aunt kelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2000
Background
Our first trip to Disney World took place over the Thanksgiving Holiday and lasted for six spectacular days.
Cast:
Me, the Mom, a compulsive trip planner. I was becoming a little less compulsive as the trip wore on and I began to see we could have a great time even if some spontaneous, unplanned moments occasionally interrupted my carefully crafted trip plans.
Tom, my husband, who is not a compulsive trip planner. As the trip wore on, he began to recognize some of the benefits of advance planning (i.e.,better room locations because you know to fax a room request, shorter lines because you know how fastpass operates, etc.).
Thomas, my eight-year-old son who is having the time of his life on this trip.
Patricia, my five-year-old daughter, who is loving every moment of this trip.
November 23rd-Thanksgiving Day
After weeks of planning and reading the posts on this site concerning the crowds at the parks on Thanksgiving Day, I decided this would be a perfect "non park" day. After our busy schedule on Wednesday, it was nice to sleep until 7:30am (That is late for our family).
As the kids and I were finally getting out of bed around 7:45, Tom, who had woken bright and early, was just returning from a self-guided tour of our resort, the All Star Movies.
While on his early morning tour, Tom met a man who complained that although he had booked his vacation almost a year in advance, he was stuck in a building located far from the pool, food court, etc. He regretted he was not closer to ll the action. I winked and told Tom it was too bad that man didn't check out this site, (as some people had), because he would have learned that you can request a room assignment!
At about 9:00am, after filling our mugs with frothy hot chocolate, we packed up our bathing suits in our rental car and headed for the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach.
One and one half hours later, (and three toll booths later) we arrived at the Space Center. The place was practically deserted, a nice change of pace from Disney World. We purchased four limited access badges (total cost $40). With the limited access badge, we were allowed access to the rocket garden, the visitors center, and several neat interactive exhibits. We were also allowed to tour a space shuttle up close and personal. With the limited access badge, we were not allowed to see the IMAX shows or do the bus tour of the outlying buildings where the space shuttles are readied for flight. However, we didn't really have time to do the full tour since we planned to take our landlocked children to see the ocean for the first time in their lives. It was a beautiful day, and Tom and I really enjoyed the Space Center. I learned a lot about the space shuttle and it was fascinating to see the real thing. Thomas and Patricia enjoyed the first few exhibits we visited, but quickly lost interest. We practically had to drag them up the stairs to tour the space shuttle. I knew Patricia was a little too young to appreciate the Space Center, but I was disappointed in Thomas' lack of interest. As we were leaving, I asked Thomas why he didn't enjoy it more and he said "Mom, when you told me we were going to visit the space center, I thought it was going to be like Magic Kingdom and there would be rides and everything."
Poor planning on my part! Next trip, if we leave Disney World for a side trip, I'll be sure and explain to the kids what they can expect. I think my kids would have enjoyed the Kennedy Space Center very much if it wasn't connected with our Disney trip. Once the kids have a taste of Disney, it is hard to interest them in anything with less action. However, although it was not as exciting as Disney World, we had a good time and it was a nice break from the crowds. (The kids enjoyed an excellent cinnamon roll at the Space Cener restaurant).
We left the Space Center around 12:30 and headed for Cocoa Beach, a short drive away. We saw many colorful orange groves, which was a treat for all of us. Right before we reached Cocoa Beach, we travelled through Cape Canaveral and saw the Disney ship. Someday maybe we'll be boarding that ship!
At Cocoa Beach, we stopped at Ron Jon's Surf Shop. You can't miss it, its a huge two-story neon building. Ron Jon's is full of beachwear, surf boards, skating boards, beach toys-you name it, they have it. After shopping for a bit (we picked up some really nifty inexpensive souvenirs), we asked for restaurant reccomendations. It was 2:00pm on Thanksgiving Day and we hadn't had anything substantial to eat! The staff at Ron Jon's highly reccomended Grill's at Cape Canaveral. Tom and I wanted fresh seafood and we were assured we would not be disappointed at Grills. To make a long, sad story short, we finally found Grill's and it was closed for Thanksgiving. It appeared every other local restaurant was closed. We finally found a Shooney's which was serving an all day buffet. It wasn't bad, but after you start dreaming of feasting on fresh seafood while enjoying a beautiful ocean view, it is a little disappointing to eat at a Shooney's overlooking the highway.
After lunch, we headed for the beach. It was sunny out (about 70 degrees) and we were advised that the water temperature was about 69 degrees. The kids and Tom changed into their swim suits (it was a little chilly for me) and we staked out a spot on the beach. The beach was not crowded, and we thought it was quite pretty. (No white sand like on the Gulf side, but any beach is beautiful to landlocked folks like us).
The kids swam and played in the sand for about two hours and had a great time. Then the sun went behind the clouds and it became quite chilly. We decided to head back to Disney World.
When we arrived at All Star Movies, we ordered a pizza from the Food Court for dinner. It was huge, and we all agreed it was pretty good. After playing some video games in the game room, we headed to bed. Tomorrow was a busy day- EE at Epcot and evening plans at the Studios. I went to sleep with visions of Test Track dancing in my head.
