Live from OKW - 3/18 - 3/23...
- Thread starter nzdisneymom
- Start date
MiaSRN62
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2000
I'm enjoying reading your live OKW report Cindy---and thanks for the pics too ! If possible, could you snap a pic of your view from the balcony ? If not, I understand.......I'm sure you're all having too much fun.
The only thing I cannot agree with is your statement here :
This is interesting & I wasn't aware of it.....I'll have to check this out one of these days.......
The only thing I cannot agree with is your statement here :
I'm the exact opposite ! HATE chilly/cold ! Woke up to 22 degrees this morning......winter cold lasts way too long....waiting for spring to kick in and then summer down the lane.....
tomandrobin
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2006
Thanks for taking the time to post while on your vacation!!
Sounds like you are having a good time. We are enjoying reading your report!
Sounds like you are having a good time. We are enjoying reading your report!
magicmommy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2004
Thanks for the report...I'm getting very, very homesick!!!
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
Well, WDW is where wishes come true, right? Here are two pictures from our balcony in bldg 26. The first one is facing right out and the other is the back of the Peninsular Road bus stop which we can see from our balcony. As others have reported, though, you really don't hear the bus traffic (or else you get used to it so you don't notice it).
It's been so nice here that the heating / air unit has been OFF all week - it was off when we got here and we never bothered to turn it on. It's pleasant with the balcony door open (and no bugs). DH and I have enjoyed eating dinner on the balcony the last two nights.
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
It's Wednesday - our vacation is over half over, but the fun continues! We slept late again - which is unbelievable to my family because usually when we're here, I have at least one morning that requires a wake-up call, but this time we're enjoying the extra zzzz time. The kids had FCAT (Florida's standardized testing) just before spring break so they've been pretty wiped out - and this early time change caught us all unprepared for the change... but we've certainly enjoyed having the seemingly longer days here at WDW!
Today was our swap-the-kids day, so each adult took the kid we didn't have on Monday for our split-apart day. We all were headed to the Magic Kingdom and because our bus stop is the Peninsular Road one, we saw the MK bus heading back toward the front of OKW, so we knew we had time to walk up to Hospitality House to catch it. Today was the first time we've had to stand on a bus, and obviously if we'd waited for the next one, we would've had a seat - but also would've arrived at MK 20 minutes later.
It wasn't as crowded going in to MK today as it was on Monday (we arrived a little before 10 a.m.) but the finger-scan was off again. We all took the train around to Fronteirland where we got Fast Passes for BTMRR and then split up from there. As DS#2 and I were heading toward Country Bear Jamboree (which he has never seen all the way through as he always fell asleep during it on previous trips - and coincidentally enough, the movie was on Disney Channel last night), we saw a man in a wheelchair with an arm in a cast and his leg had a brace and he was having trouble manuevering. So I asked if he needed a push and he gladly accepted, so I got him situated in the shade where he was struggling to get to. As we were walking away, I explained to my son how when you do something good for someone, you often reap the benefit of good karma (or whatever you want to call it) in ways you'd never expect. I mention that here because we truly had a blessed day and I know that it's because we set the tone by helping out a fellow-guest this morning.
We arrived at CBJ with show-time starting in 2 minutes - so we pin-traded with the CM and then went in to see the show. DS really enjoyed it and was excited that he stayed awake the whole time. He did remark that the Trixie in the movie looked better than the Trixie in the CBJ. We stopped to do some more pin-trading on the way to Adventureland. Jungle Cruise had too long of a line and it was too early to get a 2nd fast pass, so we decided to check out Pirates - 20 min. wait but it was stuffy in the line so we didn't stay. It was time for BTMRR, so we went up for that. As we were on the final down-ramp in the queue, we looked up and saw DH and DS#1, so we left folks go ahead of us so we could be with them.
From there we followed Woody's Round-up show through Fronteirland, watched for a few minutes and DS got his churro while I got a free cup of ice water from Sleepy Hollow. On to Tomorrowland which was almost a repeat of Monday -- fast pass for Buzz, viewing of the Laugh Floor, a ride on TTA, and then a round of Buzz Lightyear. We were lucky for the Laugh Floor and only had to wait for the show that was on-going to finish up before it was time for ours. And we were in the far back of the queue, so we got to look at the stuff in the queue area and got some pictures of the snack machine and bulletin board in there. The show was similar to the other two that I've seen but enough things different that it wasn't "old" to me. For one thing, Mac and Cheese was Sam and Ella (get it? salmonella?) and the voices were different.
