In-Progress Trip Report (See final notes on Pg 5)

[tjkraz]

Hey, all. Kids have been sleeping for a couple hours so I thought I'd drop by with some quick comments.

* Travel went off without a hitch, aside from the 4:30am wake-up time. DD 2 fell asleep on the plane, which was great since she's the one with the short attention span. Landed on time. It was a bit rainy but the skies cleared-up by mid-afternoon. We were at the BoardWalk by 11am.

* Great check-in. Got us a room right where we wanted it (more on that another time) and it was ready immediately.

* Had lunch the first day at Sci-Fi Dine-in. It was our first trip. Theming is great, but the food could have been better. I ordered a chicken caesar salad, and it was mediocre. Decent amount of chicken, but not much greens. Didn't hear any complaints from the rest of the family, but it was so dark I think the kids were falling asleep.

* After a nap, we headed to the MK for the night. It was EMH night with the park open until 1am for resort guests. We left at 10 just as Wishes began. (We'll see that later in the week.) Timekeeper closed before we could get to it. I saw a CM standing out front when we first arrived, but when riding TTA around 8pm, we could see it locked up tight.

* DS 4 (turns 5 in 3 weeks) rode Space Mountain for the first time. He's turning into a real rollercoaster junkie. He really wanted to go on it and my wife (sitting behind him) said she heard him talking and laughing the entire time.

* It was annoying to discover how early they close things before Wishes. An hour before the fireworks they had closed down everything in Fantasyland, and wouldn't even let us walk through the area.

* Whomever designed Cosmic Ray's should be shot. The kids liked the atmosphere, but it's a pain in the a** having to go to different counters for different items.

* Did the Akerhaus princess breakfast this morning. That was a great experience. They suckered us into spending $30 for the photo package, but the photos are really cute. Got to see Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Mulan and Mary Poppins. Food was good, although they didn't serve either waffles or pancakes. I would swear the menu on Allears mentioned waffles. We were able to request pancakes, but that took about 20 minutes.

* Epcot has a character greeting area in the building behind Club Cool (the new Coke thing.) I'm not sure what this building / room is called. I think I've seen them do presentations there for the Flower & Garden fest. They had the big Mickey hand (character greeting) sign outside and CMs trying to get people in. In 15 minutes' time we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale and Donald. It was so slow the characters were vamping with one another between guests. That was a worthwhile stop.

* DD 2 loved Soarin. I've been on it 3 times now, and I swear each time I end up grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

* We've been trying to relax more this trip and it's been really nice so far. With the exception of making our dining reservations, we've tried not to rush around. The kids even did 3 of the Kidcot stops at Epcot today. We've also taken the monorail and boat (Epcot to BW) already.

Those are the highlights so far. It's been fun, but it will be nice to finally catch up on sleep tonight. Obviously Sunday was a long day and scheduling the 8:50 breakfast at Epcot may have been a mistake. But we've still got 4+ days to relax and have a bit more fun.

I'll post some photos later in the week.
Take care.

[PoohsPal]

Glad you're havign such a great time TIm! Hope you feel a little more rested tomorrow!

[DisFlan]

Sounds like a great trip! Isn't Soarin' great?!? I came off it giggling and hooting. My son mentioned that he hadn't seen me do that after a ride in a LONG time. I rode it a couple more times while we were there and loved it just as much.

Have (more) fun!


DisFlan

[JohnNJ]

Tim:

Glad you're having fun and things are working out. Keep 'em coming.

John

[lllovell]

Everytime I go to WDW, if we take it easy - I feel like I missed things....if we rush rush rush - I hate that too! Hard to find that balance isn't it? Sounds like you are having a blast though! Glad your travel went well! We will keep our fingers crossed for you for good weather for the rest of your trip!

Have fun!

Laura

[RweTHEREyet]

Thanks for checking in. Nothing like getting a touch of pixie dust in the middle of my day. Post again when you get a chance.

[withdisneyspirit]

I'm so glad your trip is going well! That is weird that they closed Fantasyland so early; that's not normal, is it? Hope your weather stays sunny:cool2: , Tim!

[jiggerj]

What a great early report! Nice to get a room right away :) Its always nice to get settled in- Wow! DS is sooo brave I am still a chicken when it comes to Space Mountain! Is he going to try Splash?

Look forward to more reports when you get a chance and did you mention pics? :) :)

Have fun! :)

[tjkraz]

Me again. Kids are in bed, DW is in the tub and I'm done checking on work. Thought I'd drop in with a few other notes.

* Back to MGM earlier tonight. Had dinner at Pizza Planet for the first time. $30 for three cheese pizzas, salads and two drinks. Ended up bringing an entire pizza back to the room. Poor planning on my part. The food was OK but nothing to write home about. Could have made something frozen that was about the same quality.

* In about 3 hours we did Star Tours, VotLM, Playhouse Disney, One Man's Dream, ToT, GMR and ate dinner. That seemed pretty good. The only place we waited was GMR. Even on Mermaid and Playhouse, we arrived JUST as the shows were beginning. On ToT we went from pre-show virtually right into the elevator.

