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| Lisa Willis -- April 2004 -- Walt Disney World (PCR/PORFQ)This is Lisa’s fourth trip report on MousePlanet. Her other reports can be found at: The Cast
Saturday, April 3rd - It’s a small world after all… We left the house at 5:15 am and a stop for breakfast at Burger King ($10) in Macon and for gasoline ($27) in Valdosta. We didn’t hit any traffic problems at all until we got a little bit south of Ocala where we had a delay because of an accident. Justin saw the secretary from his elementary school just after we passed the accident. Being the loving, trusting family we are, we didn’t really believe him at first. What are the chances anyway? But he made up a sign that said “LES Rules!” (the name of his school is Lawrenceville Elementary School) and put it up to his window when she drove up beside us. She did see his sign (and actually had to do a double take; seems like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing either), and then she broke into a huge grin and started waving at Justin. It was a really cute experience. We pulled into Pop Century at 12:45 pm, and the kids asked us why the guard didn’t say “welcome home.” It’s funny that we’ve stayed mostly at the All-Stars, but the guards there have always been good at welcoming us home. We must have been getting DVC treatment for a value price?? Kerry went to check in, while the kids and I hit the gift shop to buy his surprise (a Pal Mickey). We drove around to our building (50's Bldg. B, pool view) and unpacked the van. The boys and I got to the room first, turned Pal Mickey on, and had him set up on the bed for Kerry to see when he came in the room. Unfortunately, he came straight in the room and inadvertently threw our pillows right on top of poor Mickey! For some reason, this had the kids collapsing with laughter. We finally had to show Mickey to Kerry. He was pretty excited about our surprise! After we straightened up the room and unpacked a bit, we decided to head up to the food court for lunch ($35) and bought one mug ($12). I had brought our All-Star mugs for the kids to use, and as is normally the case with me, I started feeling guilty almost immediately. I really wish they would have one mug for either all the resorts or even for each category of resorts. For families like us who enjoy trying a new resort each time we visit, the refillable mugs can get pretty expensive (not to mention the cabinet space those suckers take up at home!!!). We came back to the room after lunch and were ready to head to Epcot to see if we could get our 4-day hoppers from last year upgraded to annual passes. The kids decided they didn’t want to go (the boys wanted to try out the arcade and Brittani wanted to lay out by the pool), so we agreed to let them stay at the resort while we went. We parked at the Yacht Club and caught the Friendship boat to International Gateway. We upgraded our hoppers to ap’s ($1047) and decided we couldn’t just turn around and go back to the room with perfectly good admission and within feet of our favorite park! Kerry and I have never walked around Epcot without the kids, so we gave it a try. We saw Impressions de France, walked around the Moroccan area, watched the drummers in Japan, then turned right back around (parent guilt again). We let go of our guilt enough to stop by Boulangerie Patisserie and pick up a chocolate éclair and red wine for me ($7) and a Napoleon for Kerry ($4). After our quick snack at an outside table, we hurried back to the room and found the kids happy as clams watching television and eating snacks. Almost as soon as we got in the door, they were itching to go out and start experiencing the parks. Obviously, Kerry and I were a bit tired and wanted to rest. They begged to go to a park, and barely believing that they had gotten old enough that we would feel pretty comfortable letting them go on their own, we agreed. They decided to go to the MK since it was open until 11 pm. We gave them the “lecture that lasted forever” about catching the bus, keeping up with the tickets, etc., gave them some dinner money ($20) and a cell phone, and bid them farewell. They seemed so excited and I know they must have felt grown-up, but I was pretty nervous and actually sent them a text message 45 minutes after they had gone to check up on them. I was hungry for dinner after the kids left and begged Kerry to bring some dinner for us back from the food court. He was nice enough to oblige, and we had a nice quiet dinner in our room ($18). Around 9:15 pm, we walked out to watch the fireworks. From our balcony (just around the corner), we could see both the Illuminations and the Wishes fireworks. The kids came in around 10:45 pm and shared my “tie-dye cheesecake” that I had asked Kerry to get me but couldn’t eat, and we had lights out by 11:15 pm. Today was an incredibly wonderful day. The weather could not have been nicer and so far the crowds have been minimal. I do expect this to change as the week progresses. Sunday, April 4th - Wall-to-wall humanity… We got up around 7:30 am ready to visit the parks together! We had already decided to try MGM