Teenkerbell
10-02-2007, 02:07 PM
Cast of characters:
Tiffany, 27, writer, avid MousePlanet trip report reader and kinda crazy about all things Disney; six trips to Walt Disney World (1988, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2005 and a day trip in June 2007) and a day trip to Disneyland in 2001
Nick, 29, my angel of a boyfriend of three years who’s also a writer; not nearly as crazy about Disney as me … yet; one trip to the World in 2005
Reader beware: The introductory and planning portions of this report are nearly as long as the part about the trip itself. This may sound nutty, but I enjoy planning trips to Disney World (and the anticipation that goes along with said planning) almost as much as I enjoy being there … almost.
Introduction:
Nick and I visited Walt Disney World over Easter weekend in 2005 to see the New York Mets (Nick’s team) play a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves (my team at the time; I’ve since become a Met supporter) at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. The Holy Saturday game was rained out, but we spent Easter at the Magic Kingdom and Easter Monday at Disney-MGM Studios. While we were at the MK, I distinctly remember Nick calling his mom from Tomorrowland and exclaiming something along the lines of "How come we’ve never been here?!" He denies saying that, but I’ve since made it my mission to help him feel the Disney magic, as I foresee our family spending a lot of time there once our children are old enough to enjoy it.
Planning:
Nick and I decided to concentrate on Epcot and Animal Kingdom this trip, since Nick had seen the other two parks. This wasn’t a commando trip by any means; we were out for romance and relaxation, and I think we achieved our goal. (Though for a while there, I thought we wouldn’t. Something about setting foot on Disney property makes me go all wild-eyed and determined to see and do as much as possible, but I was able to stay calm this trip.)
We (well, "I" really … Nick’s hardly a Disnut, and he’s even less of a planner) decided to go to WDW in the fall of 2007. I wanted to go during the value season in the hopes of smaller crowds and for lower resort rates. Thankfully, the fact that we went smack in the middle of hurricane season didn’t come back to bite us in the butt.
In early February, I made a reservation at disneyworld.com for three nights starting Sept. 30 at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort and paid for one night of our stay as a deposit. Later that month, Nick and I found out we couldn’t both take off those dates. So we changed our reservation to three nights starting Sept. 25, giving us Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and some of Saturday — if we so desired — to play in Orlando before driving home to Bradenton, Fla. (an hour and a half away) and our two cats. That way, we’d also have most of the weekend to recuperate, do laundry, etc.
Also around this time, I suggested staying at a moderate resort instead of a value. Nick and I love children, but we figured a moderate would suit a couple looking for romance and relaxation better than a value. So I called WDW and changed our reservation to the Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter for the above dates. (I’m from a suburb of New Orleans, and since I don’t get home nearly often enough I take any chance I can get to feel like I’m there.) I requested a standard-view room with a king-size bed … for about twice the price as the All-Star room. Ouch. The trip’s months away, I rationalized. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Florida resident discounts, reduced value-season rates, etc. and hope for the best. If nothing comes through, we can always switch back to a value resort, hopefully without too much trouble.
Toward the end of June, Disney released its Florida resident discounts. I immediately got on the phone and requested the discount. The bad news? We have to switch from a king bed to two doubles (queens?) at POFQ. The good news? We’re saving about 200 bucks on the room.
Two weeks before our trip, our resort plans changed again. Nick realized he had a late meeting the Tuesday we were scheduled to check into POFQ, so instead of rushing to get to WDW late that night we decided to push the trip back a day. I called WDW, and since there was no POFQ room open that Friday night, we moved our reservation to the Caribbean Beach Resort for Sept. 26-29. We were back in luck with a king bed and a water-view room (in theory), though this room cost us about $50 more than the previous one did. Whatevs. At that point, I was just ready to G-O, GO!
Because we were spending so much money on the resort and would only be at the World for three or four days, we wanted to take it easy on our dining budget. Nick and I LOVE to eat, but we didn’t want to be burdened by Advance Dining Reservations or whatever they’re called nowadays. We’d rather play it by ear (by listening to our tummies). Plus, we’re not foodies and I figured we’d be happy with chicken fingers (me) and burgers (him).
As far as admission media go, I’m dying to buy Florida resident seasonal passes, but first I have to convert Nick to my way of thinking. For this trip, we bought two 3-Day Play Passes. With tax (and without the park-hopper or no-expiration additions), they were $133.13 each.
To pass the time before our trip, I spent many a day reading all the trip reports I could get my hands on (I love that MousePlanet has so many archived; Sheri Niklewski and Steve Russo are a couple of my faves, and I miss Sue Holland’s reports like crazy) and visiting Disney blogs and trip-planning sites regularly. I wrote my first trip report when my parents, my godmother and I went to the Magic Kingdom for a day in June 2007, and it was easier than I thought it would be. I took notes while we stood in lines, and since I’m a reporter I’m used to reading my own chicken scratch.
On with the show!
Wednesday, Sept. 26:
I tooled around Wednesday morning, watching TV, playing on the Internets, packing and getting myself showered and ready for the day. I woke Nick up around 11:30 a.m., and he showered and threw some things in our bag. I put out enough food and water for our two kitties for a few days, put an extra litter box out for them and kissed them goodbye. On our way out of town, we stopped at Burger King for a late lunch; we both had Whopper combos, mine with French fries and Nick’s with onion rings, for $10.20. We stopped at Nick’s office so he could pick up his sunglasses, stopped at RaceTrac to fill up my Jeep ($43.17) and were leaving Bradenton by 1:45 p.m.
It was an easy drive up Interstate 75 and east on I-4, and we arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort at 3:15. We waited only a few minutes to check in, and the nice Cast Member chatted us up during the process. We were in Room 5452 of the Aruba section of the resort, a corner room with a king-size bed. (When I made the reservation, the CM said it was for a water-view room, but this had no water view whatsoever. There was a courtyard, which workers were landscaping, and the parking lot in the distance, but that’s about it.)
We relaxed for a bit, then at 4:15 went exploring. We walked by "our" pool and across the bridge to the main pool and Old Port Royale. We checked out the food court, which was empty that time of day, and went into the arcade after we spied an air hockey table (our fave!) in there. Nick said he wouldn’t let me win like he did when we first started dating (yeah, right), but I beat him 7-6. Then he played a Star Wars video game, and I played "Pirates of the Caribbean" pinball, which I thought was fitting at the CBR. We meandered around the gift shop, where Nick picked up a few postcards to send to family and friends in his home state of Tennessee. We also bought a pair of tiny Mickey head-shaped stud earrings (made out of Austrian crystal or cubic zirconia) and a Disney Princess "magic towel" washcloth for me for a total of $16.26.
