October 27^th-November 3^rd Trip Report

Walt Disney World & Disney Wonder Cruise

Cast: In laws: Cheryl (dmil) Deb (dsil) Jamie (12yo nephew) Kylie (4yo niece)

Us: Me (29 going, 30 coming) David (dh) Tresa (ds)

Resorts: In laws at Beach Club

Us at Wilderness Lodge

Day 1 – Sunday 10/27:

Left our airport at 7am. Got to MCO around 1130ish or so. Because we were doing the 4 day land/3 day sea, we were met by Disney Cruise Line CM’s. They took us to our appropriate busses & then on to our resorts. We would meet up w/the in laws inside Magic Kingdom. We got to WL & began the check in process. I had learned on the DDL group to ask for a room upgrade. If it were available, you just might get it. We asked, couldn’t get it. The CM said the resort was fully booked. In fact, for the 1^st time, we had to wait for our room. I’ve never had that happen before. We took what we needed from our carry on bags & then checked them with Valet Services. Off to Magic Kingdom! It was so warm! Tonight we were going to go to the Not So Scary Halloween Party so we were just going to MK to get a quick fix. We had lunch at the Plaza Pavilion. It was pretty good. I had a pizza & breadstick, David had a sandwich & Tresa had a pizza & salad. It hit the spot. The in laws called us & said they were just entering the park so we waited for them. When they got there they proceeded to tell us that they too had asked for a room upgrade when they checked in. The CM told them that they already had concierge level. Hmmm…that’s odd. We both had the exact same room Category booked, yet they were in concierge & we weren’t. Hmm…. Called WL & found out that our room was ready. We decided to go back & unpack & get freshened up. David hates our room. He feels that with the amount of money we paid, we should have gotten a better location or something. It had a balcony but it was maybe about 3 feet wide. It was on the end of the building & rather than it being an open balcony, it was surrounded by the rocks that go up the outside of the building. We had 2 small windows we could look out of if we stood up. We definitely couldn’t see anything if we sat in the chairs they managed to squeeze out there. I had arranged to meet some people from the DDL group at Port Orleans French Quarter at 4pm so we needed to head over there. Of course, we all know about the bus transportation in Disney. You can never just go from point A to point B it seems. Got to POFQ late. I missed the meeting. I was so bummed, but at least I got to see a resort I’ve never stayed at before. After the non meet, we headed toward the Hoop De Doo Revue. Our traditional 1^st night dinner for every trip. It was great as always. We have a lot of fun there & the food is always good. Gotta love all you can drink sangria! After dinner we were headed to MK for the MNSSHP. Us girls all wore witches hats with long colored hair, the 2 guys wore goofy hats & glasses that corresponded w/our hair colors. Kylie changed on the boat on the way over into her Minnie costume. Walking into the Magic Kingdom when it’s been transformed is so cool! The ghosts & the witches flying on the buildings were very neat! The party had started at 7 but because of our dinner, we weren’t getting there until after 9. We had time to get to Splash Mountain before the parade. I really wanted to see the Headless Horseman! I couldn’t wait for this because I had heard so much about it. There were some Trick or Treat stations along the way. We stopped at a couple of them but decided we could get candy anywhere, this was the Magic Kingdom! After riding Splash Mountain we found a spot to stand across from the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon to wait for the parade. Pretty soon we heard the announcement that the Headless Horseman had been spotted. I couldn’t wait! I got my camera ready…here he comes…my camera’s not on!!! He’s riding way too fast for me to turn it on! Thankfully Tresa & Deb got pictures of him! I was too busy w/the camera to see him running straight at us, but I did get to see him as he galloped away! How cool is this? A few minutes later we were able to watch the parade. Very nice! Cheryl had heard about the Liberty River Boat having some sort of show on it so she definitely wanted to do that. 1^st though, Haunted Mansion. Very spooky looking with all that fog! After that we went over to the River Boat. This was definitely something I wouldn’t want to do again. It was nice, but really, it’s a slow moving boat. The show that was going on was in the very front…if you didn’t get a seat up there, you really couldn’t see what was going on. We were so tired by this time that we didn’t really care. After we got off that, we went over to get our complimentary pictures taken. Just in time too since they were closing up for the night! Ok! It’s now midnight & we’ve been on the go since 430am this morning. It’s time for bed!

