Well, sadly we had to come home on Monday night, the 5th. Our trip to WDW was fabulous!! I give most of the credit to all of the great people on these DIS boards who shared so many fabulous ideas and tips. I want to share with all of you some of our experiences and also some of my thoughts and observations while at WDW.
Transportation: We took a Tiffany Towncar from the airport to POR. Our driver met us at the bottom of the elevator, found us a sky hop and helped load the bags into the car. Next, we stopped at Publix for a half hour so we could pick up water, granola bars, bananas, and some other quick snack/breakfast foods. I also used a coupon that was in the Passporter for the transportation. On the return trip we had the same driver. I tipped him $10 each time. This was much better than the shuttle bus transport we have taken in the past.
.Bus transportation at POR was great. We got on and off at the West Depot every time except once. It seemed like the WD was the first to be picked up and second drop off. The busses came very quickly, within about 15 minutes. One day we had taken the monorail to the GF to catch a bus to AK and we waited over 45 minutes for a bus, and that was only the second bus to come through!!
Resort: We arrived at POR at 11:15 a.m. expecting to check in, leave our bags, and visit a park before we actually got our room. However, the nice folks at POR had a room all ready, so off we went. Unfortunately, the room smelled of too much carpet powder (the flowery kind) and once the girls took off their sneakers and walked around in their socks we found out why. The air conditioner must have had a leak because the carpet, and now the girls socks were soaked. When the bellhop arrived with our luggage a few minutes later I mentioned the problem and he got right on the phone and got us a new room. As we were leaving two maintenance men were coming in to fix the AC. Our new room was great close to a quiet pool and the west bus stop. POR was so great, with yummy food, fabulous pools and shady landscaping.
Our Mousekeepers made coming back in the evening so exciting. I did tip each morning ($5 for 4 of us), which may have helped. My DSs little animals were always in a new pose; even our toothbrush cup was decorated. So sweet!
DISney Magic: Thank you again to everyone who told their secrets for ways to create special magic for the children. My DS (6) was able to wake up Tinkerbell, our family rode in the front of the monorail, we took time to try the Chinese sticks (?) in China, see the living statue in Italy, had great viewing areas for all the parades and fireworks, and looked for hidden Mickeys while waiting in line or going past certain areas.
Hidden Mickeys: Once my DS got the hang of what we were looking for he had eagle eyes. Here are some Hidden Mickeys that we found, with credit given to the finder:
The back of recycled napkins has a small Mickey head in the center of the recycle circle, I think there were also Mickey hands that made up the circle. Found by my DD (13).
As you come into Morocco from the Japan side, there is a shop on the right toward the lake that had its doors wide open. On one of the doors there are 3 brass plates that are arranged in the classic (?) Mickey head. Found by Eagle Eyes.
On the Figment ride Journey into the Imagination you go into this room that is all upside down. Everything is upside down, but up on the ceilings. Look up on the right hand side, there is a kitchen table, on it is a plate that we are pretty sure had 3 onion rings (?) arranged in a Mickey head. Found by Me. If you go soon, could someone please confirm this?
Eagle Eye also checked every manhole cover and water pipe for Mickey heads. Nine times out of ten there was a Mickey head on it!
Parks: We were there from June 28 until July 5 and the parks were much less crowded than I expected. We only waited a long time for 2 rides: 45 minutes for Kali River Rapids on June 30 and one hour for Test Track on July 4. We did use Fast Passes if we would be in the area of the ride around the return time, if not then we only waited if it was a must do ride such as TT or KRR. Of course, we did MK and Epcot early in the week. On the 4th we finished up stuff we had missed at Epcot, then at 3:00 we took the International Gateway boat over to MGM for some catch up and Sorcery in the Sky. MGM was not packed at all good for us!!
Rides we did twice: Test Track, all of us Rockin Rollercoaster, the girls (12 & 13)
Food: We ate a quick breakfast of cereal bars, juice, etc. in the room each morning and one sit down meal almost every day, with snacks and plenty of water in between. Heres where we ate:
Monday, June 28 Hollywood and Vine excellent buffet, Fantasmic at 9:30
Tuesday, June 29 dinner at POR Riverside Mill
Wednesday, June 30 Chef Mickeys for breakfast another yummy, and fun! meal,
Riverside Mill for dinner
Thursday, July 1 dinner at Riverside Mill
Friday, July 2 Rose and Crown only worth it for the front row seats to Illuminations -
a kids soda with a glowing ice cube was $6! but the kids were happy, oh
so worth it!
Saturday, July 3 dinner at Planet Hollywood in DD singing and dancing with all the
guests and wait staff was a blast!
Sunday, July 4 no waiting for dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant, glowing ice
cubes again
THE BEST PART: When we got home we had so many great stories to tell Daddy that he was feeling pretty bad about not coming with us in the first place, soooooo he gave the OK and I have just reserved our plane tickets for a trip back to WDW in April!!! Hoooray!!!
