sjb95u
sjb95u
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2013
WELCOME ABOARD PRINCESS AND BAYMAX LOVERS ALIKE!
As with many others, I gathered such good information here on the DIS I feel duty-bound to at least report on my trip and give glimpses into positives and negatives.
I'm having such a hard time remembering and focusing on all the wonderful aspects of my trip, it's very easy to get carried away with the "should haves".
(EDIT: The more I write this trip report the more I focus on all the fantastic experiences we had and my "should have" list is becoming more of a memory...)
Our trip consisted of me, my DH and DD (5), my brother, SIL and their DD (5), and my parents. 8 in total. My mother really wanted to take her two grandchildren while the magic was still very real! We booked this first week of June trip back in September and I immediately already felt behind in the planning. However, the planning is at least half the fun for me so the longer I get to do it, the better!
*The grandparents (PapaRich and Gran) with their two 5-year-old granddaughters
PLAN: my extended family arrives in Dallas on Saturday, May 30th and attends my DD's dance recital.
Day 1: Fly out of DFW direct to MCO and try to hit the FOF parade.
Arrival day (Sunday, May 31st): no trouble at either airport, getting around MCO wasn't too difficult after we stopped someone to ask how to get to the tram.
Quickly onto DME, we sat there about 15 minutes before taking off. Our flight landed 12:21pm.
The bus ride to the Contemporary was longer than I'd like, but whose isn't? One of my only issues with staying at CR is that we were always the last to drop off or pick up.
We arrived at CR around 1:40pm. Quickly headed to bell services to get the strollers and ECV we rented (my SIL is 7 months pregnant). Wow, WHAT IS THAT SMELL IN THE LOBBY? I love it!
Received 2 texts while aboard DME that 2 of our 3 rooms was ready but we needed to check in with the front desk about the 3rd room. What? We didn't have time for that upon arrival because we were trying to catch the FOF parade (with FP+) and we only had a few park hours due to the early closing (6pm) that evening.
Upon checking in later, something happened that "unlinked" our bands from one of the rooms and they needed to just link the bands back up.
So I used Touring Plans' fax request service, requesting a specific room on the 11th floor and then requested all 3 rooms be adjoining, connecting or at least close to each other.
Our rooms were on the 8th floor but with an almost identical view as the request. So there's that.
*Note: although only on the 8th floor, we never heard noise from the monorail or Chef Mickey's (we were only other end from CM) but the Electrical Water Pageant on the Seven Seas Lagoon was loud enough to wake the dead. I mean it was LOUD. For that alone I would try staying theme park view or at least the top floor to get away from it.
So we've arrived, gotten our carry-ons checked in with the valet, picked up scooters and ECV then hoof it over to the MK! (monorail would take too long at that point since it goes all the way around before it gets to MK). Wow, we were excited!
Our first PP photographer we met up with was right outside the train station, all 8 family members were wearing coordinating colors so we wanted pictures and we had Memory Maker! Too bad, the PP photographer said her camera wasn't working but did take some pics with my camera. Not the best first impression but we never encountered this problem again.
The FOF was still about 30 minutes away, we had our FP+ for the parade so staked out our spot and BAKED. It was hot, no clouds. Wow. I was so glad my Dad pulled out a couple of small umbrellas from his backpack while we waited.
Parade was beautiful and it was all hunky-dorey until mid-way Captain Hook went by and I had forgotten that my DD was terrified of him on our Disney Cruise in late 2013. She was hot and tired and this sent her over the edge, she was screaming and begged to have her stroller turned the other way. She watched the rest of the parade coming up Main Street without issue. Poor Mickey and Minnie, their hot air balloon float deflated before they got to us and it just looked so pitiful.
After the parade we made our way down Main Street and stopped for a family shot with the castle background (after all, we'd all worn coordinating colors!). Unfortunately, we should have taken the girls out of their strollers and I should have remembered to give DD her sunglasses because we ended up with this lovely photo:
We wandered our way back to Fantasyland where we got on our first ride, IASW. Now, my DD instantly fell in love with "the doll ride".
Next was our FP+ for PPF and it was a lot of fun but I cannot see waiting 75+minutes for it. FP+ all the way! We didn't have a 3rd FP as it was prior to the parade and couldn't reschedule it as the park was closing early that night. The girls both love a carousel so we of course rode the best one of all!
Then a quick picture with Cinderella's carriage.
At that point, it was hot, we were tired and had no FP+, so we meandered back up to the front of the park and walked leisurely back to our new home, the CR.
For dinner we started off the week with an ADR for Chef Mickey's.
I was very apprehensive about this due to all the negative reports here on DIS but we were all pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere and food. I mean, I purposely stopped halfway through the meal to listen for the noise and realized it wasn't very loud at all. All the food stations were clean and the food was fresh and hot.
