2/3 of the Whirlwind Trippers... May 4-7 *FINISHED 6/2*

[GADISNEYGIRL]

2/3 of the Whirlwind Trippers Take a Friend

Cast:

Me: Rhonda/Mommy, 32, 30ish trips to the World. Favorite things: watching Wesley do HIS favorite things…eating, especially at Epcot… and just being there. There’s nothing like it.

DS: Wesley, 4, 13th trip to the World. Favorite things: ALL OF IT! No, really, that’s what he says. But from what I can tell, his true favorites are PhilharMagic, seeing characters, the parades, seeing characters, BTMRR, seeing characters, Figment, seeing characters, Spaceship Earth, seeing characters, Mexico (hey, don’t judge!!), seeing characters. Did I mention that he likes the characters? Especially the princess type. And in particular, Princess Aurora. It only makes sense, as he IS Prince Phillip. (What were we thinking, naming him Wesley??) AND, he takes after his Dad. They both like the “hotties”.

Friend: Kim, 34, 1st trip (just 1 day, I think) was when she was 7. There was MK. That’s it. 2nd trip she spent about 4 hours at Epcot. That’s it. So this is her 3rd actual trip. Kind of. I like to think of it as her first “REAL” trip. She and I go way back. 15 years or so. Had a class together our first quarter of college. Became really good friends our junior year in college. Became best friends our senior year of college. I convinced her to move to Atlanta with me when we graduated, and that’s when her mother stopped speaking to me. But really, that’s another story for another time. Strange thing is, when I married Mark, her mother started speaking to me once more. She likes him. What’s HE got that I don’t have? But perhaps we’d better leave that and move on…

DH: Mark/Daddy, 34…no, he wasn’t on this trip. But he is still part of the cast. And he really, really WANTED to be on this trip. So I kept his Guest of Honor badge on my park bag, and we took him everywhere we went. I thought it was sweet. He thought it wasn’t quite the same as being there. Huh. Maybe he’s right. His favorite things are watching Wesley, being there, and seeing the hotties. In fact, he gave Wesley a mission: Go see Ariel and tell her hello from me!

Friend: MJ, age not to be revealed… a friend who has “connections” and helped create something magical for us~long distance. Thank you, thank you, thank you, MJ, we love you and your family!! You ARE the Queen!!!

Friend: SNAP, age not to be revealed… a friend we met up with while there. Hi SNAP!!

Pre-Trip:

We’re legendary. Among our small circle of friends, that is. At least, the ones that we can actually speak to about our Disney addiction. You know how it is, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, living vicariously through the trip reports of other people. There are some people you can tell that sort of thing to, and other people that you can’t. Those other people… They look at you funny. They speak in whispers when you’re around. You’re pretty certain that you hear the words “committed”, “certifiably nuts”, “therapy”. We know a lot of those people. So we don’t talk to them anymore. About Disney, anyway. Which means that our small circle is even smaller.

BUT!! Among those we can actually speak to about Disney, we are legendary. And they all want to go WITH us!! As in, will we be their tour guide? How ‘bout that?? We’ve already had one successful “tour guide” trip… that would be the one in February: The Whirlwind Trippers Take Their Friends. That was the title of my trip report, anyway. Don’t remember what Mark titled his. So after we returned from that trip, and I emailed pictures and a trip report to our very tiny circle of friends who don’t mind our Disney obsession, my friend Kim starts a conversation with me.

Seems she would like to take our annual “girls weekend” trip to WDW~which I must say is a much more exciting destination than we normally have. What would I think of that?? Wowza!!! What would I think of that?? I would think that I could never get Mark to agree to me going to Disney without him. I did a girls’ weekend last fall, with another friend… but we didn’t actually go into the parks. But now… NOW… we are AP Holders. And a girls’ only trip, going into the parks… that was another beast entirely. After some discussion about how he could tag along, and “take care” of Wesley… and more discussion about how that would entail getting an additional hotel room… he graciously agreed that it would be okay for us to have our girls’ weekend.

But he didn’t really mean it. I mean, He DID mean it… he wanted me to go and have a girls’ weekend and enjoy myself and spend quality time with Kim… but he didn’t want me to get a chance to go to Disney and him have to stay home. I can understand. So now I think he’s plotting a way to do a guys weekend down there. And make ME stay home. Except that most of his friends fall into the category of “we don’t discuss Disney with them” so I’m thinking I’m safe. Plus, there is no way I would let him take Wesley down there with the GUYS, and then he’d have the guilt of knowing he’d left his Disney-loving child at home…which is much, much worse than the guilt of knowing you’d left your Disney-loving spouse at home. He even agreed (as usual) to be my Disney Planning Travel Agent. But I did have to suffer through lots of guilt-inducing comments. As a matter of fact, I still am.

