Walt Disney World Last day...

The last day is always the hardest. We have had such a great time, memories for years to come, rides, thrills, laughter, 14 days away from home and we still would love to stay longer. But its time to say good-bye.  Today we spent about 4 hours in the Magic Kingdom in the morning, making sure to take one last ride on Big Thunder, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. We then ventured around Downtown Disney for few hours before heading off to the airport and the rain of Seattle.  

You go from such a high being inside what they call “the disney bubble” and then reality sets in as you hit the airport and realize that it will be some time before you come back to a place like this again. Actually its less complicated then that, you just know what’s waiting for you when you get home; school for the girls and work for Elaine and I, with our next vacation 12 months away.

I realized as we where getting our stuff ready to leave last night, why I like it here (or places like it) so such. I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer, believing that dreams can come true and this place goes all out to prove the point. However ‘real’ life it’s not always so, yet when you are here it seems like all is possible again.  I relax (maybe that is just the fact I need to actually take a vacation more often...hmm?), the family unwinds, we smile, laugh, play, life is not so hard.  It’s an adventure, yet relaxing enough to feel refreshed.  

Of the memories, eating meals together EVERY day, for the first time in years meant it was worth every penny to take this vacation. We talked and shared, listened to each others stories and reflections, laughed and enjoyed each others thoughts and musings.  More than all the rides these were the best times for Elaine and I (and I think the girls as well, although they may not admitted it).

We will also remember how big this place is!! It’s HUGE! Really!  48 miles of park (at least that what one cast member told us). And there is something for everyone here to enjoy and do (or not do).  You want beaches WDW has it. You want to visit different countries, you’ll find them here.  You want adventure and thrill, you’ll find it in WDW.  You want to find a quite place to sit and relax, believe it out not, they have masses of quite spaces to take in.

We WILL COME BACK here again!

Till our next trip, good-bye and take a vacation with your family, you’ll never regret it!

=8-)

Pop Century the Last day...

Well its our last full day here at the Pop Century and we are lazying around the pool and relaxing in the incredible Florida Sun!  The last few days have been less hectic as we have slowed things down a bit and relaxed around the water parks and the pool.  Sunday we slept in and then went to Blizzard Beach for the afternoon.  Nice relaxing place, lots of slides and a great family tube ride. Afterwards we took the kids to Downtown Disney west side, had dinner at Wolf Gang Pucks ($149.10 US...Thanks Disney for the free dinner!!) and spent some time at Disney Quest (interactive and standard arcade games).  Today, we are off to Planet Hollywood for Dinner and maybe a movie tonight or back to Disney Quest for more fun.  The next few days we will be back to the rat race as we park hop about WDW and re-ride all our favorite rides and catch some of our favorite shows.  

 As always till next time...HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

=8-)

Half Way Point

Well 1 week is over and 1 more is about to begin. We are at the half way mark of trip and we are already planning for the next trip back.  The place is amazing and the people have been great.  Here are some highlights of the trip:

 1. Magical Moments & Year of a Million Dreams. This is the current promotion for Disney World Wide and includes all sorts of surprises.  The girls have gotten into pin trading and the day they got their first set of pins, the where given a Million dreams pin from Magic Kingdom. 1 of only 200 or so to be given away during the next year. Magical Moment #1 for the girls.

 2. Roller Coaster Mania.  Except for the Rock-in-Roller coaster in MGM. They have attacked all the other coasters multiple times and can often be heard in line for the shows saying, “when are we going to ride...(you name the coaster). 

 3. Bus Rides.  WDW is estimated at 47.6 sq miles. ENORMOUS.  So while the bus ride between parks and resort is free and except for one day, which took over 1 hour to get from point A to B, we just did not envision how long it takes to get from one part of WDW to another (usually 10-15 min from our resort).  

 4. Food.  The Dinning Plan just has TO MUCH FOOD. We can’t believe people eat they way they do down here. EVERY DAY.  So while its save money for those families that like eat like Kings and Queens every day, I’m not sure we will sign up for it next time, unless of course its free again. 8-)

 5. Magical Moment #2.  The cast members (employees) randomly pick activities to do with kids and families throughout the day. Emily’s was colouring a picture in clothing shop where we bought her Tinkerbell Hat you see in all the pictures. For this they gave her a certificate to remember spending time with the two very nice ‘grandma’s’ who where running the shop that day.

 6. Family Survey #1: Favorite Parks in order; #1 Magical Kingdom, #2 Animal Kingdom, #3 Epcot, #4 MGM Studios.

 7. Family Survey #2: Favorite Things to do in WDW: #1 Roller Coasters in the Parks, #2 Swimming (anywhere the girls can find a pool and water will do), #3 Shows in the Parks (favorite is Beauty and the Beast in MGM), #4 Any another thrill ride in the park (it just can’t go upside down, or drop 10 stories down)

 8. Family Survey #3: Least Favorite Things to do in WDW: #1 Bus rides, #2 Most of the shows (the girls only, Mom and Dad like most them), #3 Pirates of the Caribbean (Sarah only, she finds it to scary), #4 Living with the Land Boat Ride (Emily Only, boring educational ride was her comment). 

