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| Kathleen Vogel -- April 2006 - Walt Disney World (FWC)The CastMyself - 8 trips Somehow, and exactly what transpired I cannot clearly remember, our local Cub Scout pack decided to host a trip to Walt Disney World in order to take advantage of the wonderful youth group program that Disney offers. Being the Disney lover I am I offered to spearhead the committee to plan the trip. Somehow the committee ended up being ME. I happily contacted Disney Youth Groups, and was sent all the required information. Since this was a scout trip we decided that we would camp, although that was not a requirement to take part in activities. Only two families ended up camping. Disney offers groups the camping option of “The Meadow”, a wide-open field in which to pitch your tents. Keep in mind I had one previous tent camping experience, and it wasn’t pretty. Camping in leaky tents during a rainstorm on Cape Cod with my husband and our three children ages 1, 5,and 6. I opted for proffered sites. Something about being so close to the trailers was comforting! Mode of Transport: Car. During previous visits we have always driven to Disney, and basically everywhere else as my father refuses to allow his grandchildren on a plane if he has anything to say about it! We departed on Saturday, shooting for an 11:00 am departure time, which naturally led us to a 12:30 actual departure. We all jumped eagerly in our trusty Dodge Durango, trailer attached for the camping equipment, and nothing. We had a dead battery. So after this brief delay, we were off like a herd of turtles. We had a rather uneventful ride, although my sister in law who had never driven this long was rather upset about hour 20 when her ankles disappeared. I was used to this occurrence but did forget to mention it to her! We arrived in Orlando about 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. We checked into the Doubletree Resort near Downtown Disney for the first night. After showering (which was needed badly at this point) we headed off to the airport to pick up my brother who was flying in for a few days. The plan was to head to Universal Citywalk for dinner, since the kids and I have never been. We got there about 6:00, and headed to Margaritaville for our Easter Dinner. We only had about a 45-minute wait. Not bad since we were expecting much longer. I had called to make a reservation and was told they were unable to accommodate any more large groups. The meal was good, but we were all pretty wiped from our ride, so my poor brother, who was ready to party, instead went to bed! We arose from our exhausted slumber on Monday morning and my sister in law was excited to see her ankles had reappeared! My father, uncle, the children and myself headed out for breakfast at Ohana’s. We opted to walk to Downtown Disney and catch the bus right to the Polynesian, rather than wait with the large crowd that had gathered outside the hotel. It only took a few minutes and gave us a chance to scope out other hotels along the way. We found the stop for the Polynesian and sat down to wait. A few buses came, several for the Wilderness Lodge, but no Polynesian bus. Finally another bus for the Wilderness Lodge came, and since we were the only people there the driver offered to take us wherever we needed to go! On the way to the Polynesian he asked us several times if we were sure that’s where we needed to go, he’d take us wherever. Apparently he was worried we were really headed to the Magic Kingdom but were afraid to tell him! Once at the Polynesian I checked us in, and we took the kids over to get their pictures taken. My dad and Uncle headed off to the coffee stand to get our day really started. We were seated fairly quickly, and our waitress came over to get our drink orders. She brought the food out right away, and it was delicious. We all ate heartily. During our visit my older two kids took part in the parade with the characters. My youngest gets a little shy, so he held back. Mickey, Lilo, Stich, and Pluto came to our table for autographs and pictures. I really enjoyed this breakfast; I didn’t feel rushed, or crowded. Of course after we left we realized no one ever came around with our pictures! Bummer! My kids are really good about not asking for lots of souvenirs, in fact it’s rare they ask for anything, other than pins! But they like to get as many pictures as possible for our scrapbooks. It was finally time to go meet my brother and Pam at the campground and check in. The plan was to meet up with the other scout families at the Starlight Cookout that evening, so we would spend the afternoon setting up the sites, and I had to go pick up the group tickets at the TTC. We were in the 1600 Loop, I think! It was close to the bus stop, the comfort station, and a short walk to the pool! Since the group sales window is only open until 2:00 Pam, my brother and I headed down to the dock, caught a boat to the Magic Kingdom, and the monorail to the TTC. We got there about 1:30, and saw the young man closing the blind! After a brief look at my desperate face he stopped lowering the blind and got me my tickets. Whew! We happily returned to the sites with the tickets for all. As I began to sort the tickets I realized that I had miscounted, and we were one ticket short. Uh Oh. I called our group sales rep and left her a message. I headed to the front desk to