Sometime in March Kim and I finally found some dates that would work for both of us. Mark called to make our AP rate reservation at a moderate resort. Hit a snag. There WAS no AP rate at a moderate. Or anywhere else. Well, maybe at Saratoga Springs. But it was a bit more than I was willing to spend for a weekend. So we tried a Florida Resident rate (Kim’s a FL resident). Same thing. Do you know what we finally ended up with? All Star Movies. For $110 a night. Yes, you read that right. It pained me. It still pains me. Do you realize that we only paid $110 a night for the WILDERNESS LODGE on our January trip? What can I say? Sometimes life treats you better than other times. This was one of those times.

There was also a Great Debate on whether or not Wesley was going on this “girls’ weekend”. The case against him was pretty obvious: he’s not a girl. And yet, I had a feeling that she would enjoy the whole trip a lot more if he was with us. AND, mommies have enough guilt without adding to it the whole leaving your Disney-loving child at home issue. So, he got to go.

Next item on the agenda: where to eat?? I sent Kim the link to the All Ears menus, and she sent me back her preferences. I chose days/times based on where we’d be when, and my travel agent took care of the rest. (Thanks, honey!!)

After that, all that was left was the waiting. The weekend prior, Wesley and I spent packing and braving Wal-Mart to get all the essentials (breakfast bars, sunscreen, water, drugs…) while Mark taught his Disney class at another church.

Monday and Tuesday proved to be very busy days at work. Wednesday, fortunately, was a bit slower. I arrived home about 4:30, and Kim arrived about 5. Yes, I did say she was a FL resident. But she drove to our house on Wednesday so that we could ride together. (Her decision.) Mark left for something at church. She and I started catching up. Wesley bounced around the house asking how long before we leave? At 7:30, I had the little angel in bed. At 9:30, the little angel was still awake. “Too excited to sleep”, probably. Mark got back home about 9:45. We had all planned on going to bed at 10. Didn’t happen. I don’t remember what time we all finally made it to bed, but I do know it was quite a while after that, that I was finally able to go to sleep. And then the #&%^#*&^ alarm went off at 5am.

[brandt79]

Yay Rhonda! Great start! Can't wait to hear the rest! (And I'll be surprised if Mark doesn't do his own trip report: 1/3 Whirlwind Tripper Left at Home!)

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Excellent beginning Rhonda! Can't wait to here about everything!

[AshClan]

Can't wait for the rest. Sounds like so much fun! I am loving the "tour guide" idea. I have plans to do the same with my sister in November. :banana:

Must say, though, I did feel kinda bad for Mark being left alone. He was lonely!! He did whine to us while you were gone, y'know. :rolleyes2

Anyway, you and I need to chat about AP discounts. I'll send you a PM. Or should I send it to your "travel agent"? Looking forward to the next installment!

[fizz13]

:woohoo: So pleased to have another trippie from you guys, and i get to see more cut pic of Wesley with his favourite hotties. Poor Mark...ah well, like you said, bound to get his own back sooner or later. Check back for more soon,
Claire xx

[pongoperdigirl]

Yeaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!! Another report from Rhonda!!! I am already hooked :) And you haven't even left yet. I can't wait to hear more :)

[Master Gracie]

Great start. Looking forward to the next installment.

DW and myself are going on our second "tour guide" trip in September. Isn't it funny how we all enjoy that? I think we like to show off our knowledge. Sort of a vindication of our love of Disney.

"See," we say as we snag an outside table at Rose and Crown in perfect time for Illuminations, "if we were any less Disney-crazed, you'd be standing behind 3 rows of strollers now."

Oh, and when Mark wants to get that "Guys only" trip together, if all his friends forsake him, have him give me a ring....on the phone...not an actual ring.

I'm taken.

[alabamagirl]

I was so glad to see your trip report at the top of the boards, gives me something to look forward to at work. :surfweb: Ha, ha. I'm sure yall had a great time. Guess Kim is Troy State alumni also?

[Harmony272]

I have to say that my hubby's name is Wesley and he loves to look at the princess, and his FAVORITE is Aurora. hahaha :rotfl2:

[Yzma and Kronk]

Great beginning! :woohoo:

It was nice that Wesley got to go with you. Seeing Disney through the eye's of a child for a newbie is a great experience. My Disney lovin' kids would hate for me to go without them.

I loved how you explained the 'Love Disney vs Non-Disney" friends. That's so true. I also have to be careful what I say to people about our Disney trips. They all think I'm nuts.

Looking forward to the next installment!

[nicolemarie]

Great start! Why haven't I been able to convince my honey of a trip back to the World? Could it be that it hasn't even been two months since we returned? But you guys do that all the time, right? I need some tips!!

Great report - looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. Tell Mark to quit his whining. ;)

[sheridac]

Yeah Rhonda, this was Mark :sad1: crying in his Weiser.