On our way out of OPR, we stopped at the poolside bar, Banana Cabana, and ordered a couple of tropical drinks: pina colada for Nick, strawberry daiquiri for me. (I don’t know what happened to this receipt, but I think the drinks were about $15.) The bartender was from Sarasota, which is just south of Bradenton, and one of the patrons was from our county (Manatee), so we chatted with them for a bit. It’s a small world after all. Nick and I took our drinks over to the pool, where we sat on a concrete bench built behind a makeshift waterfall and people-watched. A storm was brewing, so we headed back to our room, making it there right before the rain came. Nick discovered the channel that plays classic Disney cartoons (and the same ones over and over, apparently; we saw each quite a few times) and watched Donald Duck, his favorite Disney character, for a while.
About 6:45, we got ourselves up and at ‘em and drove over to the Boardwalk, where we were immediately seated in ESPN Club’s dining area. I ordered a Michelob Ultra, while Nick stuck with water to start. He had Buffalo wings for dinner and called them "more peppery than spicy." If you’re a wing connoisseur like him, you know what that means. I had the Championship Chicken sandwich, which was OK except the bread fell apart on me. With tax and tip, the meal was $35.27, then we moved to the bar to watch the Mets game. I had another couple of Mich Ultras and Nick had four Coors Lights, so we ended up spending another $35.82. Toward the end of the game (I don’t recall whether we stayed through all nine innings), we drove back to CBR and were in our room by 10 p.m. Nick read and I updated my notes before we turned in for the night, setting my cell phone alarm for 8 a.m. I would have liked to hear Mickey’s wake-up call, but the phone was on Nick’s side of the bed.
Thursday, Sept. 27:
This is how my trip report notes start on Thursday: "WOW, what a sleepless night!" Between the hard-as-hell mattress and the facts that hotels apparently abhor fitted sheets and we couldn’t get the room temperature right, Nick and I didn’t sleep well at ALL Wednesday night. Still, I was up with the alarm at 8 a.m., showered and got ready for the day. I woke Nick up about 8:15, made coffee and chilled while he showered and stuff. We were at Aruba’s bus stop by 9 a.m. Nick wanted to buy a bottle of water from the vending machine, so he put in $2 before realizing it cost $2.50. Oops. A kind soul at the stop gave him 50 cents, he put the money into the machine and pressed the Dasani button and … nothing. No water came out, and the darn thing wouldn’t give Nick the money back, either. (We meant to go to the Customs House and hopefully get our money back later in the trip but never made it over there.)
Of course every bus but Epcot’s stopped before that park’s bus, but we were on our way by 9:15. The bus stopped at what felt like 37 other "islands" to pick up resort guests (CBR is wayyy spread out), and we were on our way. We arrived at Epcot, went through the bag check and were walking to a ticket counter to exchange our vouchers for actual passes when a CM and his mother asked us whether we wanted to get in for free. I immediately said "No" and kept walking … and immediately regretted it. Sue me, but I’m not the most trusting person in the world and don’t believe that anyone gives away anything for free. And my pride prevented me from going back to them and asking whether we could still take them up on their offer. Oh well, you live and learn. (At least, I sure learn from my mistakes.)
We exchanged our vouchers for passes and found out there was a preview of the International Food and Wine Festival that day. Woohoo! The festival was one of my main reasons for wanting to go this time of year. Nick and I stopped to take the obligatory pictures of each other in front of Spaceship Earth, and a kind couple offered to photograph us together. (This time we took them up on their offer. Like I said, I learn from my mistakes. ;) We walked to The Land, where we picked up FastPasses for Soarin’ for 30 or 40 minutes later and walked onto Living with the Land. Nick doesn’t think most of the fruits and veggies there are real, but I believe in Disney magic and think they are. Neither of us was crazy about the ride, but I’m glad we did it. I hadn’t been to Epcot since 1999, and I wanted us to experience as much of it as we could without killing ourselves. After the boat ride, we walked upstairs and sat down for maybe two minutes before filing into the Circle of Life theater. As soon as Nick, the Star Wars fan, heard James Earl Jones’ voice, he immediately thought "Darth Vader." The cartoon was cute (Timon and Pumbaa crack me up), but I think I enjoyed it a little more than Nick did. Our Soarin’ FPs were ready then, so we walked downstairs for that. Now, Nick is not one for heights or thrill rides, but I thought he could handle Soarin’. (I’d never been on it myself, but I’d read a ton about it and figured it wouldn’t be too "thrilling.") I’m not crazy about heights, either, but both of us LOVED the ride. It was SO realistic, and we hope Disney changes the film in the future. Nothing against California, but I think it’d be cool if the ride features different parts of the country and world in the future.
After that excitement, we went to The Seas and walked into a clammobile for The Seas with Nemo & Friends. It was cute and all, but I was like, "Is this IT?!" Once we got off the ride, though, I realized the rest of the aquarium was still intact so Nick and I went exploring. We both love sea life (I wanted to be a marine biologist until I realized at the age of 11 how much I hate science) and animals in general, so this was a treat for us. We saw manatees, porpoises (my fave), sharks, seahorses, clownfish, jellyfish and more. We opted out of Turtle Talk with Crush and walked over to Imagination!, where we waited five or seven minutes for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience to begin. That was all right; we compare every 3- or 4-D show to Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and HISTA’s not nearly as good as that one.
Then it was on to … Journey Into Imagination with Figment, my all-time favorite Disney character! I hadn’t been on the ride in forever and thought it was cute (I’m quite imaginative, if I do say so myself), but Nick was less than impressed. We walked through ImageWorks to the gift shop, where I checked out all the Figment goods before settling on a small stuffed Figment that I’ve taken to sleeping with every night. (Nick LOVES that, let me tell you.) That was $12.73.
It was about 1 p.m. then and we were hungry (I’ll eat cold cereal or a Weight Watchers muffin at home, but Nick isn’t big on breakfast), so we walked over to Mexico for lunch at LaCantina. Nick had plato combinacion (which he deemed "fair fare"), and I had tacos al carbon (OK, but not very well-seasoned). With a Coke and two bottled waters, our total was $24.02. After lunch, we walked into the Mexican pavilion, which was nice and cool. We walked onto Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros, but not before I made Nick pose with Donald’s poster.