see what we could do about it. The very nice young lady behind the desk offered to put the ticket on our room key. Apparently I missed something because as I walked back to the bus stop our rep called me and told me to head right back and have my key fixed, they had charged me an adult three-day park hopper at full price! I quickly rectified that and was told to report to the group sales window on Tuesday morning for the last ticket. At 6:00 our group finally all got together at the Clementines Beach area for our cookout. I cannot say enough about this event, it was wonderful. We had three tables set up, and typical cookout fare. We were served, buffet style, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, potato chips, fruit salad, and blueberry cobbler, along with Iced Tea and Lemonade. Our coordinator for this event was Jeremy Ong, and he was great. I wish I could remember our hostess’ name, I think it was Robin, she was also wonderful. I’m terrible with names. It was such a nice spot, on the beach, not a lot of other people going by. Everyone got to sit and actually talk to each other. We had one child with special dietary needs and Jeremy was able to not only accommodate this child’s needs, but also do it in a low-key way that none of the other children even noticed he had a different meal! After the cookout those of us camping decided to get our suits on, come back for the Electrical Water Pageant, which we had never seen as we always stay at the Epcot Resorts area, then go for a swim. On our way to the beach for the pageant we stopped at Crocketts Tavern for a frosty beverage and what luck, we got there in time to see the highlights of another Red Sox victory! We loved the Water Pageant, and then let the kids blow off some steam at the pool. Sadly we didn’t realize that there were no towels available for use at the pool. It was a chilly walk back! The kids and I were up early on Tuesday as we were headed to the Magic Kingdom for the Youth Education Series class the American Adventure. This was a class for scouts only, so while myself and another parent took 11 scouts, the rest of our group slept in. we were to meet up at 10:30 at the PoC entrance plaza. We met our group leader Dorise at the TTC. She was great. While I went to the window for our additional ticket the group got our nametags and we were off! We hopped the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, breezed through security, and headed to Liberty Square. There Dorise gave each child a card with a US President on it, and they did a nice activity to learn some facts about each. We then headed to the Deep South for a ride on Splash Mountain. Dorise had each child look for something while on the ride, then discussed the history of storytelling and it’s important link to our past. After this it was on to Thunder Mountain Railroad for a foray into the gold rush. We then returned our group to Liberty Square for a viewing of the Hall of Presidents, stopping along the way to learn about bartering, as it would have been used in the days of westward expansion. In all my trips to Disney I had never bothered to stop at the Hall of Presidents, and I wish I had. Wow! I was very impressed. The younger kids in the group weren’t so interested, but they did well. After that we reported back to the square where each child got to ring the Liberty Bell, and sign a Declaration of Independence. All in all a great program, and I’m very glad we did it! After we dispersed at the PoC plaza we met up with my dad and uncle and were off! At this point we rode the PoC, and then headed to Fantasy Land where we got in line for IASW. This is my favorite ride! While in line my brother and Pam arrived, so we spent a little longer together at MK, then headed to Ft Wilderness for lunch. After lunch we went to Epcot where we rode Spaceship Earth, Ellen’s UoE and had our biannual visit to Figment. After that we headed to the UK pavilion for dinner at the Rose & Crown. We had never eaten here so it was a new experience! After checking in we were told that it would be a few minutes. No problem! We grabbed a beer at the stand next to the check-in podium and had a seat on the sidewalk. We entertained ourselves with watching people go by, or stop to try and get a table without ADR’s! I found it odd that people got angry with the CM’s because they didn’t have ADR’s and there were no tables available! It was Easter week, during Spring Break. I guess because I’m an obsessive planner I would never dream of going to Disney without all my TS meals planned out. The meal itself was very good. We ordered some mushrooms in cream sauce for appetizers and various entrees. No complaints from our group. The interior of the restaurant is very nice as well. After dinner we walked the World Showcase and got our wristbands for evening EMH. At 9:00 we got Fast Passes for Test Track, and headed over to Soarin. The wait was 60 minutes, which worked because standby for Test Track was 90 minutes when we got the FP. I enjoyed Soarin. It was well done. After Test Track we were too tired to go on, so back to the campground we went! We were up and out on Wednesday early (even my brother and Pam) to get to the AK for Expedition Everest! As we arrived at the park Pam went to get the FP and we went for the elixir of life otherwise know as coffee! We met up at Dinosaur and got in line. The line was very short and soon we