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| Kathe McGwin -- January 2004 -- Walt Disney World (PCR)The Cast of Characters
Pre Planning: I have wanted to return to the World for quite some time, but we lacked the money and since we kept having children there was never the opportunity. I am also a teacher so we either had to travel during school breaks when the crowds are huge or the summer when it is way too hot. My poor Irish skinned children would fry up in the Florida sun during the summer. I finally decided in March of 2002 that I was going to make reservations and we would save for the next 2 years. My philosophy is that if I make the reservations and Disney has my money I am going to go and not put it off. I reserved 2 rooms at the French Quarter and made a decision to take my 2 personal days in order to take advantage of the lower crowds in January. I knew that I would have to take 2 days unpaid due to the holiday, but I chalked it up to “my kids are only going to be this age once.” Of course, those of you who can do the math, see that we added one more child so I called Disney to add Rowan to the ternary. After much reading on the internet and looking at resort pictures, I called again and changed our reservation to the Fort Wilderness Cabins. I figured we could use the kitchen to save some money on meals and all of us could stay in one room. Plus, the rate was better than the 2 rooms at the French Quarter. This turned out to be a good move since they closed the French Quarter shortly after the change. Due to my Disney obsession I knew about all the discounts so I waited to see if any would come out. Lo and Behold out came the discounts and I didn’t read the boards until the next morning. I was so upset, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I got the cell phone and called Disney during my planning period. I waited on hold for 25 minutes. Finally, they picked up and offered me the Cabins at the reduced rate, but I asked about Pop Century and they were able to offer me two rooms at $59.00 a night. I saved about $500 by changing the resorts and we were all very excited about staying at new resort. I made some priority seating arrangements at the 90 day mark. I really wanted to take Regan to Cinderella’s Royal Table, but my husband was not into the breakfast thing. He made a good point that the kids eat Pop Tarts or cereal they were not going to eat enough to make it worth the money. I researched a little and found out about the dinner at The Grand Floridian with Cinderella. I made the reservation for Friday night at 5:30. I also made priority seating arrangements for the Sci-Fi Diner on Thursday, The Beirgarten on Saturday and The Crystal Palace on Sunday night. I wanted the kids to be in the Magic Kingdom for their last night. I bought our tickets from Ticketmania, made our plane reservations through Air Tran, and made transportation arrangements with Tiffany Transportation. Everything was in place and we were just waiting and crossing off the days until we would leave. As an aside, both my brother’s and brother-in-law’s families went before we got to go because of the Fairytale package. I was so jealous when they came home with all their pictures and stories. I kept thinking I have been planning for almost 2 years and they got to go with little planning especially my brother. So the days dragged on and on. Wednesday January 15, 2004 Plan: Work and pick up the kids early so we could leave by 3:15 for our 5:00 pm flight to Orlando. The flight was non stop so we were to land about 7:30. Actual: The weather in Rochester had been awful ever since we returned from Christmas Break. It did not snow the entire break, but began on January 5 and did not stop until January 30. The snow was not the only problem it was freezing cold and windy. We are talking about wind chills in the -30 degrees. I realized this when I made the arrangements, but was slowly getting very nervous about flying out. We arrived at the airport to discover that our plan was delayed until 6:15. We got the kids some McDonald’s and went through security. Riley and Regan played with their Disney happy meal toys. Rebeca was looking for the plane the entire time and Rowan was happily crawling around the terminal. It was beginning to snow rather hard, but the plane finally showed up and we boarded a completely booked flight. It took about 45 minutes to de ice the plane and we finally took around 7:00 and landed in Orlando at 9:30 pm. Rowan and Rebeca both took naps on the plane so they were rather wound up when we got to Orlando. At the baggage claim we meet up with Marcello and began our exciting drive to Pop Century. The kids were having a great time reading all the billboards. We stopped at Goodings for some groceries. I