I’m sure the title of this blog will give you a hint as to where I spent Spring Break this year. We (my husband and I) went to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and got our Disney on. We accompanied our 5 year-old grandson, his parents, his other grandparents, and his dad’s brother.
We started our adventure last Saturday, March 9. We all arrived at our resort to check in. Then we headed over to Disney Springs. We ended up not having a dining reservation at T Rex. So we settled upon eating at Cookes of Dublin. We also had a 45 minute wait to be helped at guest services. We also paid a visit to the LEGO store which was an overwhelming experience for my grandson. It took him quite a while to decide what to buy with his gift card.
On Sunday morning we went to Hollywood Studios. We all powerwalked to the Slinky Dog Dash. My grandson gave that ride a big thumbs up. We ended the day with dinner at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe. “Aunt” Teresa, our waitress had us all in stitches. My son-in-law had his birthday button on and she gave him a hard time. When he got up to take my grandson to the bathroom, Teresa was at another table and asked them if they had been excused. When my son-in-law returned we got a big laugh when he accused the waitress of sending him to the kitchen to do dishes instead of directing him to the restroom. We were there for 2 hours for dinner. When the grandson had to go to the bathroom again, Teresa (who was waiting on another table) said, “Again?” Then she told them to wash their hands before returning this time. One tip if you ever eat there: if you are served vegetables that you don’t like with your dinner, make sure someone at the table will eat them for you. My son-in-law’s brother did not eat his vegetables and Aunt Teresa fed him a large mouthful. He handled it graciously and then discretely spit them out into a napkin when she left our table. Seriously, they should not do that.
Monday was spent at Animal Kingdom. I highly recommend the Festival of the Lion King and Tusker House. Satu’li Canteen was an excellent lunch. Of course, the Kilimanjaro Safaris is a great activity. I really like Animal Kingdom, and I don’t think it really gets the attention it deserves. However, I’m sure that is changing because of the new Pandora area of the park. My son-in-law, his dad, and brother got to the park an hour before “rope drop” just to get in line to ride the new Avatar Flight of Passage ride. They waited 45 minutes to ride. Later in the day, the wait in line got to be as long as 4 hours for that ride. That is just crazy!
We started the day on Tuesday with breakfast at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort. We had a great time. This was a character meal. My son-in-law told Goofy that there should be Goofy waffles, and asked him why there were not any Goofy waffles. Goofy took off and then came back and shook his head to indicate that there weren’t any Goofy waffles. However, Goofy was not finished. He came back a little while later with the restaurant manager in tow, and got my son-in-law to ask her why there weren’t any Goofy waffles. Goofy stood there with his fists on his hips. We aren’t sure how Goofy’s campaign is going to turn out.
Then we took a monorail ride to Epcot. I was having trouble with my feet and ankles swelling, so I decided to go back to the resort and put my feet up. I joined the rest of them later in the early afternoon. We enjoyed a German buffet at the Biergarten Buffet that evening. Delicious!
We went to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. We did not have any dining reservations for this day. The long lines waiting for the bus to the Magic Kingdom at our resort alone was an indicator of how crowded the park was going to be that day. I have never seen a Disney park as crowded as the Magic Kingdom on that Wednesday.
Thursday we went to Epcot again and then finished up our trip with the Magic Kingdom again on Friday. We had a lot of snack credits on our meal plan so Thursday was spent snacking around the World Showcase at Epcot. That was really quite fun and tasty.
Most things about the week were magical. Some were not. A 45 minute wait to be helped at Guest services was not magical. Not being properly checked in when we got there was not magical either. On Sunday, I could not use my magic band to buy a banana because it had not been set up properly. So I paid $2.50 for the banana, and then waited in the check-in line at the resort to get this fixed. Some of the magic bands did not open the doors to the rooms. That meant more standing in line to get that fixed. The long, hot trudge to the buses when you’re sweating and in pain was not magical. I’m sure the walk to the bus at Hollywood Studios was at least a mile. I figured out that if you stay in a value resort your buses will be the farthest from the park gates. We stayed in a Lion King suite at the Art of Animation resort. Nice resort but it’s considered a value resort.
It’s also tough when there are not enough places to sit down in the shade. The World Showcase at Epcot seemed to have the least amount of shade. The temperatures were quite warm and the sun was brutal. I don’t handle heat very well and my swelling feet and neck and back pain made it pretty miserable. Another situation that shocked me considering Disney want their customers to be happy was an incident with bedding. My grandson had a nighttime accident on Tuesday night. (My husband and I shared the suite with my daughter and her family while the 3 others stayed in another suite.) I did not know about the accident and did not tell housekeeping when they came in to service the room. When I found out, I later called housekeeping about the situation and asked for the bedding (including mattress pad) to be changed on my grandson’s bed. A girl came to the room with fresh bedding and left. I hollered down the hall at her asking her what I needed to do with the bedding I removed from the bed. She said to put it in the hall. I was floored. They expected me to change my grandson’s bed! I did and will soon call to tell the resort manager about this.
My grandson’s 3 most favorite rides were: Slinky Dog Dash, The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Test Track. On this past Saturday morning when my daughter and son-in-law were trying to get him dressed at 4:30 AM so they could go catch the Disney Magical Express bus to return to the airport at 4:55 AM, he whined and said he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to go to the park. He said, “It’s a bad, bad, bad day!”
As for me, I was ready to go home. My Disney gauge was maxed out. As my daughter said, “There is no tired like Disney tired.”
Pages From My Life 