Tiki Triptastic - Part 1

[TikiGoddess]

Summer Triptastic – Trip Report Part 1

Tiki Family Florida Trip, June 2010

Cast of characters:
TikiG, Kathy 37 -- huge WDW fan, online Disney nut, and podcast listener
DH, Tim 42 -- ex-CM who just loves to see his girls happy
DD7, Julie – the sweet one in the family. My tomboy.
DD5, Katie – the spark in the family. My girly-girl.

Pretrip report: http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=171253

Pre-WDW Tampa visit:

We flew down to Tampa from Hartford (Bradley) on Tuesday, June 22nd. School had finished on the 18th, the same day that we surprised the girls with the trip. (See pretrip report thread for details). It had been a busy weekend, going to visit my parents in NY, attending a graduation party, and getting everything packed up.

Our flight got us into Tampa at around 3:45 – love flying into Tampa, small airport – easy to navigate – and it has a monorail, just like Orlando. No Disney store though.

We spent three full days in Tampa with my in-laws. We basked in the warm waters of the Gulf for two mornings at Redington Shores Beach, did a little souvenir shopping in a shell shop, and swam in the in-laws pool. Tim and I attended a Rays-Padres game (Rays lost). We also made our annual pilgrimage to the Lowry Park Zoo. We arrived at opening and got to see a lot of the park with very few visitors, and even got to see some of the animals having their breakfast. Once the heat and the crowds hit, we headed to the Australia section where there are fountains to play in and rides to ride.

The best meal of the entire trip (Disney included) was at the Salt Rock Grill. We went early and took advantage of their $20 dinner deal (salad, entrée, and dessert). I had the macadamia nut encrusted mahi-mahi with garlic mashed potatoes. One of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The two chocolate martinis I had weren’t bad either. ;)

So after taking in the beach, playing with the dog, swimming in the pool, and visiting with the in-laws, we were ready to go to Disney.

[TikiGoddess]

Saturday, June 26th: Arrival Day

After a fairly good night’s sleep, we got up at 4:45am. Everyone got ready and finished packing pretty quickly – we were on the road by 6am. Stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts for caffeine and breakfast and was treated to a beautiful sunrise as we headed towards Orlando. On the way over, we saw an interesting accident – a pickup truck loaded down with watermelons had dropped half of its load all over the road. One car had gotten tangled up in the mess – there was smashed melon all over the exit ramp! It looked like something out of a Richard Scarry book.

We made good time and arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter at 8am. It is a beautiful resort! There was no line at check-in – found out that we had gotten all of our requests (building 4, 1st floor) although our room was not ready yet. No problem, we just needed our park tickets and then we were off!

We got to Epcot at 8:30am. We parked up front, went through security, and went to the Will Call window to collect the first of our three “Give A Day” Fastpasses. We were among the first to enter the park and waited up by the fountains for rope drop. Test Track was first on the list (just like last year…) and we only waited about 5 minutes to get into the briefing room. Julie was a little scared about the ‘hitting the wall’ part, but later said she loved the outside part where we went really fast. ;)

We took a little time to look around in the display and shop. This was our first run-in with our shopping rule – the girls may only buy one souvenir for the week. This makes them think twice about what they really want, but at 5 yrs old it was a little hard for my younger daughter to grasp.

Next was Mission Space for the girls’ first ever ride. We did team Green and enjoyed it immensely. I’ve done Orange and this worked fine for me and my husband who is motion sickness prone. Still exciting. Julie especially loved this one – she is my little scientist who loves all things space, science, and animals.

We walked over to Nemo but it was closed for tech difficulties. So we went to Figment and literally stepped right on. The guy who asked us how many in our party – his name badge said “Nigel Channing” from Orlando. I asked him if that was really his name and he said yes, that he was the Dr’s son. After I thought about it I’m sure he was kidding… but wouldn’t that be funny…

Anyway, Figment – big hit with the youngsters (who sat down front by themselves). Katie loves all things skunk. Nuf said. In the Imaginaton lab after the ride, the girls got to do a demo with the Kodak camera woman – they put on lab coats and glasses, got their picture taken, and the woman showed them how to make it look cool on her computer with effects. We got a printout of the picture.

The girls jumped around in the instrument lights while Tim and I sent a silly email picture. On the way through the shop I noticed that they had Figgy tshirts, so we picked one out for Katie and Julie found an Epcot one.

Then off to the Land pavilion, where we used the first of our GAD FPs. Walked up to the kiosk and got an instant FP. Standby wait was about 60 min at the time. We ended up waiting about 15 min, because we wanted to do B1. We met a family from Washington with 3 kids and talked to them for a while (and convinced them to sit B1). We also found a good time eater in line -- Rock Paper Scissors. No one caught the golf ball but the end brought tears in my eyes as it usually does.

Off of Soarin’, over to food. First dining plan meal – we were smart. Tim got the seared tuna salad, drink, and key lime pie (light and fluffy!). I got a ham/salami sandwich (the turkey sandwich is better), fruit cup (mostly eaten by Katie), and soda. I got the girls side orders of mac n cheese (eh.) and Doritos/cheetos. So 2 CS and 4 snacks. Why can’t Disney get mac ‘n cheese right? The stuff they give to the kids is terrible!

