Sunday, February 3, 2008

Our overall experiece

Disney was fantastic. Our overall experience was good, if we were to go there again, we would definitely only drink bottled water though.
We think the illnesses was from the resort hotel water.

The rides and shows at all the parks were great. It is amazing how many rides and shows we ended up seeing over our 7 day adventure. It is amazing though how many people were there, considering we were there at a low season time. I could not imagine how many people there would be there at peak season.

Disney has so many employees(cast members) I would love to know the amount of people Disney employs. At all the parks, hotels, restaurants, there are cast members everywhere. It is amazing to see. I hope Disney pays them well.

The Disney Dining Plan was something we are still iffy about. We did eat enough to make it worth it for us, but I don't think I would do it again. You have to eat so much food. The adults cost $38.99 a day and the kids $9.99 a day. The price for the kids was worth it, because it was so cheap, but for us, because we aren't big eaters, it just seemed like a lot of waste half of the time. To much food.

Jet blue airlines was terrific. We had no problems on both of our flights, they both left on time, and arrived on time or early. They hand out free ear phones, and you have your own individual TV on the back of the seat in front of you, which is nice. They handed out snacks and drinks and our overall flying experience with them was great.

One recommendation I would make for Disney is to have Purell dispensers everywhere. With the amount of people going through Disney, they really need to have this. At the front when you scan in, you have to put your finger on a scanner, which 10000 people before you just did, and let me tell you, they are not clean. All the rides, ropes, railings and turnstiles you touch and the amount of germs you pick up, Disney really should be on top of that, and get the Purell dispensers in. If you go, make sure you bring wipes and your own purell as you are going to need it.

Overall Disney is a great place to visit. It is a lot of fun, and a great adventure for those of all ages. A experience we will never forget.

Day 8- Our last day

Girl was still not well this morning. I got her drinking some water sips and she seems to be keeping that down, but she can barely stand, she is so weak. We have to be out of our hotel room by 11am.

I get everything packed and we head down shortly after 10 am, I have packed everything we need in our carry ons for the remainder of the day. We check out and then check our luggage with the resort airline check in. This is a very nice service. They check and tag your luggage, bring your luggage to the airport for you, and print out your boarding passes so when you get to the airport, you just have to get through security.

After we checked in, we go eat some breakfast. I have pancakes, husband has French toast, boy has a cinnamon bun and I manage to get girl to slowly eat a Jello. She manages to keep the Jello down and starts feeling better. Thank goodness.

After breakfast, we digested for a while in the son, boy has to go to the bathroom. So I take him and low and behold he has diarrhea. He ends up going to the bathroom 3 times with diarrhea and then that was it for him. The kids and husband go swimming, and I lay in the sun. We walk around the resort and get some pictures and go and grab another bite to eat at the resort hotel and then it is time to get in line to wait for our Magical Express bus to the airport.

The bus ride back was good. We were at the airport about 400pm. The Orlando airport is huge. The lineup through the security check was massive, it took about 45 minutes to get through. I grab something to eat and a nice hot tea, and we sit for about 20 minutes before being boarded. Great. Not to long of a wait.

The plane left on time and it was a nice smooth ride. Girl had some issues with her ears, but it was a fast flight. We arrived in Syracuse 30 minutes early and were driving home about 830pm.
The drive was good, roads and weather was clear. We arrived home at 1115pm, got the kids into bed, un loaded the car and crashed our selves.

Our trip is over. It was a good one. The thing I will miss most is the weather.

Day 7- Magic Kingdom

Our last day today at a park. We head again to Magic Kingdom. Girl has a sore tummy this morning, and she probably is constipated.

First stop is Monsters Inc Laugh floor, which we missed the first time. Girl doesn't want to go in, because she has to try to go to the bathroom, so I take her and boy and husband go in. They take a while in there, and we wait in the sun. Girl is really hurting. We wait until they come out, and then head over to see if Boy can ride the Dumbo ride, which he missed the other days we were here. It is just a simple kiddie ride, but for some reason he really wants to ride it. The wait for Dumbo is 30 minutes, so we pass, and go to It's a small world again. After that ride, boy is hungry, so we go to the Village fry shop again, because he likes that.
Husband picks us up something from Cosmic Ray's starlight cafe again, because we liked it there the first time

Girl does not want to eat, and starts freaking out as we are all sitting, I try to rush her to the bathroom as I know she has to throw up, but we don't make it, and she throws up all over the ground in front of where we were eating. The cast members help us by cleaning it up.
She feels better after that, so I figure it was something she ate or drank for breakfast. She drank the hotel water with kool-aid in it, and goldfish for breakfast. I really think this is from the hotel water. After she is better, we sit down and finish our lunches.