Day 2 – Monday 10/28:

We had our itinerary all planned out at least 9 months ago then sometime in September Disney says they are bringing back early entry. Yay! It’s about time! We decided that we wouldn’t change anything around on our itinerary since we had already made Priority Seatings so today is a Magic Kingdom day. This morning, Tresa & David went downstairs to the Roaring Fork & got our refillable mugs & coffee. By the time they got back to our room, I was almost ready to head out. Got the boat to the Magic Kingdom. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation for the 3 of us because we had been there Sept 01, plus I had been in Dec 01 with my mom, then David & I went for a day in Feb 02…so we thought we’d just take it slow this time. Yeah right. The 3 of us wandered down Main Street, spent some time w/the characters…man alive! They were all over the place! David was able to get his picture taken with all the Country Bears that were out. Explored the Fire House for a bit. I was able to drop off a patch from my brother in law’s fire department. They asked for an address to send a thank you to, I gave them his since it was his patch. The family called & said they were over in Tomorrowland so we headed over there. The 3 of us rode Buzz Lightyear then met the rest of them after that. Jamie wanted to ride on Space Mountain again, so he & I headed over there. After we got off that, the family wanted to do Buzz so we went back. This was where we saw the most run down area of the park. The paint was chipping all over the place, I took a picture of a large spot that was missing paint. I was pretty disappointed in the way this attraction looked. I wish I had gotten more pictures of it to put up on wdwblues.com but we had to move too fast. David & I are both Planetary Pilots! Woo Hoo! We were all wearing tie dye shirts I had made for us so we headed back to Main St after Buzz to get a family picture of us. After this we did It’s A Small World, Splash Mountain again (Kylie LOVED this ride!) Big Thunder Mountain. After this it was getting to be lunchtime. Deb & the kids headed back to Beach Club & the rest of us went over to our PS for Liberty Tree Tavern. It was pretty good. David & Cheryl had the Benedict Arnold, I had a salad & mozzarella sticks, Tresa had a burger. At about this time I decided I should tell David I lost my necklace that morning. This was the 1^st gift he gave me when we got together 10 years ago so it was very special to me. It was my fault I lost it…I had noticed the clasp was not closing right weeks ago. I slept in it & then I showered in it, 2 things I never do. I noticed it was gone just after we had gotten on the boat to MK, but had hoped I’d find it once I went to the restroom. I didn’t. Of course when I told him I was quite upset about it. That was definitely a damper on my day. He was very good about it & cheered me up. Our server at LTT was a CM named Russell. He was very friendly. Did tell us that we would hate our dinner at Biergarten that David was looking forward to. He also told us that Disney doesn’t really own the cruise line & that any employees on the cruise line are not Disney employees. Later, we found out that Russell was wrong on both counts. After lunch we headed over to Country Bears & then to Pirates. We had to meet Deb at EPCOT between 2 & 3 so we went back to WL to show Cheryl our room & to grab some more film. Now it’s off to EPCOT! David Tresa & I wanted to take our time in the World Showcase this time. This is something we haven’t really done before. Met up with Deb & the kids soon after we got there. We told them we’d meet them at dinner & then split up. The 3 of us headed to the World Showcase. The Food & Wine Festival was going on