What a fun time we had on vacation!! Original plans were to drive up Tuesday, Sept 1st in the morning as Zach had a tee time at 1pm. However he got off work early on the 31st and we just decided to drive up that night. Great idea! Got a $50 room at the brand new Fairfield Inn and got upgraded to a free suite b/c I asked for a fridge for Isabella's milk. We packed a cooler full of snacks too. Rolled in around 10pm. We slept in and enjoyed free breakfast before heading out to golf. It worked out perfectly that we were there early. Zach got to golf early (11am) and Izzy and I checked into the Buena Vista Palace. We booked a great deal, buy 3 get 4th free, and we reserved a downtown Disney firework view. Room was nice and modern, bellman was sooo helpful getting all our bags/coolers/etc in for us. Isabella and I drove across the street to Downtown Disney and picked up a Mickey Ears Hat for Zach. Isabella fell asleep on the 5 minute drive and I didn't have the stroller in the car (bellman carried it up!) so I carried her while I shopped- UGH!! Got the ears then had to take them to The Christmas Store to get them embroidered. That took 1/2 hour, which put us at 2:30pm (mind you Zach teed off around 11:30 solo with an empty course....gave me about 1/2 hour to drop them off at the Dolphin's Blue Zoo restaurant so they could deliver them to him at dinner that evening) Needless to say, I ran super duper late picking Zach up and he was not happy about me "getting lost". oopsie. He later forgave me over dinner when the waiter put them on him and said "Happy Birthday!" Hee hee.
So here's a quick rundown:
Wednesday Sept 2nd Magic Kingdom:
We got to enter park before it opened for Breakfast with Winnie the Pooh at Crystal Palace. We seriously had the 5th spot in the parking lot after handicapped. Refer to the slideshow at the bottom for a picture with Tigger that summed up that experience. (Charrel, I copied your slideshow link...love that! and I'm soooo happy you had a fantastic birthday! Yay the Open and Broadway!)
When we were finished with breakfast it was just after 9am, park just opened and we walked right on Jungle Cruise then Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo, and It's A Small World. By 10:45am we were finishing Small World and Isabella had fallen asleep in my lap. I think that is one of her earliest naps. Great timing though as it started raining and she slept through the hour long storm as we hung out in a gift shop in Frontierland. Hit up Country Bears which Isabella went NUTS over. As we sat waiting for the show to start she kept relating the Moose Head, the Buffalo Head and the Deer Head on the wall to grandpa's elk and deer. Then when they started talking I thought I was gonna lose her. She LOVED IT! Good rest of the day, hit everything with time to do Jungle Cruise, Train Ride, Dumbo, and Mickey/Minnie Tent twice. We left around 6pm just as the rain started again. Room service and we all slept like rocks.
Wednesday, Sept 3rd:
Breakfast with Minnie Mouse at Cape May. Much much better experience than Crystal Palace. Minnie, Goofy, and Donald were all hits. Zach had a tee time at 12pm this day which we also ran early for. Izzy and I checked out Animal Kingdom Lodge in the hopes to see some animals to no avail. Then we went to Polynesian and rode the monorail (yes, she loved it!) to the contemporary. That afternoon Zach got a massage at the Dolphin and I had a facial! Oooh nice! Then the best dinner I've had in a long time - Roy's! Our waiter even took a picture of us with the free dessert with the staff camera and had it printed and in a paper frame for us with the check :)
Thursday, Sept 4th:
EPCOT day. Got there 5 minutes after park opened, four rows from the entrance yay again. Somehow we still managed to get lost when we left though....I'm using the excuse "tuckered out" or "deliriously disney". Grabbed some breakfast at the Land after seeing Daisy Duck. We loved Soarin' (15 min wait) and got to do pretty much all of Future Land. I liked how they redid the Epcot ball ride with a computerized screen inside your vehicle to customize your experience. Zach was impressed with the Worlds. We had a really nice time, and it was really hot too. Bella slept for almost 2 1/2 hours and so I guess we accomplished a lot of sightseeing and Zach got to ride the "fast" rides. By 5pm we were debating what to do. We had 7:30 pm reservations at Tutto Italia (we tried to eat there or elsewhere earlier but nothing was available) we decided to leave. Went to Downtown Disney and ate at Wolfgang Puck's 2nd floor fine dining overlooking the lake. Really nice and quiet and kinda empty.
When we got back to the hotel I asked a concierge "We were told there are fireworks at Downtown Disney, we must keep missing them,...etc" he laughed at us and said that there hadn't been fireworks there for 3 years. But the website clearly showed a view of the room with the doors looking at fireworks over Downtown! I had been told by two emmployees that this was the best view for fireworks. The reason I booked a higher priced room was knowing we would probably not see fireworks at the parks, this would be a nice option for us to have some "nightlife" as Izzy slept. Ugh. I was irked, and I think he muttered that we too had been duped. grrr.
Anyway:
Saturday Sept 5th:
Sleep In, Room Service, Check Out and SEA WORLD! The line to get tickets at Seaworld was ridiculous. I can't believe we didn't preorder them for pickup at the window. Live and learn. But this was the first and only crowd we encountered, and it was Labor Day weekend. Izzy had clearly had ENOUGH and she was super cranky. Hot and cranky. She was amused with the aquariums, "okay" with the sea lions, tolerated Shamu then fell asleep. Ahh finally. Zach rode some rides while I hung out in any air conditioned gift shop I could find. We decided that the people who wrote the map had been replaced by monkeys as it was hard to navigate. We also came to a conclusion that the demographics of guests and employees at SeaWorld are maybe 2* compared to disney's 3-4* guests and gift shops are no comparison. When Izzy woke up she was in the Dolphin Underwater viewing area and that was definitely the highlight of the trip for her. We grabbed a bite to eat then headed home. What a fun trip!! Got home around 9ish and I think we slept most all of Sunday :) Zach was off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so we did a little window shopping Monday and just relaxed the remaining time. Vacation is fun, but it is so nice to be home!
Oh, and we did get our resort fee waived each day at the palace due to the "view" issue. I also completed their post-stay email questionaire and since all this they have changed their website pictures.
