Susan Cole -- April 2001 -- Walt Disney World (BCR)
- Dates : Friday, April 20, 2001 - Saturday, April 28, 2001
- Cast of Characters:
- Sue (that's me), 32, Disney Fanatic (WDW '76, '78, '89, '98, '99,
'00)
- Tracy, 35, Husband (WDW '89, '98, '00)
- Austin, 6, son (WDW '98, '00)
- Tucker, 4, son (WDW '98, '00)
- PopPop, 64, Tracy's Father (never been to WDW before)
PreTrip:
Tracy, Austin, Tucker and I just got back from an eleven day trip to
Disney World in late November/early December 2000 (trip
report is posted on Mouseplanet.com) with brand new Annual Passes
in our pockets. We couldn't wait to go back.
Since I had a 4 day business trip to Orlando planned in April, we couldn't
pass up the opportunity to bring the family back down. The conference
I was attending was in the Dolphin, Swan and Yacht Club. My company would
pay for my airfare and hotel. All we had to pay for was Tracy and the
boys airfare and meals. Sweet!
I made reservations at the Beach Club. We had been resort hopping a little
on our last trip and fell in love with Stormalong Bay. We can't wait to
swim in the pool. I wanted to book a couple extra days before and after
my conference. I couldn't let Tracy and the kids have all the fun. Tracy
asked his Dad to come. He said yes and we knew we were going to have a
truly magical time that we and the boys will never forget.
I originally planned on staying offsite the beginning and end or our
vacation (basically the days my company wouldn't pay for) but the thought
of packing and unpacking two extra times and wasting time checking in
and out, we nixed that idea quickly. And we ended up paying for the extra
nights in the Beach Club (those few nights cost as much as my ten night
stay offsite in a condo)
I made some PS before we left. The only one I had a lot of trouble with
was Chef Mickey's. The earliest dinner time a could get was 7:55 and that
was for two tables which they would not guarantee would be together.
I called a few days before to confirm my reservation. At that time, I
requested a ground floor room. I wanted to avoid waiting for the elevator.
Trip
We had no trouble on flight down. We waited about 25 minutes for our
rental car with Budget.
We drove directly to the Beach Club and checked in. I believe it was
around 4:30. Short wait to check in. Austin and Tucker watched the TV
that was in the lobby while I checked in. All of a sudden I hear Austin
say, "Hi, Jason". We are 1200 miles from home, not here five
minutes and Austin sees someone he knows. Jason was on Austin's winter
indoor soccer league team. Jason's Mom told us they had been here the
whole week before and were leaving the next day.
We went immediately to our room after checking in. The room was very
nice. Where the room was located was OUTSTANDING! Our room was on the
first floor as I had requested. It included the day bed we needed. The
sliding glass door opened to a small patio which opened to the quiet pool.
I had planned to do all our swimming at the feature pool, but the quiet
pool was right outside my back door. We did swim in the feature pool a
number times during our trip, but we also took full advantage of our location
at the quiet pool many nights after the kids were asleep, Tracy, Pop and
I used the quiet pool and spa while watching the door to our room.
We ate at Hurricane Hanna's, then added a 5 day park pass to Pop's room
key and went to the Magic Kingdom to see Spectromagic. Great parade, but
I think my favorite is the Main Street Electric Parade. We rode Peter
Pan (Tucker's request) and Small World and watched the fireworks. Great
first day.
I did not take notes each day, like I have on previous trips, and I am
typing this report a month after our trip ended, so I am going to give
up on the play-by-play and just highlight memorable moments.
Favorite Moments:
- PopPop riding Dumbo with Austin and Tucker. Tracy and I sat in the
Dumbo in front of them and basically rode facing backward. I videotaped
and Tracy took half a roll of film. Absolutely precious.
- Tracy's reaction to his dad being there and riding rides. Apparently,
growing up, Tracy's parents never went on rides with him or his siblings
(Tracy's Mom would get sick). During this trip, Tracy's face would light
up, watching his dad go on all the rides. Tracy actually rode Big Thunder
Mountain Railroad backwards snapping pictures the whole way. We have
practically a whole roll of pictures of Pop and Austin, Tucker and I,
and the rest of the train, smiling and laughing the whole way.
- Swimming in Stormalong Bay. Magnificent pool. There is one circular
area that is a whirlpool (the water has a current and is constantly
swirling around the section). Tucker loved this, he would stay in there
for hours, floating around and around in circles. The slide on the pirate
ship was great fun also.
- Riding the Merry go Round in Magic Kingdom with Chip. One morning,
we were in the castle very close to the rope waiting for the park to
open, when Chip, Dale and Pluto came out and got on the Merry Go Round.
Mickey Mouse also came out and got on Dumbo. When the park was opened
we headed on to the Merry Go Round, Austin sat on a horse next to Chip
and Tucker sat next to Austin. It was our original intent to go on the
Winnie the Pooh ride first thing. When I saw all the characters on the
Merry Go Round. I headed with Austin and Tucker to the Merry Go Round,
Pop followed me. Tracy had stopped to take a quick picture and we ended
up separated. Thank goodness Tracy found us just before the ride was
about to start and we have almost an entire roll of pictures of Chip
riding next to the kids. It was like you see in the WDW commercials.
Very magical!!