so we saw a lot of different foods being offered at each booth. We wanted to sample but didn’t because we were eating at Biergarten that night. David is of German descent & LOVES German food so he was especially looking forward to tonight. We wandered around the Showcase starting at the UK & going counter clockwise. When we got to Japan we went into their gift store. There is an area in the back of the store that you can choose an oyster & the girls will crack it open for you. The pearl inside is yours to keep. I think it cost us $12 to choose an oyster. Both Tresa & I got a pearl. They told us the average size pearl is 7 ¼ & our pearls were both 7 ¾ . That was kinda neat to do. We had them put a setting on our pearls so now we each have a nice little pearl to hang off a gold chain. I think the setting we chose was around $23 or $27. We found out from 1 of the girls working there that there is a waiting list for them to come over & work in the Japan area of EPCOT. Once they get here they can only stay about 12 months or so & then they have to go back because there are so many people wanting to come over. When we went outside the drummers were out doing their thing. I love to just stand there & watch these guys do this. It is so amazing. By now we decide we should head over to Germany for dinner. We had PS but David was so eager for the dinner he couldn’t wait! I think we were seated a ½ hour sooner than our PS! We were supposed to meet the family here, David called them & told them to find us inside. I’m really not crazy over German style food but this was really good. David LOVED all the food here! He was so happy w/all the offerings on the buffet. The neat thing about a buffet is that everyone will find something to eat here. I was really impressed with it. The Oom-pah band was neat too. They played at different intervals so it wasn’t a constant thing. The 3 of us got there just as they were ending a set. About 15-20 minutes later or so, they came back out & played another set. It was fun. The family hasn’t seen the Tapestry parade so they want to do that. The 3 of us have seen it & hated it so we went over to Mouse Gears& got an evening picture taken. Now it was time for Illuminations. We had told the family the bridge after the UK was our special spot to watch from so we met up with them & walked the rest of the way there. Kylie fell asleep so she never did see Illuminations. Again, it was absolutely wonderful. It amazes me that Disney can evoke such emotions from your through fireworks & lasers. After the show we all walked over to the Beach Club. We went in to check out the Concierge level & they showed us their room. Then the 3 of us went down to the bus stop & got a bus for Downtown Disney. The 1 thing I wanted to do on this trip once we got here was to go to the American Adventure to see the WTC flag. Guess what I forgot about? Anyway, once David heard about the Once Upon A Toy Store selling Mr. Potato Head stuff that was his one place he wanted to go. He stocked up on all of the park exclusive items for his collection at home. I bought the Disney version of the Clue game. Can’t wait to play that! We stopped in at the new pin store. I’m not as impressed as I thought I’d be. I was excited about the Build A Pin…until I saw it. I decided that it wasn’t something I wanted to spend my money on. The base pin is either $6 or $8 & the add ons are $2 each. The base pin can have space for 1-3 add ons & a couple of the bases have space to engrave something on them. I don’t know what I was expecting but it just didn’t do anything for me. So I saved my money & didn’t buy one. OK…it’s almost 11pm.We’re tired again so we’ll go back to the room. When does the relaxing part of this vacation start?