* GMR is in terrible shape. Most of the effects just don't seem to work anymore--many gunshots and ricochets in the gangster scene, snakes in the Raiders scene, the flamethrower in the Alien scene. It's just sad.

* We saw Carlos doing his balancing tricks down on the BoardWalk. That was fun--the kids really liked it. He balances a number of objects (bottle, pitcher of water, etc.) on the tip of a dagger. For the finale, he literally balanced a 3' long sword on the end of the dagger, tip-to-tip. He started standing up, and then laid down on the ground while CONTINUING to balance the sword, then stood back up again. He had about a dozen people feel the tips of both objects to verify they were just sharp points, so if there was a "trick" to how he did it, it escaped me.

* Forgot to mention that I stopped at the Character Premier outlet store the other day. They had navy blue jackets (warm, well-lined, not a thin windbreaker) with "DVC Member" and the mountain logo embroidered on the front. They were originally $80 and the outlet had them for $40. I saw all sizes including at least one XL. Anyone interested that will be in town soon should check it out. If I hadn't gotten a jacket within the last 6 mos, I'd definitely have gotten one for myself. The BW gift shop has much thinner jackets for $55.

* Just and FYI for any technical geeks, it appears that the resorts' high speed Internet is blocking some ports. I paid for the Internet and tried connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server. It wouldn't accept my log-on credentials. Using my free dial-up access, no problem. Sounds like some port blocking to me.

[Deep-Thots]

* Just and FYI for any technical geeks, it appears that the resorts' high speed Internet is blocking some ports. I paid for the Internet and tried connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server. It wouldn't accept my log-on credentials. Using my free dial-up access, no problem. Sounds like some port blocking to me.

We had this problem in Oct at SSR. We could access the internet, but because of it, DH could not work from the World. Oh well.

Great TR! Glad you're having fun! Ride Soarin' one more time for me!!

[Rozzie]

thanks for checkin' in.......I can just see everything you are seeing in my mind....thanks for letting us live through your fun days!:blueflowe

So agree about GMR, we have gotten to the point we skip it. Very sad...

can't wait till' your next checkin!!!!:cheerlead

[PoohsPal]

* GMR is in terrible shape. Most of the effects just don't seem to work anymore--many gunshots and ricochets in the gangster scene, snakes in the Raiders scene, the flamethrower in the Alien scene. It's just sad. WOnder if that's why I was disappointed in it. I had heard that it was great, but did not go until my Jan trip. Nothing that I'd really do again.

* Just and FYI for any technical geeks, it appears that the resorts' high speed Internet is blocking some ports. I paid for the Internet and tried connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server. It wouldn't accept my log-on credentials. Using my free dial-up access, no problem. Sounds like some port blocking to me.
My boss had this same trouble. I said it was more Disney Magic. ;)

If your ds handled SM, I would think he's good to go on EE from what I've heard. Can't wait to hear what you think!

[nono]

But Tim,


HOW'S THE WEATHER???????? :cool:

[willy39]

If are going to MGM again let me give you a tip. SKIP THE NARNIA BEHIND THE SCENES ATTRACTION!!! What a waste of waiting in line and then a waste of 20 minutes in the show. It basically is a set designed with snow and evergreen trees and a movie screen. A lady comes out dressed up as the white witch, says some pointless stuff, and then you basically watch a movie trailer. After that, you exit wondering why you wasted a half hour. STAY AWAY from Narnia attraction! Other than that, have a great time!

[conciergekelly]

Thanksfor posting. I am enjoying your report. Hope you have fun! Happy Birthday to your little one.:happybirt

[carolina_yankee]

Thanks for the TR - it's a great way to avoid the work I'm supposed to be doing!!

Dirk

[tjkraz]

willy39: Thanks for the tip on the Narnia walk-through. We haven't done that yet at MGM, and now I know to skip it.

The weather is great. It's supposed to only get up to 76 today, but I was borderline hot the last hour we were at MK. We left the room in t-shirts and shorts this morning, and didn't have a problem.

We're going to AK on Thursday. I probably won't do EE this time. Since I'm coming back in May without my wife, I've been letting her take DS on most of the thrill rides while I stay with DD.

Today (Tuesday) we started at MK. Between 9:30 and 12:30pm we did the following:

* Philharmagic, Small World, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, BTMR, PotC and had lunch.

* DS and I stayed a little longer and went to Tom Sawyer's Island and Buzz.

* Tiki Room broke down while we were in line (should have known something was up when about 4 CMs dashed frantically from one "Cast Members Only" door to another.

* Splash Mountain was down just about all day (so far.) I think I saw it running around 10am when I went to get the BTMR FastPasses, but from at least 11am to 2pm it was down. They had cars running empty around 1pm, but then it was at a complete stop again shortly thereafter.

* We were going to have lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, but bailed on that. The kids had been snacking all morning, and we just didn't feel like trying to keep them entertained through a sit-down meal. Instead we grabbed something at Pecos Bill's. I had never been there, but have always heard good things about it. It ended up being pretty good. I had some sort of cold chicken salad with a vinegarette dressing.

Not much else to report. We were pretty happy with what we accomplished today. Would have been nice if those attractions hadn't broken down and if the line for Dumbo wasn't soooooo long just 30 minutes after park opening, but not much you can do about that.