After lunch we head over to the Tom Sawyer Ride, where we decided to take it easy for girl. Waiting in line for the boat over, girl starts freaking out again, luckily for me, I have been carrying a barf bag around. I grab her out of the line, to the exit, where she throws up again.

I grab our passes from husband and head back to the resort. Husband and boy stay. They manage to go to Tom Sawyer Island, and they did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then met us at the resort. Girl was sleeping for a few hours, and felt better when she woke up, so we thought we would head back for our dinner reservations.

WE made it to the bus stop line, and girl throws up again, and walks away stumbling, and I yell at husband to grab her and sit her down, I think she would have passed out, if we didn'tt get her down. We had a couple people offer to help, but really we just needed to get her to her bed.
Husband carried her back the room, where she slept the rest of the day and night, boy and I had dinner from the resort hotel in our room, as he did not want to go to dinner with husband who I told to go the restaurant in MK for dinner and come back.
He went to Tony's Town square restaurant, which he thought was excellent. To bad we missed it. Oh well, I am sure for the kids it would have been the same stuff.

We missed the campfire with Chip and Dale because Girl was sick. Oh well, I am sure we didn't miss to much. All in all, today wasn't the greatest for our last day, but we did enjoy the vacation.

rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor -****
It's a small world-**
Pirates of the Caribbean-****
Tom Sawyer Island-*

boys favorite ride in MK that day - pirates of the caribbean

Places we dined rated out of 5*
Village fry shop-**
Cosmic Ray's starlight cafe-***
Tony's Town square-*****

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Day 6- Typhoon Lagoon and Animal Kingdom

This morning, we decide not to do another full day at Animal Kingdom, but want to go back later this afternoon to see the 4pm Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade.
So instead we head over for 10am to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's water parks. The other water park, Blizzard Beach which is closed for Refurbishment.
Typhoon Lagoon was lots of fun. We had to rent a locker for $7 and towels were $1 each which was kind of a down point, as we spent enough, they should include that with your admission. But whatever, that is how it is.

By the time we are dressed and everything locked up the kids head over to the big wave pool. This pool makes waves about 6 ft high and come crashing into the shore, and knock over kids and adults in its path. The kids think this is great. One thing I don't like there, is the very rough ground, I guess so no one slips, but it is very painful if you fall on it, or just standing there with your feet in it. I didn't swim, because I find the air and the water to cool for my liking. I prefer a hot tub, but they don't have one of those here. I have my feet in the water for a little then go lie down on a sun chair and relax in the sun. Typhoon lagoon is definitely different from the other parks as there is way less walking here. It is a nice change from walking and walking and walking.

They play in the wave pool for about 45 minutes and then we have lunch. Today we lunch at the leaning palms. Boy and girl both get a hot dog, which they get with a little shovel and pail. I get pizza and husband gets a wrap. Another OK, fast food place.

After lunch, we ride on Castaway Creek, which is a lazy tube ride, we hop off at Ketchakiddie Creek and play there for about another hour. More for little kids there, but the water is much warmer. After we head back to the wave pool and play for another little while, and then we get ready to go.

We catch a bus back to our resort to drop off swimming gear, and head over to AK. WE arrive about 3pm and grab a cone for a snack and and do Rafiki's planet watch since we missed it our first day there, and it wasn't to spectacular. We weren't there long, because it wasn't to great and we head back to the main path to line up to see the 4PM parade. Again we are near the exit so we can leave quickly as we have reservations at 530PM.

The parade was OK, not one of the better ones. Really we could have missed it. After the parade we headed to the bus stop and took the bus to the Boardwalk Resort Hotel. I think another Moderate Resort. We are dining at Spoodles on the Boardwalk. The resort seems really nice.

We check in at Spoodles a little bit early, but they seat us right away. Dinner there was nothing fancy, I didn't like mine that much, it was just to spicy for my liking. Girl had pasta again with butter and Parmesan cheese and poor boy had pizza again, which of course he did not like. He managed to eat a little bit of it, enough to survive.

