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Who: Margie(35), DD Tom(37), DDs ages 10, 9, 7, and 6, and DS (5).
Where: WDW, stayed at Westgate Vacation Villas in Kissimee, 1 mile from WDW gate
When: 10/6-10/12
How: Drove, spent night each way at friend's mom's house ~ halfway down.
Tickets: got through Connections. Was happy with price and ticket delivery, but not with their customer service. No one I talked to
seemed to know anything. Thought about getting meal vouchers from them, but kept getting incorrect info from them. Cancelled
membership. Cheapest tickets I could find, though. If you use them, watch them like a hawk, and don't forget to cancel membership before
the free 30 days are out -- they won't remind you. Also they don't offer just plain PH passes -- only PH Plus passes.
Accomodations: Liked the place we stayed, but didn't like the sales pitch. I booked this through the Armed Forces Vacation Club, which
is available to military, at least some gov't employees, and sometimes gov't contractors. They deal with RCI, which I guess fills
empty condos and resorts by offering deals to vacationers. Had to endure 1 1/2 hour sales pitch about buying condo at this place.
Still trying to find phone/email/address to complain. There was nomention of this when we booked this condo. When we checked in, "Gary" (name changed to protect the annoying) drove us to our
unit, showed us amenities of the resort, and did alot of schmoozing. Somewhere in the middle he mentioned a "maintenance report" he had to
fill out, and could he bring us breakfast one morning while he went over it with us. I asked how long it would take, and he said 30
minutes, but we could also take a tour of the resort if we wanted to. Set up appt for Friday morning 8:30. Fri. morning comes, "Gary"
calls, tells us to come to where we checked in. When we get there, he claims breakfast is not ready, and would we like to see a unit
before we eat. DH ("D" is not for dear or darling this time!) says OK. Three units and over one hour later, we finally sit down to
eat. Food is not even that good! "Gary" sits with us and continues sales pitch. Then he brings us to resort childcare center, checks
our kids in (still can't believe we let him do this -- he was very slick), and takes us to the "high-pressure" sales room. Looks like
car dealership, with little offices on the perimeter for finalizing deals. Very loud, like floor of the stock market. We finally just
flat out tell him we ARE NOT INTERESTED and we manage to escape. We pick up the kids and finally make it to MGM by about 11:00. Wasted
almost the whole morning! I wouldn't have been so upset if we had been told about this, but there was nothing when I booked or when I
got my confirmation letter.
All that aside, I did like the place we stayed. It had two bedrooms (one with one king, the other with 2 queens) plus a loft with two
~futon twin beds. The sofa also folded out into a bed. We had a small but complete kitchen with stove, microwave, blender, full
fridge, and dishwasher. There was a full size washer and dryer too. Two full baths with shower and tub in each. There were 13 pools
available for us to use, a game room, Pizza Hut, small convenience store, plus alot of activities available (but who wants to do stuff
like that when there's Disney to be done?). They even had their own wild animal show with a tiger, mountain lion and tarantulas, although
we didn't see it.
Did save alot of money making a few meals and doing laundry there. I think I did 8 - 10 loads there!
We stayed here for $249 for the week, which I thought was pretty good considering we would have to get two rooms at any hotel we stayed
at. I wouldn't mind staying there again if I didn't have to sit through the sales pitch.
Travel: Driving was a good option for us. Airfare would have been alot of money, and we are about 12 hours away. We had a place to
stop for the night, so the drive each day was either 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 hours. We did end up getting a Toshiba TV/DVD combo for the car. It
was $350 at Best Buy, and my DH also bought some sort of power converter that I think was $60 and made by Janssen (?). Kept the
kids fairly happy, although kids in the two outside seats in the back of the van couldn't see the screen. Also, the speakers are on the
side of the TV by the driver, which is bad because no one in the back can hear without making the driver uncomfortable. We were also able
to hook up the GameCube to it, and four kids at a time could play. The kids weren't all that excited about the car games I had planned,
but they did like drawing, although this usually meant a mess of papers on the floor. Definitely bring the washable markers!
