Trip Reports
02-10-2006, 03:21 PM
Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Caribbean Beach Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent, Rookie
Comments: Sandy's family spent a wonderful trip in October and the first few days of November. The report is short, but has a lot of hints about how to travel with a 4 1/2 year old.
Okay, since Sue Bani said it's never too late to write a trip report, I humbly submit mine (from October of 1996) and hope I don't get too many points off for it being late! Participants are myself (34 year old computer support specialist), husband Jerry (53 year old associate professor in technology suport division) and beloved son Zack (4.5 year old great kid).
Day 1:
We arrived in Orlando late afternoon on October 28, 1996, a Monday. It was an uneventful flight, except for the TWO HOUR WAIT on the tarmac at St. Louis while some malfunction was fixed. Poor Zack was as patient as he could be, finally falling asleep shortly before take-off. Then he awoke when we were airborne and insisted that we were still on the ground! We collected our luggage and our rental car (had to go back and have them remove the insurance charge on the bill) in quick fashion, then were on our way to the Caribbean Beach Resort. Check-in went smoothly and we were in our room (in Aruba) by about 5:00 p.m. Purchased my 25th anniversary refillable mug from the mini-bar. Because of the delay in the flight, we decided to skip Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue that evening, but I then found out that the money was non-refundable. Scurry around to get dressed and drive to the Contemporary Resort and take the boat across to Fort Wilderness. What a lovely way to travel! We had the launch all to ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, too. I was afraid that Zack (at 4.5 years old) would be too young for it, but he laughed and laughed at the jokes. He also enjoyed waving his napkin and playing the washboard. Hubby Jerry was lucky enough to be the first victim when the actors/actresses came out into the crowd. He took it in good spirit. After another relaxing boat ride back across to the Contemporary, we returned to the CBR for lights out.
Day 2:
Awoke early (I believe we had a wake-up call), got dressed and drove the rental car to the Yacht Club to park. We had character breakfast reservations for almost every day we were at WDW. This first day, we were scheduled to eat with Chip, Dale, Mickey and Minnie at the Garden Grill in Epcot. When we checked in we were told it would be a 45 minute wait! Not a good way to start the trip! I am NOT a patient person. After an extremely long wait, I started to have high anxiety about the remaining priority seatings we had for the rest of the week. However, this breakfast proved to be the exception fortunately, not the rule. The breakfast was okay, but too crowded and noisy for me. Zack enjoyed it, and was thrilled to see the characters. After breakfast we headed out into Epcot. We knew we were never going to be able to see everything and that was okay. We planned to get early starts, do as much as we wanted, then return to the room to swim and relax. We knew we would need that (all of us!). While at Epcot, we went on The Land, saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience (loved it but Zack hated waiting in the pre-show) and Spaceship Earth. Enjoyed the fountains very much, as well as the lighted sidewalk. Zack had great character encounters with Figment and Dreamfinder, Belle, the beast and Gaston. Gaston was a riot! He was completely in character-very egotistical. I told him how grateful we were to get autographs and that we were not worthy. He heartily agreed with me! Went back to the CBR for swimming (in the small pool) and rest. We returned to Epcot that evening for dinner at the Rose and Crown. We were seated on the patio and got to watch Illuminations from there. It was a beautiful way to end the first full day there.
Day 3:
This was our MGM day. We didn't do a character breakfast this day, as we had priority seating at the Sci-Fi Dine In. Let me give a little background first. I was eagerly anticipating riding the Twilight Zone Tower or Terror, and we had pointed it out excitedly to Zack every time we drove by MGM. Of course that was our first destination. Zack was excited too. We rode it with virtually no wait and it was as cool as I thought it would be. Unfortunately, Zack didn't agree with me. Immediately after exiting he said, "I am never going to ride that again." And he meant it. I tried valiantly to get him back on it to no avail. Oh well, I hope I didn't warp him in the process. We had an encounter with the green army men, and some pushy children to boot. Doesn't it drive you crazy when other parents aren't as considerate as you try to be regarding taking turns, etc.? Poor Zack kept getting pushed aside again and again, until Momma Tiger (me) helped him out! We again kept our expectations of what to see low, not wanting to burn Zack out. We went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, saw Muppet Vision 3-D (terrific!), and the Great Movie Ride. After that it was getting warm and it was time to head back for swimming. We had priority seating for dinner at Mama Melrose's, but were still too full from lunch at the Sci-Fi (which was very good and very filling) and too tired to come back. Left MGM around 2:00 p.m. to go back to the CBR for more swimming, this time at Old Port Royale. Zack was a water demon the whole time we were there. He would swim, swim, swim until we thought he would drop, then have a small meltdown when we said we had to go back to the room. We all enjoyed walking across Parrot Cay to and from the pool. Decided to eat in the room and went to Goodings to pick up food. Early to bed for another full day tomorrow.