We left World Showcase, intending to head back to the resort for a rest, but got sidetracked by MouseGear. Nick debated whether to buy a stuffed Donald to befriend Figment and decided against it for the time being, and we were off. We wandered over to Test Track, which Nick wanted nothing to do with, then Mission:Space, which Nick was unsure about. I should’ve ridden Test Track via the single-rider line, but I was getting cranky by that time and needed a nap. We went on Ellen’s Energy Adventure in Universe of Energy. Time and again, CMs mentioned the eight-minute pre-show is followed by a 37-minute ride, but sheesh — I didn’t realize how long the darn thing actually is until my butt started crying for mercy toward the end. I think EEA is OK, but I like Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye. Nick doesn’t care for Ellen, but I think he thought the show was all right, too.
We picked up a couple of frozen treats on the way out (a Mickey head-shaped cookies ‘n’ cream sandwich for Nick and a Nestle Crunch-covered ice cream bar for me for a total of $5), and I proceeded to drip chocolate coating all over my chest. (Nick called me Chocolate Boob the rest of the day.) We boarded the bus back to CBR at 3:15 for a much-needed nap.
After snoozing on and off for some of the afternoon, we woke up and were back out the door by 5:45. We took the bus back to Epcot, arriving a little after 6. Of course it started pouring down rain as the bus was driving through the park’s gates, so we stayed under cover at the bus stop for 10 or so minutes. When it slacked off some, we donned our ponchos and walked toward the entrance … and it stopped raining altogether. Go figure.
We went first to Innoventions (I’m not sure whether it was East or West) and sent e-postcards to our moms, then after a restroom stop in Imagination! we walked into World Showcase. Our goal was to eat our way around the world, but some booths weren’t open, some had long lines and others just didn’t have anything that appealed to us. We shared a yummy spanakopita from Greece (I looove spinach), then a bastilla from Morocco. We couldn’t really decide whether we liked that; the sweet with the savory was strange but good, and the filling was definitely different. The British Invasion were starting a set, so we headed back to their little gazebo. I thought they were pretty good as far as tribute/cover bands go, and I wondered whether they were cutting out some of the songs until Nick reminded me that older tunes tend to be shorter. We stayed there for 15 or so minutes, watching this older woman wearing a sheer shirt and too-tight jeans dance her butt off. Now, I have absolutely NO problem with someone dancing and having a good time, as I’m all for that myself. But this woman’s outfit was totally inappropriate, and I don’t know who she thought she was.
We walked on and into the 7:30 showing of The American Adventure. I re-learned a few civics lessons and kind of teared up toward the end, but Nick doesn’t feel so strongly about America these days (and that has to do with our current leadership, not our country’s people). Next, Nick wanted to see what Italy’s booth had to offer, but it was closed for the night, so we went to China and ate at Lotus Blossom Café. I had an order of egg rolls and he had the beef noodle soup, which I thought was delish even though I’m not big on red meat. With a Coke (for him) and a Diet Coke (for me), dinner came to $16.79. After eating, Nick bought a bottled water for $2, I hit the restroom and we were on our way again. We wandered a bit more, then backtracked to stake out a spot for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. We found a good viewing spot on a bridge in Germany (I think), sat down Indian-style and took a few pictures of each other, the two of us and Spaceship Earth in the distance.
IllumiNations was good, albeit shorter than I remembered. (But isn’t everything grander when you’re a child?) I also seem to remember the soundtrack featuring music from each country as its lights come on, but maybe that’s a figment of my imagination. ;) All in all, I enjoyed it (you can’t go wrong with fireworks, in my opinion), but I think I now prefer Wishes at the MK.
After the show, we made our way to the exit and waited 10 or 15 minutes for a bus back to CBR. We were "home" by 10:15, showered and went to sleep.
Friday, Sept. 28:
We slept better Thursday night and were up and at ‘em by 8:15 a.m. We dressed for the day, hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom and were there a little before 10. We noticed the crowds were a bit thicker today and I started to worry about that, but we ended up not having any long waits.
We walked back to Africa and picked up FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris for a half-hour later. To pass the time, we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Nick and I could watch primates for days, so we spent lots of time here admiring the animals. I hate birds, though, and practically rain through the aviary.
After finishing the trail, it was about 10:40 and our safari FP window was open. The ride was longer than I remembered, and it was a good time. I think the okapi are beautiful, and I also enjoyed the giraffes and flamingos. But I HAD to laugh at the people swatting away love bugs. Please. Those tiny things can screw up a car’s paint job, but they’re harmless when it comes to humans. (Actually, I was surprised to see them still floating around Central Florida. We live on the coast and haven’t seen a love bug since the spring.) We hopped out of our safari vehicle and decided we were hungry, so we went over to Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch around 11:30. As my girl Rachael Ray says, "YUM-O!" I don’t know whether we were starving or what, but Nick and I thoroughly enjoyed that meal. He had a pork sandwich with baked beans, I had a smoked turkey sandwich with coleslaw and we split an order of onion rings. With a couple of soft drinks, the total was $24.02.
While we were eating lunch, a few ducks came quacking at our feet. I’m not a huge fan of ducks (there were some vicious ducks at the park we went to when we lived in Naples, Fla.), but Nick fed them some of his pork and bun. There were no visible signs asking guests not to feed the ducks, so I let ‘im.
Next, we went to see It’s Tough to be a Bug!, where there was maybe a 10-minute wait. I was worried because Nick hadn’t appreciated HISTA but remembered ITTBAB as being better than that one, and it was. Super cute, but still no PhilharMagic. We then wandered back to DinoLand U.S.A. to hit DINOSAUR after a five-minute wait. I would never knowingly let Nick ride something he wouldn’t feel comfortable with, so I was sort of scared when the ride started and was much more herky-jerky than I remembered. Fortunately, he enjoyed it, and I did, too. Good times. From there, we walked into the 1 o’clock showing of Finding Nemo — The Musical. It was my first time seeing that show, and once I got past watching the puppeteers I fell in love with the show. I REALLY appreciated that the performers were actually singing the songs, as I love most musicals ("Rent" and "Les Miserables" especially).