The plan tonight is a short visit to Epcot for a little WS browsing and Illuminations. Unless there's something interesting to report, I probably won't be on tonight. DS has the pirate cruise tomorrow morning, and the rest of us may just hit the pool. Should be a nice day for it.

[Rozzie]

Glad you liked Peco's Bills! It is one of our fav's!

have a great time at the pool and at Epcot tonight. So agree about the Narnia exhibit, I was shocked at the lacking in it. You won't miss a thing by skipping it.

:happybirt to your son! btw- did you get the button?;)

glad you are having great weather!!

[PoohsPal]

I third teh NArania thing. I thought it'd be more about the making. It was cool to see the lamp post and sleigh, but not worth any wait time.

[ErinC]

Tim, is the height restriction still 40 inches for Soarin? You must have a really tall 2 year old. Mine is almost 3 and barely 35.5. She would love Soarin, I would love for her to be able to ride it.

[Stimpy]

Sure Tim...keep rubbing in what a wonderful time you and your family are having ;) I'm glad to hear you are all having a great vacation and I'm looking forward to hearing more about it!

Erin, if Tim's 2 yr old is anything like my son, it's possible! My DS was over 40" at 2 1/2, he's been a thrill ride junkie ever since. My DD on the other hand is very small for her age, I doubt she'll be 40" when she's 5 LOL

[tjkraz]

Hey, all.

Just a little to report today.

* Tuesday night we decided to go to DTD for some shopping instead of straight to Epcot. We headed back to the resort around 8:30 and initially planned to just watch the fireworks from the BoardWalk. Before we knew it we were actually in the park for the show. :)

* Wednesday morning our son was scheduled for the Albatross Pirate Cruise out of the Yacht Club. He was excited about it while we were at home, but seemed to be wavering a bit as the trip began. He's a few weeks short of turning 5 and tends to be a bit on the shy side. But he has been in school for 1 1/2 yrs now so he's not unused to being separated from us for a few hours.

With a little hand-holding he was ready to give it a go. The three CMs running the cruise asked everyone to find a few buddies before they left the dock. The three kids standing next to him must have been siblings or friends, and they sort of put their arms around each other in a group hug. Andy turned toward them, decided they were his "buddies" and joined in the hug. Waaay cute.

By the time they got back he was right in the swing of things. As the kids raced off the boat with their loot, one of the CMs walked up to Andy and presented him with the map they used to find the treasure. On it is a message personally inscribed to him that told how they "never would have found it without his help." That was pretty sweet.

* While DS was on the cruise, the rest of us went to Epcot and did a few things--mostly shopping. We were hoping to get a quick trip on Soarin', but the FastPass return time was already nearly 2 hours out. Most of the FPs we've gotten this week have had return times within 30-45 minutes.

* After we all reunited we spent an hour or so at the BW pool. Considering it's about 80 today, the pool was surprisingly chilly. DS went down the slide and said it was fun but that he didn't like it (which was no big surprise.) About 15 minutes later he said he wanted to do it again. :)

* Tonight we have reservations at Mama Melrose (NOT the dinner package), but I have a feeling we won't be going. We're down to about 2 full days and we have a TON of food left in the fridge. We over-shopped a bit, and have brought back our share of leftovers, too. I've eaten at MM before so there's no great urgency to go back. We'll see what happens.

Later.
Tim

[Rozzie]

what a precious memory of the map for your son! :thumbsup:

glad you are having such nice weather!!!!!

[RweTHEREyet]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. You know we are all green with envy. sounds like Andy is a great little guy, and it seems all worked out really well for him, what a wonderful memory for him to take home.

Enjoy the rest of your trip. It all goes by too quickly, doesn't it?

[tjkraz]

Here are some photos.

BWV balcony view:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/P2270116.jpg


DD with Jasmine (dress hand-made by grandma, broken strap courtesy of running through the hotel hallway):
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/P2270089.jpg


DD with Aurora:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/P2270093.jpg

[Rozzie]

what a precious angel you got there Tim! :blueflowe

and a great balcony view to boot! Hope you have lots of magic on your last 2 days......

[tjkraz]

Tim, is the height restriction still 40 inches for Soarin? You must have a really tall 2 year old. Mine is almost 3 and barely 35.5. She would love Soarin, I would love for her to be able to ride it.

Yeah, it is still 40". With the strap going through the legs, I'm sure they could reduce it without real safety concerns. I think it's more of a maturity issue than anything else. You certainly don't want someone riding that is so young that he/she would squrm around.

If memory serves, they opened the new Stitch attraction with a restriction well under 40". But it was later raised simply because unprepared parents took kids into the attraction that weren't equipped to deal with it.

Both of our kids are pretty tall for their age. DD won't turn 3 until May. She's at least 39" in bare feet and over 40" in shoes. We did Star Tours on our arrival day, and she didn't care for that one. Loved Soarin' though. We'll almost certainly take her on Kali tomorrow, but that's it for the rides with restrictions.

DS won't turn 5 for a few more weeks and he's well over 44". He did Space Mountain for the first time and loved it.

[lllovell]

nice view!

