Day Of Rest

Saturday was a perfect day for us to take a day off from the parks and check out our new hotel and pool.  We had decided to check out a day early from our 'off site' hotel and get an extra day at The Beach Club Resort.  We had never stayed there before and the kids were so excited to swim and see what this hotel had to offer.  We also had to return the car and I figured it would be very stress free, but I had no idea how easy it would be. 
We arrived at The Beach Club in the early afternoon and since I had done my pre-check in online I was moved to a shorter line where a Cast member graciously greeted me and gave us our room keys and sent us on our way. 
We loaded up our things and I parked the car for a bit, while Matt and the kids took everything on a short hike to our room.  We did a garden view room basically because it was the least expensive and we knew we wouldn't be in our room too much anyway.  Garden view also means longest walk. 
Our room was bigger than a standard room with 2 queen beds and a couch/daybed with sleeping for a 5th person.  We were on the main floor so we had sliding glass doors with a little patio and table and chairs. 
Staying in a deluxe hotel also gets you a  mini-fridge in your room.  We had stopped at Wal-Mart on our way and stocked up on snacks, lunch meat, bread, cereal and milk and drinks.  Once again, this saved us so much money on food.  Our kids love to eat.  And eating breakfast in our room everyday or bringing snacks into the parks helped keep them happy and us happy we weren't dropping 20.00 on popcorn, giant pretzels and churos every 3 hours. 
After we settled in, I knew I had to take our car back.  What made this uneventful situation so nice?  I literally took our Alamo rented car 5 minutes down the road to The Swan Hotel and drove up to the main entrance.  A Cast Member grabbed my keys, thanked me and handed me a receipt.  What??? That's it?  No...Thank You!  I said.  Easy - Peasy.
Then Lexie, who went with me, and myself had a nice 10 minute walk back to our hotel along the beautiful walkways connecting all the hotels in that area.  We walked along the waterway and saw the Boardwalk hotel and walked through The Yacht Club which is connected to the Beach Club. 
We got on our suites and headed to the pool with the family.  This pool is the largest of the all The Disney pools.  Complete with 2 water slides, a lazy river and the best part.  It has a white sandy bottom and a beach area for making sandcastles.  All I can say is our day of relaxing was fabulous. 

The evening was spent walking along The Boardwalk hotels actual Boardwalk looking through their shops and watching street performers do magic tricks. 
After getting back to our hotel.  There was a bon fire on the beach where Cast members were handing out marshmallows and sticks.  And if you desire, pull up a beach chair on the beach and watch a favorite Disney movie on the ginormous movie screen under the stars. 
This hotel will be hard to beat.  Don't know if we'll be able to stay anywhere else after this. 

Lets See Some Animals - Day 3!

Our third day was spent at Animal Kingdom.  If there is any advice I can give about coming here, it's walk as fast as you can to Kilimanjaro Safari's or Kali River Rapids to get on one and get a fast pass for the other. 

We hopped on Kali River Rapids first and it wasn't cold...it was FREEZING.  You can't take your shoes (or shirt for the boys) until you get on.  But then they have this area in the middle of the rafts covered with a heavy cover to stow your belongings and hope they stay dry.  If anyone knows me, they know it takes me 20 minutes to get into a pool below 85 degrees.  So getting on this ride at 9:30 in the morning was a labor of love for my family.  There is no amount of shifting or leaning in the boat that can get you to avoid the inevitable.  After getting through the first round.  My husband and youngest son decided they were done.  I was already soaked, and my other two wanted to go again so we did.  The line was so low at this time we were able to stay on the boat. 
We had another amazing day here.  Our son Jason is a huge animal fan.  He has an amazing memory and knows where they live, what they eat, what their scientific names are for the male and females.  He just has a passion for it.  This combined with adrenaline rushing rides make this a favorite park for him.  The Kilimanjaro Safari is a must see for anyone at the park.  For other thrill seekers, check out the Dinosaur ride (very loud, dark and bumpy)  and Expedition Everest.  This roller coaster takes you through the mountain looking for the mysterious Yeti.  At one point you are looking up into the sky where the tracks come to an end because the Yeti has tore them apart.  At this point you travel backwards down the mountain.  Very fun, but made me a little motion sick. 

We saw a smaller version of the live production of the Lion King.  A great show and also a good rest period.  Another great time to rest and let the kids run loose, is the Boneyard.  This is an enclosed area where the kids can climb and check out the remains of different dinosaurs.  Parents can sit down while their kids take a moment to explore and play. 
This park closes earlier. Probably to be respectful of the live animals and give them their 'quiet time'.  If you have more than a few days to spend at Disney World, you don't want to miss this park. 

We're going to HollyWood!