Studios today, so we had a quick breakfast in the room. I’m sure “mousekeeping” got a big kick out of our snacks and breakfast items. It looked like a convenience store on top of our entertainment center! Kerry and Justin went to the food court for hot chocolate and frozen coke (taking the long way to get in some extra exercise), and we left to catch the bus soon after they returned. We didn’t wait long for the bus, and though we had to stand up, it wasn’t that big of a deal since the park is so close. We immediately headed to the Tower of Terror for fast passes and got in the standby line for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (posted 30 minutes). The ride was great as always and we had fun carrying Pal Mickey around. He was the cutest when he talked about going on the t-t-t-t-tower of t-t-t-t-terror! We next headed over to Walt’s Dream, tried to get Matt to go into Mermaid (no luck), and then went to use our Tower of Terror fast passes. Man, that ride just can’t be beat. As soon as we got off I asked Kerry if he would get us another set of fast passes for it, then we headed on to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Kerry takes this game very seriously, and was HIGHLY perturbed to find out his console didn’t work (I knew at this point that he was going to be back at that show for sure sometime during the day!). After Millionaire, we were all hungry and walked over to Prime Time for lunch. We didn’t have a PS, but only had a 30-minute wait. The food was incredible and our cousin Mickey was hilarious (great dry humor that we love). The kids ate healthy (cheese fries all around), but Kerry and I stuck with old favorites (meatloaf for him, pot roast for me). We had to try the peanut butter and jelly shake which was great, but Matt is deathly afraid of peanut butter (yes, afraid – don’t ask), so he got a root beer float. We saw some great interactions, including a young man who had to put his nose in the corner for keeping his elbows on the table. This same guy also did not eat his vegetables, so Cousin Mickey made him a green bean ice cream dessert. While we were waiting on our check, I saw Sue Holland leaving the restaurant and I had a fit (for non-Southerners, that means I got very excited). I kept telling Kerry “there she is, there she is” and of course, he thought I was nuts. I know he didn’t think I was sure, but I’ve seen her picture and I was positive that was her!!! You would have thought I had spotted Elvis. Then Brittani started teasing Kerry and I about being stalkers when Kerry said that Sue was probably on her way to get a marshmallow thing. Next we took off for Muppets 3-D (we still love this show), then back to Tower of Terror to use our second fast passes. We had thought we might go see Beauty and the Beast afterwards, but the kids weren’t too into that, and Kerry was itching to get back to Millionaire again. Brittani, Matt and I decided we’d like to get back to the room and chill for a while, so we left Kerry and Justin to their Millionaire games. Back at the room, Brittani headed to the pool to work on her tan, I sat for a while on the grass by the lake and just enjoyed the wildlife and the wonderful weather, and Matt watched sports on television and pigged out on Slim Jims. Kerry and Justin got back to the room around 6:15 pm and they rested for a bit until it was time to freshen up for our ‘Ohana ps. When we got to the Polynesian, it just reiterated our desire to stay there someday. I think the atmosphere at this hotel is just top notch. Our dinner at ‘Ohana was even better than it was in 2000. Matt ate enough to feed a family for a week, I feel in love with the peanut sauce, and Justin got a Beach Bomb. The total for the meal was $132, but it sure was great!!! After dinner, we decided to take advantage of the MK’s midnight closing time and the convenience of the resort’s monorail. Walking up to the turnstiles at the MK, we had no idea that a wall-to-wall carpet of humanity would greet us. Crowds had been so much lighter than what we had expected until we got here. I honestly would have been scared to stop walking, so we walked in “bumper-to-bumper” or should I say “bum-to-bum” traffic over to the Haunted Mansion. It was pretty much a walk-on and an enjoyable ride. Next we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We had not ridden this since 1999. It’s usually down for refurbishment in the fall when we come, so the kids didn’t even remember the ride. Brittani and I really wanted to ride Splash Mountain, but we had to talk the “boys” into riding it because they didn’t want to get wet. It was a walk-on and naturally, Brittani and I were the ones to get soaked. After Splash, we enjoyed a walk-on to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then decided to head out. We got back to the room about 12:30 am, relaxed, rubbed our sore feet, and settled down for our second night. Again, I’ve got to mention that for me, the weather could not be better. The crowds at MGM seemed pretty light to us, and I’m guessing the MK was mostly a madhouse because Spectromagic had just gone through and Wishes was about to begin. Yet