[LadyJena]

Hi All,

I am not sure where this message should go so I will write it here and if it needs to be moved I understand.

By the way I found a job YAHOOO!! I start Monday I interviewed right before I went on vacation. I prayed sooo hard that I would get it. The job is only a 10 minute commute compared to a 2 hour commute that I was driving with my last job. It also pays the same amount of money. Someone was watching out for me. :o).

Ok, Lets see I already wrote about what I thought about the Contemporary Resorte. (I would NEVER stay there again!)

The "Grand Plan" - We paid a little over $19,000.00 for the total package for all days not counting airfair from California. Another couple thousand I think. Do I think it was worth it well I am torn between saying yes and no. Would I do it again NO, I would place that money in a checking account and use and ATM card to pay for all meals and activities we did. It was great no having to think about were the money was coming from when you did anything you just hand them your card and say we have the "Grand Plan".

We never order room service because it cost to much but room service was included. There were a couple of nights that my husband and I went to PLI and the kids went to another park but came back to the resorte and ate using room service it made them feel special. lol We all had room service one night after going to Universal Adventure Island. One draw back was it all got charged to the room not the grand plan like we told them. So when we were checking out we had to wait for 20 minutes while they tried to fix it.

Activites!!! We would have never gone to the Floridian Spa for facials, and sweedish massage if it hadn't been for the grand plan. This was wonderful, the person who did my facial was so nice and I liked her very much. My daughter and husband had the sweedish massage and my son had a My first facial and he didn't want to do it at all because they were going to put that "Green gook on his face" he LOVED it!

We also tried to rent the water Mouse (little speed boats) every day. WOW what a kick!! Each time we rented the boats (3) my son wasn't old enough to drive one himself. 3 boats for 1 hour cost 95.00. We were able to use our grand plan. We also rented the tandem bikes for 4 at the boardwalk and had a lot of fun. I kept screaming at my husband to HIT THE BREAK, HIT THE BREAK!!!! He told me to BE QUIET!! lol it was a lot of fun.

My daughter and I were going to go parasailing but the weather was to bad on the day that we had our appointments so it had to be canceled. Which was ok because she started chickening out well, I started having second thoughts myself so I was glad too. But I'm not going to tell her that. lol

Oh ya, I can not forget Cuir Dis ole La nobia (not sure on spelling) If you EVER have the chance GO AND SEE IT! We may not have went if it wouldn't have been for the grand plan so I am glad we had it. This is one of the best shows I have ever seen. Wow, there was a part where the woman flew out over the crowd and it was just so beautiful.

Places that I liked to eat:

Liberty Tavern Inn: great enjoyed this very much and wish I would have made reservations again.

50's Prime Time at Disney Studios: The food is good but if you are there stop by and see if Auntie Claire is working. If she is PLEASE make a reservation begging them to place you in her area. SHE IS SOOOO WONDERFUL!! We liked her so much we made reservations again just to see her. She wasn't there *pout* but the food was still good. I will never forget how much fun she made our dinner neither will my kids or husband.

Germany at Epcot: good food my son wanted to eat there all the time. He loved the Polka band since my husband is half German he liked this as well. We also loved Norway very much and wish that part of it wasn't closed for renovation while we were there. America was nice but we really do wish they would have had a better selection of food and not just the normal food court you could find in any section of the parks.

Rose and Crown: I had the fish and chips and was not prepard for the way they were served. It was cod and looked like a whole fish minus tail and head. I ate part of it but didn't like it to much the desert was good but can't remember what it was.

After the Rose and crown my daughter and I were a little worried about eating at other restraunts like Merikesh because we were afraid we wouldn't like the food. We stuck to what we knew.

My husband and son ate at "Tony's" at the MK and they said it had to be the worest meal they have ever had. My husband had the pork chops and said they were rubbery and he said he didn't think they were cooked all the way. He also said that there were people getting up and leaving after they looked at the menu. I didn't eat there myself.

We ate at Wolf Gang Pucks express once and hmmm well.. The employees were very nice and the pizza I had was very good. But it didn't seem to be very clean. Its more like a small, small cafateria style.

1900 Park Fare: LOVED IT!!! I felt this was much better then Chef Mikey and the DID NOT have the nagging song that played ever 15 minutes or so. (sorry but after eating at Chef Mickeys many times in 2 weeks the son got a little old).

We ate enough food to make us want to explode!! You are supposed to tell the waitress or waiter that you are on the grand plan after you are seated. We stopped doing that the second week we would wait until after we ordered because they would try and push appitizers, and deserts at you. If you said no you didn't want it we had a few waitresses and waiters so order it and just take a couple of bites you've already paid for it. We just didn't want to waist the food like that so we would get only what we felt we could eat.

Oh my I almost forgot about Mickey's Back Yark BBQ! You are outside the whole time and it is SOOOOO HOT! We ate and left the food was some what ok but not worth sitting in the heat and humidity. We left soon after we ate and didn't stick around for the show. I cancled our Hoop Dee Doo dinner because I figured it was the same type of food and we didn't want to eat it again.