Your daughter is so sweet and it looks like she is thrilled to be meeting the "girls".

I am seriously considering the pirate cruise for the boys on one of our trips this year. They bracket your son, I believe, just turning 4 and almost 6. I think they are a good age for it.

So glad you are having fun :)

Laura

[jarestel]

Thanks for the great reports from WDW, tjkraz! We're all living vicariously through your adventures, so keep those posts coming!

Have a great trip!

[PoohsPal]

Sounds like a great time!!! SO glad your ds had fun on the pirates cruise. Dd is adorable!!!

[Pumpkinboy]

* Great check-in. Got us a room right where we wanted it (more on that another time) and it was ready immediately.
OK, Inquiring minds want to know! Do tell of the room location. Std, Pfd or BW? What floor? How long to get to the elevators? what's the view?

When we were there last week, we had a wonderful Std View, 3rd floor, in the second building away from the elevator (moderately long walk), but a terrific view of IllumiNations every night. Proximity to the elevators is not all that critical for many of you, but since our 8yr old DS is wheelchair-bound, location relative to the elevator is key. DD (6) loved being able to nip down the stairs to the pools from our location this time.

[tjkraz]

OK, Inquiring minds want to know! Do tell of the room location. Std, Pfd or BW? What floor? How long to get to the elevators? what's the view?

I don't usually go overboard on privacy issues, but I figured I'd wait until I got back for the details. ;) I will tell you that it's a 4th floor Standard View 1B. I'll post the rest of the room info in a couple of days.

[Pumpkinboy]

Wow, you got Std View with non-BWV points?! Sweet! Well done. Musta been at the 7 month mark. I hope you have a good IllumiNations view. I'll wait until you're back home to hear of the room then.

[DarthGoofy]

Great report and great pics. Thanks Tim.:thumbsup:

[RweTHEREyet]

Tim, any luck in finding the music kiosks?

Don't blame you on not giving out your room no. No telling how many unwanted guests you might have.

Enjoy the rest of your trip. Hope you have gotten to do and see eveything you wanted to this trip.

[tjkraz]

Hey all.

This may be pretty quick. It's late and we just spent 2 hours packing. Hoping to get a full morning in at MGM tomorrow before we have to head for the airport. It's the first day of the ESPN Weekend, so I'm expecting the worst in terms of crowds. Hopefully they'll be gravitating toward the special events and not the attractions.

* Wednesday night we did Fantasmic! DD is a pretty big Pocahontas fan, and she enjoyed that part, the princess stuff and the finale. Unfortunately she also spent a lot of the performance with her head buried in my chest since it's so intense. We've seen it about 4 times now. It's not my favorite show, and given the kids' reaction, we'll probably stay clear of it for a few years. But we did have the best seats of any of our visits. We arrived about 45 minutes ahead of time and the theater was still about 1/3 empty. We sat about 4 sections in from the right, half way down. Should have brought the camcorder. The only recording I have has a lot of heads in the way and the camera lens was splattered with water since the wind was blowing in.

* After the show we made a quick trip to the Belz Character Premier store. We only had about 20 minutes to shop when we arrived. Ended up spending $57 on three tee-shirts (one long-sleeved), a sweatshirt and a couple coloring books. They also had the same tee there for half price that I bought at the MK two days earlier for full price. Should have gone when we first arrived. I love that store.

* Thursday AM we went to AK. We arrived just after opening, which is rare for us. We were only there for 3 1/2 hours, but did everything we wanted. Here's the plan we followed:

+ Get FastPass for Expedition Everest (return time was 10:10am for pass obtained at 9:25am.
+ Kilimanjaro Safari via Standby. (No wait.)
+ DW and DS used FastPasses for EE.
+ DS and I rode Dinosaur via Standby (sign said 20 minutes--there was NO wait.)
+ Visited The Boneyard for about 20 min.
+ Rode Triceratop Spin (about 10 min wait.)
+ Rode Kali River Rapids (no wait.)
+ I used child swap for EE while DW took the kids for photos with Lilo and Stitch.
+ We walked into Camp Minnie Mickey to see who was there, but didn't stay for any other photos. Instead we grabbed a Mickey ice cream bar for the kids and headed out.

* EE was great. Don't know what else to say about it that hasn't already been said. Best coaster at Disney, no question. The wait time never seemed really excessive to me. That may be partially because folks aren't fully aware of it yet, or perhaps because we picked a slow day / time to visit the park. When I finally used my child swap pass around noon, standby was listed at 30 min (but was probably no more than 15 min based upon the line I saw) and FP return times were only about an hour out.

I think part of this is due to the rider capacity. I believe the cars hold 32 riders (16 lanes x 2) and they really moved quickly through the gates. I think this is a ride that will be able to handle demand much better than other, even less popular attractions.

* Tonight we did MK. Spectromagic was about 45 minutes out by the time we arrived, so again we faced a sea of pathway closures to be navigated. Really frustrating. I'd love to hear an explanation for closing the path that runs from Liberty Square to Fantasyland along the right-hand side of the castle. In fact we were the last ones permitted to cross the bridge between Liberty Square and Main St before they completely roped that off. I can't imagine the route we would have been forced to take if we'd have had to go around that.

