sprousehouse
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2014
Cast - Me (Sarah, 37) DH (Todd, 39), Alex DD7 (roller coaster junkie), James DS5 (happy-go-lucky), MIL (Nana), FIL (Papa), My Mom (Grammy).
We drove down from Raleigh, NC - left Friday, stopped outside Savannah the first night and arrived Saturday 11/27.
11/28 - We arrived and checked in out 3bdrm condo at Hilton Grand Vacations I-Drive (in-laws are owners, we traveled free on bonus points). I hit Costco and Publix while the kids and DH played in the pool. The resort is lovely but I did feel like the staff told us what we wanted to hear (we could have early check-in when we couldn’t) rather than the reality. We had a similar experience later in the week when we asked for housekeeping and they didn’t come. On the upside having a kitchen was worth so much as we packed in lunches several days and cooked our own breakfast and dinners (I had made beef stew and roasted vegetable & chicken soup and brought them frozen) and the room was quiet and comfortable. They had grills around outside which we used for burgers and leg of lamb.
11/29 - MK - (Just me, DH, DD7 & DD5) We were very early - chosen as First Monorail Family of the day and got extra FP and balloons which we gave to some folks with strollers. BOG breakfast, preordered. All food was decent, they gave us extra pastries which I put in baggies and made great snacks later - atmosphere was beautiful!
We went in at 7:45 and took tons of pictures along Main Street. Finished up about 8:45 and rode 7DMT. Hit Pooh, Small World, PP w/ FP, Barnstormer, Tea Cups, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Splash, BTMMR, MC, Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, SM w/FP, Buzz w/ FP, AO, Ariel. Rode 7DMT and SM again with our extra FP. My kids did not want to see characters and we saved the shows for later in the week when the grandparents came. So essentially we did every ride but Dumbo and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Left 4:15 as the party crowds were coming in. (No stroller this day, packed in lunch in a backpack.)
11/30 - DHS - (Just Me, DH, DD7 and DS5). Went to RnR, got a rider switch as DS5 is too small. DD7 & I rode RnR (20 min wait) while DH & DS5 rode ToT (DS did not like this). Switched kids and DS5 and I headed over to ST where we spent most of the day. We rode it at least 10x! Used FP at TSMM, ToT (just switched bands and let DD7 ride 2x because DS didn't want to go again). Did the Frozen Sing-a-Long, played some on the playground in the back & got DS the Darth Vader magic shot (he was VERY pleased as this was the one magic shot he really wanted – made up for DD & I using the FP). We packed lunch in and were home by probably 5PM.
12/1 - MK (Me, DH, DD7, DS5, Nana & Papa) - We hit RD without Nana & Papa (they flew in from CA the night before) DD & I rode SM 5x, DS & DH hit Buzz 2x, AO and I'm not sure what else. We met Nana and Papa at 11 am JC for our FP, hit Tiki Room, BTMRR, FP at Haunted Mansion and FP Pirates, explored Tom Sawyer's Island (which blows the Disneyland version out of the water!! Nana brought walkie talkies and we tried to track them all over the island.) Saw the parade and did Hall of Presidents. Then we headed to Epcot for dinner at Via Napoli. We were seated right away and the food was good.
My Mom was flying in this night and too bad her flight was delayed, otherwise she would have been ready to be picked up at Ft. Wilderness right as we were leaving. As it was we went back to the condo, got the kids ready for bed, prepped lunch food for the next day and FIL and I headed back out for her. I mostly felt bad that she ended up staying up so late and was a bit tired the next day.
12/2 – HS (Whole gang) – The four of us arrived at 8am and were first at our Mickey readers as we were signing up for JTA. They let us in about 8:40 and DH & the kids were among the 1st 10 families (minus those w/ breakfast reservations) and we got the show we wanted at 11:40. Headed to internal RD – DD & I to RnR and DH/DS to Star Tours. We rode those and met the grandparents about 9:30 for our FP at TSMM, we then hit Launch Bay, skipped the movie and did pictures w/ Chewy(10 min) and Vader (40min) and looked at the other stuff and managed to catch a Jawa near the Cantina. Then headed over to prep the kids for JTA which they loved. The pictures from JTA are amazing – even my FIL was impressed & he is a professional photographer. (Not sure everyone’s experience would be the same, but we were pleased.)
We then did our ST FP, ate lunch, hit the Path of the Jedi movie and used our FP at Indy. Then we went to B&B, took DD to RnR 2 more times, grandparents went to ice cream and then we rode Star Tours again. We went back to Launch Bay for the movie (Grandparents went to the Great Movie ride) and the line was probably 25 minutes, kids enjoyed the artwork though and if you are a Star Wars fan the movie is worth seeing. Then we did a bit of shopping and headed back to see the lighting of the Osborne lights which were quite spectacular although the crowd was awful and it was hard getting back out of the park.
We had packed in lunch but we did enjoy some of the new Star Wars cupcakes. DH and I split a Chocolate Peanut Butter Darth Vader, the inlaws shared Chewy (German Choc I think) and FIL both each kid a BB-8 lemon one. Ate dinner back at the condo.
