We had fast passes set for today at Animal Kingdom but we had hit all the rides the night before and we just would have needed to hit the shows. After some contemplation we decided to just stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and explore. The kids really wanted to do more of the conservation activities and collect more of the beads. Plus it was going to be hot and we really wanted to do some swimming!
So I got up and went down to the store to pick up some breakfast which we ate in the room before starting our wander.
Heather and the kids did some medallion rubbing – they have a large (6+ feet diameter) medallion set in the floor near the entrance with various stylized animals on it. A cast member (who is on an exchange program from Africa) comes out with paper and crayons and will sit on the floor with the guests as they rub imprints of the animals on the paper. He/she talks with the guests about the area of Africa they are from – it is an interesting and informal way to learn more about Africa – a very cool idea.
Heather and the kids did 3 different environment activities to collect beads including one where they set up feeders for giraffes.
We sat in the lobby talking supper plans for a bit – during this time our son heard some people playing on African drums and went to find out what was going on. He got to play a little and then came to tell us. We all went over – our daughter did some time that we videoed and then Heather and T did some together that I recorded.
That after noon we swam in the pool for a good hour and a half or so and the kids pretty much did the slide non stop. The pool area was very nice – lots of activities and surrounded by lots of greenery – not too far from a flamingo pond and easy views of the savannah.
We spent time in the room looking out at the savanna and saw many animals come by – including giraffes essentially right outside our window. Lots of pictures and some video.
giraffe at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – through the treeswildebeest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodgegiraffe at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Lunch was at the Mara by the pool and it was pretty good – there was a decent selection to suit many tastes.
For supper we decided to cab over to Old Key West and try Olivia’s for the first time. Food was great but the atmosphere was more casual than we were expecting – overall a good experience though. Old Key West is very cool at night.
We thought about getting to Magic Kingdom for magic hours until 10 but instead boated to Disney Springs, shopped a bit and then took the bus back to Animal Kingdom.
Back to the room to rest and pack for the hotel move the next day.
Up around 8 with our daughter out on the patio looking around the savannah and being disappointed that there were no animals.
Eventually did see some Roan Antelope (3) and a couple of them butted heads – got pictures of that.
roan antelope head butting Disney’s Animal Kingdom
We had bagels for breakfast in the room watching for animals.
Short tour of parts of the hotel and kids took part in one of the conservation activities that you can collect beads for doing. They did the jenga block type one talking about the ecosystem.
We had a couple of old Samsung S4 phones that still function for wifi and as cameras, etc – so let each of the kids use one to take pictures with. It was pretty fun watching them decide what they wanted to take pictures of during the trip. It was also cool to look at the pictures later to get a view from a different perspective.
sunlight through the trees waiting for the bus at Disney’s Animal Kingdom LodgeK selfie waiting for the bus at Disney’s Animal Kingdom LodgeDisney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge pool
We took the bus to Disney Springs and did a short wander there. There we checked to see if Planet Hollywood was open or not – we had gotten a reservation for that day a few weeks back but it had been cancelled as they weren’t quite ready yet and we wanted to check to see if maybe they might be open after all – they were doing a private event instead. Oh well.
fountain near AMC and Planet Hollywood Disney Springs
During this walk we got a call from our DVC client rep and we sorted out the timing to head over to Saratoga Springs DVC center to sign the paper work in a couple hours.
We ended up having a good lunch at T-Rex without any real wait. T-Rex is always fun.
After lunch and a decent walk around Disney Springs and Saratoga Springs Resort we were at the DVC center and finished up the paperwork and got our add on points. With the changes Disney made to DVC the previous year prior to us buying our points on the resale market we weren’t able to take advantage of some of the benefits that members that bought from them enjoyed. But with the add on points we now have access to the full benefit set. We had our new blue DVC cards saved to our phones and the points banked for next before we left the building!
We got some ice cream for the kids before we left and they also gave us 3 special fast passes to be used how we liked over the next few days. Bonus!
amphibicar near Disney Springs
We walked back to Disney Springs and did some shopping through several stores and then headed out to the buses.
Back to the hotel and took some time to rest at the hotel. We ended up missing our planned Nemo musical fast pass and Primeval Whirl fast pass because of the afternoon events but we wanted to make sure we got to our night safari right fast pass.
