elgerber
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
Sorry it took so long to get this posted, the holiday's really slowed me down...Cast
Me - Erika 31, Disney nut for as long as I can remember
Dh - Steve, 33 Enjoys Disney, not as nuts as I am though
Ds - Matthew 7 ý loves rides and trains and cars, slightly nervous about unknown things
Dd - Alexa almost 5, Disney nut just like mom, hates dark and loud things
To be joined later by my dad and stepmom, who travel to Disney every few years, but do nothing LOL.
This was our first time on site, and our kids first trips. Well, Matthew went when he was 2 but doesn't remember. We have saved and planned for this trip for 3 ý years. This is also my first trip report and I'm afraid it's rather long and rambling, sorry!
Day 1, November 30th
My alarm is set to go off at 5:10 am, and let me tell you, only Mickey Mouse can cause me to drag my behind out of bed that early. As I suspected, I did not sleep well the night before. I jump in the shower, and we throw any last minute items in the bags. Then we get the kids up and dressed, poor things so early, but as soon as they heard Disney, they popped up. Steve's dad showed up promptly at 6 to take us to the airport for our 7:25 flight. I
had done internet check-in, so we got to ski p the ticket counter. We checked our bags at the curb and went to the gate. We boarded as soon as we got to the gate, about 30 minutes prior to flight time. 7:25 rolls around, we are not moving. The captain comes on and says they are still fueling the plane, but should be done in a few minutes. 15 minutes later he says the same thing, 10 minutes later he says he is going down there to find out why
it's not done yet. Finally 30 minutes late, they finish fueling and we are off. Now, keep in mind this was Northwest airlines and their mechanics slowdown. There is no way they don't know ahead of time how long it takes to fuel a DC-10.
After an uneventful flight we land a half hour late in Orlando. We get our luggage and go to get our rental car from Budget (through Priceline). I had heard awful stories about lines for rental cars, so I was pleasantly surprised to find no line at all at Budget. The lady at the counter looks up our rental and says "What did you do?". She said we had 33 rentals in the computer LOL, and all but 2 had been cancelled. She was floored. I had booked
back in March, and had only been charged once by Priceline, so who knows what they did. While we were waiting, a guy behind the counter asked for the kids names. Then the phone rings, and he says it's for them. Matthew, looking very confused, takes the phone, while Alexa stands next to him. "It's Mickey Mouse!" he says! Apparently one of the employees does a mean Mickey imitation so he called out to the front counter. A simple gesture, but my
kids were so thrilled. We were then on our way in our Jeep Grand Cherokee.
We needed to eat lunch, so we we're going to get off before Disney for a quick bite. Somehow, totally by accident we ended up at the McDonalds at the Crossroads. We then got some water and a cooler at Goodings (I know, way expensive, but it was convenient), and headed to Guest Services at DD to activate our AP's. We then headed to the All Star Movies to check-in. We waited about 5 minutes to check-in and had the nicest CM. I forget her name
though. She told me I had a box, it was my groceries from Netgrocer, very convenient! Our room was ready and off we went. This was all very exciting for us, as we have never stayed on-site before. We were in Mighty Ducks, building 2. This is what we wanted. We carried our own luggage, but next time I won't. It's a long walk from the elevator to where our room was. If we were on the first floor we'd be OK. We looked out on the Duck Pond
pool. We really liked it here, it was very Disney! It was much warmer than we expected so instead of unpacking, we hit the pool. After our swim, we headed to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey's. This was great fun. The characters were wonderful, and the napkin waving was a riot! There is something wonderful about starting your trip with a dinner with Mickey himself. The mashed potatoes were as great as I have heard they would be. As
was some chocolate cake thingy I had for dessert. After dinner we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian to look around. WOW! That place has an amazing lobby. It was so beautiful. After taking some pics of the gingerbread house and the tree, we hopped back to the Contemporary and went back the ASMo and went to bed.
Me - Erika 31, Disney nut for as long as I can remember
Dh - Steve, 33 Enjoys Disney, not as nuts as I am though
Ds - Matthew 7 ý loves rides and trains and cars, slightly nervous about unknown things
Dd - Alexa almost 5, Disney nut just like mom, hates dark and loud things
To be joined later by my dad and stepmom, who travel to Disney every few years, but do nothing LOL.
This was our first time on site, and our kids first trips. Well, Matthew went when he was 2 but doesn't remember. We have saved and planned for this trip for 3 ý years. This is also my first trip report and I'm afraid it's rather long and rambling, sorry!
Day 1, November 30th
My alarm is set to go off at 5:10 am, and let me tell you, only Mickey Mouse can cause me to drag my behind out of bed that early. As I suspected, I did not sleep well the night before. I jump in the shower, and we throw any last minute items in the bags. Then we get the kids up and dressed, poor things so early, but as soon as they heard Disney, they popped up. Steve's dad showed up promptly at 6 to take us to the airport for our 7:25 flight. I
had done internet check-in, so we got to ski p the ticket counter. We checked our bags at the curb and went to the gate. We boarded as soon as we got to the gate, about 30 minutes prior to flight time. 7:25 rolls around, we are not moving. The captain comes on and says they are still fueling the plane, but should be done in a few minutes. 15 minutes later he says the same thing, 10 minutes later he says he is going down there to find out why
it's not done yet. Finally 30 minutes late, they finish fueling and we are off. Now, keep in mind this was Northwest airlines and their mechanics slowdown. There is no way they don't know ahead of time how long it takes to fuel a DC-10.
After an uneventful flight we land a half hour late in Orlando. We get our luggage and go to get our rental car from Budget (through Priceline). I had heard awful stories about lines for rental cars, so I was pleasantly surprised to find no line at all at Budget. The lady at the counter looks up our rental and says "What did you do?". She said we had 33 rentals in the computer LOL, and all but 2 had been cancelled. She was floored. I had booked
back in March, and had only been charged once by Priceline, so who knows what they did. While we were waiting, a guy behind the counter asked for the kids names. Then the phone rings, and he says it's for them. Matthew, looking very confused, takes the phone, while Alexa stands next to him. "It's Mickey Mouse!" he says! Apparently one of the employees does a mean Mickey imitation so he called out to the front counter. A simple gesture, but my
kids were so thrilled. We were then on our way in our Jeep Grand Cherokee.
We needed to eat lunch, so we we're going to get off before Disney for a quick bite. Somehow, totally by accident we ended up at the McDonalds at the Crossroads. We then got some water and a cooler at Goodings (I know, way expensive, but it was convenient), and headed to Guest Services at DD to activate our AP's. We then headed to the All Star Movies to check-in. We waited about 5 minutes to check-in and had the nicest CM. I forget her name
though. She told me I had a box, it was my groceries from Netgrocer, very convenient! Our room was ready and off we went. This was all very exciting for us, as we have never stayed on-site before. We were in Mighty Ducks, building 2. This is what we wanted. We carried our own luggage, but next time I won't. It's a long walk from the elevator to where our room was. If we were on the first floor we'd be OK. We looked out on the Duck Pond
pool. We really liked it here, it was very Disney! It was much warmer than we expected so instead of unpacking, we hit the pool. After our swim, we headed to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey's. This was great fun. The characters were wonderful, and the napkin waving was a riot! There is something wonderful about starting your trip with a dinner with Mickey himself. The mashed potatoes were as great as I have heard they would be. As
was some chocolate cake thingy I had for dessert. After dinner we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian to look around. WOW! That place has an amazing lobby. It was so beautiful. After taking some pics of the gingerbread house and the tree, we hopped back to the Contemporary and went back the ASMo and went to bed.