We packed alot of snacks, but after a while the kids got tired of the limited offerings, and we ended up stopping a couple times I had
hoped we could skip.
Was nice to have our own car there -- we could go eat outside the park or go shopping for groceries whenever we needed to.
Conclusions:
1) Connections is good for buying PHP passes, but be wary of them for other things. Remember to cancel membership if you want to.
2) Had decent luck with Armed Forces Vacation Club for booking accomodations, but check to see if there is a sales pitch involved.
If they say no, I bet there still might be, disguised as a "mainenance report". Don't agree to go on a tour!
3) Driving OK, but will probably take a long time. Have a game plan for kids, especially if they are not used to driving that long.
Snacks are good, and games are good. TV w/ movies and/or video games are great if you can handle the noise from the TV (beats the sound of
kids fighting, though!).
This part I thought I would talk about packing: what was really useful for us, and stuff we probably should have left at home.
Somewhere I found this packing list entitled "Disney Vacation Ultimate Packing List". I went through it and underlined in red the
items I thought we should bring. I also used the packing ideas from the Dollarless website, plus any other places I could get ideas.
Clothes -- definitely comfortable ones! We brought enought for one week with out doing laundry, but still ended up doing laundry
anyway. We ended up not bringing extra clothes into the park any of the days we were there. I had read to bring two pairs of tennis
shoes per person in case one pair got wet. We never used the second pair of shoes. There are only a few ways I know of that your shoes
would get soaked that badly -- getting caught in a really bad rainstorm, going on Kali River Rapids and not putting your shoes in
the raft's storage area, or walking through a fountain somewhere. We avoided all these (missed the rain by luck, but not too hard to
avoid). Next time I'll leave the extra pair at home.
Jackets -- we brought them but never used them. The coolest it got at night when we were there last week was maybe 65 or 70 degrees.
They take up alot of room (for us anyway), but we never needed them.
Rain ponchos -- I had bought a ton of these, and we never used them either. I would still get them and bring them to the park, but one
or two per person is plenty. Target and Walmart both carry them in the camping section for less than 90 cents.
Sunscreen -- definitely! I had a hard time finding some before we left. I was really trying to find the wipes, so I could take some in
the parks with us without being too heavy or worrying about leakage. Did find a Neutragena (sp?) sunscreen stick in with the facial
lotions that worked well for us, but was ~$5.50. Saw at drugstore.com (from tip from MFL list) where they have the wipes, on
sale even! We would still have needed regular sunscreen before entering the parks, but the wipes are good for reapplying. Might
want to get the sunscreen with bug repellant, but don't know what the active ingredient is. Experts seem to endorse only ones with DEET,
but need to be careful (less than 10%) when using on children. Bugs weren't bad when we were there, except at dusk. There is alot of
standing water in and around the parks, so take precautions. Bring some chapstick, too -- Blistick is good.
Hats -- almost all of us wore hats in the parks. I think they helped keep you cooler, but they can mess your hair alot. Plus there are a
few rides you should probably remove your hat for. Many of these rides were pretty empty when we would get there first thing in the
morning, so I just wouldn't put on my hat until we were done with those rides, and the sun was more directly overhead. DH and I had
sunglasses (cheap), and the kids probably could have used them too, but also probably would have lost them. Same rules for hats apply to
sunglasses. We saw alot of them at Lost and Found!
Don't forget your watch! I wouldn't recommend wearing your nicest one, either. It's so hot there you're bound to do alot of sweating,
and that will corrode the metal on alot of watches. Your best bet is probably a water resistant sports type watch. You can get these
pretty cheaply, and you won't have to worry about it getting splashed or lost. I would leave any other expensive jewelry at home, too.
Emergency info -- I think you can probably not ever have enough of this! We brought recent photos of the kids with age, height, weight,
and distinguishing marks listed on the back. Try to make a mental note each morning of what everyone is wearing. Some people recommend
wearing matching outfits or dressing according to a theme. If you can, this is a great idea! In a panic situation, anything you can do
to find a lost family member helps. Also bring your driver's license, doctor's name, phone number, insurance card, emergency
contact info., list of prescriptions you are taking, etc. Don't forget your park tickets! Bring any ID you need for discounts, too.
