By Tim Larison
(Before we even dreamed of having our own travel agency Anne and I
loved taking Andrew and Josh to Disney World every year. This
report is one I wrote back in 1998 - we still smile when we read of
the boys adventures on this first trip. I hope you enjoy it, too
- Tim)
Cast of Characters:
Tim (Dad)
Anne (Mom)
Phyllis (Aunt - Tim's sister)
Andrew and Josh - 4 year old twin boys
Dates of trip:
Monday, October 5, 1998 - ' 'Monday, October 12, 1998'
Summary:
This trip report details our first Disney World adventure with our two
four year old twin boys (Andrew and Josh). Dad had been to Disney World
seven times before, Mom three times before, and Aunt Phyllis once before,
but this was our first chance to experience Disney World through the
eyes of a child.
Monday October 5th and Tuesday October 6th
We planned to leave early Monday to take the boys on their first ever
plane flight and first trip to Disney World. The flight was to leave
early ('8 am), so we left the house at 5 am to allow plenty of time
to get to the airport.
The boys were very curious about plane travel. "Will we see God when
we fly in the sky?" asked Josh. "Is Disney World in the sky?" asked
Andrew.
We arrived at the airport and got a shock when checking in our bags
- the flight was delayed from '8 am until 1:30 pm (or so we thought)!
It was 6 am when we checked our bags, so we had lots of time to kill
at the airport. We decided to have breakfast at the airport Burger King.
Half way through breakfast Josh asks, "When do we land?" After informing
Josh that we weren't in the air yet, but grounded at Burger King, he
was disappointed but still anxious to get to Disney World. We decided
to go through security and watch the planes - getting comfortable for
the long 6 1/2 hour wait until our plane was to leave.
Josh and Andrew watched several planes roll up to unload passengers.
"Where are the plane's shooters?" asked Andrew. The only planes Andrew
had seen were from Star Wars, so I guess he expected each plane to be
similarly equipped to Luke's X Wing fighter. We informed Andrew that
passenger planes do not have laser cannons mounted on the front.
Around 11 am we got another disappointment - the plane was rescheduled
to leave at 3:45 PM and wouldn't get into Orlando until 9 PM! So much
for our planned character dinner at Gulliver's Grille at 6 PM Orlando
time.
We decided to head home. It was tough to explain to the boys why we
were going home again when we got them up so early to catch the early
flight to Disney World.
It was back to the airport later that afternoon, and our plane finally
left Denver 8 hours after originally scheduled (around 4 PM). We arrived
in Orlando around 10 PM Monday evening. Our luck started to turn at
the Alamo Rental Car terminal - we had reserved a compact, but Phyllis
had a free Alamo upgrade coupon she had cut out of the Mobil Travel
Guide. The Alamo agent not only gave us an upgrade from a compact, but
a free upgrade to a minivan. This was great, as with 5 people a compact
would have been a tight squeeze.
The twins immediately liked our new vehicle for a week. They heard us
talking about the minivan, but something got lost in the translation
and they starting calling it our "moving van". To Dad, used to driving
a compact at home, it was like driving a moving van. The extra space
was worth it.
We arrived at the motel after midnight, got a good night's rest, and
headed out to the n"= Magic around 10:30 am on Tuesday morning. We took
the train to Mickey's Toon Town. After months of trip planning Dad was
anxious to hear what the twins first impression of Disney World would
be. "What do you think of Disney World, Josh?" Dad asked. "Can we go
back to the motel and take a nap?" Josh replied. This coming from a
kid who hates to take naps at home. The long day of travel the day before
must have worn him out. Andrew had a more thoughtful reply. We told
him that Disney World was "really, really big". Andrew, our little theologian,
was impressed but said, "God is bigger than Disney World".
Soon Josh warmed up to Disney World as well as his brother Andrew. Mickey's
Toon Town was swamped with people, so we didn't get to see Mickey or
Minnie. Dad had set up a priority seating at Cinderella's Table months
early, and the advanced planning started to pay off. We arrived at the
Castle around 11:25 am, were escorted into the waiting area, and the
twins got almost a private audience with Cinderella, Prince Charming,
and the Fairy God Mother. Someone had mentioned on the boards that this
was a good place to meet characters in a more private setting, and they
were right. We must have been touched by the magic wand of the Fairy
God Mother, as the rest of our day went very well after our visit to
Cinderella's table.