After lunch we used more FPs for the Listen to the Land ride. Julie liked it enough to want to go on it again at a later date. I hadn’t been on it in a while and barely remembered the beginning of it. It feels very ‘classic Epcot’ to me – informative dark ride. I like the recorded spiel but everyone was talking over it, so I didn’t hear much of it. But it’s interested nonetheless to see the plants and the new growing techniques.

Back over to Nemo. Once again, no wait. The girls rode separate while I cuddled with my hubby. I was still cold from the Land pavilion, which I found to be arctic in temperature! (Not a bad thing on a fairly hot summer day…)

We didn’t spend much time in the Seas… we had just missed a show of Turtle Talk, so the girls played in the shark area and looked in the gift shop while Tim and I took turns going to the bathroom.

After Nemo we still hadn’t heard about our room being ready (it was getting close to 1pm), so we walked over to Universe of Energy. It was about 5 min until the show, so we went in… after Katie had one of her “I’ve had enough” fits (one of quite a few during this vacation… she can be a sweetheart but when tired, hot, and overstimulated – the stubborn side of her comes out). While we were waiting, we decided that going to the resort and swimming in the pool might be a better use of our time (Katie was in no mood for us changing our mind, but it was the right thing to do). We booked it out of Epcot, changed in the resort bathroom and sank gratefully into the cool water. It had gotten HOT, as June Florida afternoons do.

We were all in the pool, exploring and going down the slide multiple times. I would go down, then catch Katie as she came down. Julie was on her own, as she could touch the bottom at the end of the slide. Katie would wave to me at the top and make sure I was there. They were both having a blast… this is one of my favorite memories of the trip – relaxing in the cool water, seeing the kids have a grand time, and doing all of it under a beautiful blue Florida sky.

So after a while I started to wonder if our room was ready. I finally went to the front desk and 20 min later, our room was ready at 3:10pm. The girls and I went to the room, 4109, showered, and sat around in towels while Tim got bell services to bring the bags from the car. We all hid behind the curtain while they brought the bags in but Katie kept peeping out. (The curtain is a good idea – but they really should make it with a light-block liner, so when someone is using the bathroom in the morning, it doesn’t wake everyone else up with the light shining through the bright yellow curtain.)

We got changed in a hurry and went back to Epcot for dinner. Amazingly we were early to our 5pm ADR at San Angel. They seated us right away – at a table in the 2nd row away from the water. The woman who seated us told us that they seat groups of 5 or more by the water

Dinner was tasty – not the best meal that I’ve ever had but it was full of good flavors. Tim and I shared our Pollo a las rajas, Beef tacos, and one strawberry margarita. Desserts were excellent (Julie fell in love with the churro that came with the ice cream, declaring it the best thing she had ever eaten). The girls and I rode the Mexico ride in search of Donald while waiting for dinner (no wait), and after dinner while waiting for check (no wait). Overall it was a really nice dining experience. You can’t beat the atmosphere!

We went back to Future World after dinner. We got instant FPs for Test Track and rode again (70 minute standby at that point). After that we decided that it was time to start heading out, as we were all quite tired. We did SSE after giving away our GAD FPs that still had two rides left on them. Sat with Julie and loved the floating heads.

Back to our room… set up beds (brought along two twin mattresses for the girls – one fit by the door, and one in between the beds.) Had a minor crisis when we couldn’t find my daughter’s stuffed hippo – almost drove over to Epcot to see if we had dropped him in the parking lot, but thankfully he was found hiding under a blanket. We called it an early night – 9:30 for all of us!

Coming Up: Breakfast with Eeyore

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Wow! What a great (and really busy) first day at Disney.

[Bethanymouse]

What a relaxing way to start off your vacation. So glad you are enjoying yourselves. Cant wait to read more!

[RedSoxFan]

Great start to your vacation.:mickey:

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report! :smickey:

[yjgirl32]

Great way to start a wonderful and hopefully magical acation. Can't wait to read more.

[DizNee143]

wow! whatta first day at disney!! you guys sure did make the most of it and got alot done!! :mickey:

[Joannelet]

Thanks for sharing! :)

[faline]

You certainly jumped right into your park touring and covered a whole lot of ground in just your first day!

Glad the hippo was found and a bedtime crises averted!

[KylesMom]

While it sounds like you had an enjoyable stay at your in-laws, it seems that your first day at Epcot was a GREAT one! Nice way to relax in the afternoon before your ADR, too.

On to your next post . . . :mickey:

[Tigerinvestigator]

That is so funny, I have a 5yr old daughter named Kadie and they sound just alike. If you ask my Kadie about WDW or Epcot the first thing she says is you have to watch out for that nasty skunk! She also has her stubborn moments. I know how your DH feels because we have three daughters 13, 9, and 5. Thank you for the report and looking forward to reading some more!:thumbsup:

[#1disneyfan]

Great first day in Epcot! I am hoping to have a similar experience...parks, pool, shower, parks! lol Thanks for sharing!

:mickey:

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[princessgirls]

Just a perfect Disney Day!!!

Thanks for the report!

Julie:mickey:

[BluewaterBrad]

Wow! Great part 1. I am headed to read all of your reports!:mickey:

[Mousefever]

I believe you're alluding to Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go"; one of my personal favorites! Great first day!

Amy

[SBETigg]

Thanks for including the Tampa report. I've never been and I'm considering going to a conference there in October. Sounds nice.

Great first Disney day! I loved that you knew when it was time for some resort rest and didn't push on. You got a lot done.