I'm already a parade-hater due to the rudeness that almost always seems to accompany these events. Disney just gave me another reason to hate them. It wasn't completely intentional, but this ended up being a completely parade-free trip. No regrets here. :)

* Tonight we did some mop-up work at the MK--Dumbo, Carousel, Snow White's Adventures, Buzz, Space Mtn (for DS and me) and Astro Orbiter. Watched "Wishes" from Tomorrowland. For some reason that show just doesn't do it for me. Love Illuminations. The only explanation I can provide is that I just don't think Wishes does a great job of translationg Disney films into a light show. Watching Illuminations, you don't have any pre-conceived notions of what should accompany the music. But hearing familiar music and film clips and seeing how they are represented in the sky just doesn't gel for me.

I guess that's about it. Now we just have to cram all of our new stuff into our suitcases.

I'll try to add a few additional comments and maybe some photos when I return.

Hope some of you enjoyed this.
Tim

[ErinC]

Thanks for the info on Soarin Tim. DD almost 3 will just have to wait a little longer.

Hope you have a great trip home tomorrow, and I hope that Donald is still safe and sound, hanging out at the SSR pool when you are gone!:laughing: Hopefully you didn't get any "big" ideas about Dumbo while you were at the BWV pool!:ROTFL:

[Leftcoaster]

If are going to MGM again let me give you a tip. SKIP THE NARNIA BEHIND THE SCENES ATTRACTION!!! What a waste of waiting in line and then a waste of 20 minutes in the show. It basically is a set designed with snow and evergreen trees and a movie screen. A lady comes out dressed up as the white witch, says some pointless stuff, and then you basically watch a movie trailer. After that, you exit wondering why you wasted a half hour. STAY AWAY from Narnia attraction! Other than that, have a great time!


Oh boy is that right. We made the mistake of seeing the Narnia Exhibit. Agh!!!!! An absolute, complete, total waste of time!

[withdisneyspirit]

Thanks, Tim! I hope y'all have a great morning before leaving:jumpingbe

[tjkraz]

OK, folks. Here are the long-awaited details on our guest room.

We stayed in room 4129. It is the 1B portion of a lockoff 2B. 4th floor (the resort only has 4 floors in this area, so we were on the top level.) The balconies look out toward the valet / handicapped lot / tennis courts, but there's a pleasant pond in between and quite a bit of foliage. The photo I posted earlier in the week was taken just right of center, with Tower of Terror clearly dominating the skyline.

My requests were NS, high floor and "as close to MGM as possible." Looks like we received them all.

Here's a map of the resort showing the exact location:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/BWVmap.jpg

The black dot is the location of our room. The path I drew in red was the one we followed to MGM. We were about 4 doors away from a stairwell which deposited us right at the edge of the resort. The purple path is the route to the bus stop / self parking lot. This was accessible via a stairwell in the other direction and a paved path that runs roughly where I drew the line across the lawn. As for the route to Epcot, well, that was the big drawback here. Quite a walk.

I think this was a great location for us. We tend to take a lot of trips to MGM (4 this time), so being close to that park made sense. We also use the self-park lot about 2/3 of the time we took the car out, so that was convenient too.

BTW, Pumpkinboy, we booked this room on less than 4 months' notice. It was our second stay in a Standard View room at BWV. Guess we must have a gift for picking slow times to visit.

[tjkraz]

As you can see we made it home. We were almost 2 hours late, but not much you can do about that.

Friday we visited MGM and really got a lot done. It was the first day of the ESPN Weekend. Although I'm a pretty big sports fan, we didn't do much more than casually walk by the main stage. They were filming stuff on the NY streets--it looked like one of those competitions where they have athletes perform outside their own particular sport. I saw a couple of jerseys from a distance. One appeared to be Panthers (?) QB Jake Delhomme.

It was just coincidence that we visited during the special weekend. If we'd had more than a half-day there, I certainly would have checked out some of the special events. Maybe next time.

Overall it was a really great trip. It was actually the first time that our family of 4 has visited WDW by ourselves. In all of our other recent visits we've always had one or more family members tag along. Here are some closing comments:

High Points:

* The kids. This was our daughter's third trip. The first time she didn't want to get near a character. Second time she started warming-up to the "face" characters. This time she was leaping out of the stroller to pose with and hug any character that came along. Our son did great on the pirate cruise, and he was also a real trooper about trying new rides. He's usually pretty resistant about trying new things, but he was great about it here. I even got him to try Tower of Terror. Afterward he told me, in that wee little 5-yo voice, "I didn't really like it because it gave me butterflies in my tummy, but at least I tried it, right dad?" How can you not love that?!?! :loveisint

* Cast Members. I don't know if it's the new Disney management, time of year, weather, or just the phase of the moon, but all of the CMs we encountered really had their best face on. We had towel animals in the room (for the first time) and every time we turned around someone was handing stickers or balloons to the kids. The BW staff did an excellent job, too. We had to call maintenance a couple of times and they were very prompt. Valet parking attendants were always asking if we needed directions. The bellman was ready with comments about the resort. Lots of "Welcome Home"s.