had forgotten wipes for Rowan and I picked up some snack and breakfast things. I had packed a suitcase of food so we really did not need much thank goodness since it was rather expensive. We finally got to Pop Century around 10:30. The kids went to watch the TV in the very cool waiting room while I checked in. Papa and Michael went to grab something to eat from the food court. I had faxed in a request for the 50’s section, but we were placed in the 80’s building. It was a bit disappointing at first, but the rooms ended up being great. We got to the rooms and settled in. Finally fell asleep about midnight. High Points: Arriving in Disney World no matter what time. Seeing the kid’s faces when they saw the Disney World sign. (Almost made me cry) Low Point: Having the plane delayed and arriving so late Day 1 Thursday January 16, 2004 Plan: Go to MGM until about 2:30. Return to Pop Century for a couple of hours. Return to MGM until closing and see Fantasmic Actual: Everyone was up and moving by 6:30. Papa took the 3 mugs we had purchased the night before and filled them while Michael and I got everyone fed and dressed. Since we had an infant with us I had packed 6 bottles, 1 jumbo can of formula, a bottle brush and a small amount of dishwashing soap. The bottle brush and soap were very useful in cleaning out the mugs on a nightly basis, too. Traveling with 4 young children takes some major planning and I had extra clothes packed for each child everyday in our backpack. Each child had a complete set of clothes in a gallon size Ziploc bag so it would stay dry in the event of rain. The older 2 never used theirs, but my younger two did everyday. Anyway we all had breakfast: Pop Tarts, granola bars and graham crackers with soda and juice to drink. After making sure we had everything we left the room around 7:45 for the buses. The night before we had taken a rather long route to get to the food court going through the Foosball court, but this morning we cut through the parking lot and were on the first bus to MGM. On the subject of buses, we did find that we often had to stand, but people were extremely kind giving up seats to allow me to sit with Rowan and Rebeca. Regan and Riley often squeezed in with other smaller children. We arrived at MGM before opening and went through security. Riley and Regan’s eyes grew huge at the opening with the music. Here I am getting all misty eyed thinking we are really here. After opening we head down toward the hat which my husband liked, but I found tacky. Out front were lots of characters. I thought my older 2 would be into the characters and they were to a point, but not as excited as I thought they would be. We saw Stitch, Pluto, Chip and Dale and Goofy. Rowan loved all the characters and they all gave him some great attention. Rebeca refused to go to any character which I totally expected, but hoped for the opposite. After meeting and getting some autographs we headed towards Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. We walked up to Tower of Terror with a posted wait of 13 minutes, but it was a walk on. Papa, Riley, Regan and I were going to ride. Regan was asked more than once whether she wanted to wait with my husband, but she decided to try it. We walked right into the lobby and into the library. During the preshow Regan began to get scared. She quietly told me that she did not want to ride so I took her out while Riley and Papa rode. I then rode by myself. Michael decided not to ride. Michael is 6’ 10” tall so he does not always fit well in rides. He enjoys Tower of Terror, but finds that the ride in not always comfortable. We walked over to the Rock n Roller Coaster to see a wait time of 5 minutes. Michael is usually not a big fan of thrill rides, but he does like Aerosmith so he rode by himself and then Papa and I rode. I absolutely loved this ride. It was incredibly smooth and fun. It is a definite must for any future visits. After our two thrill rides I thought “Hey, maybe we should do something the kids might like.” Novel idea huh? I checked out the times for Playhouse Disney and Indiana Jones. They were playing at the same time, 10:00 am so we planned to separate and go to the shows after seeing The Great Movie Ride. The kids enjoyed this ride, Regan especially. Regan is a very big fan of The Wizard of Oz so the trip to Munchkinland was very exciting. We had the gangster side and found that it was very difficult to hear. After the ride we split up, Michael and Papa took Regan and Riley to Indiana Jones, I had Rowan and Rebeca at Playhouse Disney. A word to the wise I had to stand in line holding 2 children because I could not use the stroller it was not an easy thing to do. Rebeca enjoyed the show and Rowan fell asleep. Upon exiting we saw that