another super Disney day. Monday, April 5th - Gosh, honey, we’ve got to get out of here… Hmmmm, remember that part about my guess that the MK crowds were probably just because of Spectromagic and Wishes? NOT!!! We slept in a bit, had breakfast in the room, and arrived at the MK around 11 am. Our first order of business was to meet up with some friends from our church (two families who were down here with their kids, one of which is “dating” Matt). We called them on their cell and found out that they were “hidden” in a great little area with tables next to the bakery. Both of these families are DVC members and they asked us if we were glad to be home! Originally we had thought that all the kids were just going to hang out together for the day, so we parted ways with our young ‘ens (gave them $20 for lunch), and Kerry and I headed for the Tiki birds. After the show, we both knew there wasn’t a whole lot more we wanted to do in the MK, but PhilharMagic was definitely one of them. However, trying to get over to Fantasyland was pure torture. It was body-to-body, I-can’t-breathe, please-don’t-stop-anyone, this-is-why-some-people-don’t-like-coming-here kind of crowded. My pet peeve in the parks is people who just stop wherever they are to discuss their plans for the rest of the day, and boy, was this happening everywhere! Fastpasses were for a good time for PhilharMagic, so we got those and headed to Toontown Fair to catch the train. It felt so good on the train (weather-wise and not having to sniff strangers’ underarms kind of good) that we made two complete trips around. By the time we got off the train, I was hungry and craving a hot dog. It’s funny that I can’t stand hot dogs at home, but at other places, I have to have one! We tried Cosmic Rays, but the lines were super long and there were no available tables, so we just decided to go on to PhilharMagic. The show was better than I remembered! Afterwards, we headed over to the Haunted Mansion to wait for our kids (Kerry had spoken to Brittani earlier and we knew that’s where they were). We talked to them about our plans, which were to get the heck out of the park (we found out later that the MK had closed that day due to crowds). The kids decided that they wanted to stay with their friends (broke this mama’s heart), so we gave them another $20 for their dinner and said goodbye. We had to deal with more horrendous wall-to-wall people trying to get to the front of the park and I told Kerry that I find it hard to believe that Disney will let that many people in a park but do not let you have 5 people per room in a lot of the resorts!! When we got to the front of the park, we decided that a nice sit-down meal would hit the spot, so we went to Tony’s. I think we may have had a 5-minute wait with no PS before being seated, and we enjoyed a great meal ($38). After lunch, we rode the monorail over to Epcot. The park didn’t look very crowded, but the fast passes for Test Track and Mission Space were already gone. We had already decided not to do Ellen’s Energy Adventure this trip (we like it, but have seen it enough for a while), so we thought we’d try to get fast passes for Living with the Land and do stand-by for Journey Into Your Imagination. We ran through Ice Station Cool first, and as is our tradition, had to try the Beverly again. I have no idea why we always feel the need to drink it. Sadistic, isn’t it? Luckily, Kerry didn’t run around trying to trick people into drinking it like he usually does! On the way to Journey, we saw Justin’s Boy Scout leader with her family and her sister’s family (we know both families as our kids were also in Odyssey of the Mind together). It is definitely a small world. We told them to not make plans to go to the MK today! After our social break, we saw that Journey had a standby time of 25 minutes, and I didn’t feel like walking all the way over to Living with the Land (just typing this embarrasses me; what is it anyway, a 1-minute walk?), so Kerry and I agreed to split up. My feet have always hurt a lot when I do a lot of standing, and I was ready for a break back at the resort. I have had the opportunity to visit Epcot once before by myself and enjoyed it immensely, so I wanted Kerry to have the same kind of fun. While I was waiting for the bus (about 30 minutes, by the way; this is exactly why I prefer driving), Brittani sent me a text message asking if she and Justin and Matt could go to the Yacht Club resort where our DVC friends were staying and play in the pool with them. I called her to let her know that was okay and to catch up on what their plans were for the evening. All of them had fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 7 pm, so they planned to spend another evening at MK. Kerry got back to the room about 5:45 pm. We relaxed a bit then Kerry walked up to the food court and ordered a pizza for us. He watched the Final Four game while I read. The kids got back to the room around midnight, got ready for bed pretty quick, and we were all asleep before 1 am. Tuesday, April 6th - No riding a safari right after a big lunch… Today we planned to go to Animal Kingdom, but slept in until