Be sure you have credit card numbers and park ticket numbers written down somewhere and keep them separate from the credit cards and
tickets. If they are lost, they can be cancelled and replaced if you have this info.
Bring email addresses for anyone you want to send messages to in Epcot.
Money -- we used a combo of cash, traveler's checks, and credit cards. My husband and I each carried a different credit. That way
if one got lost, only one would have to be cancelled, and we would still have another to use. Disney I think takes Mastercard, Visa,
and American Express. I never tried to use Discover in the parks, but they did take it at World of Disney at DTD.
First aid kit -- I found some on clearance at Walmart for $1 that was just fine. It was about 3x5 and ~1/2 inch thick. It had bandaids,
neosporin, tylenol, ibuprofen, alcohol wipe, and a first aid chart. I also found sting sticks for 70 cents and stuck one in there. I
bought a bunch, but only opened one kit the whole trip. You will probably run out of bandaids before anything else. There are first
aid stations in the parks as well that have some of this stuff, but we saved several trips across the park by having this onhand.
Other things we used alot are: baby wipes, spray deodorant (spray on feet to help stop blisters -- kept this in the condo), moleskin for
feet, disposable cameras (in case you lose or can't operate your regular camera), extra batteries (cameras and other electronics),
extra film, handhald fans (found some at our local Walmart for 97 cents -- cost $5 in parks), bandannas (we used for headcoverings, but
can also use for napkins, cold compress, handkerchief, tie to car antenna, etc).
We brought alot of snacks into the park, and I wish we had brought more. I was worried with the bag searches that they would not allow
us to bring in very much food. I think they don't really care what's in your bag as long as it can't be used as a weapon. One thing that
saved us alot of time and money was the Brita water bottle. We brought one plus a few frozen bottled waters, and that kept us
hydrated all day. They are heavy, though, and take alot of room. For families smaller than us, I would recommend one Brita bottle and
one frozen bottled water. The frozen one melted quickly, and we could refill it with water from the Brita bottle. You can get ice
for free anywhere that has counter service or serves fountain drinks. The water in the parks was fairly nasty, even though I
didn't really notice it being that bad other places.
As far as what we carried all this stuff in with: each child had a backpack with his/her own stuff. I had hoped they would be able to
carry their own water bottle, but their backpacks were the pseudo-purse kind, not the go-to-school kind, and there just wasnt' enough
room. They can carry their own snack, plus a disposable camera, and their autograph books and pens. Hats went in these, too, when
needed.
Oh yeah! Almost forgot about the bubbles! We brought little bottles of bubbles (each kid in own backback). We meant for them to use them
while waiting in line, but didn't really need them too much for that. They really were alot of fun during the parade we saw (only
one -- I know -- tsk tsk on us!). The characters in the parade really made over the bubbles and the kids. It was really alot of fun!
I got mine at Target, 8 Halloween ones for $1.99.
I had a packpack with the digital camera in it, first aid kit, baby wipes, tickets, extra batteries, handheld fan, money, credit card,
etc., and my husband ended up with a fanny pack and a rolling backpack. He kept the cell phone and money stuff in the fanny pack,
and the snack and water stuff plus the video camera in the rolling backpack. This worked out nicely -- didn't have to carry it all the
time, but it trailed him, and sometimes people in crowds wouldn't see it and would get sorta tangled in it. I suppose he could have pushed
it and avoided that problem, but I don't think it occurred to him. It was almost like having a stroller as far as not having to carry
things, but it could go with him on all the rides -- no worrying about things getting stolen. It did not fit in the storage area on
the Kali River Rapids and did get a little wet, but everything inside was dry.
Which reminds me -- we brought some of these huge ziplock bags in the park, too. Unfortunately not one big enough for DH's backpack on
that ride, but they do make some that big. I put my backpack in one for that ride because there wasn't enough room for all the shoes and
backpacks in the storage area. Garbage bags would work great, too.
I know I'm forgetting something -- I'll add it later I guess. Back to mounds of laundry!
Part One, Part Two, Part Three
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