Lilo was going to be out, but I was not allowed to bring the stroller back to where she was and there was no way I could carry Rowan and stand in another line so we had to move on. I am truly sorry to all the people who had to hear Rebeca scream “But I want to see Lilo now.” I really don’t know why I couldn’t bring the stroller back, but we moved on. Before leaving we brought a cheap pair of 2 way radios and they worked fine for us allowing us to keep in contact. I radioed Michael and he let me know Indiana was still going on so I wandered around a bit watched a very cool balloon guy and promptly had two children fall asleep. We all met up at The Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Papa watched the two sleeping beauties while we took Riley and Regan into the playground. They had a great time and we wandered out a bit later to find Rebeca still sleeping. It was getting closer to our 1:00 lunch time at the Sci – Fi Diner, but we squeezed in a ride on Star Tours. Riley declared it his favorite ride of the day. Lunch at the Sci-Fi was great fun. The kids polished off their plates and we had an enjoyable meal for a change. They loved the cars and movie clips running. Regan said it was like a picnic only no bees or flies were bothering them. After lunch we decided to see Muppets 3d. The kids were so cute trying to touch everything. I was a little nervous with Rebeca since she usually does not like loud noises, but she was laughing and having a grand old time. We decided it was time to leave about 2:30. We wanted to get out before the parade and we had done everything on our list except the Little Mermaid because the show times never coincided with our schedule. We never saw a parade, but we are not big parade people and the kids were beginning to tire so we thought let’s get in a swim. We returned to Pop Century and quickly the kids changed in to their bathing suits. They swam for about 45 minutes. It was quite a thrill since we had learned that back home all the school were closed both today and tomorrow due to the extreme wind chills. Yes, this meant that I ended up not missing any work, got paid for all three days, and the kids missed no school. We, actually, should have played the lottery because I don’t think that we will ever be that lucky again. Originally we were going to return to MGM, but Rebeca was not going to be happy until she rode Cinderella’s Merry Go Round so we decided to go over to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived there at 5:45 and the park was scheduled to close at 7:00 so we really did not think that we would get to go on many rides, boy were we wrong. The saucer eyed look of the kids was priceless when they saw the castle for the first time. We walked up Main Street and went to Fantasyland. The Cinderella show was just beginning, but no one wanted to stop and watch so we rode the Merry Go Round twice, Dumbo, Snow White, Pooh Bear, and the Teacups. On our way over to Tomorrowland we stopped for ice cream. This ended up being the kid’s dinner for the night, oh well we’re on vacation. In Tomorrowland we rode Buzz Lightyear and Tomorrowland Transit Authority. On exciting the TTA we walked up and enjoyed Wishes from the bridge. Rebeca did not like the fireworks at all so we were glad that we skipped Fantasmic. The kids really thought that they had the entire park to themselves. I could not believe how we basically skipped to each ride and even the mass exodus after the show was not bad. Upon returning to Pop we basically put everyone to sleep and Michael went to the food court to get us some dinner. He came back with a turkey sandwich and pasta dinner. The food was fine and it allowed us some time to kick back and relax before hitting the hay. High Points: Everything was incredible to see through the kids eyes. Seeing the castle once again always gets me a little misty eyed Low Points: Not being able to take the stroller back to see Lilo when Rebeca was actually willing to meet a character. Friday January 17, 2004 Plan: Go to Magic Kingdom, return to Pop Century for a rest, Dinner at Grand Floridian, and Epcot for Illuminations. Actual: Everyone was up and ready to leave by 7:30. We traveled to the food court and basically ate our Pop Tarts and grabbed some drinks at one of the very nice tables. We boarded a bus and were on our way to the Magic Kingdom. Pop Century seems very far away from the Kingdom so we spent some time talking to the people around us. I was amazed by the number of teachers on the bus. When we arrived at the Kingdom I had our picture taken. I had wanted to have a picture taken in every park, but the one from MGM was awful and the ones at the Magic Kingdom turned out no better. You could definitely tell that the photographers were learning