were hurling through time! I always forget just how much you get bounced around on this ride. Once we were through with this ride we headed over to the Kilamanjaro Safari. This line was long, but it was better to wait since we didn’t intend on spending the whole day at AK and the line for EE was much longer therefore a better use of the FP. We enjoy the Safari, and do it every trip, but it’s not a big favorite. We did get to see more hippos this time, but I am still yet to see the lions! I think they are imaginary. After the Safari we did ITTBAB, which was great because we managed to keep the secret at the end from my uncle. It was now time for us to strap on our climbing gear and head to Everest. Now my 10-year-old LOVES rides but if they are unknown to him he tends to get himself worked up before he even gets on the ride. So naturally as we approached EE he started to freak out. Normally I wouldn’t make him ride something he didn’t want to, but I knew he would be really bummed out if he missed this one, so like those horrible parents we all judge while in line, I dragged him crying through the queue. I would like to tell you the details of the trip, but the screaming 10 year old next to me had most of my attention. The ride was great, and I’m glad to report that once we got out of our seats he proclaimed it was “awesome” and has proceeded to tell everyone that this is now his favorite ride, so stop dialing Social Services! Of course his 7year old brother, who is fearless, follows up with “how would you know? you cried the whole time”. Ah brothers! We then boarded Kali River Rapids, as my brother needed to get to the airport to fly home to work. Pam had a plan that if we stuck all the ‘men” on one side of the raft they would get soaked and we would not. She dared to taunt them, as well as the gods, and we were punished! She bore the brunt of the soaking, but I also suffered the wrath! At this point Pam took her hubby to the airport and we headed back to the campground for lunch. We enjoyed the Trails End restaurant, it was a nice little place, and not very crowded. After eating we went to the site to meet up with Pam. We were having dinner at the San Angel Inn. Upon arrival at Epcot we headed right to the restaurant. We were seated right next to the railing for El Rio Del Tiempo, so we could se the boats floating by. Our meals we’re good, very spicy. All the adults had Filete Motuleno - Grilled beef tenderloin over black beans and melted cheese, sauce ranchero, poblano pepper strips and fried plantain. We all had clear sinuses when we left. There was a mariachi band playing while we ate, which added to the atmosphere. We then headed back to MK for a ride on Space Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, and Stitchs Great Escape. We hit Stitchs Great Escape first, while the group was in line I went to get Space Mtn FP, and when I returned was informed that my brother had called- he was stuck in Cleveland, but the airline had gotten him a hotel room and given him a whole $6 for dinner. What sports! We headed to the Jungle Cruise after Stitch, then killed some time eating a Dole Whip! It was a beautiful night and it was nice to relax. After enjoying our treats we staked out a spot for Wishes. We stayed close to the bridge to Tommorowland, the better to use our Space Mountain FP after the show! Since my uncle hadn’t seen Wishes before it was pretty cool to see his reaction. After Space Mtn we headed off to bed! After a good night recharging our batteries we headed out to an early lunch at Le Cellier so we took a bus to Epcot. We had a wonderful meal, several great martinis (my father especially loved the ice wine martini) and we were to MGM Studios. During our visit in 2004 my youngest was too small to ride the Rockin Roller Coaster, and he didn’t forget it. For two years all we heard was about how he couldn’t wait to ride the RRC. Thankfully he was tall enough this time around, and he loved it! We then grabbed some FP for Tower of Terror. We headed back to Muppets 3-D, our favorite of the 3D movies! Then worked our way forward, hitting the Great Movie Ride. We did the walkthrough for Chronicles of Narnia, a favorite in our household! My dad, my uncle and I went to ride the ToT, while Pam took the kids to the pin store located in the hat. We had 4 extra FP for ToT , so when a group of teens came around, saw the wait time and groaned, I happily passed the FP to them! It was nice that they kept thanking me in line, but it got embarrassing after a while. My uncle was really funny, he thought there was just the one drop, so after the initial drop he actually said, “ That was nothing” to which my father and I immediately snickered “ just wait”. He was singing a different tune when we got off the ride! After the ToT we met up with Pam and decided to ride the RRC again. We headed off, waited in line. While in line my daughter mentioned how she liked the giant doughnut. Apparently Pam had never noticed the giant doughnut, so she was excited to look for it on the ride. Of course once we got off the ride she wasn’t sure how she missed it! We had dinner at the 50’s Prime Time- otherwise known to us as Moms. We love this restaurant. It is a must do for us every visit! I always am amazed when I see people who aren’t able to get into the spirit of the place. While we were there a large family group was seated near us, and another group