After Buzz, we decided to grab a hot dog at Casey's and head on over to Epcot. Well, wouldn't you know it? DH was in line at Casey's ahead of us, so we just gave him some extra $$ and told him that whatever he was getting to get two more
So our family ate together - we carried it over to the Tomorrowland Terrace and ate over there where there was plenty of seating as the Noodle Station wasn't opening until 5 p.m.
DH and DS#1 were heading over to Epcot, too, so we left together. It's funny how we kept running into each other - we figured it's because we've been going to WDW for over 8 yrs so we have our family way of doing things even if we're not all together On the way out, I saw Victoria - one of the Main Street characters, so I wanted to speak with her -- a few weeks ago, my girlfriends and I were the 100th "family" at the Plaza and Victoria and Bea Starr presented us with our certificate and visited with us for about 10 minutes (we laughed so hard the whole time that we cried). Anyway, I just wanted to tell her that it had been such a special part of our trip. She was so pleased and asked me to be sure to mention it to City Hall - which I didn't get a chance to but do want to write a letter - so if someone has the address for where to send stuff like that, I need to get it.
As we were nearing the exit, we saw George, the conductor who did the Steam Train talk over at VWL yesterday, so we talked with him for a few minutes - again telling him how much we enjoyed the talk yesterday. He said he's been working at WDW for about 4 years - he had retired and spent a couple of years watching ESPN before his wife told him to go out and get a job!
Anyway, he was glad we stopped to mention that to him about yesterday.
Monorail to Epcot - we got to ride in front from TTC to Epcot. We all headed over to Innoventions. DS#2 wanted to do the Fantastic Plastics again and DS#1 wanted to do Opportunity City (www.hotshotbusiness.com) so we agreed to continue our split-apart time and meet up at the International Gateway at 3:15. The Plastics thing was just about to start so we went to that - and DS#2 was so excited because his robot not only won the race, he also won 1st place in the beauty contest. And of course we got to make two more robots, so now we have enough for six robots!
DS#1 was still playing Opportunity City (he ended up doing it 6 times!), so we went over to the other side of Innoventions to do the Fire game again. We really like that game! Afterwards I noticed the CM standing by the Disney Visa curtain, so I flashed my card and took DS#2 in... he didn't know what was there - and it was Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, all in their Year of a Million Dreams costumes. We got some pictures (I didn't go pick up our free one as I got to snap some with my own camera), but it was priceless to see DS's face when he realized he got a private audience with the gang.
By then we had enough time to stop to get sugared almonds at the base of the World Showcase, only to find out that they don't sell them there any more - you can only get them at the American Pavilion in Epcot. We didn't have time to make the hike, so we went up to the Gateway where the others were waiting for us with exciting news.... while DS#1 was still playing Opportunity City, the Dream Squad came in and gave them lanyards / pins! They are so cool. They tried to call us to come over and get one, too, but my cell phone reception was nil inside Innoventions East. Oh well.
We took the boat over to the Boardwalk because we wanted to go to Welcome Home Wednesday. Well, let me rephrase that - *I* wanted to go to Welcome Home Wednesday. I told the family that there would be refreshments so they were in! We arrived early, so we did buy the boys some drinks on the Boardwalk, found a bench to sit on and relax and enjoy the breeze and view for a bit.
Then the fun began! The boys were able to make some good pin trades with the DVC folks doing the WHW, and got some snacks (I found out, too, that DH loves Cracker Jacks - nearly 15 yrs of marriage and I didn't know that!). The lemonade was really good, too.
Devee See was the hostess for today and she's a hoot! I got picked to do the game show - that was fun. I knew the answer to several of the questions (but there were several I didn't know) but only got first buzzer twice -- one was what town was home to what the Main Street train station is based on (answer: Saratoga Springs) and the final question - what year was Walt Disney born (1901). I knew both thanks to DS#1's fascination with WDW trains and his biography on Walt last year. Of course they make it fun where all four players end up tying and we each won a folding chair / cooler. And an ice scraper and container of mints (about the size of a bar of soap). Then they gave out more prizes and at the end passed out DVC hats to everyone. A fun way to spend about 45 minutes.
