Let's Change It Up A Little This Year--A Split Stay/Split Park pre-trip report

[Poohbear77]

Following along! My DD is graduating at the end of May and I feel your pain with all of the college talk. :_(
We are taking a 2 week trip to Disney as a graduation present

You're plans sound great! We are staying at a Windsor Hills condo as well!

 

[Heluvsme]

I LOVE the 2 week Disney trip as a graduation present! Welcome to my TR! Yes, the prospect of her leaving is so sad for me I have found myself escaping into 'vacation land' in my head a LOT lately. Some parents are ready to kick their chickadees out of the roost, but not this mama hen.

We leave in 18 days and most of my planning is done, most of the shopping is done---new shorts, shoes, etc--- so now I've been preoccupying myself with gardening while I wrap up my son's homeschool year. Being that I'm a florist, our greenhouse and nursery at work is SUCH a temptation! I basically work just to spend my paycheck on new flowers, shrubs, and trees. Lol!

My son's birthday is on Saturday and for a couple of his presents we decided on travel items (traveling is his favorite thing!) --- he's getting a new iTouch to replace his old one, and he's finally getting his own luggage! He will be so happy, he's always just shared ours. The rest of his presents are smaller items, but the other one he will really love is the iTunes gift card my daughter got him. New movies and songs for vacation!

Oh, one other exciting thing (at least for me)..... I ordered us 4 Frogg Toggs from Amazon and they arrived last week. The last time we went I bought 4 little cheaply bandana type neck wraps, and surprisingly they did a decent job of keeping us cool. We'd wet them, wring them out, and wrap them around the backs of our necks. The only downside was they got nasty after just a couple days, regardless of how well we rinsed them out. Also, they were on the small side. Now, keep in mind, for previous trips, we would use the misting fans, and we still love those, but lugging them around isn't fun. And, we always go in the heat of summer, plus the occasional Christmas trip. This time we will use the Frogg Toggs, they are bigger and just feel nicer....the quality is much better. I have high hopes for this helping keep the oppressive heat at a tolerable level. Well, that and midday swims

It's a beautiful 73 degrees here today, and I know that Orlando will be stifling hot when we get there in 2 1/2 weeks!!

 

[Heluvsme]

DAY 1 Departure Day

We actually left on Friday, June 6, which also happened to be mine and hubby's 22nd wedding anniversary. We are used to traveling on or around our anniversary.... not only is it the beginning of summer break from school, but it's the most convenient time for him to take off work.

We drove as far as just south of Atlanta today. We like to stay in Warner Robins... it gets us past the Atlanta traffic for the next morning, and it makes the 2nd day of driving shorter. Win/win.

The morning started early with me getting up around 5:30. I always have so much to do the morning we leave because we have a house/dog sitter stay here... therefore there are fresh sheets to put on the bed, bathrooms to be scrubbed down one last time, etc. We got everything done and were gone by 8:00, not bad.

Our first stop, unbelievably, was after the Tennessee border. I don't think, in 22 years of making this drive, we've ever gotten all the way out of Kentucky without stopping at least once. We live in very Northern Kentucky (and prior to this we lived in Louisville), literally just 5 miles or so south of Cincinnati, OH. Anyways, some 3ish hours later we crossed the border into Tennessee and found the first rest stop.

After that it was smooth sailing, well, prior to that actually it was smooth sailing too! The day went well... we stopped at a KFC/Taco Bell right off I-75 that we're familiar with, for lunch. And just a few hours later.... we hit... ATLANTA. Ugh. No offense to the nice people of Atlanta, but I can't stand driving through that city. We hit the traffic around 3:30, and this was a Friday afternoon, and we just sat. And sat. And sat. Finally arriving at Warner Robins around 5:30 or 6:00. We were beat.

We found a Longhorn Steakhouse and everyone had a great meal, except me. I ordered their ribs and they arrived cold. My salad was warm. Just wasn't the best meal, but everyone else loved theirs. The manager and waitress were super nice and tried to make it right, they ended up taking my meal off the bill. We didn't make a stink about it at all, but the waitress noticed I hadn't eaten my salad nor my ribs. Like I said, they were very fair and I did appreciate that.

