BabybetterDisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
In a previous post, I described my trip briefly but couldn’t finish because I was sick. I got sick soon after I got back from our WDW trip (though I didn’t catch it from Disney World). Now that I’ve recovered, I want to talk more about my trip.
To recap, we recently stayed at the Poly, Boardwalk, Riverside, AKL, CBR, the Contemporary, and GF for one night each. The rest of the time, we stayed at Pop. We moved hotel a total of 9 times because we had 3 separate Pop reservations. It was a lot of work to move like that, especially with just me and 3 kids. DS18 is disabled and can’t help much except to pull the luggage, so our luggage transfer was a cinch. We pulled it everyday to bell services and then went to get it at new hotel. Except or the Contemporary, because of their slow elevators, I called bell services and they came and took my luggage from me and shipped it directly to GF, our next hotel. I called and the luggage lady showed up in 20 minutes. For every other transfer, including at the Grand, we pulled the luggage ourselves. It worked out nicely.
I didn’t mind all this packing because it gave me something to do in the morning. Otherwise I’d just be re-reading Harry Potter. I put a cell phone in the luggage so that I could track the GPS and know where it was at all times and when it got transferred. Sometimes the transfer didn’t happen until around 3 p.m. Sometimes I forgot to put the cell phone in. But overall, our 9 luggage transfers worked without a glitch. I am a efficiency expert; I love it when things work without a glitch!
I really enjoyed staying at all those hotels because it was very interesting for me and the kids. Everyday, there was a new place to be and something to do: we had to take the bus, monorail, boat or walk to our new home! It was like being pioneers of the American west, luxury style. There was a new room, new theming, new food court (or lack thereof, in the case of Boardwalk), new restaurant. We walked to the restaurants we ate at: 1900 PF, Boma, Sanna, Trattoria. And most importantly, there’s a new pool and sometimes new playground. We never had to wait for our new rooms to be ready except for at AKL, when we waited for 10 minutes at 5 p.m..
One of the hotels I wanted to stay in but didn’t was All Star Movies because its remodeling wasn’t finished, and I had no way of guaranteeing ourselves a refurbished room (kids are too big to fit into the old double beds). So I will do it next time. Also, we are going to French Quarter instead of Riverside next time because DS3 rather liked their splash pad there. His most favorite splash pad is the one at CBR. He did not like that Mad Hatter splash pad at GF, however, and refused to play on it. I don’t know why. It looked similar to the others; they all have water dumping from big buckets above. The GF splash pad also had the least number of kids playing in there.
DS3 liked CBR’s splash pad so well that I am thinking about going back to WDW soon just to stay at CBR so that DS3 can play on the splash pad some more. DS3 has been going to Disney World since he was 8 months old. He is generally indifferent to the rides, though he liked the playgrounds and splash pads. This year was the magical turning point where he reached the 40 inches requirement and be allowed at all the big boy rides. I measured him at home; he was 39.5 inches tall. However, I also bought him a pair of Darth Vader sandals($53!) from MK. Their heels were at least ¾ inch thick.
So with the help of the magical sandals, DS3 got on Soaring, Terror Tower and Slpash Mountain for the first time this trip. We took him to measure his height at the entrance AND the end of the ride wait lines and told him to stand straight. The more I said “stand straight, sweetheart,” the more he slumped. So I grabbed him by the cheeks and pressed his head against the height bar while DS13 pushed his feet against the ground. So he passed. At Terror Tower, I told him that “this is a ride that makes your butt float.” So he went through the ride indifferently while all the people around us screamed.
(The Rise of the Resistance is rumored to have a 4 story drop at the end. I think they are going to simulate the loss of gravity with it.)
Of the 7 hotels we stayed at, I particularly loved Boardwalk and the Contemporary rooms and will try to go back some time. The Contemp looks rather modern (and gave us chocolate covered strawberries!), and Boardwalk is just lovely. Pop and CBR have always been our favorite two hotels.
Moving so much also had disadvantages. We missed things at each hotel due to the lack of time. We forgot to fish at POR, and never took the water taxi to Disney Springs. I forgot to check out the garden building at the Contemporary because we got upgraded to the main building. We never walked around the lake at CBR. We never toured Art of Animation even though I’ve planned to do so every year since it opened. We forgot to try out the quiet pool’s new quick service spot at the Poly (it‘s supposed to be good). We were able to eat marshmallows twice, once at CBR and once at GF. I heard that Pop is also serving marshmallows this year but never saw it (or thought of looking). We swam at all the main pools but missed out on most quiet pools, which I actually prefer because I like quiet, but the kids of course like the main pools. I will remember to do all that next time.
Our trip was to celebrate DS18’s high school graduation; he worked very hard last year despite his disability and we are very proud of him.
DS20 stayed home. He never goes to WDW with us. Unlike DS18, he is one sucky kid. When he was 14, he once spent the night at a friend’s house. The friend lived next to a grocery store, and it was near my birthday then, so I gave him $10 and told him to buy me a birthday present at the store. The next day, he came back with a tiny candy for me that’s worth 50 cents. I asked him where’s the rest of the money? He said he used it to buy one sandwich for himself and one for his friend. He also told me his friend had commented, “Wow, this candy should make sure that your mom will always love you!”
When he was 16, DS20 took a shop class where they carved pictures into boards (He did the design on the computer, then some machine did the carving). He proudly presented me with his creation. His board had a huge turkey on it, above which had big letters that said “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”
When he was 17, DS20 wanted a laptop to use in his room, so I gave him my best laptop. A year later, I found out that he stabbed my laptop full of holes with his knife just for the fun of it! Luckily, the holes are shallow and doesn’t affect the functioning of the laptop. So I took it back.
