"Bow to the all-powerful Birthday Button!"-Dec 12-20 TR (4/9 - FINAL POST MADE!)

[skier_pete]

OK, so much of this first post is reprinted from my Pre-Trip...but I wanted to get overview out of the way. This is me…skierpete. I am an avowed Disneyholic and planning junkie.

My history with the mouse goes back to the first days of WDW….quite honestly my very earliest memory. My grandmother took me to Florida in 1972 to visit this place called “Disney World”. No-one called it Magic Kingdom back then. I was 2 and a ½ years old. I have very few concrete memories but this is what I am sure I remember (1) I could see the castle from the hotel pool area. (it was definitely not on site though), (2) I had a balloon that floated above my bed at night, (3) it was so hot that the pavement (tar) in the parking lot was partially melting and your shoes would stick to it when you walked, and (4) my grandmother did laundry at the hotel and turned all of my underwear pink. I don’t remember any specifics of any rides, or anything inside the park at all. But I guess I was hooked.

I went several more times as a child, and the not again until 1997. My girlfriend, now DW, had never been, and we just had to go. We went in '97 (for the castle-cake abomination) and 2000. We probably would have been ready to go back in 2003, but that was the year that DD was born. We are not ones to want to drag around an infant for a week at the world…I know many do and god bless you, but it’s not for me…so we waited…and waited. We considered going in 2005 – but after a trip to the local amusement park decided DD was just not ready. Finally, we could wait no longer, in 2006 we decided to go for it. We offered to bring DMIL along to help with child-duties, allowing us to have a few nights to ourselves, especially to return to our favorite spot – the Adventurer’s Club (Kungaloosh!)

During that trip, we sewed the seeds for this trip. DMIL wanted to come back, I suggested we return in 2009 for my 40th birthday. Who knew that WDW would throw a party just for me! We went twice in-between, but this trip was going to be extra special, with the Christmas lights and all.

So, here's the plan:
Dates: December 12-20, 2006.
Location: Pop Century - Preferred Room
Meals: Free DDP (third trip in a row it's been free)
Targets: All 4 parks as well as much Christmas as we can stomach.

The Cast of Characters:

Me, SkierPete, 39: You already know a bit about me. I will say I am a planning nut. I have a 20 page spreadsheet with costs, park hours, ADRs, day plans, the whole shebang. I’m an engineer and do planning as part of my job, one of my favorite parts perhaps. I also love to ski (hence the name) and travel in general, as well as spend time with DW and DD whenever I can. Originally from Western Massachusetts, but have lived North of Buffalo, NY for 15+ years.

DW, age to remain secret, though she already celebrated her big 4-0. Originally from Rochester, NY. We met through a mutual friend 14 years ago (damn!). She is a good match to me in most things, and a perfect match in Disney trips.

DD now 6, the apple of my eye. I always wanted to have more than one child being an only child myself, but DW and I were blessed to have just this one. She is a good child, though she can be very stubborn and emotional. While she loves Disney in many ways, she is not much for trying new things while there. It all stems from Winnie-The-Pooh ride, her first when we went in 2006. Pooh’s nightmare scared the heck out of her, and since then she resists riding ANY new indoor ride. She STILL won’t ride PotC (“They have bad teeth” is her reason.) However, she LOVES Disney World, likes the characters though typically not real keen on waiting in lines to see them. She is definitely NOT a princess. (Quote of last trip “I am not a princess, I’m a girl!”) So, no BBB for her. She likes most of the shows, but not the nighttime ones. We got her to sit through Fantasmic last trip, she does NOT want to do that again. I have convinced her to give Test Track a try, as I believe she will love it.

DMIL, 63: (Not pictured) A wonderful lady who raised DW and DBIL on her own. Like most Mother’s, she can be a bit opinionated and want to do things her way. This will lead to some battles over the course of the trip...battles that cannot be won by yours truly. I took her to WDW last time because I thought she deserved a fun trip, plus she could watch DD at night, allowing us to go out. She loved it and wanted to go back. While we are not paying her way completely this time, we were able to get free park passes for her from a friend. We are paying for the hotel room and she is just paying the $15 adder per night, and then with the free dining, it will cost her barely $400 including the flight down. She does not have a lot of money, but I am suffering from temporary layoffs at work, so I can’t pay her way completely this time. She does not seem to mind at all.

