Belle of the Ball 051411
06-12-2012, 11:33 AM
When: May 17 – 20
Who: DH and I
Where: GF Sugarloaf Building, Room 6422
Sorry this trip report is almost a month late but better late than never, I suppose. Anywho…
DH and I left Cincinnati at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 16th, to start our drive down to Orlando. All was smooth until we hit traffic heading into TN on I-75 S. There was an accident that kept us dead stopped for an hour and then as we cleared the accident, we had to exit the highway in Jellico, TN to take a 26 mile back roads of TN detour (Construction – all traffic had to exit and take the detour. I believe now it is open but only 1 lane.). That wasn’t very fun. The accident and detour set us back about 2 hours. We kept driving south…We hit some very hard rain in south Georgia and then decided at midnight to stop in Valdosta (Comfort Suites; pretty nice).
Day 1: We had a nice rest and then got back on the road by 8:30 a.m. After a few short hours, we made it to Orlando. Our navigation system took us the back way through Disney (Cast Member entrance), but alas, we made it to the Grand Floridian. DH and I were actually a little sad that we didn’t get to experience driving through the gates of the Magic Kingdom. Oh well, we were happy we had a safe trip and we were excited to start our vacation.
We were greeted by the friendly GF staff and quickly escorted to our room in the Sugar Loaf Building. We were on the top floor of the Sugar Loaf Building (I always request a high floor) in room 6422. We were exactly 1 floor up from our room last year. Since we were on the top floor we had nice cathedral ceilings. We also had a king-sized bed. We were quite pleased! We then grabbed lunch at the Grand Floridian Café; great food and great service (no reservations).
DH and I then got on the monorail and headed the MK! We stayed at the MK until about 7:00 p.m. We then took the boat launch back to the GF and enjoyed some snacks in the Club Lobby. It was a lovely ride. We showered and then took a cab over to the Dolphin hotel for our 8:30 p.m. reservation at Shula’s Steakhouse. Yummy! We could barely move after that meal!
Day 2: We had breakfast in the Club Lobby and then we took the bus to Hollywood Studios. We had a really friendly driver and met a nice couple from Columbus, OH. It was crowded but not crazy. It was the start of Star Wars Weekend. We headed straight to Tower of Terror. After a few hours we decided to get some lunch and went to Brown Derby (no reservations). We had a fantastic meal. That was our first time dining there and we really liked it. It was so nice to have a good meal and just relax for a bit. We rode a few more rides and then headed back to the GF to relax at the pool/pool bar. The pool was crowded but not crazy. Apparently, there was a convention there that had 200 rooms booked. Epcot had EMH that night starting at 9 p.m. so at 8:30 p.m. we got on the monorail and headed there. Our initial plan was to ride Soarin’ and then get something to eat. We waited in line for about an hour on Soarin’ (2 families behind us was the couple we met on the bus yesterday from Columbus!). We then headed to the World Showcase and then were quickly disappointed. It was almost 10:00 p.m. by that time and nothing was open. We thought with EMH stuff would be open. We were really hoping to dine at Napoli but then we were hoping for something/anything to be open. So we walked all the way around the World and were very hungry, tired, and disappointed. We then just decided to leave (the rides were pretty crowded). The monorail closed by that time (not sure why) so we got in line to take a bus. Well that was a fiasco. Buses are suppose to arrive ~every 20 minutes. We waited 1.5 hours (dead serious)! We were the third “family” in line at our bus stop. We watched all of the other buses head to the other bus stops for the other resorts and even 2, 3, 4 buses head to other stops. Everyone in line was quite ******. People in line had flagged down Cast Members to see what was going on but all any of them said was that a bus would be here momentarily. We felt like they weren’t listening to any of us. That was really aggravating. DH and I were both in pretty bad moods at that point. Epcot was a FAIL for us that night. Very disappointing… We made it back to our room a little after midnight. We ended up ordering room service and going to bed. I wanted to go to the front desk and complain about the bus situation but I knew other people in line were already doing that. I was so tired and hungry that I just wanted to go back to my room.
Day 3: We had breakfast in the Club Lobby and then we took the bus to the Animal Kingdom. It was a really nice day. Everest is our favorite ride there so we rode it a few times. We had a lovely lunch at the Flaming Tree BBQ. Delicious! We stayed at AK for a good portion of the day. We then headed back to the MK for a little while. We were then getting tired so we went back to the GF and hung out by the pool for awhile. We then got ready for dinner and took the monorail too the Polynesian for dinner at ‘Ohana. We had a 9:35 p.m. reservation. We got there about 10 minutes early and hung out in the lounge until we were called. I had the infamous Lapu Lapu drink! We were seated at 9:50 p.m. and had a the most perfect window table. Our waiter brought our salads/bread and then we got to watch Wishes. It was wonderful! Of course the rest of our meal was delicious. We then headed back to our hotel and went to bed.
Day 4: We packed up and said goodbye to the GF and headed to Fort Lauderdale for our 7-night RC cruise. We had a fantastic time on that as well.
All in all, we had a great trip to WDW. DH and I can’t wait to go back. The parks were a bit more crowded than we would have liked but you have to just roll with it.
