Jennifer's WDW Trip Report
Febraury 2003

We got back from our trip to Disney Sunday morning about 1am. We truly had a lot of fun but I was really glad to see our home.

Cast of Characters were:
Dan-33
Jennifer (me)-31
Christian-10
Caleb-9
Kiernan-5
Nicky-2

Friday, Feb 7
Left home about 7pm and drove all night. We had made a last minute purchase from Big Lots of a VCR in a bag for the van. This was great! My 2 year old, Nicky, usually cries the whole way when we go anywhere. This time he sat back and watched a movie and fell asleep by 10pm. This was well worth the money just for that!

Saturday, Feb 8
Arrived at Port Orleans Riverside about 1pm. We weren't even tired! We checked in quickly and bought tickets to Magic Kingdom. We were in Building 27 (can't remember the room number). It was really nice! Clean and much more than we expected. Quite a hike from the parking lot though.

I filled my Brita sports bottle and loved this thing. Highly recommended! The kids drank this and juice boxes that I had brought. I was able to refill the bottle anywhere and we had good tasting water.

We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom. We spent a lot of time waiting on buses to and from the Park. Everyone was complaining about the long wait for the Port Orlean's bus and cheered every time when it finally came.

We went to the Buzz Lightyear ride first since this was the only day of our visit that it would be open. We rode it twice and the kids loved it. My score was 200,000 both times! I loved beating Dan. lol

We rode lots of other rides in Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land including the Astro Orbiter. Actually just Dan and Christian (10) rode this. It is way too high for me. Dan got off sicker than a dog.

We had supper around 5 pm at Cosmic Ray's. We all really enjoyed the food. Kiernan (5) got the chicken strips and fries and everyone else got cheeseburgers and fries. I didn't order but ate a few bites off everyone's plate and was very full.

The crowd was pretty heavy but we never waited more than 20 minutes on a ride. The Park closed at 9pm and we caught the Spectro Parade and the Fireworks before we left. Nicky (2) was afraid of the fireworks so Dan took him into a shop during them.

I called the guest services when we got back to the room to see if they had a microwave available. The kids were wanting popcorn that I had brought. I was told there was no such thing for guests and the lady laughed.

Sunday, Feb 9
We ate breakfast in our room of things that I had brought and then caught the monorail at Magic Kingdom. We rode this around and visited all of the Resorts. The kids got to ride on the front of the monorail and each got their copilots license. Our favorite of the three was the Polynesian. We really liked it. The boys were dying to try that water slide and the little boats.

Back at Magic Kingdom we caught the ferry to Ft. Wilderness. It was a cold and rainy day and not many people were out. We visited the Petting Zoo and I sat on the barrel for the foot massage. Really nice! Nicky (2) was scared to death of the animals at the Petting Zoo. He started saying, "I want to go home!" every time that something scared him. It was so pitiful!

We had lunch at Trail's End Buffet. We all really liked this place and the boys even asked to eat here again but we didn't make it.

We went back to our room for a bit and then headed to Walmart on 192 for some odds and ends and ate at the McDonalds with an indoor playground. It also had some arcade games that we enjoyed playing.

We then headed to Downtown Disney. My husband wanted to visit the ESPN store and we all wanted to see the Lego store. After a brief detour for a candy apple, we found the Lego store and the boys went nuts. lol And had to spend some of their money here.

We headed back to the room just beat.

Monday, Feb 10
Back to Magic Kingdom.

When we entered the gates, we were thrilled to see about 20 different characters scattered around. We got all but three of their autograph's and pics with the boys.

Then Mickey and Minnie came out and we got Mickey's autograph. Nicky was thrilled though slightly scared of all of the characters.

We were using a 101 Dalmatians pen and Aladdin and the Mad Hatter both told us that Cruella D'Ville was in Fantasy Land and not to let her see the pen.

We rode Space Mountain right off and then got a Fast Pass for later. While on the way there, we spotted Buzz Lightyear! I had bought a set of postcards with most of the characters on them and that is the ones that I had signed.