First up next post - The Princess and the Frog!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Glad your back Pete! Hope your family had a wonderful time! Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[stich626]

I'm all in!

 

[luckylady]

I'm in. Took MIL down one time and that was enough. Bless your heart for 2 times.

 

[skier_pete]

We were packed and ready to go on Friday as planned, so as a special treat we went (all 4 of us) to see the Princess and the Frog. The movie was a hit with the whole family. DD was a little scared by the parts with the Shadowman and the creatures from the other side...but really that part was toned down pretty well. Overall, it was pretty good. Not quite "The Little Mermaid", "Alladin" or "Beauty and the Beast" but a solid effort with good songs and an entertaining story. I would give it an 8 out of 10. It sucessfully put us in a Disney mood though.

 

[skier_pete]

We had a pretty early flight. Though our flight left at 7:15 AM, the nice thing about living in Buffalo is that the airport is small enough that we can leave the house at 6 AM and still make our flight. We cut it a bit closer than I would have liked, since as we were approaching the gate, the plane was already boarding (!!!!) so I had to run and get some breakfast at the shop in the airport. The flight was extremely uneventful, and we landed on time at 10 AM.

I'll skip the boring details of our travels, and just say we were on-site by 11:30 AM at POP century.

DD playing with the blocks at the entrance.

I had done on-line check-in, and so though there was a huge line for checking in, I skipped it and waited in the shorter line. We had paid for a preferred room. I had requested a room in the seventies, but they had put us in the fifties. In the end, this worked out fine.

In fact, I am going to give a quick review of the resort. We spent very little time at the resort, but what we saw we liked. The resort itself was very clean, and seemed surprisingly compact. DD and I went into the bowling pin pool a couple of times early in the trip before it turned colder, and found the pool to be very nice. The food court was often busy, but the choices were excellent. Our room was 1325, and was a mere 10 feet from the central elevator of building 1, about a 30 second walk from the bowling pin pool, a 2 minute walk from the food court, and about 4 minutes from the bus stops.

I was surprised at the size of the room in a good way...we had only stayed at POFQ before this, and I thought the smaller room size would be noticable with four people in it, but it was not enough of a difference. The biggest thing was the single sink, but we survived it OK. Because of all the Christmas stuff around, we knew we weren't going to spend a lot of time at the resort. Overall, we really liked it there, and would definitely go back again! (In fact, we will likely be back in April! Here's a few more pictures!

Our room was ready so we dropped off our bags, and headed down for lunch. I didn't pay that close attention what everyone had, I had the Reuben Flatbread which was really good. Edit: DW had the Asian Chicken Salad, and DMIL had the Ciabatta Turkey Sandwhich. All were very tasty. DD had the pizza, which I didn't think much of, but since she ordered pizza about 12 times on the trip, it seems that she liked it. (Sorry, no pictures...I mostly focused my camera on the TS food.)

After eating, DD wanted to go for a swim. (It was a pretty warm day, probably high seventies.) So her and I got our suits and took a quick dip. It was a little cool in the water. It was funny that the only other people in the water were all northerners! (No surprise, though!)

Anyways, we swam for a bit, and by the time we got back to our room, the bags were there! It was about 1:30 PM, and it was time to head off to Epcot!

Next up...SSE, Nemo and Test Track, and our first good Karma of the trip!

 

[skier_pete]

All right, so it's now early afternoon, and we are ready to hit the parks...our first stop....EPCOT

And our first ride:

Where we got to say - "HELLO TO THE FUTURE!"

Why is it these picture always end up with a point sticking out of my head. Is it the hat?