More! More! :thumbsup2

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Day 1: Travel, Epcot, MK

The &#^$&# alarm went off. Oh, did I mention that already? You see, we are not morning people. If "morning” started about 9am, that would be perfectly fine with me. 5am should not exist, in my personal opinion. Especially not if I have to be out of bed at that time, and then have to drive 5 ½ hours. But I do make exceptions, for Disney World. So at 5am, I got out of bed and staggered to the kitchen to make coffee. Decaf. Don’t start on me with the “What’s the point” comments. I can no longer handle a lot of caffeine. Me, the one who used to drink a 12 cup pot of coffee every day before 11am. Now I drink decaf, and oddly enough, I don’t have headaches like I used to. So I made my decaf, poured myself a cup, and poured the rest in a travel mug. Then I made regular coffee for Kim. I guess she doesn’t have that headache issue. Showers all around, and a flurry of last minute packing. I had hoped that we could move Wesley from bed to car without waking him up. Deep down, I knew it would never happen, but a girl can dream, can’t she? At about 6am, Mark went in to kiss him goodbye, and up he got. WoooHooo, he’s going to Disney World! And as Stitch says, No sleeping! Well, now we don’t have to worry about getting him dressed at a rest area. You wanna know how well I’ve trained my son? We never even turned the light on in his room that morning. But when we got home Sunday night, I realized that he had made up his bed. In the dark. And did a smashing good job of it, too. Making his bed is one of his daily chores. One day, his wife will thank me.

Our goal was to be out of the house by 6:15 (all of us… Mark had an out of town meeting and had to be at the airport by 6:30). We were pretty close to leaving on time. We were only about 5 minutes behind Mark. We made a brief stop to fill the coolers with ice, and turned south onto I-75. Otherwise known as “The Road to Disney World”. That’s what Wesley calls it. With good reason, too. We only go south on 75 if we are going to my parents’ or to Disney. And we go to Disney more often. But please don’t tell them that. I stay in enough trouble with my mother as it is. THEY think he has only been to Disney 5 times. Sometimes it’s just easier (not to mention smarter) to let sleeping dogs lie, if you know what I mean. They’re among the OTHER people I was talking about earlier.

I should say here that Wesley is a very good traveler. In fact, he is just very good in general. Period. I can’t imagine taking a less-well-behaved child ANYWHERE, much less to Disney World. He has a whining tendency, but we’ve even come up with a way to deal with that. It’s called a No Whine Peppermint. Or whatever you like. A No Whine Gummy Bear. A No Whine Jelly Belly. Whatever floats your boat. But here’s the deal: once they have the No Whine Whatever…NO WHINING ALLOWED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. If the whining starts, you say, “I’m sorry, I thought you had a No Whine Peppermint this morning!” Works for Wesley! We’ve actually tested it on other children, as well, and it worked for them, too. There you go, a bit of free parenting advice for you.

So Wesley is a good traveler. And also, you can bargain with him. That’s always a plus. So our bargain was: IF you take a nap before we get there, then we’ll stay til MK closes…IF you can behave yourself and not whine, etc. (He had a No Whine Peppermint about 6:10am.) Yeah…I’m like Cinderella’s stepmother… I said, “If”. The ride down was uneventful. At some point I finally convinced Wesley it was naptime, even though it was something like 9am. I always win. I *love* that!!

Really, the ride down went pretty fast. And I was surprisingly awake. Which was a really good thing, since I was driving. Once I finished my decaf, I had my Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, and that was my caffeine fix. We had just one potty break. I was carefully monitoring Wesley’s liquid intake. We’ve learned our lesson. Wesley colored, played with his Leap Pad, and interrupted our conversations to tell us “great ideas” he’d had about things we needed to do when we got there. For instance: “You guys!! I’ve just had a GREAT IDEA! Let’s ride Splash Mountain, and we can show Ms Kim the Get Wet Part!” Ms Kim seemed less than thrilled at this prospect.

About 12, we arrived at All Star Movies. Excited, we all went inside to check in. And there was, possibly, the most UNmagical CM I’ve ever seen. I told her my name. She looked me up and said, You’re supposed to be in Sports. She said it as though I had come to the wrong hotel to check in. I double checked my travel agent’s notes. It definitely said All Star Movies. No, no, I explain. We’re in Movies. She picked up the phone and mumbled in it for a while. Then she put her hand over the receiver and mumbled to me, “You’re in Sports. You’ll get a 50% discount for one night.” That was pretty much our entire conversation. She did check us in there, wrote down the building/room number, etc, and said we could just go straight to the room, because it was ready. She also told us that our balance due was $55 and some change. This didn’t sound right, so I thought maybe I’d misheard, and they were giving us a 50% discount for the entire stay. I decided it would be much easier to go to ASSp, unload the car, and stop by the front desk on the way to the parks to sort things out. Perhaps the CM there would have better communication skills.

After driving around ASSp for a while, we finally found building 5. The signage wasn’t very good there, I didn’t think. There were NO signs directing you to building 5, until you got around all the other buildings (and I had no map for ASSp, only the one for ASMo), and drove through some areas that really appeared to me to be CM only type places. But we eventually found it. We were in one of the tennis buildings. I don’t play tennis. I know nothing about tennis. But I gotta say, that was one of THE quietest stays I’ve EVER had in a value resort.