After dinner we decide to head back for an early night, but little do we realize it was not going to be an early night. The bus ride back was brutal. The wait at the Boardwalk was about 15-20 minutes as we have to head to Down Town Disney to catch the bus to our Resort. Then instead of doing its usual route straight from boardwalk to DTD, we have multiple stops at other resorts, and then to DTD, that was probably 30 minutes. Another 10 minute wait at the DTD stop, and then on our bus. Our bus makes the stops at ASSports, ASMusic and then to Movies. That was proabably another 30 minutes. So a Very long travel back, probably that night was the longest, but we made it back and are very glad to be back. WE are all zonked. But Ready for our last day at a Park tomorrow.

Rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*
Typhoon Lagoon
wave pool-*****
castaway creek-***
ketchakiddie creek-**(for younger kids)
Animal Kingdom
Rafiki's planet watch-*
Mickey's jammin' Jungle parade-**

Girls favorite at TL - The wave pool
Boys favorite at TL - The wave pool

Places we dined rated out of 5*
Leaning palms-**
Spoodles-**

Day 5-Epcot and Disney Quest

I like Epcot, but I found we could not spend a whole day there.
WE headed to Epcot and arrived at opening time. WE headed straight to Soarin' and fast passed it, then we went to the Sea with Nemo and Friends. I thought this area was great. The ride was OK, more for little kids, but it was nice. The ride is in a huge building with one of the largest aquariums inside. WE saw all sorts of fish, sea horses, manatees, Nemo fish, Crush the turtle etc.

It was nice, then we did Turtle Talk with Crush, a great interactive show. We all enjoyed that.
After turtle talk, we went over and did Soarin'. This ride was good, but it made me a little queasy. I had to close my eyes a couple of times. It makes you feel like you are flying, over mountains, trees, water etc. When you fly over the trees, they even spray a scent in the air, like pine so you really feel like you are there. It was a good ride.

After soarin', we did the little boat ride, Living with the land, which Husband and I thought very interesting, but the kids thought it was boring.

We then headed for lunch. The kids just ate McDonalds french fries, at the Canada World showcase exhibit. Typical. Husband ate at Morocco in the Tangerine cafe, and I just got a hot dog and chips with an ice cream cone to go at a little counter stop.

After lunch we headed back over to Future world and fast passed Test Track. Then went to check out innoventions. I tried to send a email to friends, but it wasn't working properly. We did a little fire safety game which was fun. Then we left to go ride Test Track. That was fun. My favorite ride in all of WDW. Girl did not like it as it was fast, boy was scared too, but by the end, he wanted to do it again. Fun, Fun ride. A must do.

After that we went to see Honey I shrunk the audience, which I thought another terrible show. Just as bad as bugs life, just not as scary.
After the show, we went and did the Sea with Nemo and Friends again, and stopped at a Kidcot station, for the kids to make a little craft.
Our dinner reservations were early, 4pm at the Coral Reef, inside the same building as the Nemo ride.
WE arrived and had a wonderful dinner. Pizza again for boy, Macaroni and cheese for girl, both didn't like their dinner, husband and I had steak dinner, and it was fantastic. Another favorite restaurant.

After dinner, we decided to leave Epcot and go to Down Town Disney to check out Disney Quest, a big arcade, 5 floors of arcade.
We did a couple games, for a few hours. My favorite games were the drum game, which is like guitar hero, but instead of playing a guitar you are playing the drums and then fantasy jumping, which is this skipping game. You have to jump when the light comes down. Lots and Lots of fun.

We headed out about 745pm, to catch the bus back to the Beach Club resort and walked over to Epcot to see Illuminations. We walked around, and checked out Club cool (not so cool) and then rested and waited to see the fireworks. The fireworks were good, but fantasmic is still my favorite.

It was a very late night, and we left a bit early because we wanted to be at the hotel fairly early. It was a very long day, but fun. Another fun and exhausting day, but still raring to go. Ready for Day 6. How fast the trip seems to be going.

Rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*
Club cool-*
innoventions-**
Test Track-*****
The sea with Nemo and Friends-***
Turtle Talk with Crush-*****
Soarin-****
Living with the land-***
Honey, I shrunk the audience-*
World showcase-***
Illuminations-****
Disney Quest-*****

Girls favorite in Epcot- Soarin and Nemo
boys favorite in Epcot - Soarin and Nemo

Places we dined rated out of 5*
Tangerine Cafe-***
Canada McDonalds French fries- Kids rated it a *****
Counter stop-*
Coral Reef-*****

Day 4- Disney Hollywood Studios

This morning we slept in and headed out late to Disney's Hollywood Studios, formerly known as Disney's MGM Studios. It was a very cool day today, and we decide to wear our shorts. Big mistake the kids complained all morning. It did warm up by mid afternoon, but it was cool until then.
First stop at Hollywood Studios was to get autographs with Donald and Daisy Duck. That was about a 20 minute wait. Then we headed over to see Voyage of the little Mermaid, a show, which I thought would have been better then it was. It was still a very good show, I just thought it would have been more spectacular like Finding Nemo and the Lion King.

After seeing the Mermaid we got to meet all the Power Rangers and Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable on the streets of America. The kids were in awe with the power rangers, I thought they were the best. They sign their autograph and then pose in a action pose with you. Excellent.

We headed over for lunch as we had reservations for 11am. We ate at the Sci-Fi Dine in restarant. I wasn't feeling to good so I took my lucnh to go, husband had Chili, a appetizer for his entree which he really enjoyed, and the kids both had pizza, and were both finicky about it. They did eat a little, because I told them they wouldn't get dessert. The sci- fi is a really neat place, because you eat in cars, and are watching a big movie screen. It is a must do if ever in Hollywood Studios.

After lunch, we headed over to Star Tours, as husband had fast passed it before lunch, but I didn't feel good, so girl and I sat out and boy and husband went. They really enjoyed it. WE watched a bit of the Jedi Training camp, which both of our two did not want to take part in and then I was starting to feel a bit better. We went and checked out Muppet Vision 3D, which was a pretty good show. I liked it. Then over to see the show Lights, Motors, Action. Another excellent show. Another must see if ever in DHS.

After the show, we went and did the Back lot tour, which was a neat thing to do. The kids enjoyed it to. Then we headed for dinner.

Dinner reservations were at Mama Melrose, which we all enjoyed. Husband and I both had a flat bread(pizza), boy had a pizza, and of course, he was picky about it, and girl had plain pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese, one of things she likes. We all enjoyed that restaurant and I would definitely go back there again.

Our friends popped into see us, as they knew we were dining there, they were just leaving to go to Down Town Disney to their dinner reservations. We had a chance to catch up on things. It was nice.

WE left around 505pm and headed straight to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular show. Great show, I could see it again, and again. Boy really enjoyed it as there are bad guys with guns in it. He kept asking if the guns were real.

After the show, we ran to see Fantasmic, it is the last night for 5 nights as they are closing it for what they call refurbishment. I guess annual maintenance. Our travel agent said we should be there 90 minutes early to make sure we get to see it, and of course, because we saw Indiana Jones, we showed up 60 minutes early, which was still fine. Lots of seating.
We sat near the back in the middle to make a quick exit.
While we waited on the show, the people behind us, decided to start the wave. They ended up doing it, getting the whole crowd to do the wave. It was fun, and made the hour pass quickly.

Fantasmic, was fantastic. Another one of my favorite night time shows. I love all the shows. The shows are what make Disney for me.

WE headed out straight after Fantasmic and caught the second bus to our hotel. Another fantastic day. Ready for Day 5.

Rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*
Indiana Jones The Epic Stunt Spectacular - *****
Star Tours-***1/2
Muppet Vision 3D-***
Lights, Motors, Action-*****
Disney Backlot Tour-***
Voyage of the Little Mermaid-***
Fantasmic-*****

girls favorite at DHS-Lights, motors, action and meeting the power rangers
boys favorite at DHS-Indiana Jones and meeting the power rangers

Places we dined rated out of 5*
Sci-Fi dine in-****
Mama Melrose-*****

Day 3-Animal Kingdom

Day 3 began fairly early. I wanted to get to Animal Kingdom(AK) early to see the awakening which was suppose to happen at 845am, but there was nothing, so I would not go to Animal Kingdom until the 9am opening again.
When we arrived we had to stand in a crowd, as they let us in early and we got to see Mickey and Minnie greet us.
Then we headed straight to Africa and did the Kilamanjaro Safari, then the Pangani Forest Exploration trail which was nice, it was full of different animals. After riding the safari we went over to camp Minnie Mickey to see The festival of the Lion King. My favorite show of the whole trip. It is fantastic. Definitely go and see it if you are ever in WDW.

