a Chrysler Pacifica ~ the two cars we own. We choose matching Pacificas and headed to Port St. Lucie to see Stu’s parents, about 45 minutes away.

There house was beautiful and lunch was wonderful. The kids had fun playing with the cats, Nik, recovering from the plane ride fell asleep for 2 hours. Back on the road around 3 pm a little behind schedule. Here is were my day starts to fall apart…

We were supposed to check in around 4pm. Ok, we called said we would be late. We figured we’d check in, shower and head right to Ohana’s for our 7:10 seating. Well, it took forever to find the rental office, which was not even the place we had been in contact with for 4 months. We sit down at the office (at 5:30) to find out that Fanfare Properties (the place we thought we were renting through) doesn’t actually rent the properties and that the actual company Contempo (great people) have been having problems with Fanfare. We had a lot of problems at check in ~ I’ll spare you. I lost it twice at the office (now remember, at this point I’ve been awake for about 36 hours) We finally leave for our mystery house 25 minutes from the office ~ we get lost, Stu and I start bickering, it’s after 6pm, I panic about Ohana. I called WDW Dine and they were wonderful about us rescheduling our PS to 8:30pm. We finally find the house and we were WOWED ~ this place was amazing ~ far better than the house we were told we would be renting. It had 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and the community it was in was beautiful! Tommy threw all the kids in the pool fully dressed! Then proceeded to throw Nadia in Pops and I were the only ones to remain dry. Ok ~ rush, rush, we’re off to Ohana

Our dinner was wonderful. The highlight of the day. While we were waiting for our table, we caught the end of wishes ~ the castle was beautiful! The food was excellent ~ I even ate shrimp and they had the best Pina Colada I ever had! The kids really had a great time participating in the games and us adults enjoyed the peace at the table. The watched the light parade in the lagoon which is one thing I did with my grandma at night at the Poly years ago. When it was time for the cake, the entire restaurant sang happy birthday to Nik and Pops (P’s 81st birthday was 2 days before) and one of the servers gave Nik Mickey ears!

We hung around the Poly for a while. This place always gets me emotional. It’s still as I remember it as a kid. Everything, from the waterfall to the torches burning outside ~ one day I’ll be able to afford to stay there with all the kids for ONE NIGHT, LOL!

Back to the house and P stayed with the sleeping kiddies as Stu N & T and I hunted around Rt. 192 for some groceries. The 4 of us were so deliriously tired, it was a hysterical trip. Not that we found any groceries ~ we fell into bed around 11:30 pm.

I have to say; the most fun that first day, aside from Ohana’s was Nadia’s father. He is kept us laughing all day, kept the mood light.

[Dana]

Love the pictures. Report is great so far. sorry for the hassle with checking in, but am thrilled you were rewarded with a beautiful rental in the end. I can't wait to read more and of course look at more of those great pictures.

[Erin]

Jen! I love the pictures!! I am loving this report!!!! Loving it!

[disneyguy]

I love the TR. SOOOOOOOOOOO detailed. WOW. Glad to hear that the airline end went well, and that you got the rental stuff taken care of.

[dznygrl]

Jen--
I can't wait for more of your report!! It's GREAT!!!! I can't imagine how you dealt with check-in hassles when you'd already been awake for more than 24 hours. When I've been awake that long, stay outta my way! *growl*

And looking at your worst/best list, I can't BELIEVE the breakfast at Ponderosa is still $3.99!!! That was the unbelievably low price when my family went back in 2000, and it's a fantastic buffet! Whoa. How do they make any money?? DH and I found a reputable company that will actually rent a car to us even though we're only 20, so if we end up with a car I think we will definitely eat at the Ponderosa.

More TR, please!

[DougiesMommy]

What a rental house!!! And despite the long tired day it was great to see such smiles on everyone faces.

[lisalovesmickey]

Love the TR and LOVE the pics. Can't wait to read more!

Lisa

[cinderbella]

wow!!! that house is gorgeous--
sounds like day one was excellent! i love this trip report....and im glad you were there for so long so we'll have a nice fat trip report to read!!!!
glad your back!

[Leigh]

Love your trip report so far. The rental house looks beautiful.

You have a great looking family. Can't wait to read the rest of trip report.

[PrincessJill]

Aww what a great TR!! I love your highlights... please post Day2 soon!! :)

[jedijson]

AWESOME so far! Can't wait to see the rest!!!!!

[Jen]

Day 2 ~ Magical Magic Kingdom

Day 2 pictures: http://www.jensfamily.com/disneyday2.html

Cast: Stu & Me
My children Nik, Valerie, Zoe & Matty
Nadia, Tommy, their daughter, Rio

Where we went: The Magic Kingdom, got there around 11am ~ very light crowds all day

Weather: Mid 80’s, breezy and partly cloudy

Breakfast: Store bought bagels and Coco Puffs ($15)
Lunch: Snacked all day on stuff we brought with us and some MK Popcorn ($10)
Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern ($197)

What we discovered: A group of 9 moves slowly through MK ~ lots of potty breaks

What we liked: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Buzz and Wishes

What we didn’t like: Stitch’s Great Escape. Too much total darkness for certain members of our group ~ a bit boring, but glad we did it

Souvenirs we got: A few T-shirts off site at a fraction of the cost, postcards, a hat for Stu (which he lost by day 4) and the kids shared an invisible dog they named “Magic” from outside Haunted Mansion

I got up early and sat beside the pool to watch the sun rise then woke Nadia around 7:30am. Since we didn’t get any groceries the night before, we headed off to Publix. We split the bill of $180 for food, was impressed with service at the store (we were escorted to the car!) and headed quickly back to the house to get the kids ready. Pops decided to stay at the house and enjoy the sun and the pool for the day, so the 9 of us headed to MK after a stop at one of the souvenir shops on Rt. 192 for Disney pens for the kids for autographs.