Once we got to the park we had to wait to get Heather and the kids’ annual passes set up and then we were in the park for a quick walk to the safari ride. Along the way we saw the lit up Tree of Life for the first time in person – very cool!
Animal Kingdom Tree of Life – lit up at night
We made it to the night safari ride with a half hour to spare in our window and it was a very different experience at night – but a lot of fun!
After that we saw we had about 35 minutes until the park closed – so we hit up Expedition Everest for our son and I to ride in the dark – that was a lot of fun – you can see so far at night. The night safari ride was fun but I think the dark ride on Expedition Everest was cooler.
Then we made it over to Dinoland to make up for our missed Primeval Whirl fast pass and quickly got on the ride (well, all of us but Heather who can’t handle the spinning).
Then all 4 of us got on Triceratops Spin and then a sprint to Dinosaur and we just made it in before the clock changed to 7:30 to indicate the park was closing.
We were the only riders getting on and got an entire car to ourselves (we were the last to ride that night).
At the end the staff had been doing a final inspection of the ride cars and we were left out in the final time tunnel for a few minutes as the cars were backed up. It was pretty awesome and a definite cool first for us but by the end the kids were getting a bit scared.
After that, it was a quick bathroom break and a walk to the front of the park – along the way we managed to catch the animated show on the Tree of Life. Fantastic. Leave it to Disney to turn an oil rig into a tree and then turn around and turn it into a movie screen.
Animal Kingdom Tree of Life – lit up at night
We left the park and caught the direct bus to Epcot as that park was to open to 11 that night.
The bus driver for that ride had a lot of fun joking around with everyone – made for a shorter ride.
After bag check we were into Epcot – we ended up walking right onto Spaceship Earth.
Heather and the kids had only had their annual passes for a little over 3 hours at this point and we were in our second park and had ridden 6 rides. We can be efficient at Disney World sometimes!
We then decided we needed to eat and hit up Electric Umbrella and got a partial view of Illuminations while we ate.
We checked out Test Track but the wait had jumped to 45 minutes, so instead we went over toward the Nemo ride. Along the way we looked at stopping for the Joy and Sadness meet and greet but the wait ended up being 20 minutes and the kids were a bit punch drunk so we needed to keep moving.
Onto Nemo and then did Soarin’ after a short wait. (again Heather did not ride) It was the kids’ first time seeing the updated Soarin’ so it was fun to watch their reactions.
After that we wandered out of the park and onto a bus (after a short wait) then on our way back to the resort.
I woke up at 6:30 am to hear our daughter up early feeding the dogs and taking them to play for a few minutes before school. Usually I will be the first one up and I will feed the dogs before work but she wanted to do it today as we won’t see them for a bit and she was going to miss the pups.
She wanted to make sure she had some time with them before we leave. Very cute.
We then fed the kids breakfast and took them to school for the morning before heading home to take the pups to the kennel. The kennel we use is great but there were some tears dropping the pups off for sure.
Next we drove home, finished up the final bit of packing and did some cleaning (always nice to come home to a clean house!).
After putting all of our stuff in the truck we headed off to pick the kids up from school at lunch time and after a couple stops we headed to the airport.
Check in at the airport was quick and easy and going through US Customs was straightforward as well.
Due to how we had booked our tickets this trip (a couple tickets with Airmiles and a couple with the carrier using their travel miles), we ended up sitting separately – me with our son and Heather with our daughter.
They ended up boarding the plane a little late and then we had a delay as they had to fix a radio on the plane, but once we got going they made up most of the time from the delay and we got to Orlando only a few minutes late.
The flight was good and I am always happy to see how well our kids behave on a plane!
We ended up with a nice surprise when we landed too. When I was down for my Goofy Challenge trip earlier in January, I had talked to our DVC client rep and indicated that when we were down for the family trip we were looking to get add-on points for our home resort. It can be hard to get points at the Boardwalk Resort and being from Canada they really couldn’t be put on a wait list in the normal way but our DVC rep said she would do what she could.