So now I am considering going to Disneyland next January. DS18 wants to go, and we haven’t been there in 5 years.
To recap, we recently stayed at the Poly, Boardwalk, Riverside, AKL, CBR, the Contemporary, and GF for one night each. The rest of the time, we stayed at Pop. We moved hotel a total of 9 times because we had 3 separate Pop reservations. It was a lot of work to move like that, especially with just me and 3 kids. DS18 is disabled and can’t help much except to pull the luggage, so our luggage transfer was a cinch. We pulled it everyday to bell services and then went to get it at new hotel. Except or the Contemporary, because of their slow elevators, I called bell services and they came and took my luggage from me and shipped it directly to GF, our next hotel. I called and the luggage lady showed up in 20 minutes. For every other transfer, including at the Grand, we pulled the luggage ourselves. It worked out nicely.
I didn’t mind all this packing because it gave me something to do in the morning. Otherwise I’d just be re-reading Harry Potter. I put a cell phone in the luggage so that I could track the GPS and know where it was at all times and when it got transferred. Sometimes the transfer didn’t happen until around 3 p.m. Sometimes I forgot to put the cell phone in. But overall, our 9 luggage transfers worked without a glitch. I am a efficiency expert; I love it when things work without a glitch!
I really enjoyed staying at all those hotels because it was very interesting for me and the kids. Everyday, there was a new place to be and something to do: we had to take the bus, monorail, boat or walk to our new home! It was like being pioneers of the American west, luxury style. There was a new room, new theming, new food court (or lack thereof, in the case of Boardwalk), new restaurant. We walked to the restaurants we ate at: 1900 PF, Boma, Sanna, Trattoria. And most importantly, there’s a new pool and sometimes new playground. We never had to wait for our new rooms to be ready except for at AKL, when we waited for 10 minutes at 5 p.m..
One of the hotels I wanted to stay in but didn’t was All Star Movies because its remodeling wasn’t finished, and I had no way of guaranteeing ourselves a refurbished room (kids are too big to fit into the old double beds). So I will do it next time. Also, we are going to French Quarter instead of Riverside next time because DS3 rather liked their splash pad there. His most favorite splash pad is the one at CBR. He did not like that Mad Hatter splash pad at GF, however, and refused to play on it. I don’t know why. It looked similar to the others; they all have water dumping from big buckets above. The GF splash pad also had the least number of kids playing in there.
DS3 liked CBR’s splash pad so well that I am thinking about going back to WDW soon just to stay at CBR so that DS3 can play on the splash pad some more. DS3 has been going to Disney World since he was 8 months old. He is generally indifferent to the rides, though he liked the playgrounds and splash pads. This year was the magical turning point where he reached the 40 inches requirement and be allowed at all the big boy rides. I measured him at home; he was 39.5 inches tall. However, I also bought him a pair of Darth Vader sandals($53!) from MK. Their heels were at least ¾ inch thick.
So with the help of the magical sandals, DS3 got on Soaring, Terror Tower and Slpash Mountain for the first time this trip. We took him to measure his height at the entrance AND the end of the ride wait lines and told him to stand straight. The more I said “stand straight, sweetheart,” the more he slumped. So I grabbed him by the cheeks and pressed his head against the height bar while DS13 pushed his feet against the ground. So he passed. At Terror Tower, I told him that “this is a ride that makes your butt float.” So he went through the ride indifferently while all the people around us screamed.
(The Rise of the Resistance is rumored to have a 4 story drop at the end. I think they are going to simulate the loss of gravity with it.)
Of the 7 hotels we stayed at, I particularly loved Boardwalk and the Contemporary rooms and will try to go back some time. The Contemp looks rather modern (and gave us chocolate covered strawberries!), and Boardwalk is just lovely. Pop and CBR have always been our favorite two hotels.
Moving so much also had disadvantages. We missed things at each hotel due to the lack of time. We forgot to fish at POR, and never took the water taxi to Disney Springs. I forgot to check out the garden building at the Contemporary because we got upgraded to the main building. We never walked around the lake at CBR. We never toured Art of Animation even though I’ve planned to do so every year since it opened. We forgot to try out the quiet pool’s new quick service spot at the Poly (it‘s supposed to be good). We were able to eat marshmallows twice, once at CBR and once at GF. I heard that Pop is also serving marshmallows this year but never saw it (or thought of looking). We swam at all the main pools but missed out on most quiet pools, which I actually prefer because I like quiet, but the kids of course like the main pools. I will remember to do all that next time.
Our trip was to celebrate DS18’s high school graduation; he worked very hard last year despite his disability and we are very proud of him.
DS20 stayed home. He never goes to WDW with us. Unlike DS18, he is one sucky kid. When he was 14, he once spent the night at a friend’s house. The friend lived next to a grocery store, and it was near my birthday then, so I gave him $10 and told him to buy me a birthday present at the store. The next day, he came back with a tiny candy for me that’s worth 50 cents. I asked him where’s the rest of the money? He said he used it to buy one sandwich for himself and one for his friend. He also told me his friend had commented, “Wow, this candy should make sure that your mom will always love you!”
When he was 16, DS20 took a shop class where they carved pictures into boards (He did the design on the computer, then some machine did the carving). He proudly presented me with his creation. His board had a huge turkey on it, above which had big letters that said “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”
When he was 17, DS20 wanted a laptop to use in his room, so I gave him my best laptop. A year later, I found out that he stabbed my laptop full of holes with his knife just for the fun of it! Luckily, the holes are shallow and doesn’t affect the functioning of the laptop. So I took it back.
So now I am considering going to Disneyland next January. DS18 wants to go, and we haven’t been there in 5 years.