to use the equipment. I did eventually buy one of our family in front of the Castle with Tinkerbell. Regan so badly wanted to go into the Castle, but it was roped off and we could not enter. I don’t know if it was our bad timing or what, but we never did get to see the mosaics. We entered Fantasyland and once again rode the Merry Go Round twice, followed by Peter Pan and It’s a Small World. Here we broke up again. I took the girls and rode Peter Pan and the Merry Go Round again while the boys went to the Haunted Mansion. We picked up Fast Passes for Philharmagic and meet up at the Mansion. Papa, Riley, Regan and I rode the Mansion again while Michael waited with Rebeca and Rowan. When we returned with our hitchhiking ghost we headed over to Philharmagic and had a great time. It was a blast and probably the best 3d movie in the World. We loved it. After we headed to JungleLand where we rode The Jungle Cruise, The Magic Carpets and toured Swiss Family Robinson and finally Pirates of the Caribbean. My children loved the tree house they wanted to know is Disney would let them spend the night. Here is where Papa left us and returned to Pop Century for some swimming. We headed to Pecos Bills and had a nice lunch. Riley was itching to go on Splash Mountain so we said we would see about the line. The wait was posted at 10 minutes so Michael and Riley went first. They got a baby swap pass so when they returned Riley rode again with me. I have ridden this ride many times and never got nearly as wet as I got on this trip to the Laughin Place. Michael took the girls to play in the Laughin Place playground. They had a blast playing there while Riley and I hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This was our longest wait of the trip because I underestimated the line. The wait was posted at 30 minutes and that was how long it was. I found this ride to be slower than in the past. I don’t know if they made any changes or if it was simply because I hadn’t ridden it in 6 years. After our ride we hopped onto the Railroad and got off at Main Street and headed out of the park. We returned to Pop for some down time before leaving at 4:30 for our 5:30 seating with Cinderella. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the boat over to the Grand Floridian. I checked us all in and they seated us right away. First Regan got her picture taken with the Fairy Godmother. Prince Charming came up right away and posed in a very cute picture with Regan. Perla and Suzy were next. Rebeca actually let them come up to her. We greatly enjoyed the buffet. We thought it was one of the best meals we have had in the World. Of course, you have to remember that we frequent counter service and food courts. Cinderella was last to come to the table and poor Regan was so excited that she practically threw her fork at Cinderella. We took some very cute pictures of the girls with Cinderella and packed up to head for the monorail. The character interaction was good, but it makes for a long meal with four kids. I eventually took the kids out while Papa and Michael waited to pay the bill. I made sure everyone hit the restroom and we were off. We hopped on the monorail and transferred over to the monorail for Epcot. As we were passing the Magic Kingdom “Wishes” had just started so it was very cool to watch from inside the monorail. Rebeca especially liked the “modorail” as she called it. When we got to Epcot, Spaceship Earth was still open so we walked on. On the ride the audio kept cutting in and out and I noticed the scenes could use some touching up as well. No matter the kids loved it and thought it was “cool to be in the giant golf ball”. After the ride we began our walk back to the countries. We started in Mexico and of course ran into friends of Papa’s. They too were staying at Pop Century. It is such a small world when you are at Disney. We rode the el rio del tiempo , bide adios to our friends and moved onto Norway. There we went on Maelstrom, but skipped the movie. Here is where the kids saw the masks and decided that they wanted to make one. So began what I called the scavenger hunt to find all the kidcot stations. It was very fun and we found most of the workers pleasant and kind. We stopped in Germany and watched the train until Illuminations started. It was a great show, but I preferred the one we saw in 1998. Michael liked this one better. On the way out we had 3 children fall asleep. We brought our own double stroller that I often turn triple by allowing one child to stand on the footrest between the 2 seats. Regan and Rebeca both fell asleep while I carried Rowan who was already dreaming away. When we got to the bus stop I thought that all of Pop Century was waiting to return to the resort. They quickly brought in