I know I am missing more places that we ate but I can't remember I know we ate at the Rain Forest and Planet Hollywood several times. I like Planet Hollywood food there.

PLI was so much fun my husband went a few times we loved 8-trax and Adventures Club my husband didn't like it to much but I DID. I thought it was pretty funny. We went to the comedy shop 2 times and thought the firt time was the best. I never laughed so hard I fell off my stool!

By the way I know they have to have lots of security in all the parks but you know I didn't see them. At Disneyland you see a lot of uniformed security but here I didn't.

Lets see then there was Thypooh lagoon. What a kick, we liked this park better then blizzard beach. there didn't seem to be as many people here either. The wave pool was soooo much fun and we were on the river that goes around the park and there were more empty rafts then there were people. That may have been because it was raining but no thunder or at least not until later. It was kind of cool when we were in the wave pool we heard one clap of thunder and then the anouncement came on about getting out of the water. We left not long after that but we had a great time.

Well thats it for now there are other things but I need to get started making dinner.


Jena :)

[mickey]

Jena, congrats on the job, that is great news. It sounds like you had a great time, I have always wanted to try those water mice, maybe during our next trip. Thanks for the thourough post, many people will enjoy reading it.

[lisajl]

Congrats on the job!
Now, about your stay...Thank you very much for posting all of that.
We have not been to DW for 13 years and your info will help us!

I already purchased our Cirque De Soleil tickets. My daughter watches it all the time on Bravo.

I am going to print off your info and show it my hubby.
It will make it easier to plan our vacation.,
Thanks again!
Lisajl

[trishb]

Jena...congratulations on your new job! Isn't it funny how things just sort of work out in the long run?
I sense a tone of disappointment in your vacation. Do you think that you expected too much from your trip?:weird: DH and I talk often and ask each other what is the picture of the perfect day (whatever day that happens to be, usually a weekend day). Sometimes, the day we picture is not the one that we get. :devil And we get upset.
I overplan for our vacations. I have a picture in my mind of the perfect day, how I want things to go. I struggle daily to overcome this. Now, we all sit and laugh about it. DH teases me all the time about WDW. Even this sight. :p He tells me 'what would you do, if you couldn't plan to go to disney world?':p

[Donna B]

Jena, congrats on your new job. It sounds great. Thanks for all the info, it will help for my trip. :D

[Dana]

Jena,
I am so happy you found a job. You were so distressed in your one post that I said a little prayer for you. I am happy that it worked out. I am glad your bad experience at the Contemporary didn't ruin your entire vacation. It sounded like you had a blast. Thanks for the little taste of Disney with your decriptive trip report. :)

I am glad to hear how cool TL is. I was thinking about maybe going there for a morning during my trip, but was hesitant. Still trying to make a decision on that one.

Glad you all had a great time.:D

[LadyJena]

Originally posted by trishb
I sense a tone of disappointment in your vacation. Do you think that you expected too much from your trip?

Trishb: I think you hit the nail on the head. I was disappointed because we had been looking forward to it for so long and we had heard how wonderful it was.

To be honest I love Disneyland and I like California Adventure better then WDW and our trip just made me miss them more. The things that you can't find in MK or the other parks the matterhorn, Screamn California, the big Sun Wheel, Mr. Toads wild ride, even It's a Small World and others. I also think that the cast members in Disneyland are much more informed. You can walk up to some of them and ask a question and they know the answer. If they don't they find out for you. I am not saying that this doesn't happen in WDW I am saying that it did not happen to often.

The transpertation at WDW sucks big time. We ended up renting a car for the whole 2 weeks we were there. We didn't like the idea of having to wait 20-30 minutes for a bus then another 30 minutes to get to the park because it had to stop at each of the resorts. If the bus was full to bad you had to wait for the next one which was another 20-30 minute wait. That is NOT a way to make people happy all you get is a bunch of hot pissed off customers.

The nights we were going to Pleasure Island we would take the bus because we were going to drink and didn't want to drive. Anyway we waited for the bus 20 or so minutes some people that were there before us had been there longer to go to Downtown Disney. The bus pulled up opened the doors closed the doors and picked up someone that was in a lark the handicap door in the back of the bus. The bus driver then got back in his seat closed the doors then proceded to drive forward. Talk about a mob one man rushed forward and started hitting the side of the bus and another man ummm... started making hand gestures. The bus then slowed and stopped opened its door for people to get in.

It stopped the first time to pick up the handicap person if the bus driver would have only told everyone that was waiting he was going to be pulling forward NONE of that type of thing would have happened. I saw this take place a few times the bus drivers causing people to get irate and say nothing. OHH by the way it was NOT anyone from my family that caused a scene..

