[Willbegone]

Well, y'all I am back from a most AWESOME trip at WDW. It was just what we all needed! Here is my trip report:

CAST:
Me - 28 yrs. old My mom - 50 yrs. old
DH - 28 yrs.old My dad - 59 yrs. old
DD - 3 1/2 yrs.old My uncle (mom's brother) 74 yrs old
My sister - 25 yrs. old My aunt - 70 I THINK?


Friday February 27:

My alarm goes off at 4:15AM, I turn it off and lay there for a minute to wake up. Then my brain wakes up and I realize I'm going to DISNEY TODAY! I get up get dressed, DH gets up and finishes up his packing. We get DD up and she is awake and not cranky, it helped that told her we were going to Disney World. So after all the morning routine is out of the way we leave at 5:20 AM to go pick up my aunt & uncle in Greenwood. We reach their house at approximately 5:50AM and are on the road by 6:05AM. The trip was uneventful and smooth. We arrived at the Hampton Inn - Orlando Convention Center at approximately 4:00PM. The actualy drive only takes about 8 - 8 1/2 hours but we stopped for breakfast and lunch and potty breaks. My, DH, and DD ordered Papa John's Pizza in the room while the rest of the gang went out to eat. DH was tired, he had flown in the night before from Ohio and reached home at like 11:00PM then got up at 4:15AM and drove to Orlando. We went to bed early in preparation for our check in the next day at Port Orleans - Riverside! I hope to have some pictures sometime this week to add to the trip report so I will go ahead and type it and the add pictures later!

[tiggerlover1971]

I am so glad you had a great trip cant wait to hear more :)

[Willbegone]

Saturday February 28:

We were to meet downstairs in the lobby at 7:15AM for breakfast. We were there, my parents and sister were there but my aunt and uncle were not. No big I thought maybe they had ate already and were walking around. So we ate the continental breakfast and at 7:35 still no Peanut and Vera. They showed up at 7:40 and had not ate. So they ate, really really slow. Oh well, no big. So we leave the hotel after they are finished and head to Port Orleans for check in. We arrive around 8:15AM. We proceed to check in and they found us some rooms that are ready in Oak Manor. We received rooms 9248, 9249, & 9252. We were upgraded to Lawn View. I was excited and said oh just what I asked for and she says she didn't have any requests listed for me. That was strange. So we head over to Oak Manor and send the men to find the rooms BEFORE getting the luggage out of the car. They found them and we proceeded to the room. When we arrived on property we all thought PO was gorgeous! Our rooms were very nice and the view was great. After dropping the luggage off, we headed to the bus stop. It was a little walk but no big deal.
We were heading for Epcot and everyone was ready. We arrived at the bus stop at 8:50AM, we FINALLY got a bus about 9:20 AM. This was our first taste of the bus system at POR and we were not impressed. During the time we were waiting on the Epcot bus 3 AK, 3 MGM, 2MK, and 1 Downtown Disney bus had came and gone. The bus service only got worse thru out the week. Anyway, we arrived at Epcot at 9:40 AM. We decided to do Spaceship Earth. As most of you know, DH & I are not big fans of this attraction but we thought the others in the group would enjoy it. So we walked right on, I don't if it is me getting older or what but it wasn't horrible. We kind of enjoyed it. I still wouldn't wait in line for more than 10 minutes for it, but it was okay. Our next stop was to buy me, DD, and DH some sunglasses. I don't know what happened but I forgot ALOT of stuff.
After that we decided to go do the World Showcase first since last year we didn't get to see any of it. On our way the Kristos started their performance so we decided to watch. They are AMAZING! I will attach a pic when I download them. After that we head to world showcase. Oops I forgot it didn't open until 11:00 so we had about 15 minutes to kill. We just kind of wondered around and then went to do the boat ride in Mexico. It was okay, then to Norway which was better. Next we headed to China and DH found us a new puppett for Children's Church. Everyone was getting a little hungry so we started the discussion on where to eat. Mom, dad, Peanut and Vera decided on the little cafe in China. Me, DH, DD and sister headed on over to Liberty Inn in America. We decided to all meet back up in American at 12:40. So when we were all back together we made our to France and watched the film. It was beautiful. Before going into the film I remembered I should be looking for characters in the countries (DUH!) so we poked around and found Belle & Beast all alone in a little alcove. DD was ready for the characters. BEAST WAS HUGE! SHe was a little apprehensive at first due to his size but Belle came over and took her hand and was really good with her. (I will attach a pic soon!) After coming out of the film we spotted Esmerelda over there but DD hasn't ever seen Hunchback so she wasn't interested.

NEXT UP DAY 1 PART 2!

[LAURENGOLD]

Melinda-

Great Report!!! I can't wait to see the pictures!! Isn't that frustrating when the other parks have oodles of buses and the one your waiting for takes so long???? That happend to us in Sept. DH decided to take the car to go offsite and get a "real" coffee;) So DD and I waited at TL for the bus back to CBR....and we waited.....and we waited.....:laugh oh well, we were just using the bus as an attraction itself anyways!!!!


Cant wait for those pictures!!

:heart Lauren

[Dana]

Ecellent trip report Melinda. I can't wait to read the rest.

[DougiesMommy]

Fantastic first day! Can't wait for the rest and the pictures.

