GainesvilleMoms.com

bishop96;

We have stayed at the campground once in a cabin when my youngest was 11 months old. The cabin has the room for all 5 of us and my little one could take her nap uninterupted in the bedroom. Since then we have been twice and stayed at the lodge which is awesome. It has great rooms and the lodge is so beautiful. We do 4 parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM, and Epcot)when we go but like Magic Kingdom best so the Lodge is best for us. It is nice to be so close cause when you stay at Disney you get the extra hours in the parks. We do the character meals....we have done breakfast at the Contemporary with Mickey and friends...and lunch in Animal Kingdom with Pooh Bear and friends. Magic Kingdom is literally minutes by boat from the Wilderness Lodge. The campground has a little settlement area and they have reatuarants and one of them has a great western themed dinner show called the "Hoop Dee Hoo" that is alot of fun too.

Okay I could literally be a spokesperson!!!!

We are going again in March 2009 for 9 days...(we never do the summertime!!) and we all can't wait!!!!

Haha...me too! We actually go way too much! Since we bought the passes we usually go once a month or every other month. We have blockout dates during spring break, summer, and then the week of Christmas...but those are all times we wouldn't go anyway. We usually stay at All Star Music...my oldest really likes it. Although, after reading your post, I am talking to my hubby about camping there when it cools off a bit.
We have done the Contemporary breakfast and then Caeli and I did the Cinderella meal at the Grand Floridian. Not sure if we will do any more meals...my little man isn't that into it and Caeli has become a ride fanatic! It's so fun now that she is older...she has now riden everything at Magic Kingdom except Space Mountain and that is only because she doesn't like the dark..haha. Her and my hubby went on Splash Mountain for the first time when we went at the beginning of the month. They also had a sneak peek of the new Toy Story ride..Caeli loved it!

I added an album from our last trip

My littlest one is just now 3 and 39 and a half inches tall so I am not sure if she will be able to do the bid rides by March or not. We LOVE the big rides. She loves the teacups and all the flying rides. My husband and I love the Aerosmith coaster and the Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. There is also a very scary ride in Dino land in Animal Kingdom called 'Dinosaur' that we could not believe was so scary....definetly not for little ones...but a GREAT ride!!! My older kids love EVERYTHING there is in Disney! I have video footage of the outside and inside of the cabins if you wanted to see what they are like. The campground is nice but I am not much of a camper as far as a tent and stuff. If I am walking and going on rides and out in the sun all day give me a/c and a soft bed and a hot shower at night

I haven't seen the new toy story ride yet..but I know it will be great.

We always go in the 'down' times too. I don't like crowds so we go in the off season and it is the best. You are right .... we have been down one time at Christmas and it is awesome!!!!! A little crowded so be prepared for it...also seems like more foreigners are there then...

My husband doesn't like to go too much...he says it will take away the 'specialness' of it so we stick to every other year....plus it costs alot and we need to save up in between. It is WELL worth the price. There are alot of tips to getting the best price. For our last trip I went online and ordered everything we wanted....rooms...tickets...etc...and then got a price of $5400.00. I then called the reservations 800 # and talked to an agent and got our trip down to $4730.00 for exactly the same trip. They just know how to book things and apply every discount applicable to your family.

Good luck in all your Disney trips!!! It is definetly our happiest place on earth!!

Man...I haven't been on Dinosaur since before I had Caeli (7 years ago!) I don't really like heights so I don't go on the big coasters..my hubby loves them though. My favorite is Thunder Mountain. If you go around the second week of Dec. (which is when we usually go) it's not very crowded and the weather is great. After we bought the passes (it was kind of pricey but worth it..it was around 700 for 3 of us) we usually don't spend much going. There are passholder rates at the Value resorts and then we just need food/spending money. When we went at the beginning of May, we paid 74/night (that's the most we have ever paid per night) at Music and then spent I think around 200 on food and such..so it worked out that I think we spent a total of maybe around 500 for 3nights/4days. Not too bad.

