Sally & Family - October 2005

October 15-23, 2005

Cast of Characters: Myself (Sally) 13th trip, DS (Renee) 5th trip-last one was about 8 years ago, BIL (Levi) never been, DNeice (my special Princess, Kirsta, age 4) 3rd trip, DNephew (Luishen, age 1).

We flew out Saturday on Southwest. The flight was an hour late leaving since there was a mechanical problem that had to be fixed and an okay from their hub in Houston. My sister asked before boarding if they wanted the baby's birth certificate, and they said never, until they are legal at 18. The steward making the announcements was really hysterical with the jokes. Made the trip fun. Landing was pretty bumpy, the baby thought it was funny and laughed quite loud at it.

When we got there, we used Magical Express. It was pretty quick and easy to use. Since the baby wasn't part of our package, they had to print a voucher for him for the return trip. I had taken the voucher out of the book, and you aren't supposed to. They said everyone does it.

After getting to Pop Century, we got ready for Dinner. We had planned on swimming some, but with the plane problems, there wasn't time. I had carried Kirsta's dress since I wasn't sure when we'd get our luggage. (which was actually pretty quick, on our way back to the bus to go to the Grand Floridian, we saw it pass us on the way to the room). We took the bus to MK and then the boat over to the GF. The FairyGodmother just gushed over Kirsta's dress. It was in a Cinderella print and her shoes, I got at Kmart, had Cinderella on them. She kept telling Kirsta that Cinderella was going to ask her to make one just like it for her. (she didn't want to go to the Fairy Godmother, we had to give her a push). Prince Charming kept whispering into Kirsta's ear. The he said, "that is the secret of Cinderella". Every time we asked her what the secret was, she wouldn't say or look at us and shrug. She finally told my mother after we returned home (Cinderella sneezes). Cinderella asked Kirsta what the secret was and told her how much she loved her dress. The dinner was wonderful and we had a nice time.

The first day of course, we went to the MK. We had breakfast at O'Hana's in the Poly. Stitch was there, no Lilo. Kirsta was disappointed, she wanted to meet Lilo. She woudn't go near Stitch and we had to give her a little shove to the other characters. What is up with this? She's been before and loves the characters? She got on rides at the park, but she had her under my arm the whole time.

Next day we went to MGM. I think this is my favorite park. My BIL said the same. This was his very first trip to Disney and he's been wanting to go since he was a kid. He said it was his favorite to. I think we missed a lot in the way of the attractions. I've gone enough that I just do the things I like or haven't done in awhile. Levi is crazy over Star Wars and Villains. So he had take a lot of picture of Star Tours and on the props they had out front. Dinner was at Sci-Fi. This is probably the first time I've had a terrible meal here. Service was okay.

Tuesday we went to Typhoon Lagoon. The weather so far had been really gorgeous. But it was a bit cool in the water. We stuck it out tho'. lol!! At the end of the day, Levi came back to our room from the gift shop. He told Kirsta she should have come with him. He met Tinker belle and she gave him a bracelet to give to Kirsta and put Pixie dust on it so she wouldn't be afraid and have courage. Did the trick. The rest of the week she got on Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Soarin', to name a few.

Wednesday was AK. The weather the rest of the week was really humid. You could see that Wilma was coming this way. It would be overcast, then blow over. But oh so hot. Breakfast with Donald in the park. A personal favorite of mine. My sister had taken the baby in the restroom and he wet all over his clothes. The bag was out side with the stroller, she we just put him at the table in his diaper knowing he'd just have food all over himself. (all he did all week was EAT big). The waitress came over and said she was told that he couldn't have his picture taken with the characters unless he had a shirt on. It didn't bother us, we knew he didn't care except what we were giving him to eat. (understanding what has happened in Disney, we certainly understood).

Thursday, back to the MK. We would have loved to fit more in. Didn't help when half the rides were broken down. Space didn't work. I hear it went down on Wednesday. And there were a couple others that they had to get off of because they were having trouble with.

Friday to Blizzard Beach and MNSSHP in the evening. Still didn't get to fit all we wanted in. Niece was Jasmine, Baby was Aladdin, BIL Jafar and sister was the Magic Carpet. They were all a huge hit with everyone in the park, the bus, the hotel, anywhere we went. It was pretty funny. Went to see Jasmine and Aladdin. Kirsta was so excited while waiting in line for autographs. Aladdin and Jasmine just loved the costumes. Went over to meet Tarzan and Jane. Tarzan left when it was Kirsta's turn, but he stopped to talk to the baby. What a riot!! and he was certainly a doll. Then Jane came over to talk to the baby to.