extra buses, but it is not an easy task to move sleeping children, fold up a stroller and find a seat. One kind woman made life much easier by folding the stroller and we all held on child on the bus while Riley sat next to us. Back at Pop Century we basically put everyone to sleep and checked out the weather forecast for the next two days. It sounded like it was going to rain on Sunday so we changed our plans slightly to accommodate the forecast. High Points: Seeing the Kingdom through the kids eyes, seeing Regan meet Cinderella, Illuminations. Low Points: There really weren’t any except trying to juggle 3 sleeping children and the bus. Saturday January17, 2004 Plan: Go to Epcot with a break in the middle of the day and the Magic Kingdom at night for Spectomagic Actual: With the chance of rain looking very good on Sunday we decided to head to Animal Kingdom. We had never been there before and I was worried that the rain might be more of a problem here than at Epcot. I knew that at Epcot we could hang out inside many exhibits for a while. The kids were looking forward to the Boneyard so thought that the rain would put a damper on this activity. Everyone was ready to go by 7:15 and we ate breakfast at the food court. We simply got 2 kids meals and split them up between the kids and me. Michael and Papa got breakfast sandwiches. We were on the bus and arrived at Animal Kingdom for the awakening. I decided to rent a stroller today due to the fact that the kids were beginning to tire and I didn’t want to hear the whining. After the opening we trudged along with everyone else in the park to the Safari. The line moved very quickly and we were seated in no time at all. The Safari was ok, but my kids thought our zoo was more exciting. At our zoo they have fed giraffes and seen alligators and lions up close. Riley understood the story line very well and was relieved to see that Little Red was ok at the end. They had no desire to walk the trails and only wanted to head over to the Boneyard. We stopped to see Baloo on the way, played the drums and walked over to Dinoland USA. Riley and Papa decided to stop and see It’s Tough to be a Bug. Riley lost his hat at the end of the movie. We never did find it. They headed over to Dinoland after. While we were waiting for Papa and Riley we took the girls on Triceratops Spin. Rebeca really loved these carnival type rides. Michael took the girls in the Boneyard while I took Riley to Dinosaur. Riley really wanted to go on Dinosaur. He is a huge dinosaur fan and has watched Jurassic Park numerous times. I told him I thought the ride might be a little scary, but he insisted. I took him on and he was scared out of his mind. It was a bit too real for him especially the last scene. After we headed over to The Boneyard for a little digging and playing. Papa went on Dinosaur while I headed over to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. I, of course, forgot to bring the camera with me so the pictures we have of The Tree of Life are not that great. I was so glad that I did not bring the girls with me. They are not big fans of bugs especially Rebeca so they would have been terrified of the movie. I was not a big fan either though. I thought that it was ok, but nothing that I needed to do again. I headed over to the Boneyard where the kids were still happily digging. Papa went to ride Dinosaur. We gathered up the kids and went to leave when we lost sight of Rebeca. We spent probably a good 3 minutes trying to find her. I know that there is only one exit, but there were no cast members working the exit so she could have walked right out. It is a hard place to find little children in too. All of the slides make it difficult to see them. We finally found her and left. I got a fastpass for Primeval Whirl while we rode Triceratops Spin again. Riley and I rode Primeval Whirl first and then Michael rode with Riley on the other 2 fastpasses. Michael did not fit well in the ride. He was very cramped. It was beginning to get very warm and the kids were not into the park, but Michael wanted to see It’s Tough to be a Bug so we parted ways and headed to Camp Minnie and Mickey. On the way Rebeca fell asleep so we meet Mickey and Minnie without her. Minnie loved Rowan. The pictures I have are very cute of Rowan pulling on her nose. On the way to meet Michael we saw Lilo again, but Rebeca was still sleeping so we did not even try to meet her. We bid farewell to Animal Kingdom and headed back to Pop Century. At Pop Century we grabbed lunch at the food court and then headed back to the room. The kids wanted to go swimming and Rebeca wanted to go in the sprinkler area. We swam for about 45 minutes. Michael had to drag Rebeca out of the splash area in order to get changed. We swam all 4 days and