With what she had told us we did not expect to get the points we wanted so we had a plan B and C ready for while we were down there. But…as soon as I fired up my phone and it connected to the cellular network I had a message from the DVC rep indicating that the points had come through! Woohoo! We just needed to call and get an appointment time set up while we were down and we would be good to go.
After getting off the plane we headed over to the Magical Express area and caught our bus to Animal Kingdom. In the end we were the 4th stop to be dropped but we were amused by the driver who late stopped for at least 2 stop signs. Pretty funny.
Check in at the Animal Kingdom (Jambo House) was pretty quick and we wandered around the gorgeous lobby before headed to the room. The big fire pit area was just so cool.
We had a room with a savannah view and as soon as we got in the room we had to check out the patio – spotted a wildebeest wandering around a few deer of some kind (never did figure out what they actually were) having a nap just out from our room.
Then did a wander to buy breakfast for the next morning and a quick evening snack before kids went to bed.
Heather noticed a flashing message light on the room phone – called and our luggage was here. They didn’t just deliver due to the lateness (00:25). I asked them to deliver it and they said it would be right away.
An hour later they still hadn’t come. I called bell services and again and eventually the front desk answered. They said they would get the bags to us right away. It took about another 10 minutes after that. They must have forgotten about us the first time we called, yay!
On our last trip to Disney World back in late January / early February this year we did something we hadn’t done before. We went to 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort for the supper buffet that includes visits with Cinderella and her Prince.
It was a fun meal all around but the highlight of the night were the photos with Anastasia and Drizella (Cinderella’s step sisters). The cast members playing these characters were obviously having a blast and playing up the rivalry between them.
Anastasia was hilarious – hamming it up for the camera and fully getting into the part even it seemed no one was looking. Some of my favorite photos from that whole trip include this lady.
Kudos to Disney for coming up with a way to take what are basically plot devices and flesh them out to fun characters to entertain guests. I could see some guests enjoyed the visits with Cinderella and the Prince but didn’t get into the fun of these two. That’s too bad but I have said it before – everyone gets their own thing out of anything that Disney does some people didn’t really get the humor and fun of these characters.
I also have to give major kudos to the cast member playing Anastasia that night – she helped make the night awesome!
Anastasia and DrizellaAnastasiaAnastasiaAnastasiaAnastasia
Definitely a fun memory here – taken during the 2014 Disney World Half Marathon (as part of the Goofy Challenge) which my wife and did together (our first race together). The photo was taken after we had looped through Tomorrowland and part of new Fantasyland on our way to run through Cinderella’s castle.
You can see the excitement on Heather’s face as we spotted the castle and got closer. The picture wasn’t staged, I caught her when she wasn’t expecting it and I got her natural and awesome reaction. The photo is a touch blurry but the excitement comes through anyway!
How often do you see kids that happy while just relaxing?
Granted they had just spent a good half hour playing tag on the grass and the beach…
The photo was taken in front of the Beach Club Resort on the beach area in Feb 2014 during our family trip. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was feeling good even though it was our last full day at Disney World.
We ended up doing World Showcase in Epcot and then Magic Kingdom thoroughly that day (late magic hours at Magic Kingdom) and the kids were exhausted but it was a great day and I think that was at least partly because we had time to relax and have a bit of fun in a great relaxed area before we went and hit the parks.
Lovely day.
K and T on the swing in front of Disney’s Beach Club Resort
I haven’t had a chance to do one of these posts in a while but now that everything has settled down after the Goofy Challenge in January and our family vacation to Disney World in early February I hope to get a chance to do more…
On our most recent trip to Disney World we had what was probably one of our most memorable nights at the parks. Specifically late at night in Epcot.
We stayed at the Beach Club Resort on this trip and there were late night Magic Hours at Epcot this night but it was a touch cool and the park was pretty much deserted at the end of the night. When I see the pictures of that night I remember the peacefulness of the walk through the park out the World Gateway exit. It really felt like we were alone there exploring and able to take all the time we needed to see what we wanted. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more relaxed in one of the Disney parks.
There were so few people around that we were able to get some great pictures of what the park looks like all lit up at night without a whole crowd of people being in each shot.
The night had a great feeling and this shot really helps me remember it.