Now, our hotel there. We were at a Marriott Courtyard... barely 3 years old.... and it was FANTASTIC! It had all the new décor, the beds were super comfy, each bed had 5 pillows on it, we were extremely pleased!! The nicest Courtyard we've stayed in by far!! Plus, it was free with our points we had accumulated over this past year.

(I will add pics soon, hopefully later tonight)

My son loves filming hotels, elevators, etc.... and he was having a ball here! We let him do his filming while we got settled. We really loved the outside courtyard there, it was so relaxing and peaceful.

So the night ended with us vegged out in bed watching something on TV. I don't even know what it was. We weren't really paying attention. I think I was on my iPad, my daughter and my hubby were on their phones, and my son was on his iPad. We were beat, but so looking forward to the next day. Just a quick 6 hour drive and we would be there! Our plan was to go straight to the condo, check in with the guards and get our pass, drop off the luggage to make room in the trunk for groceries, and go to MarketPlace for some groceries. Then, if time allowed, we were going to attempt to go to CityWalk for dinner.

I'll try to get those photos up tonight......

 

[Heluvsme]

Day 2 (another mostly travel day, with a little condo and CityWalk thrown in for good measure!)

So we woke up early this morning, we were pretty excited about reaching Orlando. I stood in the shower way too long... it's a nice shower at the Marriott! Overall, I just can't say enough good things about this hotel. We slept great, the mattresses were fabulous, the pillows were wonderful, and as stated above, I loved the shower!

Anyways, we got on the road no later than 8:30 if memory serves. We drove about an hour or so and stopped at a Burger King for some breakfast. We love BK for breakfast... CINNABON cinnamon rolls!! Oh, and a nice cup of hot tea for me! And since I am the driver on most of our trips, it's always good to keep me happy! And tea does make me happy!!

The drive was fairly smooth, no bad weather, no bad accidents or traffic (now that we were out of Atlanta!)... smooth sailing. We pulled into Windsor Hills literally at 3:55, 5 full minutes before we were technically allowed to check in, great timing!

The condo was just as we remembered. Decorated so nicely, very clean, etc. We quickly unloaded the car and headed over to City Walk. We arrived just before 6:00, and parking rates decrease at 6:00.... so what did we do? Yep, drove out and around, and by the time we circled, it was 6:00 and we scored discounted parking!

Our first stop was Bubba Gump's. We had a great meal!! My husband got the sampler of shrimp (can't remember the name) but he loved it!!! I got the fried chicken dinner and it was just exactly what I wanted! The best part of the entire meal though for me was the strawberry lemonade. Oh my goodness this stuff was great!! Our server was fun, he came by our table with trivia questions about Forrest Gump for us. My DH is really good at this kinda stuff and got almost all his questions... I think the only part that stumped him was who the basketball champs were.... he messed up the school. I can't even remember NOW who he said and who was correct, but he impressed our server.

We walked around a little, did some shopping.... my daughter found a really make up bag shaped like a Macaron, and since she has just about perfected the art of baking Macarons she had to have this. It's cute. After an hour or so of shopping it started raining and we were beat from the day's drive so we headed back to our car and made our way to the Marketplace grocery store near Windsor Hills, where we picked up just a few convenience groceries for the week, including a case of water, doughnuts, juice, etc. I love having the condo, but we don't cook there... we just use the kitchen for quick breakfast items, making tea, etc.

Once we got back "home" we all pretty much hit the hay. The nice thing about the kids having their own rooms is they can each relax--- my son was on his iPad uploading his elevator videos to his YouTube channel, my daughter was on her phone texting with her friends, and hubby and I turned on the TV and watched... I don't even know.... something, until I was fast asleep.

The next day, Sunday, was going to be Epcot day.

I had said I would get some pictures up, but Photobucket either isn't fond of me, or my iPad is finicky about it. I'm trying to figure out my mistake, I'll put some up as soon as I can. I didn't get as many as I'd have liked but I did get some.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Heluvsme]

SUNDAY....EPCOT DAY

I started my day feeling good! I got a good night's sleep. The kind of deep sleep you get when you wake up and aren't sure of where you are or even what day it is. THAT kind of deep sleep! After a long shower and a cup of tea I woke the rest of the family up. I think breakfast for the kiddos was a banana and a pop tart, mine was a square of Entenmann's coffee cake. Vacation splurge in calories!
Sunscreen, loaded backpack, sunglasses, and we were off! And at a good time, too..... 7:45 if I remember correctly.