around 9 am. We decided to drive today and were in the park by 11 am. Kerry headed to the Safari first thing to get fast passes for us and the rest of us escorted Pal Mickey to the Festival of the Lion King. We really enjoyed this show since for some reason we have not seen it the last couple of times we’ve been here and had forgotten how incredible it is. I still owe my allegiance to the sorely-missed Hunchback show at MGM though. After Festival, we stopped by to get fast passes for It’s Tough to be a Bug. Kerry said that there had been so many people trying to get fast passes for the safari that the CM was just handing the tickets out to those who wanted them, so that allowed us to get these. We headed next to Flights of Wonder which is another one of our favorites. The gorgeous owl that normally flies overhead just wasn’t “feeling it” today, but he sure was beautiful! He would just show up at the window, let us gawk at him, then turn around and go back in. He did this a couple of times until the host was just forced to go on to the next thing. Next up was lunch at Tusker House. We all got the fried chicken sandwich meal deal except for Brittani who got the kid’s meal Macaroni and Cheese. After our meal, we walked over the safari to use our fast passes, and believe me, we all felt those fried chicken sandwiches with each bump!! There were a lot of animals out today and it was a great ride. We then made a dash for Kali fast passes for the kids, and then we back-tracked to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We ended up not getting off the train because Kerry thought it would be too crowded, but I ended up regretting it because the place I work (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) had done a really extensive exhibit at the train station there and I wanted to see more of it! Once the train ride was over, it was time to use our passes for It’s Tough to be a Bug. The show was great as always, but this time the excitement came from Brittani. I think she had forgotten some of the effects and screamed like a banshee (in Southern lingo, she “had a fit”)! Also, we had the added bonus of getting to smell a human stink-bug when we were filing out of the theater....hope it wasn’t one of my kids!!!! After the show we went to Hester’s and Chester’s. I’ve heard a lot of people think this area is unDisney-like and cheesy, but I think it’s really, really cute. To me, it looks just like Mickey’s Toon Town Fair, but with dinosaurs instead. Brittani and I used our free drink coupons that we got with our lunch meals for a water and a Sprite and sat down for a bit while the boys rode Primeval Whirl. While Brittani and I were resting, the painters came out (street performers) and entertained everyone with their juggling and ladder climbing tricks. After the men folk got back, they got their free drinks and Brittani and I rode Primeval Whirl. This is one of my favorite rides. I think the concept is neat and it’s so fun, you can’t help but scream and laugh. After our ride, Matt was ready to go back to the resort (hormones really tire a growing kid out), so he and I left the park, getting our meal deal free ice cream on the way out. He told me that we were parked in Unicorn 39, so when the tram stopped at Unicorn 21 - 29, we didn’t get off. It turns out there IS no 39, so we ended up riding the tram just a little longer than expected (all the way back to the entrance and around again). After Matt and I left the park, Brittani and Justin rode Dinosaur, and then they all used the 3 fast passes for Kali. Matt and I were back in the room by 6:30 pm, and everyone else got back around 7:15 pm. The kids agreed to go pick up dinner at the food court and bring it back to the room. We ate dinner while watching American Idol and 24. After 24, Kerry went down to wash clothes, Brittani fell asleep, I read, and Matt and Justin went to the main building for one last round in the arcade. We were all in bed by 12:30 am. Wednesday, April 7th – If only everyone had a good afritude… We woke up around 8:30 am to finish packing and get everything to the van. We then drove around to the front where Kerry checked out and the kids and I went to build a Potato Head in the gift shop ($17). I thought I had been very clever in getting a lot of stuff in the box, but the CM checking us out actually told us to go back and get a few more pieces!! I guess they’re used to people filling the box up really good!! :) We then drove over to Port Orleans French Quarter to check in, and we were lucky enough that our room was ready (11:30 am). We unpacked our luggage and settled in a bit (translation: sat around in a lazy trance). We then went to the food court for lunch ($33 food; $12 mug). Lunch was good and we decided to try beignets for dessert ($4). Pretty good dessert, but a little messy! After lunch, we walked over to Riverside and rented a regular bike for Justin ($4) and a surrey bike for the rest of us ($22). We had a lot of fun riding around, especially at the part coming off the second bridge where you go pretty fast down the curvy hill! Once we were all nice and sweaty from the bike rides, we decided