We hit the Teacups again because this was a favorite with the younger two boys. I even rode Dumbo though I had to hide my eyes when we went high. I am petrified of heights. Caleb (9) was scared to death of the Snow White ride. He said he was never riding that again.

Cruella was in Fantasy Land along with a lot of other characters. We had her use the Dalmatian pen that was missing the head and she was pleased with that. LOL I had her sign two cards for the two younger boys and told her that they were scared to come over to her. She glanced at them and then told me that I could sell them her autogrogh. lol

We ate lunch at Peco's Bill's. Again, very good food and again I just picked off the other's plates. We were all full.

In Frontier Land we caught the 100 Years of Magic parade quite by accident. The kids really enjoyed that! It stopped in front of us for quite a while and the Ladies of the Court pulled several little girls out to dance with them.

We had supper from The Riverside Mill at Port Orleans Riverside. I got the kids a pizza and it was more than enough for the 4 of them and Dan got a Philly cheese steak and fries. I loved Disney's fries. They were always perfect. While waiting on the pizza, I discovered the microwave. Was not happy to have been told there wasn't one for guest use.

Tuesday, Feb 11
We went to the Beach Club for our character breakfast at Cape May at 9:10 am. What a beautiful place! My 9 year old especially enjoyed this and said that it was the best food he had ever had. The characters were Goofy, Chip and Dale and Minnie Mouse. Minnie stayed in the front and you had to go see her but the others went from table to table. When Nicky went up and saw Minnie, he jumped up and down yelling, "There's Minnie Mouse! There's Minnie Mouse!". But of course he wouldn't go up to her.

After we went back to the hotel, we went to the pool. We had asked for a late checkout for 1 pm so we had plenty of time. The kiddy pool was great for the smaller two boys but I really wish that it was heated like the big pool! It was quite cold. The older two boys and my husband really enjoyed the slide!

We then checked out and went off site. It was really hard to leave the Disney grounds!

We checked into the Magic Castle Inn. It was a nice place but the pools weren't heated and our 2 year old kept trying to leap into the pool. So I called around and found Howard Johnson's that had a heated pool and a kiddy pool and it was only $8.00 more a night. So after one night at the Magic Castle, we moved to HoJo.

Wednesday, Feb 12
We checked into HoJo around 10 am and just dumped our stuff and left. We were headed for Cocoa Beach! It was a brilliant day. Warm (around 75) with puffy white clouds in the blue sky. Couldn't have asked for a prettier day. We stayed about 3 hours. My DH rented a boogie board for the boys. The guy who rented them was also from Indiana and gave us a second one for no charge. The kids really loved those. Nicky and Kiernan had lots of fun making a sand castle and running into the waves. Nicky and I sat on a quiet spot and sifted for shells. They were little but he really enjoyed this. We got a bag full to take back.

We got some hotdogs and cokes for lunch and ate sitting on our towels on the beach. It was perfect. The sea gulls can spot someone with food a mile away and kept us company while we ate. Christian (10) ate quickly and I gave him some bread to feed them down the beach a ways.

We then walked out onto the pier of the beach where we were and the water was just sparkling. I could have stayed there all day. Our sunburns showed up that night. lol We never even thought of sun screen. I got it the worst on my right arm and leg. The boys got it on their backs.

We headed home and did some shopping in a little shop beside the HoJo. I had bought two shirts there for the older two boys and the one developed a hole and the second started peeling all of the letters and picture off within one day. I took them back and the owner's son said to come back that evening when his Dad would be there. The son was quite rude, saying that the shirts smelled and what did we do to them. Umm..hotels smell. That is the only place that the shirts had been! When I took them back, the owner let me exchange them for something else in the store after saying that no one else had ever complained. Probably because most people buy them and then move on. They aren't there long enough to complain. I got a Mickey bowl and cup for my 2 year old. I didn't dare get more shirts. The towels for $2.99 were a good deal though.

My husband and oldest son dropped the rest of us at the hotel while they went to get a pizza from Pizza Hut. I turned the TV on for the kids and it wouldn't work! It was all blurry. I called the Front Desk and they sent the Maintenance man who tried to fix it with no luck. He said that he would move us to another room and I said to make sure it was nonsmoking because of 9 year old having asthma. He found one two doors down and helped me and the kids move our stuff. We went to bed right after eating.

