holmike4 - November 2006

Hello! I'm new to the group. I've been to Disney twice. Two years ago I went on my first trip to Disney World on a mini reunion trip with a friend from high school. We had a lot of fun. She introduced me to Disney World. She takes her family often. I decided to take my family after my reunion trip. None of them had ever gone.

Planning was so much fun. We went through a travel agent and she recommended some great restaurants and found us a free upgrade on our hotel. We were planning to stay at Pop Century but it was booked solid. We went the week of Thanksgiving. She upgraded us to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We loved it. She also recommended that we use the dining plan and I'm glad we did. Here is our trip report.

Day one: Friday before Thanksgiving. Flying all morning and afternoon. We arrived at the airport around 5:15 pm. We found the Magical Express counter on the bottom floor and had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus going to the Caribbean Beach Resort. Not too long of a wait. We got to the resort and went to check in. We had requested Aruba because Martinique and Trinidad North are the preferred locations and cost more. We really wanted Martinque. The CM who checked us in said he was going to give us the last room in Martinique! I was so thrilled. We hadn't even asked him to check! Yippee! We were in building 21. Very nice.

The Caribbean Beach Resort shuttle broke down 10 minutes before we checked in so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a shuttle to Martinique. We were too excited to be in "The World" to mind the wait.

Our room was nice. Nothing fancy, but close to the shop and food area, which was convenient. We had a 5 minute walk to get to the restaurant and pick up packages. There was a pool 1/2 way through the walk to the main building. After we got settled into our room, we walked to the restaurant, Shutters, and had dinner. It was really good. DH had prime rib. We were too exhausted after the trip and meal to go anywhere so we went to bed.

Day two: We got up at 6am and went to MGM Studios. It was just as wonderful as I remembered from 2 years ago when I went with a friend. We started at the Tower of Terror. DS11 was afraid to go on it but decided to try it. He loved it! We did a child swap with DS7. He panicked when we tried to get him to go on it so we let it go. The child swap was very easy to do. I was nervous about trying it, but it went quite smoothly. DS11 rode with DH and then again with me. Then DH tried the Rockin' Roller Coaster. DS11 chickened out and we were glad he did. DH felt so nauseous afterward and wished he hadn't gone on it. His neck had also cracked at the beginning. He did not enjoy it at all. I'm so glad I didn't go on it. DH felt sick for a few hours after. He is the thrill seeker so I know I'm never going on that ride. We had several characters give the boys autographs and photos. It was so neat to see them meet characters. They both acted like 2 year olds. DS7 was very business-like about getting the autograph books and the big pen ready for signatures. He was cute to watch.

We went to the Muppets 3D. DH didn't want to go. He thought it would be stupid. He loved it so much he couldn't wait to see it again. He kept wanting 3D shows after that. We ate lunch at a counter service place called the Studios Catering Co. Not bad, but not satisfying either. We went to Downtown Disney and did a little shopping before dinner and then took a shuttle over to the Contemporary Resort and ate at Chef Mickey's. It was so amazing! DS11 had the birthday pin on so he got a special cupcake and blew out the candle and he also got a place mat signed by all the characters that were there. His 11th birthday was 2 days before our trip. We had purchased autograph books in MGM so we got Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Mickey, and Minnie to sign those. Then they did the birthday song and we all had to twirl our napkins while Mickey led a character march. It was so great. The buffet was fabulous. DH had prime rib again.

Day three: We went to the Magic Kingdom on our second full day. Talk about being enthralled. My three guys were totally amazed and absorbed by Disney World on this day. The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride was really fun. DS7 controlled our carpet and bounced us all over. He really loved the Haunted Mansion. We rode it twice. DS11 and I were soaked from Splash Mountain by dinner time. That was fun, but scary on the final drop. I love Tower of Terror, but don't usually go for thrill rides. Splash Mountain is great once you get over the initial fear of it. DS7 refused to go on it. We ate with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore at the Crystal Palace. It was good. DH had prime rib - 3 days in a row now. He ate other stuff, too. They had seafood at the buffet. I had an amazing peanut butter cake for dessert.

After our early dinner we rode more rides and watched the Wishes fireworks. We spent all day in Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Mickey's Toontown Fair. The boys had their faces painted. DS11 was Goofy and DS7 was a tiger. The boys loved Stitch's Great Escape. We didn't make it to Space Mountain that day. We had trouble getting DS11 off of Splash Mountain. Mickey's Philharmagic is a new family favorite. DH was still in love with 3D shows after this one.