I woke up way earlier than Heather and the kids so I decided to suit up and go for a run on the Boardwalk. It was very foggy and pretty hot and humid already – ended up being a pretty warm day all around. I did 4 laps around the Beach Club / Yacht Club / Boardwalk area – the official running path maps say each lap is 0.8 miles but my running GPS app on my Samsung Galaxy S4 says each lap is a bit longer than that. Took it nice and easy and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
fog at the Beach Club
After everyone else got up we went and had breakfast at Stone Harbour lounge (also known as the Club room or the Concierge lounge) that we had access to being on Club Level. Nice selection of pastries, hard boiled eggs, cereals (hot and cold) and juices, coffees and milk. Not a heavy breakfast but all you need to get a good start on the parks for the day!
We headed off to Epcot to sort out some issues with our tickets – for some reason Heather’s and my annual passes were not linking to the bands properly for the park readers – all the computers said it was ok but the readers would have none of it. We got things sorted out and got into the part about a half hour later than we intended but got complimentary passes for the kids for the day which was nice.
Tried to walk on Soarin’ but wait was too long – so we fast passed it with the app and got a spot about 45 minutes out! That worked!
We went on Living with the Land and Nemo to pass the time until the fast pass came up. We also tried Turtle Talk with Crush but we waited for 10 minutes and they told us it would be another 10 so we headed out and did our fast pass for Soarin’. It was a first ride for Heather and K and a second for T and I.
After that we did Journey into Imagination with Figment, Mission Space, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, skipped Test track because the wait was too long, Space Ship Earth, Club Cool ( this was the kids first time trying any of the drinks – they were not fans of Beverly), Three Caballeros and then tried Maelstrom but it was too long a wait. Hit lots of things!
We then headed back out the World Gateway and walked back to the room.
After a quick lunch / snack in the Club room we had a few hours swim at Storm Along Bay and then hit the snack room for supper.
At this point we decided Magic Kingdom for the evening – hit the bus and then the park about 7 pm.
We managed to do multiple rides here including Pirates of the Caribbean, we looked at Big Thunder but it was too long a wait, Haunted Mansion, watched fireworks near Pinocchio Haus restaurant (fantastic spot – everything lights up and you feel like you are in the middle of everything as it is happening – very cool), Small World, the Carousel, Tea Cups, Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain (first for me, T and K – Heather did not ride), and then finished with Stitches Great Escape (first again for all of 4 us). By this point the park was closed and we wandered out to the buses.
We missed a bus just as we were coming up to the cue but another came very quickly and had a quick ride back to the hotel.
We were able to grab supper from the Market Place at the Beach Club right before it closed at 11 pm and ate outside as it was still very nice out.
Wednesday Feb 5th – hot again!
Once again I was up way earlier than everyone else (bit of a theme here) so I went for a run on the Boardwalk again – it was a bit cooler and less humidity which was very nice as I could actually see the scenery. I forgot my headphones on the run but it was still nice and peaceful despite the leaf blowers.
Beautiful morning at the Beach Club
Once everyone else got moving we had breakfast at the Club room again – and once again it worked well for to get us moving quickly without having to drop a small fortune on a too big of a breakfast.
The forecasts showed this likely to be the hottest day of our trip so we made the call to head to Typhoon Lagoon – we were a touch concerned when we got off the bus and saw hoards of teenage girl tour group folks.
Saw lots of these tour groups through the week – appeared to South American Quinceañera or Quince tours. Later in the week there were several cheerleader crews to contend with. They were all well behaved and not rowdy or crazy, but as they traveled in packs if they got in line before you at a ride, what was a 5 minute wait turned into a half hour very quickly. Basically at Typhoon Lagoon we had to move around the park staying ahead of them – if we saw them coming we would head to a different area of the park and when we saw them stop for lunch we hit as many slides / rides as we could before they came back out.
So we started with the lazy river for a while and then did Humunga Cowabunga with T (his first time). We then tried the storm slides but only got one run before being overrun by the hoard, so went and did the tamest (blue rafts) raft ride and then were overrun again, so we did the family raft and then headed to the main wave pool for a short bit.