Hubby and I had talked the night before about adding a 3rd Disney day. As it was we had originally planned 2 Disney days and 2 Universal days. Our 2 Disney days were going to be Epcot and Magic Kingdom, but honestly it was so hard to miss going to Animal Kingdom, so my sweetie told me to go ahead and add a 3rd day for us. The plan was to get to to Epcot a little earlier than planned and head to the ticket booth to purchase the extra day for us. This plan ended up erasing ALL reserved Fast Pass times, but ended up being the best thing that could've happened. I'll explain in a little bit.

So we arrive and park, and sheesh is it hot!! t 8:00 a.m. It was already HOT and humid! Now, we like the heat, but this morning was stifling!

We get through bag check, I drop hubby and kiddos off in line, and I head over to the ticket booth. I got a girl who had just opened up, Maddie. Her name tag said Maddie, University of Kentucky. KENTUCKY!! She was from UK, a mere hour down the road from me! We were so excited to see someone from home we started chit chatting.... Then finally we get to business. She tells me I'm her first guest, on her first day! Awwww!!

So I tell Maddie that we have 4 two-day tickets, and I'd like to add on a 3rd day to each of them. I hand her our 4 credit card-type tickets (since we were off site we didn't have Magic Bands). So she takes them, scans them, and tells me my total is $91.00. ??

"Are you sure? I think it should be closer to $396.00 or around there."
Maddie: "Oh yes, Disney pricing is awesome.... Add a day and save money!"

My brain took in what she said, but after 3 "Are you sure's?" And 3 "Oh yes's!" I hand her my credit card and she charges it, hands me back our 4 tickets, tells me it was so good to see someone from home, wishes me a good day, and I leave her line to go join my family in the main line.

But my brain....my DIS brain....knows this isn't right. I tell hubby what took place. We look at each other and I don 'to want to cause sweet Maddie any trouble on her first day, but I just know this wasn't right. I run back to Maddie's line.

"Maddie, while I love your math, I don't think this is right."

I explain. She listens. I explain some more. Her face falls and she suddenly gets it.

So she takes my tickets back and attempts to add a 3rd day to the other 3 tickets. Something's wrong. She attempts it again. Her face doesn't look so happy anymore. She calls her supervisor, Dave. Dave comes over, I explain it to him, Maddie explains it to him, and he attempts to add a 3rd day to the other 3 tickets. It won't allow him.

He grabs 4 brand new credit card type tickets, and loads them with 3 park days on each.

He gave us the 3 extra days for free.
I told him I'd gladly pay for them, I was prepared to pay for them, and besides, I believe in what fairness and it's only fair to pay for them.
"No no, these 3 days are on Disney, enjoy Animal Kingdom, it's really ok. We messed up the order." There was a little more back and forth, and finally I accept his graciousness, am feeling very lucky and blessed, and they hand me my 4 new credit card type tickets and again, I head back to my family who is still waiting in line, the line that is now starting to move because it is 8:55 a.m. I see them allowing others to go ahead of them while they wait on me.

I relay the whole story. We are all feeling humbled by their generosity and start to feel excited because our first Fast Pass time is at 9:00 a.m.--- Test Track baby!! Yay!! Let's go!!

Wait. Fast passes?

Our FP reservations were all linked to the bar code numbers on the back of our original tickets. The tickets they took from me. The ones they replaced with brand new ones.

Oh no. I literally felt sick. We went from exhilaration to defeat---thinking about not only Epcot's 3 FP's we'd lost, but also Magic Kingdom's 3 FP's. I had gotten on the computer at exactly 30 days out from our trip. I had planned which attractions, park plans, etc.

Ok. We're not entering the park guys, not just yet. I have to go back to Maddie!
The family finds a place to sit to wait on me.

"Maddie!! Oh Maddie. I think all of our FP's are gone. Is there anything you can do?? I had 3 FP's for today, and 3 FP's for Wednesday, our Magic Kingdom day."

She pulls up my MDE account. Nothing is there. It's all wiped out. Gone.

Her poor face. It probably looked like mine. She calls Dave again. Dave checks my MDE account. Nothing.