The kids hadn't seen the pool at Boardwalk before, so we walked around a little bit so they could see it. We have Boardwalk on our list for where to stay - I think the pool just upped it's place on our list! I know we can pool-hop, but that's just really too much trouble for us at this point (and I know there are sometimes restrictions about when you can go or not).
We have a family joke about the buses at Boardwalk / Swan / Dolphin / Yacht and Beach Clubs - we say if you get on a bus going to any of them or away from there, you enter "Bus World" where you may or may not get where you're trying to go. We had a crazy bus experience once and because of that, it moved Boardwalk and Beach Club to the bottom of our DVC places to stay. But today we said we'd take the first bus heading out, and it was an Animal Kingdom one that was right there - 10 minutes later, we got off at Animal Kingdom (I thought it would take longer but we went directly from Boardwalk to AK) and the OKW bus was waiting, so we didn't have to wait there, either. We had to stop at Blizzard Beach (no one got on) and were back at OKW about 20 minutes after leaving AK.
We had considered going off property for dinner, but after having snacks courtesy of DVC, we weren't big-hungry so we hunted around what we had and made dinner. Quesadillas for three of us (I saved the chicken from the caesar salad I bought last night to go with our spaghetti) and eggs / pancakes for DS#2. Added in a fruit salad and voila - a nice dinner for all of us.
After dinner, we took a walk up to the gift shop for the boys to do some pin-trading and air-hockey in Community Hall. A little girl challenged me to a game of checkers, so I played with her til her dad said they had to go.
Now we're watching Mr. Ed re-runs on DVD, having an early night. Tomorrow is our last full day. We're planning on going to Animal Kingdom as I want the family to see the Finding Nemo Musical.
Thanks for reading!
Today was our swap-the-kids day, so each adult took the kid we didn't have on Monday for our split-apart day. We all were headed to the Magic Kingdom and because our bus stop is the Peninsular Road one, we saw the MK bus heading back toward the front of OKW, so we knew we had time to walk up to Hospitality House to catch it. Today was the first time we've had to stand on a bus, and obviously if we'd waited for the next one, we would've had a seat - but also would've arrived at MK 20 minutes later.
It wasn't as crowded going in to MK today as it was on Monday (we arrived a little before 10 a.m.) but the finger-scan was off again. We all took the train around to Fronteirland where we got Fast Passes for BTMRR and then split up from there. As DS#2 and I were heading toward Country Bear Jamboree (which he has never seen all the way through as he always fell asleep during it on previous trips - and coincidentally enough, the movie was on Disney Channel last night), we saw a man in a wheelchair with an arm in a cast and his leg had a brace and he was having trouble manuevering. So I asked if he needed a push and he gladly accepted, so I got him situated in the shade where he was struggling to get to. As we were walking away, I explained to my son how when you do something good for someone, you often reap the benefit of good karma (or whatever you want to call it) in ways you'd never expect. I mention that here because we truly had a blessed day and I know that it's because we set the tone by helping out a fellow-guest this morning.
We arrived at CBJ with show-time starting in 2 minutes - so we pin-traded with the CM and then went in to see the show. DS really enjoyed it and was excited that he stayed awake the whole time. He did remark that the Trixie in the movie looked better than the Trixie in the CBJ. We stopped to do some more pin-trading on the way to Adventureland. Jungle Cruise had too long of a line and it was too early to get a 2nd fast pass, so we decided to check out Pirates - 20 min. wait but it was stuffy in the line so we didn't stay. It was time for BTMRR, so we went up for that. As we were on the final down-ramp in the queue, we looked up and saw DH and DS#1, so we left folks go ahead of us so we could be with them.
From there we followed Woody's Round-up show through Fronteirland, watched for a few minutes and DS got his churro while I got a free cup of ice water from Sleepy Hollow. On to Tomorrowland which was almost a repeat of Monday -- fast pass for Buzz, viewing of the Laugh Floor, a ride on TTA, and then a round of Buzz Lightyear. We were lucky for the Laugh Floor and only had to wait for the show that was on-going to finish up before it was time for ours. And we were in the far back of the queue, so we got to look at the stuff in the queue area and got some pictures of the snack machine and bulletin board in there. The show was similar to the other two that I've seen but enough things different that it wasn't "old" to me. For one thing, Mac and Cheese was Sam and Ella (get it? salmonella?) and the voices were different.