Unloaded the car, got park-ready, and set off for Epcot. With a stop by ASSp front desk on the way. I left Kim and Wesley in the car, and went in. Fortunately, I got a much more communicative CM, and she told me that the $55 was NOT our balance due, but a credit. Okay, well, that made more sense. I asked again about a fridge in the room (non-communicative lady said one would be in our room when we arrived~it wasn’t). And she also gave me a new parking permit thing that said ASSp instead of ASMo on it. What happened was that they were overbooked. (Thanks, I had already figured that out for myself!) Mark said he read that some people were being upgraded to Saratoga Springs. We didn’t get so lucky, obviously! But we’re not complaining. Off to Epcot!!

This was a new thing for me: actually going into a park (or parks) on our first day. We usually arrive about midnight, and we go straight to bed. But now I was expected to contend with TWO parks, PLUS be a happy Mommy AND a totally with-it tour guide on 2 ½ hours of sleep. So now I know how all of you poor early-morning-flight people feel. Except that I had to drive for 5 ½ hours to get there. You just had to get on a plane. Well, you did have to make the trip from the airport to WDW property. I guess that counts for something.

First thing to do was exchange Kim’s voucher for a ticket. That was a very quick and painless process, so we moved on to the bag check, which isn’t always quick and painless~just depends on who you get. Sometimes they barely glance at your bag, other times they want you to take every carefully packed item out of the bag and then clear out in 3 seconds, while frantically stuffing all the no longer carefully packed items back in, at the same time trying to pull out your APs, push the stroller and shove your fingers into the finger reader. This first time, as I recall, was of the painless variety. At last we were in! By this time it was around 2pm, and I knew FPs for Soarin’ or Test Track probably would be out of the question, since we were leaving for the MK in just a couple of hours. I decided just to do what we could this day, and not rush around trying to ride everything.

We stopped first at Character Connection. Saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale and Donald. We still take pictures, even though we have probably 100 pictures of Wesley with each of those characters. You know, “Wesley with Mickey in his blue shirt! Wesley with Mickey in his striped shirt! Wesley with Mickey in his green shirt!” Then it was on to Figment. Which I detest. But we did spot 3 hidden Mickeys that we’d not seen before!! I just think they could do so much more with that ride…anyone agree?

We also did the FREE Disney Visa Picture thing. I love that FREE stuff. We saw Mickey, Pluto and Donald. Anyone remember when it used to be (according to legend) that Mickey only appeared at ONE place at a time? So, if he was out at Disneyland, he WASN’T out at Disney World. Now, he’s right across the walkway from himself. How times change. (And it makes it a lot more difficult to keep the whole character charade going.) This was one of the best character experiences we’ve had for this special photographic opportunity. Mickey and Donald were both really into it. Pluto was ready for a nap, I think. But Donald was hilarious! Often I feel that Donald doesn’t really do his (her?) character justice. Donald is seldom calm. Donald is never serene. Donald is, typically, in a “state”. Donald throws lots of fits. Why don’t you ever see THAT Donald in the parks? Do they think he would scare away the guests? This Donald did not disappoint me. First, he looked at Wesley’s hat~the one that has been signed by the Fab Five. Apparently he missed seeing his signature on there. He began having a small fit, until I pointed out where he had signed (Donald Duck #1). He calmed down a little, and gave Wesley a hug. Next, he inspected Wesley’s pins. He expressed his displeasure that there were no Donald pins. Then he checked out Wesley’s sticker collection pasted to the stroller tray. These are ALL Mickey. What can we say? He got them all at Disney World. They don’t give out many Donald stickers. Donald jumped up and down and waved his arms around and I think would’ve even thrown things, had there been anything to throw. Finally. A REAL Donald! Not wanting to have to stand in line at the camera center on our way out, I thought it would be better to stop in there before we trekked to the World Showcase. Had about a ten minute wait, and got our FREE picture. With a REAL Donald. Life’s good, isn’t it?

Wesley desperately wanted to ride Spaceship Earth, but it wasn’t operating. I do believe that is the first time I have ever been to Epcot and NOT ridden Spaceship Earth. I’ve also never seen it non-operational. Weird, huh?

None of us had had lunch yet, so I gave Wesley an Uncrustables sandwich on our way to World Showcase. Kim and I were going to get something during our wanderings. We paused in UK to take pictures with Mary Poppins, Pooh and Tigger. In France, we got Aurora and Belle (and Beast) to sign Wesley’s princess book (we’ve been so many times… we have had t-shirts, sweatshirts, and various books signed). Pictures and kisses, and we kept going. We finally stopped in China and had eggrolls. Either I was REALLY hungry, or they were REALLY good. Maybe both. In Norway, like the good Maelstromers that we are, we rode Maelstrom. Without a fast pass. But the wait was only about 15 minutes. I can live with that. And then it was El Rio Del Tiempo. Yep, one of Wesley’s favorites.