Day four: We went to the Animal Kingdom. I had never been to that one. It was so nice. I'm not much of a zoo person, but this was not a zoo at all. We never made it to the safari ride or Africa at all for that matter. Maybe next time. We spent a lot of time in Dino Land and Asia. We also went to Camp Minnie Mickey. The Tree of Life was so cool! We saw the 3D show It's Tough to Be a Bug. It was really fun. You felt bugs crawling under your seat at the end. They announce to please remain seated while the cockroaches safely exit the building and then the seat starts to roll with creepy crawlies. We loved it. I could have done without the stink bug odor though. We ate lunch at the Pizzafari. DS7 picked that one. It was pretty good, but it was noon and the lines were horrible. We met more characters and had more autographs and photos.

Asia was amazing. DS7 loved Kali River Rapids so much that he rode it 4 times. Initially he was terrified to go on it. We were all soaked. Luckily it wasn't too cold that day. We only had 2 rain ponchos and they helped, but not much. The weather was in the high 60s and low 70s during our entire trip and it was nippy sometimes. DS11 had no poncho on for 2 of the 4 rides so he was drenched the worst. I bought him a shirt which made him happy. It was his second Disney shirt. He had gotten a Tower of Terror shirt the first day. So did DH. DH and DS11 braved Everest. The drop terrified me and I was only watching from below. It is now DS11's favorite ride. He positively loved it and they rode it again with a fastpass later that day.

We had dinner at Boma over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was great. Some of the food was African but they also had some chicken tenders and pizza for kids. I tried an amazing soup. I have no idea how to pronounce or spell the name but it was like a beef vegetable stew with weird spices in it. DH had prime rib - again. He was in heaven.

Day five: We had Mickey waffles at the hotel food court and played at the arcade for a little bit. We had the Water Parks & More Option but the weather was too cold. Blizzard Beach was closed for refurbishment and Typhoon Lagoon kept getting closed during our trip due to weather. We never did make it to a water park. We finally went to EPCOT! Japan was amazing! I had forgotten how much fun country hopping could be. DH bought me an oyster. It was fascinating. I picked one out of a tank and they split it open to see how big of a pearl I had found. I had one that was 6-3/4 mm. It was a nice size. Then DH bought me a butterfly necklace to have the pearl set in. It is so beautiful. DS11 bought a lucky black cat that protects him from illness and evil. He has carried it around every second since then. My superstitions have rubbed off on him. I spent a fortune on chocolate from different countries, especially in Italy - my favorite. The boys met Belle and Beast in France and we took photos and got autographs.

We rode Soarin' in Future World. Wow! That about sums it up. You have to ride this ride. I literally felt like I was flying over California. It was so real that we all lifted our feet up when we flew over mountain tops. The guys chickend out of Mission Space. After the Rockin' Roller Coaster, DH decided against this one even though I told him they offered a half G-force version now. DS11 said no way was he going on it. DS7 and DH liked Test Track but DS11 said it was too slow and he'd rather have gone on Expedition Everest again. I still love that ride. Test Track was one of my favorites 2 years ago. We went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. DH didn't like this show as much as the other 3D shows, but still enjoyed it.

Day six: We started the day back at the Animal Kingdom for a breakfast reservation at Donald's Breakfastasaurus. This was another buffet with the best cinnamon French toast DH had ever tasted. The breakfast pizza was really good, too. It was so nice to see the characters again. We already had their autographs from Chef Mickey's, but we still enjoyed taking photos. I mistakingly left my digital camera in the room so we picked up a disposable camera at a gift shop before breakfast. Let me warn you, they are expensive! I should have gone back to the resort and gotten my digital camera. Oh well. The pictures turned out really nice at least.

After breakfast we went to Kali River Rapids. DH and DS11 had gotten fastpasses to Everest before we ate so they rode the rapids with DS7 and I 3 times before they had to leave. We bought 2 Mickey Mouse ponchos and I had 2 with us already so nobody would get soaked. Ha! Our bottoms and legs were still soaked. After DH and DS11 got off the rapids to head for Everest, DS7 and I rode the rapids 2 more times. Then we met up with them. They bought the photo that was taken during the ride. It is great. We left Animal Kingdom (still no time for Africa) and headed back to the resort to put on some dry clothes. Then we ate lunch at the resort food court and picked up several packages. We were terrible about shopping. I am so glad that they send the packages to you. We really went overboard. Especially the boys, they decided to buy lanyards and start collecting and trading Disney pins. Watch out, that really gets expensive.

