[Duchess]

Who: Me - 38 year old Disney Mom, 41 year old Disney Dad, 6.5 year old Disney Daughter and 2.5 year old Disney Son.

From: Holland, Michigan

When: March 14 thru March 21

The Plan: I had a friend who traveled to WDW in February. I became so envious of her, so I called Northwest Airlines and WHAT LUCK! I found two frequent flyer tickets from Grand Rapids to Orlando March 14/March 21!!!! We have tons of FF miles, and it has been difficult to redeem them. I felt this was a sign that a trip was in order!!! I got on the phone with Mouseketrips. Keith helped me book a room at the Polynesian (my dream resort). He really got me a great deal with his expertise. Ended up getting an annual pass to get an AP discount. We decided to stay a week this time. Usually we stay for a shorter time, but regret it. So, I only had six weeks to plan but I sure had fun with all the planning details. And it really paid off once we got down there.


DAY ONE
TUESDAY MARCH 14, 2006
TRAVEL

Our flight was scheduled to leave Grand Rapids, MI at 7:03 pm. My daughter went to afternoon Kindergarten, and as soon as she got off the bus we grabbed a quick dinner and then headed to the airport. In the car over there I remembered that I forgot to put the Magical Express tags on the suitcases – blond moment! But no worries, we got them on at the airport.

The flight went very smoothly. It is a PAIN to have a layover in Detroit! We got into Orlando a few minutes early at 11:40 pm. We headed down to catch the Magical Express. It was more crowded than I thought it would be so late! But as we were about to find out, EVERYTHING was crowded. We had to wait about 25 minutes for the shuttle. This woman ahead of us was seriously complaining about the wait. I figured if we had to wait for our luggage and wait for a rental car it would take MUCH longer than 25 minutes. I thought ME went very smoothly.

The driver of our shuttle was very nice. But not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He said some of the funniest (not intentionally) things! For example, as we were driving past the MK parking he told us that deer often jump in front of his van. He said, “They either come from the left side of the road or the right side of the road.” I wanted to ask him if they ever fell from the sky. He was sweet and helpful, so I shouldn’t make fun.

We got to the Poly at 1:15. My kids were doing great for it being so late! Upon check-in the CM told us they were COMPLETELY full. Mouseketrips made a room request for me. We wanted the Rapa Nui building because it is close to the TTC and it is remodeled. We also wanted a 2nd or 3rd floor room What we got was COMPLETELY opposite! We got the Tuvalu building which is on the GF side, and non-remodeled room on the 1st floor! I was a bit disappointed, but what do you do at 1:30 in the morning. I just wanted a bed.

Once we got to the room, the kids just geeked out! They loved the room. But then I noticed that there was no refrigerator and I had brought some perishables in a small ice chest. I called down to the front desk and they brought one up IMMEDIATELY! As well as our luggage. We had a tough time settling the kids down, and it wasn’t until 3:00 am that they fell asleep. We expected this and planned to sleep in the next morning.

I'll be posting a thread for each day of the trip. WARNING: I get a bit detailed (ie LONG WINDED!).

[Duchess]

DAY TWO
WEDNESDAY MARCH 15, 2006
MAGIC KINGDOM

After getting to sleep at 3:00 am, we woke up at around 9:15. Not even close to the amount of sleep the kids usually get, but we felt great to be at WDW! We had ADR’s for 1900 Park Fare, so we got ready and off we went. We stopped by the gift shop at the Poly to pick up a new autograph book. My daughter chose a princess book with picture holders. I planned on only having one book to simplify the autograph process, but my 2 year old DS had his own idea. I had bought a small Buzz Light year journal at Walgreen’s before we left and he used this as his autograph book the rest of the trip. He had to be part of the action!

We jumped on the monorail and headed to the GF and 1900 Park Fare. DS was very excited to have Breakfast with Pooh! We were seated right away. The food was good. The kids loved the Mickey waffles. I was in serious need of the coffee! Pooh, Tigger, Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins visited our table. Mary was the coolest! She had some great lines to share with us! My husband got a picture with her and I told her he thought he was Bert. I am a serious scrapbooker, and when we left I asked the hostess if they had any menus or business cards I could take for my scrapbook (I have used menus in the past and they make great additions to the scrapbook). She didn’t have anything like this, but she gave us these AMAZING laminated 1900 Park Fare place mats. She gave us three. They are soooooo beautiful!!!