So..while the rest of the family enjoyed the games in SSE, I ran over to Test Track to get a FP, and then to Guest Services to upgrade our 1-day tickets to APs. We had decided to buy APs, because if you are taking two trips in one years time, and you will be hopping in either trip, the APs are a cheaper option. But really, they were better than that. They had a deal where it was 20 % off ALL merchanidise, at ALL WDW stores, so we basically got 20 % off all of our purchases the whole trip. We might have spent slightly more than planned, but a lot were purchases we would have made anyways, and the savings was probably over $200, so that's a major bonus.

Next up was The Seas...DD loves animals and marine animals especially, so we always head here very early in any trip, and this was no exception.

We spent about an hour and a half at the seas, when our ADR was up at Coral Reef. We ate there last year, and enjoyed the meal very much. However, at the time I had asked for a seat "close to the tank" but after waiting about 45 minutes, changed to "seat us anywhere"...and we were stuck in the very back corner. This trip, said, "I don't need to be right on the tank...but just NOT in the back row" Well...wouldn't you know it...they put us.....

To Be Continued.

 

[luckylady]

Congrats on the Aps youu'll love having them. Eating at Coral Reef wonderful, sitting in the back tho stinks.

 

[skier_pete]

...so we had asked to NOT sit in the back row...and what did they do.

They gave a us Table right on the glass! And I wasn't even wearing my all-powerful Birthday Button! It was really cool being right on the glass. About half-way through dinner, a group of divers swam through the tank. And then, just one window over, one diver PROPOSED to the another, with the help of the family in the restaurant. This was kinda cool, though I wonder what woman wants to accept a proposal by giving a "thumbs up" sign!

Anyways, on to the food porn:
I ordered the Mahi-Mahi with couscous, which was as delicious as I remembered

DW had the grouper special with risotto, which she said was very good, but complained at the small portion of side. (Which I can't argue with!)

DMIL had the Sterling Salmon served with Wild rice medley

DD had Pizza ( Not pictured)
For desert, DW and DMIL had creme brulee

And I had a Chocolate Wave, which was just plain yummy!

DD made her own Sundae.

Overall, I'd give the meal an 8 out of 10, great atmosphere, though always very noisy. The food was very good, but just short of excellent.

To wrap up the day, we headed over to Test Track. DD had never been on it, and several trips ago through a fit refusing to ride it. This time she was eager, and afterwards claimed "That was awesome!". DMIL on the other hand claimed she was terrified the whole time. (We didn't bother trying to get her on any other thrill rides the rest of the trip.)

Then, it was back to the hotel to get some sleep, because tomorrow would be another long day.

Up Next - AK and the power of the birthday button!

 

[Beana9802]

Hello from a fellow NYer! I'm excited for more...it would have been my birthday trip too...mine's 12/17...(although...I turned the dreaded 30 this year...) alas, no disney trip for me...even though I asked for a trip for my birthday...Damn being a teacher and not able to travel during the school year!

 

[wannago2disney]

sounds like a great start to your trip. Can't wait to read more

 

[If U Had Wings]

It sounds like it was a wonderful first day. I'm so happy that you got a great seat at the Coral Reef. One of these days I'll make it there. The food looks really good.

 

[skier_pete]

Hello from a fellow NYer! I'm excited for more...it would have been my birthday trip too...mine's 12/17...(although...I turned the dreaded 30 this year...) alas, no disney trip for me...even though I asked for a trip for my birthday...Damn being a teacher and not able to travel during the school year!

Welcome, downstater! Yes, I will admit it was a pleasure to celebrate at Disney...it makes it easy to defy any milestone age!

sounds like a great start to your trip. Can't wait to read more

Oh, I'm afraid I am going out of town for a few days, so the updates will be stopping for a bit...but I promise when I get back...I took about 500 pictures...so there's lots to show. (And gave DD the camera a few times, so there's some odd ones in there too!)

It sounds like it was a wonderful first day. I'm so happy that you got a great seat at the Coral Reef. One of these days I'll make it there. The food looks really good.

I've been to Coral Reef now three times in my life (once back in 2000), and each time the meal was quite good. (Though in 2000 DW wrote in our journal -which I just looked up - about the generous portions - I guess that's changed.) It seems to get trashed a lot here, but I think it's pretty good. The one negative is that if you looked at the restaurant empty, with the big fish tanks and dark decor, you would consider it to be a quiet restaurant with maybe a romantic ambience...when actually it - like most Disney restaurants - is full of screaming kids. But I would definitely recommend giving it a try!