to try out the pool and got changed for a swim. We played with one of the balls Justin had won with his arcade tickets and had a good time. We stayed about an hour and a half, then went back to the room to get changed. The kids were going to catch the bus to MGM and Kerry and I had a PS for Boma. We gave the kids $20 for their dinner (they spent $17), and Kerry and I enjoyed a nice dinner ($58). I liked the ribs and the salmon the most, and Kerry liked the three-bean gumbo and the potatoes with afritude the best. After dinner, we walked around the viewing area, then headed over to MGM. While waiting to meet up with the kids, Kerry went and ordered engraved Mickey ears for my friend’s daughter ($13). When the kids showed up, they gave me a fast pass that a man had given them for Tower of Terror. I went to ride that while Kerry and Justin went to a Millionaire show and Matt and Brittani stood in line for the 10 pm Fantasmic. We got pretty good seats for Fantasmic, even though they didn’t let everyone in until 9:45 pm. Kerry and Justin came in right behind us and told us that Justin had gotten to number 1 on the board at one time. The show was great, and we stayed seated and chatted with a nice family from New York after it was over to let some of the crowds disperse. Back at the resort, we gave the kids some money for ice cream ($9). We were all asleep by 12:00 am. Thursday, April 8th - Like a Mission: Space virgin, gettin’ G’s for the very first time… Everyone was up by 8:15 am and we got to Epcot by 9:30 am. We went directly to Mission Space for fast passes, then to Test Track for fast passes. I’m not sure why they let you get another fast pass right away, but who’s going to argue about it? Our Test Track fast passes came with surprise fast passes for Honey I Shrunk the Audience, so being the obedient guests we are, we headed right over to see the show. As usual, Brittani had a fit when she felt the mice (screaming/laughing at all once), and the rest of us enjoyed it because it had been a while since we had seen this show. Afterwards, we had a 5-minute wait for Journey into Imagination. It was okay, but Kerry said he missed the part where they tested your imagination. The kids used to love the room when you leave the ride, but this time they just walked right on through it. By this time, it was a little after 11 am and we weren’t super hungry, but we also did not want to eat right before Mission Space, so we decided to go ahead and have lunch at Sunshine Food Fair (if you’ve seen our pictures, you know we don’t have to convince ourselves very hard to eat!!). We all got something different ($33), including ice cream and key lime pie ($5) for dessert (what happened to us not being super hungry??). When we were done with lunch, we let Matt and Justin leave for Innoventions while Kerry, Brittani, and I got fast passes for Living with the Land, then watched the Circle of Life film. After the film, we relaxed for a bit while waiting for our fast pass time and then enjoyed a nice relaxing ride at Living with the Land. It was then time to stop by and drag the boys out of Innoventions for our ride to space. It was a long fast pass line (we waited about 20 minutes), but it sure beat the 135-minute wait for stand by! I actually got to enjoy the ride this time since I was so paranoid in October when I rode it for the first time that I couldn’t enjoy it (I’ve had vertigo twice before). Kerry enjoyed his “virgin” ride. He didn’t ride it in October because he is sometimes claustrophobic. I did feel a little queasy towards the end, but I think it’s because I was trying to watch the little monitor to the left. Next time, my eyes aren’t moving from my own screen!!! :) It had rained for the first time during our trip while we were on Mission Space, so the fast pass line for Test Track was really backed up. We probably waited over 30 minutes, but once again, the alternative was much worse! The ride was fun, as this is another ride we hadn’t done in a while. After our ride, we walked through Ice Station Cool for drinks (my favorite is Israel’s and Kerry’s favorite is China’s). Then we made plans to meet up with the boys later since we were ready for a break and they were ready to get back into Innoventions. We gave them a cell phone and money for dinner ($10) and set them free. I dropped Kerry and Brittani off at the resort and went to Subway to get us dinner ($15). We relaxed in the room for a while and then got ready to go to Epcot around 7:30 pm. When we first got in the park, we rode Spaceship Earth (a walk-on). Kerry has to be talked into going on this ride, but I love, love, love it!! After Spaceship Earth, we met up with the boys and got a lovely cement seat on the ground near the Mexico pavilion for Illuminations. The show was awesome (it’s my favorite nighttime show), and we grabbed a bench after it was over to relax and let the crowds thin out. We were back to our room by 10 pm and Brittani and Justin went for a late night swim. Friday, April 9th - Guess we have to go home sometime… We woke up with the “check-out blues.” We had planned to go to the Trail’s End breakfast buffet, but by the time