shoreline99

Thanks again to everyone reading along. Being able to see the Dream Suite was indeed a pretty cool experience. I'm glad that others here have been able to see it as well - people should have the opportunity to see it but I can understand that it's not really feasible to have it as part of the KTTK tour due to the space limitations of the suite (and elevator). After our tour we continued back down the stairs into the utilidors (or the 'Tunnel' as it's apparently called by most of the CM's we spoke with). We came down just around where the orange box is on this map below the word 'Fantasyla

It was very cool. I can only imagine being there during Wishes - you can't see it, but I'd bet you would sure as heck feel it... Thanks! We watched the fireworks from the room on a couple of evenings. It was easy to get spoiled with all the food and drink available as well. The Express Transport makes it pretty easy to do the 4 parks if you time it right. Thanks! Yes, the ceiling and walls were certainly beautiful - and the light in the tub changed colors as well Yep. A genuine telly phone. Thanks! Thank you for reading along! It was honestl

Apologies for the confusion, I went back and edited my post to make it clearer. Yes, this tour was set up through my conference (and it was on the first day), so I had to go to the OCCC to check in and register for the conference and tour. Sorry for the confusion. It was a total pain that I couldn't meet them at WDW. This happened a few times that week, as I went on a few tours and have a lot of photos and info to share. There were 24 people on the castle suite tour, and we split into two groups to go up to the suite. The first group got stuck in the elevator, so I'm glad I was in th

The Dream Suite is divided into two rooms (plus the bathroom) and sleeps six. The other main room in the suite is called the parlor, and has a custom pull-out couch: This wall is all hidden storage: Lots of stained glass, and views: Remember those three windows. A beautiful ceiling in here, as well. And, of course, a visit here wouldn't be complete without seeing Cinderella's glass slipper: Phew. From here, we walked back down the stairs and down into the Utilidors, which I'll talk abo

Wednesday morning was the start of the conference I was attending, but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to get my fill of WDW that day. The conference was being held at the Orange County Convention Center, which meant I had to head into Orlando early that morning. My bride was kind enough to drop me off there, so i could meet up with her later without having to juggle a car. Early morning room view: After registering at the conference and checking in for the day, I was going to head back to the Magic Kingdom! I was booked for a backstage tour of the park with one of the arc

Thanks! As I said in another thread, it's a great option once you get the schedule down. I can't believe that they don't have it posted. With the fastpasses, we only had booked one in advance for Soarin', so we were able to add one at a time in different parks after that. I guess MDE allows you to select multiple parks in a single day with that approach.

Cool! I got to tour it last week when I was in Orlando, but we were not able to ride the rides (or take photos, parts were quite obviously still under construction). The scenery is beautiful and they really did a nice job of balancing the themeing of the park for those who are Avatar fans and those (like me) that have never seen the movie. I can't wait to see it at night, with all the luminescent paint and glowing plants. Fun fact: the imprints in the sidewalks, with the exception of the footprints, were made with organic materials - plants, various types of cereals and chow mein noo

Really wasn't bad with the express transportation. And spacing out four drinks during the day isn't hard either.

I'm going to extend this post just to finish up Tuesday. We headed over to the express bus and hopped back to the MK. On the way, I made a fast pass for Big Thunder, and was also able to make a reservation for Skipper's Canteen for dinner. Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty much a walk-on, so we headed there before our dinner reservation. Ride, Check Skipper's menu has changed a bit, and we had been snacking all day, so we ordered the SEA shu mai and the steak salad to split. And a couple of drinks! One in each park and our first time having a drink in the MK. The kit

Tuesday morning found us ready to head to EPCOT to check out the Flower & Garden & Food festival. The plan was to head over to Magic Kingdom and take the express bus from there to EPCOT, and to hang at EPCOT for the day. Morning views at the Lodge: A quick boat ride, and welcome to the MK! We walked through the morning show. That Louis the Alligator must have been roasting, as the temperature was already starting to climb and it was humid. The express bus stop at the MK is in Tomorrowland, so we took a right and headed over. AAaaaaaand

Not that I am aware of. You could hear Wishes start pretty clearly, but when the fireworks started it was hard to hear anything. On a positive/bonus note, you could hear multiple performances of the Electrical Water Pageant every night! I don't think the view would have been at all the same with the existing trees still there. You would have seen the fireworks and probably the tops of space mountain and maybe the castle. Maybe part of the Astro Orbiter.

A couple more more photos from the room before I continue, the 'Blazing Oaks Smokehouse' was in the service yard below our room, so we had some awesome smells wafting in all week. A couple photos of the Copper Creek Cabin construction: We headed out to Geyser Point; we had been there before in February just after they opened, so we were curious to see how things were settling in. Someone here was asking about the Territory Lounge and if they were serving breakfast while Roaring Forks was closed, so here is your answer. Sorry that it's blurry. The fa

My family and I have been to WDW many times, and with the exception of the first time I went with my wife (then fiancé), we have always stayed at the fort. The first time i went to WDW, we stayed at POFQ, which was great, but with the kids the fort and it's cabins have been the best fit. We stayed at the cabins back in February, and since I knew I had a convention coming up in Orlando in April, my wife and I upgraded our week-long park hoppers to annual passes. We haven't taken more than a weekend trip away alone since we had kids, so this was a nice break in advance of our upcoming 20th

Here is the schedule for the express bus service, if it's helpful.

If you're doing a monorail bar crawl on the resort monorail, you still have to go through security at each resort, although it seemed to move pretty smoothly.

We used this service last week while we were at WDW, and I will say it was worth the $$. Once you have the schedule down, it's a great service. Most every time we were just about the only people on the bus, and the cast members could not have been nicer. We hit all four parks on one day, and multiple parks on several different days. Not having to go through the security and bag checks each time you went to a different park was fan flippin' tastic.

As of Saturday afternoon it was still being refurbished. We ate there several times this past week. I will say that they have a serious bird problem, which they know about but haven't figured out how best to deal with it yet.

I have a lot of catching up to do here! We're at WL now and I will definitely have a trip report when I get back. Lots of 'behind the scenes' info to come! TCD's trip reports are contagious.

We ate there in February, one of the best meals I've had on property ever. It was a Cioppino bowl (basically a seafood stew) and it was amazing. I think it was one of the specials that day. We were also seated where we could see the fireworks while eating - didn't even have to go out side, although the kids did.

That's because I gave Mo my extra beer and snacks when we left.

Nice, TCD - yes, it's great to have a new trip report! We need more of those. First page bragging rights!

We stopped going to character meals years ago, when even the youngest child at the time complained about the food [I'm looking at you, Akersus]. I think the only possible exception to that rule is Cinderella's Royal Table, but hey you get what you pay for there. Edit: OK, O'hana is pretty decent for a character meal, but in all truth it's hard to screw up breakfast.

Nah. They only care about showing you their new, fancy DVC units.

Never having stayed there, thought maybe someone would know. Are there coffee makers in the rooms? If there are, are they the pod ones like at the boardwalk, or are they regular filter-style coffee makers? Standard room, not concierge. Heading down next week and need to know these important things...

My son arrived a day or two after that happened in 2015, and his crew ran into the crew that lost a scout getting re-outfitted to go back out. We (the parents at home) found out about it while they were traveling there and no one wanted to say anything to the scouts, and the scouts found out about it when they got to Philmont and no one wanted to say anything to the parents at home lest they miss their opportunity.