Thursday, Feb 13
The next morning I saw an ashtray sitting on the table and realized that this wasn't a nonsmoking room! It was too late though. My 9 year old has asthma and he was coughing horribly. I called our insurance and found a walk in clinic not to far away and took him. He had bronchitis! I was so upset that they put us in a smoking room when they knew why I had requested a nonsmoking room. I called the Front Desk as soon as we got back and they moved us yet again to a nonsmoking room. We were wishing at this point that we had stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. lol They didn't apologize for the mix up or anything. I think that was the least they could have done.

We then went to Ponderosa for a late lunch and then headed to Pirate Island minigolf. This was so much fun! My youngest son kept taking his ball and laying it right beside the hole and hitting it in. LOL This was a really cool minigolf place. One hole was inside a cave and another on a pirate ship!

For supper we bought the boys some Lunchables and we had ham and cheese sandwiches. We bought this stuff from the Publix on 192.

Friday, Feb 14
We had a Priority Seating at Chef Mickey's at 10:45. We got all of our stuff together and the van packed and checked out of HoJo. We were running about 10 minutes late to the breakfast but that was no problem. The food was again great and we got lots of pics and video of the kids with the characters.

We decided to take one last ride on the monorail and stopped off at the Grand Floridian since we didn't look at a whole lot here on Sunday. The kids did some penny presses and we bought a few things in the gift shop. We bought lots of the chocolate coins with Disney characters on them. The boys are going to give one to each of the kids in their classes.

We walked down the stairs and decided to ride the glass elevator back up. It went up quite slowly and I told my DH that there was something wrong with it and I couldn't wait to get off. When we reached the second floor though, it didn't stop but dropped us right back down to the first floor. It dropped quite fast. The kids were screaming and crying and my DH and I were shaken up. I grabbed the telephone and got an operator. She said to hold while she called security. It rang and security put us on hold! I was shocked and said that I couldn't believe it! The operator was still on the phone and said quickly that she would get someone. The guard that I talked to then said to just sit tight and he would send someone. About 10 minutes later no one had come! We pounded on the windows trying to get someone's attention. I really would have thought that security would have called the hotel to have someone stand there till we got out! No one came though. Two guards finally showed up and it took them both to force the doors apart. We were still about a foot from the lower lever floor and had to hop down. They asked if we were ok and we just took off. The kids were crying and my legs shook for a long time. We went right to the monorail and back to the Contemporary to leave. I think we got the message that it was time to go. lol

When we got in the van, I noticed that the cell phone had two missed calls on it. One from my FIL and one from our house. I couldn't imagine who would calling from our house except my friend who was watching our cats. She was coming in every two days to check on them. I called her and her DH said that they hadn't called. We thought that was really odd but forgot about it. In the van we exchanged Valentine's Day presents. We got the boys the new 101 Dalmatians video to watch on the way home and then they each had a bag full of candy and other things.

We then headed to Nashville, Tn. to meet my DH's Dad for the night. He paid for us a suite at the Amerisuites. When we went in I felt that the 2 year old was quite hot. I checked his temperature and it was 102. Poor guy was miserable. We gave him some Advil and went to bed.

Saturday, Feb 15
My FIL took us to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. As we walked to sit down, Chuck himself was there! That is the first time that I have ever seen him actually at the restaurant. As I walked by he stuck his hand out and I gave him 5. He then grabbed me and started dancing! Twirls and everything. LOL I was so embarrassed, I am not a dancer. lol It sure put a smile on my face though.

We spent a lot of time at the hotel with Dan's Dad visiting. Nicky would look out the window and say about the cars, "They are going home.". It was so sad and we knew it was time to get him home.

It rained the whole time we were in Nashville and turned to ice as we left that evening around 7pm to head home. The worst was Louisville, Ky. Every couple of miles was an accident with firetrucks and ambulances.

We arrived home about 12:30 this morning and I was so relieved to be home! It was a great trip and we all had a blast.

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