we found that by the computer pool it was always windy. I don’t know if it was the particular days or if the buildings created a wind tunnel effect. It didn’t put a damper on swimming only on getting out. We had eaten a late lunch so I just packed some snacks and we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. This was the only night for Spectromagic so I expected a crowd, but it was like April Recess. It was such a change from Thursday and Friday. The lines were huge like 65 minute waits for Pooh and 80 minutes for Buzz Lightyear. We even had to wait for the Merry Go Round. Michael took the kids on while I stayed with Rowan and our two strollers. While waiting this women came up to me and asked me if I knew where they could buy underwear or a pull up. Her daughter had had an accident. I gave her a pull up and she wanted to pay me. I told her don’t worry about it just spread the magic to someone else. We walked over to Toontown while Papa went to see The Hall of Presidents. This was the only night that our 2 way radios did not work well. We picked up lots of other conversations, but we eventually got them to work well enough to meet somewhere. I took the girls through Minnie and Mickey’s houses. Riley did not want to go. He was eyeing the Barnstormer, but the wait was 50 minutes. Michael does not do well with crowds and I could tell he was beginning to lose it so I packed up the girls and got everyone a Mickey ice cream bar. This helped with the stress level a little. We headed over to Tomorrowland because we had promised the kids they could ride Buzz one more time. The wait was 65 minutes so we picked up Fastpasses for 8:30-9:30. While waiting for Spectromagic we decided to relax on Carousel of Progress. I love this show and even the kids were singing along by the end. After the Carousel we hopped on the TTA for a spin. Riley was itching to go on Space Mountain and we saw that the wait was only 30 minutes when we went on by. I told him that he would not be able to see Spectro if he rode Space Mountain, but he didn’t care. Papa and he went off to ride while Michael and I staked out a spot. We actually found a decent stop not far from the castle. Rebeca and Rowan both fell asleep so I was glad we had the rented stroller so Rebeca could stretch out. Michael was gone for 40 minutes trying to get a drink and popcorn. I talked to the families around us and got ready for the parade. About 10 minutes before it was set to begin a cast member was trying to find a spot for a VIP couple. I told him we would move over a little and I could tell he was very appreciative. The couple was from Japan and thanked us as best as they could. The parade was great. Rowan and Rebeca both woke up in time to really enjoy it. At the end we had a very hard time swimming up stream against the traffic to get over to Buzz so we could met Papa and Riley and use our fast passes. We finally got there and rode. Riley loved Space Mountain and they even got to watch the parade. When were done with Buzz we just wanted to get out of the park before Wishes began. I was totally stressing out about getting down Main Street when Disney Magic happened. They were allowing people to leave through a back way. We walked behind the Main Street stores and right out to the buses. When we got to the buses the line was huge and Rebeca was starting to get worked up about the fireworks, but they called in extra buses and we got on in no time at all. Back at Pop Century, I got the kids settled in while Michael and Papa visited the food court. Michael picked up a pizza for us to share. After checking the weather forecast one last time we went to sleep too. High Points: Spectromagic and the Disney Magic of a quick escape Low Point: the crowds at the Magic Kingdom, losing Rebeca in the Boneyard. Sunday January 18, 2004 Plan: Go to Animal Kingdom with a break in the afternoon. Dinner at the Crystal Palace 6:00 pm. Actual: We awoke later then usual and it was pouring out. We slowly got ready with everyone taking their time. When we finally left the room it was 8:30. We stopped for breakfast in the food court and finally headed out to the buses. It was pouring and the shop was out of ponchos. I had the kids in raincoats, but it was raining so hard that the stroller was soaked through already. We hopped on the next bus and when we arrived the lines at security were huge. I do not mind that Disney wants to look through my bag, but please have more that one person doing the search especially at opening. The family in front of us had umbrellas and I think that it is great that they had those, but the woman kept shaking it off on my kids especially the baby who was soaking wet by now. We finally get through security and I ran ahead and bought 4 ponchos. With