[crystalrp]

Cast:
Myself
DH (Mark)
DS10 (Wyatt)
DS13 (Dillon)


Got out of work at 4:00 on Wednesday April 14th. It was about 5:15 before we were actually rolling out of town. The driving to Manchester NH was atrocious! Very rainy and foggy, plus we got lost twice, thanks to Mapquest. Finally got to the Fairfield Inn at 8:30. Ordered burgers delivered to the room. We paid $140 for the room, which is more than we are paying for a night at AKL, but this does include a shuttle ride to the airport and free parking while we are gone. Next morning we are up at 4. The check in for our flights, and both flights themselves, went very smoothly. We really liked the people of Southwest air. They were all very friendly, more so than on other airlines we have used.
When we landed in Orlando around 11, it was sunny and gorgeous! Our Tiffany driver, Robert, was great! It was very exciting to come down the escalator to the baggage claim area and see a man dressed in a suit holding a card with DH’s name on it. We actually took a picture! (We don’t get out much LOL) The whole day went perfectly! We were golden! Robert took us to a grocery store. We bought Twinkies, brownies, chips, sodas, juice, beer, and a birthday card. It was Robert’s 70th birthday! He got us to POFQ in short order. I am sure if we had been using Mears, we would still be standing around waiting for them to call our number. We checked our luggage and went to check in. There was nobody in line, and check in was a breeze! Our room was even ready. The CM told us that hardly ever happened! We went back over to bell services to see about getting our luggage delivered to the room. The CM there was from Northern Maine! He drove the bags over while we strolled to building #1, room 340. We have a view of a courtyard and a fountain! The building is the farthest from the food court I think, but since this resort is not very spread out at all, it isn’t a problem walking to the bus stop or pool. Just a nice stroll. While DH and I had been checking in, the boys had been in the arcade-no surprise there. As our fellow Mainer was delivering our bags, Dillon realized he had left his backpack in the arcade. The luggage guy offered to give Dillon a ride back to the arcade to look for it. Apparently after Dill retrieved his backpack, the CM even gave him a ride back to our building! Very cool! After taking a minute to settle in, and realizing it was only 12:35, we decided we were hungry and would pop over to the food court to grab a bite. Dillon, of course, decided he didn’t want to eat but wanted to go swimming. So he did. The food court wasn’t crowded at all, but was still quite slow. DH and I split a cheese steak sandwich and fries, while Wyatt had the chicken strips and fries. It wouldn’t have been so slow but they had totally forgotten Wyatt’s food. We stood and waited around 10 minutes for something that took them about 10 seconds to grab when they realized what we were waiting for. No biggie. We also bought one refillable mug. Total cost- $27. Of course when we were just about finished eating, Dillon came in and decided he was hungry. Another $5 for his order of chicken with no fries. Everything was quite tasty and fresh.
After eating, we caught a bus, didn’t even wait 5 minutes, to Disney MGM Studios. Got all 4 of our tickets (my PAP, and 3 Fun in the Sun passes) activated with no problem at all. The crowds at MGM were heavy, but didn’t really affect anything we wanted to do. First we grabbed a FP for the next Millionaire show. Saw Great Movie Ride-got the cowboy. Very enjoyable ride. This had been down for refurbishment last time we were here, so it had been a long time since we had ridden it. Hurried to Millionaire. Were the last FP holders to get in! Sat way in back..had no wait at all. The kid who got into the hot seat was a smart aleck…. I don’t think the host was too upset when he lost. Actually I don’t think anyone was! Went over to Star Tours…the standby line said 10 minutes but I think it was more like 20. Fun ride. Got a soda for everyone then grabbed FP for TOT. We would be able to go right after dinner and before we went to Fantasmic. Saw Muppetvision 3D while Dillon played in the Pizza Planet arcade. Wyatt made a pin trade with a CM who called him by name. (he was wearing his GOH badge). Our PS for the Fantasmic dinner package was at H & V for 6:30..we checked in at 6:14. Got called to our table around 6:45. Our server Corey was great! Read Wyatt’s name badge and said that Wyatt was his last name! He told Wyatt how he used to live near Tombstone AZ and the OK corral. The buffet was quite tasty. The carved sirloin, seafood pasta, tortellini salad, garlic mashed potato, and roasted potatoes were all standouts. Mark and I both went back for seconds. Both boys took way too much food…I will have to do a better job in future keeping a handle on them. Corey would set a new glass of soda down just as we were finishing the first one- I love that! There was neither red velvet cake nor Key Lime Pie here on this night. Cookies, mini cheesecakes, mini carrot cake muffins, and make your own sundaes were the desserts offered. The bill was $80 plus tip.
We rolled ourselves out of H & V and went to use our TOT FPs. Love walking past people waiting in the 90-minute line…I’m so mean! The CM at the front of the line was told about some boys who had cut in line by walking in the FP lane then cutting in front of the standby. He made them go all the way back out and told them he would be sending someone out in a few minutes to check on them. Good for him! I was happy to see him do that. There was some kind of technical problem so it was a long wait before riding. It was an awesome ride though! We got several drops…some of them really long ones! Super ride! We were supposed to be at Oscar’s by 8:00 to go into Fantasmic. We got there at 8:15 and they still let us in! We sat all the way to the right…last ones on the bench but we could still see absolutely fine! Wonderful, wonderful show! I have seen Fantasmic 4X now, yet I still get goosebumps. The music is so great! We thoroughly enjoyed it. On the way out, Wyatt made a few more pin trades with CMs. As we got to the bus stop, it was packed! We only waited about two minutes and another bus pulled up! First stop- POFQ. After the boys spent some more time (and money) in the arcade, we were all in bed by 10. It was a super day! Tomorrow-AK EMH!