After lunch we took a very long and much needed break. We all took an hour or so nap and planned out what we wanted to do before we left. Then we went to Disney's Westside and checked out DisneyQuest. It was disappointing at first. Then DS11 found the part where you make your own roller coaster. He did it 3 times and we have a DVD of the ride that he and DH took on the fastest coaster. DS7 and I flew on a magic carpet and took a virtual reality tour of Aladdin. It was fun. The best part for me was the 5th floor. It has a ton of games referred to as "retro". It was all the games I played as a kid. I played Q-Bert! They had Frogger, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Joust, you name it! DS7 loved it, too. We didn't have a lot of time there though. We had dinner reservations. We took a shuttle over to the Yacht Club and ate at the Yachtsman's Steakhouse. Talk about fancy. I felt out of place at first but everyone was very nice. The wine list was huge. We ordered sodas though. DH finally took a break from prime rib and ordered a Porterhouse steak. His cholesterol must be skyrocketing right now. I had filet mignon, so did DS11. I also had a tomato salad that beats any salad or tomato dish that I've ever had. I could eat it every day of my life. It was soooo good. DS11 had lobster bisque and DH had scallops for their appetizers. DS7 ate chicken noodle soup with Mickey pasta in it which he loved and then ate a hot dog. He got to paint a white chocolate mickey puzzle and eat a cupcake for dessert. I took a picture of his dessert. It was so neat. DH had cheesecake and DS11 and I ordered a wonderful chocolate lava cake with white chocolate gelato for dessert. You did get a lot of food on the dining plan. This restaurant took 2 dining credits but was well worth it.

Day seven: This was our final day and our 6th full day. We went back for extra magic morning hours at the Magic Kingdom. DH got a fastpass for Space Mountain. He finally got to ride it. DS11 went on it, too, but decided that Expedition Everest was still his favorite. DS11 and I rode Stitch's ride again while we waited for them. Then we went on the Blue Line Railroad and rode around Tomorrowland. It was neat and we saw Stitch signing autographs below. We made it in time. DS7 had on a Stitch backpack that he had purchased during our first Magic Kingdom trip and Stitch really enjoyed seeing it. DH and DS11 had reservations for Parasailing so we headed back to the Contemporary Resort. I videotaped them in the air. You can't really see them though even with the zoom. DS11 said it was the best thing he had ever done in his life. We ate lunch at the food court. This resort was really nice. The bathrooms at the Contemporary food court even had seats to strap your baby into in every stall so you could use both hands in the bathroom.

After lunch, DH and DS11 went back to the hotel and swam in the pool. DS7 and I went back to the Magic Kingdom. We saw Pinocchio signing autographs but couldn't make it in time for him. We were on a train when we saw him and we were heading to Mickey's ToonTown Fair so we could finally see the rest of Fantasyland. We got a fastpass for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It was an 80 minute wait! We went to the Philharmagic again and rode some other rides. Then we skipped out on our fastpass for Pooh (I didn't want to) so DS7 could go swimming with his brother at the hotel pool. We had a snack break before we left and Mickey's ice cream sandwiches are out of this world. DH was lounging, not swimming, when we got there. He had gotten me a Tinkerbell nightgown at the gift shop. It was so cute and purple. He knew I'd like it. He was right.

We had dinner at Shutters, our resort restaurant, for Thanksgiving. DS11 and I ordered the Thanksgiving Special, but DS7 wanted Mac and cheese and DH had Prime Rib - yet again. Then we took a shuttle over to MGM studios and watched Fantasmic. It was an amazing show. Images were placed on water and Mickey's dream turned into a nightmare as he battled all of the Disney villains. It was so incredible! We got back to our room about 10:00 pm after a final shopping trip in MGM. We packed and went to bed around 11:30 pm.

Day eight: We woke up when Mickey Mouse called us for a 2 am wake up call. We got ready and made sure we had everything. We almost left behind 2 cell phone chargers plugged into the wall behind a chair. I'm so glad that DH saw them. I felt incredibly nauseous. I think it was lack of sleep. I'm not sure. DH basically did everything while I carried around a bucket. At 3:20 am our ride arrived to take us and our luggage to the custom house so we could check out and ride the Magical Express back to the airport. We were too early for the luggage check service through Delta. You can check your luggage at the resort now, but only during specific hours. We had a credit card on our account so we could use our Key to the World card for charging. They gave me an itemized list of charges. Ouch! It was so nice to see everything listed though. I really appreciated the list and not just a blank charge. We left the custom house at 4 am. We arrived a short time later at the airport. Our flight was at 7 am to Fort Lauderdale where we had a four hour layover to Atlanta and then a 3 hour layover home putting us there at 5:12 pm. Ugh. I felt so sick. DH paid extra to move our flights around. We ended up leaving at 6:20 instead of 7 am and flew to Atlanta. Then we only had a 40 minute wait until we left for Cincinnati. We still had a three hour layover there so I attempted lunch and felt much better. We napped at Starbucks in these really comfy chairs. Ahhhh. That was nice. Then we left for a short flight home. It was so nice to be home before dinner time.

I highly recommend the dining plan. I did add up our receipts and we saved a bundle. Plus, we never would have eaten at the restaurants we went to if we were paying out of pocket. We could really experience the World. I'm hoping to plan another family trip in a few years and see Ohana and Africa (finally). If you have unused snack credits on the dining plan at the end of the trip, don't worry. We bought Mickey chocolate bars for gifts for our family and friends. They loved them!