[Willbegone]

Saturday February 21 (Part 2)

So after France we start over to Japan and spot the Character caravan parked right there. There were characters everywhere. Emilie was in heaven! She had a hard time making up her mind which ones she wanted to see. She saw Pluto first, and gave him a kiss on the nose. (ALL the characters were EXCELLENT, they gave her soooo much attention it was unbelievable) He knelt down to her level and played with her a little while. Keep in mind that it was crowded and Pluto had a line but he spent a little time with Emilie. :love: Next we saw Max, Prince John, and Rafiki. Then the characters needed to go in so we watched them load the bus and drive off. Oops I think I skipped Canada, (actually I can't remember which one came first). Well, anyway we approached Canada and noticed that the Brother Bear Characters were there during the day. So I ran up the stairs to check before lugging Emilie all the way to the top. Yep, they were there. So we took Emilie up there and she met the bears. That was really neat. Next we briskly walked thru the rest of the showcase (we were all getting kind of bored with it) and on to Future World.
I insisted that I had to see JiYI this time. So we did and it was great! The skunk was tooo funny and Emilie kept talking about how it stunk. We played around with the picture/email stations and I sent one home (I couldn't remember the address to send it here). Then we walked right into Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Now last year Emilie was not a big fan of the 3D shows but we were hoping this year would be different and it was! She enjoyed them! It was good but compared to Tough to be a Bug and Mickey's Philharmagic it looks kind of sad effect wise. It is time to update or replace it I think. Next we headed to Living with the Land the wait was like 45 min. so we fast passed it and headed over to the Living Seas. I like the Nemo additions and so did DD. She didn't want to leave the Nemo area inside. When we exited the seas there was Nemo scooting around in front of the new display out front. Emilie didn't want anything to do with him though, so on we moved. Went back to use our fast pass for Land. It has been 5 years since I've been on this attraction and it has changed. It was really neat and we all enjoyed it. I just can't get over that GIGANTIC pumpkin. WOW!
It was now approaching 4:00 PM and we had PS for Chef Mickey's at 5:20PM so we decided to mosey on over to M:S and TT. TT wait was 45 min with no fast passes and M:S wait was 25 min but I really didn't want to risk a) being late and b) getting sick before Chef Mickey's. So we decided to head on over to the monorail. When we arrived at the TTC to switch monorails I asked if we could sit up front and they said YES! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!! It was totally cool! Everybody should do this it was just neat. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LETTING ME KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!! Our monorail trip took a little longer than expected with several delays so we FINALLY get to the contemporary at 5:17PM. We make it right at 5:20PM to the podium to check in. We got our picture taken (and yes I bought the package) and then waited for like 3 minutes for our table.
It was packed! So as soon as we sat down Chip and Dale were in our area. So we waited for them and then went to get some food. They had boiled shrimp on the salad bar which made my family VERY happy, including me. They also had Prime Rib, ravioli (shaped like Mickey heads) and of course the Parmesean mashed Potatoes which were very good! This was our first time here and we enjoyed it but I'm not sure we will go back. Our waitress looked awful familiar and then me and DH remembered that she had waited on us last year at Whispering Canyon, so we talked with her and she said yeah she had got promoted. Apparently Chef Mickey's is one of the top places all the wait staff wants to work. For dessert I had cheesecake which was YUMMY and Key Lime pie which wasn't yummy. We did the napkin waving thing twice during our meal and the characters were great.
After dinner me, dh, dd, mom and sister headed to MK for Spectromagic while the rest of the party went back to the room. We arrived at MK at 7:00PM and the parade started at 8:00PM. We found a good spot directly across from the train station on curb. We were entertained by this really nice boy from Conneticutt for awhile. He will be working for Disney one day! He had made up this routine with this little stuffed racoon named Raymond and he was funny. Then the pre-show started with twirlers from around the country. The Spectro started. It has been 5 years since I've seen this also and it was GREAT! EMILIE LOVED IT! I can't tell you how much attention she got. I thought I was just being a mother thinking she was getting so much attention but she really was! I started watching the parade further down and they weren't pausing as long with other kids! It was sooo great that I teared up. Emilie just kept yelling look there's so and so and waving like crazy. After parade we headed over to the bus stop and back to POR to crash after a great first day!

[aurora'stwin]

Great report. Your dd sounds like quite the favorite young lady after having so much attention payed to her. ;)

Can't wait to see pics.

[MickeyRon]

Your report is AWESOME... It making me want to be there right now!! Can't wait to hear the rest and to see the pictures!!

How cool NEMO hangs out at Epcot... Have to remember that DD #2, she will go absolutly nuts over Mo!! (Nemo!)

[mickaholic4077]

I have really enjoyed your report so far,and I am looking forward to reading the rest.

[MickeyMamma]

Great Trip Report! Sounds like you had a BLAST!!

Looking forward to more.... :)

[DougiesMommy]

I'm so happy that Emilie is having such a great time and getting all that one-on-one attention. It sure makes the trips worthwhile when the kiddos love it as much as we do.

[neen626]

Great trip report Melinda!! Sounds like Emilie really had a fantastic 1st Day!! All that attention, how awesome for you and Emilie. Ican't wait to read the rest of your report :)

[tinkerbell]

Oh Melinda, your trip report has me so excited about going next week!! I hope you get the pictures posted before friday. I just read it all to DH and reminded him that we have yet to have dinner at Chef Mickey's since they moved it from Downtown Disney Market Place.
Its been so fun reading that Emilie, has gotten special attention and that she likes the 3D shows now :)
oh and how wonderful about your room at the POR!

[ajbdk5]

I am loving your trip report, Melinda!:)

Can't wait to see the pics!