[tinkerbell]

oh wow sounds like the Magic was right on cue for your first day :) looking forward to the rest

[rlander]

Great report!!! You did a lot in your first day at WDW. Up at 4am, flight, all day at MGM, Fantasmic, bed by 10pm. I am exhausted just reading that. I think you did more in one day than we do in three. WOW!!!

[disneyguy]

WOW!! I want my Disney trip to be as wonderful as yours!!!!!!! That soooo makes me want to book POFQ for my next trip, but OKW or CB is really calling too. I still have a while to make decisions. Hope the rest of the trip was this wonderful!

[BuzzLightyear]

Thanks for sharing your report.
We have the same type of plans for our first day. Up early and seeing Illuminations that night. Hope our first day goes as great as yours!!

[crystalrp]

Day two Friday April 16

I woke up at 3:30. I guess I must have woken DH because when he commented on my being awake, I told him I didn't mind since the time goes too fast when I am asleep and I wanted this trip to last a long time. I got up at 5, showered and dressed. The new privacy curtain between the sink area and the sleeping area really came in very handy this trip. I went to the food court and got a cup of coffee and wrote in my journal. I really came to love this time of day at POFQ. The CMs were busy getting things ready for the day, and it was very calm and quiet here in the food court. Eventually I grabbed a coffee for Mark, then headed back to the room to rouse the troops. It was already after 6, and early entry at AK started at 7. (though we tried to make early entry every day, we never made it to an opening ceremony. We usually arrived sometime in the latter half of the EMH). I got Mark and Wyatt moving. Dillon was going to stay in the room and sleep in this morning. Wyatt had a doughnut and juice in the room, then we headed out. We only had to wait about 5 minutes for the bus. (We had very good luck with the bus system throughout our entire trip. We only waited significantly two times during our whole 11 days). Got to AK and grabbed a FP for the Safari. We stopped at Kusafiri (sp?) coffee shop. Wyatt had a hot chocolate, Mark and I each had coffee. Mark got a giant blueberry muffin and I had a cinnamon roll. ($10) Very tasty bakery items. We walked right into TTBAB. Why do parents not believe the warnings for this attraction?? YOUNG CHILDREN WILL BE FRIGHTENED! There were kids crying and screaming with parents having to get them out of there. When it goes dark and you think the bees or wasps or whatever are going to sting you...people screaming as they feel the effects...it is very scary! I thought the effects here today were really great and I actually felt them much more than I had previously. Great show! Next we walked right onto Dinosaur. Great fun ride. Then to Primeval Whirl. I laugh and giggle from the time I get on this ride until I get off it. Love it! Wyatt played some games in Dinoland. He won a stuffed Dino! (luckily it was a small one. Last year Dillon won a big one and it was quite a challenge getting him packed to take home on the plane). Used our Safari FP. Got to see some warthogs for the first time and the hippos were all above the water. There were three cute baby hippos out and we got to see the new baby elephant born here recently! Great safari! Took the train to Rafiki's planet watch. There was a CM there doing a presentation with a huge snake. After the man finished his presentation he let all the kids, Wyatt included of course, line up and touch the snake. UGH! After each child touched it, they had to get some antibacterial stuff on their hands. Then Mark and Wyatt went into the petting area. It was too crowded for