Ok, so day 2 was exciting for my oldest kids knowing they were going to Hollywood Studios.  The Aerosmith Rockin' Roller coaster is explained by 2 words.   ~Crazy Fun~  My oldest son, Jason is a roller coaster fan.  The faster the better.  This starts off in a dark, but not scary, dark alleyway with trash cans, old road signs and buildings that look like they have been vacant for a long time.  Once you are buckled in and the harness comes down over your head, you are immediately jetted off to 60 mph with Aerosmith music blasting in your ears.  AWESOME!  Another important note, we had a short wait once again with this attraction and Tower of Terror because we followed our touring plans. 
I must say before we got on the Rockin' Roller coaster we did almost sprint over to the new attraction.  Toy Story Mania 3D.  After waiting in the 15 minute fast pass line, we did get fast passes for that night, but I think it was for somewhere in the 9:00 pm hour.  CRAZY!  This ride must be good.  Soon after we got our passes, I heard others say they ran out for the day and the regular line was already at 85 min.  It was about 9:30am.  We took our chance and decided to come back around the lunch or dinner hours hoping it would be shorter.  And it was around dinner.  We waited a bit but it was worth it.  This ride is a new favorite with everyone.  You are wearing 3D glasses, with 4 to a car and moving through this maze of carnival type games.  You have a shooter where you pull this string and the 'paint balls' come popping out trying to hit targets.  These are moving targets.  There are scenes from balloons to plates to flying dinosaurs.  All while you are racking up points listening to Woody and Buzz motivate you.  The turns are quick and you are shooting as fast as you can.  We quickly realized this was Camerons favorite.  Very very fun!
Before all of this our day started off a little rocky, but we recovered quickly.  What happened?  Well, earlier that morning I was getting our backpack ready and realized we were short a park pass.  It was one of the kids.  WHAT??? How can we lose a ticket?  What do we do?  Will Disney replace it?  How did it get lost?  Where did it get lost?  Lots of loud discussion was going on right now. 
Calm down everyone...I read somewhere during my planning that as soon as you get your passes, TAKE A PICTURE OF THE BACK OF EACH ONE WITH THE BAR CODE.  So I did and I had them on my phone camera. 
I went to the guest services at Hollywood Studios that morning as they were able to see the 'lot' of thousands we had bought our tickets from and with the photos, they were able to see which one was lost.  No problem she said...here is your new ticket.  AMAZING!  Again, we saved over 340.00$ just by following through on this one little tip. 

It pays to research people!  Another important tip if you are driving.  Take a picture of the parking row number so you don't forget at the end of the day.  It's easy to lose track after a long day in the sun.  Once again...we had a lot of fun. 

!st Day Magic Kingdom

I planned out our week based on touring plans I found on the internet.  People have done lots of research of when to go to which park based on the time of year and Extra Magic Hours (EMH).  Thats when one of the parks opens either an hour early or stays open late for Disney Hotel guests only.  That makes that particular park busier that day. 
We decided on Magic Kingdom for our first day.  We had a rental car at this point so I knew we'd need to park in the lot and pay.  The benefit to this is, you don't have to wait for the Disney bus (or outside hotel shuttle) AND you only pay one parking fee for that day.  For example, if you decide to go to EPCOT later you keep your parking receipt and don't have to pay again. 
Even the drive in was exciting.  Looking at the signs that move with big Disney characters or seeing a larger than life Mickey as you enter the park starts your morning off right. 
Then we get to the ferry boat launch to take us over to the Magic Kingdom.  This and the monorail are the only two transportation options from the parking lot.  This was by far our longest and hottest wait all day.  The monorail was closed that morning and we had about a 45 min wait to get on the ferry. 
Once we made our way over we knew immediately what rides to hit first and what fast passes to get. 
Again, we used our tourning plans for day planning at The Magic Kingdom.  It worked wonderful.  We didn't wait for more than maybe 25 minutes in our longest line.  We were able to do Splash Mountain about 4 times.  We used the parent switch option with the fast passes which was also a life saver for our youngest, Cameron. 
I had also checked out all the restuarant research to find where we could eat, getting the best and most food for our money.  Lunch was at Peco Bills.  A decent hamburger place.  Love that you get lots of extras to add to your burger.  Like sauted mushrooms, onions, pickles...And they give you carrots and grapes with your burger and fries.  Most places give you theses extras with your meal.  It was more than enough food.  And if you don't want to eat your grapes or carrots until later, throw them in your backpack and snack later.  They are individually wrapped.
Our day went off without a hitch.  It was a wonderful beginning.  A few other important things to note.  I bought filtered water bottles.  Each one came with a charcoal filter sort of like the Brita filters.  That way we filled them up throughout the day with water from the fountain and avoided buying the 3-5$ water bottles.  And you can bring in snacks to the park.  Another plus when going to Disney!