100 Miles of walking and no swollen feet!

[Miaka1]

Also known as my Trip Report!

A ten day trip to Disney!

Quick introductions, I’m Miaka, and my Husband and 2 DD’s (ages 11 and 12) just returned from our second family trip. Our younger daughter turned 11 on our last day at Disney. She wore her birthday pin all week and received lots of birthday wishes!
Our last family trip was in February 2014. This was our first trip with the kids and we tried to do it all in 5 days. That didn't work out very well. By the end of the 5 days we were fried. Sore legs, swollen feet, and everyone was super cranky. We knew the next family trip would have to be longer. We started planning this trip the day we got back from our last trip,and we got so excited about disney that DH and I took a last minute quick trip in May 2015. Without the kids to hold us back we decided that we could really do it all (in 3 days) by the time day 3 was over, my feet were so swollen I could hardly walk. (it was worth it though!)
So this trip, the plan was go slow, see everything, but pace ourselves. We had ten park days. It was a complete success!

I will try to cover everything in this trip report, although I may gloss over some things I consider boring. If I gloss, and you want clarification, just let me know!

~Travel~

The Plan-
Drive from Dallas to Biloxi. (Approx. 8 hours) Sleep. Drive from Biloxi to POFQ. Arrive about 3:30pm.

The reality-
Left Dallas about 9am, which was earlier than we wanted, but a storm front was moving in and we wanted to get ahead of it. Kids were fine during the drive, arrived in Biloxi about 5:30. (Not really Biloxi, but Ocean Springs right off of I-10.) Ordered pizza and then went to bed early. The Holiday Inn was fine. Clean, decent breakfast, nice staff.

Left Biloxi about 6am, was making great time until we hit Mobile. Now, if you have never driven on I-10 through Mobile you wouldn’t know this. There is a bridge that goes across the Bay of Mobile (basically part of the Gulf of Mexico) and its 8 miles long. They call it 8 mile bridge. It is divided, and is only 2 lanes, with no shoulder. For 8 miles. So when there is an accident, you don’t move. For 2 freakin hours. It was horrible. We sat there. Not even inching along. No movement. No exits. Just stuck. While we were sitting there, the storm that we had been trying to outrun moved in.


Arrival! (Thursday)

We finally got to POFQ about 5:45. We were tired and grumpy, but very glad to have arrived. We did the online checkin, but the only text I got was at 10am saying our room wasn’t ready. So we headed to the front desk to check in. Girls received beads and doubloons from this lovely cast member.


Our room was ready, we were in building 1, with a garden view. The view from our window was absolutely gorgeous!


I was a little concerned about POFQ at first, because it’s a moderate and so much smaller than our last trip. During our last trip we stayed at my parents DVC home resort of Old Key West, and each girl had their own bed, we had a washer and dryer and of course the full kitchen. I shouldn’t have been. This place was perfect! Kids did fine sharing a bed, we did laundry twice at the facilities at POFQ but we were not on the dining plan, so I really missed the kitchen. We made the best of it, and hit up Winn Dixie. Stocked up on cereal, milk, poptarts, sandwich stuff, fresh fruit, juice, chips, cookies, microwave corn dogs. I was very pleased with the amount of space the room had. The shelf above the hangers basically became our pantry. After a couple of days the kids had no problem keeping things tidy.

We found our room, and unpacked. I cannot relax until everything is in order. Once everything was in its proper place the kids helped me hang up their drawings. They colored these during the drive. I thought they looked so nice!


After the window was set and everything was unpacked we headed off to find the boat to Disney Springs. We took the long meandering way so we could see more of the resort. Did I mention this place was beautiful? Everything was so green and peaceful!

The boat to Disney Springs was prompt and not over crowded, but we were running short on time. We had an ADR 8pm for T-Rex and I wanted to check in a few minutes early. Once we got off the boat we had to rush, and were able to check in 15 minutes early. We were seated right away. (yay!)

