Trip Reports
01-06-2007, 11:21 PM
Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: CBR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Infant, Toddler, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Rookie
Comments: Donna, her husband Cliff, and 6-month old daughter were joined by Cliff's parents, sister, and 3-year-old nephew. The group stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and covered a lot of territory during their stay. This is an interesting report that shows how a larger group can handle a WDW trip.
Intro:
We are Donna and Cliff, first time parents in our mid 30s, taking our 6-month old daughter Madelyn to Florida for vacation and (primarily) so Cliff's folks from Montana could meet her. We drove the 1300 miles from northern New York in our new Ford Windstar, the Montana folks flew in on Delta. They included Grandpa (60s), Grandma (50s), Aunt Sue (29) and her son, Tucker (3.5).
Day 1 Thu. May 8:
Donna and Madelyn left home about 3:30 and started south. We picked Cliff up at work at 4:30 and got on the NY Thruway. We stopped for dinner at a Thruway rest stop (yucky, but we were trying to make time and Maddy can only wait so long). Cliff took over driving then so he could get us through the NYC area, after a wreck 3 years ago I'm not a super confident driver. Around 11 we stopped again to give Maddy a little more formula - hoping she'd sleep through the night in the car seat, and us some coffee. I'd been taking Claritin-D which the Dr. warned me could make me sleepless, and between that and the coffee I was WIDE awake for hours. Anyway, very little traffic at that time of night so we breezed through NJ, Delaware, Maryland and part of Virginia without a stop and not taking the city bypasses. About 4 a.m. I decided that was enough staring at the white lines, so I pulled into a rest area. Soon as the car stopped, Maddy's eyes popped open and she began chattering. We tried driving to the next rest stop. Same thing. I thought maybe she wanted out of the car seat. She did, she wanted to watch the traffic zoom by. Cliff and I sort of dozed with Maddy on my lap, sitting straight up, head swivelling as each truck went by. Oh well.
Day 2 Fri. May 9:
We moved on through Virginia, stopped about 7 at another rest stop for breakfast - we always bring cereal, milk, juice and muffins with us to save $$ and calories. After Maddy had nursed a little (we'd weaned her down to once a day in anticipation of this trip) we moved on. The next highlight was lunch at a Cracker Barrel in NC. Maddy is a very good girl in restaurants, we bring our own boosterseat/highchair and baby food. Cliff and I finished before she had her bottle, so we thought we'd take advantage of all those rockers out front and give it to her there. She drank it all down just fine, then she threw it all back up. Luckily Cliff was quick and most went on the ground. When I pulled out her suitcase to get a new outfit, three other suitcases fell out. Another oh well.
By about 5 p.m. we admitted we were exhausted and stopped for the night in Brunswick GA. Got a nice room at a Budgetel, and just brought in fast food.
Day 3 Sat. May 10:
We had our quick cereal breakfast and were on the road again by 8.
We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center - got to get that juice! - and continued on to Orlando. By now Maddy was really unhappy in the car seat. For the last few miles I tried every Mommy trick I know to keep her happy. What worked - stopping the car and getting out at CBR. Cliff stood in a bit of a line (it was Saturday afternoon) and Maddy and I waited on a couch. The whole process was about 30 min. I heard several passerby comments: "what a nightmare," "I've never seen it like this," and my favorites "I'll be holding the tickets" "no way, I'm holding the tickets" and "just move, dammit." I didn't think 30 min. was too bad for a Saturday afternoon, and the CMs were organized about giving you a form to fill out while in line and very nice about helping me find a seat.
We ended up in Trinidad South - not our first choice - but we did get our first floor, non-smoking, adjoining rooms. They were #s 3415 and 3416, and turned out to be great for us: right on the parking lot, close to the bus stop, pool and laundry.We didn't plan on using OPR too much anyway. Cliff and I took 3416, a corner room with 2 windows. When we checked the minibar to see if there was room for anything in it, we noticed several missing items. Also there were no refillable mugs in our room. Our adjoining room had the 4 mugs and a full mini-bar. Hmmm. We thought we wouldn't be using the mugs too much anyway.
We were hungry and still had several hours 'til we picked up the others at the airport, so strolled down to OPR. Granted, I was hot and tired, but compared to previous stays at DL and YC, everything at CBR seemed too busy. Just my opinion. We got a quick lunch at the food court, some mediocre Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and a beer, strolled around Parrot Cay and headed back to the room. Cliff also noticed a large soda cost about $2. Maybe we did want those mugs!
Just then the minibar guy came. We told him we wanted mugs, and he said he only had the 25th anniversary ones left. Great! We liked them better than the CBR ones, and they are a little bigger. When he checked the minibar he found some non-Disney beers in there besides noting the missing items, but he also believed us that we just checked in so didn't charge us for them. Cliff headed off to the airport and Maddy and I settled in a little. CBR does have nice big rooms, we were able to set up our portacrib for Maddy and store all our "stuff." Our trip was 5 nights at CBR, 7 nights at a rental house his sister got and another 3 day drive home. We were traveling heavy.
Cliff and family got back about 6:30 p.m. After greetings we decided to drive right over to DVM for dinner at Captain Jacks. Cliff and I had eaten there once in Nov. and enjoyed the food and atmosphere. It wasn't going to happen this trip. First we had a hard time finding a parking spot at DVM (wishing we'd taken the Disney bus) and then found out Capt. Jacks had a 75 min. wait. The CM said Rainforest and Fulton's would be even worse. Judging from the crowds, we believed her. She suggested Goofy's grill so we trooped over there. Already I realized this trip was going to be difficult, just getting 5 adults and 2 kids from place to place could be a project. The Montana folks are Disney neophytes and were relying on me and Cliff to lead them every step. They were also showing some racism "Did you see all those blacks (not the word they used) in Atlanta," "Yes, but they were all very nice." That "yes, but they were all very nice" phrase was applied to many ethnic groups during the trip. I wanted to scream "Not only white anglo protestants from the West are nice" but Cliff told me to drop it. By the way, all you UK RADPers who were there in May are also very nice and very neat and clean. My mother-in -law made sure to point that out. My father-in-law wanted to know "what kind of deal Disney cut with the limeys." AAAAAUGH!
Enough raving. Anyway, we also had a long wait at Goofy's Grill. A young man who appeared to be mentally challenged was filling the orders, and he was very slow - imagine the comments that got. Anyway, you could see the burgers piling up and this young man could only get them on the trays so fast. Occasionally a cashier would help him out, but it wasn't enough. I think they should have scheduled more help for a busy Saturday night. So after we finally ate our dry burgers and cold french fries, we headed the clan off to the new mega Disney store. After they were in there 30 min., Cliff and I took Maddy and snuck off and back to Rainforest just to see the gift shop. We got back to World of Disney and the clan never knew we were gone, the store is that massive.
Got back to CBR and Cliff took his folks on a tour of the grounds. The 3-year-old played on the playground at Parrot Cay, poor kid was 2 hours off schedule and had been on planes all day. They also saw some fireworks about 10 p.m., I'm guessing it was the Studios practicing, since there were no scheduled fireworks anywhere at that time. I got Maddy ready for bed and she threw up again. Hmmm.
Day 4 Sun. May 11, Mothers Day:
Since Maddy had been "not herself" I decided she and I would have a slow morning at CBR then drive the van in to Epcot to meet the rest at 12:30 at the Land food court. I wasn't sure I could do bus/stroller/diaperbag myself but knew I could handle van/stroller just fine. Cliff rounded up the folks about 10 a.m. and marched them off to the bus to Epcot. They got their 5 day world hoppers (Cliff and I had bought ours ahead at a Disney store), did some of Innoventions, then the Living Seas. Meanwhile Maddy and I packed up for the day - you need a lot of stuff for a baby for a day in the parks - and drove to Epcot. Even arriving at noon-ish we parked close enough I decided to walk in instead of the tram. I watched, and people waiting for the tram as I walked by were getting off just as I walked up to the ticket booths, so if you don't mind a little hike, you save no time by tramming it. I got my Mother's Day carnation and admired the birthday candle topiaries. There were a lot of folks milling around in Future World, so I knew I'd have to hurry to get to the Land by 12:30. I also didn't stop to consult a map, got mixed up where the Land and Imagination are and overshot the Land by going around Innoventions instead of cutting through the middle. By the time I stroller parked, hauled the baby in and down the stairs I'd missed our 12:30 time by 5 min. I found a seat on a bench in a central location and waited. Cliff had said he would check again at 1:00 and he was busy getting his folks into Food Rocks. Eventually we all met up and began the table search. We should have known better than to try to eat at peak time, but we finally did get a table and a high chair and something for everyone to eat. I had a good tuna salad on pita bread, some of the others had baked potatoes with chili that looked good, but overall the experience was hectic and noisy.
After lunch we all piled on the Land boat ride. Cliff and I had skipped it last trip because we did the walking tour. We got some good video - the baby liking it, the 3-year-old sleeping. There were 'gators in the aquaculture section, that was new to us.
Then we went to Imagination, thinking Tucker would like Figment. He was scared on the ride. The baby loved it. He was also scared in the play area on the second floor because he doesn't like the dark. We decided to move on to World Showcase; we couldn't convince Cliff's folks to see HISTA because they "didn't want to see a movie." There was a long line too.