Happy new Year Everyone - see you in a few days!

 

[wannago2disney]

We'll look forward to your return and all the photos! Have a safe trip!

 

[khertz]

I just found your TR! Loving it so far.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

Trying to get motivated to do my own tr by reading others. I was at POP/Epcot on Dec 12 too. We left the 13th. Can't wait to read how your trip went.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Great start! I'm in.

 

[jennJK]

Hi from a newbie!
I loved your PTR and can't wait to read more of your TR.
thanks!

 

[buzz for boys]

Hi from the UK!!
Love the tripie so far cant wait to hear morex

 

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone. Happy New Year! I'm excited to see so many people joining us on our Birthday adventure!

In the morning I went down to the lobby and got my Birthday Button. I don't care what anyone says, I was determined to celebrate my birthday ALL WEEK, so I wore it every day starting today. We ate breakfast in our room and headed to our 2nd favorite park...Animal Kingdom.

I don't know what it is about AK...when we go there, we don't care at all about rides. (We spent 1.5 days there and only did 1 ride as a family, while I did Dinosaur and EE by myself.) AK is about exploring...and that's what we do when we go there!

It was a beautiful sunny day, in fact, it rapidly approached being HOT. By the afternoon parade we were pretty much roasting. It was probably 85 degrees out, and as I sit here looking out the window, I can't believe it was only 3 weeks ago today that we were there!

I love the design of this park. As you approach the entrance, all you see are trees...there is no hint (or very little hint) that you are about to enter a theme park. However, right now the park Christmas tree was the first thing you see dominating the entrance. the presents around the bottom were themed to Pooh and Friends, but the tree itself is something out of the Lion King stage musical.

We headed for the safari first thing. We were pretty far up in the front during the opening show, and we got right in line for the safari. As we made our way through the queue, they only had one side of the loading area open, but as we approached, a CM looking like they were removing the rope from the other side. I asked..."Are you opening the other side?", she said "I can't tell you that." However, I held our party back, and she removed the rope...so we were first in line for that loading area. We STILL got on the back on the caravan. (We are always in the back.) There's nothing worse than riding in the back for 2 straight weeks!

The Safari was excellent as usual...we saw all the usual animals. DW managed to get a few decent pictures.

My very favorite "Hidden Mickey" in WDW - Flamingo Island!

A Great shot of Nala:

After the Safari, we went through the Pangori Forest Trail. I always try and stop and talk to the CM throughout the exhibits. This is one thing that AK has over a zoo. There are people there that will tell you all you need to know about the animals. We had the first conflict with DD during this time. She wanted to see the Lion King show "NOW". Well, we told her that it doesn't start until 11 AM, so until it starts, we are doing other things. Well, she didn't want to hear any of that, so she spent the hour until the Lion King show pouting.

Slowly, we made our way over to Camp Minnie-Mickey. We had a about 30 minutes before the Lion King started, so we wanted to get pictures with the characters. The lines were LONG...and DD was still having a temper tantrum...so DW and I went and saw Mickey Mouse. (I haven't gotten the Photopass pictures yet, so no picture, sorry.) We also saw Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale, and Thumper and his GF were all out.

Actually, one of the very coolest Christmas things at Disney, to me, are the character trees here at camp Minnie-Mickey. Each tree is "themed" to a specific character.

For instance, Chip and Dales tree:

Pluto's Tree:

And see if you can figure out this one:

Take a guess...I will post the answer in a few days!

We finally went into FotLK. An awesome show, as usual. But, where were the stilt walkers??? We couldn't believe they weren't in the show. It was definitely a little something missing. (I have a theory which I will share on Day 3, though.) Otherwise, it was a great show. They tried to pull DD into the show, but she continued to be stubborn and wouldn't join in.

Next up...LUNCH. And...when will the power of the birthday button kick in? (To be Continued!)