Our first trip to Disney World took place over the Thanksgiving Holiday and lasted for six spectacular days.
Cast:
Me, the Mom, a compulsive trip planner. I was becoming a little less compulsive as the trip wore on and I began to see we could have a great time even if some spontaneous, unplanned moments occasionally interrupted my carefully crafted trip plans.
Tom, my husband, who is not a compulsive trip planner. As the trip wore on, he began to recognize some of the benefits of advance planning (i.e.,better room locations because you know to fax a room request, shorter lines because you know how fastpass operates, etc.).
Thomas, my eight-year-old son who is having the time of his life on this trip.
Patricia, my five-year-old daughter, who is loving every moment of this trip.
November 23rd-Thanksgiving Day
After weeks of planning and reading the posts on this site concerning the crowds at the parks on Thanksgiving Day, I decided this would be a perfect "non park" day. After our busy schedule on Wednesday, it was nice to sleep until 7:30am (That is late for our family).
As the kids and I were finally getting out of bed around 7:45, Tom, who had woken bright and early, was just returning from a self-guided tour of our resort, the All Star Movies.
While on his early morning tour, Tom met a man who complained that although he had booked his vacation almost a year in advance, he was stuck in a building located far from the pool, food court, etc. He regretted he was not closer to ll the action. I winked and told Tom it was too bad that man didn't check out this site, (as some people had), because he would have learned that you can request a room assignment!
At about 9:00am, after filling our mugs with frothy hot chocolate, we packed up our bathing suits in our rental car and headed for the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach.
One and one half hours later, (and three toll booths later) we arrived at the Space Center. The place was practically deserted, a nice change of pace from Disney World. We purchased four limited access badges (total cost $40). With the limited access badge, we were allowed access to the rocket garden, the visitors center, and several neat interactive exhibits. We were also allowed to tour a space shuttle up close and personal. With the limited access badge, we were not allowed to see the IMAX shows or do the bus tour of the outlying buildings where the space shuttles are readied for flight. However, we didn't really have time to do the full tour since we planned to take our landlocked children to see the ocean for the first time in their lives. It was a beautiful day, and Tom and I really enjoyed the Space Center. I learned a lot about the space shuttle and it was fascinating to see the real thing. Thomas and Patricia enjoyed the first few exhibits we visited, but quickly lost interest. We practically had to drag them up the stairs to tour the space shuttle. I knew Patricia was a little too young to appreciate the Space Center, but I was disappointed in Thomas' lack of interest. As we were leaving, I asked Thomas why he didn't enjoy it more and he said "Mom, when you told me we were going to visit the space center, I thought it was going to be like Magic Kingdom and there would be rides and everything."
Poor planning on my part! Next trip, if we leave Disney World for a side trip, I'll be sure and explain to the kids what they can expect. I think my kids would have enjoyed the Kennedy Space Center very much if it wasn't connected with our Disney trip. Once the kids have a taste of Disney, it is hard to interest them in anything with less action. However, although it was not as exciting as Disney World, we had a good time and it was a nice break from the crowds. (The kids enjoyed an excellent cinnamon roll at the Space Cener restaurant).
We left the Space Center around 12:30 and headed for Cocoa Beach, a short drive away. We saw many colorful orange groves, which was a treat for all of us. Right before we reached Cocoa Beach, we travelled through Cape Canaveral and saw the Disney ship. Someday maybe we'll be boarding that ship!
At Cocoa Beach, we stopped at Ron Jon's Surf Shop. You can't miss it, its a huge two-story neon building. Ron Jon's is full of beachwear, surf boards, skating boards, beach toys-you name it, they have it. After shopping for a bit (we picked up some really nifty inexpensive souvenirs), we asked for restaurant reccomendations. It was 2:00pm on Thanksgiving Day and we hadn't had anything substantial to eat! The staff at Ron Jon's highly reccomended Grill's at Cape Canaveral. Tom and I wanted fresh seafood and we were assured we would not be disappointed at Grills. To make a long, sad story short, we finally found Grill's and it was closed for Thanksgiving. It appeared every other local restaurant was closed. We finally found a Shooney's which was serving an all day buffet. It wasn't bad, but after you start dreaming of feasting on fresh seafood while enjoying a beautiful ocean view, it is a little disappointing to eat at a Shooney's overlooking the highway.
After lunch, we headed for the beach. It was sunny out (about 70 degrees) and we were advised that the water temperature was about 69 degrees. The kids and Tom changed into their swim suits (it was a little chilly for me) and we staked out a spot on the beach. The beach was not crowded, and we thought it was quite pretty. (No white sand like on the Gulf side, but any beach is beautiful to landlocked folks like us).
The kids swam and played in the sand for about two hours and had a great time. Then the sun went behind the clouds and it became quite chilly. We decided to head back to Disney World.
When we arrived at All Star Movies, we ordered a pizza from the Food Court for dinner. It was huge, and we all agreed it was pretty good. After playing some video games in the game room, we headed to bed. Tomorrow was a busy day- EE at Epcot and evening plans at the Studios. I went to sleep with visions of Test Track dancing in my head.
At least you were all together. 