Decided on some lunch at this point and we had some confusion on what we ordered but was ok in the end – they missed one kids meal (they hadn’t charged us for is so it not like we were short changed or anything like that but we didn’t want to go through the line again to order one more meal) but still gave us the fries, the grapes and the drink, and bucket – so we got enough food and shared everything around instead of going and paying for another kids meal. We still had plenty of each of us.
We then dodged the hoard and got on Crushin’ Gusher (first for T) – and did several runs of that with either me or Heather with T. Went back to storm slides and got a couple more runs of the slides and the Humunga Cowabunga (T did go one more time too and then Heather went with him for her first time (she had some delays as she built up her courage for it)).
Since K was missing out on several rides since she isn’t tall enough yet we decided to give her some time in the kids play area then headed out and got mini donuts and popcorn for a snack.
We then got back in the wave pool and did some bobbing waves before heading out.
Several firsts today! The kids on the Storm Slides, Heather and T on the Humunga Cowabunga, and T on Crushin’ Gusher. Very cool.
We then got changed and headed out to catch a bus back to the hotel and had about a 25 minute wait for a bus but it went directly back to the hotels on the loop and did not have to hit Downtown Disney first.
After a quick stop in the hotel room and a snack in the Club room we headed to Downtown Disney. We had intended to hit T-Rex for supper but the wait was just too long.
In the end we went to Planet Hollywood which we got into in around 30 minutes or so. We had never eaten there before so it was a first for all 4 of us – enjoyed it. The kids really liked the décor and pointing out things they were seeing on the wall.
Then it was shopping time. K and I built our own droids and T got some Lego figurines.
Then back to the hotel to sleep, sleep, sleep.
Thursday Feb 6th – bit cooler today and some light rain
I did not run this morning – I decided to sleep in a bit later to rest and recover.
Once again we had breakfast in the Club room and then headed straight to Animal Kingdom. K was wearing Anna dress from Frozen and got many compliments from cast members and other little girls. She enjoyed that, a lot.
We had a fast past for Expedition Everest – Heather did not ride but T and K sat together and I was right behind them. In all the trips we have had this was a first for all three of us – granted this is the first year K has been tall enough. K was pumped to do this ride as she wanted to see the yeti. Chants of “Yeti, Yeti, Yeti” proceeded us through the park on our way to the ride. In the end I think T enjoyed it the most but K liked it too and said she would do it again even though she was frightened in the dark areas.
We then wandered over to Kali River Rapids – we had a fast past for a while later but it was a walk up so we did it. It was a first time for all 4 of us and we only got a bit wet. Slowly dried off as we headed towards Kilimanjaro Safari ride but it had a half hour wait and we had a fast pass for later in the day so we decided to do lunch instead.
Rain Forest Café for lunch – only about a 15 minute wait to be seated and lunch went smoothly. No Blue Moon beer though as they are switching away from it. Very disappointed there.
Then back out in the park and went to the Safari ride and it listed a 10 minute wait and our fast pass still was about 15 minutes out so we did the standby line – it was basically a walk on. Animals were very active though which was super cool – hippos were out of the water (one came out just to relieve itself just as the truck went by before going back in the water – gave everyone on the truck a bit of chuckle) , the lions were awake, rhinos were walking around and the giraffes were close to the truck.
After that we went to the bird show which was just starting as we went by – the kids absolutely loved it.
Waiting for the bird show to begin
We then went back to Kali River Rapids as it was still a walk on – since it was raining at this point we figured that if we got wet it was not that big a deal – T got absolutely soaked. K got pretty wet as well (her Anna dress was drenched) but we all got wet. We were able to short cut back through for another ride as there was no wait. Since we were already drenched, why not go again? We ended up with our own family raft for the four of us and we didn’t end up getting too much more wet.
By this point the kids were getting chilled so we found a sweater for K at the Everest store and yeti plushes for the kids. T was still freezing and we still had to find him a sweater. Eventually found something at the main store on Discovery Island that he liked and started getting him warmed up.
We then headed out to the buses and there was one waiting when we got to the bus stop – straight to the Yacht and Beach. Whoohoo – although we apologized to the bus driver for the puddles where we were sitting.
To warm up the kids quickly we put them in a hot bath while Heather and I had an adult beverage from the Club room to warm up after we got changed.