Not to fear though! Disney can fix this! Dave gave us a yellow slip of paper. This magical yellow slip of paper allowed us 3 free FP's to use on our Epcot day.
Wow!!!

Then he said he would type a note into our account that would explain everything once we got to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. He told me to go to their Guest Services on Wednesday, they would pull up my account, read his note, and issue us another yellow slip of paper, good for 3 FP's to use that day.

Wow!

They made good! I was a tad worried about Wednesday. Would his note be there? Would they honor it? But, I wanted to enjoy today so after a ton of thank you's, I took this magical yellow slip and we headed into the park to enjoy our first free FP, Test Track!

Little did I know what would happen next....

 

[Heluvsme]

DAY 3 Cont'd


Test Track was fantastic!!! This was our first time on it since it's rehab and we all loved it!! It was so much fun "designing" our cars! And the ride... the best!! My hubby actually said it is now his new favorite at any of the Disney parks, with an almost-tie for Expedition Everest.

Soooo, since we had this new "free" Fast Pass, and we had 2 rides left on it with no times limiting our touring, we decided to take a detour and get me some peace of mind.

Guest Services.

A sweet girl, Lindsay, helped us out. I explained to her, in detail (probably too much detail as was evident by the glassy look in her eyes), what took place. I asked her if she could check my MDE account to see if the note for our Magic Kingdom day was indeed there.

So sweet Lindsay took my 4 new credit card type tickets, waved them in front of her iPad thingy, and voila! There was my account.
And there were all of my previous Fast Pass reservations that had been lost.
They ALL were still there!!!

But.... but.... when Dave and Maddie tried to look them up, they weren't there.
What the what??

I was confused. Lindsay was confused.

But, she smiled at me, told me to enjoy the day, all of our original Fast Pass reservations, PLUS the new magical yellow slip of any-time-Fast-Pass-reservations.... and, "Oh wait," she said, "Since you were here talking to me, your Fast Pass for Soarin expired, let me give you a pass for it, good for anytime today."

Now wait a minute. I love their customer service, but this embarrassment of riches was getting to be a bit much. Don't get me wrong, part of me wanted to squeal for joy and jump up and down, but the other side of me was worried that all this good fortune was going to have balance itself with some major bad luck sooner or later.

Let's tally: 2 any-time-Fast-Pass-reservations left on the magical yellow slip of paper. 2 original Fast Pass reservations (it was 3, but we missed our window on Soarin), plus the 1 free any-time Fast-Pass for Soarin courtesy of sweet Lindsay.

A total of 5 Fast Passes left to use today!!! Oh my gosh!!

We thanked her profusely and headed to Spaceship Earth. All the while feeling grateful and impressed by Disney's customer service. All that I had read about the new FP+ system and had worked myself up in a tizzy over---well, it almost happened, but then it turned out to be fantastic!!

Spaceship Earth, well.... it was Spaceship Earth. Not our favorite, not even one we do every time we visit, but we figured hey, why not! We did not use a FP on this because the line moves quickly and it wasn't that long anyways. I think we waited about 10 minutes.

After SE, we headed over to Sunshine Seasons for lunch.... $60 worth of Food Court style food. Ugh. I mean, it was OK, but it was counter service, food court food. We always eat here it seems like, so we knew what we were getting. I got their Chinese food and it was decent. My hubby got a Stromboli, and the kiddos got .... something, can't recall. We sat here and rested after we ate just because we could! We were not running for our next FP time.

.....cont'd later.....

 

[Heluvsme]

After lunch we headed to Soarin.

We love Soarin!

I know, it needs to be upgraded, refurbed, refreshed.... but we still love it, and I still get a lump in my throat every time I ride it. I am a Californian and each one of those scenes can conjure up a memory for me. I love it!

The best part about this particular ride was who we were next to in the Fast Pass line. (Yes, the line for the Fast Pass was long, nearly 20-30 minutes maybe?) So as we were climbing the ramp in line, the guy who has the last spot in front of us is COVERED in pins!! It was spectacular!! He has over 70 pounds in pins (he claims)... it was amazing. And most of his pins were of Donald Duck. He had a custom made long, leather coat, arms removed, totally covered in pins. He had a leather cowboy hat, again.... covered in pins. He was a sight!