By now it was getting quite hot outside, so we stopped for a drink at the little stand just before WS on the Canada side. Lines were long, and after waiting for Cliff to get drinks, his Dad decided he need a bathroom break. So we waited some more. By now the baby was getting too hot, so after a quick look at the Canadian gardens and trying to convince the folks to see the movie we thought we would just move on to find a cool spot to give baby some juice and let the others pursue their main interest: getting character autographs for Tucker. At last Cliff, baby and I had a quiet moment together on Mother's Day, on a nice shady bench with a breeze off the lagoon. Then the baby threw up again. We had a change of clothes for her, Cliff went off to buy a new T-shirt and a very nice woman on the next bench offered some maternal advice about babies and hot weather. Cliff ran on to send his folks on their way - to meet us at Japan for dinner at 5:30, we had PS for 5:45 - and Cliff and I headed for the baby center. It's in the former Odyssey Restaurant, between Future World and Mexico. It was nice and cool, had big changing tables Maddy just loved rolling around on, and highchairs, sinks etc. There is also a separate room for nursing mom. We gave Maddy some cereal and some more fluid then moved off towards WS ourselves. Got some photos of the Fantasia topiary - I think that was my favorite, then took a water bus right to Japan. We were late but his family was later, still in pursuit of autographs, but we did make our PS just fine. His parents wanted to hit the bar first, but the CM took us right in to our table. We were seated with two women who probably cringed at the idea of a meal with a 3-year-old and a baby, but Tucker was asleep again after declaring the chef was scary and Maddy was entertained by watching the chef. We all ordered shrimp, steak or shrimp and steak and enjoyed the salads and vegetables that come with all meals. The food was excellent. The chef did one fancy knife/pepper grinder move but that was it. He did joke a little with my in-laws. I had a plum wine and felt much better. As we were leaving I was so glad we'd done the PS, there were probably 40 people waiting. When we went out we saw some stilt creatures (maybe the cirikli, these looked more like horses) and wandered on around the world. I had two missions: to pick out a Capodimonte rose at Italy and get a good spot at Illuminations. I got my rose and ordered it delivered to our room - a big plus if you're already loaded down. We saw the model trains by Germany (really elaborate and worth a stop). There was some bickering about when you needed to stake out a spot, but we did all ride Norway and then I got a fence rail spot right between Norway and China. We needed clear viewing since Cliff planned to video Illuminations. Eventually the rest showed up and all would have been well except they decided Tucker needed to eat and what they got him was raw unpeeled shrimp from Norway. It was very stinky and really detracted from my enjoyment.
All this was enough for one day, so Cliff, Maddy and I drove back to CBR and his folks "raced" us by taking the bus. We did get home first. Overall highlights were the topiaries and gardens throughout the park, seeing baby swans right by the baby center (how appropriate) and the smiles and comments our baby got from passerby. The in-laws did get many character autographs at the various countries, seems like this is a good way to collect them without a lot of waiting.
Day 5 Mon. May 12:
We had planned this as a partial rest/waterpark day, but the forecast was rain all day, so we (unwisely) chose to go to the Studios. Again Cliff escorted them in via bus, and I drove in with Maddy a little later. My want-to-do list here was: Muppets, Star Tours, ToT, Little Mermaid, Toy Story Parade and eat at Pizza Planet - so many of you had mentioned it was the first good fast food here. The rain had already begun about 11. Cliff had taken his folks on the Backlot Tour and left them at HISK playground. After meeting up with them we headed off to Muppets, with a stop to buy some more ponchos. Cliff and I had two from home and took the Mickey adult one from the room (a nice time saver) and used it to cover the stroller. Grandma had also brought a baby poncho for Tucker that he refused to wear, so it helped cover Maddy when we had to stroller park and carry her. Muppets was wonderful as always, though a very tall man in front of me did impede my view a little. Then Cliff and I took Grandpa on Star Tours, and I nervously let Grandma and Aunt Sue take Maddy with them to 101 Dalmations. Would I ever see my baby again??? Also, usually I take Dramamine before doing the thrill rides, but with nursing and taking allergy pills, I decided to just use my Sea Bands - the tight nylon bands you wear on your wrist. They worked fine.
We had agreed to meet back at HISK playground. Cliff, Grandpa and I waited and waited, took a bathroom break, waited some more. I wandered down towards 101, there were characters out in the street and sure enough, the family and baby were in the rain getting autographs. I was pretty stressed by this and vowed when Cliff and I did ToT we would just baby swap. We'd heard Cruella was right in character and mean to some kids, when I saw her she was chastising a little girl for wearing socks with sandals. This little girl liked it, but I bet some kids would be upset.
Cliff and I headed over to ToT and sent his folks to do Indy's stunt show. The rain was getting worse, so we stopped at one of the shops on Sunset Blvd., and got some cute Pooh in a crescent moon earrings. The ToT line was long and it was really pouring, we didn't want to leave the stroller in the rain that long, so we found refuge at some covered picnic tables by Anaheim Produce and gave Maddy her lunch and had some fruit ourselves. I should mention that Cliff and I were having our usual light breakfast of cereal and juice every day, while his folks went down to OPR and ate heavy. Also, they had a 2-hour time change from Montana. Consequently, we were hungry much earlier than them. This created some friction. If you have a big group, try to keep everyone on roughly the same schedule.
We met up again, and Cliff and his Dad wanted to do GMR, so we thought the women folk could do Little Mermaid, but there was a long wait. At first I staked out a good parade spot to wait for Cliff, but there was bickering over that so I moved to a bench in a drier area. We had a pretty good view of the parade and at least baby was dry. Then we all headed off to Pizza Planet and it was as good as promised. Seating downstairs seems limited, but there is plenty upstairs, just a little tough to do with two strollers. After eating they seemed inclined to let Tucker play some video games, so Cliff and I made excuses and headed out. It was finally beginning to clear up, so we headed to ToT. Baby swap worked just fine, we went through together 'til board the elevator time, then they gave me a card and sent me downstairs on a regular elevator. When Cliff came out I gave him the baby, gave the card to a CM by the regular elevator who took me back up to the ride area. There was a woman getting on there who just didn't want to do the drop, so you can do that if you want to see the theming without the "thrill ride." It was not quite as much fun without my guy, but I was with a whole carload of first-timers who screamed and hollered and made it enjoyable.
We drove back to CBR, gave Maddy a bottle, and she threw up again. Now I really had to do laundry! We also got in a little CBR quiet pool time, Maddy's first swim ever. I think the quiet pool was a little too cold for her, however, I really enjoyed the break. We also heard on the news a tornado had ripped through Miami. I guess a wet day at MGM wasn't so bad. While I was laundering/swimming the in-laws called, they had got themselves to MK! Hooray! We were to meet them at 8 by the castle to watch the parade and fireworks.
We packed up the babe and the bag and bused off to MK. First view of the pink castle - and we both said we didn't like it. We didn't have a lot of time, so got a quick hotdog and soda at Pinocchio's. The dogs were good, the sauerkraut on the extensive condiments bar was yucky. Cliff's folks were right in front of the castle, right on the curb. They'd finally learned you do need to stake out a good spot. I took a bathroom break while we were waiting, strolled around Fantasyland a little and picked up a map and schedule. The maps have a lot less info than they used to but do contain the entertainment schedule, which is good. I peeked at Ariel's Grotto, it looked pretty cute and at night there was no line. I finally began to feel the Disney magic.The other folks waiting for the parade were all friendly, little boys offering Maddy a toy, a woman giving up her front row spot so little kids could move up. Cliff had decided not to tape Spectromagic, so he didn't have to spend the evening with a lens stuck to his eye, and we all enjoyed the parade. Then the fireworks began. Sitting right in front of the castle is not a good spot to see the fireworks, they don't go high enough. We moved to the right a little - toward Frontierland - and got a pretty good view. Now we joined the mass of people moving out. We were chided to "stay with us," then Susie stopped to buy a balloon and swore she'd find us but wasn't seen again for 15 minutes. The benefit of this, we waited a while in the little central park and the crowd thinned a little. Susie came back, we got in the big CBR bus line and got a crowded bus home. Someone was nice enough to give me and baby a seat and Cliff and stroller squeezed in somewhere else.
When we all got settled in at CBR, it was about 11. Highlights of the day were the bus ride in to MK (Maddy was making friends with the gentleman behind her), a curbside view of Spectromagic and the CM who gave me 3D glasses for Maddy at Muppets, saying "hey, you never know."
Day 6 Tues. May 13:
A sunny hot day was predicted and we realized we were all getting pretty tired and frazzled so it was probably time for some water park action. There was still some of Epcot we wanted to do too, so Cliff and his folks went in on the bus and I made plans to drive in with Maddy and meet them at 11. I really wanted to see Universe of Ellen, some more of the garden festival exhibits and HISTA. I met Cliff outside Innoventions and we went in to MetLife where his folks were doing Cranium Command, or we thought they were. After about 30 minutes of rounding them up - "it's like herding cats" - and me grabbing a quick tuna pita sandwich at the healthy snacks place, we moved on to wait in line for Ellen's Energy Adventure. Maddy was getting a little fussy, it was by now near her lunch time, so Grandma gave her a saltine. She'd never had wheat or salt before (and shouldn't have) but seemed to do ok with it. Once inside she got even more fussy, so Cliff popped open a can of Similac and she drank it greedily. Cliff had a little trouble holding and feeding baby while standing with this big camera bag strapped around his waist, but he managed pretty well, even when most of the formula made a return appearance.