After the show, the wait to see a bugs life was only 5 minutes, so we decided to see it. It's tough to be a bug is in the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a magnificent part of AK, it is this huge fake tree, with all sorts of animals carved into it. It is something to see.
The Bugs life show, was horrible, I hated it, and so did girl. She was crying, because she was scared. I would never do it again. It is a waste of time.

After the Bugs life show, we headed for lunch at Pizzafari. It was OK, again, nothing special, fast food pizza is all it was. Girl and boy do not like the pizza in Disney, they find it to saucy and the sauce is terrible. I scraped out boys sauce, and girl got a PB and Jelly sandwich, which she did not like, because it was different. My children are to picky for the DDP and if we ever go back, which I doubt, I would choose not to do it.

After lunch, we headed back outside, to find out it was raining. We brought our rain gear as the forecast called for chance of showers, and luckily we did. By the time we got our rain gear on, the rain had pretty much passed. Great for us.

We then headed over to Dinoland USA. It is nothing spectacular. The kids got to meet Goofy and Pluto and got their autographs, we rode on Triceratop Spin and checked out the Boneyard, which wasn't to great. If you have kids that are dinosaur lovers, then great for them, if not, it is really not much to see. We didn't do a lot of the bigger rides, like Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur because girl was already freaked out by the bugs life and boy was to small, and primeval whirl because it was to spinny.
I didn't like the Fossil fun games either, makes it feel like a big carnival, which I wasn't to thrilled with.

We then headed over to see Finding Nemo the musical. Another Excellent show, definitely would want to see it again. The shows in Disney are spectacular. After Finding Nemo we went over to Asia, and did the Maharajah Jungle Trek. That was an OK ride, we skipped out on Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids, because we did not want to be soaked, as it was already a cool overcast day. By the time we were through Asia, we headed out to dinner, as we had reservations for 530pm at Wolf Gang Pucks in Downtown Disney.

WE caught a bus over to the Port Orleans French Quarter Hotel, walked to the back along the water and caught a boat to Down town Disney. The boat ride was quite nice, I would definitely take that boat again. The Port Orleans Hotel seemed pretty nice, I think it is one of the moderate resorts within WDW. When we got to Down town Disney we caught up with our friends again for dinner. WE ended up sitting at seperate tables, but afterwards we shopped and chatted together.

Wolf gang pucks was another just OK restaurant. I didn't think it was anything fancy. It wasn't one of my favorites, but I didn't hate it. I would go back there again, because it wasn't to bad.

Boy was having tummy pains from the time we left AK and I thought it was because he had to poop. He didn't eat his dinner, so we took it to go, just in case he wanted it afterwards.

After dinner we shopped in down town Disney. We checked out the Lego store, great if you have kids totally into Lego, but if you don't, it is still nice to see the displays. Then we shopped in Once upon a toy store, which is a huge store. Girl found something so I headed to a cash to pay gor it and boy decides his tummy really really hurts and he ends up throwing up all over the floor. I end up standing there with him for some time, and then one of the cast members, said she would take care of it and we headed straight to the bus. He fell asleep on the bus ride home and I gave him some gravol and he went straight to bed. He slept all night, with no more vomiting, and by morning he was fine. I think it was something he ate or drank in Disney. Husband seems to think it is the water in the hotel. But we are not sure.
WE crashed early and are ready for Day 4.

Rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*
Kilamanjaro safari-****
Pangani Forest trail-***
Tree of Life-It's tough to be a bug-*
Boneyard-*
Triceratop Spin-**(for younger kids)
Finding Nemo- The Musical-*****
Maharajah Jungle Trek-**
Festival of the Lion King-*****

Girls favorite in AK - Festival of the Lion King, and Finding Nemo- The Musical
Boys Favorite in AK - Triceratop spin

Places we dined rated out of 5*

Pizzafari-**
Wolfgang Pucks-***

Day 2-Magic Kingdom

We headed back to MK today and spent the entire day there. We did rides, attractions, and visited some shops. We headed back to fantasy land first thing, because we had missed some rides we really wanted to do. The first thing we rode was Peter Pan's flight, then we fast passed The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and while we were waiting on the fast pass, we rode on Snow whites scary adventures. After we did snow white, we went and did Winnie the Pooh and thought about doing Ariel's Grotto, but the wait there was 50 minutes, so we decided to pass. My two aren't into the princesses to wait an hour to see Ariel.