Trip Highs:
Meals (everything was delicious)
GF was amazing as always
Trip Lows:
Ecpot (not much was open)/Bus Situation
Didn’t get to ride everything we wanted because of crowds
Who: DH and I
Where: GF Sugarloaf Building, Room 6422
Sorry this trip report is almost a month late but better late than never, I suppose. Anywho…
DH and I left Cincinnati at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 16th, to start our drive down to Orlando. All was smooth until we hit traffic heading into TN on I-75 S. There was an accident that kept us dead stopped for an hour and then as we cleared the accident, we had to exit the highway in Jellico, TN to take a 26 mile back roads of TN detour (Construction – all traffic had to exit and take the detour. I believe now it is open but only 1 lane.). That wasn’t very fun. The accident and detour set us back about 2 hours. We kept driving south…We hit some very hard rain in south Georgia and then decided at midnight to stop in Valdosta (Comfort Suites; pretty nice).
Day 1: We had a nice rest and then got back on the road by 8:30 a.m. After a few short hours, we made it to Orlando. Our navigation system took us the back way through Disney (Cast Member entrance), but alas, we made it to the Grand Floridian. DH and I were actually a little sad that we didn’t get to experience driving through the gates of the Magic Kingdom. Oh well, we were happy we had a safe trip and we were excited to start our vacation.
We were greeted by the friendly GF staff and quickly escorted to our room in the Sugar Loaf Building. We were on the top floor of the Sugar Loaf Building (I always request a high floor) in room 6422. We were exactly 1 floor up from our room last year. Since we were on the top floor we had nice cathedral ceilings. We also had a king-sized bed. We were quite pleased! We then grabbed lunch at the Grand Floridian Café; great food and great service (no reservations).
DH and I then got on the monorail and headed the MK! We stayed at the MK until about 7:00 p.m. We then took the boat launch back to the GF and enjoyed some snacks in the Club Lobby. It was a lovely ride. We showered and then took a cab over to the Dolphin hotel for our 8:30 p.m. reservation at Shula’s Steakhouse. Yummy! We could barely move after that meal!
Day 2: We had breakfast in the Club Lobby and then we took the bus to Hollywood Studios. We had a really friendly driver and met a nice couple from Columbus, OH. It was crowded but not crazy. It was the start of Star Wars Weekend. We headed straight to Tower of Terror. After a few hours we decided to get some lunch and went to Brown Derby (no reservations). We had a fantastic meal. That was our first time dining there and we really liked it. It was so nice to have a good meal and just relax for a bit. We rode a few more rides and then headed back to the GF to relax at the pool/pool bar. The pool was crowded but not crazy. Apparently, there was a convention there that had 200 rooms booked. Epcot had EMH that night starting at 9 p.m. so at 8:30 p.m. we got on the monorail and headed there. Our initial plan was to ride Soarin’ and then get something to eat. We waited in line for about an hour on Soarin’ (2 families behind us was the couple we met on the bus yesterday from Columbus!). We then headed to the World Showcase and then were quickly disappointed. It was almost 10:00 p.m. by that time and nothing was open. We thought with EMH stuff would be open. We were really hoping to dine at Napoli but then we were hoping for something/anything to be open. So we walked all the way around the World and were very hungry, tired, and disappointed. We then just decided to leave (the rides were pretty crowded). The monorail closed by that time (not sure why) so we got in line to take a bus. Well that was a fiasco. Buses are suppose to arrive ~every 20 minutes. We waited 1.5 hours (dead serious)! We were the third “family” in line at our bus stop. We watched all of the other buses head to the other bus stops for the other resorts and even 2, 3, 4 buses head to other stops. Everyone in line was quite ******. People in line had flagged down Cast Members to see what was going on but all any of them said was that a bus would be here momentarily. We felt like they weren’t listening to any of us. That was really aggravating. DH and I were both in pretty bad moods at that point. Epcot was a FAIL for us that night. Very disappointing… We made it back to our room a little after midnight. We ended up ordering room service and going to bed. I wanted to go to the front desk and complain about the bus situation but I knew other people in line were already doing that. I was so tired and hungry that I just wanted to go back to my room.
Day 3: We had breakfast in the Club Lobby and then we took the bus to the Animal Kingdom. It was a really nice day. Everest is our favorite ride there so we rode it a few times. We had a lovely lunch at the Flaming Tree BBQ. Delicious! We stayed at AK for a good portion of the day. We then headed back to the MK for a little while. We were then getting tired so we went back to the GF and hung out by the pool for awhile. We then got ready for dinner and took the monorail too the Polynesian for dinner at ‘Ohana. We had a 9:35 p.m. reservation. We got there about 10 minutes early and hung out in the lounge until we were called. I had the infamous Lapu Lapu drink! We were seated at 9:50 p.m. and had a the most perfect window table. Our waiter brought our salads/bread and then we got to watch Wishes. It was wonderful! Of course the rest of our meal was delicious. We then headed back to our hotel and went to bed.
Day 4: We packed up and said goodbye to the GF and headed to Fort Lauderdale for our 7-night RC cruise. We had a fantastic time on that as well.
All in all, we had a great trip to WDW. DH and I can’t wait to go back. The parks were a bit more crowded than we would have liked but you have to just roll with it.
Trip Highs:
Meals (everything was delicious)
GF was amazing as always
Trip Lows:
Ecpot (not much was open)/Bus Situation
Didn’t get to ride everything we wanted because of crowds