After Buzz, we decided to grab a hot dog at Casey's and head on over to Epcot. Well, wouldn't you know it? DH was in line at Casey's ahead of us, so we just gave him some extra $$ and told him that whatever he was getting to get two more
So our family ate together - we carried it over to the Tomorrowland Terrace and ate over there where there was plenty of seating as the Noodle Station wasn't opening until 5 p.m.DH and DS#1 were heading over to Epcot, too, so we left together. It's funny how we kept running into each other - we figured it's because we've been going to WDW for over 8 yrs so we have our family way of doing things even if we're not all together
On the way out, I saw Victoria - one of the Main Street characters, so I wanted to speak with her -- a few weeks ago, my girlfriends and I were the 100th "family" at the Plaza and Victoria and Bea Starr presented us with our certificate and visited with us for about 10 minutes (we laughed so hard the whole time that we cried). Anyway, I just wanted to tell her that it had been such a special part of our trip. She was so pleased and asked me to be sure to mention it to City Hall - which I didn't get a chance to but do want to write a letter - so if someone has the address for where to send stuff like that, I need to get it.As we were nearing the exit, we saw George, the conductor who did the Steam Train talk over at VWL yesterday, so we talked with him for a few minutes - again telling him how much we enjoyed the talk yesterday. He said he's been working at WDW for about 4 years - he had retired and spent a couple of years watching ESPN before his wife told him to go out and get a job!
Anyway, he was glad we stopped to mention that to him about yesterday.Monorail to Epcot - we got to ride in front from TTC to Epcot. We all headed over to Innoventions. DS#2 wanted to do the Fantastic Plastics again and DS#1 wanted to do Opportunity City (www.hotshotbusiness.com) so we agreed to continue our split-apart time and meet up at the International Gateway at 3:15. The Plastics thing was just about to start so we went to that - and DS#2 was so excited because his robot not only won the race, he also won 1st place in the beauty contest. And of course we got to make two more robots, so now we have enough for six robots!
DS#1 was still playing Opportunity City (he ended up doing it 6 times!), so we went over to the other side of Innoventions to do the Fire game again. We really like that game! Afterwards I noticed the CM standing by the Disney Visa curtain, so I flashed my card and took DS#2 in... he didn't know what was there - and it was Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, all in their Year of a Million Dreams costumes. We got some pictures (I didn't go pick up our free one as I got to snap some with my own camera), but it was priceless to see DS's face when he realized he got a private audience with the gang.
By then we had enough time to stop to get sugared almonds at the base of the World Showcase, only to find out that they don't sell them there any more - you can only get them at the American Pavilion in Epcot. We didn't have time to make the hike, so we went up to the Gateway where the others were waiting for us with exciting news.... while DS#1 was still playing Opportunity City, the Dream Squad came in and gave them lanyards / pins! They are so cool. They tried to call us to come over and get one, too, but my cell phone reception was nil inside Innoventions East. Oh well.
We took the boat over to the Boardwalk because we wanted to go to Welcome Home Wednesday. Well, let me rephrase that - *I* wanted to go to Welcome Home Wednesday. I told the family that there would be refreshments so they were in! We arrived early, so we did buy the boys some drinks on the Boardwalk, found a bench to sit on and relax and enjoy the breeze and view for a bit.
Then the fun began! The boys were able to make some good pin trades with the DVC folks doing the WHW, and got some snacks (I found out, too, that DH loves Cracker Jacks - nearly 15 yrs of marriage and I didn't know that!). The lemonade was really good, too.
Devee See was the hostess for today and she's a hoot! I got picked to do the game show - that was fun. I knew the answer to several of the questions (but there were several I didn't know) but only got first buzzer twice -- one was what town was home to what the Main Street train station is based on (answer: Saratoga Springs) and the final question - what year was Walt Disney born (1901). I knew both thanks to DS#1's fascination with WDW trains and his biography on Walt last year. Of course they make it fun where all four players end up tying and we each won a folding chair / cooler. And an ice scraper and container of mints (about the size of a bar of soap). Then they gave out more prizes and at the end passed out DVC hats to everyone. A fun way to spend about 45 minutes.