 Well, thats all for now.  Till next time, as they say around here, HAVE A MAGICAL DAY. 

 =8-)

Day 2 & 3

Well the last few days have been a whirlwind of wake-ups, rushing off to the parks, walking through the parks, eating (and eating and more eating still..I will explain later), getting back to the resort, taking a swim before bedtime and then hopefully catching some sleep before the next day begins.  Yesterday we visited DISNEY MGM. Elaine and I loved it but the girls thought it was just oka (no rides like at Magic Kingdom).  We checked out a great stage show called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, this was weeelll done!  MUPPETS IN 4D was also excellent and we will take that in again before we leave.  We also stayed for FANTASMIC and its was good (it had a great ending) although a little dark (themed that is) at times. Today we ventured over to ANIMAL KINGDOM with much better success for the girls.  We rode the KILIMANJARO SAFARIS, KALI RIVER RAPIDS (what a blast), PRIMEVAL WHIRL & EXPEDITION EVEREST (TWICE!!!!!!!).  There was also a great 4D movie called ITS TOUGH TO BE A BUG (not to be missed) and FESTIVAL OF THE LION KING (another great stage show). As for the eating...the free dinning plan can be summed up in one word...”immense”.  There is just so much food that we have had to cut down to sharing our lunch credits (we will end up not using them all) as the portions are just to big to finish for one person. Well time to go to bed earlier tonight and gear up for the next few days.  Until next time, Have a Magical Day!

=8-)

We Made It!

Well we are made it. DISNEY WORLD!  Man this place is big, bigger then I remember it when Bruce and Iwhere here last year.  We are staying at the Pop Century Resort because our original resort had shut down one of the main pools..not good for water girls like ours.  The resort is HUGE and classic Disney themed all over.  Everything went off with out a hitch. The flights went well (Emily got scared for the first 10mins before we took off and then settled down once we were in the air).  Disney Magical Express was waiting for us and other families when we got off the plane.  Check-in was a breeze (although a little understaffed when we arrived at 11pm!).  Our initial room was way off to the side, so they moved us to a much better location the next day. We visited the Magic Kingdom Today and wow...the place is big, especially when you are trying to maneuver a whole family about. The girls took on SPACE MOUNTAIN, BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN & PRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN as well as an assortment of other rides, later this week we will pick up where we left off. Before leaving the park for the day we also had diner with WINNIE THE POOH AND FRIENDS (see the pics below) and watched the SPECTRO MAGIC PARADE and WISHES FIREWORKS (these were fantastic!). Bedtime has been rather late around here these past few days so I will sign off for now. Till our next entry...Have a Magical Day! 

=8-)

We Are On Our Way

Well the day has finally come, we are siting in the Seattle airport waiting for our flight to begin.  Walt Disney World here we come!  Since we are going to board soon here is a quick story. On our way through the border they ask you who you are, where your going etc.  As they are looking at Elaine’s passport the guard notices that she has not signed her passport, which makes it in valid until she does so...UGH #1. Nice man, lets us through but tells us that she needs to sign it ASAP!  Next he asks if we have any meat, fruit, citrus to which we say NO. He waves us through and off we go to Seattle.  Well as we are driving along the I5 highway, the girls get hungry and ask if we have anything to eat. Elaine, being a well prepared Mom, says yes and proceeds to get the girls a snack from her purse along with the PLUM she was carrying the whole time through the border...UGH #2. Oh well, we made it through, had a great sleep at the Red Lion last night and are now about to take the girls on their 1st ever plane ride.  UP, UP and AWAY WE GO! 

=8-)

Saratoga Springs Resort

Let the 2 month countdown begin! We are now down to 55 days till we start our WDW vacation.  Todays post updates our final 5 days of travel in WDW as we upscale our trip and stay at Disney’s newest Vacation Club resort, the Saratoga Springs Resort. A few more times of web surfing and viola, our last nights will be spent with a little more elbow room in a studio villa with a small kitchenette (which comes right when we end our free dinning plan, perfect timing!), spa, great pool and 10 - 15 min walk to Downtown Disney.  There is even a ferry boat that will take us to three other resort or Downtown Disney as well.  All in all a great way to end the vacation, especially when its costing us $100.00 more than staying the last 5 days at the All Star Movies value resort. Viva La Internet!!!

=8-)

*Room Pictures copyright Deb Willis @ All Ears Net

Disney's All Star Movies Resort

 

With 75 days to go the anticipation is slowly beginning to build again after the lull had set in from planning and booking the trip and then having to wait for it come about.  I thought I would post a taste of where we will be staying for the first 10 nights.  The Disney All Star Movies Resort is one of three All Star theme resorts, and the newest.  It’s built around Disney movies and is one the value resorts that has made this trip a real steal.  The rooms are not big but since most of the time we will be in the parks it will work.  There is a large cafeteria style restaurant area with a variety of foods styles and two very large pools to cool down in when the temperature rises.  In the end its all we need for the first part of the trip.