After locating Nemo for the 78th time in two days (could WDW HAVE more "Finding Nemo" attractions?!), we walked to Asia. Nick found a shady spot in which to eat some soft-serve ice cream while I got into the Expedition Everest single-rider line. We made plans to meet up at 2:15, and for a while there the ride was down and I was afraid I’d miss our meeting time. The ride was up again within five or seven minutes, and since I was the third or fourth single rider in line I was on the ride in no time. I sat in the last row with a CM from Idaho who’s part of the college program and actually works EE and was riding it on his day off. Even though I’d read all about the ride, the CM (we never introduced ourselves) joked with me throughout it ("Ooh, I wonder what’s happening…"). He pointed out a Hidden Mickey inside the ride and said if you look at a satellite image of EE, it’s a huge Hidden Mickey in itself. I keep forgetting to check that out, but it sure sounds like Imagineering at its finest. Anyway, the ride was shorter than I expected, but it sure was thrilling. I was a little shaky afterward and had to sit down for a few minutes after meeting up with Nick to calm my nerves. When I got to feeling better, we walked over to where some monkeys were hanging from a structure made of sticks, ropes, etc. We watched and listened to them for a while; I don’t know what kinds of calls they were making, but they were LOUD.
We then walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Being an LSU alumna, I of course had to check out the tigers. Nick and I often call our cats "baby tigers," and it was amazing to watch the tigers and see how similar their behavior is to that of our cats. From the way they walk to the way they sleep with their stomachs to the wall … it’s crazy. We also saw the giant bats, which I would NOT want to meet in a dark cave. I got a frozen lemonade on the way out, and after dragging a bench into the shade we sat on it and people-watched.
Now, we’d seen tons of people over the last couple of days sporting Crocs (Disney or otherwise), but we sat and counted and found Crocs on the feet of at least two out of every 10 people. I thought about buying a pair of Crocs a couple of years ago, but now that everyone has them they’re not for me.
I climbed down off my high horse, and we took the slooow train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where we spent 10 or 15 minutes talking to a CM with a parrot about birds, snakes, cats, you name it. We walked around looking at the animals behind glass (the American alligator did NOT want to be in that tank and tried in vain to climb out of it), then sat in a booth and listened to the sounds of the rainforest. That, too, was realistic, especially when I closed my eyes. We took the train back and walked to the park exit, where we boarded a bus back to CBR. We were "home" by 5 p.m. for some relaxation, then showered and got ready to go out again. We were out the door by 6:15 to find a place to watch the Mets.
We drove to Highway 192 and a few miles up and down it in the hopes of finding a sports bar with prices cheaper than Disney’s, but we didn’t see anything besides like, Chili’s. Plus, by that time we were spoiled by Disney and 192 just looked kind of … gross. So it was back to WDW and the Boardwalk. We parked and walked into the ESPN Club expecting a wait, but we sat down right away at a table in the bar area. We ordered a couple of beers and food, a chicken Caesar salad for me and a Dinger (Buffalo chicken) sandwich for Nick. Both were yummy, but my salad was heavy on the dressing. We settled in to watch some sports; Nick watched baseball while I watched the South Florida-West Virginia football game. We eventually decided it was more economical to order pitchers and kept the beer coming.
There were a couple of Met fans standing in the bar area, so we invited them (first Sam, then Pedro) to pull up a stool and watch with us. It’s always nice to meet people, even more so at Disney World. J We stayed for the duration of the Mets game. It wasn’t a good night for Met fans, unfortch, but USF beat WVU so it was fun to cheer along with Bulls fans. Our tab at the ESPN Club was more than 100 bucks, so we put $100 on my parents’ credit card (their treat; I am spoiled, but I’m also appreciative of all that I have) and left the rest in cash. We walked out of there about 11 p.m. and stopped at the Spoodles pizza window for a slice of cheese for me ($3.72). I don’t know whether it was the beer talking or what, but I thought that pizza was delish! Verrry cheesy, and the crust was tasty, too. Nick drove us home, stopping at the Hess station for a six-pack. Once back in our room, we talked for a little while but Nick only drank one beer before both of us were out like lights.
Saturday, Sept. 29:
We’d decided Friday evening (before we started drinking, thank you very much) that we were physically and financially exhausted from two days of Disney and missed our cats like crazy. So after another night of not sleeping well, we woke up between 9 and 9:30 a.m., packed up and left the room. We drove over to Old Port Royale, where the food court was a mob scene. Seriously, I don’t know how families get anything done in the parks if they’re still eating breakfast at 10:30 in the morning. Anyway, I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast food, but nothing else was available. I ate French toast with sausage, Nick ate an adult breakfast platter and with a couple of soft drinks breakfast cost $17.53. (I think it was about this point that Nick and I decided when we bring our children to WDW, we’re bringing bagels, cereal, etc. and eating breakfast in the room to save money and time.)
I couldn’t leave Disney property without spending even more money, so we stopped in the gift shop for a few things. Nick bought a snow globe for his goddaughter, and I picked up a couple of things for my parents. Nick finally decided to get a stuffed Donald, and I found a WDW 2007 magnet and a Mickey sorcerer’s hat-shaped wine stopper. Again, I’m not sure where those receipts went.
After dropping a few postcards in the mail, we were on our way home and back in Bradenton by 1:30 p.m., in time for Nick to watch the Mets (yet again) and me to watch the Tigers. The cats were standoffish at first, but then they got over themselves and were happy to see us.
See ya real soon!
Future trips:
There’s a day left on our passes, and though they don’t expire for six months we hope to return before the end of the International Food and Wine Festival. We’ve told some friends about the festival and they sound interested, so hopefully we’ll get a group together to go.
Other than that, I have no idea when we’ll be back in the World. The drive from Bradenton isn’t bad at all, so I’d be OK with investing in seasonal passes and taking day or weekend trips every now and then. (What do you think, Babe? ;) I’m pretty sure the next time we take an extended trip (for a week or more), our children will be old enough to walk. I don’t know how my parents did it (Disney World’s EXPENSIVE), but we’re going to have to save for two or three years before taking a big trip. Still, I can’t wait to see the magic through their eyes.
Final thoughts:
When I visited WDW as a young’un with my family, it was during the summer, Thanksgiving holidays, Easter holidays, etc. Basically whenever my brother and I were out of school. When Nick and I were there a couple of years ago, it was Easter weekend, so both of us were expecting monster crowds. While there were people at the World, the crowd was totally manageable, though it was a little bigger Friday than Thursday. (And that’s another reason we decided to go home Saturday; it was the first weekend day of the International Food and Wine Festival.)
Crowd-wise, it was the ideal time of year to go, but I’m sure it’ll be even nicer in a month or so when the weather cools off. Again, Thursday wasn’t bad at all, but Friday was super hot and humid. And while we live in Florida and are exposed to heat and humidity, we’re not outside all that much during the summer unless we go to the beach, in which case there’s a breeze blowing off the Gulf. The weather wasn’t unbearable, by any means, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant, either.
I guess that’s about it. Nick’s going to put in his two cents eventually, but for now I’m going to post this and I’ll add his comments later.