Wyatt to get to touch any of the animals. When they came out, we had a Mickey ice cream bar and a chocolate covered frozen banana. Yummy- my favorite! We took the train back, then grabbed FPs for Kali River Rapids. We had lunch at Flame tree barbecue. Wyatt and Mark each had the rib dinner, I had the chicken sandwich with just fries instead of the usual sides. (even though they don't show it on the menus, anything can be ordered ala carte. Just ask!) One beer and two sodas. ($30) We should have had the boys share one rib dinner, and Wyatt and I share a coke because we had way too much food. It tasted fine, but wasn't quite as good as we had remembered it being. We both thought it was a tad on the dry side. More than edible though. After lunch we used our Kali FPs. The stand by line was over an hour. The ride was fun. None of us got too wet though Mark got the wettest out of the three of us. One person on our raft got drenched. She was about four years old and she cried. Oh well, the rest of us had a fun time. After the ride, we made our way out with Wyatt stopping occasionally to look at pins. When we got to the bus stop, the bus was right there! We went back to the resort and found Dillon walking back from the pool. He had slept till 10:30 then gotten some chicken strips. We all changed and hung out at the pool for a while. There were no loungers available so we sat in the table area. Mark and I got a drink called a Mardi Grog. Too orange juicey for me, but drinkable. Mark and Wyatt went into the pool while I pulled two chairs together and took a little catnap. Aaaahhh...this is the life! I am so glad we are still on the happy half of our vacation. We all got changed and caught a bus to Epcot. I stopped in at Guest Services to get an AP armband to see Davy Jones. I got the last one available! Still golden! We went to Ice Station Cool and I got all of them to try the Beverly!! Wish I had had a camera handy but that would have given it away. I actually wouldn't want a glass of any of these sodas. We went through WS to America where we grabbed a table in the shade. Dillon had a frozen lemonade, Mark a frozen strawberry drink, and I got a paper cone full of those yummy roasted sugared pecans. Even though the concert was like 2 hours away, people were already lined up! About an hour before the show, I got in the AP bracelet line. (I think I was the youngest person in this line and I am almost 40! Odd.) They finally let us in at about 5:15 for the 5:45 show. I WAS IN THE FRONT ROW!!!! Mark and the boys had gotten in the regular line and they were on the other side in the second row! The show was really fun and I was so excited being that close to Davy Jones. I really enjoyed this very, very much. After the show we left via the International Gateway and took the boat over to the Boardwalk. There was a huge line trying to get in to the ESPN club. We found out what time Linda Cohn (ESPN anchor person) would be there tomorrow then went to catch the boat to MGM. While waiting, Wyatt bought two more pins and Dillon and I watched a neat street juggler. Went to MGM and caught the bus back to the resort. Stopped in at the food court. Dillon had the rotisserie chicken dinner which came with rice, mashed potato and gravy, and cornbread.($9.50) Wyatt had chicken strips, Mark a double cheeseburger. I just shared with everybody. Called my folks then watched some of the Red Sox/yankees game. The boys went to the arcade so Mark and I decided to go soak in the hot tub for a bit. When we got over there, there were already a couple families with a bunch of little kids and their plastic boats there, so we went back to the room. Tomorrow-Early Entry at MGM.