The kids hadn't seen the pool at Boardwalk before, so we walked around a little bit so they could see it. We have Boardwalk on our list for where to stay - I think the pool just upped it's place on our list! I know we can pool-hop, but that's just really too much trouble for us at this point (and I know there are sometimes restrictions about when you can go or not).
We have a family joke about the buses at Boardwalk / Swan / Dolphin / Yacht and Beach Clubs - we say if you get on a bus going to any of them or away from there, you enter "Bus World" where you may or may not get where you're trying to go. We had a crazy bus experience once and because of that, it moved Boardwalk and Beach Club to the bottom of our DVC places to stay. But today we said we'd take the first bus heading out, and it was an Animal Kingdom one that was right there - 10 minutes later, we got off at Animal Kingdom (I thought it would take longer but we went directly from Boardwalk to AK) and the OKW bus was waiting, so we didn't have to wait there, either. We had to stop at Blizzard Beach (no one got on) and were back at OKW about 20 minutes after leaving AK.
We had considered going off property for dinner, but after having snacks courtesy of DVC, we weren't big-hungry so we hunted around what we had and made dinner. Quesadillas for three of us (I saved the chicken from the caesar salad I bought last night to go with our spaghetti) and eggs / pancakes for DS#2. Added in a fruit salad and voila - a nice dinner for all of us.
After dinner, we took a walk up to the gift shop for the boys to do some pin-trading and air-hockey in Community Hall. A little girl challenged me to a game of checkers, so I played with her til her dad said they had to go.
Now we're watching Mr. Ed re-runs on DVD, having an early night. Tomorrow is our last full day. We're planning on going to Animal Kingdom as I want the family to see the Finding Nemo Musical.
Thanks for reading!
MiaSRN62
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2000
Have a wonderful last full day. We saw this show for the first time last month and absolutely loved it ! Get in line early ! If the parks are as crowded as you've mentioned, I'd say 45 min before the show starts would be good.
Try this for the addresses to leave comments about the good CM's u encountered : http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/contact.htm
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
Maria - thanks for the link. I'll be sure to follow-up when we get home.
Today is our last full day. The boys slept til after 9 a.m. Our only real goal for today was to see Finding Nemo the Musical at either 11:30 or 12:45. We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 10:45 so by the time we weaved our way through the crowd (why is it always so crowded at the front?!), it was 11:00 and we were right on time for queuing for the show. We got to go in around 11:10 and were seated in the middle upper. I asked one of the CMs if they were about to open the near side of seating and she said yes and that we could go ahead and move over if we wanted - so we got front row of the upper level nearest the entrance, close to the center -- so we had a great view and best of all, no tall people blocking the kids The show was fabulous! I had seen it before and enjoyed it even more this time, and it was a first for DH and the boys.
The boys wanted to do Primeval Whirl, so I grabbed 4 fast passes for us while they did T-Spin. After their ride, DS#1 didn't want to do PW, so DH took him back to OKW while DS#2 and I waited until our FP time (about 10 more minutes) and we rode twice. It started raining on our way out of the park, so it was good we were leaving anyway.
We got back around 2 p.m. (1/2 hr on the bus by way of Blizzard Beach) and had a quick lunch and are now heading out to the pool (it's cloudy, though). I'm taking the camera so will hopefully get some photos.
Today is our last full day. The boys slept til after 9 a.m. Our only real goal for today was to see Finding Nemo the Musical at either 11:30 or 12:45. We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 10:45 so by the time we weaved our way through the crowd (why is it always so crowded at the front?!), it was 11:00 and we were right on time for queuing for the show. We got to go in around 11:10 and were seated in the middle upper. I asked one of the CMs if they were about to open the near side of seating and she said yes and that we could go ahead and move over if we wanted - so we got front row of the upper level nearest the entrance, close to the center -- so we had a great view and best of all, no tall people blocking the kids
The show was fabulous! I had seen it before and enjoyed it even more this time, and it was a first for DH and the boys.The boys wanted to do Primeval Whirl, so I grabbed 4 fast passes for us while they did T-Spin. After their ride, DS#1 didn't want to do PW, so DH took him back to OKW while DS#2 and I waited until our FP time (about 10 more minutes) and we rode twice. It started raining on our way out of the park, so it was good we were leaving anyway.
