MY Last Trip........

[Mel]

Is PO Riverside the moderate resort that can accommodate five per room? Do you think they would be big enough for a family of five for 10 days? What's the Disney transportation like to that resort?

Some of the Alligator Bayou rooms sleep 5 but one is on a trundle. I would not do it though. Actually next trip we will be booking adjoining rooms for the space and because ofthe fateful morning Eli asked loudly in a full restaurant if all married people make noises like her Mummy and Daddy in bed! (I do not think she was talking about snoring either!

Sandie

HAHAHAHA I love it!!!!

Thanks for the tip on the moderate. At the moment I'm thinking of one room at the Poly or Beach Club. The eldest kid will only be seven so I don't really like the idea of adjoining rooms since they'll be so little.

Any of the online US travel agents will do it for you but it is so easy to do it yourself.

Sandie

I was actually thinking of potential business ideas.

Greg

I've thought of it too. I've looked up the cost of registering and of becoming an official Disney Travel Agent and it all added up to a lot of $$$$$ It would TOTALLY be the best job though!

[sandie]

22nd August – Epcot

We grabbed breakfast in the food court using our Magic Your Way Dining cards. Peter had fruit and yogurt, I had pancakes and orange juice and both kids had pancakes with chocolate milk. We headed over to the bus stop and got there just as Jeanette and crew arrived. Apparently the Moys were having a bit of the problem getting up s early so they would catch up with us later in the day.

So all eight of us boarded the bus – all of us wearing our lime green shirts. Jeanette’s family’s shirts said La Rock family vacation though. Peter looked very uncomfortable in his new attire! We arrived at Epcot just as it was opening. I raced over to Test Track and got fast passes for all of us and then raced back to meet the others for Soaring. Soaring simulates flying in a hang glider over various scenes in California. By the time we got off we were able to get fast passes for Soaring. Whilst we were on this side of the park we tried the new Living Seas with Nemo attraction and Journey into your Imagination. After this lame attraction we spent some time in the Imagination Works and the kids each received a Magic Moment certificate for playing some games and we had a couple of group photos taken.

We headed over to the other side of Future World and went on Test Track before deciding we needed to get something to eat. As we had a very early dinner reservation we all shared. Our family had two chicken strip combos and two fruit cups. Mary had rung Jeanette and they were now in the park so we headed over to Club Cool to meet up. Whilst we were waiting the kids drank about 2 litres of free soft drink each.

We met up and went back to see Nemo again after stopping to watch the Muppets Mobile Lab for a while. This was two animatronic characters – Beaker and Dr Bunsen Honeydew – who talked and interacted with the audience and no matter how hard I looked I could not find the cast members controlling them remotely.

We still had a while before dinner so we headed over to World Showcase and went on the new Mexico attraction and played around in the Mexican courtyard before we headed over to Le Cellier in the Canadian pavilion. This is beautiful dark and cool restaurant but it is also very small. Our table for 13 stretched from one side of the restaurant to the other. We were the only family on the Dining Plan so we got to order one entrée, one main meal and one dessert each. Peter had a ceasar salad followed by prime rib, I had cheddar cheese soup and a filet steak, Eloise had beef and barley soup and roast chicken and John had celery and carrots followed by beef and macaroni. For dessert Peter and John had ice cream sundaes and I had a chocolate moose ( a moose made out of mousse) and Eloise had s’mores.

None of us really wanted to see Illuminations so we said good bye to the Moys who would be leaving on their cruise in the morning and we headed back to our hotel. The kids swam again until late but this time I sat with John as Jeanette had to pack.

[churros]

22nd August – Epcot

The day we've all been waiting for!

Apparently the Moys were having a bit of the problem getting up s early so they would catch up with us later in the day.

Take no prisoners!

all of us wearing our lime green shirts.

We have Australian flag shirts

Whilst we were waiting the kids drank about 2 litres of free soft drink each.

Beverley?

...after stopping to watch the Muppets Mobile Lab for a while. This was two animatronic characters – Beaker and Dr Bunsen Honeydew – who talked and interacted with the audience and no matter how hard I looked I could not find the cast members controlling them remotely.