[tinkerbell]

front row for Davy ooo wow, so far your report sounds like the ideal WDW vacation

[crystalrp]

Saturday April 17th

This is the last big day of spring break so I expect it to be a crowded one. I was up and out of the room by six. Got my coffee and did my journal before waking everyone at 7. The room here at POFQ is really nice and we are all enjoying staying here. (little did I know how much we were enjoying it.) Since it was recently refurbished, everything seems clean and bright. The new comforters are very fluffy and quite pretty. We all are sleeping like babies on the lovely pillows. The TV is bigger than it was before, and the toilets don't have that flush button thing in the middle of the tank cover anymore. There are large video screens over each section of the food court. It is much easier to see the selections this way.
Everyone got up very nicely. Mark, Wyatt and I got breakfast at the food court. Two king Creole breakfasts-eggs, sausage or bacon, potatoes and a biscuit. Wy got a cinnamon roll and I got an order of beignets. For those of us who are Yankees, beignets are like little square doughboys rolled in powdered sugar. Everything was delicious! Cheap breakfast at $17. After breakfast we were all off to MGM. When we first entered the park, we were approached by a CM with a clipboard who asked if we would be willing to take a quick survey about FP. We said sure so she led us around back where there were tables set up with laptop computers. We were asked if we had used FP, and we had to show her what type of tickets we had , asked our ages, and our zip code. We went and got FP for Tof T, then off to Aerosmith R& R coaster. R and R was a 20 minute wait. Fun, fun ride. We got off this then decided to get a FP to ride it again. UH OH- Big Problem!! Wyatt had lost his ticket! His Fun in the Sun Pass bought through TicketMania. A $300 ticket good for 30 days unlimited use at all the parks, water parks, disneyquest, pleasure island, Kennedy Space Center. Oh man! We used our Tof T FP, since it was time, but I was so worried about the ticket I couldn't enjoy the ride at all. We then headed right to Guest Services to see if anything could be done. The girl there told us that the computers were all down but when they came back up we might be able to track them if we have the other tickets that were activated at the same time. We do have them, of course! What a relief! We look for something else to do to kill time till our 11:30 PS at Sci Fi. We went to Drew Carey's Sounds Dangerous. This was a first time for us. None of us were overly impressed. We go to the store at the Sorcerer's Hat and I buy a special AP only tshirt. Really cute. The crowds are getting really heavy now. Even though it is only 11, we head over to Sci Fi hoping to get in early. We can!! The boys sit in the front of the car, with DH and I behind them, then eventually a couple with a young (crying) baby behind us. I order some kind of drink- a red planet or something like that. It is really big and has a red glowing ice cube which my kids immediately confiscate. Mark gets a beer and both boys have chocolate shakes. For a meal, Mark and Wyatt share a rib dinner and Dillon and I share a barbecue chicken breast sandwich. I have read alot of bad reviews about Sci Fi, but these meals were excellent! We all enjoyed the food and the fun atmosphere very much! 5 STARS!! We stop at Guest Services on our way out and they are able to cancel and reissue all three fun in the sun passes!! Thank you God! Thank you God and Disney! We go back to the resort. The kids go to the arcade (ooohh big surprise there!) while Mark and I find lounge chairs by the pool. The frozen strawberry daiquiris are quite good. We all swim and sun for quite a while. Mark and Dill get sunburned. We head back to the room since we don't want to get to ESPN too early. I have a little snooze. We get ready and grab a bus to Epcot. Checked the pics they had taken as we entered Epcot yesterday. Dillon is stone faced in all 4 of them so we don't buy them. Same thing happened at MGM. I should have bought them anyway so everyone can see what we are dealing with. (Aren't teenagers fun?) Well his attitude today is much better than it has been the last two days, so maybe he will smile next time. (I live in such a dream world!) We walk thru Epcot to the international gateway. A guy stops us and says he has 4 FPs for Test track and would we like them. We can't though because they are for half an hour from now and we have to get to ESPN so we can get a seat to see Linda Cohn. So much for Dillon's good attitude. We take the boat to Boardwalk then at ESPN ask to be seated down near the front. We get great seats right on the end, second tier. Mark and I order and MVP drink and a Power Play drink. When they come, we trade. The boys get chocolate shakes, which they really didn't love. We order BBQ dingers for an appetizer. All of us except Dillon like these. Dillon gets nachos with cheese and beef. For dinner, Wyatt wants rib eye steak with mashed potato so he and I share that. I order it loaded with mushrooms and onions. I asked for it to be medium but it was quite well done. No problem. Mark gets a steak sandwich. All is very tasty. The Linda Cohn visit is really neat! Wyatt got to ask her a question so his face was up on the big screen. The ESPN guy makes a big deal of Wyatt's buccaneer (tampa bay not Pirates LOL) regalia. Wyatt did a good job asking his question. "What is your favorite football team and how do you think the buccaneers will do this season?" Mark got everything on video. Afterwards both boys got her autograph while Mark took pics. The meal was $73 before tip. Definitely worth it! We all had a great time. Maybe we can get back here again before the end of our trip. We take the boat to MGM to catch a bus to our resort. We just missed the bus, but only had to wait 5 minutes for the next one! When we get back, we stop at bell services to arrange for our luggage transfer to AKL tomorrow. They will pick it up at 8. Wyatt gets a piece of yummy chocolate cake. The boys go to the arcade for a bit. Tomorrow we move to AKL. I am soooo excited