This happened just as we were being herded into the seating area. Once again, Maddy and Daddy would be needing a change of clothes. Despite all this we found Ellen's adventures pretty entertaining, but I think Tucker (the 3-year-old) was scared by the dinosaurs.
Considering it was getting hotter and Maddy's state of distress we decided to head back to CBR, cool, rest and feed the baby again and then drive over to Typhoon Lagoon. I think we got to TL about 2:30, anyway it wasn't too crowded and we could find some chairs in the shade near Leaning Palms. Cliff and I took Maddy into the shallow areas of the wave pool and learned she really loves the water. Eventually she tired out, so we took turns resting with her on a lounge chair and floating in Castaway Creek. We also got to do the storm slides and the family raft ride with Cliff's dad and sister. When we were leaving the family raft ride we got a good look at the kids play area (Ketchakiddie Creek) and realized we should have been there all along, so we packed up and moved our stuff over there. There were some slides and water guns for Tucker, and small waterfalls and fountains Maddy could play in. One other funny but good thing happened at TL: Cliff's family were getting a snack at Typhoon Tilly's and the register "ate" their order, so they had an extra long wait. The apologetic CM gave them several BIG chocolate chip cookies for the delay. Very yummy. On a transport note: we did bring Maddy's stroller in because we had a long walk from the parking lot and thought she might need it to sleep in. You can get around most of the park on the paved walkways, but we did get a lot of sand in the wheels. Tucker and his mom stayed in the park a little longer than the rest of us, and she said it was a long slow walk for a tired 3-year -old back to the CBR bus stop.
I still wanted to see more of World Showcase and Illuminations again, also I really wanted to visit Yacht & Beach, eat at Beaches & Cream and at least see the Boardwalk. Cliff and I had stayed at Yacht Club in Sep. '95 and seen just the beginnings of Boardwalk construction. His dad wanted to see Illuminations again too, so the 3 of us drove over and parked at Beach Club, went in through the International Gateway and strolled around World Showcase. I missed my baby but it was a nice break. I got to check out more topiaries and gardens, we bought a glass of wine at France and saw the living statues (very funny) and some excellent chocolate at Italy.We staked out an excellent viewing spot between America and Germany; we could see the laser figures on the fountains much better than from the Norway spot. Cliff's dad had wanted to ride one of the Friendship boats, so we took one from International Gateway, hoping it would take us to Boardwalk first so we could check that out, but it went to Y&B first. We did a quick tour of Stormalong Bay, then waited about 15 min. for a seat at Beaches and Cream. The burgers were as excellent as promised, and we saw two orders of the "Kitchen Sink" go by. One was quickly devoured by 6 teen-agers, the other was valiantly attacked by 1 guy who bolted from the restaurant before he could finish it - I think he had tried too hard. Anyway the day ended much more happily than it had begun, and we had to get up early for a character breakfast.
Day 7 Wed. May 14:
We had 7:30 res. for Chef Mickey's. We had wanted to do the character breakfast at Garden Grill, but never got around to calling 'til Monday, so they were all booked. Also, they could only seat a party of our size (5 adults, 2 kids) at two booths, so that wouldn't have been as good anyway. I was a little tired from being up late the night before then getting up early to nurse Maddy. We actually got everyone up and in the van by 7 for the drive over to the Contemporary. No questions from the guard about parking there - maybe we looked like we were going to a character breakfast! Cliff and I had never been in the Contemporary except for the monorail ride through, so liked the chance for a quick look around. We also learned a neat way to get a stroller up an escalator by carefully balancing the back while the front wheels are on the escalator. A real time saver. We had a short (5 min.) wait for our table and got some great video of Goofy holding and playing with the baby. The food, selection and service were excellent. I didn't know about the napkin waving thing, and they started it when I was in the food line. It's pretty funny to see a whole room full of people twirling their napkins when you don't know why and are still a little groggy. We got enough attention from the characters to keep Tucker happy, though we did have to ask for Minnie to come over. Maddy gave them all a big stare. It's very well air conditioned in the restaurant and we had to leave the stroller at the entrance, so we had to wrap the baby in a napkin to keep her little legs warm.
From the Contemp. we took the monorail over to MK. Cliff and I always like to do Pirates first so we took his dad and Maddy over that way while Grandma, Aunt Sue and Tucker began their Dumbo quest. We figured I'd do some of Adventureland with the baby then take her back to the baby center to finish nursing. There was no line so we walked on the Jungle Cruise. The CM had some new patter, but was sometimes hard to hear, we were seated right by the engine. Then we walked on to Pirates; Maddy was not scared but getting a little hungry and fussy. We looked for the politically correct changes and had fun yo-ho-ing. Got into the jail room and the boat stopped. More boats piled up behind us. Hmmm. Maddy was increasingly unhappy and we were all a little sick of hearing the prisoners whistle at the dog. People (including a very pregnant woman) on the boats ahead of us were climbing over the seats to leave the ride but I didn't want to do that with the baby and besides the CMs showed up and made everyone sit down. There was no one else on the boat but us, the baby was really crying so ... I (very discretely, my father-in-law was there) had to nurse my baby on the politically correct Pirates ride. We got about 10 minutes in before we could get off the ride and I shuffled her over to the baby center.
The baby center at MK is just beautiful, all Victorian themed and cool and comfortable. It was hard to settle Maddy down to finish nursing, she was so busy looking at the fringed lamps and other babies. Eventually I met up with the others (Cliff and his dad had done Space Mountain) and we all did Small World. I always liked this, and the baby did seem to enjoy it. The others had finished their Dumbo quest so we all moved on to Mickey's Toontown. Grandma stayed with the baby while the rest of us did the Barnstormer, it's a fun little coaster, I think Tucker was scared though and the line is longer than it looks at first. The heat was getting bad again so I took Maddy into the shop with Mickey's Hall of Fame while they pursued some autographs. It was getting near baby's lunchtime, so we all went on TTA, then Cliff, Maddy and I drove on back to CBR to rest and feed her. We made plans to meet them at 6 by the castle, thinking we'd have time to nap, pack for the move to the rental house, then get in a little MK time without the whole entourage.
We did nap and pack, then went to OPR for a dinner/snack (I had pizza, Cliff had linguine, both were so-so), then bussed over to MK. We waited about 20 min. for the bus, while waiting 3 Epcot busses went by. Cliff wanted to take the bus so we wouldn't have to deal with the tram and the parking lot crowds leaving MK at night; we later realized we should have just left the van at the Contemp. all day. Oh well. Anyway, we just had time for a slow stroll down Main Street and another quick trip through Small World (wanted to do Peter Pan but line was too long) before meeting the family. Cliff's dad wanted to do BTMR and I think the others were still seeking autographs, anyway Maddy came with us and we figured we would baby swap. Just as we walked up to BTMR they were closing it down, with no idea how long it would be down. Of course, this made the wait for Splash Mountain really long, so we decided to do Haunted Mansion and Hall of Presidents. Considering Maddy's vomiting habit I thought HoP might get to her, but it didn't. : ) Cliff's dad went on back to CBR and Cliff, Maddy and I did Peter Pan then went over to BTMR again. It was open! A note about baby swapping: on both BTMR and Splash, one adult goes through and the other waits at the end of the ride (not in line) with the child, then goes in the exit and rides from there. We didn't know that and lost a little time giving Maddy a bottle while I could have done it while waiting for Cliff to do a ride. It's not quite as much fun riding alone, but Big Thunder at night is always a blast. While waiting I got talking to a nice couple who reminded me the space shuttle was going up at 4 a.m. and I told them it probably could be seen from WDW. Anyway, by this time Spectromagic had started (we had seen it on Monday) so Splash was a walk-on (or if you were a teenager, a run-on, repeatedly). I had forgotten how extensive the theming inside was, and the 2 little drops before the big one. Great fun. The best part was, rounding the bend just after the big drop, I got a great view of the beginning of Spectromagic, the bozo-like guys on the big Spectromagic float. It was a true Disney moment.
We wandered out through Adventureland and found this is a good spot to view the fireworks, you can see most of them and there is no crowd at all, We even had a bench by Swiss Family Treehouse. Before leaving, I stopped in at the Welcome Center for our poster and GoH badges, then we had a about 20 min. wait for the bus to CBR. The queue area for the CBR bus is pretty wide, so people would often walk past us, saying "this can't all be for the Caribbean," when indeed it was. Eventually Cliff and the dad behind him made a stroller barrier and just kept repeating "Yes, this is the end of the line. Yes, this all for the Caribbean." The wait was extra long because a gentleman in an ECV needed to get on, and the first bus driver couldn't get the platform down correctly. Eventually another bus pulled up, and that driver got the ramp down. At least we got seats, Cliff in the very back with all the other dads with strollers, getting hot and jostled. Like I said, we should have left the van at the Contemporary all day.
When we got back to CBR we switched on the news to hear that the shuttle was still scheduled for 4:08 a.m. liftoff. I set the alarm.