our new ponchos we headed over to Ice Station Cool for some taste testing. The kids were freezing in the little area where they have the snow, but loved all the soda. I even got my husband to try Beverly. He was so mad at me. He told me that I ruined his test buds for the day. After our test testing we headed out in the rain to the Living Seas. My children, especially Rebeca, loved this exhibit. When we got to the Finding Nemo area Rebeca yells out real loud “Mama I found Nemo. He is right there. Look Mama! Look Mama!” It was so cute. We spent about an hour watching the dolphins, manatees and just enjoying our time out of the rain. When we emerged again it had stopped raining and the sun was trying to peek out. We saw Nemo and the coral reefs on stilts. The coral reefs were very fun to watch. They had fun with my husband and with all the kids around. We decided to head over to The Land next. Michael went down and got us fastpasses for the boat tour while we watched the movie The Circle of Life. The kids enjoyed this and when it was done it was perfect timing for our boat ride. After the ride we decided to grab lunch here while Papa left to do his own thing. We would meet up at the Magic Kingdom for dinner at 5:45. I think that every single new cast member was on duty for lunch because it took forever to get our food, but everything was good. After our lunch we decided to check out Test Track. The lines were huge, but Michael stood in line to get fast passes for 4:00-5:00. We began our trip around the world. We had about 2 hours to see everything. We did not bring the kids masks that they had started due to the weather so we began another. They had a blast making the masks once again. We met Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco. On our way over to Test Track we looked into one of the buildings and saw lots of characters. We went in and had wonderful interaction with Mr. Smee, Pluto, King Louie, Chip and Dale, and Minnie. Rebeca actually went over and gave Minnie a big hug. After waving good bye we headed over to Innoventions. Michael hung out with the girls and Rowan while Riley and I went on Test Track. We returned and sent Michael over. We met Michael at the exit and began our sprint over to the Magic Kingdom. We got stuck on the monorail for about 15 minutes this made us late for dinner, but everything worked out fine. We had a wonderful dinner with great character interaction. The food was excellent and it was so much fun to watch Wishes from the porch. When we were finished with dinner the park was closed so we slowly made our way out and said good bye until our next trip. We spent some time looking at the Mickey’s and then bid one last farewell and headed back to Pop Century. Back at Pop I packed up and we spent our last night hanging out watching some TV. High Points: Dinner with Pooh and stumbling upon the characters at Epcot. Low Points: The rain and saying good bye Monday January 19, 2004 Plan: Go to Downtown Disney and leave for home around 11:30 am Actual: We decided to stay at Pop Century and walk around the entire resort. It was fun touring the property and seeing the other parts of the resort. The girls loved the flower pool and all 3 thought the big Jukebox was very cool. We ate some breakfast and the kids spent the last of their money in the store. Everything was ready and we were picked up right on time by Marcello. The flight home was uneventful and we returned to snowy New York. High Points: Touring Pop Century Low Points: Returning to the cold and snow Final Thoughts: We had a wonderful time. The crowds were low with the exception of Saturday night at the Magic Kingdom. The kids all did wonderfully. We planned this trip to take place right before Rebeca turned 3 so that she was still free. It was perfect timing since she is still talking about Pop Century and how she can’t wait to return. It took some planning to travel with four young children and it certainly helped having Papa come along, but it was a very fun trip. It was worth it to see the excitement in their eyes and the wonderment that is childhood fantasy. We loved having our own stroller and we did need the breaks we took. We did not do everything, but that was fine since the kids were very happy with what we did. You know how I said how lucky we were that we didn’t miss any work or school time well upon returning the sewer backed up, the hot water heater broke and the furnace needed to be repaired. Oh well I have already planned our next trip for November of 2005, the weekend before Thanksgiving. If you have any questions about traveling with young children please feel free to email me. Kathe McGwin chelsie122076@yahoo.com Mail a Comment to Kathe McGwin |
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