Day 3 – Tuesday 10/29:

Today is Animal Kingdom day! Grab some coffee & go! The family was already over there waiting for us. Normally we go right to the safari, but this morning we had PS for Rainforest Café for 930. Since we were there before the park was open, we thought maybe we’d see if we could get in before 930. We did! My mom & I had eaten here in December so I knew exactly how big the breakfasts were. Thankfully they let us order off the kid’s menu! The Tonga Toast is out of this world but I just can’t eat an adult’s portion of it! All of us girls got the Tonga Toast & both the guys got the Pie of the Viper. I had told both David & Jamie that this was HUGE but they both decided they had to have their own! Guess who didn’t finish their whole breakfast? My recommendation to anyone going to Rainforest for breakfast, either get a child’s portion or split it with someone! The Pie of the Viper is a breakfast pizza & is 8 slices. Both guys ate 4 slices each. After lunch we waddled off to the Safari. I so love this attraction. I see different things each time. After the Safari the family headed in 1 direction, we went in another. Tresa missed out on Tarzan Rocks on her last trip so this was something she definitely wanted to do. Our timing was perfect. We were able to go right to the Lion King show (definitely a must see!) & as soon as we were done there, we went to Tarzan Rocks. Tresa liked both shows, but she says to definitely see Tarzan Rocks before you see Lion King. The Lion King is just amazing! Timon seemed to be more active than usual in this show. Maybe we’ve just never noticed him before. If you get a chance, try to keep your eye on him. He certainly has quite the antics! After Tarzan Rocks I got hit with a migraine. It could have been the heat…I don’t think I’ve ever been down there when it’s been this hot! David called his mom & said we were headed back to WL to relax & get something to eat. By the time we got on the bus I had my vision back but my head was pounding! We got to WL, grabbed our mugs & then went to Roaring Forks for lunch. Lunch was good & the air conditioning was just what my head needed. After lunch we relaxed a bit & then headed to AKL. Tonight dinner was going to be at Boma. We got there ahead of time so I could show David & Tresa around. When mom & I stayed there in December I just loved it. We wandered the resort, went out to check out the animals, saw Mara & Jiko, then had a drink at the bar while waiting for the family. Now…when we were planning this trip we had all decided we were a little bored of the restaurants & we wanted something new. Hence, Biergarten & Boma. Boma sounded extremely odd to me when I was looking at the menu, but I figured why not? This turned out to be 1 of our best dinners while on vacation. Our waitress did a great job of explaining what we’d find on the buffet & the chefs were great when we had a question once we got up there! Never in my life did I ever think I’d be eating stuff like what was there, but I tell ya…I’d do Boma again in a heartbeat. Everyone found something they liked here. Again, with a buffet, how can you go wrong? Dinner was at 5pm so we still had an evening ahead of us. What to do what to do? We headed back to EPCOT. Tresa wanted to get some things in Ice Station Cool’s gift shop, Kylie wanted to ride Test Track again & I wanted to take Tresa to the Land since she’s never done that before. We had a bad experience on the bus ride from AKL to EPCOT. Kylie & Tresa were sitting in the back of the bus, the rest of us were in the front of it. Another family got on & sat near us, a couple got on & sat in the back near Kylie & Tresa. As we were all talking to the family near us, Kylie wanted to sing Hakuna Mata so she & Tresa did. They weren’t singing loud enough for us to hear them up front, but obviously they were singing loud enough for the woman from the couple to hear them. She screamed out to her husband “I CAN’T HEAR YOU BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH NOISE GOING ON IN HERE”. She frightened Kylie & made the ENTIRE bus quiet for a minute. Then we decided who is she to do that & we all continued our conversations. Kylie & Tresa weren’t doing anything wrong & definitely didn’t deserve that. We got to EPCOT & headed in to the park. Everyone decided they needed to make a restroom stop so I waited for them outside on a bench. Along comes the couple. I told the woman how extremely rude & un-Disney that was of her. She lit into me that I shouldn’t allow my niece to sing like that on the bus, that she was far too loud. I told her that 1) she wasn’t loud 2) she has a hearing impairment that causes her to talk a little louder than most kids 3) she was in Disney…kids were allowed to have fun & 4) someone with her disposition obviously shouldn’t be in Disney at all. She continued to be nasty to me while her husband stood there & did nothing. Finally I told her that she should have a lovely evening & I that hoped she was surrounded by children the entire rest of the night. Turns out, Deb had had a bad experience with her the night before at Illuminations. She was mean to a little girl who spoke no English on the bridge. That experience stayed under my skin for a little while. David told me to shake it off, finally I did. Got into the park…what did we want to do? Kylie of course wanted to ride Test Track. We sent Jamie over to get Fast Passes for all of us (not that we needed them of course). While we were waiting for the FP time, we decided to run over to the Land. Um…that closes at 7pm. It’s 10 after. Shoot. What to do, what to do. Hey! Journey into Imagination is open! I’ve never seen this so let’s go over there! That was pretty cool. I’m sure it’s not the same thing as the original but I enjoyed it. After JII we played around in the room outside of the attraction. We took pictures of ourselves & emailed them home, played the “air drums” – had a pretty neat time in there. On our way over to Test Track we went back into Ice Station Cool so Tresa could pick something up for a friend of hers. I had Kylie try “Beverly”. She didn’t enjoy it! Now it’s off to Test Track! Kylie enjoyed it so much she wanted to ride again. So I took the kids & the 3 of us rode again while the other 4 sat out & waited for us. While they were out there, an official bunch of CM’s came by & were talking about Test Track…said something about putting the Wall of Death over there…hmmm…updates already? I guess we’ll have to wait & see! OK. Everyone’s tired, it’s off to WL we go. Get our drinks & head to our room. I think tonight’s the night that we end up seeing the Light Pageant too. It was passing by the WL so Tresa & I ran down to the dock to watch it. It was cool. Now it’s time for bed again.

Day 4 – Wednesday 10/30:

It’s my birthday! Woo Hoo! I’m a whole 30 today! My nephew calls me from NY to wish me a happy birthday, got a wake up call from Mickey this morning, Tresa gave me a really nice book about sisters that I really like & I get my birthday pin! 1^st it’s off to MGM. I had made Tshirts for everyone in the group. Of course mine said “Today is my Birthday”…everyone else’s had a character on it. Kylies had Tinkerbell w/Spoiled Brat written on it…I thought that was fitting! J The shirt got me a lot of attention so it was very fun! Everyone asked “Is today really your birthday?” I guess a lot of people celebrate their birthdays at WDW when it’s not on the actual day. We were 1^st in line at 1 of the turnstiles. The Security guys were a lot of fun. 1 went to get me a Birthday pin, another gave me stickers, another guy gave me some different stickers. They let us in so we could go up to the rope drop. There we were told to walk, not run behind the CM’s that would lead us in the direction we wanted to go. It was very organized…I liked it. Of course, we headed right over to the Tower. Cheryl, David & Tresa were going to sit this one out. The 4 of us went on it. This was Kylie’s 1^st time on it. We put her between Deb & I. We’d look down at her whenever there was enough light in the elevator to see her, she had really big eyes the entire time. Finally, it was over. It was great as always. We kept asking Kylie how she liked it & she didn’t answer us. Both Deb & I figured she was petrified & would end up crying as soon as we got off. To our surprise, as soon as they let us out, she hollers “I want to go again!” Too funny! Deb, Jamie & I want to do Rock N Roller Coaster so we leave Kylie with Cheryl. We tell her to ask her gramma or uncle to take her on ToT again. Uncle David is a definite no on it but Gramma is game. RnRC was great. When we get off, Kylie & Cheryl aren’t back yet. Jamie & Deb go on RnRC again & we wait for everyone to return. Finally we are one group again. We head over to The Great Movie Ride. Always a favorite. After this, it’s time for Millionaire! I missed out on doing this in Sept & Dec so I’m definitely doing it this time. Deb, Cheryl & Kylie head off to Bear in the Big Blue house, David, Tresa, Jamie & I go to Millionaire. We got inside just in time! David & I got into the Top 10 but none of us got to the Hot Seat. That’s a bummer. I could have played that all day if I had been allowed to! Now it’s off to find the rest of them. They were in the Little Mermaid. We wait for them, then we part ways. The 3 of us aren’t sure what we want to do but we know it’s going to rain. We go into a couple shops. A CM notices my Birthday pin & wants to know if I got my phone call this morning. I said no. He goes over to his desk, punches a few buttons & pretty soon Goofy is singing Happy Birthday to me! Too cool! By now it’s pouring out there! We decide to walk toward the gates anyway. What did we want to do? We end up deciding to go back to the resort to eat lunch. By the time a bus came along for us we were soaked! Tresa & my shirts were ruined…the rain made the ink run! Got back to WL, put on some clean dry clothes & went down to have lunch. Since it’s my birthday it’s my decision on what to do next. Well, I have to go to Magic Kingdom on my birthday! So we went over there for a few minutes. Grabbed the Ferry Boat to the TTTC…the boat captain saw me walk on & said Happy Birthday to me over his loudspeaker as we walked on to the boat! Too cool! Somewhere along the way we found out that Animal Kingdom had a birthday button of their own, so we head over to AK. I run off the bus & get my pin. Then I hurry back to catch a bus to EPCOT. It was a 4 park day for us! We had a purpose for going back to EPCOT but I can’t remember what it was right now. It’s time for dinner so we get to MGM. We meet the rest of the family at Hollywood & Vine. This was a different restaurant for us too. It was nice. We had a good server. He had the entire restaurant singing Happy Birthday. Cheryl’s birthday is tomorrow so she got a pin & birthday wishes too. Kylie sleeps almost all the way through dinner. She wakes up at the very end so we get a hot dog to go & head to Fantasmic! This is a good show every time I see it. We had the Fantasmic! package so we had reserved seats. They were ok. I’ve had better. We were able to see everything from where we sat so it wasn’t a big deal. Man does that theater fill up! Kylie started to get a bit nervous toward the end but I reassured her that Mickey was about to wake up & chase all the villains away. She was ok after that. Shows over, now it’s time to do some serious shopping! Cheryl takes Kylie back to the Beach Club to swim & go to bed. Deb, Jamie & the rest of us head to Downtown Disney. Deb & Jamie are going to go to DisneyQuest while we head to Marketplace to do some damage down there. We did! Woo hoo! Can’t wait for UPS to stop at my house! Quick stop at Roaring Fork & off we go. We have packing to do! I had a great birthday…I loved all the attention I got!