Day 8 Thurs. May 15:
I had set the alarm for 4 a.m. to get up and watch the shuttle, but I woke up early anyway and we switched on the TV to be sure all was on sked. It was. Cliff and I just quickly pulled on some shorts and Tshirts (gotta love that Florida weather) and went out to the CBR parking lot. Glad again our room was right on the parking lot (Trinidad South 3416) . We went as far away from the buildings as we could and waited and saw just one other woman out there watching. Eventually there it was, like a large orange flame climbing ever upward. I'm glad we did it and hope someday we can be even closer for a launch.
Today was our day to leave CBR and move to the rental house. We'd done most of our packing yesterday, so Cliff got an early start loading up the van. He somehow managed to get all 7 people's stuff, including an inflated beach ball and a Mickey balloon inside the van. He and his sister drove over to checkout then to the house to unpack and get settled there, while Maddy and I waited at CBR and his parents and Tucker went down to OPR. I was worried they wouldn't be back by 11 a.m. checkout, and they weren't, but the maids were ok about it. We all piled back in the van and went to Blizzard Beach. This time we planned to stake out seats at the kiddie area, at BB it's called Tike's Peak. His family went on and got seats while Cliff got a locker (very long wait) and I fed Maddy in the shade. BB has lockers in 2 areas, but they all have to be rented at Snowless Joe's. Tike's Peak had some good stuff for the baby, not as much as TL had, but there was one slide we could safely go down carrying her. She loved it. I still like TL better, I was bored on Cross Country Creek and got out and swam. We did go in the wave pool, but the bobbing waves were a little too big to sit in with the baby. When Maddy took her nap and stayed with Grandma, Cliff and I got to do the family raft ride (it IS a lot of fun) and Runoff Rapids, which had open or enclosed slides you do on a tube. They now have single, double and triple tubes for this. We took the singles and did the open slide because the line was shortest. To get to the family raft ride, we waited a long time for the chairlift - also because we had never done it. It's not worth the wait.
We still had unpacking to do at the house and also some grocery shopping, so we left BB about 5. The rental house was about 30 min. from Disney, but really nice. Most of the development it's in is used as rentals, but some people do live there year-round. It had a small in-ground pool in an attached screen house, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, modern kitchen and laundry areas, really a nice setup for our kind of group. Cliff, his mom and sister went grocery shopping while Grandpa and I stayed home with the kids. I was a little sunburned and glad to skip a grocery trip.
Day 9 Fri. May 16:
Everyone admitted they were tired and in need of a more restful day, we also needed to catch up on laundry. We did some pool swimming in the morning then headed to DVM for lunch and some shopping/browsing. I wanted to at least try to get into Rainforest Cafe, so we went there first and had a 10 min. wait. This was at about 1:30 on a Friday. I think our large party was to our advantage, parties of 2 seemed to be waiting much longer. Anyway, we all really liked the Rainforest. I had a Sheba's Jungle Juice (oreo cookie ice cream drink) and a Rumble in the Jungle (turkey and caesar salad in a pita) with the waffle fries. Very good. Cliff got a huge Oriental chicken salad, his dad had a flatbread pizza and his mom and Sue had caesar salads. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Two notes: it's really well air-conditioned and the baby got too cold. We put her spare warm outfit on top of her shorts outfit to warm her up.
Also, the ladies room is incredibly well supplied with sundries: hairspray, hair dryers, perfume, deoderant, saline solution. Maybe it's for folks who had to wait so long they decide to dress for the day again.
After lunch Cliff and I just wanted to browse a little, maybe get Maddy a souvenir shirt or toy, but his mom and sister had A LIST and they had to complete the LIST. We (especially Maddy) enjoyed watching the dancing fountains and some kids playing in them. We did get her a Pooh toy at the Mattel store We sat by the lake and enjoyed a high-school choral group performing while Maddy had a bottle. Meanwhile his family completed their LIST (almost) and got Tucker a baseball shirt with a design on it painted by robots. A neat idea but pretty expensive. We were ready to go but had to make a stop at Planet Hollywood - it was on the LIST. I don't think they bought anything there after all. Cliff did get a funny video of the 2 kids sleeping in their car seats and his dad and I looking totally bored. We went back to the house and had some burgers and a night swim.
Day 10 Sat. May 17:
We had one day of parks left on our 5 day world hoppers, and also wanted to do River Country, Cliff and I had never seen it in previous trips and Sue said Tucker wanted to do all 3 water parks. You've got to wonder how much a 3-year-old knew what he wanted to do, but anyway, we decided we would spend a little time at RC then finish up at MK. We drove on over to Fort Wilderness, took the bus to RC, got changed and settled in. River Country is a lot different than the newer water parks, with fresh water and a more rustic feel. Also much less crowded. There isn't as much for little ones, but Grandma stayed on the swings with the kids while Sue, Cliff, Grandpa and I did the various slides. It was fun to try. Cliff bit his lip on one of the slides and I got a "crick" in my neck, so it's not totally tame. You also need to be a decent swimmer to get away from the slides.
When we were done Maddy, Tucker, Sue and Grandma and I took a boat over to MK while Cliff and his dad went back to the van to drop off our towels etc. and drive to MK. We had a long-ish wait for the boat but were the first on so got seats ok. MK on Saturday was just as crowded as everyone says. We were lucky to meet up with Cliff right at the Main St. train station. He and I hadn't seen the Remember the Magic parade yet, so we took the baby and headed to Adventureland for a Dole Whip and a good parade spot in Frontierland. The Dole Whip was good but we were still hungry so I nabbed a parade spot right by Country Bears and Cliff got us some tacos at El Pirata. Maybe I was just really tired, hot and stressed, or maybe the parade is that special, but I kept getting choked up watching the Remember the Magic parade. Good thing Cliff was taking the video. He was being his cynical engineer self and kept pointing out which floats we'd seen before, which only made me more nostalgic.
After the parade we got our snack favorite, a citrus swirl and watched the CMs clean up while waiting for his family.It is amazing how quickly they clean up all that debris. His dad still wanted to do BTMR and go on Splash again; BTMR was only 20 min. wait but Splash was 1 hr. 45 min. He liked BTMR and we all refused to wait that long for Splash, so we took the train over to Toontown. Cliff and his dad walked on to Tomorrowland to finish that up and I decided to hang out with his family while they finished their shopping, I figured the stores would be nice and cool. I was pretty amused by the "Funny Photos," where they take your picture than edit it into a Disney scene and thought it would be neat to get one of Maddy or both kids or all of us. We decided on just Maddy and Tucker so they would be good gifts for their great-grandmas. Grandma wanted Maddy to have a new outift so bought her a red Minnie onesie. Tucker picked a scene with the characters from Rescue Rangers, he was being a little fussy and I was going to just get Maddy in one with Cinderella's coach, but he settled down. The attendant knew enough to take the two kids photos separately; then she had me sit on a bench and support Maddy (she wasn't real good at sitting up yet) then edited me out of the photo and did a great job fitting the 2 kids into the background. It is cute and not that expensive.
We moved on to Cosmic , our place to meet the guys, and Sue took Tucker for another ride on the Gran Prix. The line was moving slow, they only had 2 lanes open. I gave Maddy her supper and saw a lot of other moms and babies doing the same, when it's that hot you've got to find the cool, relatively calm places to feed your little one. I got hungry myself and ordered some chicken drumettes - these turned out to be wings - and a corn muffin. The wings were good but there was no bleu cheese for them, or is that a NY thing? Cliff and his dad found us and we all decided to do one more spin on the TTA then go to one of the resorts to see the electrical water pageant. The TTA is always great, but we had a special treat, as we passed inside Space Mountain we saw the line was huge and not moving at all.
Then we moved into where it's usually dark and you just hear the screams and see the cars whiz by. No screaming. No whizzing, just a lot of gray scaffolding-type stuff. Space Mountain was out of service and we saw it in the light! Cliff got a few seconds of video, then the lights went out and the crowd cheered, Space Mountain was back in service. Cool.
On the way out of the park I stopped at City Hall to get the times and locations for the water pageant, and we decided a launch to Wilderness Lodge was our best bet and we would also get to show the Montana folks the WL. The launch ride was cool and comfortable and we just stayed on the dock until the show started. Cliff got most of it on video. We took a brief walking tour of the WL, watched Old Faithful, then launched back to MK for the ferry/tram/car ride home.The ferry was so crowded everyone just marched on and off and never even looked back at MK, I'm glad I've done that plenty of times before. Because we'd entered late in the day, our van was in one of the farthest lots (Dopey, I think) and the few of us left on the tram had some good laughs about spending the rest of our lives on a WDW tram. The drive out to 192 was very slow (Saturday night crowd) and Maddy was fussy and the in-laws kept complaing about the traffic and honestly I was a little glad it was over for the day.
The rest of our stay in Florida was non-Disney: a trip to the SpaceCoast, Busch Gardens, Sea World and Universal. If anyone has questions about those parks, or taking a baby to those parks, I'll try to help.
Overall I'd say don't travel with a large group unless you're all in agreement on what to do and how to do it and be prepared for ANYTHING if you're bringing a baby. The baby was actually less trouble than the 3-year-old, but that may have been in the way the 3-year-old was handled. Cliff and I may take Maddy back when she's 2 or 3, but really don't plan on it until she is much older and able to really "remember the magic."