Lunch was very good. We had an excellent waiter who called the boys
"our handsome princes". He also called Dad "your Majesty" (Dad didn't
mind that). Dad asked Josh what he had said to Cinderella a few minutes
earlier. "I'm not telling you," Josh replied.
After Lunch we went on "It's A Small World" - a perfect ride to go on
if the park is crowded as the lines move quickly. The boys enjoyed the
ride, and were anxious for more. Originally Dad had planned that we
would visit the Magic Kingdom early, stay for lunch, and go back to
the motel to avoid the park's afternoon crowds. Our late arrival prevented
that, so we decided to stay at the park all afternoon. Surprisingly,
the crowds thinned out some after lunch. Many must have had the same
strategy planned as us and went back to their hotel/motels, as the lines
after lunch were much shorter than before lunch.
Andrew was reluctant to go on "Peter Pan's Adventure". "Does it go fast?
Does it go in the sky?" he asked. After being coaxed on the ride by
Aunt Phyllis, Andrew loved it. "I really really really liked that ride,"
he said afterward.
We visited other rides and attractions that afternoon. The Lion King
performance in Land was a favorite, as well as the Speedway in TomorrowLand.
We started to watch the parade at 3 PM, but the crowds had again grown,
so we skipped the last half and went to theTiki Birds and Pirates of
the Caribbean. The Tiki Birds were a hit; Pirates were not. Andrew was
a little afraid to go on the Pirate ride to begin with. As Dad held
him in line, he said, "Dad, will the Pirates get us? Will they shoot
at us?" Dad reassured him that the Pirates would not get him. The dark
plunge at the beginning of the ride scared our little guys, though.
The next morning Josh said, "I liked all the rides except the Pirates.
The skeleton lied. He said 'go straight ahead' but instead we went down!"
We said goodbye to the Pirates and to the Magic Studios for dinner and
to visit a couple of more attractions. We had pizza at the "Pizza Planet"
- the boys enjoyed this place as Toy Story is one of their favorite
movies. The pizza was surprisingly good, too, and a more economical
meal than some of the other choices at the park. After dinner we enjoyed
the Muppet 3 D attraction. "I tried to eat the pie!", said Josh, as
one scene had a pie hovering over the audience.
The last ride of the day was Star Tours. The boys were close to the
minimum 40" height requirement, but Dad knew it was going to be close.
In the months preceding the trip, the boys had talked about going on
Star Tours a lot. We told them at meal times they'd have to eat their
food so they would grow and be tall enough to go on Star Tours. The
moment of truth had arrived. As the cast member put the stick next to
Josh to see if he was tall enough to go on the ride, Josh seemed to
come up a hair or two short. "Close enough", said the cast member. "I
get to go on Star Tours!" Josh shouted. Andrew had a similar experience,
just getting by the minimum height requirement.
The boys loved the Star Tours ride. "It was 'whoa whoa whoa-iee'", said
Andrew, describing the ride as only a four year old could.
After spending several minutes in the Star Wars store (the boys had
never seen so many Star Wars toys at one place), we headed back to the
motel. We had ice cream bars for a snack, and the boys went to bed at
8:30 PM They slept soundly until 7:15 am the next morning, all rested
for another day's adventure.
Wednesday October 7th
We got an early start after a good night's rest - we ate breakfast at
the motel at 7:30 am. After a night's reflection, Andrew wasn't as crazy
about the Star Tours ride as yesterday. He volunteered at breakfast,
"If you go on Star Tours again, I'll just wait outside."
After a filling breakfast at the motel, we headed off at 8:30 am, and
we were able to go on a few rides in the morning. The boys liked the
Spaceship Earth, Journey Into Imagination (surprisingly open after I
had heard it might be closed), Honey I Shrunk The Audience, and Ellen's
Energy Adventure. Andrew was a little nervous at the latter attraction.