Disney property was only a 4 mile drive from where we were staying, which was very convenient. We reached MK’s empty parking lot around 10:30 am, picked up our Magic Your Way tickets at the will call window and headed to the Monorail. It was a special ride for me ~ I love the monorail! I pointed out everything for the kids and they loved that fact that we went right through the Contemporary.

After a stroll down Main Street, we headed to Tomorrow Land. No lines for Stitch so we did that first ~ grabbed unnecessary FP’s for Space Mtn. (just wanted to use the system) and then did COP ~ (the kids continued to sing “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow….” for the next 8 days) and headed to Buzz. I scored over 500,000 points. Stu scored 78,000. He was impressed with me. After Buzz, it was off to the People Mover ~ I had no intention of even trying to talk Stu into doing Space Mountain ~ but he was curious after riding through a portion of it on the People Mover ~ so it was off to Space Mtn. Not only did Stu ride, but so did Tommy (another land lover) and Matty! (who was dizzy on Buzz!) Stu and Tommy hated it ~ Matty was so impressed with himself for getting on an “adult” ride; he was game for anything for the rest of the trip! Stu and I stayed with the kids while Nadia, Nik and Tommy rode again and I sat and people watched while Stu took the kids on Buzz again. This time Stu scored 100 points ~

Both the Astro Orbiter and the Timekeeper were closed and the line was long for the Speedway (which I had to talk the kids out of too many times this trip ~ why is the ling so long for that ride ~ its dreadfully boring?!?) so it was off to Fantasy Land where we encountered longest line of the day (10 minutes) a the Tea Cups ~ Stu and Matty and I were smushed into one cup (are these cups smaller than they used to be or am I just bigger, lol?) We FP’d Pooh since there was a bit of a wait and went to do Snow White. It’s about this time that I realize that Fantasy Land looks like a construction zone. They were actively working on the area next to Ariel’s Grotto, Dumbo is closed until February and IASW is closed till spring. We headed next to Cinderella’s Carousel were we had a blast, who knew?!?

Some members of our party were a bit hungry, and even thought it was about 3pm and our PS at LTT was not even an hour away, I took the girls to see Princess Aurora while Tommy and Stu got some hotdogs. Well, those pesky seagulls were up to no good, ‘cause no sooner did Tommy step out of the QSL with that giant hotdog, they swept down and stole it right out of his hands! The lady just behind him (balancing a full tray, holding on to a toddler and pushing a loaded stroller ~ where was her husband???) got attacked next, he whole tray flying to the ground. It was quite a spectacle.

Well, somebody didn’t get her hotdog ~ which mad the mood somber at best on the long wait to see Ariel. What a waste of space I say and the girls were hot and tired of waiting by the time they got to see her. Plus the kids thought I was the worst mommy in the world because I wouldn’t let them play in the water outside Ariel, but since it was just before dinner, I didn’t want them to be wet. We moved on to use our FP’s for Pooh ~ my first time. I liked the bouncing Tigger part.

Dinnertime ~ over to LTT. We were early and got seated as soon as they started serving. The kids got a kick out of hearing our names called and the state we were from. Our server, Susan, was excellent. Dale was the first to visit the table, and then Pluto (whom Nadia kept calling Goofy ~ much to Pluto’s dismay) followed by Minnie Mouse. Now, I’ve never seen such a sight as I did right there at LTT. Minnie was walking over to our table, stopped dead in her tracks and hopped on one foot. Puzzle, we watched. She started to shake her leg and guess what came falling down, right there in front of us? Her Pantaloons!! Well, Minnie was very embarrassed to say the least, grabbed her unmentionables and ran off. We were hysterical laughing at this point! She did come back a bit later to sign autographs and take pictures and give Nik a big kiss. Pluto and Goofy spent a lot of time at our table and all the characters loved Nik’s hair, which was spiked very high ~ it was great. I was so afraid he would be board by the characters, but he loved every minute of it ~ thank goodness he’s still got a little boy inside of him.

Dinner was excellent, we were all too stuffed to move, but we rolled ourselves out of LTT and went to Haunted Mansion. No wait at all, and at dusk, this place is creepy ~ too creepy for certain members of our party. I enjoyed it anyway. Splash Mountain was next on our list, so we walked over and walked on. Matty & Val didn’t want to brave it, so Stu stayed with them. That was my first time on Splash Mtn. I loved it! It’s a nice long ride too. The view of the castle at the top is amazing!

Afterwards, it was time to find a spot for Wishes. We walked slowly towards Main Street, which had gotten very crowded. We found a spot in the middle of Main Street and watched the show. Oh, did I get chills when I saw Tinkerbell! Talk about Disney Magic.

After the show, we went to the Camera Shop to see our pictures from the morning. We hung out there for a while waiting for the crowds to die down then headed for the Monorail. We reached home just before 9:30 and I let the kids take a dip in the pool since it was so hot. I even joined them. Tucked them in around 10:30 ~ very late for them.

A perfect MK day despite the slow moving and the seagulls.

[roxie]

Originally Posted by stusbabydoll

What we discovered: A group of 9 moves slowly through MK ~ lots of potty breaks

Never thought about that!!

Fun trip report...Love the details.

(I love the Haunted Mansion, too - one of my favorites.)

[Erin]

Your trip report is SOOOO awesome!! I love it!

[EmpressJenny]

The seagulls at MK are psychotic! Someone has to do something about it! Did you go back and get another hotdog? The nice man gave me another ice cream for free, I hope they did the same for you! We need to carry pea shooters for our own protection!