Thanks for reading!
Tiffany, 27, writer, avid MousePlanet trip report reader and kinda crazy about all things Disney; six trips to Walt Disney World (1988, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2005 and a day trip in June 2007) and a day trip to Disneyland in 2001
Nick, 29, my angel of a boyfriend of three years who’s also a writer; not nearly as crazy about Disney as me … yet; one trip to the World in 2005
Reader beware: The introductory and planning portions of this report are nearly as long as the part about the trip itself. This may sound nutty, but I enjoy planning trips to Disney World (and the anticipation that goes along with said planning) almost as much as I enjoy being there … almost.
Introduction:
Nick and I visited Walt Disney World over Easter weekend in 2005 to see the New York Mets (Nick’s team) play a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves (my team at the time; I’ve since become a Met supporter) at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. The Holy Saturday game was rained out, but we spent Easter at the Magic Kingdom and Easter Monday at Disney-MGM Studios. While we were at the MK, I distinctly remember Nick calling his mom from Tomorrowland and exclaiming something along the lines of "How come we’ve never been here?!" He denies saying that, but I’ve since made it my mission to help him feel the Disney magic, as I foresee our family spending a lot of time there once our children are old enough to enjoy it.
Planning:
Nick and I decided to concentrate on Epcot and Animal Kingdom this trip, since Nick had seen the other two parks. This wasn’t a commando trip by any means; we were out for romance and relaxation, and I think we achieved our goal. (Though for a while there, I thought we wouldn’t. Something about setting foot on Disney property makes me go all wild-eyed and determined to see and do as much as possible, but I was able to stay calm this trip.)
We (well, "I" really … Nick’s hardly a Disnut, and he’s even less of a planner) decided to go to WDW in the fall of 2007. I wanted to go during the value season in the hopes of smaller crowds and for lower resort rates. Thankfully, the fact that we went smack in the middle of hurricane season didn’t come back to bite us in the butt.
In early February, I made a reservation at disneyworld.com for three nights starting Sept. 30 at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort and paid for one night of our stay as a deposit. Later that month, Nick and I found out we couldn’t both take off those dates. So we changed our reservation to three nights starting Sept. 25, giving us Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and some of Saturday — if we so desired — to play in Orlando before driving home to Bradenton, Fla. (an hour and a half away) and our two cats. That way, we’d also have most of the weekend to recuperate, do laundry, etc.
Also around this time, I suggested staying at a moderate resort instead of a value. Nick and I love children, but we figured a moderate would suit a couple looking for romance and relaxation better than a value. So I called WDW and changed our reservation to the Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter for the above dates. (I’m from a suburb of New Orleans, and since I don’t get home nearly often enough I take any chance I can get to feel like I’m there.) I requested a standard-view room with a king-size bed … for about twice the price as the All-Star room. Ouch. The trip’s months away, I rationalized. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Florida resident discounts, reduced value-season rates, etc. and hope for the best. If nothing comes through, we can always switch back to a value resort, hopefully without too much trouble.
Toward the end of June, Disney released its Florida resident discounts. I immediately got on the phone and requested the discount. The bad news? We have to switch from a king bed to two doubles (queens?) at POFQ. The good news? We’re saving about 200 bucks on the room.
Two weeks before our trip, our resort plans changed again. Nick realized he had a late meeting the Tuesday we were scheduled to check into POFQ, so instead of rushing to get to WDW late that night we decided to push the trip back a day. I called WDW, and since there was no POFQ room open that Friday night, we moved our reservation to the Caribbean Beach Resort for Sept. 26-29. We were back in luck with a king bed and a water-view room (in theory), though this room cost us about $50 more than the previous one did. Whatevs. At that point, I was just ready to G-O, GO!
Because we were spending so much money on the resort and would only be at the World for three or four days, we wanted to take it easy on our dining budget. Nick and I LOVE to eat, but we didn’t want to be burdened by Advance Dining Reservations or whatever they’re called nowadays. We’d rather play it by ear (by listening to our tummies). Plus, we’re not foodies and I figured we’d be happy with chicken fingers (me) and burgers (him).
As far as admission media go, I’m dying to buy Florida resident seasonal passes, but first I have to convert Nick to my way of thinking. For this trip, we bought two 3-Day Play Passes. With tax (and without the park-hopper or no-expiration additions), they were $133.13 each.
To pass the time before our trip, I spent many a day reading all the trip reports I could get my hands on (I love that MousePlanet has so many archived; Sheri Niklewski and Steve Russo are a couple of my faves, and I miss Sue Holland’s reports like crazy) and visiting Disney blogs and trip-planning sites regularly. I wrote my first trip report when my parents, my godmother and I went to the Magic Kingdom for a day in June 2007, and it was easier than I thought it would be. I took notes while we stood in lines, and since I’m a reporter I’m used to reading my own chicken scratch.
On with the show!
Wednesday, Sept. 26:
I tooled around Wednesday morning, watching TV, playing on the Internets, packing and getting myself showered and ready for the day. I woke Nick up around 11:30 a.m., and he showered and threw some things in our bag. I put out enough food and water for our two kitties for a few days, put an extra litter box out for them and kissed them goodbye. On our way out of town, we stopped at Burger King for a late lunch; we both had Whopper combos, mine with French fries and Nick’s with onion rings, for $10.20. We stopped at Nick’s office so he could pick up his sunglasses, stopped at RaceTrac to fill up my Jeep ($43.17) and were leaving Bradenton by 1:45 p.m.
It was an easy drive up Interstate 75 and east on I-4, and we arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort at 3:15. We waited only a few minutes to check in, and the nice Cast Member chatted us up during the process. We were in Room 5452 of the Aruba section of the resort, a corner room with a king-size bed. (When I made the reservation, the CM said it was for a water-view room, but this had no water view whatsoever. There was a courtyard, which workers were landscaping, and the parking lot in the distance, but that’s about it.)
We relaxed for a bit, then at 4:15 went exploring. We walked by "our" pool and across the bridge to the main pool and Old Port Royale. We checked out the food court, which was empty that time of day, and went into the arcade after we spied an air hockey table (our fave!) in there. Nick said he wouldn’t let me win like he did when we first started dating (yeah, right), but I beat him 7-6. Then he played a Star Wars video game, and I played "Pirates of the Caribbean" pinball, which I thought was fitting at the CBR. We meandered around the gift shop, where Nick picked up a few postcards to send to family and friends in his home state of Tennessee. We also bought a pair of tiny Mickey head-shaped stud earrings (made out of Austrian crystal or cubic zirconia) and a Disney Princess "magic towel" washcloth for me for a total of $16.26.