Day 4:
Magic Kingdom time! We did the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. This was the absolute best breakfast we had the whole time we were at WDW. The food was excellent, the service was great and the character interactions were super. We got great pictures, especially of Zack and Minnie (which we used for Christmas cards). A note about pictures--85% of our pictures were of Zack and some character at a dining experience! People who look at them think that's all we did! This was also Halloween and we had tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party later that evening. Following our plan of going early and then going to rest, we rode Jungle Cruise, the railroad, visited ToonTown, Goofy's Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Zack was extremely disappointed that he wasn't tall enough for Splash Mountain or Space Mountain after we tried so hard to make him as tall as possible (tall shoes, spiked hair). He was very pleased, though with BTMRR. We did ToonTown last and let him play on the "boat" and splash around the fountains till he was drenched. Back to the room for swimming and napping. We had priority seating at the Liberty Tree for dinner that evening. Here's where the Disney magic came in. We had purchased the food and fun plan, and dinner at the Liberty Tree was included. However, when we returned for the Halloween party, I forgot to bring the coupons needed (and I had done so good until then!). Jerry suggested I ask the manager and sure enough, they were able to charge it to our room, then all I had to do was take the coupons to the front desk at the Customs House at the resort the next day and they credited our account. I love Disney! Dinner at the Liberty Tree was really good, with lots of characters dressed in Halloween costumes. I had made Zack's costume-a skeleton-myself. I used black sweatpants and a black turtleneck, then painted the bones on with fabric paint and sprinkled them with glow in the dark glitter. He got lots of comments on the outfit, which was cute and not a fuss to wear (except we left a trail of glitter everywhere we went). We had fun that evening, but I probably wouldn't do the Halloween party again. The lines for trick or treating were much too long, so we ended up just approaching the evening like any other night at the Magic Kingdom. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, Haunted Mansion, the Skyway, Dumbo, Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White, the teacups, and Pirates of the Caribbean, all with virtually no waits. After exiting the Pirates of the Caribbean, we were treated to a visit with the hyenas from Lion King. We got to watch the fireworks from the monorail. It was truly a great evening.
Day 5:
This was just supposed to be a relaxing day, with time for us to pick up those things we didn't do before or wanted to do again. After a character breakfast at Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge (beautiful!) with a truly great Pocahontas, Zack and I returned to the Magic Kingdom because he wanted to ride Jungle Cruise again and get some souvenirs. Jerry dropped us off at the Polynesian and we rode the monorail. We spent some time taking pictures, looking at souvenirs, watching the movie about the new Animal Kingdom attraction and getting the souvenir lithograph. We rode the Jungle Cruise for one last time. Due to some confusion about which bus to take, it took us awhile to get back to the CBR, but we were ready for more swimming when we got there. Zack seemed to be coming down with something (maybe too much going, going, going) so we let him get a lot of rest. Jerry and I had plans to take him to the kids' club at the Yacht Club that evening (couldn't get into the Neverland Club :-() and go out on our own. We dropped him off and got the beeper, then headed straight to Tower of Terror for one more thrill. After that we drove to Planet Hollywood (still early evening) and got a table in about 15 minutes. The food was excellent and plentiful and also on the food and fun plan! When we left the wait for a table was about and hour and 45 minutes. I'm so glad we arrived when we did. We returned to the Yacht Club to collect Zack, who of course didn't want to leave, and returned to the CBR.
Day 6:
Check-out day :-(. We had a room reserved at a hotel near the airport and took our time getting there. Stopped and did souvenir shopping at World of Disney (overwhelming!). We were all worn out by now and spent most of the day just laying around the room relaxing. We had promised Zack we would go to SeaWorld, so we collected ourselves about 4:00 and headed over. We would have liked to have had more time there, since Zack is really fascinated with animals and nature, but were just too exhausted. Returned to the room and ordered pizza and relaxed.
Day 7:
Time to fly home, and fortunately no delays this time. Zack could barely stay awake for the take-off and zonked out soon afterward. He slept almost the whole flight. All in all a tremendous trip and we can't wait to do it again (fall of 1998).
That's it! And a huge thank you to all on this newsgroup. My husband was astounded at how well I had planned this trip, and I owe it all to this group. You guys are great!