Low Points:

* Dining. 98% of this is NOT Disney's fault, so this isn't really a criticism. At home we probably average one meal out per week with our kids, so they are no strangers to dining in public. But, like so many other things, life changes when you're on vacation. The kids often weren't cooperative when we decided it was meal time. That left us with a fridge full of leftovers as the week progressed. Other days they fought us when we went back to the room for a nap. That lead to a couple of takeout orders from the ESPN Club rather than actually eating in the restaurant. I think we only made two nice sit-down meals (Sci-Fi for lunch and Akerhaus for breakfast), the two carryout trips and maybe 4 counter service meals. The rest of the time we ate leftovers or from our groceries in the room.

* Discount airlines. We only paid $49 per person, per way. Now, I've flown cheap before, but this was the first time I remember really noticing the quality. First the airline wanted $10 per person, per flight to pick your seats. That kinda surprised me, but I figured they were welcome to separate DW and I from the kids if they really wanted to. :) On our departure they were hand-writing boarding passes due to a computer glitch. Our return plane was about 30 minutes late getting in and then we were delayed further due to a maintenance issue. They rushed everyone to board at once, and then we sat at the gate for AT LEAST 30 minutes. :veryconfu To top it off, they were charging all passengers for any snacks AND BEVERAGES offered on the flight--even after the delay. Any other airline that I've flown would have been passing out headphones or giving a free alcoholic drink after such a delay. I had to bite my tongue when the flight attendant came by to ask if I wished "to purchase anything".

Conclusion:

I've got two closing observations:

1. 6 days really isn't enough. Really it was 5 days since we hit our first park around noon on Sunday and left at 1:30pm Friday. We've used points for weekends before, but that is costly. Next time I think I'm just going to make our air reservations for a 7-day block and worry later about where to stay on the Friday or Saturday night.

2. This was our third stay at the BoardWalk over our last 4 trips. I'm really looking forward to staying at SSR next time. Midway through the trip even my wife was commenting that all of the walking involved is just too much for the kids. Even though our kids are 2yo and (not quite) 5yo, they are very large for their age. We don't even own a stroller that can accommodate them anymore. The rental strollers at the theme parks are great, but we just felt so bad having to constantly prod them along the paths to Epcot and MGM. We did make liberal use of the boats this time, but even that leaves you with a lot of walking from the dock to the room.

Based upon our three stays at OKW and SSR, you can usually make it from your room to your car or a bus stop in just a minute or two. While riding a bus may not be as "magical" as taking the boat or being emmersed in the atmosphere of the BoardWalk, a much more important consideration to me is simply the family's energy level.

I really enjoy the BoardWalk myself--especially all of the dining options right there. But if we stay at the BW and go to Epcot in the morning and MGM at night, that's 60 minutes of walking which could largely be avoided by taking busses from SSR or OKW. No, you're not going to save any time, but 60 minutes on a bus stop bench and then the bus itself is a lot less strenuous on all of us than navigating those paths around Crescent Lake.

I'm staying at SSR in May and will be curious to see how this theory pans out. I know that in my mind I'm glamorizing the busses to some degree since it's been well over a year since my stay at SSR. But after weeks of jogging and exercise to prepare for this trip, I literally had to ice my knees at night to help with the pain from all of that walking. There has to be a better way to do this.

I'll check back after my May trip and let you know if my theory still holds any water. ;)

Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

[RweTHEREyet]

I enjoyed your reports and all your observations.

You never mentioned what airlines you flew. Was that intentional, or can we know. I cannot imagine any airline charging to assign a seat. Are you sure the plan had real engines, or were there a couple of great big birds out there pulling the plane along. I have heard of no frills, but it sounds like I want to avoid that airline at all costs.

Sorry your dining experiences weren't the best. You will have many years to makeup for that. Other than that, it seems as if your trip was all you hoped for.

When are you going to be down in May? We will be there for Memorial weekend. I used to worry about weekend points. The only way I can get it not to bother me is to take the whole trip and average out the points by the total number of days and think of it that way. I don't mind changing resorts, but the older I get the more I find myself just wanting to stay put.

Thanks again for tracking down the music kiosks and reporting back on that. At least I know what to expect now. I appreciated the time you took out of your vacation to touch base here on the Boards. It's almost as nice as being there myself, well, kinda of almost, but not really.

[Disneymooners93]

Great, Great, trip reports!! :bowdown:

[JohnNJ]

Tim:

Thanks for taking the time to post about your trip. Yours is one of the few trip reports I've actually taken the time to read.

My only comment is about the walking. For my family it's not just about the destination. It's also about the journey. We've shared many magical moments on the way to the parks including that long haul to MGM. You may see things differently when the kids are a little older. You have plenty of future trips to try out your theories.

Welcome home!
John

[withdisneyspirit]

I very much enjoyed your trip report too, Tim! I must say that anyone who takes the time and energy to post a trip report here has my very thankful appreciation and undivided attention. It is a challenge for me as I have only written one trip report for the last three trips! I am hoping to turn over a new leaf in this area:o :upsidedow

[tjkraz]

I enjoyed your reports and all your observations.