In the preshow the announcer said the usual warnings (no smoking, no
yelling, etc). Andrew said, "the man said to be quiet so the dinosaurs
won't notice us."
At lunch we took the boat across the World Showcase Lagoon to the Japan
Pavillion, and the Teppanyaki Dining room. This was one of Dad's favorite
Epcot restaurants, and the family was soon to agree with him. Mom had
a wonderful sirloin and chicken steak combination, while the boys had
"Mickey's Meal Deal" of chicken, vegetables, and ice cream for a bargain
price of $5. Dad had his usual shrimp. The boys got a kick out of watching
the food being prepared right at the table.
Dad had eaten dinner at Teppenyaki a couple of weeks ago on a business
trip. For lunch the food is just as good and just as plentiful, at almost
half the price! And even though we had priority seating, the restaurant
was barely 1/4th full. Mom rated this the best meal she had on the whole
trip.
After lunch we saw Horizons and then Cranium Command at the Wonders
Of Life pavillion. Andrew was starting to get suspicious of all that
goes on at Disney rides. As we sat down to watch Cranium Command he
said, "do these seats move?"
Around 3 PM we headed for the Animal Kingdom. Dad had heard many people
raving about the Lion King Show there, so when we arrived we immediately
got on line for that attraction. What a mistake! The park was still
very crowded, and the day was hot and humid. We waited on line for nearly
45 minutes before they let us into the theater, and another 15 inside.
The show was good, but nothing was worth that wait in the hot sun. The
adults in the party (Mom, Dad, Aunt Phyllis) enjoyed the show more than
the boys - the boys preferred the Lion King puppet show at Magic .
We were so exhausted after waiting for the Lion King show that we decided
to get an early bite to eat for dinner and then head back to the motel.
We went back to Epcot and ate at the Land foodcourt (good food and economical).
After one more attraction (Food Rocks at the Land) we went back to the
motel after a long and fun day of visiting many attractions.
Thursday October 8th
Today we again got an early start - arriving at just a few minutes before
the park opening at 9 am. We parked and took the parking shuttle to
the entrance. Josh saw a picture of a stroller with a slash through
it on the shuttle - meaning do not have open strollers on the shuttle.
Josh thought it meant, "No babies on the shuttle"and said, "Mom, I see
a baby on the shuttle and they aren't supposed to be here!"
We took the Animation Tour first - there were only about 10 people in
our tour and the guide said with smaller groups he is able to show more.
I liked the question and answer time better in a small group - Anne,
myself, and Phyllis all asked questions. As we sat in the theatre to
view the Disney classics at the end of the tour, Andrew again asked,
"Do these seats move?" Andrew had been on too many attractions in recent
days (Star Tours, Honey I Shrunk The Audience, etc) not to be suspicious
every time he has to sit in a theatre.
The animation tour had changed since I last saw it - the new version
has a more personal touch as a Disney animator talks to you and shows
you how several characters are drawn. Very well done.
Next we went on the Great Movie Ride. I have always given this ride
a "B" - a good ride but Disney has done better. Andrew, who loves to
watch movies with fights, especially liked the gun fire scene. Josh,
the realist, said, "Andrew, there was water in those guns."
We ran to the Hunchback Of Notre Dame Show and got to our seats just
as the show started. This was another very good show. The adults liked
it, and Andrew, our little movie lover, liked it alot. Josh, who isn't
into movies as much as Andrew, said "it was very noisy!"
We had a quick bite to eat at the MGM Backlot Express - surprisingly
good hamburgers were to be found there. Dad ate his and half of Josh's.
We went back to the motel for a rest. The boys had an afternoon swim
with Mom while Dad rested back at the room. We were all re-energized
as we entered the Animal Kingdom at 3 PM
We raced to the Safari ride, only to be blocked by the 3 PM Animal Kingdom
parade. We walked behind the parade for a few minutes, but finally gave
up and had some Mickey Ice Cream bars for dessert on a nearby park bench.