Sandy Hostetler
shostet@siu.edu
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Caribbean Beach Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent, Rookie
Comments: Sandy's family spent a wonderful trip in October and the first few days of November. The report is short, but has a lot of hints about how to travel with a 4 1/2 year old.
Okay, since Sue Bani said it's never too late to write a trip report, I humbly submit mine (from October of 1996) and hope I don't get too many points off for it being late! Participants are myself (34 year old computer support specialist), husband Jerry (53 year old associate professor in technology suport division) and beloved son Zack (4.5 year old great kid).
Day 1:
We arrived in Orlando late afternoon on October 28, 1996, a Monday. It was an uneventful flight, except for the TWO HOUR WAIT on the tarmac at St. Louis while some malfunction was fixed. Poor Zack was as patient as he could be, finally falling asleep shortly before take-off. Then he awoke when we were airborne and insisted that we were still on the ground! We collected our luggage and our rental car (had to go back and have them remove the insurance charge on the bill) in quick fashion, then were on our way to the Caribbean Beach Resort. Check-in went smoothly and we were in our room (in Aruba) by about 5:00 p.m. Purchased my 25th anniversary refillable mug from the mini-bar. Because of the delay in the flight, we decided to skip Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue that evening, but I then found out that the money was non-refundable. Scurry around to get dressed and drive to the Contemporary Resort and take the boat across to Fort Wilderness. What a lovely way to travel! We had the launch all to ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, too. I was afraid that Zack (at 4.5 years old) would be too young for it, but he laughed and laughed at the jokes. He also enjoyed waving his napkin and playing the washboard. Hubby Jerry was lucky enough to be the first victim when the actors/actresses came out into the crowd. He took it in good spirit. After another relaxing boat ride back across to the Contemporary, we returned to the CBR for lights out.
Day 2:
Awoke early (I believe we had a wake-up call), got dressed and drove the rental car to the Yacht Club to park. We had character breakfast reservations for almost every day we were at WDW. This first day, we were scheduled to eat with Chip, Dale, Mickey and Minnie at the Garden Grill in Epcot. When we checked in we were told it would be a 45 minute wait! Not a good way to start the trip! I am NOT a patient person. After an extremely long wait, I started to have high anxiety about the remaining priority seatings we had for the rest of the week. However, this breakfast proved to be the exception fortunately, not the rule. The breakfast was okay, but too crowded and noisy for me. Zack enjoyed it, and was thrilled to see the characters. After breakfast we headed out into Epcot. We knew we were never going to be able to see everything and that was okay. We planned to get early starts, do as much as we wanted, then return to the room to swim and relax. We knew we would need that (all of us!). While at Epcot, we went on The Land, saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience (loved it but Zack hated waiting in the pre-show) and Spaceship Earth. Enjoyed the fountains very much, as well as the lighted sidewalk. Zack had great character encounters with Figment and Dreamfinder, Belle, the beast and Gaston. Gaston was a riot! He was completely in character-very egotistical. I told him how grateful we were to get autographs and that we were not worthy. He heartily agreed with me! Went back to the CBR for swimming (in the small pool) and rest. We returned to Epcot that evening for dinner at the Rose and Crown. We were seated on the patio and got to watch Illuminations from there. It was a beautiful way to end the first full day there.
Day 3:
This was our MGM day. We didn't do a character breakfast this day, as we had priority seating at the Sci-Fi Dine In. Let me give a little background first. I was eagerly anticipating riding the Twilight Zone Tower or Terror, and we had pointed it out excitedly to Zack every time we drove by MGM. Of course that was our first destination. Zack was excited too. We rode it with virtually no wait and it was as cool as I thought it would be. Unfortunately, Zack didn't agree with me. Immediately after exiting he said, "I am never going to ride that again." And he meant it. I tried valiantly to get him back on it to no avail. Oh well, I hope I didn't warp him in the process. We had an encounter with the green army men, and some pushy children to boot. Doesn't it drive you crazy when other parents aren't as considerate as you try to be regarding taking turns, etc.? Poor Zack kept getting pushed aside again and again, until Momma Tiger (me) helped him out! We again kept our expectations of what to see low, not wanting to burn Zack out. We went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, saw Muppet Vision 3-D (terrific!), and the Great Movie Ride. After that it was getting warm and it was time to head back for swimming. We had priority seating for dinner at Mama Melrose's, but were still too full from lunch at the Sci-Fi (which was very good and very filling) and too tired to come back. Left MGM around 2:00 p.m. to go back to the CBR for more swimming, this time at Old Port Royale. Zack was a water demon the whole time we were there. He would swim, swim, swim until we thought he would drop, then have a small meltdown when we said we had to go back to the room. We all enjoyed walking across Parrot Cay to and from the pool. Decided to eat in the room and went to Goodings to pick up food. Early to bed for another full day tomorrow.
