soooooo... my husband, mike, had to take off some days from work, or loose them. he really really wanted us to go away somewhere, maximum 3 nights. mike loves the snow, skiing, snowboarding etc etc & was looking into a snowy place... personally, i do like snow, to look at... maybe a short walk in it ~ but then the novelty rapidly wears off! i really should try it, shame the ski suits don't do anything for my butt!! actually do they do anything for anyones!!
my lovely friend ursula said why don't you try disney!!! to tell you the truth, i'd always made the 'vampire cross with my fingers' at the mention of theme parks ~ but the thought of sun, a flight (my boys oscar 4, & flynn 2 would LOVE), the curiosity (ok i'm nosy!) of disney & imagining their faces taking everything in got me excited !!!
i suggested it to mike... & didn't get the reaction i was hoping for... he didn't say no, but there wasn't a back flip in sight!
i continued looking into it & mike soon got the disney itch!
AAA was by far the best place to get tickets, but you are at the mercy of whoever answers the phone... some people were terrible!! i hung up on someone when i found myself having to beg them to look up a flight time! why are they in that role?
then i came across jerusha mirarchi who was incredibly helpful!!
we left wednesday, flew from philadelphia ~ got really cheap flights, which we also booked through AAA. the boys LOVED the flight!! flynn was saying 5-4-3-2-1 BLAST OFF non stop till we took off!
the only problem we had was landing... flynn's ears really hurt him & was crying his eyes out... it was really hard to try to get him to swallow or yawn, everyone was very sympathetic expect for the one guy who yelled 'kid why don't you give your mom a break!!'
we get to orlando international & the disney magic beginnings!!! we got the 'magical express bus' that took us to our hotel. (this is a complimentary airport transportation service, and baggage delivery if you stay at a walt disney world resort). we asked where this service was & i really really wanted the guy that answered to have a mickey mouse voice!!!!
the bus dropped us off at our hotel, pop century & this hotel has a bus service to all the parks.
because we procrastinated 24 hours before booking the package we had to get a 'preferred room' instead of a standard ~ which ran us around $90 in total more. mike & i have been spoilt with hotels & fine dining from our previous job, so when i saw our room... i couldn't imagine what our 'preferred' room had that a standard didn't... i found out later the only difference was that it was closer to the food court!
but it served it's purpose ~ very clean, all the things we needed ~ i would definitely stay there again. there was a 24 hour pool too.
so we dumped our bags & went to the hollywood studios ~ very cool! we zipped round & then went on to the contemporary hotel because i made reservations to the califorina grill ~ rated as the best in disney. the only time i could get was 9.25pm so we were hoping the boys would fall asleep in their strollers & leave mommy & daddy to enjoy a lovely meal. of course the boys wouldn't drop off, even with the 92 laps of the lobby... we parked them at our tables. they watched us silently for a while & then both dropped off without a peep! very nice job boys!!!
ok ~ like i said we've been spoilt with hotels & dining... found this place over rated.
but the view is amazing, good service & we really enjoyed the fact the boys were snoozing & we were able to have a nice meal together.
we then left to go back to the hotel & because it was late the way home was to get the bus to downtown disney & then a bus to our hotel.
because the boys were sleeping i was hoping we could lift the strollers onto the bus, but noooooo ~ we weren't allowed... child had to be out of the stroller & stroller folded. this we found hard, we both had a bag, a stroller & sleeping child, now to get everything onto the bus... if we had more than 2 children i don't think we could have done it.
when we arrived at downtown disney the bus back to our hotel was there & my heart sank a bit because i knew we would never make it with all the stuff we had & would have to wait for the next one... but this amazing thing happened... everyone one on the bus picked up our stuff & carried it on to the bus without being asked, mike & i had to just carry the boys! i was really touched by this & found throughout the trip that the visitors were all so friendly & helpful ~ i'm calling this the 'disney spirit'.
next morning, after a fiasco with the mickey mouse mugs, i didn't know we were only going to get 3 (flynn is 2 so wasn't allocated one, i'd done the line without my purse so couldn't buy one) (then basically flynn held his upside in the stroller & was sat in a puddle) we ventured to the magic kingdom!
in general:
i found there are a lot of 'disney' rules & a lot of people that go year after year so they are familiar with all of these... then 'newbies' like us turn up & hold up queues cos we just didn't understand...
staff all said 'have a magical day!!' i wanted to answer in a goofy voice er okey dokey ~ thanks!!