we got ready, we felt like it was too late to try to get there by 11 am. We instead drove over to the Polynesian to try Kona Café and were seated immediately. The breakfast here was awesome. Justin, Brittani, and I got the Big Kahuna, Kerry got the regular french toast breakfast, and Matt got the famous Tonga Toast (the kid worships bananas). Breakfast was $52 and well worth it. After breakfast, we let the kids catch the monorail to the MK while we drove back to Port Orleans to check out. After a quick purchase in the gift shop and one last refill of Coke, we headed over to MGM where I dropped Kerry off to pick up the monogrammed mouse ears we had ordered on Thursday. After the errand, we went back to the Polynesian and sat in the lobby waiting for the kids to come back from the MK. Matt is very intrigued by Walt Disney (he loves One Man’s Dream) and had wanted a Steamboat Willie shirt all week. We had not been able to find one, but Kerry and I did see a Steamboat Willie keychain in the gift shop at the Polynesian, so we bought it for Matt as a surprise. We sat it up on the table next to us to see how long it would take Matt to notice it when they got back. Sure enough, Justin and Brittani saw it first and I had to give them “the eye” to let them know not to say anything. When Matt finally saw it, he was very excited and gave me a big hug (which at his age is getting to be a rare occurrence). We sadly headed out to the van for our trip home. We did hit some traffic on the way home, but still made it from the Polynesian to our driveway in just a tad bit over 7 hours, including a gasoline and dinner stop!!! FINAL THOUGHTS We had really wanted to play miniature golf, Kerry and I had wanted to go to Comedy Warehouse one night, and we had planned to enjoy the Boardwalk entertainment this trip. However, I always think it’s good to come home with “unfinished business” in a way because it gives you a lot to look forward to on the next trip. We stayed within our budget really well, spending just under $2,500. Pop Century was pretty nice. At first, I didn’t like it very much and I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was I didn’t like (since I’ve always loved the value resorts), but it ended up growing on me and I think the lake is a really nice extra. Everyone was right about all the buildings being really close to the main building. The towel animals were as good as the ones we saw on our cruise last October, and mousekeeping seemed grateful for the tips we left. It was also a nice perk to be able to see the fireworks from the hotel! We loved Port Orleans French Quarter too. It was so quiet and relaxing and my favorite part about this hotel is its small size. It makes getting around so easy. I’m also crazy about the theming, the greenery, and all the benches and pathways. We thought the room was very elegant, and it looked like the comforters were brand new. The furniture was also beautiful and looked like it belonged in a deluxe hotel room. We definitely want to stay at this resort again! I’m really very pleased that my family doesn’t mind having one room. For some reason, and even with the kids getting older and bigger, it’s not ever a problem with us all being in one room. They don’t mind sleeping on the floor at all (and sometimes they will even argue over who GETS to sleep on the floor), and I guess the fact that we are somewhat neat and orderly helps. I’m also really glad we didn’t go ahead and get us all a refillable mug at both resorts (that would have been $120), since we really didn’t end up using them much at all. I’m really the only one who loves drinking Coke, so getting one for each person would have been a waste. ‘Ohana was just incredible and I think we might want to go there on every trip from now on. Boma was pretty good, but since we are simple folk with simple tastes, it’s not a restaurant we will need to visit again. We are really used to long vacations (almost all of ours have been 9 nights), so this vacation seemed pretty short. However, we all agree that it was one of our best. Besides the one day at Magic Kingdom, the crowds weren’t much different than they were back in October. The weather started out absolutely perfect, then got hotter towards the end of the week. However, it was still cooler than it was in October. It was neat to be able to let the kids go off on their own. We are pretty protective of the kids, but we both felt comfortable letting them venture off on their own (with a cell phone in tow). I know that they enjoyed this freedom a lot as well. For us, the only way to combat the back-to-home blues is to start planning for the next trip, so that’s exactly what we’re working on now. We had spent five nights at All Star Music and a 3-night cruise on the Disney Wonder in October of last year, and plan to take another cruise (4-night) with friends in January 2005. We would also like to stay at a deluxe resort (hopefully the Polynesian) for the first time on that trip. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Lisa Willis willis5family@yahoo.com Mail a Comment to Lisa Willis |
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