After breakfast, my DH realized he forgot to take his medicine. We needed to go back to the Poly to retrieve it. We decided to walk back to the Poly. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we had a great stroll back to the hotel. We grabbed his meds and headed to the MK via the monorail.

Before we left, we picked up a new umbrella stroller at Toys R Us. The Toys R Us in our hometown was going out of business, so we got a umbrella stroller for $10!!! We already owned an umbrella stroller, so each child now had one. THIS WAS THE BEST DECISION WE MADE! We zoomed these strollers around the parks all week. And we didn’t have to wait in lines for strollers and didn’t have to incur the rental costs. My six year old fit comfortably in the umbrella stroller, and the two year old was able to get in and out of his on his own.

Once at MK, I had to activate my annual pass. Didn’t take too long, but the kids were ready to get in there and have some fun! The security check was kind of a pain all week. I have a backpack with about 100 different compartments. But I got really good at “prepping” the backpack prior to security search by unzipping the compartments for the search. DH would stroll the kids through the “no bags” line. Again, we had the process down pat by the end of the week!

Once inside MK, we were immediately greeted by a lot of characters. The “main” character lines were HUGE! Since we knew we would be seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald at Character meals we decided to jump in the shorter lines. My DD loves Chip and Dale so we got in this line first. She has recently lost her two front teeth, so her smile looks A LOT like Dale’s! She showed her teeth to Dale and he thought that was soooo funny! Then we stood in a short line to get Gedeon’s autograph and picture too. Since my kids are the perfect age for character greetings, we spent a lot of time this trip getting autographs and pictures.

We headed down Main Street. The sights and smells just made me feel like I was home. I thought the 50th Anniversary Castle was beautiful, but DH didn’t care too much for it. The crowds were pretty bad -especially around the hub. We were headed to fastpass Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. My DH started to make his way through the awful congestion around the Castle. I said, “Follow ME!” And I headed to Noodle Station. I remember reading at DisneyCentral that this is a shortcut to Tomorrowland. My DH started saying, “Where are you going? We need to go this way!” But he followed and was impressed that I knew a way to navigate around the crowds! For the rest of the trip, if I used a tip I learned at DC he would say “Another Noodle Station!” It was too funny!

We got to Buzz and grabbed a fastpass. We had an hour before we could redeem it, so we headed to ToonTown. We waited in line (about 20 minutes) for Goofy’s Barnstormer. DD loves this ride, but I was concerned it was too much for 2 year old DS. I was right! He got scared, but he was OK. We let them play in Donald’s boat and the play area. This got them out of the strollers and have some exercise time.

We then headed back to Buzz. I gave them some snacks and juice from the backpack. It was so nice to have snacks throughout the week! My little boy is in LOVE with Buzz and Woody. Woody was his favorite, but now Buzz is! He had a great time shooting lasers at Zurg. We ended up riding this ride 10 times during our week at WDW!

After we got off the ride, Buzz was standing outside signing autographs with a very small wait. DS was in awe! It was too cute to watch him with his hero! We fastpassed Buzz again.

We headed to Fantasyland. We rode It’s a Small World. Both kids loved it! Then we caught Mickey’s Philharmagic. DD was starting to show fatigue and got a little weepy. We promised her a coke (she never gets coke) with lunch. This is my favorite 3-D show, and the kids loved it. We ran back to Buzz to use our fastpasses. Again, we rode this ride A LOT!

We were now ready for a meal. We all wanted burgers. We went to Cosmic Ray’s, but the lines were long and it was kinda gross in there! I said, let’s go to Peco’s Bills! So we headed to Frontierland. It was worth the long walk! I love that darn cheese sauce!

After bathroom breaks, we headed out. Pirate’s of the Caribbean is closed for refurbishment, but we caught Captain Hook and Smee out front for pics. Captain Hook was so funny. The man in front of us was taking pics of Hook and his kids and he said “Say PETER PAN!” Hook acted angry and kicked him out of the line. It was a hoot! We coached DS to raise his arm and say “AARGH!” when he met Hook. Hook seemed thrilled about this!

Next we stopped into the Tiki Room. DS was enthralled! He wanted to do it again RIGHT NOW! But we lured him away with Aladdin’s Carpets. Big hit, except the camel squirted DH good!

My DS has been talking about “the Ghost’s house” for weeks, so we thought it was a good time for Haunted Mansion. My DD used to love this ride, but she has been saying she didn’t want to ride it! This is the girl who looooves Tower of Terror, but thinks Haunted Mansion is too scary! But once we were there, she gave in. I loved sitting with my DS in the doom buggy – he was a bit scared so he wanted to sit in my lap. It was so cute!