[Dana]

I can't wait to hear about AKL! I hope your boys enjoyed it there. I totally understand the random bad attitude things...it's starts at 10 I think..LOL You never know which way the wind wil blow with kids..lol Sounds great thus far...waiting for the rest as patiently as possible...

[crystalrp]

Sunday April 18th- Moving to AKL


I got everyone up; we had beignets in the room. Bell services came for our luggage right at 8, just as we had arranged. We then took the bus to MK. Good Bye Port Orleans French Quarter. We were all sort of sad to leave since we had all really enjoyed staying here. We got to MK around 8:30 and got Cruella’s autograph as soon as we entered Main Street. I love the feeling I get when I walk into this park. It is the essence of Disney Magic here. I can’t believe we had been at WDW since last Thursday yet this is our first day at the Magic Kingdom! Shame on me for letting the crowds keep us away. First we headed to Buzz Lightyear. We took the shortcut through the Plaza Pavilion. I never even realized there was a restaurant here! Everybody beat my score on Buzz. We got off the ride then walked right back on. Fun, Fun, Fun! There was a 30-minute wait for Space Mountain, but Dillon wanted to stay and ride it so we agreed to meet him at Splash Mountain at 10:00. (Apparently the wait time was exaggerated. He was able to walk right on the ride twice, plus he got totally lost and wandered all over the park looking for Splash Mountain, and he still met us on time.) Meanwhile the three of us went to Fantasyland. Wyatt got Buzz’s autograph near the teacups. We waited about 10 minutes to go into Mickey’s Philharmagic. I knew this attraction was going to be good, but I had no idea how good it really was. The three of us absolutely LOVED this! The effects and the music are all wonderful!! I cannot praise this enough. We will definitely have to see this again sometime during our trip. We met up with Dillon right at 10:00, then waited about 10 minutes for BTMRR. Among the four of us, I probably enjoy this ride most. I laugh a lot on it, plus it is the only roller coaster that I can actually put my hands in the air on. Every time I did that though, and we went around the corner, I would crash right into Mark. HA HA HA!!! Next we went and saw Tiki Birds. I had never seen this and thought it was quite cute. I was alone in my opinion. It was now time to leave MK to go to Chef Mickey’s! We took the monorail to the Contemporary for our 11:15 PS. There was a line, but we got right in. We had our pic taken and it came out really well! Wow..Dillon wasn’t frowning! (he told us later he is going to charge us $1 for every picture he is in that comes out well. We will see about that…wonder if I get to charge him for every pic he ruins by looking like a sulky teenager. Bet I would come out ahead.) $27 for the whole package-2 8 X 10s, some magnets and key rings. Good deal! The breakfast buffet was really very good. Hash browns, eggs, cheese omelet, bacon-cheese-tomato-onion omelet, veggie lasagna, breakfast pizza, bacon, sausage, pancakes, Mickey waffles, pastries. Everything was really tasty! The characters that came to our table were Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Pluto with Goofy in the greeting area. We got pictures and autographs of all of them. We all ate lots and since it was near the end of breakfast, it wasn’t as loud or crowded as it could have been. We had three coupons for the breakfast. (they came with the fun in the sun passes). Instead of charging us for my breakfast, they charged us for Wyatt’s! That was really nice of them! So a wonderful breakfast for four of us was only $18, which included the tip! Awesome!! The boys played in the food and fun center for a while then we went to board the monorail to go back to MK so we could catch the bus to our new resort, AKL. When we went to board, I asked if we could ride up front and we could! Since nobody got on at any of the other stops, we got to stay here for the whole way! It was really cool! We tried to chat with the driver, but she wasn’t very talkative. Oh well, that’s ok too.
We got back to Mk and found the bus stop for AKL. I was very, very excited to be going to this resort. It looks very impressive as you walk into the lobby, and as we expected, it does remind us of WL, which we loved. There was quite a line to check in, but we probably really only waited 10-15 minutes. It was around 1:30. The CM told me we had gotten the bunk beds we requested. Hooray! We had also been upgraded from a parking lot view to a pool view. The room wasn’t ready yet. She told us to call between 3:30 and 4:30. We wandered around and bought 2 mugs at Mara. The boys went to the arcade. I called the number from a house phone at 2:30 and our room was ready! We were in room 4464. The room was bigger than POFQ, and was very nicely decorated. The lights aren’t as bright, which was a good thing. The main problem was the thermostat would not go lower than 68 degrees. There was a mousekeeper in the hall so we asked her about it. She said some of the rooms were made that way deliberately and we should call the front desk. So I did. The CM put me on hold while she called engineering. She came back on and told me there was nothing we could do. They are set that way on purpose. Why I can’t imagine. Now I don’t know about you southerners, but here in Maine 68 degrees is pretty warm. We have our thermostats here set lower than 68 in the winter!! Mark called the front desk. Was there a fan or anything we could have? They didn’t think there were any available but they would check. Never heard another word from them the rest of the trip. I tend to suffer from Migraine headaches, especially when I sleep in an overly warm room. I knew this was going to be a problem. This really got our stay here off on the wrong foot. Our luggage was brought right up. We unpacked then went down to the pool. We hung around the resort the rest of the evening. Walked around and saw some of the animals. We saw giraffes, zebras, birds, and cattle like things with great big giant horns. Lots of animals around. We ate supper in the food court. The boys each had the kids chicken strips, I had the double bacon cheeseburger, and Mark had the grilled chicken sandwich. Total $25. Cheap day for food. Had an early night. Tomorrow Kennedy Space Center.