Donna S., '80,'85,'92,'93,'95,'97
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: CBR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Infant, Toddler, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Rookie
Comments: Donna, her husband Cliff, and 6-month old daughter were joined by Cliff's parents, sister, and 3-year-old nephew. The group stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and covered a lot of territory during their stay. This is an interesting report that shows how a larger group can handle a WDW trip.
Intro:
We are Donna and Cliff, first time parents in our mid 30s, taking our 6-month old daughter Madelyn to Florida for vacation and (primarily) so Cliff's folks from Montana could meet her. We drove the 1300 miles from northern New York in our new Ford Windstar, the Montana folks flew in on Delta. They included Grandpa (60s), Grandma (50s), Aunt Sue (29) and her son, Tucker (3.5).
Day 1 Thu. May 8:
Donna and Madelyn left home about 3:30 and started south. We picked Cliff up at work at 4:30 and got on the NY Thruway. We stopped for dinner at a Thruway rest stop (yucky, but we were trying to make time and Maddy can only wait so long). Cliff took over driving then so he could get us through the NYC area, after a wreck 3 years ago I'm not a super confident driver. Around 11 we stopped again to give Maddy a little more formula - hoping she'd sleep through the night in the car seat, and us some coffee. I'd been taking Claritin-D which the Dr. warned me could make me sleepless, and between that and the coffee I was WIDE awake for hours. Anyway, very little traffic at that time of night so we breezed through NJ, Delaware, Maryland and part of Virginia without a stop and not taking the city bypasses. About 4 a.m. I decided that was enough staring at the white lines, so I pulled into a rest area. Soon as the car stopped, Maddy's eyes popped open and she began chattering. We tried driving to the next rest stop. Same thing. I thought maybe she wanted out of the car seat. She did, she wanted to watch the traffic zoom by. Cliff and I sort of dozed with Maddy on my lap, sitting straight up, head swivelling as each truck went by. Oh well.
Day 2 Fri. May 9:
We moved on through Virginia, stopped about 7 at another rest stop for breakfast - we always bring cereal, milk, juice and muffins with us to save $$ and calories. After Maddy had nursed a little (we'd weaned her down to once a day in anticipation of this trip) we moved on. The next highlight was lunch at a Cracker Barrel in NC. Maddy is a very good girl in restaurants, we bring our own boosterseat/highchair and baby food. Cliff and I finished before she had her bottle, so we thought we'd take advantage of all those rockers out front and give it to her there. She drank it all down just fine, then she threw it all back up. Luckily Cliff was quick and most went on the ground. When I pulled out her suitcase to get a new outfit, three other suitcases fell out. Another oh well.
By about 5 p.m. we admitted we were exhausted and stopped for the night in Brunswick GA. Got a nice room at a Budgetel, and just brought in fast food.
Day 3 Sat. May 10:
We had our quick cereal breakfast and were on the road again by 8.
We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center - got to get that juice! - and continued on to Orlando. By now Maddy was really unhappy in the car seat. For the last few miles I tried every Mommy trick I know to keep her happy. What worked - stopping the car and getting out at CBR. Cliff stood in a bit of a line (it was Saturday afternoon) and Maddy and I waited on a couch. The whole process was about 30 min. I heard several passerby comments: "what a nightmare," "I've never seen it like this," and my favorites "I'll be holding the tickets" "no way, I'm holding the tickets" and "just move, dammit." I didn't think 30 min. was too bad for a Saturday afternoon, and the CMs were organized about giving you a form to fill out while in line and very nice about helping me find a seat.
We ended up in Trinidad South - not our first choice - but we did get our first floor, non-smoking, adjoining rooms. They were #s 3415 and 3416, and turned out to be great for us: right on the parking lot, close to the bus stop, pool and laundry.We didn't plan on using OPR too much anyway. Cliff and I took 3416, a corner room with 2 windows. When we checked the minibar to see if there was room for anything in it, we noticed several missing items. Also there were no refillable mugs in our room. Our adjoining room had the 4 mugs and a full mini-bar. Hmmm. We thought we wouldn't be using the mugs too much anyway.
We were hungry and still had several hours 'til we picked up the others at the airport, so strolled down to OPR. Granted, I was hot and tired, but compared to previous stays at DL and YC, everything at CBR seemed too busy. Just my opinion. We got a quick lunch at the food court, some mediocre Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and a beer, strolled around Parrot Cay and headed back to the room. Cliff also noticed a large soda cost about $2. Maybe we did want those mugs!
Just then the minibar guy came. We told him we wanted mugs, and he said he only had the 25th anniversary ones left. Great! We liked them better than the CBR ones, and they are a little bigger. When he checked the minibar he found some non-Disney beers in there besides noting the missing items, but he also believed us that we just checked in so didn't charge us for them. Cliff headed off to the airport and Maddy and I settled in a little. CBR does have nice big rooms, we were able to set up our portacrib for Maddy and store all our "stuff." Our trip was 5 nights at CBR, 7 nights at a rental house his sister got and another 3 day drive home. We were traveling heavy.
Cliff and family got back about 6:30 p.m. After greetings we decided to drive right over to DVM for dinner at Captain Jacks. Cliff and I had eaten there once in Nov. and enjoyed the food and atmosphere. It wasn't going to happen this trip. First we had a hard time finding a parking spot at DVM (wishing we'd taken the Disney bus) and then found out Capt. Jacks had a 75 min. wait. The CM said Rainforest and Fulton's would be even worse. Judging from the crowds, we believed her. She suggested Goofy's grill so we trooped over there. Already I realized this trip was going to be difficult, just getting 5 adults and 2 kids from place to place could be a project. The Montana folks are Disney neophytes and were relying on me and Cliff to lead them every step. They were also showing some racism "Did you see all those blacks (not the word they used) in Atlanta," "Yes, but they were all very nice." That "yes, but they were all very nice" phrase was applied to many ethnic groups during the trip. I wanted to scream "Not only white anglo protestants from the West are nice" but Cliff told me to drop it. By the way, all you UK RADPers who were there in May are also very nice and very neat and clean. My mother-in -law made sure to point that out. My father-in-law wanted to know "what kind of deal Disney cut with the limeys." AAAAAUGH!
Enough raving. Anyway, we also had a long wait at Goofy's Grill. A young man who appeared to be mentally challenged was filling the orders, and he was very slow - imagine the comments that got. Anyway, you could see the burgers piling up and this young man could only get them on the trays so fast. Occasionally a cashier would help him out, but it wasn't enough. I think they should have scheduled more help for a busy Saturday night. So after we finally ate our dry burgers and cold french fries, we headed the clan off to the new mega Disney store. After they were in there 30 min., Cliff and I took Maddy and snuck off and back to Rainforest just to see the gift shop. We got back to World of Disney and the clan never knew we were gone, the store is that massive.
Got back to CBR and Cliff took his folks on a tour of the grounds. The 3-year-old played on the playground at Parrot Cay, poor kid was 2 hours off schedule and had been on planes all day. They also saw some fireworks about 10 p.m., I'm guessing it was the Studios practicing, since there were no scheduled fireworks anywhere at that time. I got Maddy ready for bed and she threw up again. Hmmm.
Day 4 Sun. May 11, Mothers Day:
Since Maddy had been "not herself" I decided she and I would have a slow morning at CBR then drive the van in to Epcot to meet the rest at 12:30 at the Land food court. I wasn't sure I could do bus/stroller/diaperbag myself but knew I could handle van/stroller just fine. Cliff rounded up the folks about 10 a.m. and marched them off to the bus to Epcot. They got their 5 day world hoppers (Cliff and I had bought ours ahead at a Disney store), did some of Innoventions, then the Living Seas. Meanwhile Maddy and I packed up for the day - you need a lot of stuff for a baby for a day in the parks - and drove to Epcot. Even arriving at noon-ish we parked close enough I decided to walk in instead of the tram. I watched, and people waiting for the tram as I walked by were getting off just as I walked up to the ticket booths, so if you don't mind a little hike, you save no time by tramming it. I got my Mother's Day carnation and admired the birthday candle topiaries. There were a lot of folks milling around in Future World, so I knew I'd have to hurry to get to the Land by 12:30. I also didn't stop to consult a map, got mixed up where the Land and Imagination are and overshot the Land by going around Innoventions instead of cutting through the middle. By the time I stroller parked, hauled the baby in and down the stairs I'd missed our 12:30 time by 5 min. I found a seat on a bench in a central location and waited. Cliff had said he would check again at 1:00 and he was busy getting his folks into Food Rocks. Eventually we all met up and began the table search. We should have known better than to try to eat at peak time, but we finally did get a table and a high chair and something for everyone to eat. I had a good tuna salad on pita bread, some of the others had baked potatoes with chili that looked good, but overall the experience was hectic and noisy.
After lunch we all piled on the Land boat ride. Cliff and I had skipped it last trip because we did the walking tour. We got some good video - the baby liking it, the 3-year-old sleeping. There were 'gators in the aquaculture section, that was new to us.
Then we went to Imagination, thinking Tucker would like Figment. He was scared on the ride. The baby loved it. He was also scared in the play area on the second floor because he doesn't like the dark. We decided to move on to World Showcase; we couldn't convince Cliff's folks to see HISTA because they "didn't want to see a movie." There was a long line too.