- Dale coloring with Tucker at the character breakfast at the Cape May
Café. This breakfast was wonderful. The buffet had every breakfast item
you could think of on it. The characters were wonderful. Goofy, Chip,
Dale and Minnie were there in their bathing suits. Tucker loves to color
and was coloring a page he was given when we were seated. Dale came
over and started coloring with Tucker, he sat right down next to him
and colored for quite awhile. Each time Dale came back - three times
in all - he sat down and colored with Tucker. The last time, he signed
his name and wrote "Dale colored this" with arrows to each
thing on the page he colored. Really wonderful experience Tucker will
always remember.
- Meeting Jiminy Cricket in Magic Kingdom on Earth Day. We had never
met Jiminy before, and were told that he doesn't come to the park often.
He was there for Earth Day. We all received Earth Day pins with Jiminy
on them, too.
Disappointing moments:
- The last night of our trip, I wanted to see Fantasmic one more time.
We headed over to MGM after dinner and entered Fastasmic just before
they blocked off seating and started filling the standing areas. We
were all the way in the leftmost section when looking at the stage.
We only had to wait about 20 minutes or so before the show. The show
started wonderfully, Mickey came out and started directing the water
fountains, when all of a sudden he stopped. From my seat all I could
see was the back of his ear, he wasn't moving, I thought he had fallen.
Then I saw people run onto the stage from behind it. The lights came
up and an announcement was made that there would be no Fantasmic tonight.
I was upset, it was our last night and I really did want to see the
show, but we had seen it earlier in the week. I felt really bad for
the people who had been sitting there for 2 hours waiting to see the
show and for people who only had that night to see it.
- Lunch at Crystal Palace. We had a PS for when Crystal Palace opened
for lunch 11:30, I think. I had heard that you get more attention
from the characters if you get there early. A lot of people also had
11:30 PS's and it took about 15 minutes for us to be seated. Food was
very good and we were taking our time, but we were basically done eating
and we hadn't seen Tigger yet. We ended up waiting another 20 minutes
after we had finished eating to see him. We only saw each character
once and very brief visits at that.
- Not being able to ride together as a group in the front of the monorail.
I didn't know this but they only allow four people to ride in the front
monorail car. We ended up luckily riding in the front twice during this
trip so everyone experienced it at least once.
Favorites:
- Rides:
- Buzz Lightyear - Love it! I videoed, turned and fired through
the entire ride once and my score wasn't too bad either.
- Winnie the Pooh ride - just love Pooh bear
- Peter Pan ride - a classic
- Pirates of the Caribbean - outstanding, Tucker's favorite this
trip
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - this ride is so much fun (ride
it both during the day and at night)
- Space Mountain - Great ride, Austin and I went on a few times,
this was his favorite
- Haunted Mansion - I am embarrassed to admit that I had never noticed
the shadow of the ghost playing the piano before this trip. Austin
pointed it out to me.
- Goofy's Barnstormer - Kids love it. They went on again and again.
- Test track - Austin and I were the only ones who wanted to go
on one night. The line was long and fast passes were all gone. We
got in the singles line and practically walked right on. Although
I kept Austin in front of me through the queue, he ended up in the
car right behind me. We got off at the exact same time. It is neat
that he was old enough to ride alone and we were able to ride with
no wait.
- Tower of Terror - I love this ride. I had to go on alone though.
No one else wanted to go with me.
- Rock N Roller Coaster - Great Ride. I got Tracy to go on with
me. He was shocked by how quickly it starts.
- Character Meals:
- Chef Mickey's - Always wonderful! Great character interactions.
The kids love waving their napkins during the celebration song.
I recommend early dinner seatings. We had a 4:30 seating and the
characters came by numerous times.
- Cape May Café Breakfast - Wonderful food. Absolutely the best
character interactions we have ever experienced.
- Liberty Tree Tavern - Great meal. Characters came by so many times
we had trouble eating our food. I highly recommend.
- Hotel:
- The Beach Club was outstanding. The location couldn't be beat.
Walking a couple minutes from our room and being in Epcot was wonderful.
The boat to MGM was really nice also. I wish we could afford to
stay here all the time.
Final Thoughts:
We had a fantastic trip. Having Pop there was really magical. Not having
one drop of rain was neat too, (I am sorry that Florida is having a drought)
but not having to even unpack our ponchos the whole trip was wonderful.
We didn't take advantage of early entry like I thought we would, it was
just too early to get the whole group up and moving. I think we made it
to MK once about a half hour after early entry started. Other than that
we stuck to non early entry parks and were usually there at or around
the rope drop.
I can't wait to go back. I am officially obsessed with getting back one
more time before our AP's are up in November. I spent hours on the internet
surfing for discount airfares and hotel rates. I was hooked on staying
in a nice, close hotel. We usually stay at the Condolodge in Kissimmee,
which is a wonderful value and I recommend it to anyone on a tight budget.
But the drive to and from every day through the construction is annoying.
I really enjoyed going back to the hotel pool in the afternoon on this
trip, something I do not believe I would do staying at the Condolodge.
I have just bought plane tickets and made reservations at Coronado Springs
($89 per night, AP discounted rate, I couldn't pass up) for late September.
Can't wait - only a few months away.
Susan Cole
SusanLCole@aol.com
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