~T-Rex~

This was my first time eating here, I had read reviews so I kind of knew what to expect, but not really. So, first off, the food was really really good. We had a bit of a crisis with this meal. DD-12 is a type 1 diabetic and even though I asked her twice as we were leaving the room, she still managed to forget her test kit and insulin.

Since we couldn’t really go back to the room and get it, and come back and still expect to have our ADR honored, we took a page out of Crush’s book and decided to “Go with the Flow oh oh oh oh” This really became our theme song for the trip.

We started off with the Dexters Dual Dip. The whole family agreed that the Shrimp Artichoke dip was excellent, and the queso Dip tasted like dip you find anywhere.

DH and I both had yummy adult drinks. DH had the Category 5 and I had the Caveman Punch. Both were very sweet and had more banana liqueur that I’m used to, but over all very good.

For dinner I had the Mastadon Stuffed Chicken. This was probably the best chicken I had the entire trip. The mashed potatos and veggies were good, but the chicken was absolutely amazing.

DH had the Layers of earth Lasagna. He said it was good, very filling. He did not finish it all.

DD -12 had the Mega Mes-O-Bones. She liked the ribs, but did not like the fries. Said they were soggy. She also did not finish all of her meal.

DD-11 had the Shrimpkens with the orange slices. She liked the shrimp and the chicken, and was very impressed that it was a lot of food. She did not like the oranges. (I agreed, the oranges were sour) so she ate some of my veggies and was a happy camper.

Once we had our food we explained to the server that we would need to leave as soon as we were done eating, and he was great. He got our bill ready, and processed our payment, and as soon as we were done we headed back to the room to get DD-12’s insulin.

Overall impression:
Service A+
Food: A+
Environment: C-

Environment... .yea. This place was a mad house. The animatronic dino’s are cool (and loud) and there is a lot to see, but I didn’t like how the servers were encouraging everyone to get up and walk around and look at everything. We had our table bumped and were tripped over (one little girl nearly fell in DH’s lap) multiple times. Also, the whole meteor strike thing is really dumb (and loud). The lights go dark, there are a lot of flashing lights, and every dino roars, at least that’s what they say happens. All I heard was every child under the age of 6 screaming in terror. They do this every 15 minutes!

Food was great, but I don’t think we will return. The noise and chaos was just too much.

Once we got back to the hotel and administered DD-12’s insulin, kids decided they wanted to go to bed and DH and I headed to the hot tub! I am happy to report that the hot tub at POFQ is still unmonitored. We visited the hot tub multiple times after midnight (once at 2am) and cast members would come check on us, but no one told us it was closed or asked us to leave. This hot tub really saved my feet during this trip.

After hot tub it was time for bed to rest up for our first day in the park.

Coming soon:
Day One, The Magic Kingdom and we learn to really "Go with with Flow oh oh oh oh!"

 

[Miaka1]

First Park Day Friday Nov. 13th

~The Magic Kingdom~

We started the day with breakfast from the POFQ food court. We got the beignets, and eggs and bacon. Honestly, I’m not sure I see the hype. They tasted like Sopapillas with powdered sugar instead of cinnamon and were really greasy, but we did have to try them. Glad we tried them first day, so that the kids didn’t ask to have them again.

We did not make rope drop, much to my disappointment, missed it by about 20 minutes. The busses at POFQ were not quite as frequent as I had hoped. It was really nice having only one bus stop. We knew they might still be filming the Christmas Parade, so we cut through the emporium and headed straight for Frontierland. We hit Splash Mountain first. It was closed during our last trip, so this was the first time the girls got to experience it. They loved it. Splash Mnt is my absolute favorite ride! Plus, since it was still early we only waited about 10 minutes!