I talked to the vendor and asked how she could avoid eating the Mickey
bars when it was hot and humid like today(in the 90's). She said if
they are caught eating a bar they get fired. I wouldn't last long at
that job.
Yesterday we had missed the Safari at the AK, so I was determined to
get the family on this ride this time. After dessert, our path was clear
to the Safari and we walked right on at around 4:15 PM (no wait). The
Safari was again superb. I have been on this ride three times in the
past two weeks now, and I think it is one of the best rides in all of
Disney World. Very creative in how the Imagineers made a jungle in Central
Florida. Every time I have gone on the ride there have been different
animals to see.
After the Safari we took the Exploration Trail (also very good). Then
we went to the "It's Tough To Be A Bug" 3-D show. We didn't think this
3-D attraction was as good as Muppetvision or Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
The boys handled the bugs very well - they weren't scared after we coached
them that it "was just a movie".
We had dinner at the Animal Kingdom Rain Forest Cafe. The food was excellent
and the service was very good. I had heard some bad reports about this
restaurant, but my experiences have been all positive. I had a meat
loaf entree, Anne had pot roast, and Phyllis had pasta. The restaurant
gives you big portions and the service was prompt. We did have a "priority
seating" time - I noticed some people who walked up did have to wait
longer.
During dinner, Anne wanted to take a picture of the boys in the festive
Rain Forest atmosphere. Just as she was ready to snap the picture, Josh
moved his head out of the picture and said "Ha ha, I'm not in your picture!"
I think Josh is getting tired of all the picture taking on the trip
- 4 year olds are just too cute not to photograph at every opportunity.
As we left, Dad bought Andrew and Josh Animal Kingdom toys, with the
instructions not to open them until we got back to the motel. This didn't
stop Josh from working his magic on Mom. "I'll give you a kiss and hug
if you open this, Mom" he said in the van. It didn't work - the package
remained unopened until we got to the motel.
Friday October 9th
We took a break from Disney today and went to a nearby beach - New Smynra
beach about an hour and a half drive from Disney World. The beach was
beautiful and we were able to park right on the beach. Someone on the
internet had recommended this beach as the nicest one within easy driving
distance of Orlando. It wasn't as built up or as crowded as some of
the better known beaches (Daytona, Clearwater, Cocoa) but just as beautiful.
In the evening it was back to Disney activities. We had an excellent
Character Dinner at Gulliver's in the Swan. This one was thanks to Rita
Aero's book. One thing I had heard about this dinner was that the kids
had more time with the characters because it was never very crowded.
We found that to be the case. There were only 6 other families dining
at the restaurant while we were there, so the Lion King characters of
Tim on and Rafiki spent lots of time with our boys during the meal (one
character went table to table about every half hour). The food was great,
and the financial burden was lessened considerably by Rita Aero's $50
coupon found in her book (even with that, though, we still ended up
paying over $50 for the 5 of us).
Andrew and Josh just LOVED the character dinner - this was our first
one of the week and we had two more planned over the weekend. Josh laughed
as Tim on picked imaginary bugs out of his hair. Andrew waved at Rafiki
to come to the table. We picked up a good tip from the Unofficial Guide
to have the kids sit on the outside (next to the aisle) at character
meals - they were more accessable to the characters that way.
After dinner we went to a meeting of some people I had chatted with
on a Disney web site. I had arranged to share a boat with another family
(from
The cruise gave me a different view of Illuminations than I had ever
seen before. While you didn't have a good view of the different countries
in Epcot lighting up, you had a great view of the effects in the middle
of the lake (laser pictures of fish, rhinos, babies, etc) and one of
the best firework views you could hope for. We also had a beautiful
night for the cruise - no rain and perfect 80 degree temperatures.
The adults in our party really enjoyed the cruise and Illuminations.
Andrew and Josh slept through most of it. We carried them back to the
room, sound asleep, as we got back to the motel after 10 PM
Saturday October 10th
We had planned our trip so that we would see all of the four Disney
theme parks in our first three days, and then leave the weekend to revisit
the parks we liked best. Saturday morning the family voted to once again
go to the Disney/ MGM Studios, so off we went to the Studios at 8:30
am.
