Our Crash Course in Disney 101 - Trip Report - COMPLETE 10/1 - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I am all caught up now with your other posts. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Flame Tree BBQ-the food is awesome and being able to find respite under the trees in the shade is incredible!!
Sorry to hear DH didn't fare too well on ToT....what a trooper though for walking around the park the rest of the day!
Those last-day blues really creep up on you out of nowhere.....can't wait to read your last-day thoughts!!
You made some good decisions at AK. It's tough to please everybody, but you did a great job. I've made the same silly mistakes. Very glad to hear you all (well, almost!) had fun at the pool. Raglan Road sounds good, I may have to try that....
Looking forward to your farewell breakfast!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Sorry about the frustrations at AK, but isn't Flame Tree wonderful! Can't wait to hear about your breakfast at the Grand Floridian. We are eating there in late October!
Our Grand Farewell at the Grand Floridian and Final Thoughts
The day had come to say goodbye to this Magical Place.
My TA, Susie, had suggested using our last DDP table-service for a farewell character breakfast and said the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare was an excellent choice. The buffet sounded scrumptious – especially that strawberry soup!! I thought maybe by having us looking forward to one more event on our departure day, it might help stretch out the Magic just a bit…
(We had been informed after we booked that 1900 Park Fare was going to be closed for refurbishment and that our breakfast had been moved to a pre-plated affair at The Grand Floridian Café instead. No strawberry soup – but it would still be something to look forward to.)
Needing to arrive at The Grand Floridian by 8:15am didn’t give us much time to wax nostalgic about leaving – we had to pack quickly and jump in the van. Cory did cry as we left our room – she made sure we remembered the number so we could request that same room next trip!
I’ve always wanted to stay at The Grand Floridian, ever since I saw the first photos of it years ago. And now, to actually be going there for a breakfast - I was in heaven. The girls and I ‘dressed’ for the occasion (even Kevin put on a nice polo shirt!) and we felt grand indeed as we stepped inside.
As we asked for directions to The Grand Floridian Café for the Character breakfast, we were informed that it was now back at 1900 Park Fare!!! More magic! And strawberry soup!
There were several characters already busying themselves about the tables. We saw Alice, the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.
Pooh left early but everyone else came to visit except Tigger. Now, my girls hadn’t really been ‘into’ the Characters during our trip, but they kept watching Tigger out of the corner of their eyes as he bounced by our table several times without stopping. I was beginning to believe he had forgotten us entirely when up he bounced! For the first time, Kelley and Cory didn’t hesitate – they jumped up from their chairs and ran to give Tigger a big hug!
I enjoyed my breakfast very much. Even though I had a huge buffet to choose from, I was still pretty full from dinner the night before; I only had a freshly made Mickey waffle, some sausage, fresh fruit and a bowl of delightful strawberry soup. But as much as I dislike reporting this, I noticed my family was not eating much. Come to find out, they all said their food was luke-warm and not very fresh. That was a major disappointment for all of them as I had raved about the wonderful reviews of this breakfast and they were hoping to fill up before our long drive home. I’m wondering if the switch-back to 1900 Park Fare from Grand Floridian Café had anything to do with the quality of food.
Well, the food might not have been the grandest, but we all felt like a million dollars coming out of The Grand Floridian!
Did you ever have the feeling that nothing would ever be happy again? That’s how it felt for all of us to be leaving WDW that morning.
Kevin had already switched gears; he knew he had a long drive ahead of him and just wanted to get home at that point. The rest of us sat there in gloom, just feeling like life was over and there was nothing to look forward to ever again.
We did talk about WDW on the way home – all of us wanting to go again. And no, we didn’t take advantage of the bounce-back promo – Kevin still wanted to think about going at a slightly cooler time of year or doing things a bit differently. Alexa wanted to go on an 18th birthday cruise with her mom. The little girls just wished they were back there right now!
But – we’re home. Life did go on. Alexa came home to discover she’d gotten her job at Barnes & Noble. Cory received her letter of congratulations to be in “The Nutcracker” with Nashville Ballet. And poor Kelley came down with a nasty viral illness a few days after we returned and is still battling it.
We learned a lot about how to ‘do’ Disney – I have to say the first time is definitely a learning experience.