I'll try and finish the rest of the trip soon.
We drove down from Raleigh, NC - left Friday, stopped outside Savannah the first night and arrived Saturday 11/27.
11/28 - We arrived and checked in out 3bdrm condo at Hilton Grand Vacations I-Drive (in-laws are owners, we traveled free on bonus points). I hit Costco and Publix while the kids and DH played in the pool. The resort is lovely but I did feel like the staff told us what we wanted to hear (we could have early check-in when we couldn’t) rather than the reality. We had a similar experience later in the week when we asked for housekeeping and they didn’t come. On the upside having a kitchen was worth so much as we packed in lunches several days and cooked our own breakfast and dinners (I had made beef stew and roasted vegetable & chicken soup and brought them frozen) and the room was quiet and comfortable. They had grills around outside which we used for burgers and leg of lamb.
11/29 - MK - (Just me, DH, DD7 & DD5) We were very early - chosen as First Monorail Family of the day and got extra FP and balloons which we gave to some folks with strollers. BOG breakfast, preordered. All food was decent, they gave us extra pastries which I put in baggies and made great snacks later - atmosphere was beautiful!
We went in at 7:45 and took tons of pictures along Main Street. Finished up about 8:45 and rode 7DMT. Hit Pooh, Small World, PP w/ FP, Barnstormer, Tea Cups, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Splash, BTMMR, MC, Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, SM w/FP, Buzz w/ FP, AO, Ariel. Rode 7DMT and SM again with our extra FP. My kids did not want to see characters and we saved the shows for later in the week when the grandparents came. So essentially we did every ride but Dumbo and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Left 4:15 as the party crowds were coming in. (No stroller this day, packed in lunch in a backpack.)
11/30 - DHS - (Just Me, DH, DD7 and DS5). Went to RnR, got a rider switch as DS5 is too small. DD7 & I rode RnR (20 min wait) while DH & DS5 rode ToT (DS did not like this). Switched kids and DS5 and I headed over to ST where we spent most of the day. We rode it at least 10x! Used FP at TSMM, ToT (just switched bands and let DD7 ride 2x because DS didn't want to go again). Did the Frozen Sing-a-Long, played some on the playground in the back & got DS the Darth Vader magic shot (he was VERY pleased as this was the one magic shot he really wanted – made up for DD & I using the FP). We packed lunch in and were home by probably 5PM.
12/1 - MK (Me, DH, DD7, DS5, Nana & Papa) - We hit RD without Nana & Papa (they flew in from CA the night before) DD & I rode SM 5x, DS & DH hit Buzz 2x, AO and I'm not sure what else. We met Nana and Papa at 11 am JC for our FP, hit Tiki Room, BTMRR, FP at Haunted Mansion and FP Pirates, explored Tom Sawyer's Island (which blows the Disneyland version out of the water!! Nana brought walkie talkies and we tried to track them all over the island.) Saw the parade and did Hall of Presidents. Then we headed to Epcot for dinner at Via Napoli. We were seated right away and the food was good.
My Mom was flying in this night and too bad her flight was delayed, otherwise she would have been ready to be picked up at Ft. Wilderness right as we were leaving. As it was we went back to the condo, got the kids ready for bed, prepped lunch food for the next day and FIL and I headed back out for her. I mostly felt bad that she ended up staying up so late and was a bit tired the next day.
12/2 – HS (Whole gang) – The four of us arrived at 8am and were first at our Mickey readers as we were signing up for JTA. They let us in about 8:40 and DH & the kids were among the 1st 10 families (minus those w/ breakfast reservations) and we got the show we wanted at 11:40. Headed to internal RD – DD & I to RnR and DH/DS to Star Tours. We rode those and met the grandparents about 9:30 for our FP at TSMM, we then hit Launch Bay, skipped the movie and did pictures w/ Chewy(10 min) and Vader (40min) and looked at the other stuff and managed to catch a Jawa near the Cantina. Then headed over to prep the kids for JTA which they loved. The pictures from JTA are amazing – even my FIL was impressed & he is a professional photographer. (Not sure everyone’s experience would be the same, but we were pleased.)
We then did our ST FP, ate lunch, hit the Path of the Jedi movie and used our FP at Indy. Then we went to B&B, took DD to RnR 2 more times, grandparents went to ice cream and then we rode Star Tours again. We went back to Launch Bay for the movie (Grandparents went to the Great Movie ride) and the line was probably 25 minutes, kids enjoyed the artwork though and if you are a Star Wars fan the movie is worth seeing. Then we did a bit of shopping and headed back to see the lighting of the Osborne lights which were quite spectacular although the crowd was awful and it was hard getting back out of the park.
We had packed in lunch but we did enjoy some of the new Star Wars cupcakes. DH and I split a Chocolate Peanut Butter Darth Vader, the inlaws shared Chewy (German Choc I think) and FIL both each kid a BB-8 lemon one. Ate dinner back at the condo.
I'll try and finish the rest of the trip soon.