On our way out of OPR, we stopped at the poolside bar, Banana Cabana, and ordered a couple of tropical drinks: pina colada for Nick, strawberry daiquiri for me. (I don’t know what happened to this receipt, but I think the drinks were about $15.) The bartender was from Sarasota, which is just south of Bradenton, and one of the patrons was from our county (Manatee), so we chatted with them for a bit. It’s a small world after all. Nick and I took our drinks over to the pool, where we sat on a concrete bench built behind a makeshift waterfall and people-watched. A storm was brewing, so we headed back to our room, making it there right before the rain came. Nick discovered the channel that plays classic Disney cartoons (and the same ones over and over, apparently; we saw each quite a few times) and watched Donald Duck, his favorite Disney character, for a while.
About 6:45, we got ourselves up and at ‘em and drove over to the Boardwalk, where we were immediately seated in ESPN Club’s dining area. I ordered a Michelob Ultra, while Nick stuck with water to start. He had Buffalo wings for dinner and called them "more peppery than spicy." If you’re a wing connoisseur like him, you know what that means. I had the Championship Chicken sandwich, which was OK except the bread fell apart on me. With tax and tip, the meal was $35.27, then we moved to the bar to watch the Mets game. I had another couple of Mich Ultras and Nick had four Coors Lights, so we ended up spending another $35.82. Toward the end of the game (I don’t recall whether we stayed through all nine innings), we drove back to CBR and were in our room by 10 p.m. Nick read and I updated my notes before we turned in for the night, setting my cell phone alarm for 8 a.m. I would have liked to hear Mickey’s wake-up call, but the phone was on Nick’s side of the bed.
Thursday, Sept. 27:
This is how my trip report notes start on Thursday: "WOW, what a sleepless night!" Between the hard-as-hell mattress and the facts that hotels apparently abhor fitted sheets and we couldn’t get the room temperature right, Nick and I didn’t sleep well at ALL Wednesday night. Still, I was up with the alarm at 8 a.m., showered and got ready for the day. I woke Nick up about 8:15, made coffee and chilled while he showered and stuff. We were at Aruba’s bus stop by 9 a.m. Nick wanted to buy a bottle of water from the vending machine, so he put in $2 before realizing it cost $2.50. Oops. A kind soul at the stop gave him 50 cents, he put the money into the machine and pressed the Dasani button and … nothing. No water came out, and the darn thing wouldn’t give Nick the money back, either. (We meant to go to the Customs House and hopefully get our money back later in the trip but never made it over there.)
Of course every bus but Epcot’s stopped before that park’s bus, but we were on our way by 9:15. The bus stopped at what felt like 37 other "islands" to pick up resort guests (CBR is wayyy spread out), and we were on our way. We arrived at Epcot, went through the bag check and were walking to a ticket counter to exchange our vouchers for actual passes when a CM and his mother asked us whether we wanted to get in for free. I immediately said "No" and kept walking … and immediately regretted it. Sue me, but I’m not the most trusting person in the world and don’t believe that anyone gives away anything for free. And my pride prevented me from going back to them and asking whether we could still take them up on their offer. Oh well, you live and learn. (At least, I sure learn from my mistakes.)
We exchanged our vouchers for passes and found out there was a preview of the International Food and Wine Festival that day. Woohoo! The festival was one of my main reasons for wanting to go this time of year. Nick and I stopped to take the obligatory pictures of each other in front of Spaceship Earth, and a kind couple offered to photograph us together. (This time we took them up on their offer. Like I said, I learn from my mistakes. ;) We walked to The Land, where we picked up FastPasses for Soarin’ for 30 or 40 minutes later and walked onto Living with the Land. Nick doesn’t think most of the fruits and veggies there are real, but I believe in Disney magic and think they are. Neither of us was crazy about the ride, but I’m glad we did it. I hadn’t been to Epcot since 1999, and I wanted us to experience as much of it as we could without killing ourselves. After the boat ride, we walked upstairs and sat down for maybe two minutes before filing into the Circle of Life theater. As soon as Nick, the Star Wars fan, heard James Earl Jones’ voice, he immediately thought "Darth Vader." The cartoon was cute (Timon and Pumbaa crack me up), but I think I enjoyed it a little more than Nick did. Our Soarin’ FPs were ready then, so we walked downstairs for that. Now, Nick is not one for heights or thrill rides, but I thought he could handle Soarin’. (I’d never been on it myself, but I’d read a ton about it and figured it wouldn’t be too "thrilling.") I’m not crazy about heights, either, but both of us LOVED the ride. It was SO realistic, and we hope Disney changes the film in the future. Nothing against California, but I think it’d be cool if the ride features different parts of the country and world in the future.
After that excitement, we went to The Seas and walked into a clammobile for The Seas with Nemo & Friends. It was cute and all, but I was like, "Is this IT?!" Once we got off the ride, though, I realized the rest of the aquarium was still intact so Nick and I went exploring. We both love sea life (I wanted to be a marine biologist until I realized at the age of 11 how much I hate science) and animals in general, so this was a treat for us. We saw manatees, porpoises (my fave), sharks, seahorses, clownfish, jellyfish and more. We opted out of Turtle Talk with Crush and walked over to Imagination!, where we waited five or seven minutes for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience to begin. That was all right; we compare every 3- or 4-D show to Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and HISTA’s not nearly as good as that one.
Then it was on to … Journey Into Imagination with Figment, my all-time favorite Disney character! I hadn’t been on the ride in forever and thought it was cute (I’m quite imaginative, if I do say so myself), but Nick was less than impressed. We walked through ImageWorks to the gift shop, where I checked out all the Figment goods before settling on a small stuffed Figment that I’ve taken to sleeping with every night. (Nick LOVES that, let me tell you.) That was $12.73.
It was about 1 p.m. then and we were hungry (I’ll eat cold cereal or a Weight Watchers muffin at home, but Nick isn’t big on breakfast), so we walked over to Mexico for lunch at LaCantina. Nick had plato combinacion (which he deemed "fair fare"), and I had tacos al carbon (OK, but not very well-seasoned). With a Coke and two bottled waters, our total was $24.02. After lunch, we walked into the Mexican pavilion, which was nice and cool. We walked onto Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros, but not before I made Nick pose with Donald’s poster.
