Strmchsr
12-02-2007, 05:35 PM
Cast - Me, DW, DM, and 2 sons (7 and 2)
We left Montgomery late Saturday night and drove all night to arrive around 6:30 am Sunday morning, November 25 at All Star Sports Resort. This was our first time flying and, though driving almost 8 hours overnight wasn't easy, it beats the heck out of flying through Atlanta.
Okay, before I advance through any more of I trip report I want to get my one and only complaint out of the way - the smoking policy at the resorts. I figrued it was coming, but I was really ticked off at the lack of enforcement. I felt like we were prisoners in our room with DW's allergies. People were smoking outside their rooms, at the outside tables in front of the food court, at the pool, in the stairwells, and pretty much just walking around in general. It seemed we couldn't go anywhere at the resort without hitting smokers and I saw CM's just walk right by not saying a word. While I was irritated, I don't completely blame the smokers. The resort had no "no smoking" signs around. They should have been all over. I believe most smokers who see that respect the sign, but when there's no sign obviously no one pays attention to what they're told at check-in (if they're told anything). Disney REALLY dropped the ball on this one, but that's my one and only complaint about the trip.
We got checked in, made sure Caleb's lantus insulin was stored at the luggage desk in the fridge until out room was ready, and headed for the Contemporary Resort and Chef Mickey's. We were celebrating Cole's 2nd birthday so he got a cupcake and the characters made a fuss over him, but he wasn't particularly thrilled about that. I definitely give Chef Mickey's a thumbs up. The food was diverse and we were able to find food for both the boys, and were able to get things that we knew how to dose Caleb for.
Following breakfast we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. We were able to see the new HM and loved the effects, and also saw the new POTC for the first time. I thought both rides were quite well done in their new incarnations. The additions really enhanced the rides while the attractions maintained all the classic atmosphere we love. Caleb got to do his favorites - BTMRR and Splash Mountain and we introduced Cole to all of the Fantasyland favorites as well as the Barnstormer and we have a new confirmed roller coaster lover in the family. That said, Cole's favorite rides all week were the transportation modes. All we heard from him was "ide da bus" "ide da tain" "ide da boat." So, as long as we were traveling he was happy.
Lunch was at Cosmic Rays, which we always love, but Sunday night was a new experience for us at Whispering Canyon. Awesome steak and Caleb had a blast delivering ketchup, joining in the pony ride around the restaurant and throwing napkins with our server. Definitely a unique and fun experience.
Let me go ahead and say that we were VERY pleased with Disney Dining. Every ADR already had it noted that Caleb was a diabetic and the chef came out at every restaurant to ensure Caleb was able to eat. He actually ate quite well. With 18 months under our belt of dealing with a diabetic child we knew the carb counts of the food pretty well and were able to correctly guess his needed insulin dosage almost every time. We only had one instance of overdosing (a Mickey Bar and some juice cured that) and one instance of way underdosing. Other than that his sugars stayed in a normal range. I want to say to all other diabetics, our strategy was to check regularly (we do anyway, but we checked more often), keep hydrated, allow for the extra exercise by dosing a little less than normal, and asking the chef if there were any questions. I was VERY pleased with the new kids menus and Caleb loved being able to choose from grapes, applesauce, carrot sticks, etc each meal rather than chicken fingers and French fries every meal. We didn't have a single meal where we felt he couldn't order from the menu, so it was a good experience all the way around.
Second general note - the crowds. Much has been said about the increase in crowds the week after Thanksgiving. That trend definitely continued this week. I didn't find the crowds to be unbearable, but they were definitely there. Standby lines were 20-50 minutes, though every now and then I'd hit a 5-10 min wait. So, 20-50 min isn't bad at all, but it's not the walk-ons of years past. You just had to do as we always recommend here at Intercot - have a plan and use Fastpass. That's exactly what we did and we were easily able to do the things we most wanted. Maybe not multiple times, but at least once.
Monday was Disney's Hollywood Studios (I'm trying to get used to the name) for the morning and afternoon. Caleb road TOT for the first time and loved it and reroad RNRC, which was great as always. The last time he road that he was just starting to show the symptoms of diabetes (we didn't know it yet), so it messed him up. This time he road with no problems and loved it. We also hit several of the shows. Both my boys, and especially the 2 yr old, loved the Lights Motors Action Stunt Show. Monday evening was another new treat for us as we ate at Marrakesh. I had the lamb and Renae the beef-kabob. We shared and loved both meals. The atmosphere was a lot of fun, though with the increased crowds and popularity of the DDP service was slow. The waiters were all very friendly, but either the restaurant was understaffed or they were just slow. They seemed to be working hard, but it took forever to get just a water refill. We loved the music and belly dancer and would eat there again in a heartbeat.