As we were driving to the park, I heard a voice in the back of our minivan
say, "My car seat is unbuckled. I'm not safe!!" It was Josh. After we
fixed his car seat, we soon arrived at Studios. Surprisingly we were
not let into the park until 9 am (most other Disney parks opened at
8:30 am - 1/2 hour before the stated opening time).
Our goal in this morning visit was to catch some of the shows we had
missed earlier in the week. We first saw the Little Mermaid Show (the
boys loved it), and then we raced to see the Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Show - arriving just before the first performance of the day. Andrew
particularly loved Hunchback (he often acts out scenes from the movie
at home), though we didn't have the best of seats as our view was blocked
somewhat by one of the poles in the theatre. After Hunchback we walked
across the park to see Beauty And The Beast - the adults in our party
seemed to like this show more than the boys.
The day was a hot one, and the boys were tired from staying up late
the night before, so Mom, Dad, and the boys headed back to the motel
after having lunch at the Studios. Phyllis stayed behind and spent the
afternoon at MGM and Epcot.
The morning activities were only a precursor to what we expected to
be the highlight of the day - dinner at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary
followed by another visit to the Magic Kingdom.
We had reservations to Chef Mickey's at the restaurant's 5 PM opening
time - this turned out to be a wise decision as we got an excellent
table (right by the kitchen where the characters came out) and the food
at the buffet was very fresh. Chef Mickey's was totally opposite our
character meal at Gulliver's the night before - it was crowded, loud,
and had lots of characters (as opposed to Gulliver's quiet atmosphere
and two Lion King characters). The boys had a great time. Though the
restaurant was crowded, each character spent some time at our table
(Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and others). The food was surprisingly
good, too. Dad rated the blueberry cheesecake as the best dessert he
had on the whole trip. The main entrees, especially the chicken, were
also well prepared.
After stuffing ourselves at Chef Mickey's and getting our fill of the
characters, we left our minivan at the Contemporary. We planned to attend
Spectromagic later and thought we could get back to our motel quicker
if we just walked from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary rather
than deal with the crowds at the Magic parking lot.
But right after dinner the boys really wanted to ride the monorail,
so rather than walk from the Contemporary to the , we took the monorail,
and then a boat to the .
The was packed with people. We remembered a tip from the Roskos (the
family we went on the boat ride with the night before) to grab a spot
for the Spectromagic parade early by the handicapped section in Liberty
Square . Though the parade route was packed with people all the way
back to Liberty Square, we were able to get a spot right in the front
in about 45 minutes before the parade started. Dad and Phyllis held
the spots as the boys and Mom went on a couple of additional rides.
The parade was one of the highlights of our trip, and well worth the
time it took to battle the crowds to see it. The boys were extremely
close to all of the floats, and even got a little scared when the evil
Ursula almost came right over to them. Dad recognized the Little Mermaid
as the one we had seen in the morning at the Little Mermaid MGM show
- she must get overtime pay for Spectromagic. The setting for the parade
was perfect - an ideal 80 degree night with no wind. We felt fortunate
to see the parade in such great conditions as the Roskos had told us
they waited an hour the week before for the parade in the rain - only
to be disappointed when the parade was cancelled.
After the parade it took us nearly an hour to work our way through the
crowd to the exit - the Magic Kingdom was as crowded as I had ever seen
it. As we walked to the Contemporary we watched the Majic Kingdom fireworks
overhead. We beat the crowds out of the Magic Kingdom area thanks to
the nearby parking space we had at the Contemporary.
The long night of excitement (Chef Mickey's, the parade, and the crowds)
had again tired our little guys out. They slept almost 10 hours and
awoke Sunday morning for their last full day of Disney magic.
Sunday October 11th
After our active night at Chef Mickey's and Spectromagic, we slept in
a little later this morning. We had our usual buffet breakfast at the
motel. The boys were becoming veterans of character meals, so at breakfast
Dad pretended he was a little boy asking the characters (Andrew and
Josh) for their autographs.