We went to an early lunch as we have early dinner reservations. We lunched at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and the kids lunched at The village Fry shop, where they had McDonalds French fries and hot dogs. Of course, my two don't eat hot dogs, so they ate the bun with ketchup and Fries.
Cosmic Rays was good, I liked it a lot, they offer a variety of sandwiches, wraps and burgers. Nice selection.

After lunch we headed over to Adventureland and walked through the Swiss Family Tree house, rode on the Jungle Cruise and The Magic Carpets of Alladin. Then we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room and saw a little show.

After Adventureland, we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge by boat and ate dinner in the Whispering Winds Cafe, it was a pretty early dinner. The dinner there, which was still their lunch menu was OK, to me it was nothing special, and I think because they were in the lunch to dinner switch, they didn't have to much show business stuff going on. Oh well. After Lucnh we headed back to MK and did some shopping, and saw Mickey's Philar Magic again and then got ready on Main street to watch Spectro Magic.
While we were sitting on the curb waiting to watch Spectro, I ran across to pick up some snacks at the Main street bakery. The have tonnes of goodies. The line up there was pretty long and the wait was about 20 minutes for me to be served. The kids were having fun waiting on the street to watch Spectro. I brought some lighted glow sticks, so they were busy with them.

Spectro was very good. My favorite parade of the whole trip. Again as we left to the bus stop, the whole park was exiting, which again was a very slow and long process. We made a run for the bus stop and were the first people in line. Horray, and earlier night tonight. WE got back to the hotel about 845pm and crashed again. ANother tiring but very fun day. Ready for Day 3

Rides we rode/attractions we saw rated out of 5*

Peter Pan's Flight - *** (younger kids)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh-*** (younger kids)
Snow whites Scary Adventures-** (can be frightening to little kids)
Swiss Family Tree house-***
Jungle Cruise-***
The magic Carpets of Alladin-**(for younger kids)
The Enchanted Tiki Room-***** (nice show)
SpectroMagic Parade-*****

Girls favorite ride - The many adventures of Winnie the pooh
Boys favorite ride- Mickey's Philar Magic and Peter Pan's flight

Places we dined rated out of 5*

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe-***
The Village Fry shop-**
The Whispering Winds Cafe-***
The Main Street bakery-****

Friday, February 1, 2008

Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

WE left for the airport about 730am, and got through security and waited by the gate for about an hour before boarding. The Syracuse airport is great, because it is not huge. It is a nice size. You can easily navigate your way through the airport with no problems, and because it isn't huge, it isn't as busy.
The flight was on time, and left on time after de-icing. The kids did great on the plane. WE flew Jet Blue and I was very pleased with them. They have complimentary headphones, so everyone can watch the in flight entertainment system, which is great. It has great channels and we each get our very own screen on the back of the seat in front of us, so we can watch whatever we wanted, which was nice. I wasn't stuck watching kids shows. We landed in Orlando on time, and the weather was great. Cloudy but mild. We walked outside and it was so nice not needing a coat on. I love Florida.
WE got checked in for our magical express bus ride to WDW. We waited probably an hour from the time we landed until we got on the Magical Express. It was a nice ride into WDW, they played a little movie to get the kids primed for all the things you can do in Disney. WE arrived at our hotel at 2pm and checked in. Our room was ready, or so they said, because by the time we got up there, the cleaning lady was still there cleaning. She was just finishing up so that was OK.
We stayed at the All Star Movie resorts, in the Toy Story Building 10, Buzz LightYear. It was an OK hotel room, at least the heating system was fairly quiet and constant, so we slept better.
The all star resort is one of the value resorts at Disney, and it is OK, it is nothing fancy. As I see it, why spend more for the rooms, when you are only in your room to sleep. While we are at Disney, we plan to be out all day, every day.
We put our carry ons away, and Disney will bring our luggage to us, in the next few hours. That is a very nice service. You tag your luggage with special tags, and Disney Cast members, pick up your luggage for you, bring it to your hotel and even put it in your room. Very nice service.
We headed to the bus stop. WE are taking advantage of the Disney transportation system while visiting. THey have buses, boats and the monorail. WE hope to ride them all.