I don't think that's still in WDW - I thought I heard it is now OS.

I had cheddar cheese soup and a filet steak,

I've heard his soup is very good.

John had celery and carrots

Eloise had s’mores.

I have my eye on the s'mores at Primetime!

None of us really wanted to see Illuminations

Why?

[mushu mama]

None of us really wanted to see Illuminations

Why?

my thoughts exactly...

Lisa -/

[calisota]

The cheddar cheese soup is good and something you really can get in Canada.

I don't remember seeing any muppet shows when I was there in October so you may have just gotten to see it if it did go OS.

I wasn't impressed with the Nemo ride either but did you see Turtle Talk with Crush? It was in the same building and almost worth admission to the park on its own.

Greg

[mushu mama]

did you see Turtle Talk with Crush? It was in the same building and almost worth admission to the park on its own.
Greg

Yeah... the Turtle Talk is totally awesome Dude.... one of my favourite things in DCA - is it the same as in WDW?


Lisa. -/

[sandie]

Why?

because this was the first of our 22 nights in the World and we would have better ops to see it!

And I loved Crush!

Sandie

[sandie]

23rd August – Magic Kingdom

We were all excited this morning as it seemed like forever since we had been at the Magic Kingdom. Peter and the kids ate cereal in the room before we headed out. First stop though was Jeanette’s room so we could say a final goodbye and then we hoped on a bus to the Kingdom!

Our only plan for today was to visit everyone’s favourites so there was no need for us to rush and wear our selves out in the forty degree heat. We arrived shortly after opening and walked through the gates and had a photo taken in front of the station. We walked through the train tunnel and as soon as we saw the castle we all felt at home. We took our time walking up Main Street and made our first stop for the day Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear had a short line so I grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain and we went to battle the Evil Emperor Zurg. All you need to know is that Eloise and I lost and the show off boys beat our score by about 500%. When we came out the kids wanted to go on Stitch Encounter. I was the only one who had ridden this before and hated it when it was Alien Encounter mainly because as soon as they turned out the lights everyone else started screaming and I couldn’t hear what was happening. However it had been revamped and featured Stitch so we went on it. Guess what? I hated it – mainly because as soon as they turned out the lights everyone else started screaming!

It was now time to ride Space Mountain so off we went. This is always a fun ride and its even better now that the kids are old enough to really enjoy it and we don’t have to spend the ride making sure they are ok. Once we got off the kids (well John and I anyway) wanted to ride Splash Mountain. The stand by line was 45 minutes so Peter found a space to wait in the shade and we lined up. After 45 minutes we were not even in the mountain yet so we decided to leave the line. A cast Member asked why we were leaving and when we told him he asked us to follow him. He took us to the loading dock through the exit and we got on the next boat! All three of us sat in one row and hooped and hollered our way through the mountain.

When we got off we found the cast member and gave him a stuffed animal. We caught up with Peter and rode Big Thunder Mountain. Of course there was more Hooping and hollering! It was time for lunch so we headed for Columbia Harbour House. It is always cool in here and if you carry your food upstairs it is usually empty and quiet. Peter and the kids shared a fish and chips basket and a chicken strips and chip basket. I had a tuna sandwich. Once we were refreshed the kids wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. The new Jack Sparrow animatronics were amazing. We excited into the gift shop and decided now was the time to buy our costumes for the Pirate and Princess Party tomorrow night.

We spent an hour in the shop trying on a collection of hats, bandannas, weapons and eye patches before settling on the ones we wanted to buy. We decided to grab ice cream before we headed out of the park for an afternoon break.

We caught the bus back to the hotel and after unloading I took the kids for a swim and Peter went to find internet access. After swimming and a stop at the food court for a drink and a snack we headed back to the room to wait for Peter’s return. All of the kids toys had been rearranged into a humorous scene. This happened almost everyday and ranged from the toys sitting together, one of them holding a remote, watching the tv to an elaborate waterslide constructed out of pillows and towels. Coming back to the room became an exciting treat.

When Peter returned we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Peter had his usual chicken fried steak and the kids had a mixture of mac and cheese, chicken tenders and corn. I finally decided to give into pressure and try Peter’s chicken fried steak but it really didn’t do that much for me.

