Well, our first family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando is now history and I have 328 photos to prove it (literally...it will cost me a fortune to have these prints made). I learned a few things along the way:
* September in Orlando is a lot like the end of July in Erie -- hazy, humid and hotter than hell. I definitely didn't need the jeans and sweatshirts I lugged all the way down there.
* It rains periodically and almost every day without warning. A dark sky doesn't mean it will rain and a sunny sky doesn't mean it won't...weirdest thing I've ever seen. And, even the coolest toughest guys will wear a plastic poncho with a Princess castle on it when the sky does open up because when it rains, it pours.
* Purchasing the Disney Dining Plan is the only way to go even if it is the most confusing system I have ever used in my life. Math is not my strong suit and neither, apparently, is figuring out the different between a table service, a quick service and a snack. Every day we bought the same breakfast and every day they calculated it differently. Didn't matter, in the end...we had so many "credits" left that we ended up stuffing our carry-on luggage full of Disney rice krispie snacks.
* We will never stay at any of the All-Star resorts again. The accommodations were OK, but you were obviously the lowest star on the Disney "guest" rung. Nowhere was that more apparent than after a long night at the Magic Kingdom when the "value resort" bus lines were a mile long and all the other resorts had two and three buses waiting to ferry them back to their hotel. Both nights we were at the Magic Kingdom we were left standing in a long line, holding sweaty, sleeping preschoolers for over an hour. It could have been worse, they could've been screaming, wailing and pitching a tired-kid fit like most of the other kids in line -- those of us with sleeping children were the lucky ones.
* With two children under 6, we should have traded our day at Epcot for the water park. We were left with only a few hours to spend at Blizzard Beach on Saturday and it wasn't nearly enough time -- it would've been great to spend the whole day there.
* September is the time to go if you want to spend the least amount of time waiting -- thanks to lower attendance (and fast passes) we didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride (except Dumbo). As we zipped through the lines all I could think was..."do you think these rooms ever fill with people waiting?"
* The Buzz Lightyear ride at the Magic Kingdom was a surprise hit. As were the 3-D movies at MGM and the Magic Kingdom and the "interactive" shows with Crush (the turtle from Nemo) at Epcot and the Laugh Floor with Mike and Roz from Monsters, Inc. at the Magic Kingdom.
I've got volumes more, but I've also got a volume of Her Times magazine to get off my desk today, so...I leave you with this...a picture of me and girls with Baloo and King Louie from my all-time favorite Disney movie ever -- The Jungle Book. (ugh..this is an awful picture of me, but don't Baloo and King Louie look great)?
Comments (3)
A friend of mine pointed me over here b/c we also just got back from Disney. We had about 330 photos too, not including the PhotoPass photos.
The buses were a disaster last week. This was our third trip (first w/ kids) and it's never been like that before... and we stayed at the All-Star once. A good hotel in the mid-range for price but upper range for service is the Wilderness Lodge but again it's all buses for transportation.
In which park did you find Louie & Baloo? And aren't you just salivating over the DVD release? Less than a month away...
Posted by Eden | September 24, 2007 4:36 PM
Posted on September 24, 2007 16:36
Hi Eden. I read your blog this a.m. & thought...wow...we were there at the same time..how cool is that?
I remember seeing something you had posted before about going to the Halloween event at Disney, but I thought you were going the week after us.
Yes...the buses were a nightmare. They didn't seem to be so bad for the better hotels - Coronado Springs, all the Epcot hotels...they had tons of buses lined up -- it was us sad-sack cheapskates that had to wait forever.
I wanted to check out the Wilderness Lodge because that's where they have the campfires and horse-drawn wagon rides and it sounded like a blast, but we never made it over there to see what it was like.
We found Louie and Baloo in the Animal Kingdom early in the AM. I was sooooo excited. The kids didn't even care, I'm like...no, seriously, we're waiting in this line. I'm not kidding!
I cannot wait for the DVD. And, if you love the music..I have an excellent CD called "Jungle Boogie" that contains a lot of songs from the Disney jungle movies (Lion King, Jungle Book, etc.). You can't buy it new anymore. I got mine on eBay after borrowing it from the library once.
We also love the Mary Poppins movie/soundtrack and were thrilled to find her in the Magic Kingdom!
Wasn't the Halloween party a blast? The DJs playing kids music were a real hit with my girls..they loved dancing with the characters and jumping around to the Hokey-Pokey.
Posted by Heather | September 24, 2007 4:59 PM
Posted on September 24, 2007 16:59
Hi Heather,
I think you have the Wilderness Lodge and Fort
Wilderness mixed up. You could stay at the Wilderness Lodge though because it is close to
Fort Wilderness and then you can still go to the campfires etc.
We have stayed at the Wilderness Lodge BUT I felt like I didn't leave PA because you are surrounded by evergreens and I like to have palm trees around so I know I'm in FL!
If you visit allears.net and click on
accommodations you can find out more.
Aunt Cathy
Posted by Aunt Cathy | September 28, 2007 3:29 PM
Posted on September 28, 2007 15:29