By now it was getting quite hot outside, so we stopped for a drink at the little stand just before WS on the Canada side. Lines were long, and after waiting for Cliff to get drinks, his Dad decided he need a bathroom break. So we waited some more. By now the baby was getting too hot, so after a quick look at the Canadian gardens and trying to convince the folks to see the movie we thought we would just move on to find a cool spot to give baby some juice and let the others pursue their main interest: getting character autographs for Tucker. At last Cliff, baby and I had a quiet moment together on Mother's Day, on a nice shady bench with a breeze off the lagoon. Then the baby threw up again. We had a change of clothes for her, Cliff went off to buy a new T-shirt and a very nice woman on the next bench offered some maternal advice about babies and hot weather. Cliff ran on to send his folks on their way - to meet us at Japan for dinner at 5:30, we had PS for 5:45 - and Cliff and I headed for the baby center. It's in the former Odyssey Restaurant, between Future World and Mexico. It was nice and cool, had big changing tables Maddy just loved rolling around on, and highchairs, sinks etc. There is also a separate room for nursing mom. We gave Maddy some cereal and some more fluid then moved off towards WS ourselves. Got some photos of the Fantasia topiary - I think that was my favorite, then took a water bus right to Japan. We were late but his family was later, still in pursuit of autographs, but we did make our PS just fine. His parents wanted to hit the bar first, but the CM took us right in to our table. We were seated with two women who probably cringed at the idea of a meal with a 3-year-old and a baby, but Tucker was asleep again after declaring the chef was scary and Maddy was entertained by watching the chef. We all ordered shrimp, steak or shrimp and steak and enjoyed the salads and vegetables that come with all meals. The food was excellent. The chef did one fancy knife/pepper grinder move but that was it. He did joke a little with my in-laws. I had a plum wine and felt much better. As we were leaving I was so glad we'd done the PS, there were probably 40 people waiting. When we went out we saw some stilt creatures (maybe the cirikli, these looked more like horses) and wandered on around the world. I had two missions: to pick out a Capodimonte rose at Italy and get a good spot at Illuminations. I got my rose and ordered it delivered to our room - a big plus if you're already loaded down. We saw the model trains by Germany (really elaborate and worth a stop). There was some bickering about when you needed to stake out a spot, but we did all ride Norway and then I got a fence rail spot right between Norway and China. We needed clear viewing since Cliff planned to video Illuminations. Eventually the rest showed up and all would have been well except they decided Tucker needed to eat and what they got him was raw unpeeled shrimp from Norway. It was very stinky and really detracted from my enjoyment.
All this was enough for one day, so Cliff, Maddy and I drove back to CBR and his folks "raced" us by taking the bus. We did get home first. Overall highlights were the topiaries and gardens throughout the park, seeing baby swans right by the baby center (how appropriate) and the smiles and comments our baby got from passerby. The in-laws did get many character autographs at the various countries, seems like this is a good way to collect them without a lot of waiting.
Day 5 Mon. May 12:
We had planned this as a partial rest/waterpark day, but the forecast was rain all day, so we (unwisely) chose to go to the Studios. Again Cliff escorted them in via bus, and I drove in with Maddy a little later. My want-to-do list here was: Muppets, Star Tours, ToT, Little Mermaid, Toy Story Parade and eat at Pizza Planet - so many of you had mentioned it was the first good fast food here. The rain had already begun about 11. Cliff had taken his folks on the Backlot Tour and left them at HISK playground. After meeting up with them we headed off to Muppets, with a stop to buy some more ponchos. Cliff and I had two from home and took the Mickey adult one from the room (a nice time saver) and used it to cover the stroller. Grandma had also brought a baby poncho for Tucker that he refused to wear, so it helped cover Maddy when we had to stroller park and carry her. Muppets was wonderful as always, though a very tall man in front of me did impede my view a little. Then Cliff and I took Grandpa on Star Tours, and I nervously let Grandma and Aunt Sue take Maddy with them to 101 Dalmations. Would I ever see my baby again??? Also, usually I take Dramamine before doing the thrill rides, but with nursing and taking allergy pills, I decided to just use my Sea Bands - the tight nylon bands you wear on your wrist. They worked fine.
We had agreed to meet back at HISK playground. Cliff, Grandpa and I waited and waited, took a bathroom break, waited some more. I wandered down towards 101, there were characters out in the street and sure enough, the family and baby were in the rain getting autographs. I was pretty stressed by this and vowed when Cliff and I did ToT we would just baby swap. We'd heard Cruella was right in character and mean to some kids, when I saw her she was chastising a little girl for wearing socks with sandals. This little girl liked it, but I bet some kids would be upset.
Cliff and I headed over to ToT and sent his folks to do Indy's stunt show. The rain was getting worse, so we stopped at one of the shops on Sunset Blvd., and got some cute Pooh in a crescent moon earrings. The ToT line was long and it was really pouring, we didn't want to leave the stroller in the rain that long, so we found refuge at some covered picnic tables by Anaheim Produce and gave Maddy her lunch and had some fruit ourselves. I should mention that Cliff and I were having our usual light breakfast of cereal and juice every day, while his folks went down to OPR and ate heavy. Also, they had a 2-hour time change from Montana. Consequently, we were hungry much earlier than them. This created some friction. If you have a big group, try to keep everyone on roughly the same schedule.
We met up again, and Cliff and his Dad wanted to do GMR, so we thought the women folk could do Little Mermaid, but there was a long wait. At first I staked out a good parade spot to wait for Cliff, but there was bickering over that so I moved to a bench in a drier area. We had a pretty good view of the parade and at least baby was dry. Then we all headed off to Pizza Planet and it was as good as promised. Seating downstairs seems limited, but there is plenty upstairs, just a little tough to do with two strollers. After eating they seemed inclined to let Tucker play some video games, so Cliff and I made excuses and headed out. It was finally beginning to clear up, so we headed to ToT. Baby swap worked just fine, we went through together 'til board the elevator time, then they gave me a card and sent me downstairs on a regular elevator. When Cliff came out I gave him the baby, gave the card to a CM by the regular elevator who took me back up to the ride area. There was a woman getting on there who just didn't want to do the drop, so you can do that if you want to see the theming without the "thrill ride." It was not quite as much fun without my guy, but I was with a whole carload of first-timers who screamed and hollered and made it enjoyable.
We drove back to CBR, gave Maddy a bottle, and she threw up again. Now I really had to do laundry! We also got in a little CBR quiet pool time, Maddy's first swim ever. I think the quiet pool was a little too cold for her, however, I really enjoyed the break. We also heard on the news a tornado had ripped through Miami. I guess a wet day at MGM wasn't so bad. While I was laundering/swimming the in-laws called, they had got themselves to MK! Hooray! We were to meet them at 8 by the castle to watch the parade and fireworks.
We packed up the babe and the bag and bused off to MK. First view of the pink castle - and we both said we didn't like it. We didn't have a lot of time, so got a quick hotdog and soda at Pinocchio's. The dogs were good, the sauerkraut on the extensive condiments bar was yucky. Cliff's folks were right in front of the castle, right on the curb. They'd finally learned you do need to stake out a good spot. I took a bathroom break while we were waiting, strolled around Fantasyland a little and picked up a map and schedule. The maps have a lot less info than they used to but do contain the entertainment schedule, which is good. I peeked at Ariel's Grotto, it looked pretty cute and at night there was no line. I finally began to feel the Disney magic.The other folks waiting for the parade were all friendly, little boys offering Maddy a toy, a woman giving up her front row spot so little kids could move up. Cliff had decided not to tape Spectromagic, so he didn't have to spend the evening with a lens stuck to his eye, and we all enjoyed the parade. Then the fireworks began. Sitting right in front of the castle is not a good spot to see the fireworks, they don't go high enough. We moved to the right a little - toward Frontierland - and got a pretty good view. Now we joined the mass of people moving out. We were chided to "stay with us," then Susie stopped to buy a balloon and swore she'd find us but wasn't seen again for 15 minutes. The benefit of this, we waited a while in the little central park and the crowd thinned a little. Susie came back, we got in the big CBR bus line and got a crowded bus home. Someone was nice enough to give me and baby a seat and Cliff and stroller squeezed in somewhere else.
When we all got settled in at CBR, it was about 11. Highlights of the day were the bus ride in to MK (Maddy was making friends with the gentleman behind her), a curbside view of Spectromagic and the CM who gave me 3D glasses for Maddy at Muppets, saying "hey, you never know."
Day 6 Tues. May 13:
A sunny hot day was predicted and we realized we were all getting pretty tired and frazzled so it was probably time for some water park action. There was still some of Epcot we wanted to do too, so Cliff and his folks went in on the bus and I made plans to drive in with Maddy and meet them at 11. I really wanted to see Universe of Ellen, some more of the garden festival exhibits and HISTA. I met Cliff outside Innoventions and we went in to MetLife where his folks were doing Cranium Command, or we thought they were. After about 30 minutes of rounding them up - "it's like herding cats" - and me grabbing a quick tuna pita sandwich at the healthy snacks place, we moved on to wait in line for Ellen's Energy Adventure. Maddy was getting a little fussy, it was by now near her lunch time, so Grandma gave her a saltine. She'd never had wheat or salt before (and shouldn't have) but seemed to do ok with it. Once inside she got even more fussy, so Cliff popped open a can of Similac and she drank it greedily. Cliff had a little trouble holding and feeding baby while standing with this big camera bag strapped around his waist, but he managed pretty well, even when most of the formula made a return appearance.