Day 5 – Thursday 10/31:

Today is our last day at the World. We are heading out for the cruise at 1130am. Boat ride over to the Contemporary as we have a PS for 8am at Chef Mickey’s. I’ve always enjoyed this restaurant for dinners, now I can say I enjoy it for breakfast too. Both Cheryl & I got another birthday pin & birthday cupcake this morning. All the characters came around to our table, although it took Pluto a bit longer than the rest. We did get to scratch him behind his ears though when he finally came to us. That was neat. Kylie got all her autographs so she was happy. Tresa had introduced her to the pressed penny machines throughout all the parks earlier in the week so she was getting a nice collection of them too. She was able to get one last penny at the Contemporary. What to do in our last few hours at the park? The family goes in 1 direction, we grab the Monorail & head to Magic Kingdom. We’ve never ridden any Main Street transportation & here it all is waiting for us! We decide to ride the Omnibus. We get dropped off at Cinderella Castle & then we walk back. Time to take the WDW Railroad around the park for one last time. On our way out we stop at the Main Street Gallery. Tresa’s never been in this store before. Wave goodbye to Magic Kingdom & head over to WL. Now we just have to wait for the Cruise Line bus. Since we have some time on our hands I guess we should shop. Tresa & I find some things in there that we wanted…or we were just bored & needed something to do. Finally! It’s time to board the bus! It’s about an hour trip or so to the cruise ship & they’ve got Monsters, Inc. playing. Cool. We slept most of the way there as we didn’t get a lot of sleep during the week. Too much on the go I guess! No need to waste time in the cruise terminal, we had already checked in when we were at the resort. Very nice welcome as we walk on to the ship. They announce your last name & the CM’s standing there applaud & make a big deal for you. Off to find our room. Oooooh!! This is why we paid the money for a Category 6 room! Love that balcony! No luggage yet but we are hungry so we head up to get lunch at the buffet.

Day’s 5-8 10/31-11/3 on the ship:

I love the Disney cruise line! We had a blast on it! The Halloween party was fun. We saw a guy who was dressed as a pin…he was wearing a black sandwich board. On the front he had a Halloween Pumpkin pin & on the back it was a giant rubber Mickey head like you see on all the pins. It was very neat! The characters were all over the ship! Tons of activities for the kids. Nassau was ok…we went to Atlantis. I wasn’t overly thrilled with it. We were very hot & didn’t realize there would be so much walking involved. We didn’t have the stroller with us, so Kylie was worn out & Cheryl barely kept up. We couldn’t wait to get back to the ship. Castaway Cay was wonderful. There was about ½ hour or so that it was cloudy & dark. It did sprinkle a bit but nothing major. It blew right over. We snorkeled & fell asleep in hammocks. The lunch they served on the island was pretty good. We had good servers at our dinners, I tried escargot for the very 1^st time. It wasn’t half bad. We were on the ship the day that Santa Clause 2 was released. They showed it that night on the ship. They say that anytime a movie is released on land, it’s released on the ships too. Tresa & I had already seen it the day before we left for the trip. Being a Disney Club member, I was able to preview the movie with 3 friends. I took my 2 sisters & my nephew. Loved the movie! I was so happy we were able to see it again! It was great! We finally got to relax a bit on this leg of the trip! Sunday we had to be off the ship no later than 9am so it was an early morning for us. It went very smoothly & before we knew it we were headed to the airport. We were all flying out at 12pm except for Tresa who didn’t get a flight until 5pm. David & I volunteered for a bump hoping to get on Tresa’s flight. That didn’t happen. They bumped us to a 430pm flight & put us in 1^st class. We also got 2 vouchers for round trip travel anywhere in the US. We love to do that! We couldn’t accompany Tresa home but we at least kept her company for the day while we waited for our flights. Now we are home & back to the real world. I can’t wait to go again! David’s trying to tell me that the ticket vouchers we have will not be used for Disney anytime soon. Yeah right. What does he know? J

Summary:

Fabulous trip; highly recommend Boma for dinner; if it’s your birthday, let everyone know! If you can go to the Not So Scary Halloween Party, it’s worth it & finally…if you can get the Guest of Honor Badges for you & your family do so. That was one of the highlights of our trip! I had ordered them ahead of time & had them waiting for us at the WL gift shop. Tresa & I can NEVER find anything with our names spelled correctly on them so I knew it would be a big hit with her. David & I had one from Disneyland already & thought it would be neat to have one from WDW too. We all wore them the entire time we in the parks & the CM’s thought they were very cool. We were called by our names by every single CM that spoke to us, people looked at us like we were someone special…it was quite a kick. I recommend spending the money to get them.