The macarons and dessert bar were fantastic! Our server was attentive and helpful.
As with many others, I gathered such good information here on the DIS I feel duty-bound to at least report on my trip and give glimpses into positives and negatives.
I'm having such a hard time remembering and focusing on all the wonderful aspects of my trip, it's very easy to get carried away with the "should haves".
(EDIT: The more I write this trip report the more I focus on all the fantastic experiences we had and my "should have" list is becoming more of a memory...)
Our trip consisted of me, my DH and DD (5), my brother, SIL and their DD (5), and my parents. 8 in total. My mother really wanted to take her two grandchildren while the magic was still very real! We booked this first week of June trip back in September and I immediately already felt behind in the planning. However, the planning is at least half the fun for me so the longer I get to do it, the better!
*The grandparents (PapaRich and Gran) with their two 5-year-old granddaughters
PLAN: my extended family arrives in Dallas on Saturday, May 30th and attends my DD's dance recital.
Day 1: Fly out of DFW direct to MCO and try to hit the FOF parade.
Arrival day (Sunday, May 31st): no trouble at either airport, getting around MCO wasn't too difficult after we stopped someone to ask how to get to the tram.
Quickly onto DME, we sat there about 15 minutes before taking off. Our flight landed 12:21pm.
The bus ride to the Contemporary was longer than I'd like, but whose isn't? One of my only issues with staying at CR is that we were always the last to drop off or pick up.
We arrived at CR around 1:40pm. Quickly headed to bell services to get the strollers and ECV we rented (my SIL is 7 months pregnant). Wow, WHAT IS THAT SMELL IN THE LOBBY? I love it!
Received 2 texts while aboard DME that 2 of our 3 rooms was ready but we needed to check in with the front desk about the 3rd room. What? We didn't have time for that upon arrival because we were trying to catch the FOF parade (with FP+) and we only had a few park hours due to the early closing (6pm) that evening.
Upon checking in later, something happened that "unlinked" our bands from one of the rooms and they needed to just link the bands back up.
So I used Touring Plans' fax request service, requesting a specific room on the 11th floor and then requested all 3 rooms be adjoining, connecting or at least close to each other.
Our rooms were on the 8th floor but with an almost identical view as the request. So there's that.
*Note: although only on the 8th floor, we never heard noise from the monorail or Chef Mickey's (we were only other end from CM) but the Electrical Water Pageant on the Seven Seas Lagoon was loud enough to wake the dead. I mean it was LOUD. For that alone I would try staying theme park view or at least the top floor to get away from it.
So we've arrived, gotten our carry-ons checked in with the valet, picked up scooters and ECV then hoof it over to the MK! (monorail would take too long at that point since it goes all the way around before it gets to MK). Wow, we were excited!
Our first PP photographer we met up with was right outside the train station, all 8 family members were wearing coordinating colors so we wanted pictures and we had Memory Maker! Too bad, the PP photographer said her camera wasn't working but did take some pics with my camera. Not the best first impression but we never encountered this problem again.
The FOF was still about 30 minutes away, we had our FP+ for the parade so staked out our spot and BAKED. It was hot, no clouds. Wow. I was so glad my Dad pulled out a couple of small umbrellas from his backpack while we waited.
Parade was beautiful and it was all hunky-dorey until mid-way Captain Hook went by and I had forgotten that my DD was terrified of him on our Disney Cruise in late 2013. She was hot and tired and this sent her over the edge, she was screaming and begged to have her stroller turned the other way. She watched the rest of the parade coming up Main Street without issue. Poor Mickey and Minnie, their hot air balloon float deflated before they got to us and it just looked so pitiful.
After the parade we made our way down Main Street and stopped for a family shot with the castle background (after all, we'd all worn coordinating colors!). Unfortunately, we should have taken the girls out of their strollers and I should have remembered to give DD her sunglasses because we ended up with this lovely photo:
We wandered our way back to Fantasyland where we got on our first ride, IASW. Now, my DD instantly fell in love with "the doll ride".
Next was our FP+ for PPF and it was a lot of fun but I cannot see waiting 75+minutes for it. FP+ all the way! We didn't have a 3rd FP as it was prior to the parade and couldn't reschedule it as the park was closing early that night. The girls both love a carousel so we of course rode the best one of all!
Then a quick picture with Cinderella's carriage.
At that point, it was hot, we were tired and had no FP+, so we meandered back up to the front of the park and walked leisurely back to our new home, the CR.
For dinner we started off the week with an ADR for Chef Mickey's.
I was very apprehensive about this due to all the negative reports here on DIS but we were all pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere and food. I mean, I purposely stopped halfway through the meal to listen for the noise and realized it wasn't very loud at all. All the food stations were clean and the food was fresh and hot.
The macarons and dessert bar were fantastic! Our server was attentive and helpful.
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