You never mentioned what airlines you flew. Was that intentional, or can we know. I cannot imagine any airline charging to assign a seat. Are you sure the plan had real engines, or were there a couple of great big birds out there pulling the plane along. I have heard of no frills, but it sounds like I want to avoid that airline at all costs.

It's called Allegiant Airlines. I'm not sure how long they've been around. They seem to have gobbled up all of the routes formerly serviced by Trans Meridian, which went bankrupt last fall.

Obviously TMA was doing something wrong or they'd still be in business, but I never considered picking your own seats and receiving a half-can of soda to be luxury items. :crazy: The couple of times we flew TMA, they gave each passenger what amounted to a brown bag breakfast. It had a pre-wrapped pastry, piece of fruit, small cup of juice and some other item that escapes me. All Allegiant had to offer was beverages and snacks like rice krispy bars and cookies...all for a fee, of course.

Sadly, if we had it to do all over again, we'd probably do the same thing. The route is just too convenient, flying direct from our local airport to Orlando Sanford for a darn good price. The only other direct flight options would be from a larger airport 60 miles away. It would add at least 2 hours to our pre-flight routine, and we'd end up paying something on the order of $15 per day just for parking at the airport.

The seat assignment thing didn't bother me too much. The worst they could have done would have been to separate the adults, which really didn't bother us. The first boarding call on our departure flight was for those with the preferred seat assignments. I don't think more than a half-dozen people boarded with that call. On the return flight, the plan was no more than 1/3 full, so it wouldn't have mattered a lick.

Sorry your dining experiences weren't the best. You will have many years to makeup for that. Other than that, it seems as if your trip was all you hoped for.

Oh, it really wasn't that big of a deal. It will be years before we can try all of the WDW restaurants. Honestly, most of our meals out were at places that were new to us: Sci Fi, Akerhaus, Pecos Bill's, Pizza Planet.

When are you going to be down in May? We will be there for Memorial weekend. I used to worry about weekend points. The only way I can get it not to bother me is to take the whole trip and average out the points by the total number of days and think of it that way. I don't mind changing resorts, but the older I get the more I find myself just wanting to stay put.

I'll be there 5/16 to 5/19--three guys staying in a studio at SSR. The weekend points wouldn't bother me so much if we had enough to be able to afford it. :) We're already borrowed as it is.

In the future, when making our airline reservations, I'm just going to add at least one Friday or Saturday night and worry later about exactly where we will stay. For this trip I would have LOVED to add-on Friday night, but the airline penalties were just too much. We paid $49 per way under a promotional deal. By the time I gave serious consideration to adding an extra day, the Saturday night fare was up near $200 per person. :bugeyed: As of now, my inclination is to just add the extra day into our travel plans and worry later about where we'll actually be staying.

Thanks again for tracking down the music kiosks and reporting back on that. At least I know what to expect now. I appreciated the time you took out of your vacation to touch base here on the Boards. It's almost as nice as being there myself, well, kinda of almost, but not really.

No problem. Sorry I didn't think to gather a few more details. If there's something in particular you're looking for, send me a PM I may be able to help you out some other way. ;)

[Colorado Belle]

Hi Tim,

Glad that overall you had a wonderful trip!

I thought that was where your room must be with that view of TOT....and you're right, you were closest to MGM.

With your knee and the little ones, I'm wondering if it wouldn't have been better to drive to most parks ? I've found on less busy days that I can often pull up midday right to the close in park parking. My sister joined DD and I on a trip last May and she had severe foot problems after the first day. I ended up driving her everywhere from BWV. I used the valet parking and so she really only had to walk from the room to valet and then in the parks themselves. It worked out pretty good.

I've walked to Epcot from my room, but not yet to MGMl. Last trip, I wanted to do Fantasmic , Illuminations and Wishes all in one night (just for the heck of it) and so I used my car and parked int he AAA lot and saw everything no problem and didnt' even get tired....solo helps!!!!

[DisFlan]

Hi, Tim! Glad you had a good trip. We really like the duck pond views at BWV. We were in 2123 last October - right over the exit, The stairs were right across from our door. We used this method of exit and entry a lot - so we bypassed the evil long hallways most of the time. It put us out close to both the buses and the self parking area.

Allegiant Air started up near us last fall with REALLY cheap flights to Sanford. They aren't so cheap now, and they only fly 2 days a week - but they're direct.

DisFlan

[RweTHEREyet]

I have to say that have never even heard of Allegiant. They don't fly in our area. I don't mind that the airlines don't serve food anymore. I prefer to take my own in-flight snacks (remember when you were too embarassed to do that) and now it is the only way to go. We fly on Southwest as often as we can, so I am used to not having seat assignments, however, even Southwest let's people with kids board first. Allegiant sounds like it is totally no frills, let's hope they don't start asking you to get all your bags out to the plane. Ya know, as long as you know what to expect, it won't be a surprise for you next time and it probably won't bother you either. Southwest's boarding methods were a shock to us at first, now we don't think twice about it.

Borrowing those points, what a bummer. I would love to get to the point where we never borrow any points. I have a friend that borrows the max every year and doesn't think twice about it, but I find making reservations to come with less restrictions when I am not borrowing.