Please ask me any questions that you might have. Id be happy to share as you have all done. Heres hoping you all return to the Happiest Place on Earth real soon!
Transportation: We took a Tiffany Towncar from the airport to POR. Our driver met us at the bottom of the elevator, found us a sky hop and helped load the bags into the car. Next, we stopped at Publix for a half hour so we could pick up water, granola bars, bananas, and some other quick snack/breakfast foods. I also used a coupon that was in the Passporter for the transportation. On the return trip we had the same driver. I tipped him $10 each time. This was much better than the shuttle bus transport we have taken in the past.
.Bus transportation at POR was great. We got on and off at the West Depot every time except once. It seemed like the WD was the first to be picked up and second drop off. The busses came very quickly, within about 15 minutes. One day we had taken the monorail to the GF to catch a bus to AK and we waited over 45 minutes for a bus, and that was only the second bus to come through!!
Resort: We arrived at POR at 11:15 a.m. expecting to check in, leave our bags, and visit a park before we actually got our room. However, the nice folks at POR had a room all ready, so off we went. Unfortunately, the room smelled of too much carpet powder (the flowery kind) and once the girls took off their sneakers and walked around in their socks we found out why. The air conditioner must have had a leak because the carpet, and now the girls socks were soaked. When the bellhop arrived with our luggage a few minutes later I mentioned the problem and he got right on the phone and got us a new room. As we were leaving two maintenance men were coming in to fix the AC. Our new room was great close to a quiet pool and the west bus stop. POR was so great, with yummy food, fabulous pools and shady landscaping.
Our Mousekeepers made coming back in the evening so exciting. I did tip each morning ($5 for 4 of us), which may have helped. My DSs little animals were always in a new pose; even our toothbrush cup was decorated. So sweet!
DISney Magic: Thank you again to everyone who told their secrets for ways to create special magic for the children. My DS (6) was able to wake up Tinkerbell, our family rode in the front of the monorail, we took time to try the Chinese sticks (?) in China, see the living statue in Italy, had great viewing areas for all the parades and fireworks, and looked for hidden Mickeys while waiting in line or going past certain areas.
Hidden Mickeys: Once my DS got the hang of what we were looking for he had eagle eyes. Here are some Hidden Mickeys that we found, with credit given to the finder:
The back of recycled napkins has a small Mickey head in the center of the recycle circle, I think there were also Mickey hands that made up the circle. Found by my DD (13).
As you come into Morocco from the Japan side, there is a shop on the right toward the lake that had its doors wide open. On one of the doors there are 3 brass plates that are arranged in the classic (?) Mickey head. Found by Eagle Eyes.
On the Figment ride Journey into the Imagination you go into this room that is all upside down. Everything is upside down, but up on the ceilings. Look up on the right hand side, there is a kitchen table, on it is a plate that we are pretty sure had 3 onion rings (?) arranged in a Mickey head. Found by Me
. If you go soon, could someone please confirm this? Eagle Eye also checked every manhole cover and water pipe for Mickey heads. Nine times out of ten there was a Mickey head on it!
Parks: We were there from June 28 until July 5 and the parks were much less crowded than I expected. We only waited a long time for 2 rides: 45 minutes for Kali River Rapids on June 30 and one hour for Test Track on July 4. We did use Fast Passes if we would be in the area of the ride around the return time, if not then we only waited if it was a must do ride such as TT or KRR. Of course, we did MK and Epcot early in the week. On the 4th we finished up stuff we had missed at Epcot, then at 3:00 we took the International Gateway boat over to MGM for some catch up and Sorcery in the Sky. MGM was not packed at all good for us!!
Rides we did twice: Test Track, all of us Rockin Rollercoaster, the girls (12 & 13)
Food: We ate a quick breakfast of cereal bars, juice, etc. in the room each morning and one sit down meal almost every day, with snacks and plenty of water in between. Heres where we ate:
Monday, June 28 Hollywood and Vine excellent buffet, Fantasmic at 9:30
Tuesday, June 29 dinner at POR Riverside Mill
Wednesday, June 30 Chef Mickeys for breakfast another yummy, and fun! meal,
Riverside Mill for dinner
Thursday, July 1 dinner at Riverside Mill
Friday, July 2 Rose and Crown only worth it for the front row seats to Illuminations -
a kids soda with a glowing ice cube was $6! but the kids were happy, oh
so worth it!
Saturday, July 3 dinner at Planet Hollywood in DD singing and dancing with all the
guests and wait staff was a blast!
Sunday, July 4 no waiting for dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant, glowing ice
cubes again
THE BEST PART: When we got home we had so many great stories to tell Daddy that he was feeling pretty bad about not coming with us in the first place, soooooo he gave the OK and I have just reserved our plane tickets for a trip back to WDW in April!!! Hoooray!!!
Please ask me any questions that you might have. Id be happy to share as you have all done. Heres hoping you all return to the Happiest Place on Earth real soon!