Mickey and All

If you were thinking about renting the water mouse (mini speed boats) DO IT it is well worth the money this is one of the things that we enjoyes VERY VERY much! When your out in the boats and you see the big ferry's or rescue speed boats leave a wake make sure you speed up and go over their WAKE WOW what a rush!!! I suggest you hold on tight!! :D

TOURS

We went on the "Keys to The Kingdom" tour and enjoyed it very much. My husband and son went on the "Train tour' not sure what the name is off hand but my son is 10 and he enjoyed it very much. MAKE sure you take a camera because at the end of the tour you can take a picture of the empty train in front of the train station. They told everyone in the tour this was the only chance to get this picture because it was before the park opened and no one was around. My husband and son didn't take a camera ;) because we were told you couldn't take pictures. So CARRY your cameras you can take pictures of the empty park as well you just can't take pictures in the back areas.

The dolphin experiance: We were a little disapointed because our tour was cancled because one of the dolphins died a few weeks ago. They told us they would let us know when they resumed and reschedule our tour. The Monday of our second week I called just to find out if it had been resumed and found that it had(by the way our tour was for the Friday before this was only 2 days after our scheduled tour). NO ONE HAD CALLED US to reschedule like they said they would. The grand planner more or less laughed and said well we can fit you in if you extend your stay another week. At this point I didn't think much was funny about the way we had been treated so this really irked me. I kept cool and said thanks I did not argue because it was no use....

Needless to say when we got back home many letters were sent out to lots of people.

The Contemporary Management, Disney Travel, Disneyland (to tell them how wonderful we thought their treatment was compared to WDW). We also sent one to Disney Co. to express how displeased were were with the treatment that we recieved.

I really hope that I don't sound bitter!!!! We did have a very good time we just could have done with out some of the stuff we put up with.

Thanks everyone for all your help before we went. There are some things that I wouldn't have done if it hadn't been for all of you. One of them being Cir Du solie (sp) a NOT TO BE MISSED SHOW!



OHHHHHHHHHHHHH ONE MORE THING ICKY, ICKY DON'T DRINK THE BEVERLY YUCK!!!!! lol I almost lost my lunch I can't beleive anyone would want to drink that stuff. The last day we went back to Epcot (which I LOVED did I say that already?, I thought I was going to dislike it but ended up LOVING IT) any way the last time we went we swang by the Icestation Cool (think that is the name) and The cast memeber said COME ON in its snowing inside and OH MY GOD it was. There was a guy in a parka making snow inside the tunnle and it was just soooo cool. My kids started throwing snow balls at each other. If this is normal for the Icestation cool I don't know because we had gone there a day or so before and they didn't have the snow but it was a great added touch.

Ok, I better shut up or this may never end see we did have a good time. I can't stop talking about it!!!


Take care,

Jena :)

[trishb]

Jena... I hear you!
I was in California a few years ago (they were still building CA) and could not wait to go to Disneyland. DH and I were so excited. We got our tickets and reservations and headed south. DH was stations at NAS Lemoore (if you know where that is). Anyway, it was Thanksgiving weekend and we were caught for HOURS on the LA Highways getting to Anaheim.:devil Then when we finally got there we could not find our hotel. Thanksgiving day we went to DL and we were so disappointed! Having grown up with the MK and Cinderella's Castle, my heart was broken when I saw Sleeping Beauty's castle (right princess??). It was so crowded that we didn't get to see anything. I will say that DL's Pirates of the Carribean was much better, though.
What I'm saying is that I had such high expectation of DL that I couldn't even enjoy what was there. I'm sorry that your trip to WDW was the same way. Maybe one day I'll get back to DL, but until then...I'll keep 'my little disney world'.:)

[LadyJena]

Originally posted by trishb
Jena... I hear you!
I was in California a few years ago (they were still building CA) and could not wait to go to Disneyland. DH and I were so excited. We got our tickets and reservations and headed south. DH was stations at NAS Lemoore (if you know where that is). Anyway, it was Thanksgiving weekend and we were caught for HOURS on the LA Highways getting to Anaheim.:devil Then when we finally got there we could not find our hotel. Thanksgiving day we went to DL and we were so disappointed! Having grown up with the MK and Cinderella's Castle, my heart was broken when I saw Sleeping Beauty's castle (right princess??). It was so crowded that we didn't get to see anything. I will say that DL's Pirates of the Carribean was much better, though.
What I'm saying is that I had such high expectation of DL that I couldn't even enjoy what was there. I'm sorry that your trip to WDW was the same way. Maybe one day I'll get back to DL, but until then...I'll keep 'my little disney world'.:)

Trishb! We went to Disneyland last year for the first time at Christmas we loved it. The crowds were terrible and I don't think we are going to do that again anytime soon but we did get to see it. :D

I really am not saying we hated WDW or anything of the sort. I am just saying that we did expect so much and then got so little. We are talking about going back in 5 years or so by that time our son will be 15 and we wont have to worry about our daughter being that she will be in her early 20's. If we go back we will only stay about a week and not buy a large package because now we know what to expect where to go what to do. When you haven't been there before it can be a little over whelming.

Take care,

Jena :)

[trishb]

You did get the highlights, though! In my opinion, 7 days is perfect. It is enough time to allow for relaxing on your vacation. And...the water mice are the BEST part of vacationing in the summertime!:p