Post by scottie on Mar 5, 2015 1:49:09 GMT
My daughter and I set off for DisneyWorld, Florida with my two granddaughters aged 7 & 5. As our flight from Toronto left at 7.00 a.m., we stayed overnight at an hotel close to the airport. We had to check in at 4.00a.m., no mean feat getting two wee ones out of bed so early in the morning. 
We had priority check in but were very surprised that our luggage was not taken at that point. We had take everything to the US security hall, along with 100's of other passengers. It was like cattle being herded into a pen!. Found out later that the US staff don't open until 5.00 a.m. Have sent an email suggesting this should be changed but, surprise, surprise, no answer. Time was marching on and it ended up with staff members taking passengers out of the line to be processed or they would have missed their flights, us included. I have done a bit of traveling and have never had to take my checked baggage with me after I have checked in.
As we were staying at one of the resorts, we had special Mickey Mouse tags to go on our checked baggage. We did not see our cases again until we were in our room. Disney Express whisked us from the airport to our resort, the Animal Kingdom. Our room was not ready but as we had checked in on-line the week before, our package was all waiting for us. I have been at Disney World twice before but things have sure changed!. Months before our trip, we had ordered our Magic Bands, made reservations for meals and FastPass for the popular rides. Magic Bands are given to each member of the party, with this band you can open your room door, enter all the parks, go on the rides, use your Dining Plan and pay for incidentals. Children are treated like Royalty and everything is catered towards them. Staff members take as much time as necessary to answer a child's questions.
As we were early, we hopped on the bus and went to the Animal Kingdom Park for some lunch. This was the first park we had visited so, along with your Magic Band, adults have to have their fingerprint taken. This is used every time you enter a park. Only problem was, my 5 yr. old granddaughter stuck her finger in immediately after mine and that caused a problem when I tried to get into Magic Kingdom! It would not recognize my fingerprint so a manager had to be called over to clear and redo my info. After eating, we went on the safari - awesome viewing of many animals including lions, elephants, rhino, hippo and zebra. My daughter received a text saying our room was ready so we headed back to the hotel. What a place!! The rooms are amazing and when you look out of your window you see all sorts of animals wandering around. The girls loved the giraffes and the zebra.
The weather was perfect for the whole week, about 18-20 C during the day but a lot cooler at night, down to around 6C. However, as we had left extremely cold weather the temps were fantastic to us.
We visited all the theme parks, so much to see and do. Every ride was the girls favourite We had FastPass for some of the characters so that saved a lot of waiting. FastPass enables you to by-pass the long lineups and do whatever attraction you have the pass for. Think you are allowed three a day but might be wrong about that. The girls loved when they used their Magic Bands and their names came up on the computer screen.
There are many resorts making up DisneyWorld. We had made reservations for breakfast at the Grand Floridian resort. WOW!! What a place. It is based on a Victorian mansion and is spectacular inside. The penthouse suite will set you back $2300.00 US per night....needless to say, we did not stay there - just had breakfast with Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter to name just a few.
We had purchased the Dining Plan which allows one sit down meal. one fast food one, a snack and as many fill ups of your insulated cup as wanted. It worked out fine for us. When looking at some of the food prices, I think this was definitely the way to go.
It was a wonderful week and fantastic to see it through the eyes of two children. They returned home full of energy while my daughter and myself were completely exhausted. But, it was a lot of fun.
Scottie
We had priority check in but were very surprised that our luggage was not taken at that point. We had take everything to the US security hall, along with 100's of other passengers. It was like cattle being herded into a pen!. Found out later that the US staff don't open until 5.00 a.m. Have sent an email suggesting this should be changed but, surprise, surprise, no answer. Time was marching on and it ended up with staff members taking passengers out of the line to be processed or they would have missed their flights, us included. I have done a bit of traveling and have never had to take my checked baggage with me after I have checked in.As we were staying at one of the resorts, we had special Mickey Mouse tags to go on our checked baggage. We did not see our cases again until we were in our room. Disney Express whisked us from the airport to our resort, the Animal Kingdom. Our room was not ready but as we had checked in on-line the week before, our package was all waiting for us. I have been at Disney World twice before but things have sure changed!. Months before our trip, we had ordered our Magic Bands, made reservations for meals and FastPass for the popular rides. Magic Bands are given to each member of the party, with this band you can open your room door, enter all the parks, go on the rides, use your Dining Plan and pay for incidentals. Children are treated like Royalty and everything is catered towards them. Staff members take as much time as necessary to answer a child's questions.
As we were early, we hopped on the bus and went to the Animal Kingdom Park for some lunch. This was the first park we had visited so, along with your Magic Band, adults have to have their fingerprint taken. This is used every time you enter a park. Only problem was, my 5 yr. old granddaughter stuck her finger in immediately after mine and that caused a problem when I tried to get into Magic Kingdom! It would not recognize my fingerprint so a manager had to be called over to clear and redo my info. After eating, we went on the safari - awesome viewing of many animals including lions, elephants, rhino, hippo and zebra. My daughter received a text saying our room was ready so we headed back to the hotel. What a place!! The rooms are amazing and when you look out of your window you see all sorts of animals wandering around. The girls loved the giraffes and the zebra.
The weather was perfect for the whole week, about 18-20 C during the day but a lot cooler at night, down to around 6C. However, as we had left extremely cold weather the temps were fantastic to us.
We visited all the theme parks, so much to see and do. Every ride was the girls favourite
We had FastPass for some of the characters so that saved a lot of waiting. FastPass enables you to by-pass the long lineups and do whatever attraction you have the pass for. Think you are allowed three a day but might be wrong about that. The girls loved when they used their Magic Bands and their names came up on the computer screen.There are many resorts making up DisneyWorld. We had made reservations for breakfast at the Grand Floridian resort. WOW!! What a place. It is based on a Victorian mansion and is spectacular inside. The penthouse suite will set you back $2300.00 US per night....needless to say, we did not stay there - just had breakfast with Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter to name just a few.
We had purchased the Dining Plan which allows one sit down meal. one fast food one, a snack and as many fill ups of your insulated cup as wanted. It worked out fine for us. When looking at some of the food prices, I think this was definitely the way to go.
It was a wonderful week and fantastic to see it through the eyes of two children. They returned home full of energy while my daughter and myself were completely exhausted. But, it was a lot of fun.
Scottie