We got back around 2 p.m. (1/2 hr on the bus by way of Blizzard Beach) and had a quick lunch and are now heading out to the pool (it's cloudy, though). I'm taking the camera so will hopefully get some photos.
Ciciwoowoo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2007
So much fun reading your TR live! It sounds like you're having a fantastic time! Thanks so much for sharing!
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
summergolf
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2007
We have enjoyed reading all your reports!!
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
The rest of Thursday....
We normally spend only 2-3 days at WDW when we come, so when we do have a longer stay, we find that we get to the end and still have things we wanted to be sure to do, but not much time left to do them because we thought we had all the time in the world. We found ourselves at loose ends this afternoon, trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our last evening as well as plan for the morning which is check-out.
We decided to go back over to Epcot because I still wanted to get some cinnamon almonds; they dont have them at the nut cart at the base of World Showcase any more, so we needed to go around to the American pavilion. On the way, we stopped at Innoventions where I discovered Ive had East and West mixed up all week. Toon Tag, Fantastic Plastic Works and Opportunity City are all in Innoventions EAST while Wheres the Fire? is in Innoventions WEST! The boys and I played two rounds of Opportunity City which was loads of fun, and then we played Wheres the Fire? I love how interactive things are in Innoventions!
We didnt have a plan for dinner, but Ive been wanting to go to Beaches and Cream all week, so we walked over. It was a 35 45 minute wait so we opted to skip it. The boys were starting to complain about being tired, so we waited for the Friendship boat to take us back to Epcot (which took longer than if wed walked but we didnt have to listen to cranky boys). We decided to finish our walk around World Showcase and then head over to PO-FQ for dinner. We stopped at the nut cart in America, and I asked why they dont have the almonds in the front any more; they didnt know, but the CM did tell me that when the kiosk in America is moved (soon) that they wont have nuts any more. She said that I should register my disappointment with guest relations. I think I will because thats my favorite snack (even more than Dole Whip floats).
DS#1 was disappointed that the train wasnt running in Germany but it was still fun to look at the model village. You can tell theyve been grooming it lately. Speaking of grooming, we saw lots of signs (literally and figuratively) of the upcoming Flower and Garden Festival! Starts in two weeks! Ill be back down to Orlando for work during the Festival so I hope to get a chance to take a quick walk around.
The bus for Port Orleans was waiting (and waited for us!) so we had a quick trip over to PO-FQ which incidentally was where we were staying last year when we joined DVC! While I was in line to order, I saw someone from work a couple of people ahead of me. He and his family were just back from the cruise. Small world, huh?
A few weeks ago I saw a Pirates of the Caribbean Mr. Potato Head set that I wanted to show the boys before I bought it for them, so we headed over to Downtown Disney (since we had to go there to get back to OKW anyway). They didnt have it at the Toy Store, but the kids had a great time playing with the Mr. Potato Head stuff. Did you know they make Cinderella hair for Mr. Potato Head along with glass slippers? And Tinkerbell hair and shoes and wings? Who knew??
Then back to the resort to start packing up to get ready to check out in the morning. We still have hopes of being tapped on the shoulder and asked to stay in the castle tomorrow night . After all, this is where dreams are made, right?
We normally spend only 2-3 days at WDW when we come, so when we do have a longer stay, we find that we get to the end and still have things we wanted to be sure to do, but not much time left to do them because we thought we had all the time in the world. We found ourselves at loose ends this afternoon, trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our last evening as well as plan for the morning which is check-out.
We decided to go back over to Epcot because I still wanted to get some cinnamon almonds; they dont have them at the nut cart at the base of World Showcase any more, so we needed to go around to the American pavilion. On the way, we stopped at Innoventions where I discovered Ive had East and West mixed up all week. Toon Tag, Fantastic Plastic Works and Opportunity City are all in Innoventions EAST while Wheres the Fire? is in Innoventions WEST! The boys and I played two rounds of Opportunity City which was loads of fun, and then we played Wheres the Fire? I love how interactive things are in Innoventions!