[crystalrp]

Monday April 19

Wyatt, Mark and I had breakfast from the food court. We got one big breakfast, scrambled eggs, breakfast potato, bacon and a biscuit, plus an extra order of sausage and breakfast potatoes. I liked it all but Mark and Wyatt said the eggs weren’t real. Tasted fine to me. I had asked at guest services the night before about getting a shuttle ride to the car care center where we had rented a car for today. The CM said we would have to take a bus to the MK, and then go to TTC where we would have to find someone to call the Car Care center to pick us up. I think she is incorrect, that we should be able to get a shuttle ride from our resort, but I didn’t want to argue with her so we took a cab. $14.50 plus tip! Yikes! After waiting in a very long line, we got our rental car- a white Saturn Ion. I had used a code from Mousesavers so it only cost us $37 for the day. The girl gave us great directions to Kennedy Space Center. We watched an Imax 3-D movie, heard a real astronaut talk and got our picture taken with him, took a bus ride to the observation area. The best part was seeing the Saturn rocket. This is so huge you can’t even imagine. Even Dillon was impressed after seeing the size of this thing. We stopped at the cafeteria and Dillon had a pizza. Wyatt just got a dove ice cream bar. The food in this place was greatly overpriced and the quality left much to be desired. The ice cream bar cost almost 4 dollars! We stayed most of the day here then drove back to the car care center and turned the car in. We got a shuttle back to AKL. At this point we noticed that Wyatt had developed sun poisoning. We bought some allergy stuff and other meds to hopefully help him out. We took a break in the room while the kids went to…can you guess?…The arcade. Then we caught a bus to Downtown Disney and went to Pleasure Island. The first show at the Comedy Warehouse didn’t start till 8:20. We browsed around. Dillon tried to shoot some baskets….$5 for two throws…he didn’t make either one. We grabbed a bite-The boys shared chicken strips while Mark and I shared a cheese steak sandwich. Sat at a little table outside while we ate. I bought a drink in a bucket! We went to the comedy show. The boys really enjoyed this. Then we went to the Adventurer’s Club. I got my drink bucket refilled. We saw a contest in the library for the Balderdash Cup. I will just say that it involved 500 tap dancing pigeons and one 500-pound pigeon that could do math. The boys enjoyed it here also. We went to the magic store in DD for Dillon. (he does card tricks.) Dillon loved it here and bought $40 worth of card trick stuff. It was almost 11:30 when we got back. We grabbed an order of fries and a piece of carrot cake, and then went to bed. Tomorrow- Blizzard Beach!