Day 4:
Magic Kingdom time! We did the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. This was the absolute best breakfast we had the whole time we were at WDW. The food was excellent, the service was great and the character interactions were super. We got great pictures, especially of Zack and Minnie (which we used for Christmas cards). A note about pictures--85% of our pictures were of Zack and some character at a dining experience! People who look at them think that's all we did! This was also Halloween and we had tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party later that evening. Following our plan of going early and then going to rest, we rode Jungle Cruise, the railroad, visited ToonTown, Goofy's Barnstormer, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Zack was extremely disappointed that he wasn't tall enough for Splash Mountain or Space Mountain after we tried so hard to make him as tall as possible (tall shoes, spiked hair). He was very pleased, though with BTMRR. We did ToonTown last and let him play on the "boat" and splash around the fountains till he was drenched. Back to the room for swimming and napping. We had priority seating at the Liberty Tree for dinner that evening. Here's where the Disney magic came in. We had purchased the food and fun plan, and dinner at the Liberty Tree was included. However, when we returned for the Halloween party, I forgot to bring the coupons needed (and I had done so good until then!). Jerry suggested I ask the manager and sure enough, they were able to charge it to our room, then all I had to do was take the coupons to the front desk at the Customs House at the resort the next day and they credited our account. I love Disney! Dinner at the Liberty Tree was really good, with lots of characters dressed in Halloween costumes. I had made Zack's costume-a skeleton-myself. I used black sweatpants and a black turtleneck, then painted the bones on with fabric paint and sprinkled them with glow in the dark glitter. He got lots of comments on the outfit, which was cute and not a fuss to wear (except we left a trail of glitter everywhere we went). We had fun that evening, but I probably wouldn't do the Halloween party again. The lines for trick or treating were much too long, so we ended up just approaching the evening like any other night at the Magic Kingdom. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, Haunted Mansion, the Skyway, Dumbo, Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White, the teacups, and Pirates of the Caribbean, all with virtually no waits. After exiting the Pirates of the Caribbean, we were treated to a visit with the hyenas from Lion King. We got to watch the fireworks from the monorail. It was truly a great evening.
Day 5:
This was just supposed to be a relaxing day, with time for us to pick up those things we didn't do before or wanted to do again. After a character breakfast at Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge (beautiful!) with a truly great Pocahontas, Zack and I returned to the Magic Kingdom because he wanted to ride Jungle Cruise again and get some souvenirs. Jerry dropped us off at the Polynesian and we rode the monorail. We spent some time taking pictures, looking at souvenirs, watching the movie about the new Animal Kingdom attraction and getting the souvenir lithograph. We rode the Jungle Cruise for one last time. Due to some confusion about which bus to take, it took us awhile to get back to the CBR, but we were ready for more swimming when we got there. Zack seemed to be coming down with something (maybe too much going, going, going) so we let him get a lot of rest. Jerry and I had plans to take him to the kids' club at the Yacht Club that evening (couldn't get into the Neverland Club :-() and go out on our own. We dropped him off and got the beeper, then headed straight to Tower of Terror for one more thrill. After that we drove to Planet Hollywood (still early evening) and got a table in about 15 minutes. The food was excellent and plentiful and also on the food and fun plan! When we left the wait for a table was about and hour and 45 minutes. I'm so glad we arrived when we did. We returned to the Yacht Club to collect Zack, who of course didn't want to leave, and returned to the CBR.
Day 6:
Check-out day :-(. We had a room reserved at a hotel near the airport and took our time getting there. Stopped and did souvenir shopping at World of Disney (overwhelming!). We were all worn out by now and spent most of the day just laying around the room relaxing. We had promised Zack we would go to SeaWorld, so we collected ourselves about 4:00 and headed over. We would have liked to have had more time there, since Zack is really fascinated with animals and nature, but were just too exhausted. Returned to the room and ordered pizza and relaxed.
Day 7:
Time to fly home, and fortunately no delays this time. Zack could barely stay awake for the take-off and zonked out soon afterward. He slept almost the whole flight. All in all a tremendous trip and we can't wait to do it again (fall of 1998).
That's it! And a huge thank you to all on this newsgroup. My husband was astounded at how well I had planned this trip, and I owe it all to this group. You guys are great!
Sandy Hostetler
shostet@siu.edu