Now we kids dressed warmer and headed into Epcot after a quick supper/snack in the Club room.
We went straight to Test Track and got on in the standby line after 30-40 minutes – rain was causing the ride to shut down occasionally but it went fairly smoothly. I have never done Test Track in the rain – it is a different sensation on the outside portion of the ride with the rain lightly falling and hitting your face at 60 mph. It doesn’t help when I am in the front row my head goes over the windscreen. Some of the interior parts of the ride seemed slower than normal – I suspect that was deliberate as they would have been worried about wet tires on some of the sharp corners. Still fun though.
We also did Spaceship Earth at the request of the kids, not sure why this is one of their favorites but I like that it is. The kids also like to ride this one together so it is one of the few rides Heather and I get to sit together on.
Headed out to the entrance to World Showcase and caught Illuminations (which T directed using the Force) – and got a bit of a reminder about all cultures being different.
There was a man standing on the edge of one of the planters / seating areas filming the show and K got up to stand too close to him and I was afraid she would bump him and cause either or both of them to fall. So I got her to move, seconds later an oriental family came up and planted their kids there and let them go wild while they had an extremely loud discussion about a wheelchair. Not sure what was going on but you could tell the man filming was getting a bit upset as he kept getting bumped and the adults were not supervising the children. Plus T’s view was partially blocked. Maybe it’s my size but I am always conscious of where I am, who is around me and if I am in someone’s way, etc but I am always surprised when I see people who don’t offer the same courtesy to others.
That family left part way through Illuminations and the man’s wife got up beside him to provide a buffer and T had an easier time seeing the rest of the show.
After that was over we headed back to the hotel and stopped to pick up ice cream to eat in the room. Then off to bed.
Hi there – as I was writing up our trip report for our family trip to Disney World, I realized it was going to just be too darned long to fit into one post comfortably. So I will break it up into a few parts and post them as get the pictures and write up ready.
The first part will cover our drive down to Minneapolis, our shopping day there and then our travel day to Disney World and our first evening there. So on with the show…
Saturday Feb 1st:
Alright – travel day and vacation begins! Have to drive from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to Minneapolis. Basically 8-9 hours of driving when you throw in stopping for gas, snacks and potty breaks. I wanted to make sure I would get in some running on this vacation and it seemed like a good idea to do a quick run on the treadmill before loading in the van. I figured it would help wake me up and be a good start for the trip. So I did that and it felt really good to stretch out the legs.
The four of us (my wife Heather, our son T, our daughter K and I) had a good breakfast to get through some of the last of the stuff from the fridge and then loaded up the van and pushed off probably around 9:20 am.
The ride down was pretty uneventful – sun was out and the US border stop was very quick. We then did a quick stop in Fargo for a quick lunch and to check out the running gear situation at Scheels. We figured we would stop again on the way back through so we didn’t pick anything up on the way down. Had a quick gas stop in Fargo and continued on toward Minneapolis – with only one or two potty breaks for the kids.
Got to the hotel around 6 pm or so and checked in easily. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites Bloomington which is right across the street from the Mall of America and has a good and quick shuttle service to the airport. We got a room that was near the elevator but quiet – not sure I ever actually heard it.
After we got set up in the room we wandered over to the attached TGI Fridays for supper and a drink before headed across the street to the Mall of America to do some minor shopping.
At the Disney Store there K got an Anna dress (from Frozen) – good thing we got it there because they didn’t have any at Disney World! Lots of little girls were envious at the parks.
Headed back to the room and had a quick swim and dunk in the hot tub with the kids before heading to bed to finally crash for the night.
Long travel day!
Sunday Feb 2nd:
I got up a bit earlier than everyone else so I went and hit the treadmill at the gym at the hotel. It was actually a pretty solid machine – I was not expecting that. Put in a hard and fast 3 miles in 24 minutes before heading back to the room.
We decided to go to the IHOP attached to the hotel for breakfast. It was quite good with very friendly service.
At this point we still had time before the Mall opened so Heather hit the treadmill at the hotel as well to stretch her legs too.
We then walked over to the Mall and did some more shopping and we had lunch there and wandered all the floors.