[Dana]

Sorry to hear about your room temp being stuck on 68...I put mine down pretty low to around 60..lol I like to feeze when I sleep for some reason. I am hoping to read the re st of your stay here was a pleasant one.

[crystalrp]

Tuesday, April 20

Wyatt’s sun poisoning was much better today; unfortunately he developed two ear infections overnight. Since he probably should not be in the sun very much, we have decided to split up. Mark and Wyatt will go to Epcot and Dillon and I will go to Blizzard Beach.
Dillon and I got to Blizzard Beach soon after opening. He ran off to ride the big slides and I found a good place to lie in the sun. (I wish they had some lounge chairs that you could sit OR lie in instead of having to pick which one you want to do most.) I got a frozen mocha drink then went into the wave pool for a while. This wave pool was quite fun and not quite as daring as the one at Typhoon Lagoon is. We only stayed for a couple hours then Dill decided it wasn’t as much fun as he thought it would be (could it be that he actually missed having his little brother to hang around with?? Not according to him, but I think differently!) We were back in the room by 12:30.
Mark and Wyatt had gotten to Epcot around 9:30. first they went on Mission: Space twice, which they both enjoyed. Then they went to the first aid center to find out our options regarding the ear infection. They were given some Motrin for Wyatt, which helped with the pain. They rode Spaceship earth, Honey I shrunk the audience, and Figment. They got cheeseburgers at the Electric Umbrella, which Wyatt declared were the best burgers he had eaten in his whole life! They got back to the room around 2:30. We all hung out and swam and lay in the sun. We headed over to MK around 5:30 and rode Pirates. Then we took the monorail to the Polynesian for our dinner at Ohanas. We had a really good time here. We had a lovely view of the castle, unfortunately the time for Wishes had been changed between the time I made our Ohana PS and now. I meant to double-check the times for all fireworks and parades before I left, but I forgot. Oh well, we still really enjoyed our meal and we had a very nice time. ($100 w/tip) We took the monorail back to MK and watched Wishes from just under the train station. Caught the second bus to AKL. We went to the hot tub for a bit, then all got to bed about 11:30.

Wednesday, April 21

Today was Epcot EMH. There were so many people there that we are beginning to doubt the value of EMH. We head to test track but it is down and the fastpass return time is already around noon. We grab a FP for Mission: Space then go see Honey I shrunk, and Figment. We return to use our Fastpass. It is quite a ride. Made me a bit nauseous and gave Dillon a migraine. Dillon wasn’t quick enough to push his buttons so we had the computer take over, but Mark said the ride was still just the same. I had all I could do to reach up and push my button at the right time, but Wyatt is pushing buttons like he is a champion typist! Mark wants to grab another FP to go back on again, but two of us really aren’t up to it. We go to the Electric Umbrella to sit down and have a cool drink. Then we went to ride Spaceship earth, but there is such a long line we decide to come back later. We go thru the Living Seas. We would have liked to take more time to look around here, but it is time for our PS at Le Cellier. They gave us a beeper and we waited fro about 15 minutes. The waitress brings us different types of bread. We liked the pretzel bread best so she brings back lots of it. Good thing because Dillon ate a ton of pretzel bread! I had the cheese soup to start, which is quite good, but maybe a tad more bitter than I had expected. (I liked dipping the pretzel bread in it. The waitress gave me that tasty idea.) Dillon had a berry smoothie, Wyatt had chocolate milk, I had coke, and Mark had a Moosehead beer. For meals, Dillon had the kid’s grilled chicken with fries, Wyatt had the kid’s steak with fries (when the waitress asked him how he wanted it cooked, he replied, “juicy”), Mark and I split our dinners. I got the burger with Gruyere cheese and hot potato salad; he got the Prime Rib French dip sandwich with fries. My burger was absolutely delicious!! Our bill was around $65. After lunch, we gave the boys a walkie-talkie then Mark and I headed to WS, the boys went to Spaceship Earth then to Innoventions. The walkie-talkies worked even when the kids were way over at SE, and Mark and I were in Italy. We were supposed to meet up with them at the Doggone Maze. We got there then the boys radioed us that they couldn’t find it. They told us where they were. We looked over at the bridge running directly parallel to where we were and actually saw them there. They hadn’t seen us though. We radioed to them “Stop!” They stopped. “Turn to your right”. Then we waved to them. It was pretty funny if you were there. Probably loses something in the translation. Oh well. Wyatt made a couple pin trades then we caught the bus back to the resort. Laid around, pooled, arcaded, etc. Dillon decided to stay in the room while the three of us went over to MGM. The crowds were great! We rode Tof T, and then got FP for Aerosmith’s RnRC. Saw the Indiana Jones show, then went and used our FP. Rode TofT again. Grabbed a butter pecan ice cream cone on the way out. Yummy! Beat the Fantasmic crowds out and we were on our way! We called Dill from the AKL lobby to come down and get something to eat in the food court. Dill had chicken strips, Wyatt a cheeseburger, I had the fish sandwich, and Mark had the chicken sandwich and pepper pot soup, which he really liked. Tomorrow-MK EMH!