Alexa asked me, “What are you going to do Mom, now that you don’t have a Disney vacation to plan?”
Why, silly girl – we’ll just get busy planning another one! With all the things we’ve learned, we can make it even more Magical this next time!!!
And now, some final thoughts and observations….
Things That Worked…
1. Using Passporter (need I say more?) I cannot imagine anyone trying to visit WDW for the first time without all the planning that I did ahead of time. If I hadn’t had the Passporter guidebook and all the knowledgable people on this board, it just wouldn’t have been as wonderful as it was.
2. TourGuideMike – to a certain extent. I think much of his information was invaluable, yet some of his advice does not take into consideration soaking up the atmosphere or becoming part of the magic. That’s where using your own intuition and knowing what you want out of your vacation comes into play.
3. Going in September. We had some doubts at first – especially because of the possibility of hurricanes and rain. I’m sure if we’d experienced some severe storms it might have made a difference, but a little rain at WDW is nothing to worry about – and in fact, can add to your enjoyment.
4. DDP. I can’t tell you what a relief it was not have to worry about budgeting for food on this trip.
5. Staying on-site. Again, I feel a Disney vacation wouldn’t be a Disney vacation without totally immersing yourself in the experience. The advantages far out-weight any cost concerns.
Things I Would Do Differently…
1. Stay longer!!! I feel if you’re just getting your feet wet in WDW, you need to have more time to relax and enjoy it all. We will definitely plan more days and at least one full day of non-park vacation time to relax.
2. Make sure everyone in the family had a good over-view of the parks and activities. My husband would have gone on this trip blindly if it had been left up to him – even though we talked about the parks in detail, he still didn’t have a ‘feel’ for the layout or attractions. I think if he had, he might have been able to find enjoyable things to do instead of waiting around.
3. Spend more time exploring and letting the magic unfold. Following an itinerary helped us get a lot done in our four short days – but we missed a lot of unplanned surprises. (That’s where having more time will help.)
4. Utilize Photopass more. (I was going to purchase the DVD before we left, but just felt not to do it. When we got back, we discovered that all our photos taken by PP from MK had been lost – that was the majority of our photos. Luckily, we took our own, too.)
5. Stop worrying about everyone else’s well-being and focus more on my own. That’s not meant to be selfish, and there’s always a way for everyone to have what they want.
I also discovered that I created a lot of problems by focusing on them. I remember before our trip, I was worried that everyone would ‘jump-ship’ on the itinerary or that something would happen to disrupt our plan. When I relaxed, knew what I wanted and let it all flow, magical things happened (getting the ADR changed, buses arriving on-time, walking right up and getting on an attraction, etc.) When I focused about things going wrong – they did!
Well – that’s the end of this Disney 101 report. It’s been very therapeutic to write this all down (and fun, too!) and another memento to put in the scrapbook. I’m looking forward to re-reading this down the road, and see how far we’ve come – when visiting WDW is like visiting an old friend!
Just finished up reaing most of your TR...I think you all did a pretty awesome job for the first family trip! I am glad to see your ticker includes a trip for next year.
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
great TR! sad to see it end. btw...if the yoda backpack is the one that looks like yoda is riding on your back, check online. i needed (huge star wars freak ) that bag, but i didn't want to drop $45. it's a bit cheaper on amazon.
So sad that the trip is over. And a bittersweet way to end it too. In granduer at the Grand Floridian, but with not-so-good food. I guess that's just more reason to try it again next time!! So glad this trip became a reality for you and your family. Hope the next one is even better (and longer!)!!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Did you feel that following the TGM plan was too restrictive?
Well, I think it depends on what your goals are for the trip. If you're really limited on time and want to see 'the best of the best', the TGM can help you do it. But sometimes his itineraries don't allow much room for going back to do some of your favorite attractions again or for just slowing down the pace.
His advice for taking a break in the afternoon was excellent - although none of my family wanted to do that! (Now that we know it's essential, we'll plan more days on the trip!)
However, we really did only wait in line 10 minutes at most if we followed his advice - and most of the time just walked right on. The longest wait (20 min.) was when we didn't follow the itinerary exactly.
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– she made sure we remembered the number so we could request that same room next trip!
Make sure to write another PTR when you go again!!!
) that bag, but i didn't want to drop $45. it's a bit cheaper on amazon.
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