After dinner we decided to spend some time at Downtown Disney and browsed through the shops admiring everything from toys to jewellery to t-shirts. We stopped at Ghirradelhi for some free samples and just enjoyed the ambiance along the water way.

We headed back to the hotel about 10 pm and were all settled in and asleep by 11pm as we had an early morning and a long day ahead tomorrow.

[sandie]

24th August
Animal Kingdom and Pirate and Princess Party

We started the day nice and early as we had an 8 am reservation to have breakfast at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We drove to the park as we were not planning on staying for the whole day. As we had reservations we were let in right at 8 am even though the park didn’t open until 9 am. We only had a short wait until it was time to have our photo taken and then we were called by our server.

The meal was served buffet style so we took turns trying various fruits, cereals, eggs, bacon and pancakes. The staff here are known for their sense of humour and we got to see the people at the table next to us be told that their credit card had been declined and when John asked for tomato sauce they squeezed the bottle at him – fortunately only ribbons came out!

We finished just as the park was opening. Peter and the kids went straight to Dinoland and I followed the rope drop to Expedition Everest so that I could get us fast passes for later in the morning. I then raced back to Dinoland to join the others in a spin on Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Both kids loved Primeval Whirl but Peter and I found it churned up our breakfast too much so we let them go the second and third times alone. We then headed over to Dinosaur. We had all been on this before and had enjoyed it. This time however John did not enjoy it and refused to go on it ever again. Seems he can manage loops and inversions but real looking dinosaurs are too much! I had forgotten that a big carnotaur jumps out at you in this attraction and the look on my face is one of pure terror. Of course we purchased the photo!

After a bathroom stop we headed towards Expedition Everest. The mountain itself is huge and looms over you in a menacing way. Every ninety seconds you hear screaming as a train is shot down the side of the mountain. This was enough to scare Peter who decided that he and Eloise would let John and I ride first to see what it was like. The queue is set up like a base camp for the mountain. There is information on mysterious sightings of a yeti and strange occurrences. Finally we reached the train station and boarded a long open train. The train whips out of the station and then climbs straight up the mountain. The views are amazing and you can see all of WDW. You enter the mountain and suddenly the train stops. The tracks ahead of you have been ripped up and the train can go no further. Out of the corner of your eye you see the shadow of the yeti ripping the tracks up. The train starts to race backwards in the dark inside the mountain. The train stops again and right in front of you is an amazing audio animatronics yeti. He is huge and so realistic that you can see his fur rippling. As he lurches at your train you are launched straight down the mountain – that was the screaming we had heard earlier!

It sounds a bit scary but it was really just fun. We got off and raced over to half heartedly convince the others to try it. Secretly we were hoping that they would say no so we could go again! No such luck, they decided to be brave and off they went. They loved it just as much as we did.

We decided that we would go on the safari before we left and walked over to the other side of the park and had an enjoyable ride and saw lots of animals. It was time to leave the park now as we had a late night ahead of us and I wanted the kids to have some down time and they still had a heap of homework to do. Peter dropped us off at the resort and headed out to go shopping by himself. We decided to take the homework over to the food court and have lunch before they got stuck into their homework. We had hamburgers and chips and then buckled down. They both finished most of their work and we also wrote some postcodes. Being extra prepared we already had our swimmers with us and went to the main pool to swim and play on the waterslide for a while.

We headed back to the room at 4.30 and after saying hello to Peter and some quick showers we got dressed in our Pirate garb. When we headed out at five to board the bus to the Magic Kingdom we were very sexily attired in pirate hats, bandanas, eye patches and jewels with various weaponry in evidence. As the bus arrived at the Magic Kingdom the sky was looking heavy and ominous. We boarded the boat for the short ride to the Wilderness Lodge and by the time we were ready to get off the boat it was pouring. Not just raining but the type of rain that reduces visability to just a few metres. There was nowhere to wait in shelter so we just ran for the hotel and arrived very, very wet.