Time to go to MK! We had to be there that evening, because it was the only night for SpectroMagic and Wishes during our stay. We got to the parking lot around 6. And I was reminded of the advantage of going deluxe: monorail or boat transportation to MK, thereby bypassing the TTC parking lot, and the trams. Wesley has a large stroller. It’s the same stroller we’ve had since he was born. He likes his stroller. WE like his stroller. Except when we have to fold it up and lug it onto a tram without physically maiming anyone. Wesley weighs about 38 lbs. The stroller weighs about 70 lbs. Probably not, really, but that’s what it felt like. Kim got to pretend to be me and hold Wesley’s hand. I had to pretend to be Mark and get that freakin’ stroller on the tram. I’ve realized something: I’m glad I’m ME!!

Well, I survived the stroller/tram situation part 1, although I did nearly give Wesley a concussion trying to get the blinkin’ thing on the tram. And remember, we’ll have to do it again at the end of the night. So my goal became: keep Wesley awake at all costs at the end of the night. I do NOT want to have to pull a sleeping child out of there, and figure out how to haul him AND the stroller onto the tram. Kim would likely not be much help there. Not being a mommy yet, herself, her upper arm strength just isn’t what mine is. But even I have my limits. I recover from the traumatic tram experience and get back in a Disney frame of mind.

What should be our first MK attraction?? PhilharMagic, of course! When we do PhilharMagic, it’s really two shows in one. The show itself, which is very, very good, and one of our favorites. And then there’s the Wesley side show. He is really into the 3-D thing. He gets me jewels (from Ariel), that sort of thing. And at the end, he IS Maestro Mickey. He tends to have multiple Disney personalities. Strangely, I’m not concerned. And even more strangely, I have them, too. More on that later.

Next we rode Snow White. Even at this time of day, no line. It’s the whole issue of scaring small children. For whatever reason, my small child has never been really bothered by it. In fact, he’s even offered to cover his princess’ (that would be Colleen, if you don’t know who Colleen is, you really need to check out my previous trip reports) eyes on that ride, if she is scared while riding it.

We got in line for Peter Pan. Said it was a 40 minute wait. We waited 30 minutes, and were not even halfway through the line. So we decided to try Small World instead. I asked Wesley before we crossed over there if he needed to use the bathroom. No, Mommy, I’m fine. The wait was about 5 minutes. At about 4 minutes, he decided he needed to use the bathroom. Well, at least he didn’t wait til we were ON the ride. So we hopped over the boat, went to the bathroom, and THEN rode Small World.

By then, our eggrolls were gone, so we decided we’d better get some dinner. Pecos Bills, here we come! I love that cheese sauce on my fries. So I try to eat the (somewhat healthier) chicken wrap to make up for it. Does it count if I pull out ¾ of the lettuce? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Still, it’s gotta be better for you the double cheeseburger, right? By the time we were done, it was time to get a spot for SpectroMagic. We ended up right across from the Diamond Horseshoe Revue.

Wesley almost always gets great interaction during the parades, and this was no exception. Three very special things happened. Several of the characters waved at him, as usual, including Ariel (he yelled, Hi Ariel!, for Daddy). But when Cinderella and Prince Charming rode by, Cindy nearly fell out of her coach! She was smiling, waving, blowing him kisses, even told Prince Charming to look at him (I don’t think we knew her, so he must’ve just been really cute or something. Since the two characters that we normally get the LEAST interaction from, anywhere, are Mickey and Cinderella, this was quite special indeed! Next, Captain Hook came over to “fight” with him. Very cool! And then the most magical of all: Peter Pan. (Peter Pan is another of Wesley’s alter egos.) Peter came right up to him and asked if Wesley would like to “blow out” his lights…change them from green to white. He pointed to a spot on his shoulder and said, “Blow right here!” Poof! His lights magically changed from green to white!! Awesome moment for Wesley! (Peter also said how nice it was to see Wesley AGAIN… they always get points in my book if they remember they’ve seen Wesley before!) I’m not sure Wesley even saw the rest of the parade. He was too excited about changing Peter’s lights!

After the parade, the very nice gentleman and his wife who had been standing next to us showed me the pictures he’d taken of Wesley during the parade. He said it had made the parade magical for them, to see Wesley “light up” (oooh, good one, for SpectroMagic, don’t you think??) at seeing the characters. Another really neat Disney moment!!

Wesley had been begging to ride Haunted Mansion, and without checking my watch, I thought we’d have enough time before Wishes. But just after Wesley did his “hitchhiking ghost” imitation for the CMs at the entrance, and just as we were about to get in line, they made the announcement that Wishes would be starting in 5 minutes.

5 minutes!! Are you kidding me?!? And here we are in Liberty Square, when we want to be in Tomorrowland!!! Put on your jogging shoes, Kim, time to run, girlfriend!! We raced through Fantasyland and down the slope to the Tomorrowland Terrace so that we could see Tink fly. Score!! Not sure it would have been worth it if one of us had ended up having a heart attack, though. After Wishes, we joined the masses on Main Street, and finally were able to cross over to the Emporium for a bit of late night shopping.