=8-)

Great Sites for WDW Info

Just thought I would post a quick blog. Not much has been happening on the trip planning front as we now find ourselves that in-between, planing and the actual trip, period.  So until something dramatic happens, I thought I would post of list of the most helpful sites we found when planning our trip and just some fun WDW sites as well. 

=8-)

Walt Disney World http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/; where all the magic begins

MouseSavers.com - http://www.mousesavers.com; contains all the specials and deals you could want. a must for doing Disney on a reasonable budget.

All Ears Net  - http://allearsnet.com/; great site for resort and restaurant information (all the menus and prices are listed on line)

Intercot - http://www.intercot.com/; another great site for WDW/resort info.

A Complete guide to Walt Disney World - http://www.guide2wdw.com/; excellent pocket guide for WDW

Disney Information Station (or DIS for short) - http://www.wdwinfo.com/index.htm; great site for news, information and discussion boards.

WDW Magic - http://www.wdwmagic.com/; new, information and has loads of videos

Mouse Planet - www.mouseplanet.com; WDW news, rumors, park information from expert sources and reporters.

The Meandering Mouse - www.meanderingmouse.com; This is a must listen podcast especially with headphones. The audio is unmatched for disney location podcasts. Note: MUST wear HEADPHONES for the best effect. 

WDW Today - www.wdwtoday.com; This is a great podcast full of information about WDW. Short, to the point, filled humour, and great advice from experts, this is a must listen too before venturing in Walt Disney World.

WDW Part 3: Free Dining!

Here’s the deal, a couple of weeks ago we found out that Disney is giving away free Dining Plans during the late summer/early fall. First problem, is that our travel dates are a day and half after the special ends, but with WDW costing what it does, we weren't going to give up without a fight.  Second problem, convincing Disney Customer Service to let us add it to our trip. So after about 3 1/2 hours of phone calls clarifying what the special was, when it was good for, how we could and could not take advantage of the deal, we finally spoke to a very good CM (Disney calls its employees at WDW Cast Members, or CM for Short).  After a few minutes of explanation that the dinning would save us roughly $1500.00 (the days were going to spend our trip is Disney) and that there had to be some way to adding it to our trip, the CM went to work and re-arranged our trip to include the dinning for most of the stay (its no good to us if we go to Universal).   So now we don’t have to worry about dinning while is WDW. 

Now if I can just figure out how to get into Universal for next to nothing our plans will be complete.
 =8-)

WDW Part 2: Time to Book!

So what do you know its March, and Sarah keeps reminded me for the umpteenth time this past weekend that I PROMISED that we where all going to Disney World this year. So somewhere between the harassment by my daughter and Elaine’s need to have ALL her vacation time sent into work for approval before the middle of March, I realize that I had better gets this trip started. 

First thing, budget, being that we don’t have $8-10,000.00 to spend on a trip (remember this is what we initially found 14 days in Disney World would cost) we opted for the 7 day tour of Disney World. Off I go looking for flights, hotels, park tickets etc.  and I begin to find that the trip can be done for allot less, I mean allot less then what we first thought.   By the time we were done, we had dropped the cost of a 14 day excursion so low, that it allowed us to plan our first EVER 2 week vacation.  Our flights turned out to be much cheeper than we thought and by going the first week of October (which incidentally is the only time I can could leave for holidays this year) we got the best rates of the year in Disney World hotels, which meant no need for car rental as they have there own bus systems for Disney World Hotel guest!

So here’s the deal, as of today we have flights booked round trip from Seattle (we are actually going to visit Seattle for a day or two) for $270.00 each CND Total Cost. We decided that the room would not be occupied enough and so we decided to stay at a Disney value resort (remember the free transport all over Disney World for resort guest only).  Once the Disney Park Hopper tickets where added we actually came in under the cost of 7 days to Disneyland in California (verified by the travel agent who tried to book this for us initially).  Man does it pay to scourer the internet, wait for the deals and then pounce!  By the way the flights were booked through expedia.ca and believe it or not the rest was booked through WALT DISNEY WORLD VACATIONS.

So what are we doing later this....”We’re going to Disney World!”
=8-)

You Promised! WDW Part 1

Well here is how this whole trip came about.  Last November while I was on business trip to Orlando, I was able to spend an afternoon at Magic Kingdom and a couple nights wondering around Downtown Disney.  This just peaked my desire to want to take the girls to disney, which Elaine and I had been talking about doing for the last 4 years.  When I came home I brought a number brochures and park maps for the kids and hyped up the family about going to Disney World instead of Disneyland and hopefully going the following year.

After talking non stop about Disney World for a week my troubles began. Elaine was skeptical because here on the west coast, Disney World is often twice the cost of Disneyland in California. Our initial cost outlook for Disney world was between $5000.00 (7 days) - $10,000.00 (14 days).  However, in the midst of all the action, and with our eldest daughter even more skeptical than my wife about this trip happening, I spoke the words that in our house are used sparingly and only when there backed with action...”I promise!”.  As soon as I said it the look on Elaine’s face said it all...’now you’ve gone and done it’!  So, knowing that we really did want to go, but now knowing it was Disney WORLD or bust our quest began to make the trip happen and for a reasonable price.  Because as I said to the girls..”I promise!”
=8-)