We checked in for dinner and were told it would be a thirty minute wait. The kids played with the Lincoln log toys and made friends with the other kids dressed like pirates and princesses. We were all getting a little worried that the night’s party would be cancelled. We were called for dinner and were seated in a nice quiet alcove where we could watch the worsening weather through the glass doors. Peter, Eloise and John all got the all you can eat canyon skillet witch included chicken, ribs, prawns and mashed potato whilst I had chicken. The kids also had bottomless milkshakes. At one stage John asked for ketchup and our server screamed out to the rest of the dining room “Who has the Ketchup?” Suddenly 20 people from all corners of the restaurant walked to our table and left us bottles of sauce. We got to return the favour when the next person asked for sauce. Eloise also asked for straws the waiter threw about 50 straws down on the table.

By the time we were finished eating and had dragged our bloated bodies out to the dock the rain was not quite as heavy but still present. We donned out new rain ponchos and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

The Pirate and Princess Party cost $40 each but gave us 5 hours in the Magic Kingdom with no-one except other ticket holders. Being a Friday night the party was sold out so we were still expecting crowds. As we entered we were each given a velvet pirate loot bag and we were told that anytime we saw a Pirate or Princess station we could go in and get our bag filled with goodies. That was a great surprise. Another great surprise was how many people hadn’t turned up tonight. By the end of the night we had not had a wait for any attraction at all!

We started off walking up the nearly empty Main St stopping to have our photos taken by the photo pass photographer. He reminded us to make sure we had our photo taken with Jack Sparrow before the night was over. We headed over to Adventureland but the wait to see Jack was long so we decided to come back later. We did however find our first treasure spot. We walked through and each of our bags were filled to the brim with chocolate and beaded necklaces. The cast members were so happy to see guests they overloaded us and one of them told me that only 10 percent of the guest expected for the night had shown up.

In honour of the theme of the night we had 3 rides on Pirates of the Caribbean before heading to Frontierland. The kids and I went on Splash Mountain and didn’t even have to get off for a second ride – they just sent us around again! We then had 2 goes on Big Thunder Mountain and I sat down while the others had another 2 rides. We had time to visit another treasure spot before the parade. We came up with the plan to empty all our goodies into my shopping bag so they always filled our sacks up to the top. We stopped and watched the parade and then went to visit Jack. It only took us ten minutes to reach the front of the line and we spent about 10 minutes in the room. He offered me money if I would let Eloise run away to Indonesia with him. I think she wanted me to seriously consider it! After a few photo we headed to Fantasyland and got some drinks and had a rest. While we were there we saw the fireworks. They seemed to last forever.

Next stop was Tomorrowland where we had three goes on Space Mountain and a whirl on Buzz before deciding we would have some ice cream and then head back to the hotel. It was now 11.30 and we were all a bit tired. It was a great night and I hope we get the opportunity to do it again.

[mushu mama]

The Pirate and Princess party sounds wicked.... I'm so doing that one day... if only to get asked to run away to Indonesia with Capt'n Jack.... I'd be packed in a heartbeat...

Lisa. -/

[sandie]

I'd be packed in a heartbeat...

Why stop to even pack!

[churros]

I'm really looking forward to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party but I don't think we will be getting dressed up!

How far is Cracker Barrel?

[mushu mama]

I'd be packed in a heartbeat...

Why stop to even pack!

Can't leave the cufflinks home ...


edit: Oops... I mean the hand cuffs... ( I worked too hard today.... )

[sandie]

How far is Cracker Barrel?

A good 15 minute drive. It is a very nice wholesome lace to eat though and dinner for 4 of us including desserts was always about $28!!!!!!!!

Its right next door to Old Town so its a common place for use to go.

Sandie

[KeithS]

I'm really looking forward to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

It was one of the highlights of the DUD World Tour in 2006 - we absolutely loved the MNSSHP! Just like the Pirates and Princess Party, you get a bag to fill up with candy from different stations all around the park. There is also great live entertainment, a wonderful parade, and top notch fireworks. It was a truly great night

That was a crazy night - we finished around 1am, went back to Pop Century, and then I got up again at 4am to get a taxi to the airport to catch my flight to New York. 36 hours later, I was back in Orlando - that holiday was just go-go-go!

It makes me wish I was heading back there - are you sure you didn't buy us club members some extra tickets Beth??