I of course struck up a conversation. How couldn't I? He loved talking about his hobby. He is a retired bus driver, relocated to Orlando to be closer to his favorite place. He was a WDW freak and he was proud of it!! EPCOT is his favorite, and Soarin is his favorite attraction. He has a spare bedroom at home that houses his Disney collection... no one is allowed on the bed he said! They can look, but not touch! LOL! He also said, kind of tongue in cheek, that he has spent more on his Disney habit than he has on his own children. He was such a character!! He told us he is "famous" on the internet because everyone takes his picture and posts it in various places.

Anyways, we had a nice conversation, got to ride Soarin, and then we headed to a gift shop or two. Our plan was to leave the park soon, go back to the condo and swim and rest, then return later in the day to tour the countries by night and catch Illuminations. By now the heat was pretty intense and the pool sounded glorious! Sooooo.... goodbye EPCOT, for now, we'll see you in a couple hours!!

As we drove into Windsor Hills we see a sign taped up to the gate of the pool..... CLOSED.... until tomorrow.

Ugh.

So we cooled off and relaxed at the condo. Back when Tour Guide Mike was active on his site, I studied his plans forward and backward. It always worked for us and never led us astray. Well, his best piece of advice was to rest and cool off, away from the parks if possible, midday... then return later on. For us, this works very well!! Even if we just kick our feet up and veg watching TV, or get on our tablets, or even just to change our shoes.... the break truly refreshes us and allows us to enjoy the rest of the parks, and not be miserable!

We returned to Epcot around 4:00. In hindsight, we wish we had come back a little earlier. See, we know how long it takes us to tour, we've done this so many times, we just know. WRONG! This time, for some reason, we were meandering, slowly, looking at more than we usually do, stopping more than we typically do, and trying out more food and drink than we usually do! We started backwards, well, for us----backwards. We started in Canada, and usually it's Mexico first for us. I love walking through Canada, and the UK... it's just... it feels like it might be the closest I get, know what I mean? I love tea, I'm a tea drinker through and through, and these shops (plus Japan!) speak to me. We took our time. My daughter and I explored each shop, we bought trinkets and tea and cookies! A nice little shower cooled things off for us and we felt more energized!

As we made our way around the countries, we realized we were taking longer than normal. Dinner was a fend-for-yourself kinda thing. I had no reservations, which is how we like it.... there are too many yummy places to eat to commit to just one! I think my son ate in America.... a hot dog, of course. My daughter was holding out for China. My husband and I ate a little bit from each country I think, LOL! The one thing I had wanted, and didn't get, was a hot chocolate martini in.... Canada? UK? Can't recall, but I have never had one and wanted to try it. Just another reason to go back, right?

Before we knew it, seriously time was slipping away from us, it was time to find a place to watch Illuminations. We scored a nice table, kind of in front of Italy, and had a good view. My daughter got her late dinner from China and I bought a couple bags of Caramel corn from Germany (the absolute BEST and I kicked myself for not getting more!!) and we settled in! The view was nice, a little obstructed but not bad at all! We felt lucky to have a whole table.

After the show, we worked our way towards the front of the park to end our day. We all agreed this was the best visit to Epcot we have ever had. Why? We couldn't put our fingers on it, but it just.... was. The touring "plan" worked, the weather wasn't horrible, we did and saw everything we wanted, the Fast Passes were amazing.... it was a good day. The kind of day you feel so thankful and grateful for you want to find someone to thank them for it, but who? Every cast member? LOL! Well, I certainly did my share of "Thank YOU!" to each CM I passed on my way out! What a great day!

We all slept very soundly that night. The next day was our Islands of Adventure day. We are newbies to US and tomorrow was going to be all new for us. We had to get up extra early to check in to the Royal Pacific Resort--- we would not actually be sleeping there, but the price of the room was cheaper than 4 Express Passes, plus we wanted to use the room during the day.

Our plan: Leave the condo around 7:00.... arrive at RPR and check in, get our Express Pass photos taken, catch the ferry to IoA, do as much as we can before meeting up with our friend, Billy (I'll talk more about him coming up), head back to the resort to swim, and then go back to IoA to finish out the night!

That's a lot for this newbie family!!!