WE grab the bus to Magic Kingdom(MK) and get there about 3pm. WE scan in, litteraly as Disney takes your fingerprints and attaches it to your pass. So you are tied to that card, and only your fingerprint will work with that card. So every park we visit we will have to put in our card, and use the finger scan to scan for our print. Very interesting. But whatever, it wasn't a hassle, just different.

We head over to Fantasy land in MK and rode It's a small world, saw Mickey's Philar magic, rode Cinderella's golden Carousel, and visited Pooh's playful spot. WE then ate with our Disney Dining Plan(DDP) at Pinocchio's village Haus. This restaurant is just OK. It is nothing fancy. We have bought the DDP, which includes for all of us, 7 counter service, 7 table service and 7 snacks each. So we use 4 counter service for dinner.

After dinner, we headed to Mickey's Toon town fair and Girl and husband rode Goofy's barnstormer and then we saw Toon park, went to Donald's boat, and Minnie's country house. That area is more for the really little kids, I would say 4 and under. After we finished that area, we headed over to tomorrow land and rode the Indy speedway and did the Carousel of Progress and Buzz light year Space ranger spin and then meet up with friends at Aunt Gravity's galactic goodies. WE stopped into a shop, where boy had to spend some of his money on a Power ranger action hero. We hung together and headed towards Cinderella's castle, to wait and see Wishes Fireworks.
It was nice to catch up and see them there. The kids thought it was great too.
The fireworks were nice, and well worth it. The kids enjoyed it.
After the fireworks, the park closes. So the whole park is exiting at the same time. That is a long and slow process. WE get to our bus stop and the line is huge, we wait about 45 minutes for a bus that we get on to take us back to our resort. I thought that was a pretty long wait. Staying at the All Star Resorts, had one little fall back when coming back from some of the Parks. There are 3 All Star Resorts, First is Sports, Second is Music and Third is Movies. Sometimes these buses, pull into Sports, then Music and then Movies, which can be a little time consuming and long, when you are tired from walking all day and standing on a bus, ready for bed. I guess that is a draw back when staying at a Value Resort. Hopefully other nights we will try to run to catch the bus so we don't have to wait so long. We got back to our resort about 830pm that night and crashed for the night. The first day was a lot of fun, and we are all tired, from no sleep the night before. Ready for Day 2.

Rides we went on/attractions we saw rated out of 5*

It's a small world **(for young kids)
Mickey's Philar magic *****
Cinderella's golden Carousel **(for young kids)
Pooh's playful spot ** (for young kids)
goofy's barnstormer ***
Toon park *(for young kids)
Donald's boat * (for young kids)
Minnie's country house *(for young Kids)
Indy Speedway ***
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin *****
Carousel of Progress ***
Wishes Fireworks *****

Girls favorite ride/attraction - Mickey's Philar magic and It's a small world
Boys favorite ride/attraction - Buzz lightyear Space ranger spin

Places we dined rated out of 5*

Pinocchio Village Haus **

The night before

We left for Syracuse about 330pm. The roads were clear and the weather good. Once we crossed the border, we hit a snowstorm. I was freaking out because I could not see a foot in front of me, and people were passing on my left. I don't know how they could see. It took about 1/2 hour to get through the storm and then it was easy sailing the rest of the way. If you are ever heading to the Syracuse airport, get off at the sign that says Syracuse airport, we passed it as husband thought it would say Syracuse International airport, but it does not. We made our way back, and it was only about a 20 minute detour. The kids were occupied with a movie going in the back seats. Thank goodness. We checked into the airport hotel about 700pm, and settled down for what we hoped to be a early night.

It was not an early night for any of us. OK, Maybe more for boy than girl and us, as he got a little more sleep than us. The heating system kept us up all night long. We are use to quiet when we sleep, and this thing was so loud and kept going off and on every 5 minutes. WE could not fall asleep. I don"t think we logged more than an hour of sleep that night, and boy probably logged 2-4 hours at best. It was a terrible night. I don't think I will ever book at the Best Western again. We had this problem last summer when we stayed at a Best Western in Montreal, and the same problem with the air conditioner kept us up all night. WE probably would have been better off to leave our home at 4am and head to the airport, then to be up all night long. We have hopefully learned our lesson for the next time.

And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind. ~Dave Barry In America there are two classes of travel - first class, and with children. ~Robert Benchley