of younger girls with their chaperone. The young girls were into the spirit of the place and were having a blast, but you could tell the family was not…at all. I even heard one of the dads say he wasn’t going to tip the waitress! He felt she had “harassed” him. Luckily what I can only assume was the grandmother spoke up and said she would then leave double the tip! Our waitress, Auntie Claire, was fantastic! She even did the airplane / open the hanger to my dad for not joining the clean plate club! I got this on video, and it has provided us many moments of entertainment since we got home. In fact it was Pam’s favorite moment of the trip! So my best advice is if you want to eat here, either get in the spirit, or don’t go, you won’t enjoy it. After dinner we had a few minutes to just roam around and enjoy the atmosphere. We were going to attend the 10:00 showing of Fantasmic. About 8:45 we headed over to the show entrance, and the very kind gentleman there told us to come back at 9:30, that we would be fine, there were plenty of seats- he promised! With all that time to waste we figured what the heck, and rode RRC again! We headed to Fantasmic about 9:40, and sure enough there was plenty of seating. We were right up front. Fantasmic is our favorite show at the World. It impressed my Uncle and we all went home happy! It was finally Friday, time to check out and move to the Embassy Suites on Lake Ave. We first decided to head over to the Trails End for breakfast, and then take down the site and head out. We stayed one night at the Embassy Suites on our last visit in 04 and found it to be very nice. I ran in to check in since it was early and we weren’t sure the room would be ready. There were two staff members checking people in, and both were occupied with other guests, so I waited. And waited. Now, one of the guests was having a genuine issue, and I didn’t have any problem with this, but the other was a woman who was telling the young man behind the counter all about her kids, and her dogs, and on an on. It was ridiculous. She was still talking when the other rep opened up. As I stepped up for my turn, another guest steps right in front of me! Luckily for him the woman behind the desk explained that I was next, because I was in no mood for that kind of thing! I got us checked in, we headed up to our room on the second floor. Upon entering we noticed the light over the table doesn’t work, the small sink at the wet bar didn’t work, however it did produce a loud grinding noise. We reported this at the desk on our way to Sea World and were assured they would send someone up. We spent about 7 hours at Sea World, and this was a few too long for us. We don’t really go for the shows, so we walked around saw all the animals on display. My father, Uncle and I decided we wanted to ride Kracken, which left Pam with the kids, so we decided to head over around the start of the Sea Lion show. Counting on long lines we wanted to be sure Pam wasn’t sitting around with three kids after the show. We go there and had about a 5 minute wait. I couldn’t believe it. It seemed like maybe earlier there had been a lot of school groups there and they had left. Kracken was great, it was a thrilling ride, and I found it to move along very smoothly, not a lot of bouncing around. We got off the ride and missed the start of the Sea Lion show everyone else went to by about 3 minutes! Oh well, we had to just sit and have a beer while we waited! We basically hung around after that, as we had 7:30 reservations for the Dine with Shamu meal. We were seated right next to the tank, since we were a large group, but not everyone was right next to the ropes, and I did hear complaints. The meal was ok, nothing to really write home about, but very edible. Desserts were GREAT! And to have the whales just swimming around like that was incredible. All in all we enjoyed Sea World, but I’m glad that we had some passes given to us, since it’s kind of expensive. After we headed out, and had a tough time getting out of the parking lot since my father was nervous about driving over the spike strip, which he only did after several loops around the lot, we went back to the hotel. The light was fixed, the sink was not. We decided to hit the hay, we had a long drive back coming. In the morning we headed down to the complimentary breakfast, which was tasty. I wish they had more seating though. Then we let the kids hit the pool for a few minutes before we left for home. We reattached the equipment trailer to the truck, Pam bid her ankles a fond farewell and we were off! Our feelings about the trip were all pretty positive. The crowds were heavy, but not really as bad as I had thought they would be, as it was one of the busiest weeks of the year. I assume long park hours were to thank for that. This was my first time being on the planning end of a youth group trip to Disney, and found it to be very planner friendly. The Youth Group staff was really responsive, even when dealing with an obsessive/compulsive planner like myself! I would have no problems volunteering to plan another trip for a large group. Of course my next trip is in October for MNSSHP with a group of my family, 12 in all! The constant updates help make every trip a truly unique experience, and the ability to revisit old favorites brings good memories to mind. Kathleen Vogel
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