Josh took my napkin and started writing on it. Dad figured he was writing
his name (he had learned how to write his name at preschool), but when
Dad got the napkin back he was surprised to read this: "Pooh." Josh
took his character acting role seriously - and played the role of Pooh!
(even signing Pooh's name).
We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom on our last full day in Disney
World. We arrived around 9:30 am and started in Tomorrowland. Josh wanted
to go on the Astro Orbiter ride - Andrew would have no part of it. A
full week of rides were starting to get to Andrew - he seemed more reluctant
to go on the rides today. While Josh and Mom rode the Astro Orbiter,
Phyllis and Dad thought they'd take Andrew into a relatively tame attraction
- TheTimeKeeper. We had to drag Andrew into the theatre! He was screaming
that he didn't want to go - but we told him it wasn't scary. Finally,
he agreed to give it a try. He sat attentively during the TimeKeeper
presentation and as we were walking out he said, "I really liked that
- let's do it again!".
Josh, in the mean time, was having a great time on the Astro Orbiters.
Mom reports that Josh immediately took the controls and put his "spaceship"
at its highest position. Mom says Josh was laughing as the Astro Orbiter
spun around high over the Magic Kingdom with Mom in the rear. Who says
twins are alike? Andrew would have freaked out on that ride, but Josh
loved it.
We rode some other rides in Tomorrowland - including another turn at
the boys favorite ride (the Speedway, Transit Authority (tame enough
for Andrew), and Buzz LightYear's Space Ranger ride. The family we had
taken the boat ride with on Friday night had tipped us off that the
Buzz ride was open, so we thought we'd give it a try. We found the Buzz
ride enjoyable but that it needed some work. It is a ride and "shoot-em"
type of attraction where you try to hit targets on the walls with two
laser guns mounted on your ride vehicle. Dad, Josh, Andrew, and Phyllis
manned the laser guns in two different vehicles. Dad figured the game
out - the others didn't. Final score:
Dad 52,000, Andrew 0, Josh 0, Phyllis 0.
After a fun morning in Tomorrowland we rode the Skyway to FantasyLand.
Andrew had calmed down enough by now to go on the sky ride - he was
ok with the height as long as he was near his Mom. As we entered the
ride we saw signs that said, "no strollers!", but we were able to fold
up our umbrella strollers and take them with us on the ride.
Upon arrival in Fantasyland, we had lunch at the Pinocchio Village Haus.
This was surprisingly good for a fast food place, and a welcome place
to cool off from the 90 degree heat. Mom had a turkey wrap sandwich
that she said was better than one she had eaten at Wendys. The rest
of us had yummy hamburgers.
After lunch we took the boys on a few more rides in fantasy land (Snow
White, Small World, Peter Pan). The heat was getting to the little guys,
though, so around 3 PM we headed off towards Epcot.
But first we promised each boy he could buy a toy before we left Disney
World. We looked all around Main Street and Andrew finally settled on
a Peter Pan toy figure set. Josh couldn't find anything he liked. We
told Josh we'd look for his toy at Epcot.
As we drove to Epcot, Dad thought he would park in the Dolphin parking
lot - we had dinner reservations at Juan Onlys in a few hours. We started
walking through the Dolphin when Dad was seduced by a sportsbar with
NFL football games on! The boys were tired, so we all relaxed at the
sports bar for about half an hour. Then Phyllis, Mom, and the boys decided
to go shopping for Josh's toy, while Dad stayed behind and watched his
beloved Broncos in the sportsbar. The shopping expedition eventually
hit paydirt at a gift shop in the Swan - Josh happily selected a bucket
full of Toy Story soldiers for his going away toy.
We never did make it to Epcot that day, as we were all tired from the
Florida heat and the long week of activities. At 6 PM we ate at Juan
Onlys in the Dolphin. This was another restaurant where we used the
Rita Aero coupon - it was a great deal! For the 5 of us dinner came
to $9 (before tip). The entrees at Juans were cheaper than those at
Gulliver's so the $50 coupon almost paid for the whole meal.