We left World Showcase, intending to head back to the resort for a rest, but got sidetracked by MouseGear. Nick debated whether to buy a stuffed Donald to befriend Figment and decided against it for the time being, and we were off. We wandered over to Test Track, which Nick wanted nothing to do with, then Mission:Space, which Nick was unsure about. I should’ve ridden Test Track via the single-rider line, but I was getting cranky by that time and needed a nap. We went on Ellen’s Energy Adventure in Universe of Energy. Time and again, CMs mentioned the eight-minute pre-show is followed by a 37-minute ride, but sheesh — I didn’t realize how long the darn thing actually is until my butt started crying for mercy toward the end. I think EEA is OK, but I like Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye. Nick doesn’t care for Ellen, but I think he thought the show was all right, too.
We picked up a couple of frozen treats on the way out (a Mickey head-shaped cookies ‘n’ cream sandwich for Nick and a Nestle Crunch-covered ice cream bar for me for a total of $5), and I proceeded to drip chocolate coating all over my chest. (Nick called me Chocolate Boob the rest of the day.) We boarded the bus back to CBR at 3:15 for a much-needed nap.
After snoozing on and off for some of the afternoon, we woke up and were back out the door by 5:45. We took the bus back to Epcot, arriving a little after 6. Of course it started pouring down rain as the bus was driving through the park’s gates, so we stayed under cover at the bus stop for 10 or so minutes. When it slacked off some, we donned our ponchos and walked toward the entrance … and it stopped raining altogether. Go figure.
We went first to Innoventions (I’m not sure whether it was East or West) and sent e-postcards to our moms, then after a restroom stop in Imagination! we walked into World Showcase. Our goal was to eat our way around the world, but some booths weren’t open, some had long lines and others just didn’t have anything that appealed to us. We shared a yummy spanakopita from Greece (I looove spinach), then a bastilla from Morocco. We couldn’t really decide whether we liked that; the sweet with the savory was strange but good, and the filling was definitely different. The British Invasion were starting a set, so we headed back to their little gazebo. I thought they were pretty good as far as tribute/cover bands go, and I wondered whether they were cutting out some of the songs until Nick reminded me that older tunes tend to be shorter. We stayed there for 15 or so minutes, watching this older woman wearing a sheer shirt and too-tight jeans dance her butt off. Now, I have absolutely NO problem with someone dancing and having a good time, as I’m all for that myself. But this woman’s outfit was totally inappropriate, and I don’t know who she thought she was.
We walked on and into the 7:30 showing of The American Adventure. I re-learned a few civics lessons and kind of teared up toward the end, but Nick doesn’t feel so strongly about America these days (and that has to do with our current leadership, not our country’s people). Next, Nick wanted to see what Italy’s booth had to offer, but it was closed for the night, so we went to China and ate at Lotus Blossom Café. I had an order of egg rolls and he had the beef noodle soup, which I thought was delish even though I’m not big on red meat. With a Coke (for him) and a Diet Coke (for me), dinner came to $16.79. After eating, Nick bought a bottled water for $2, I hit the restroom and we were on our way again. We wandered a bit more, then backtracked to stake out a spot for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. We found a good viewing spot on a bridge in Germany (I think), sat down Indian-style and took a few pictures of each other, the two of us and Spaceship Earth in the distance.
IllumiNations was good, albeit shorter than I remembered. (But isn’t everything grander when you’re a child?) I also seem to remember the soundtrack featuring music from each country as its lights come on, but maybe that’s a figment of my imagination. ;) All in all, I enjoyed it (you can’t go wrong with fireworks, in my opinion), but I think I now prefer Wishes at the MK.
After the show, we made our way to the exit and waited 10 or 15 minutes for a bus back to CBR. We were "home" by 10:15, showered and went to sleep.
Friday, Sept. 28:
We slept better Thursday night and were up and at ‘em by 8:15 a.m. We dressed for the day, hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom and were there a little before 10. We noticed the crowds were a bit thicker today and I started to worry about that, but we ended up not having any long waits.
We walked back to Africa and picked up FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris for a half-hour later. To pass the time, we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Nick and I could watch primates for days, so we spent lots of time here admiring the animals. I hate birds, though, and practically rain through the aviary.
After finishing the trail, it was about 10:40 and our safari FP window was open. The ride was longer than I remembered, and it was a good time. I think the okapi are beautiful, and I also enjoyed the giraffes and flamingos. But I HAD to laugh at the people swatting away love bugs. Please. Those tiny things can screw up a car’s paint job, but they’re harmless when it comes to humans. (Actually, I was surprised to see them still floating around Central Florida. We live on the coast and haven’t seen a love bug since the spring.) We hopped out of our safari vehicle and decided we were hungry, so we went over to Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch around 11:30. As my girl Rachael Ray says, "YUM-O!" I don’t know whether we were starving or what, but Nick and I thoroughly enjoyed that meal. He had a pork sandwich with baked beans, I had a smoked turkey sandwich with coleslaw and we split an order of onion rings. With a couple of soft drinks, the total was $24.02.
While we were eating lunch, a few ducks came quacking at our feet. I’m not a huge fan of ducks (there were some vicious ducks at the park we went to when we lived in Naples, Fla.), but Nick fed them some of his pork and bun. There were no visible signs asking guests not to feed the ducks, so I let ‘im.
Next, we went to see It’s Tough to be a Bug!, where there was maybe a 10-minute wait. I was worried because Nick hadn’t appreciated HISTA but remembered ITTBAB as being better than that one, and it was. Super cute, but still no PhilharMagic. We then wandered back to DinoLand U.S.A. to hit DINOSAUR after a five-minute wait. I would never knowingly let Nick ride something he wouldn’t feel comfortable with, so I was sort of scared when the ride started and was much more herky-jerky than I remembered. Fortunately, he enjoyed it, and I did, too. Good times. From there, we walked into the 1 o’clock showing of Finding Nemo — The Musical. It was my first time seeing that show, and once I got past watching the puppeteers I fell in love with the show. I REALLY appreciated that the performers were actually singing the songs, as I love most musicals ("Rent" and "Les Miserables" especially).
