Kissimmee, Disney and Old Town, wow did we have fun!

[Mumketeer]

Hi Canucks! Oh boy did we ever have a great week. It was a really fun vacation. Had laundry to do when we got home and now I can catch you up on our wonderful trip!
First of all, let me get this out of the way....I will never fly out at 6:20 am for a trip again as it causes serious fatigue your first day. Other than that the flight was totally fine.
We got to MCO at 9:30 am and picked up our car at Alamo, really simple and easy to do and when you get there you have a row of cars to choose from. (I know to a lot of you this is old news but for me it was all brand new, so it might be for others too.) We picked a Nissan Versa over a Toyota Corolla as it was a better colour for us to find at night. We were offered a fill up price for our car which we declined because our hotel was right beside a 7-11 gas station. We called hotel to see if we could check in early, but we could not, sort of disappointing.
So off to our hotel OOOps, got lost as we missed exit......Okay got unlost and on our way. We were staying at the Royale Parc Suites in Old Town and Old Town is a wonderful landmark and easy to see from many directions. But, as we could not check in early we went to Disney Springs.

Disney Springs is well signed from where we were staying and we got there very easily. We Parked in the Orange Garage and changed into sandals rolled up our pants and took off our warmer outer shirts and swapped them for something more tropical. So now that we were more appropriately dressed we went to pick up our tickets at the guest services. At guest services they take your name and call you when there is a representative, the waiting area is very nice comfortable chairs inside or rocking chairs outside. We looked over a map and found out where our chosen lunch location was.......

The adventure continues.....

 

[starvenger]

First of all, let me get this out of the way....I will never fly out at 6:20 am for a trip again as it causes serious fatigue your first day.

Completely with you. Flight day is usually a lost day for us as far as doing anything besides chilling out goes.

We got to MCO at 9:30 am and picked up our car at Alamo, really simple and easy to do and when you get there you have a row of cars to choose from. (I know to a lot of you this is old news but for me it was all brand new, so it might be for others too.) We picked a Nissan Versa over a Toyota Corolla as it was a better colour for us to find at night. We were offered a fill up price for our car which we declined because our hotel was right beside a 7-11 gas station.

That's the nice thing about National/Alamo - you can pick a car so you don't end up with a dodgy one. I'm still partial to Budget since I have FastPass and I pretty much just pick up the contract and go. Which if it's, say, 11:30pm PDT in San Francisco, is kind of nice.

So off to our hotel OOOps, got lost as we missed exit......Okay got unlost and on our way.

I almost ALWAYS do this. Even with a GPS to guide me.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Sue M]

We always get the 6:00am flight. Being on the west coast the best we can get into MCO is 5:00ish. Maybe 4:30 depending. So at least we have the evening there.
Never explored Old Town. How much time does it take to get there from WDW? We stay onsite but sounds like it may be a fun place to visit?

 

[Mumketeer]

We always get the 6:00am flight. Being on the west coast the best we can get into MCO is 5:00ish. Maybe 4:30 depending. So at least we have the evening there.
Never explored Old Town. How much time does it take to get there from WDW? We stay onsite but sounds like it may be a fun place to visit?

I am sorry this has taken so long for me to get back to. Long story nothing to do with our trip.

 

[Mumketeer]

First off, let me tell you staying in Kissimmee was a blast! Maybe not if you have little kids but as adults it was great fun. It is very close to Disney World and those lovely lit up ride towers are a great way to find your way back or at least reassure you that you are going the right way. We stayed at the Royale Park Inn and Suites and it was really pretty good. Actually, it was a very fun stay. We checked in at 4pm. Our room was a suite it was really nice and clean and spacious, we changed and then drove to publix to fill up our little fridge and be back for happy hour! Free beer or wine from 5pm to 6pm. So we did that and then we went back to our room ate our salads from Publix had long showers clicked into the free wifi and checked our MDE as we would be going to Epcot next day. Planned what time we would have breakfast and what time we would get on the shuttle. Had one of the Honey and Orange beers that we bought and then thought we could get some sleep.
Nope, that did not happen......
Some minor problems, like our first nite there was some yahoo running around yelling in the parking lot next to our hotel. And then worse, he seemed to come up to our floor and continued to yell and carry on. He sounded British and in his cups. At one point, we were worried he was in the room next to us, but the corridors are outside and I think he may have been near our door. Somebody, I believe security came and fixed the matter. We don't know because we went to our bedroom which is at the back of the suite and hoped it would not include guns, we were very scared. At least the bedroom view had a view of Old Town and all the brightly lit up rides.
So by this point I had not had any sleep in about 40 hours so we crashed and hit snooze a few times the next day.

 

[Mumketeer]

So after a later nite than I had planned on we got up and went down to the breakfast at the hotel. What a great spread they put out! There were so many things to choose from:
All kinds of pastries, Juices, teas coffees, instant oatmeal and grits to start
Then the hot foods two types of eggs, a serving of bacon, sausage or ham which changed daily,
pancakes or waffles or biscuits which changed daily
fresh fruit, yogourt, cold cereals, bagels, toast
It was much more than a continental breakfast.
We ate very well that morning. Back to our room to get finished getting ready as we had a shuttle to Epcot to catch and fastpasses waiting for us! Oh the excitement that first day just waiting for you.

 

[Mumketeer]

We waited in the lobby for our 9:45 shuttle it was a few minutes late. I was able to get the last seat, which meant DD had to stand. Our first park day was Epcot and we had a Fastpass for Spaceship Earth. The shuttle from the hotel drops you off at almost the same place as the value resorts.

Our first FP was for Spaceship Earth as it is always our first ride. I love the mural at the beginning. Made our best silly smiles for our future selves. You will see yourself at the end so make it a good one. Spotted repurposed presidents and listened to the soothing voice of Dame Judy Dench. Oh, our future selves were hilarious!

Next up we rode the Seas with Nemo on standby because it was about a 10 min. standby and then went to the aquarium where we saw the manatees, sharks, stingrays, sea turtles and the wonderful dolphin and trainer. Of course we also saw all kinds of fish and a hidden Mickey.

Then we made our way to The Land so we could go to our next FP for Soarin, we were at the top in the middle it was great! The mosaic going in is so beautiful, take your time and really look at it. Then we went standby for Figment, passing through the floral displays Figment was fun it is kind of old school and a memory jogger, remember the scientists in the Shaggy Dog and the Computer wore tennis shoes, there is a nod to them. We stopped for some samples at club cool and onto Mission Space for our next FP. Took the gentle option this time it was fun but kind boring and immediately got a FP for Test Track. We love that ride it is so much fun to create super vehicles in magenta pink with flowers, and cool wheels Hot Wheels girl!

We watched the Jammitors they were great and we were done everything in Future World. On to the Gran Fiesta, I love the GF and the new displays for Coco were wonderful. I love that pavilion so much. So by this time it was around 2 pm or 3pm and thanks to our big breakfast at the hotel we thought it was time for a snack. Kabuki Ice in Japan, perfect. Rainbow with condensed milk so good. Had a break listened to the drums all good and took in the music and enjoyed the amazing weather, Oh it was such a beautiful day. It was the Flower & Garden Festival so we also saw lot of beautiful topiaries and displays.