Just a slight aside about strollers. I’ve seen all the stroller-bashing posts about having your ankles banged and such. But I’ve gotta say, in MY experience, most of the ankle-banging is self-inflicted by the ankle-bangees. It’s crowded. There isn’t much breathing room. Those of us driving strollers are doing our best to keep away from your ankles. But if you suddenly stop in the middle of the walkway, and cause a people (and stroller) pile-up, this is not MY fault. Keep your ankles moving, and we won’t have a problem. The other thing is, apparently STROLLER=INVISIBILITY SHIELD. That could come in handy sometimes. But at Disney World, it is a distinct disadvantage. It’s as though all the non-stroller people have a not-so-secret conspiracy against anyone pushing a stroller: They have a stroller! Quick, form a tight barrier that they can’t break through! Perhaps I was a little more sensitive to this on this particular trip, because I was the primary stroller pusher. But I’d like to see all you non-stroller pushing people maneuver from one side of Main Street to the other immediately after Wishes while avoiding EVERY SINGLE stop-in-the-middle-of-the-street-just-cause-I-can-OR-let-me-walk-out-in-front-of-you-because-stroller=invisibility shield-and-of-course-I-didn’t-see-you-non-stroller-pushing-person. It takes great skill, folks. Great skill. I managed. But no thanks to EVERY SINGLE stop-in-the-middle-of-the-street-just-cause-I-can-OR-let-me-walk-out-in-front-of-you-because-stroller=invisibility shield-and-of-course-I-didn’t-see-you-non-stroller-pushing-person. Thank you. Now I feel better, having vented and all.

When we finished our Main Street shopping and I saw the monorail line, I decided it would be quicker to walk to the Contemporary and take the monorail from there. I was right. It WAS quicker. But we still had that darn tram to contend with. By now, Wesley is fading fast. I’m trying to think of all kinds of things to keep him talking. Anything. Just please, please don’t go to sleep til we’re in the car. I take him out of the stroller. Walking is slightly more assurance that he will not fall asleep before getting to the car. Kim again takes charge of Wesley, and I commandeer the stroller. Fold the monster up, get in the tram, ride to the car, unfold the monster (because it is FAR easier to push than to carry), then refold it to put in the trunk. Wesley had perked up a bit (I wasn’t complaining, because I wasn’t thrilled with the thought of carrying him from the car to our room, either), so we called Daddy, which woke him up even more. Back to the room around midnight, time for a bath, and we discovered our refrigerator had still not been delivered. But to their credit, they brought it in about 20 minutes, along with the additional towels we requested.

Tucked Wesley in bed, and he was asleep in about 1.7 minutes. Kim went soon after. Lucky me. I really WAS being Mark. I couldn’t go to sleep for the longest time.

Stay tuned…it gets REALLY magical for the next couple of days!!

[horsegirl]

Woohoo this sounds like fun Rhonda! Parenting and tourguide advice all rolled into one lil trippie! Love your outlook and your attitude!

Here's a naner maelstrom style baby.! :banana: Looking forward to more.

[FSUMARCHIEF]

Hey babe! Great report! I enjoyed reading it, even though I already knew what happened! Love you babe!

Me

[MOMOFMNM]

hi

and awesome!!!

where are the pics??????

huh???

where are they???

[GADISNEYGIRL]

I just got an email from a friend of mine, who had just been to Disney in February with his family (wife~also a friend of mine~and a DIS contributor) and their 4 yr old daughter. Wife just had baby #2, a BOY, named WESLEY!!! WoooooHooooo! (Definitely not named after MY Wesley, but Howard is also a United Methodist Minister, and Wesley is a fairly common name among our offspring. Even though MY Wesley was named after Mark's grandfather, who wasn't even Methodist~til the very latter part of his life.) Congrats to Howard, Krystal and Kayla!! We love you guys! And it won't be long til you're taking Baby Wesley on Dumbo!!! :banana: :bounce: :cheer2: :Pinkbounc :yay: :sunny:

[Minniespal]

Enjoying your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

[tkd lisa]

Loving this report, just like all your other ones!

And I agree with you on "Real Donalds"! We got a great one a long time ago (back in 97). My DS was about 3 1/2 at the time, and Mickey was his fave. We ran into Mickey, Pluto and Donald at the EPCOT entrance, and no one was in there. DS ran up to Mickey, who pointed to his shirt and gave him a thumbs up. Donald "butted" in and was clearly upset because HE wanted to be on DS's shirt. So he started "fighting" Mickey. Pluto decided to defend his master, and it just went on from there. It was a wonderful time, and they were all just so into character that my DS still remembers it! Almost 10 years later.

[wdwr]

Can't wait for more on the latest Whirlwind Tripper report. When does SNAP make an appearance??? Just Can't Wait for MORE!

[HaleyB]

Wow, Wesley is a trooper! Training them in park camando skills from birth really helps. Sounds like you guys had a blast, I can't wait to hear about your meet with SNAP.

You must write fast, it has taken me 3 months and I am only on day 6 or something like that on my TR.

I am with you on the 5am thing. Disney is the ONLY place I will get up at 5 for.

Oh and about the stroller on the tram thing, yeah, makes you really respect your DH, doesn't it. I am so glad I am not the man in our family. Strollers on buses and trams are big magic killers.