This happened just as we were being herded into the seating area. Once again, Maddy and Daddy would be needing a change of clothes. Despite all this we found Ellen's adventures pretty entertaining, but I think Tucker (the 3-year-old) was scared by the dinosaurs.
Considering it was getting hotter and Maddy's state of distress we decided to head back to CBR, cool, rest and feed the baby again and then drive over to Typhoon Lagoon. I think we got to TL about 2:30, anyway it wasn't too crowded and we could find some chairs in the shade near Leaning Palms. Cliff and I took Maddy into the shallow areas of the wave pool and learned she really loves the water. Eventually she tired out, so we took turns resting with her on a lounge chair and floating in Castaway Creek. We also got to do the storm slides and the family raft ride with Cliff's dad and sister. When we were leaving the family raft ride we got a good look at the kids play area (Ketchakiddie Creek) and realized we should have been there all along, so we packed up and moved our stuff over there. There were some slides and water guns for Tucker, and small waterfalls and fountains Maddy could play in. One other funny but good thing happened at TL: Cliff's family were getting a snack at Typhoon Tilly's and the register "ate" their order, so they had an extra long wait. The apologetic CM gave them several BIG chocolate chip cookies for the delay. Very yummy. On a transport note: we did bring Maddy's stroller in because we had a long walk from the parking lot and thought she might need it to sleep in. You can get around most of the park on the paved walkways, but we did get a lot of sand in the wheels. Tucker and his mom stayed in the park a little longer than the rest of us, and she said it was a long slow walk for a tired 3-year -old back to the CBR bus stop.
I still wanted to see more of World Showcase and Illuminations again, also I really wanted to visit Yacht & Beach, eat at Beaches & Cream and at least see the Boardwalk. Cliff and I had stayed at Yacht Club in Sep. '95 and seen just the beginnings of Boardwalk construction. His dad wanted to see Illuminations again too, so the 3 of us drove over and parked at Beach Club, went in through the International Gateway and strolled around World Showcase. I missed my baby but it was a nice break. I got to check out more topiaries and gardens, we bought a glass of wine at France and saw the living statues (very funny) and some excellent chocolate at Italy.We staked out an excellent viewing spot between America and Germany; we could see the laser figures on the fountains much better than from the Norway spot. Cliff's dad had wanted to ride one of the Friendship boats, so we took one from International Gateway, hoping it would take us to Boardwalk first so we could check that out, but it went to Y&B first. We did a quick tour of Stormalong Bay, then waited about 15 min. for a seat at Beaches and Cream. The burgers were as excellent as promised, and we saw two orders of the "Kitchen Sink" go by. One was quickly devoured by 6 teen-agers, the other was valiantly attacked by 1 guy who bolted from the restaurant before he could finish it - I think he had tried too hard. Anyway the day ended much more happily than it had begun, and we had to get up early for a character breakfast.
Day 7 Wed. May 14:
We had 7:30 res. for Chef Mickey's. We had wanted to do the character breakfast at Garden Grill, but never got around to calling 'til Monday, so they were all booked. Also, they could only seat a party of our size (5 adults, 2 kids) at two booths, so that wouldn't have been as good anyway. I was a little tired from being up late the night before then getting up early to nurse Maddy. We actually got everyone up and in the van by 7 for the drive over to the Contemporary. No questions from the guard about parking there - maybe we looked like we were going to a character breakfast! Cliff and I had never been in the Contemporary except for the monorail ride through, so liked the chance for a quick look around. We also learned a neat way to get a stroller up an escalator by carefully balancing the back while the front wheels are on the escalator. A real time saver. We had a short (5 min.) wait for our table and got some great video of Goofy holding and playing with the baby. The food, selection and service were excellent. I didn't know about the napkin waving thing, and they started it when I was in the food line. It's pretty funny to see a whole room full of people twirling their napkins when you don't know why and are still a little groggy. We got enough attention from the characters to keep Tucker happy, though we did have to ask for Minnie to come over. Maddy gave them all a big stare. It's very well air conditioned in the restaurant and we had to leave the stroller at the entrance, so we had to wrap the baby in a napkin to keep her little legs warm.
From the Contemp. we took the monorail over to MK. Cliff and I always like to do Pirates first so we took his dad and Maddy over that way while Grandma, Aunt Sue and Tucker began their Dumbo quest. We figured I'd do some of Adventureland with the baby then take her back to the baby center to finish nursing. There was no line so we walked on the Jungle Cruise. The CM had some new patter, but was sometimes hard to hear, we were seated right by the engine. Then we walked on to Pirates; Maddy was not scared but getting a little hungry and fussy. We looked for the politically correct changes and had fun yo-ho-ing. Got into the jail room and the boat stopped. More boats piled up behind us. Hmmm. Maddy was increasingly unhappy and we were all a little sick of hearing the prisoners whistle at the dog. People (including a very pregnant woman) on the boats ahead of us were climbing over the seats to leave the ride but I didn't want to do that with the baby and besides the CMs showed up and made everyone sit down. There was no one else on the boat but us, the baby was really crying so ... I (very discretely, my father-in-law was there) had to nurse my baby on the politically correct Pirates ride. We got about 10 minutes in before we could get off the ride and I shuffled her over to the baby center.
The baby center at MK is just beautiful, all Victorian themed and cool and comfortable. It was hard to settle Maddy down to finish nursing, she was so busy looking at the fringed lamps and other babies. Eventually I met up with the others (Cliff and his dad had done Space Mountain) and we all did Small World. I always liked this, and the baby did seem to enjoy it. The others had finished their Dumbo quest so we all moved on to Mickey's Toontown. Grandma stayed with the baby while the rest of us did the Barnstormer, it's a fun little coaster, I think Tucker was scared though and the line is longer than it looks at first. The heat was getting bad again so I took Maddy into the shop with Mickey's Hall of Fame while they pursued some autographs. It was getting near baby's lunchtime, so we all went on TTA, then Cliff, Maddy and I drove on back to CBR to rest and feed her. We made plans to meet them at 6 by the castle, thinking we'd have time to nap, pack for the move to the rental house, then get in a little MK time without the whole entourage.
We did nap and pack, then went to OPR for a dinner/snack (I had pizza, Cliff had linguine, both were so-so), then bussed over to MK. We waited about 20 min. for the bus, while waiting 3 Epcot busses went by. Cliff wanted to take the bus so we wouldn't have to deal with the tram and the parking lot crowds leaving MK at night; we later realized we should have just left the van at the Contemp. all day. Oh well. Anyway, we just had time for a slow stroll down Main Street and another quick trip through Small World (wanted to do Peter Pan but line was too long) before meeting the family. Cliff's dad wanted to do BTMR and I think the others were still seeking autographs, anyway Maddy came with us and we figured we would baby swap. Just as we walked up to BTMR they were closing it down, with no idea how long it would be down. Of course, this made the wait for Splash Mountain really long, so we decided to do Haunted Mansion and Hall of Presidents. Considering Maddy's vomiting habit I thought HoP might get to her, but it didn't. : ) Cliff's dad went on back to CBR and Cliff, Maddy and I did Peter Pan then went over to BTMR again. It was open! A note about baby swapping: on both BTMR and Splash, one adult goes through and the other waits at the end of the ride (not in line) with the child, then goes in the exit and rides from there. We didn't know that and lost a little time giving Maddy a bottle while I could have done it while waiting for Cliff to do a ride. It's not quite as much fun riding alone, but Big Thunder at night is always a blast. While waiting I got talking to a nice couple who reminded me the space shuttle was going up at 4 a.m. and I told them it probably could be seen from WDW. Anyway, by this time Spectromagic had started (we had seen it on Monday) so Splash was a walk-on (or if you were a teenager, a run-on, repeatedly). I had forgotten how extensive the theming inside was, and the 2 little drops before the big one. Great fun. The best part was, rounding the bend just after the big drop, I got a great view of the beginning of Spectromagic, the bozo-like guys on the big Spectromagic float. It was a true Disney moment.
We wandered out through Adventureland and found this is a good spot to view the fireworks, you can see most of them and there is no crowd at all, We even had a bench by Swiss Family Treehouse. Before leaving, I stopped in at the Welcome Center for our poster and GoH badges, then we had a about 20 min. wait for the bus to CBR. The queue area for the CBR bus is pretty wide, so people would often walk past us, saying "this can't all be for the Caribbean," when indeed it was. Eventually Cliff and the dad behind him made a stroller barrier and just kept repeating "Yes, this is the end of the line. Yes, this all for the Caribbean." The wait was extra long because a gentleman in an ECV needed to get on, and the first bus driver couldn't get the platform down correctly. Eventually another bus pulled up, and that driver got the ramp down. At least we got seats, Cliff in the very back with all the other dads with strollers, getting hot and jostled. Like I said, we should have left the van at the Contemporary all day.
When we got back to CBR we switched on the news to hear that the shuttle was still scheduled for 4:08 a.m. liftoff. I set the alarm.