we got the dinning plan ~ which i really recommend because even the snacks are really expensive. i'm not being funny but i like to enjoy my food when i'm on vacation. with the dining plus plan you get one table-service meal, one quick-service meal and one snack per person, per night & the dining deluxe plan 3 meals and 2 snacks per person, per night of your stay. you can only get a dining plan if you stay in one of the disney resorts.
thanks to my friends ursula, eris & pamela we were armed with great tips & i have to say the best was eris's fast pass one. you can go to a ride that offers fast pass & get a ticket which will allow you to get onto the ride without doing the line if you come within the hour they ask you to. very cool!
disney is amazing!! a totally different world. ok... when i first came to the states i went to vegas... i knew nothing really about it so i had made up in my mind what it was like... & that was like the start of an austin powers movie... totally crazy, exciting, tumblers, dancing etc etc... i was disappointed!! BUT... disney! this is my vegas!! this is how i expect it to be!
we headed off for a character breakfast at the liberty tree tavern (i wanted the crystal palace one, but that was closed for refurbishment & they'd moved to temporarily to the tavern)
after being asked probably around 63 times, by oscar 'can i have pancakes?' we arrive. ~ we said of course you can!! i mean this is america! pancakes are traditional breakfast fare. minnie mouse, pluto & chip 'n dale are doing the rounds... now this was something i didn't see coming!! both my boys we terrified!!! & started screaming when any of then came in a 2ft radius!! now a look at the menu... 'mum can i have pancakes?' errrrrr actually no... they didn't have any!!! meltdown number one!!! JOY RAPTURE!!! started thinking what have we done!!! but thank goodness it all got better from here on!!
it's funny though... walking though disney... meltdowns all around!! & the relief that it's not your kid this time & the sympathetic knowing look if you came face to face with the parent... you know the one...
first ride we went on: it's a small world
walt originally designed the attraction for pepsi to benefit UNICEF at the 1964-65 new york world's fair. when the Fair closed, the attraction made its way to disneyland and was so popular that it was one of the original attractions when Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971.
the small world song is played over & over while you sail along in a boat watching brightly costumed dolls from every nation you can think of. it's very 'cute'. (i put 'cute' in inverted commas because it's not a word i would usually use... but i can't think of a better one).
i couldn't help but think it would be a great scene for a scary part of a 70's film when the girl is getting chased by the bad guy & she's trying to hide on a ride & 'it's a small world' is being played repeatedly with zoomed in parts of dolls!! arhhhhh!!!
our lunch was at the plaza ~ this was really good! there's a good view of the castle from there too if you sit in the conservatory.
that evening we watched the SpectroMagic parade ~ it was FANTASTIC!! in my emotionally unstable state i had to wipe a tear or two away it was that good. we didn't really know the best place to watch from so we ended up standing in the middle of the square, there wasn't anyone there because everyone had lined the streets. it was a great place to be because the parade went totally around you & then you could watch it go down main street to the castle. the boys were totally amazed & we were dancing around watching this spectacular! this is one of my fondest memories in my life so far, the sheer excitement of the boys & doing crazy dancing in the middle of a public square whilst being surrounded by an amazing spectacular!
rides we did at the magic kingdom:
it's a small world
dumbo ride! ~ really good, i'm such a wuss though! theres a level that makes dumbo go up & down... & flynn found it! it was fun!!!
mickey's philhar magic ~ this is a 3d film & is amazing!!! it was much better than the 'honey i shrank the audience at epcot)
mad tea party cup ride ~ this was good ~ unfortunately oscar cried the whole way round because he wanted to sit in the red one (nap needed!)
peter pan's flight ~ thumbs up
pirates of the caribbean ~ i was scared!!!! hahahaha!! it's dark! the animatronics are really good here.
adventures of winnie & pooh, the railroad ~ really nice & good rest time!!
swiss tree house, poohs playful spot, cinderellas carousel ~ we all really enjoyed this, mickey & minnie's house, donald's boat
goofy's barnstormer ~ this is a mini roller coaster... oh noooooooooo... oscar really wanted to go on it & so did flynn!! i didn't think he'd be tall enough!! but damn, he was... & i asked about 47 times are you sure you want to get on it... hoping he'd say no (told you i was a wuss!!) it was over quickly... not sure what happened i had my eye shut the whole way!!
jungle cruise ~ unbelievably long zig zag queue... basically a safari boat ride & with the captain doing bad stand up comedy. what was making me chuckle though was mike found these mega cheesy jokes & one liners hilarious!! he was laughing out loud at every single one!! i began to think maybe he'd had too much sun!!
don't miss part 2! ~ epcot & the interesting journey home!
here's jerusha's number in case you get the disney itch too!!
1-800-436-4222 ext 60278