After Splash we hit BTMR, again with a short wait. This was a trend for our trip. I have read that some people found really long wait times during this time, but that wasn’t our case. After Splash and BTMR we hit pirates and then cut to tomorrowland. We did Monsters Laugh Floor, Carousel of progress, people mover, astro orbiter, then had lunch at Starlight Café. After lunch it was time for our first FP. We went and rode BTMR and during the ride, DH was riding with DD-11, and he was being a little silly and accidentally slid into her on a turn, causing her glasses to fall off, and be lost forever. (her prescription glasses, not sunglasses!) DD-11 was extremely upset, and so was DH. We spoke to a CM and they told us to check the central lost and found after Monday. So we decided to “Go with the Flow, oh oh oh oh” and carry on. Our next two FP were Splash and then Space Mnt. We did Splash, but then had some time to kill, so let the kids go explore Tom Sawyers Island. By the time they were bored with that, it was time for Space Mnt. After our Fast Passes we really wanted to do some strolling on Main Street. It was now after 4pm, and we figured that they would be finished filming the Christmas parade. Well, we were wrong. They still had floats out, and people crammed in the sides of Main Street. The kids thought it was very odd, they would have the float go, and everyone on it would be dancing and smiling, and everyone lined up was smiling and waving, but there was no music. Then they would stop and reset the float and shoot it again.

Since we couldn’t stroll along Main Street, we decided to head back to the hotel to nap, and then go to DHS to see Osborne Lights. Kids swam and DH and I hit the hot tub, then we went to lay down. By the time I woke up it was 9pm, and kids and DH were still sound asleep. So much for Osborne lights.

In total for the first day we walked 11.2 miles. As I was relaxing watching TV I flipped on the news and heard about the attack in Paris. We try not to let the outside world in, when at Disney, but sometimes that just doesn’t work.

Saturday Nov. 14th

~DHS and Epcot~

On Saturday we had planned to get to DHS in time for early magic hours at 8am. This didn’t work out because no one but me would get up and get ready to go. L We finally made it to the park by 9am. The bus situation was much better today, we didn’t have to wait long, and we all got a seat. Bag check at DHS was very long. In fact, after the attack in Paris on Friday there was always a huge line at bag check. Disney security was not taking any chances. They opened every little thing in each bag. This is a good thing. I gladly waited in line to have our backpack checked. DHS was not very crowded; we didn’t wait over 20 minutes for anything (that we decided to ride)! Tower of Terror was walk on, which was awesome, DD11 and I rode that twice. No one else would ride with us. DH hates it, and DD12 told us she would ride it later. We also rode rockin roller coaster, which is the entire family’s favorite coaster in all of Disney!



After we had gotten our thrill on, we decided to do the Great Movie ride. DH really wanted to see the cowboy. He was convinced that the cowboy was a legend, since he has ridden the ride probably a dozen times with no cowboy. So, I made sure to ask and guess what!!! The Cowboy does exist!!!


We hit Muppets and then we were going to do Star Tours, but it had a 45 minute wait, and kids wanted lunch, so we headed over to Studio Catering Co, and on the way checked out Mr. Golds Pawn Shop window. Kids thought that was really cool! We spent probably 15 minutes just looking at all the neat stuff they have from OUaT.

Studio Catering Co was pretty good, considering all the negative things I have read about DHS quick service food.

DH and DD11 had the Spicy Chipotle Rach Chicken Sandwich with fries, they both really liked it.

DD12 had the Deli Sandwich with the chips. She said the sandwich was great, but the chips were terrible, and I agreed.

I had the Turkey and cheese Panini with tomato basil soup. It was good. Not great, but good, and I was so glad they had something other than fries and chips!

After we ate we let the kids play at the Honey I shrunk the kids play ground for a bit before we decided it was time to head to EPCOT.