[pongoperdigirl]

Because Rhonda is too good to be on page 2....

We need more girl..can I bribe you with NKOTB???

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Thanks Pongo!! Home with a sick little one today, so maybe I'll get him interested in a movie and start on Day 2!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

[lillygator]

Hope he's feeling better soon! Happy Mom's Day!

[scanne]

OMG! You're report is the best thing I've read! And it's SO familiar because you sound a lot like me! I love that you've taken your son 13 times! My son has been 5 times and 6, 7 and 8 are already planned and booked! It's like reading a mirror image of our Disney experiences!

Keep the report coming! I cannot wait to read more!

[sheridac]

Hey Rhonda,

I've just gotten to your day one, Part 2. Mad props to you! I am sooo not the am girl either, as you well know.

The other think that stands out to me is all of the magical memories you're making. I reminisce about my own. Esp. the pictures. Of course you have to keep taking them. It doesn't matter how many you have. In the end, one of the most special memories will be how often you got to share that magical place.

[Chapter 11]

Then it was on to Figment. Which I detest.

I'm so glad you said this -- I was beginning to think I was the only one who just can't stand this ride. I think it's the song -- just gets stuck in your head like a bad virus. In any event, loving the report (even if it is thong-free). Keep 'em coming!

[fizz13]

To Wesley, get better soon poppet :grouphug:
To Rhonda, doing a fantastic job as usual, love reading about all the special magic that happens for Wesley on these trips, Peter Pan at Spectro was a good one, will be waiting for more when you get the chance,
Claire xx

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Friday: MK, Epcot~with a special surprise!

Big doin’s in the parks today! Well, that’s what Mickey USED to say. Now it’s just that Stitch stuff. Not nearly as good a start to the day. And actually, Kim’s alarm went off before the phone call came. I answered the phone on speaker, as I always do, so Wesley can hear it. Well, at least Kim got to hear it this time. Wesley slept right through it. Not a bad thing… he definitely needed his rest! However, we DO have “Big Doin’s” going on today, so he can’t sleep too much longer…

I think he finally woke up while Kim was in the shower. I got him started with his clothes, then he ate a breakfast bar while watching those old Disney cartoons. His favorite is the one with Donald and Shirley Temple. We completed our beauty routines (HA!), got our bags park-ready, and set off for Epcot.

We were ending the day at Epcot, so it makes more sense to park there in the mornings, and ride the monorail to the MK. You thereby avoid that nasty tram/parking lot situation. See, I’m a quick learner! Actually, this is something Mark and I have always done. Park up close at Epcot at 8am, take a quick monorail ride, then another one back to Epcot later in the day, and when you leave, you’re only steps away from your car! Ah, the advice I bestow upon you people… just leave us a parking place, okay?

Plan went off without a hitch. Except that they had the bag check way out by the monorail that morning, and I ended up with one of those take everything out of your bag and empty your pockets type bag checkers. Geez. We aren’t even going IN your park right now!! I ran up the monorail ramp (have to, in order to keep enough momentum to get up the darn thing!), and found a monorail waiting on us. Really! I thought that was nice… a great start to the day!

The relaxing monorail ride brought us to the TTC, and we had plenty of time to board the MK bound monorail, and still arrived about 8:40. When we got there, I was shocked. 20 minutes til park opening… where IS everyone? We barely waited in line to get in, and then parked Wesley’s stroller right in front of the big flower Mickey head. Front and center, how ‘bout that?? It’s looking like a great day at the MK! Park opening was nice, as always, and for once I didn’t cry. Didn’t want to embarrass Kim, you know. I can do that to Mark… he’s likely crying, too. But I DO want to keep Kim in that tiny circle of people I can discuss Disney with. I don’t want her to think I’m *that* nuts.

Well, the rope is dropped, and while all the thrill seekers rush to Space Mountain, we rush to… Fantasyland! Peter Pan, here we come! We had a nice flight to Neverland and back, and then decided we’d better go check on Pooh. That line gets as long, as quickly, as Peter Pan. And I really didn’t want to waste FPs on Fantasyland, if I could help it. With those two out of the way, Kim suggested the carousel. I agreed, because I knew we weren’t riding the Teacups (the only ride she had requested). Sorry, I can’t do the Teacups. And Wesley didn’t want to, surprisingly. We offered to let her go alone, but she wasn’t up for that. So the carousel it was. Good thing there wasn’t much of a line, because we spent a good deal of time finding a horse that looked like Samson. (Prince Phillip’s horse. Don’t you people watch Disney movies?? What?? Don’t tell me you don’t know who Prince Phillip is… Haven’t I already given you a clue? Well, hang with me here, you will know soon enough…)

Wesley has been “dying” (am I a hoot, or what??) to ride Haunted Mansion, so we walked on that. He is really into showing the CMs at the entrance his “hitchhiking ghost” impression these days. Sad that so few of them get it. But in we go, and because I know where the secret entrance (or is that exit?) is, we are almost always first out of the “sealed chamber”. It’s all in the pictures, folks. I’ve given you enough hints and tips. Figure this one out for yourself! Kim is not overly thrilled with things of this nature. I can respect that. I even told her she didn’t have to ride it, if she didn’t want to. But she said she would. We made it out alive, and whaddaya know? We can still make the ToonTown rope drop!