After locating Nemo for the 78th time in two days (could WDW HAVE more "Finding Nemo" attractions?!), we walked to Asia. Nick found a shady spot in which to eat some soft-serve ice cream while I got into the Expedition Everest single-rider line. We made plans to meet up at 2:15, and for a while there the ride was down and I was afraid I’d miss our meeting time. The ride was up again within five or seven minutes, and since I was the third or fourth single rider in line I was on the ride in no time. I sat in the last row with a CM from Idaho who’s part of the college program and actually works EE and was riding it on his day off. Even though I’d read all about the ride, the CM (we never introduced ourselves) joked with me throughout it ("Ooh, I wonder what’s happening…"). He pointed out a Hidden Mickey inside the ride and said if you look at a satellite image of EE, it’s a huge Hidden Mickey in itself. I keep forgetting to check that out, but it sure sounds like Imagineering at its finest. Anyway, the ride was shorter than I expected, but it sure was thrilling. I was a little shaky afterward and had to sit down for a few minutes after meeting up with Nick to calm my nerves. When I got to feeling better, we walked over to where some monkeys were hanging from a structure made of sticks, ropes, etc. We watched and listened to them for a while; I don’t know what kinds of calls they were making, but they were LOUD.
We then walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Being an LSU alumna, I of course had to check out the tigers. Nick and I often call our cats "baby tigers," and it was amazing to watch the tigers and see how similar their behavior is to that of our cats. From the way they walk to the way they sleep with their stomachs to the wall … it’s crazy. We also saw the giant bats, which I would NOT want to meet in a dark cave. I got a frozen lemonade on the way out, and after dragging a bench into the shade we sat on it and people-watched.
Now, we’d seen tons of people over the last couple of days sporting Crocs (Disney or otherwise), but we sat and counted and found Crocs on the feet of at least two out of every 10 people. I thought about buying a pair of Crocs a couple of years ago, but now that everyone has them they’re not for me.
I climbed down off my high horse, and we took the slooow train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where we spent 10 or 15 minutes talking to a CM with a parrot about birds, snakes, cats, you name it. We walked around looking at the animals behind glass (the American alligator did NOT want to be in that tank and tried in vain to climb out of it), then sat in a booth and listened to the sounds of the rainforest. That, too, was realistic, especially when I closed my eyes. We took the train back and walked to the park exit, where we boarded a bus back to CBR. We were "home" by 5 p.m. for some relaxation, then showered and got ready to go out again. We were out the door by 6:15 to find a place to watch the Mets.
We drove to Highway 192 and a few miles up and down it in the hopes of finding a sports bar with prices cheaper than Disney’s, but we didn’t see anything besides like, Chili’s. Plus, by that time we were spoiled by Disney and 192 just looked kind of … gross. So it was back to WDW and the Boardwalk. We parked and walked into the ESPN Club expecting a wait, but we sat down right away at a table in the bar area. We ordered a couple of beers and food, a chicken Caesar salad for me and a Dinger (Buffalo chicken) sandwich for Nick. Both were yummy, but my salad was heavy on the dressing. We settled in to watch some sports; Nick watched baseball while I watched the South Florida-West Virginia football game. We eventually decided it was more economical to order pitchers and kept the beer coming.
There were a couple of Met fans standing in the bar area, so we invited them (first Sam, then Pedro) to pull up a stool and watch with us. It’s always nice to meet people, even more so at Disney World. J We stayed for the duration of the Mets game. It wasn’t a good night for Met fans, unfortch, but USF beat WVU so it was fun to cheer along with Bulls fans. Our tab at the ESPN Club was more than 100 bucks, so we put $100 on my parents’ credit card (their treat; I am spoiled, but I’m also appreciative of all that I have) and left the rest in cash. We walked out of there about 11 p.m. and stopped at the Spoodles pizza window for a slice of cheese for me ($3.72). I don’t know whether it was the beer talking or what, but I thought that pizza was delish! Verrry cheesy, and the crust was tasty, too. Nick drove us home, stopping at the Hess station for a six-pack. Once back in our room, we talked for a little while but Nick only drank one beer before both of us were out like lights.
Saturday, Sept. 29:
We’d decided Friday evening (before we started drinking, thank you very much) that we were physically and financially exhausted from two days of Disney and missed our cats like crazy. So after another night of not sleeping well, we woke up between 9 and 9:30 a.m., packed up and left the room. We drove over to Old Port Royale, where the food court was a mob scene. Seriously, I don’t know how families get anything done in the parks if they’re still eating breakfast at 10:30 in the morning. Anyway, I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast food, but nothing else was available. I ate French toast with sausage, Nick ate an adult breakfast platter and with a couple of soft drinks breakfast cost $17.53. (I think it was about this point that Nick and I decided when we bring our children to WDW, we’re bringing bagels, cereal, etc. and eating breakfast in the room to save money and time.)
I couldn’t leave Disney property without spending even more money, so we stopped in the gift shop for a few things. Nick bought a snow globe for his goddaughter, and I picked up a couple of things for my parents. Nick finally decided to get a stuffed Donald, and I found a WDW 2007 magnet and a Mickey sorcerer’s hat-shaped wine stopper. Again, I’m not sure where those receipts went.
After dropping a few postcards in the mail, we were on our way home and back in Bradenton by 1:30 p.m., in time for Nick to watch the Mets (yet again) and me to watch the Tigers. The cats were standoffish at first, but then they got over themselves and were happy to see us.
See ya real soon!
Future trips:
There’s a day left on our passes, and though they don’t expire for six months we hope to return before the end of the International Food and Wine Festival. We’ve told some friends about the festival and they sound interested, so hopefully we’ll get a group together to go.
Other than that, I have no idea when we’ll be back in the World. The drive from Bradenton isn’t bad at all, so I’d be OK with investing in seasonal passes and taking day or weekend trips every now and then. (What do you think, Babe? ;) I’m pretty sure the next time we take an extended trip (for a week or more), our children will be old enough to walk. I don’t know how my parents did it (Disney World’s EXPENSIVE), but we’re going to have to save for two or three years before taking a big trip. Still, I can’t wait to see the magic through their eyes.
Final thoughts:
When I visited WDW as a young’un with my family, it was during the summer, Thanksgiving holidays, Easter holidays, etc. Basically whenever my brother and I were out of school. When Nick and I were there a couple of years ago, it was Easter weekend, so both of us were expecting monster crowds. While there were people at the World, the crowd was totally manageable, though it was a little bigger Friday than Thursday. (And that’s another reason we decided to go home Saturday; it was the first weekend day of the International Food and Wine Festival.)
Crowd-wise, it was the ideal time of year to go, but I’m sure it’ll be even nicer in a month or so when the weather cools off. Again, Thursday wasn’t bad at all, but Friday was super hot and humid. And while we live in Florida and are exposed to heat and humidity, we’re not outside all that much during the summer unless we go to the beach, in which case there’s a breeze blowing off the Gulf. The weather wasn’t unbearable, by any means, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant, either.
I guess that’s about it. Nick’s going to put in his two cents eventually, but for now I’m going to post this and I’ll add his comments later.
Thanks for reading!