We went in december it was actually amazeing cuz we didn't have the money to go someone was ganna meet us there and they didn't show I was so upset but then a man came out the gate and gave shawn two adult tickets said he had to leave so we got in and we had so much fun even though jake was only 10 months old he had fun. and it was shawns first time.He keep showing all the people that worked there all of our pictures it was alot of fun.Cant wait to go again.Maybe thats what we'll do when I get mt stimulus.

bishop 96 I just saw your pictures...they are awesome!!!!....I got so excited I posted some of ours too. I love being able to put faces to the moms I meet in here!!!

Those are too cute! I know what you mean..it's nice to put a face with a name. Have you ever taken your little one to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique? It's kind of expensive but we did it for Caeli's kindergarten graduation...it was really cute!

We went the day after Christmas and had SO much fun. We stayed until midnight! My feet were super sore and we drove back to Gainesville the same night. But it was fun and we save lots of money. Next time, we do the hotel

I'm on an email list that sends out invites for tv filmings and such...every year I get one for the taping of the Christmas parade at Disney...if I get it this year, I will let you all know! Caeli and I went to a taping of a Food Network Challenge and it was so fun!

For 20+ years, we bought season passes for our family every year. Then, several years ago, a Disney employee stole my daughter's wedding rings - right in front of her! The way we were treated was just awful - the Disney Gestapo accused my daughter of not being married (her husband is a disabled Iraq War veteran)! The Orange County Sheriff's office refused to do anything. It was so scary and so unexpected. Everytime we start to think about how much we miss going to Disney, we just remember how terribly we were treated by the stormtroopers. We've not been back, nor has anyone in our extended family (100+ people) since then. Sorry to rain on your parade - I hope none of you ever has to deal with the Disney security force - the real face of Disney is not a pretty one.

Yes, I am a Disney fan! I was so surprised this year, I was planning a trip there on Christmas Eve in hopes of seeing the Christmas Parade the next morning. When I called to make arranges, I found out that the Christmas Day parade we see on tv is recorded. I was heartbroken. They said that it is taped during the last weekend in november and a weekend in December.

quote:

Originally posted by ghenier27:
Yes, I am a Disney fan! I was so surprised this year, I was planning a trip there on Christmas Eve in hopes of seeing the Christmas Parade the next morning. When I called to make arranges, I found out that the Christmas Day parade we see on tv is recorded. I was heartbroken. They said that it is taped during the last weekend in november and a weekend in December.

Yeah...it's usually taped the weekend around the 1st of December...and they use a fill audience. Basically, the girl who coordinates tv audiences, sends out an email and people sign up and assigned spaces when they get there. I'm on the list so when I get the email, I will let you know I usually get it around the beginning of Nov. But we haven't gone, because I have heard it's pretty crazy...we may this year though..since my girl is a bit older.

quote:

Originally posted by kluber:
For 20+ years, we bought season passes for our family every year. Then, several years ago, a Disney employee stole my daughter's wedding rings - right in front of her! The way we were treated was just awful - the Disney Gestapo accused my daughter of not being married (her husband is a disabled Iraq War veteran)! The Orange County Sheriff's office refused to do anything. It was so scary and so unexpected. Everytime we start to think about how much we miss going to Disney, we just remember how terribly we were treated by the stormtroopers. We've not been back, nor has anyone in our extended family (100+ people) since then. Sorry to rain on your parade - I hope none of you ever has to deal with the Disney security force - the real face of Disney is not a pretty one.

Wow...that's pretty bad. We actually did have to deal with them over losing something minor (just a toy my son had) but we didn't have any problems...actually the manager working let him pick out any toy he wanted from one of the shops and then when she heard my husband had lost his hat on a ride, she actually gave him a $25 credit to one of the stores for a new one....hopefully they have learned to treat people better than they did a few years ago.

I love Disney. I've been wanting to go so badly, the last time I went was when I was 8! We were planning on going this past April but the couple we were planning on going with was due in April and then I got pregnant in Nov. Maybe next year...