We took the bus over to EPCOT, and I was very surprised by how many people were waiting in the EPCOT line, who started cursing and running for the magic kingdom bus once it pulled up to the stop next to us. When we got in line it looked like we might not fit on the next bus, and then by the time all the magic kingdom people realized they were in the wrong line, we were the 2nd group to board. Really, how difficult is it to read the sign?
Anyways, we get to Epcot and the kids are just so excited. On our last trip, we only had one EPCOT day and it started pouring down rain half way through, so we didn’t get to experience much of World Showcase. The kids were very mad at us for not scheduling a second EPCOT day. So we made sure this trip we would have lots of time in Epcot. We had fast passes for Spaceship Earth, which we didn’t need, Mission Space, and Test track. The test track ride didn’t work correctly to sync our designs with our car. The kids were disappointed, but still liked the ride. We also did under the sea’s with nemo, and journey into imagination and then we headed for world showcase.

I should have known better than to have us there on the last Saturday of food and wine fest, but live and learn. The place was a mad house. I waited in line 30 minutes to get a dole whip with rum (worth it!) and the later it got, the more rambunctious the crowds got. We started on the Canada side, and explored each country as we went along. Stopped in all the shops, and listened to some of the live entertainment. The French Pavilion had the Eiffel Tower lit up in the colors of France which I thought was just awesome. Later we saw that the replica of the Empire State building in DHS was also lit up in the colors of France. Very classy Disney. Very Classy.


By the time we made it to the Japanese pavilion the kids were getting hungry again, thankfully we had an ADR at the Biergarten soon. We had just enough time to let the kids spend most of their money in the huge Japanese gift shop (my kids are really into anime, Pokemon, hello kitty, manga, and all things otaku) and then we had to rush over to the Biergarten.

This was our first visit to the Biergarten and it was OK. We arrived 15 minutes early, and we were seated after a short 5 minute wait. DH isn’t huge on German food, and really doesn’t like people, so he liked this least out of all the places we ate. When they seated us the floor show had just finished, so I figured we would have time to get food, eat and then the next show would start. It was pretty crowded and the line for the buffet was long and slow. The buffet was very clean and all of the food was hot and well stocked. I enjoyed it very much. I sampled just about everything (unless it was chocolate) I didn’t find anything I didn’t like. I was disappointed that there were no potatoes other than potato salad. DD12 was in heaven, her favorite food is sausage and sauerkraut, she ate so much I thought she was going to be sick!

After we finished eating we talked about our favorite things so far that day, and what we still wanted to do. The general vote was “go back to the hotel and swim and go to bed” no one wanted to stay for the fireworks but me, and since I was out voted, and it was only day 2, I figured we would get back to EPCOT and illuminations another day. We never did. L I really regret not putting my foot down and saying “we are staying for fireworks!!!” But its ok. We saw it last time, and I know we will be back. By the time we were all finished with food and dessert I looked at the time and realized we had been there an hour and a half and they still hadn’t done the floor show again. I asked our waitress when it would be starting again, and she said it would be another 45 minutes! Well, we didn’t want to stay that long, we had some other things we wanted to see, so we left.

Overall:
Service A+
Food: A+
Environment A+ Very pretty setting!
Show: F- (F- for Failed to SHOW!!)

I felt like that was a lot of money for the entertainment to be left out. Food was good, but didn’t justify the cost when there was no show.

Before we left the Biergarten we decided we would meander the rest of world showcase and head back to the hotel for swimming and hottub. When we hit the door, that changed. World showcase had become a huge mob of people. It had been crowded before we went into eat, but this was ridiculous. After 2 groups of intoxicated people nearly knocked over my DD11 we decided to say forget this and quickly made our way back to future world. We ended up making a pit stop at the restrooms near the festival center just passed the Mexico pavilion. These restrooms had turned into a frat house bathroom. There were 2 girls in there throwing up, (one who puked all over the floor) and another group of girls having a screaming match. We decided we didn’t really need to go that badly and turned back around and walked out.

We hit Space Ship earth one more time and then headed back to POFQ. Kids swam, DH and I had drinks from the bar and soaked in the hot tub. We went to bed early with a super early wake up call scheduled, because we had early fast passes at Animal Kingdom the next day. Total distance walked for the day 11.5 miles!

Next up, Animal Kingdom and I finally get to see Osborne Lights!