Strangely we decided to have supper at IHOP as well – was pretty dead but the service was attentive and the food was decent. The kids ate well and without complaints which was really what we were shooting for here.
The next day we were flying to Orlando so we got the kids in bed and put a show on the tv for them while we repacked and repositioned everything we needed for the plane ride in the morning. Then off to bed.
Monday Feb 3rd:
Got up with our alarm and had breakfast in the snack room at the hotel before going to grab out stuff to get on the hotel shuttle to the airport.
While the kids were finishing up I went to confirm our shuttle time at the front desk and they had us on a shuttle that had just left… They do half hour shuttle departures and we had asked for a 07:45 and they didn’t tell us they couldn’t do that. They got us on the 8:00 instead which actually left a bit early anyway and was still lots of time to get to the airport. Not a big deal but gave a second of panic.
The shuttle ride was quick and easy and airport check in worked well too. Paid our bag check fees, dropped the bags at the bag check, grabbed our boarding passes and headed on towards security.
Security was super quick as we were given priority screening and got through nice and quickly with no hassles! Whoohoo – first security screening in a couple years where I wasn’t “randomly selected” for the body scanner.
We had a bit of extra time with the nice quick security line so we spent a bit of time looking around and then waiting at our gate for the plane. Nicely the plane was on time and loaded with no hassles beyond the ordinary.
Flight itself was pretty good with only a little turbulence part way through that didn’t last long. The kids did well, watching shows and playing games.
As we were getting off the plane and the Captain complimented T and K on their hats and then asked if they would like to see the cockpit. They had a seat and we got a few pictures and out of the plane we went. We then did a quick change and then hit the monorail to terminal B.
T in the cockpitK in the cockpit
We had a quick peek in the Disney store and then headed to Magical Express.
Magical Express book in was quick with almost no wait. We did have a slight glitch though – the man with the computer told us which aisle to head to for the Beach Club and we were escorted by a lady who then told us a different aisle – to be sure we checked with the loading helper and he quickly escorted to the aisle the man with the computer had said originally. No biggee but a bit of a surprise – usually see the guests mess up the bus aisles not the staff.
Magical Express ride was good and quick – a few stops before ours but not too bad.
K on the Magical Express
At the Beach Club the greeter was tied up and she eventually came back to take us up to the Club Level
Check in there was as smooth as always – they brought us a beer and a wine and the kids chewed on some taffy and then we quickly got to our room. Definitely wasn’t the best view we have had from our room at the Beach Club but it was a full balcony though so that was nice.
After dropping some of our stuff in the room and checking it out we headed down and got into Beaches and Cream for supper after a short wait. We were told we would likely end up at the bar but were given a table instead – that works!
After supper we headed back to the room to change into our swim gear and then Storm Along Bay for an hour or so. Awesome!
Shortly before 9 we headed into Epcot to see Illuminations – there were some troubles with our tickets / magic bands but they let us in quickly to see the fireworks and then we headed back to the room for bed.
Illuminations
Another busy travel day but we still got lots of stuff done even with getting to the hotel later in the afternoon.
For this post I am going to our last family trip to Disney World in January / February 2013. Now it may seem a bit strange but the People Mover (Tomorrow Land Transit Authority) in Tomorrow Land in the Magic Kingdom is actually one of my favorite rides at Disney World.
I am a bit of a people watcher and I like to get out of the crowds now and then and just sit and watch. The People Mover affords a pretty unique opportunity to sit, relax, get out of the crowds and watch the world go by.
You would think the kids would find this exceptionally boring but they enjoy the ride too as it lets them rest their legs and sometimes I get a glimpse of them watching too. This pic is of our daughter in here Aurora dress watching the world go by. How often does that happen? How often do you get a 4 year old girl in a princess dress only a little way from Disney Princesses sitting and just watching and thinking to herself?
It is just another way Disney seems to find a way to cater to all kinds of personalities and personal idiosyncrasies. It also gives a parent a way to see a different side of their kids that they maybe normally don’t get to see.
I look at this picture and I see more depth in her expression than I normally get to see as she is busy destroying her brother and the family room. It gives me hope that she will grow out of her destructive phase…maybe even before she completely destroys the house, although probably not her brother – but it’s ok, he’s resilient.
