Disney Details

We're back!

I'm planning to make a couple different posts about our trip, but in this one I'll focus on the details of our trip. We went Saturday to Saturday, leaving St Louis on a 7 AM flight and arriving at our resort (by way of the Magical Express bus) around noon. We chose the Beach Club Villas b/c they had 1 bedroom villas with kitchens and a pretty cool pool area. We had planned on not being able to get into our rooms until 3 or 4 PM, so we packed our swimsuits in our carry ons and headed to the sand-bottom pools. Ella and Luca enjoyed the "beach" very much, but Perry still hates sand so she floated in her innertube without putting her feet on the ground ;)

We got into our room around 3:30 PM, threw the kids in the tub to get the sand off of them, and put them down for a nap. Around 6 PM, we headed to the Magic Kingdom b/c we thought there was a parade at 8 PM and fireworks at 9 PM, but they were really at 9 and 10 PM. We stayed for the parade (and rode a couple rides while waiting) and then went home. In retrospect, we should have stayed in that night and rested since we were in the car and on our way to the airport by 5 AM that day, but what are ya gonna do?

Sunday we had breakfast at the Polynesian with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. We rode a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then took the monorail to the resort. All the kids enjoyed the breakfast VERY much. They absolutely adored all the characters and the girls and I marched in the "parade" too. We headed to the Magic Kingdom afterwards and were able to fit in a few rides before the crankiness set in. Instead of fighting it, we decided to go back to the room and get a quick nap in b/c Dave, the girls, and I had reservations for dinner that night. We were able to walk to Epcot from our resort, but of course our restaurant (Akershus Banquet Hall) was in Norway, which was on the opposite side of the world showcase from where we entered. After a bit of a wait in the hot sun, we were ushered in to meet Belle...and Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, and Ariel were circulating throughout the restaurant as well. The girls were in heaven and instantly fell in love with "Sipper Bella" (aka Cinderella). After dinner, we walked through a bit of the world showcase and then headed home. We found out that night that we could see the Epcot fireworks from our balconies...very cool!

Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom. There isn't a whole lot to ride there, but we rode a few things and saw a very cool Nemo show and the Bug's Life 3D show. We headed back to Epcot that night (after naps) and saw the IllumiNations show at 9 PM. It started to drizzle a bit at the end and then turned into a full-on downpour on us. Fortunately, that was the only rain of the week, even though they were forecasting t-storms every day.

Tuesday we cancelled our plans to go to the waterpark and just hung out at the pool again. We thought it was important to get good naps in this day b/c we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that evening from 7 PM to 12 AM. The girls dressed up as princesses, Snow White and Belle...although they both thought they were Cinderella ;) We were able to ride quite a bit that night b/c there were not many people there. Dave and I rode Space Mountain twice in about a 15 minute time period. We stayed for a 10:30 PM parade and then rode the Haunted Mansion ride (which had been closed earlier in the night) and then headed home.

Wednesday we slept in and then took the ferry to MGM (which is now called Disney's Hollywood Studios). Kind of similar to Animal Kingdom in that there isn't much to ride, but they loved the shows. We tried to make it to a 3 PM Block Party Bash (parade) but only caught the tail end of it. This was the day that everyone pretty much hit the wall...heat exhaustion, crankiness, and fatigue caught up with all of us. We spent the evening in that night to try to rest up for the next 2 days. And unfortunately, all 3 kids caught a 24-36 hour fever/virus while we were there. Perry was sick on Tuesday/Wednesday and Ella and Luca were sick on Thursday/Friday. We think Luca's might have been teething-related, but aren't sure.

Thursday we had breakfast at Cape May at our resort with Goofy, Minnie, and Chip. Luca missed most of it b/c he wasn't feeling well and then he spent the rest of the day sleeping in our room with Grandma and Grandpa. Dave and I took the girls back to Magic Kingdom and tried to finish up all the rides/shows we wanted to do/see. We came home around 3 PM and spent the evening in since everyone was still feeling under the weather.

Friday we decided to skip the waterpark again and go back to Magic Kingdom. We rode the train from the front of the park to Toon Town and then did a meet and greet with Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty. The girls were so cute chatting with each of the princesses. Cinderella asked if the mice helped make P&E's dresses and the other 2 princesses asked a few questions too. Ella did most of the talking...I think Perry was too in awe to say anything. We were able to ride a few more things and then had to head home to rest. We ended up staying in again to pack up for our plane ride home the next day. We had to be packed up and down in the lobby by 6:30 AM.

That's pretty much the gist of our trip. As far as rides and shows, here's what we did...

Magic Kingdom:
Tomorrowland Transit Authority
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain (not the kids)
Indy Speedway
Goofy's Barnstormer Roller Coaster
Snow White's Scary Adventures
It's A Small World
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Peter Pan's Flight
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Haunted Mansion
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
WDW Railroad

Shows:
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Enchanted Tiki Room

Parades:
SpectroMagic Parade
Boo to You Halloween Parade

Epcot:
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
World Showcase

IllumiNations fireworks show

Hollywood Studios:
Toy Story Mania
Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area

Shows:
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Muppet Vision 3D

Parade:
Block Party Bash

Animal Kingdom:
Kilimanjaro Safari
TriceraTop Spin

Shows:
Finding Nemo the Musical
It's Tough to be a Bug

Parade:
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade


Stay tuned for more posts on Disney!!