We didnt have a plan for dinner, but Ive been wanting to go to Beaches and Cream all week, so we walked over. It was a 35 45 minute wait so we opted to skip it. The boys were starting to complain about being tired, so we waited for the Friendship boat to take us back to Epcot (which took longer than if wed walked but we didnt have to listen to cranky boys). We decided to finish our walk around World Showcase and then head over to PO-FQ for dinner. We stopped at the nut cart in America, and I asked why they dont have the almonds in the front any more; they didnt know, but the CM did tell me that when the kiosk in America is moved (soon) that they wont have nuts any more. She said that I should register my disappointment with guest relations. I think I will because thats my favorite snack (even more than Dole Whip floats).
DS#1 was disappointed that the train wasnt running in Germany but it was still fun to look at the model village. You can tell theyve been grooming it lately. Speaking of grooming, we saw lots of signs (literally and figuratively) of the upcoming Flower and Garden Festival! Starts in two weeks! Ill be back down to Orlando for work during the Festival so I hope to get a chance to take a quick walk around.
The bus for Port Orleans was waiting (and waited for us!) so we had a quick trip over to PO-FQ which incidentally was where we were staying last year when we joined DVC! While I was in line to order, I saw someone from work a couple of people ahead of me. He and his family were just back from the cruise. Small world, huh?
A few weeks ago I saw a Pirates of the Caribbean Mr. Potato Head set that I wanted to show the boys before I bought it for them, so we headed over to Downtown Disney (since we had to go there to get back to OKW anyway). They didnt have it at the Toy Store, but the kids had a great time playing with the Mr. Potato Head stuff. Did you know they make Cinderella hair for Mr. Potato Head along with glass slippers? And Tinkerbell hair and shoes and wings? Who knew??
Then back to the resort to start packing up to get ready to check out in the morning. We still have hopes of being tapped on the shoulder and asked to stay in the castle tomorrow night . After all, this is where dreams are made, right?
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
Our last day... I woke up around 8 a.m., a little later than i had planned. Dh and the boys slept til about 8:30 despite my efforts to NOT be quiet as I finished the packing, got the last of the clothes from the dryer, etc. FWIW, we certainly enjoyed having the convenience of a washer and dryer right in the room! We loaded the car, made sure everything was back in its place, ran the dishwasher and called to let the front desk know we were vacating the villa so if they wanted to move it up on the mousekeeping schedule, they could go ahead and get it ready for the next guests. BTW, we were in 2625 - I never posted that, I don't guess.
We were heading for MGM this morning and while waiting for the bus, we saw the Mousekeeping parade - it was fun to watch the carts go by with their grass skirts along the top and the Mousekeepers waving as they drove down the street. They were on their way back and they tossed out a couple of trinkets for the kids.
We had the longest wait today for a bus - it was 12 minutes before our bus came, but it was cool enough in the shade with a slight breeze and I snapped a couple of pictures of the lighthouse area that I'll either add here later or put in the photo thread.
At MGM, we had a plan -- Star Tours, Backlot Tour and Great Movie Ride. We stuck to it. On the GMR, we were in the front of the 2nd car, so when the Gangster took over, he was right there in front of us. It was very cool and the CM was fabulous. There were these two elderly women in the front row next to him - I swear they were afraid to look at him When we went through Alien, DH asked him why he didn't just shoot that creature - he said he was out of ammo.
We had lunch plans at Liberty Tree Tavern for 12:55, so we arrived at MK around 12:30. The boys had a few things they still wanted to do, including Jungle Cruise, so we got FP's for 2 p.m. Lunch was as good as always - and I learned that for the kid-meals, they ring it up by the item, not just as a flat fee. DS#1 had a headache and didn't want to eat much (and doesn't eat much of the food that is on the menu anyway), so we got him a fruit cup and ice cream for dessert (and of course the wonderful rolls that they will bring out if you ask). DH had the Pilgrim's Feast and I had the Pot Roast - both were very good. DS#2 got mac/cheese. We shared a pound-cake for dessert - it was served warm with a maple syrup / nuts and a scoop of ice cream. I'd never had it before but will get it again - yum!
We finished lunch about 1:30 (we got checked in around 12:40 so were seated earlier than our ADR time) and took DS#1 to First Aid to get some children's tylenol because I forgot to bring some in my pack today. It was still too early for Jungle Cruise, so we went to the Tiki Room, and then the boys wanted to do Aladdin to check for the Hidden Mickey in the rear seats of the carpets. We let them do that by themselves while I walked down to Pirates of the Caribbean to see if they had the Mr. Potato Head thing I wanted (they didn't - the CM said they were out and didn't know if they would be getting any more in).