Day 8 Thurs. May 15:
I had set the alarm for 4 a.m. to get up and watch the shuttle, but I woke up early anyway and we switched on the TV to be sure all was on sked. It was. Cliff and I just quickly pulled on some shorts and Tshirts (gotta love that Florida weather) and went out to the CBR parking lot. Glad again our room was right on the parking lot (Trinidad South 3416) . We went as far away from the buildings as we could and waited and saw just one other woman out there watching. Eventually there it was, like a large orange flame climbing ever upward. I'm glad we did it and hope someday we can be even closer for a launch.
Today was our day to leave CBR and move to the rental house. We'd done most of our packing yesterday, so Cliff got an early start loading up the van. He somehow managed to get all 7 people's stuff, including an inflated beach ball and a Mickey balloon inside the van. He and his sister drove over to checkout then to the house to unpack and get settled there, while Maddy and I waited at CBR and his parents and Tucker went down to OPR. I was worried they wouldn't be back by 11 a.m. checkout, and they weren't, but the maids were ok about it. We all piled back in the van and went to Blizzard Beach. This time we planned to stake out seats at the kiddie area, at BB it's called Tike's Peak. His family went on and got seats while Cliff got a locker (very long wait) and I fed Maddy in the shade. BB has lockers in 2 areas, but they all have to be rented at Snowless Joe's. Tike's Peak had some good stuff for the baby, not as much as TL had, but there was one slide we could safely go down carrying her. She loved it. I still like TL better, I was bored on Cross Country Creek and got out and swam. We did go in the wave pool, but the bobbing waves were a little too big to sit in with the baby. When Maddy took her nap and stayed with Grandma, Cliff and I got to do the family raft ride (it IS a lot of fun) and Runoff Rapids, which had open or enclosed slides you do on a tube. They now have single, double and triple tubes for this. We took the singles and did the open slide because the line was shortest. To get to the family raft ride, we waited a long time for the chairlift - also because we had never done it. It's not worth the wait.
We still had unpacking to do at the house and also some grocery shopping, so we left BB about 5. The rental house was about 30 min. from Disney, but really nice. Most of the development it's in is used as rentals, but some people do live there year-round. It had a small in-ground pool in an attached screen house, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, modern kitchen and laundry areas, really a nice setup for our kind of group. Cliff, his mom and sister went grocery shopping while Grandpa and I stayed home with the kids. I was a little sunburned and glad to skip a grocery trip.
Day 9 Fri. May 16:
Everyone admitted they were tired and in need of a more restful day, we also needed to catch up on laundry. We did some pool swimming in the morning then headed to DVM for lunch and some shopping/browsing. I wanted to at least try to get into Rainforest Cafe, so we went there first and had a 10 min. wait. This was at about 1:30 on a Friday. I think our large party was to our advantage, parties of 2 seemed to be waiting much longer. Anyway, we all really liked the Rainforest. I had a Sheba's Jungle Juice (oreo cookie ice cream drink) and a Rumble in the Jungle (turkey and caesar salad in a pita) with the waffle fries. Very good. Cliff got a huge Oriental chicken salad, his dad had a flatbread pizza and his mom and Sue had caesar salads. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Two notes: it's really well air-conditioned and the baby got too cold. We put her spare warm outfit on top of her shorts outfit to warm her up.
Also, the ladies room is incredibly well supplied with sundries: hairspray, hair dryers, perfume, deoderant, saline solution. Maybe it's for folks who had to wait so long they decide to dress for the day again.
After lunch Cliff and I just wanted to browse a little, maybe get Maddy a souvenir shirt or toy, but his mom and sister had A LIST and they had to complete the LIST. We (especially Maddy) enjoyed watching the dancing fountains and some kids playing in them. We did get her a Pooh toy at the Mattel store We sat by the lake and enjoyed a high-school choral group performing while Maddy had a bottle. Meanwhile his family completed their LIST (almost) and got Tucker a baseball shirt with a design on it painted by robots. A neat idea but pretty expensive. We were ready to go but had to make a stop at Planet Hollywood - it was on the LIST. I don't think they bought anything there after all. Cliff did get a funny video of the 2 kids sleeping in their car seats and his dad and I looking totally bored. We went back to the house and had some burgers and a night swim.
Day 10 Sat. May 17:
We had one day of parks left on our 5 day world hoppers, and also wanted to do River Country, Cliff and I had never seen it in previous trips and Sue said Tucker wanted to do all 3 water parks. You've got to wonder how much a 3-year-old knew what he wanted to do, but anyway, we decided we would spend a little time at RC then finish up at MK. We drove on over to Fort Wilderness, took the bus to RC, got changed and settled in. River Country is a lot different than the newer water parks, with fresh water and a more rustic feel. Also much less crowded. There isn't as much for little ones, but Grandma stayed on the swings with the kids while Sue, Cliff, Grandpa and I did the various slides. It was fun to try. Cliff bit his lip on one of the slides and I got a "crick" in my neck, so it's not totally tame. You also need to be a decent swimmer to get away from the slides.
When we were done Maddy, Tucker, Sue and Grandma and I took a boat over to MK while Cliff and his dad went back to the van to drop off our towels etc. and drive to MK. We had a long-ish wait for the boat but were the first on so got seats ok. MK on Saturday was just as crowded as everyone says. We were lucky to meet up with Cliff right at the Main St. train station. He and I hadn't seen the Remember the Magic parade yet, so we took the baby and headed to Adventureland for a Dole Whip and a good parade spot in Frontierland. The Dole Whip was good but we were still hungry so I nabbed a parade spot right by Country Bears and Cliff got us some tacos at El Pirata. Maybe I was just really tired, hot and stressed, or maybe the parade is that special, but I kept getting choked up watching the Remember the Magic parade. Good thing Cliff was taking the video. He was being his cynical engineer self and kept pointing out which floats we'd seen before, which only made me more nostalgic.
After the parade we got our snack favorite, a citrus swirl and watched the CMs clean up while waiting for his family.It is amazing how quickly they clean up all that debris. His dad still wanted to do BTMR and go on Splash again; BTMR was only 20 min. wait but Splash was 1 hr. 45 min. He liked BTMR and we all refused to wait that long for Splash, so we took the train over to Toontown. Cliff and his dad walked on to Tomorrowland to finish that up and I decided to hang out with his family while they finished their shopping, I figured the stores would be nice and cool. I was pretty amused by the "Funny Photos," where they take your picture than edit it into a Disney scene and thought it would be neat to get one of Maddy or both kids or all of us. We decided on just Maddy and Tucker so they would be good gifts for their great-grandmas. Grandma wanted Maddy to have a new outift so bought her a red Minnie onesie. Tucker picked a scene with the characters from Rescue Rangers, he was being a little fussy and I was going to just get Maddy in one with Cinderella's coach, but he settled down. The attendant knew enough to take the two kids photos separately; then she had me sit on a bench and support Maddy (she wasn't real good at sitting up yet) then edited me out of the photo and did a great job fitting the 2 kids into the background. It is cute and not that expensive.
We moved on to Cosmic , our place to meet the guys, and Sue took Tucker for another ride on the Gran Prix. The line was moving slow, they only had 2 lanes open. I gave Maddy her supper and saw a lot of other moms and babies doing the same, when it's that hot you've got to find the cool, relatively calm places to feed your little one. I got hungry myself and ordered some chicken drumettes - these turned out to be wings - and a corn muffin. The wings were good but there was no bleu cheese for them, or is that a NY thing? Cliff and his dad found us and we all decided to do one more spin on the TTA then go to one of the resorts to see the electrical water pageant. The TTA is always great, but we had a special treat, as we passed inside Space Mountain we saw the line was huge and not moving at all.
Then we moved into where it's usually dark and you just hear the screams and see the cars whiz by. No screaming. No whizzing, just a lot of gray scaffolding-type stuff. Space Mountain was out of service and we saw it in the light! Cliff got a few seconds of video, then the lights went out and the crowd cheered, Space Mountain was back in service. Cool.
On the way out of the park I stopped at City Hall to get the times and locations for the water pageant, and we decided a launch to Wilderness Lodge was our best bet and we would also get to show the Montana folks the WL. The launch ride was cool and comfortable and we just stayed on the dock until the show started. Cliff got most of it on video. We took a brief walking tour of the WL, watched Old Faithful, then launched back to MK for the ferry/tram/car ride home.The ferry was so crowded everyone just marched on and off and never even looked back at MK, I'm glad I've done that plenty of times before. Because we'd entered late in the day, our van was in one of the farthest lots (Dopey, I think) and the few of us left on the tram had some good laughs about spending the rest of our lives on a WDW tram. The drive out to 192 was very slow (Saturday night crowd) and Maddy was fussy and the in-laws kept complaing about the traffic and honestly I was a little glad it was over for the day.
The rest of our stay in Florida was non-Disney: a trip to the SpaceCoast, Busch Gardens, Sea World and Universal. If anyone has questions about those parks, or taking a baby to those parks, I'll try to help.
Overall I'd say don't travel with a large group unless you're all in agreement on what to do and how to do it and be prepared for ANYTHING if you're bringing a baby. The baby was actually less trouble than the 3-year-old, but that may have been in the way the 3-year-old was handled. Cliff and I may take Maddy back when she's 2 or 3, but really don't plan on it until she is much older and able to really "remember the magic."
Donna S., '80,'85,'92,'93,'95,'97