Okay, I'll cover the rest of the week in a later post. That's it for now.
We left Montgomery late Saturday night and drove all night to arrive around 6:30 am Sunday morning, November 25 at All Star Sports Resort. This was our first time flying and, though driving almost 8 hours overnight wasn't easy, it beats the heck out of flying through Atlanta.
Okay, before I advance through any more of I trip report I want to get my one and only complaint out of the way - the smoking policy at the resorts. I figrued it was coming, but I was really ticked off at the lack of enforcement. I felt like we were prisoners in our room with DW's allergies. People were smoking outside their rooms, at the outside tables in front of the food court, at the pool, in the stairwells, and pretty much just walking around in general. It seemed we couldn't go anywhere at the resort without hitting smokers and I saw CM's just walk right by not saying a word. While I was irritated, I don't completely blame the smokers. The resort had no "no smoking" signs around. They should have been all over. I believe most smokers who see that respect the sign, but when there's no sign obviously no one pays attention to what they're told at check-in (if they're told anything). Disney REALLY dropped the ball on this one, but that's my one and only complaint about the trip.
We got checked in, made sure Caleb's lantus insulin was stored at the luggage desk in the fridge until out room was ready, and headed for the Contemporary Resort and Chef Mickey's. We were celebrating Cole's 2nd birthday so he got a cupcake and the characters made a fuss over him, but he wasn't particularly thrilled about that. I definitely give Chef Mickey's a thumbs up. The food was diverse and we were able to find food for both the boys, and were able to get things that we knew how to dose Caleb for.
Following breakfast we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. We were able to see the new HM and loved the effects, and also saw the new POTC for the first time. I thought both rides were quite well done in their new incarnations. The additions really enhanced the rides while the attractions maintained all the classic atmosphere we love. Caleb got to do his favorites - BTMRR and Splash Mountain and we introduced Cole to all of the Fantasyland favorites as well as the Barnstormer and we have a new confirmed roller coaster lover in the family. That said, Cole's favorite rides all week were the transportation modes. All we heard from him was "ide da bus" "ide da tain" "ide da boat." So, as long as we were traveling he was happy.
Lunch was at Cosmic Rays, which we always love, but Sunday night was a new experience for us at Whispering Canyon. Awesome steak and Caleb had a blast delivering ketchup, joining in the pony ride around the restaurant and throwing napkins with our server. Definitely a unique and fun experience.
Let me go ahead and say that we were VERY pleased with Disney Dining. Every ADR already had it noted that Caleb was a diabetic and the chef came out at every restaurant to ensure Caleb was able to eat. He actually ate quite well. With 18 months under our belt of dealing with a diabetic child we knew the carb counts of the food pretty well and were able to correctly guess his needed insulin dosage almost every time. We only had one instance of overdosing (a Mickey Bar and some juice cured that) and one instance of way underdosing. Other than that his sugars stayed in a normal range. I want to say to all other diabetics, our strategy was to check regularly (we do anyway, but we checked more often), keep hydrated, allow for the extra exercise by dosing a little less than normal, and asking the chef if there were any questions. I was VERY pleased with the new kids menus and Caleb loved being able to choose from grapes, applesauce, carrot sticks, etc each meal rather than chicken fingers and French fries every meal. We didn't have a single meal where we felt he couldn't order from the menu, so it was a good experience all the way around.
Second general note - the crowds. Much has been said about the increase in crowds the week after Thanksgiving. That trend definitely continued this week. I didn't find the crowds to be unbearable, but they were definitely there. Standby lines were 20-50 minutes, though every now and then I'd hit a 5-10 min wait. So, 20-50 min isn't bad at all, but it's not the walk-ons of years past. You just had to do as we always recommend here at Intercot - have a plan and use Fastpass. That's exactly what we did and we were easily able to do the things we most wanted. Maybe not multiple times, but at least once.
Monday was Disney's Hollywood Studios (I'm trying to get used to the name) for the morning and afternoon. Caleb road TOT for the first time and loved it and reroad RNRC, which was great as always. The last time he road that he was just starting to show the symptoms of diabetes (we didn't know it yet), so it messed him up. This time he road with no problems and loved it. We also hit several of the shows. Both my boys, and especially the 2 yr old, loved the Lights Motors Action Stunt Show. Monday evening was another new treat for us as we ate at Marrakesh. I had the lamb and Renae the beef-kabob. We shared and loved both meals. The atmosphere was a lot of fun, though with the increased crowds and popularity of the DDP service was slow. The waiters were all very friendly, but either the restaurant was understaffed or they were just slow. They seemed to be working hard, but it took forever to get just a water refill. We loved the music and belly dancer and would eat there again in a heartbeat.
Okay, I'll cover the rest of the week in a later post. That's it for now.