Family trip 2007

This turned out to be probably the best family trip we’ve had. The kids were good, the weather was good except for one day, everything just seemed to flow nicely without any issues that usually occur at least once when you stick a family of seven in a car and spend a week in central Florida in June.We left out Sunday June 3rd in our Jeep Commander loaded down with 3 adults and four kids, pulling a Little Guy teardrop trailer loaded with a week’s worth of clothes and food and headed for Disney’s Old Key West Resort. We like to stay there on our June trip because the rooms are bigger and use less points from our Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points so we can use the rest later. When we first arrived right before noon, our room wasn’t ready so we headed to Olivia’s, the only sit down restaurant at Old Key West, and had lunch. By the time we finished though our room was ready so we headed off to unload the trailer and “move in” for the week. After that the rest of the day was spent at the pool enjoying the poolside DJ, castle slide, and game room.

Monday was to be our first day in the parks and we decided EPCOT was the best park to go to that morning. We were there for rope drop which is when they let you through the gates into the park but stop you short of getting to any of the attractions by a rope. In the old days there was a countdown at the official park opening and then they “dropped the rope” causing a stampede to the popular attractions, hence the name rope drop. Now they have adopted a safer yet slower means of accomplishing this by lining up cast members across the entire pathway and marching with the crowd behind them towards the attractions. We had a great time in EPCOT on Soarin’, Nemo, Test Track, Marc Jr, Erin and I rode Mission Space, and had lunch in Mexico. We also got to meet Snow White and have a whole family picture made with her. After lunch was Maelstrom and the Great American Adventure which nearly put the kids to sleep but I enjoy it and never get to see it, plus it’s a great place to cool off on a hot day when you’re a long way from the Coca Cola Cool Station.

We then decided that we’d try Animal Kingdom to see if we could get on Expedition Everest at that time of the afternoon which could be nearly impossible on certain days but low and behold we ended up riding it several times after our late afternoon arrival. Of course Kali River Rapids is a favorite in the summer and I believe the kids and I rode it 3-4 times. We also got to ride Dinosaur and finally for the first year, Erin was old enough to ride Primeval Whirl which has to be the ride with the tallest height requirement in Disney. Kellie also rode Triceratops Spins several times because she loves the Dumbo ride so much and it’s basically the same. We stayed until park closing and took four very tired children back to the resort.

Tuesday is usually the day I take the two oldest kids, Marc Jr and Alyssa, to a water park so we couldn’t break tradition. We went to Blizzard Beach and rode all the big water slides and got a little too much sun, not too bad though, but all three of us had a great time. The rest of the women folk took the two younger kids to Downtown Disney and back to the resort pool so on our way back from Blizzard Beach we stopped in and met them for another swim. Everyone was worn out after a long day in the sun and water and having a big day planned for Wednesday, we headed back to the room to chill out and get to bed early.

Wednesday was the next park day and Magic Kingdom was the park of choice. We were there again for rope drop which is the best one of all the parks I believe since you wait in front of the train station and the characters all ride in on the train and perform before the countdown. I get big handfuls of Mickey head shaped confetti for the kids to throw at the countdown since we were righ tup front for rope drop. Alyssa is a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean so that was the first ride we headed for since it doesn’t have Fastpass and may get busy later. We got to do all the big rides at Magic Kingdom including Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear (many times), Jungle Cruise, and Space Mountain. Marc Jr seems to be getting over some of his fears of these rides because he rode Space Mountain with no problems this year. Of course no day at Magic Kingdom would be complete without spending some time in Fantasy Land and of course Kellie wanted to ride Pink Dumbo! Unfortunately this popular ride also does not have Fastpass so unless you head straight there after rope drop you’re likely to stand in a long line and only ride it once which we did. We rode all the favorites there too like the Teacups, Winnie the Pooh, and It’s A Small World. Unfortunately this year they closed the Haunted Mansion down for refurbishment all summer, the same day we came to Magic Kingdom. I did know this in advance and considered trying to squeeze in a quick trip to Magic Kingdom on Monday since the kids all have park hopper passes but we just ran out of time that day so they’ll have to wait until next trip to see it after it’s refurbed. We ate at the Columbia Harbor House which is one of the counter service restaurants we go to lot but it started looking like rain was headed our way and being a little tired at this time in the afternoon, we decided to head back to the resort to cool down and maybe come back later for fireworks. Unfortunately the rain never stopped so it was a good choice to leave when we did and after eating on the Boardwalk at the Big River Grille and Brewing Works (which was a bit underwhelming this trip,) we headed back to Old Key West and after playing some air hockey in the game room, called it a night.

Thursday was our rest day and so after sleeping in some (no early morning rope drops) we slowly headed to the resort pool. They really have a lot of activities there now daily and the kids had almost as much fun there as they do at the parks, especially since they built the new slide a few years back so Old Key West now has a “cool pool.”

This is also the night we traditionally go up to City Walk next to Universal and Islands of Adventure since we are usually in Disney the week of my birthday. They always let them know it’s my birthday and they come sing and bring cake and ice cream that the kids chow down on. We were all tired of course so we headed back for more games at Old Key West in the game room and then back to the room to pack before leaving on Friday.