Regarding those Friday and Saturday reservations. If you have an AP, you can often get fairly descent rates at Pop Century or the AllStars for those weekends. And staying there makes you appreciate your DVC even more.

We will miss being there in May when you are by a few days, we don't arrive until May 24. One thing you probably already know, the studios at OKW have two queen beds, but they don't have a sofa. Not sure if that would make a difference to 3 guys in a room or not. They also have bigger balconies for sitting and having a drink at the end of the day. Just wanted to make sure that you were aware of all your options, but I bet you do know that and now I am embarassed for bringing it up.

I am not looking for anything in particular music wise. I listen to Subsonic a lot and will all of a sudden here something that evokes memories or something I just like. If I come up with something I need, I will be in touch.

[PoohsPal]

Oh, your kids sound precious!!

Well, dh and I just thought Allegiant could not print boarding passes. We thougth the hand written was nice and personal. ;) For the amount we saved and to get a direct flight, the lack of amentiies did not bother us. We packed water and snacks. Dh would not eat on a plane anyway.

Glad you had a good, although short trip!

[RweTHEREyet]

Our last stay at the BWV was in the same vicinity as yours was, but if looking at the map, you moved to the right a little to where the corner goes around the building, our room was the corner room. It was a one-bedroom and was as big as most two-bedrooms we have been in. We had 3 balconies. One off the kitchen, one off the living area and one off the bedroom. When we checked in the CM said, "Oh, you have one of our special floorplans." So, it looks as if that end of the building is very desireable for views, etc. Sure wish I could remember what the room number was, however, chances of ever getting the same room again are probably slim and next to zilch.

I agree with you on the walking versus catching the bus. I do enough walking once I get into the parks that I don't really care to walk to get to the Parks.

[CRSNDSNY]

1. 6 days really isn't enough. Really it was 5 days since we hit our first park around noon on Sunday and left at 1:30pm Friday. We've used points for weekends before, but that is costly. Next time I think I'm just going to make our air reservations for a 7-day block and worry later about where to stay on the Friday or Saturday night.

I agree with this observation. We are trying out the FW Cabins this next trip since they are a great location and a nice size. We're thinking that this might be our regular Friday and Saturday night location if all goes well. We got a great AP rate!

[lllovell]

Wow - what a trip!

Excellent reporting and I can tell that you all really had fun. It is also really GREAT to see that you got excellent CM interaction. We always seem to and I am surprised when people report they dont get a single Welcome Home for example. We always get many.

I can completely understand your issues that are small child related. The boys weigh close to 50 pounds each and we are still using a double stroller that is only good up to 70 pounds. Just waiting for the wheels to fall off! We have looked into something to replace it, but the only ones out there tend to be good up to 100 pounds and we are already there (not to mention I am not spending $300 on a stroller). This next trip is going to be QUITE interesting as it will be myself and all three little ones for the first several days. Hubby is coming Wed afternoon. We have friends staying with us, but they also have friends there along with another group of family, so I have images in my head of PJ and one of the boys in the double stroller with the other one on my shoulders. The boys will be able to walk in the mornings before lunch/nap time, but asking them both to walk all day would simply wear them out - - - which just causes that spiral into the deepest levels of Dante's Inferno.

Also - the food. I have gone to the trouble of planning out ALL our meals for our next trip because I get so stressed out trying to do the restaurant thing at WDW. Even with an ADR, you can wait a really long time sometimes and then the kids are hyped up in general from being there not to mention probably bored from waiting to be seated, etc. It is just easier for now to do most meals in our room. I go for simple things that can bake in the oven while we play games or do other stuff. Since it will be just me for over 50% of the meals (parent wise - maybe even adult wise for most meals), I am going the easy route. Lasagna one night...hamburger helper the next. The kids are happy NOT going back to the parks every night and going swimming instead. So, we will eat and decide what the 4 of us will do. The only night we HAVE to go anywhere is for the fireworks cruise one night which I am stoked about!
:jumpingbe

Thanks for sharing so much information with us all!

Laura

[tjkraz]

We got a couple PhotoPass pictures in the mail the other day, so I thought I would add a couple more pics here to wrap this thing up:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/Disney_0206/P3030106_edited.jpg


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/Disney_0206/SAVE0000_edited.jpg


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/tjkraz/Disney_0206/SAVE0001_edited.jpg

[withdisneyspirit]

Great pictures, Tim! You have a beautiful family! Your children love tattoos:jumpingbe Mine always did too:upsidedow

[DisFlan]

Those are CUTE kids, Tim!


DisFlan

[SueOKW]

My favorite pic is your daughter with Aurora. I really enjoyed reading this - well written and interesting to read!!!

We leave in two days - -- something i learned today? avoid narnia!!! no prob - although a little disappointing!!!
Sue

[DarthGoofy]

Great pics Tim. See you in May.

[Rozzie]

what awesome pics! Your little one's are just too precious! I just loved what DS said about TOT...made my heart melt!

Thanks for the time and energy on the great trip reports. I think you will find that you will feel good to be *home* on your May trip. We had the same observations on the walk from/to the boardwalk area.

Thanks again for the report! Hope to see you in May!:beaniepro