Saturday we went to Epcot. Grabbed our FP for Soarin', did Journey and over to lunch with the Princesses. I didn't think I'd like the meal because I'm a pretty basic meat and potatoe person. But I really enjoyed it. The Princesses were great. Especially Cinderella. Cinderella looked at Kirsta and said "haven't we met before?". We didn't think anything of it. Kirsta just stared at her. Cinderella asked her if she had dinner with her? That was a whole week before. Then she said, "I remember, you wore that beautiful dress your fairy godmother made for you". Boy were we impressed!! What a wonderful experience. If you ask Kirsta the favorite of her trip, she says lunch with the Princesses, and the second was dinner with Cinderella.

We went and did Soarin'. I was really afraid to try this. I had a horrible sinus headache and felt pretty dizzy all morning. But not too bad when it came time to do the ride. It was really great fun. At first I was seated with a broken seat between me a Kirsta. Since she was only 4, I told them I really needed to sit next to her. I had to wait until the next ride, but they put us right in the front and center row. I'm told you could smell the oranges as you fly over the groves and the ocean. But I have no idea, my sinuses were still pretty bad, but I didn't get dizzy from the ride.

After this, were were heading over to Test Track and it started to pour rain. We did some souvenir shopping, the girl that took care of me, went out of her way to find me stickers for Kirsta. Then we headed over to dinner at Coral Reef. What a fabulous meal. It was really delicious. Kirsta started to act up a bit from being tired, so I took her back to the room while the Mom and Dad did some more rides.

Left on Sunday the 23rd. I had planned to have the kids swim. But we slept in late, packed. Ate, did some more shopping in the gift shop. Since the kids were cranky and hungry, I thought I'd just stop at the desk for luggage pick up and get the kids food. Well, they wouldn't take our request at the desk. You can only call from your room. So I ran back to make the call. What a pain the rear end!! I was told that I didn't have to be in the room, but they come get our luggage at 1pm and bring it down for the bus. We got took the Magical Express back to the airport. Everything was easy. While we were checking our luggage, there was an announcement for me to go to the Magical Express Welcome Center. What? I run down and say that there was an announcement for me. What an attitude. The guy say's, "how would I know, what's your name?". Levi left one of his bags at the bus. I had put all the luggage tags with c/o my last name, resort and reservation #. This seemed to really work great.

My sister was asked for the Birth Certificates to both the kids on the way home. We were checking in at the kiosk, and the attendant that took our luggage asked her for the BC's. We were surpised since we told origionally 'never, only when they turn 18". But she had them and it was no big deal. The flight back was a little rough from the storm coming in. Again we had a great steward. I don't think it was the same guy, but he told similar jokes. The plane was taxing to leave and the baby was cranky. The stewardess asked him what was wrong. I told her the bottle was empty. She she brought him a can of juice and Kirsta a cup of juice. She didn't seem to worried that we were ready to take off. Luishen slept the rest of the trip.

I slept almost the entire on Monday. I still haven't unpacked. Monday, Artesian Water was in the neighborhood to fix pipes down the street and we didn't have water the entire day. Sure couldn't do any laundry.

We used the Dining plan. I think we saved an easy $40 to $50 a day (not counting the sodas on the snack). Sure didn't have trouble using the snacks. We didn't always use the fruit or popcorn, but just got soda. Checked to see what snacks we had left and got sodas for ride home and they let us get the rice krispy Mickey treats. We took them to the kids in the neighborhood. You do have to be careful if you have an infant with you. On your reciept it says how many in the party. That is how Disney credits your meals. We only had it happen once, but were were charged a meal for the baby. The next sit down meal, the waiter explained it to me and I realized that we were over charged for Cinderella's dinner. But it wasn't a problem getting it corrected. In fact, they gave me a whole print out showing what we had left.

We stayed at Pop Century. I know everyone here seems to like it. But I wasn't that impressed except that it is new and hasn't been run down. We did love the fountain area with Goofy. The baby loved to crawl around in this area. And Kirsta loved the flower pool. We stayed in the 70's area and it was really easy to the bus and food court. I thought the food was not the best here. But I did find things to eat. The ride to the MK was way too long. I think that is what has really put me off the whole resort.

We had a wonderful vacation. Very tiring with lugging around 2 strollers. The baby may not remember, but I sure will. The kids were great. I'm so close to them, they might as well be mine. Kirsta and I are already planning the next event. Her 5th Bday is the end of January and she wants to have a WDW party and dress up as Minnie. We bought the black Mickey plates while we were there, and swiped some napkins. Saved the kids plastic cups for Epcot and the Poly (they even gave us more). We thought we'd make the invation look like a park ticket. Any suggestions will be accepted!! lol! I think we may go back in Sept next year, or maybe something different, Disneyland. How is that in September?