We had a table near the kitchen. As Dad was chomping down on a chip,
he almost spit it out when a waiter surprised him coming out of the
kitchen yelling "FAJITAS!". Turns out this is a tradition in this restaurant
- whenever they bring Fajitas out, they announce it to the whole restaurant
in booming voices. Dad decided on his next visit he'd quietly order
a burrito.
The food was good at Juans - we enjoyed it though were interrupted by
the FAJITAS!!! call several times. After dinner we headed back to the
motel to pack.
Monday October 12th
Going home today, but first we had a character breakfast at Artist's
Point in the Wilderness Lodge. We checked out of the motel at 7:30 am
and arrived at Wilderness Lodge at '8 am. Josh and Andrew were anxious
to get back to the character meals after their experience at "Juan Onlys"
in the Dolphin the night before. "I didn't like that restaurant," Josh
said, "Too much yelling." (no doubt in reference to the waiter's FAJITAS
calls out of the kitchen). Andrew added, "they used outside voices when
they should have used inside voices!".
The Artist's Point character breakfast was better than expected - a
perfect send off meal to end our trip. It's kind of like a buffet -
but you don't go up and get your own food. Instead they bring you a
plate of food with different breakfast specialties on it. Dad especially
liked the breakfast potatoes (different than any other breakfast potatoes
he had eaten previously). The scrambled eggs and muffins were all very
fresh and yummy. The boys enjoyed the "Winnie the Pooh" characters,
and even Dad was surprised when Tigger snuck up behind him and tapped
him on the shoulder.
We had been eating a buffet at our off site motel for breakfast each
morning - the Artist Pointe breakfast was definitely an upgrade and
one of the best meals we had on our trip.
After breakfast we walked around the Wilderness Lodge grounds for around
45 minutes. It was a beautiful place and somewhere we may try to stay
on our next trip. We were looking in one of the gift stores when Dad
suddenly felt a little tug on his pant leg. It was Josh. "Dad, I want
to show you something," Josh said. Josh then led Dad to a sticker book
with all of the Disney characters. Though we had already bought the
boys their going away toys for the trip, Dad couldn't resist and bought
Andrew and Josh each a set of Disney stickers. This decision would pay
off later as the sticker books were perfect baby sitters on the long
plane ride home.
We left for the airport around 10:30 am. This time everything went smoothly
- rental car check in, flight check in, and flight departure were all
on time. We landed in Denver at 4 PM
, sad that the trip was over but with a week full of Disney memories.
Overall, while our trip had some disappointments, it was a great trip
and all that we had hoped for. We got a special "package" deal that
included air, motel, and rental car. The motel, the Ramada Main Gate,
proved to be less than desirable. It was close to the parks, but the
air conditioner in our room leaked all week and by weeks end the hotel
staff had completely shut the air conditioner off (failing to fix it
after we called mid week). The Ramada was an older motel, and its age
showed. Next time we'll spend some more and stay on site, or stay at
a better place off site.
We had some great meals on this trip - the best eating that I can remember
in my seven trips to Disney World. We rated our top meals as (1) Teppenyaki
in the Japan Pavillion (2) Gulliver's Grille at the Swan and (3) our
final meal, the Artist Pointe character breakfast. We had some other
very good meals, too (like at Rainforest Cafe in the Animal Kingdom).
We decided to tour the parks at a leisurely pace. We got away from that
strategy the first couple of days (due in part to our later than expected
arrival) and the boys tired quickly. On the other days, though, we took
a mid day break back at the motel and that seemed to help the boys energy
level tremendously (not to mention Mom and Dad's). We knew we weren't
going to see everything on this trip, and we didn't, but we saw the
attractions we thought the boys would like best. To see their faces
light up at the character meals when meeting their favorite characters
was worth the cost of the trip alone.
In the days after the trip Mom and Dad had a tough time readjusting
to the normal work routine, while the boys went back to preschool without
missing a beat. Our boys know now that Disney World is a very special
place, and when we plan our next trip in a couple of years or so, we
are sure they will be very excited to return after all the wonderful
experiences they had this trip.
Tim Larison