We got to go on Jungle Cruise with no wait thanks to the Fast Passes and our Skipper was really good - some of the usual jokes and some different ones. The funniest one was when we were waiting to dock and he was going over events like Wishes, Spectromagic, etc., and he said the the 3 o'clock parade had a time change - it would begin today at 2:60.
Unfortunately, we couldn't stay that late and still get home tonight, so we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. Just as we reached the bus stop, our bus pulled in for OKW. We really had good bus luck this trip - I didn't want to write that eariler in the week for fear of jinxing us
The trip home was relatively uneventful - we again took the new route back to the turnpike (Western Way to 429 north to the turnpike) and remarked how much easier and faster it was than the way we used to go via I-4.
Thanks to everyone for your nice comments about our Live from OKW report this week. It's a good thing I wrote it every day or I would've never remembered most of what we did.
We were heading for MGM this morning and while waiting for the bus, we saw the Mousekeeping parade - it was fun to watch the carts go by with their grass skirts along the top and the Mousekeepers waving as they drove down the street. They were on their way back and they tossed out a couple of trinkets for the kids.
We had the longest wait today for a bus - it was 12 minutes before our bus came, but it was cool enough in the shade with a slight breeze and I snapped a couple of pictures of the lighthouse area that I'll either add here later or put in the photo thread.
At MGM, we had a plan -- Star Tours, Backlot Tour and Great Movie Ride. We stuck to it. On the GMR, we were in the front of the 2nd car, so when the Gangster took over, he was right there in front of us. It was very cool and the CM was fabulous. There were these two elderly women in the front row next to him - I swear they were afraid to look at him
When we went through Alien, DH asked him why he didn't just shoot that creature - he said he was out of ammo.We had lunch plans at Liberty Tree Tavern for 12:55, so we arrived at MK around 12:30. The boys had a few things they still wanted to do, including Jungle Cruise, so we got FP's for 2 p.m. Lunch was as good as always - and I learned that for the kid-meals, they ring it up by the item, not just as a flat fee. DS#1 had a headache and didn't want to eat much (and doesn't eat much of the food that is on the menu anyway), so we got him a fruit cup and ice cream for dessert (and of course the wonderful rolls that they will bring out if you ask). DH had the Pilgrim's Feast and I had the Pot Roast - both were very good. DS#2 got mac/cheese. We shared a pound-cake for dessert - it was served warm with a maple syrup / nuts and a scoop of ice cream. I'd never had it before but will get it again - yum!
We finished lunch about 1:30 (we got checked in around 12:40 so were seated earlier than our ADR time) and took DS#1 to First Aid to get some children's tylenol because I forgot to bring some in my pack today. It was still too early for Jungle Cruise, so we went to the Tiki Room, and then the boys wanted to do Aladdin to check for the Hidden Mickey in the rear seats of the carpets. We let them do that by themselves while I walked down to Pirates of the Caribbean to see if they had the Mr. Potato Head thing I wanted (they didn't - the CM said they were out and didn't know if they would be getting any more in).
We got to go on Jungle Cruise with no wait thanks to the Fast Passes and our Skipper was really good - some of the usual jokes and some different ones. The funniest one was when we were waiting to dock and he was going over events like Wishes, Spectromagic, etc., and he said the the 3 o'clock parade had a time change - it would begin today at 2:60.
Unfortunately, we couldn't stay that late and still get home tonight, so we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. Just as we reached the bus stop, our bus pulled in for OKW. We really had good bus luck this trip - I didn't want to write that eariler in the week for fear of jinxing us
The trip home was relatively uneventful - we again took the new route back to the turnpike (Western Way to 429 north to the turnpike) and remarked how much easier and faster it was than the way we used to go via I-4.
Thanks to everyone for your nice comments about our Live from OKW report this week. It's a good thing I wrote it every day or I would've never remembered most of what we did.
disneyeveryyear
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2003
Cindy,
Thanks for the great report.
We'll be down there in 9 days and I am also hoping for the Bldg. 23-26 area.
Thanks for the great report.
We'll be down there in 9 days and I am also hoping for the Bldg. 23-26 area.
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