After HM, we headed over to Splash Mountain. We measured DS, but he was one inch too short. The CM gave him this cool Splash Mountain card to “bring back when he’s taller to ride.” Again, the scrapbooker in me has other plans for this ticket! DD and I rode. There was a huge group of college boys in the log ahead of us. They were whooping it up! And during the middle of the ride, the two boys in the last seat GOT OUT OF THE LOG, jumped on the platform where the characters are and took pictures of the others! I was shocked! And when we went to see our pictures, they were very pleased with themselves to see their pic was “censored.” I don’t know what they did, but I’m sure it wasn’t very “Disney Friendly!!”

My DD wanted to start collecting pins. So we stopped by the Mercantile in Frontierland. Each of our children got a lanyard and pins. Of course, DD picked a Chip and Dale pin and DD picked (you guessed it) a Buzz Lightyear!

The Spectro Magic Parade was starting, so we grabbed a curb and watched. I broke out more snacks and they really enjoyed the parade. The Big Bad Wolf stopped right in front of us and rubbed his tummy while pointing to the three little pigs. It was so funny!

We headed back to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan. Not too long of a wait, fortunately, and both kids loved it. Especially seeing Captain Hook and the crocodile!

The park was closing and we were all tired, so we headed out. As we were walking under the Railroad, several CM’s with big Mickey gloves on were standing on the platform. They held up signs that read “See ya real soon!” It was cool!

Catching the monorail back to the Poly was so easy. I just love the location of this resort!

Kids in bed, mom & dad took showers and we fell asleep immediately anticipating our next day at MGM Studios.

Crowd levels at the MK: Moderate. Fastpasses saved us, but we rode Splash Mountain with only a 15 minute wait.

Best Thing: Watching my DS. This is the first trip he has really gotten in to!

Worst Thing: Being tired from our very late arrival the night before.

Disappointment: Perhaps our room at the Poly, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Weather: Fantastic. High 70’s with a slight breeze. Sure beats the snow in Michigan!

What I would do differently this day: Not a thing. It was perfect.

[Bride042206]

LOVE IT!!! More more

[llama]

Boy do I need a trip report fix! I'm glad you're long-winded. I need every detail! Great start!! (I'd laugh a the driver too ) Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[KarenT]

How funny my 6 y/o DD is the same way loves ToT, SM and Splash Mountian, but is afraid of HM....must be a 6 y/o thing. Glad to read you had a great time!

[missy H]

Great TR, I makes me want to go back now!

[llama]

Great report! Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

[tiggerlover1971]

great trip report so far cant wait to hear more

[Experiment6-2-6]

Originally Posted by Duchess

We had a tough time settling the kids down, and it wasn’t until 3:00 am that they fell asleep. We expected this and planned to sleep in the next morning.

Wow. I don't know how you do it. I reach pumpkin time at about 9:00 p.m.

[Experiment6-2-6]

Originally Posted by Duchess

My little boy is in LOVE with Buzz and Woody. Woody was his favorite, but now Buzz is! He had a great time shooting lasers at Zurg. We ended up riding this ride 10 times during our week at WDW!

After we got off the ride, Buzz was standing outside signing autographs with a very small wait. DS was in awe! It was too cute to watch him with his hero! We fastpassed Buzz again.

I agree! Buzz and shooting lasers at the Evil Emperor Zurg was the ride we went on over and over. Came real close to becoming Galactic Heros. But we had to settle for Cosmic Commandos.

[nursepammi]

aaaaah.. gooooood tripppp reeeepoorrtttt ..... :p Details are GOOD! Can't wait to hear the rest!

[Dopey]

great, I an off to read your second installment of the TR. Thank!!!

[Dopey]

how nice, great report.
I cannot believe that people actually get out of those logs and onto the stages. Seeing that would have really irked me!
Didn't I read that some time ago a man did something stupid like that and got killed on Splashmountain?

[Dana]

Loving this report. PLease keep all your days together in one thread though please. It's easier to read. I have merged them for you and changed your title. Keep it coming! I can't wait to read on.

[Jess]

Originally Posted by Experiment6-2-6

I agree! Buzz and shooting lasers at the Evil Emperor Zurg was the ride we went on over and over. Came real close to becoming Galactic Heros. But we had to settle for Cosmic Commandos.

I read somewhere that if you just hold the trigger down for the entire ride you get the highest rank.. but that could be on Men In Black.