[crystalrp]

Thursday

Dillon decided to stay at the resort, so Mark, Wyatt and I headed to MK. We first went to Splash Mountain, but Frontierland didn’t open till 9. (Dang…I should have KNOWN that!) We saw Mickey’s Philharmagic again. Really, really incredible! I love it! We stopped to get a drink in front of the castle and realized Cinderella’s surprise Celebration was about to begin. We were able to get right in the very front! What a nice, sweet show! We all really liked it a lot. Headed to tomorrowland and the 3 of us walked right on Space Mountain even though it said there was a 20-minute wait. (maybe it takes 20 minutes to walk down that long corridor?) Wyatt and I decided to ride it again. Then we all went on Carousel of Progress. This is the first time I remember going on this. We all liked it. Went over to Frontier land to ride Splash but it was down! Rats! Went to Country Bear Jamboree. That was cute too. By now we were all starving since we had skipped breakfast. I wanted to take the boat over to Fort Wilderness to eat at Trail’s End. The other two just wanted to eat counter service somewhere in the MK. We took the boat to Fort Wilderness. LOL What a nice buffet for only $10!! (plus I get an AP discount of 10%) Wyatt ate a ton of Chinese chicken wings. Mark and I just ate a ton! There was homemade cornbread, fried chicken (the same chicken from the Hoop dee doo review…YUMMY!), sloppy Joes, pizza, homemade donuts, some kind of seafood casserole, everything for a salad, plus a lot more that I can’t remember. Took the boat back to MK, (when the boat stopped at WL we all wished we were staying there instead of AKL), then hopped the bus back to the AKL. Found Dillon in the pool playing pass with a boy from England. We all swam and rested. Dillon was very sunburned. Around 6 we headed over to Epcot for our 7:30 PS at the Rose and Crown to watch Illuminations. First the kids went to Innoventions while Mark and I rode Spaceship Earth. Then we all headed over to England. We got good seats outside on the terrace. Mark and I shared a mushroom appetizer. I had a drink called an English Rose, which was quite tasty, though very weak. For dinner, Wyatt had the kid’s grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, Dillon had the roasted chicken, I had the fish and chips, and Mark had the rib eye steak. We all really enjoyed this meal very much. Our waiter was really fun. The four of us played a game during dinner where someone says a line from a movie and the rest have to guess which movie it is from. We all had a very fun, laughter filled evening. It wasn’t quite time for Illuminations when we finished eating so we all ordered dessert. Mark had the warm apple cobbler, which was a lot like our apple crisp and is served with vanilla ice cream. The rest of us had the King or Queen sundaes, which come with a little chocolate crown on top. All was very yummy. Illuminations started while we were eating dessert. The awning over the terrace kept us from seeing the highest fireworks, though we could see the globe and the things that happened on or near the water. Very nice. Dinner was $123. We made our way back to the busses and were able to catch the first bus back! A lovely evening was had by all!!

[mickaholic4077]

What a detailed report!! I agree with you about the food at KSC. That's why when I go I bring my own.