Although we saw Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore (same ones as always) on our side for the opening, the princesses were also out, standing sort of in the middle. They went back inside before they actually opened the area, but I’d never seen them out beforehand. With the rope dropped, we sped (along with everyone else) to the Princess Room. Which hadn’t been opened yet. So we’re all waiting at the doors to County Bounty. And I don’t know why people think they can’t leave 1/4” space between anyone. I have germ issues. This did not help. I understand that personal space at WDW is limited, especially in lines... or, to use the proper term, queues. But the foreign lady who was literally pressing her assets against my back was a little out of line, I thought. Or perhaps a little too IN line (in queue?). Either way, I was kind of grossed out. Seriously. She could not have been closer to me if I were carrying her on my back. Which it sort of felt like I was. Finally, we were allowed in, and I managed to get about an inch between me and the lady. And I turned my back to the wall. This way, if she came too close, I could accidentally elbow her.

After about 6 hours in line, we finally got to the Princess Room. We saw Princess Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White. Nothing spectacular, so I don’t know if it was worth the wait or not. Wesley enjoyed himself, as always, so I guess it was. But I always feel like cattle being herded in (and through) there. I know it’s because we’re spoiled with our character experiences… but not ONE of those magical experiences has actually occurred IN the Princess Room.

Next up was the Barnstormer. There was only about a 10 minute wait, which isn’t too bad. The line moves fast (probably because the ride is only 17 seconds long), so it doesn’t feel as if you’re waiting as long as you actually are. And I sort of like it. It’s short… but still fun. I almost always ride this alone. Wesley likes to ride it with Daddy. Or Goofy. Or Ms Kim. But never with mommy. I might need to speak to my therapist about this one day. For now, I think I’m fine with it.

As we departed the Barnstormer, my always-thinking-ahead-mind began plotting a new course of action. We had no FPs in hand, and we’d better get some, pronto. We’ll head over to Frontierland, nab some FPs for BTMRR, and then go find a seat for Cinderellabration. Wait, another change in plans. Kim needs something to drink, so she’ll get a soda while Wesley and I go retrieve FPs. On the way back to meet her, I decided to pop in at Liberty Tree and see if they had anything available for lunch. They did, so we were all set, we’d be able to come back right after Cinderellabration. Then I checked my phone. Hmm, I’d missed several calls. All from Mark… he’s the only that has my number. I ring him up, and he’s very excited. He’s talked to MJ, and he, MJ and another very special person (who, unfortunately, must remain nameless) are trying to work a little magic. But don’t get your hopes up, he told me, it might not happen.

It was about 10 minutes til the next show, and again I was surprised at the lack of crowds. We managed to snag a spot right up front. Although they’ve added a whole bunch of greenery and another section of stage since we were here last... So we couldn’t see as well. Didn’t matter… we were only there to see the princesses, and we could see them all perfectly. The show began, and I have to say here how much I enjoy Cinderellabration. The costumes are gorgeous, and I love the dancing. Is it cheesy? Well, sure it is. But that’s partly what makes it so great. Anyway, it seemed that Tink had been spreading some pixie dust. The entire cast noticed His Royal Highness, Prince Wesley. That was magical in itself. All the princesses blew him special kisses. That probably also contributes to my love of the show. Of course, some of you may know by now that we had an awesome opportunity to do a Meet and Greet with the cast back in January. But on this day, most of the cast was different. ALL of the princes were different (except for Prince Charming)~on this day there were very few familiar faces. But I still loved it. So all of that to say that Cinderellabration holds a special place in my heart! Wesley enjoyed himself, and had a quite an ego boost at all the attention he received. And I think it was at this point that Kim really began to understand why we love Disney so much.

Well, the show is over, and we’re getting hungry, and I’m really glad I nailed down those LTT ressies. When you have the DDE, a sit down lunch is about the same price as a counter service lunch. And the free refills alone make it worth it! We ordered our food, and Wesley and I had a discussion about taking a nap after lunch and BTMRR. He could nap while we waited for the parade, and I would wake him up in time for it. He didn’t seem enthused by the prospect. But didn’t I say I *always* win? It was time to play the “If” card again… IF you get a nap, we can stay at Epcot for EMH… IF you don’t… we will have to go back to the room and go to bed early. He grudgingly agreed to take a nap. We enjoyed our lunch. Liberty Tree is quite nice for lunch. This was our second time there for lunch, and both times have been excellent. We’ve done dinner once; lunch is far superior. Of course, the characters aren’t there at lunch… but every once in a while, food trumps characters. I know. You can’t believe that I said that. A truth revealed.

Time to FP BTMRR! Wesley has grown slightly taller since our January trip… but not *that* much. However, to his delight, not once was he measured for a single ride. This is big stuff, folks! As we were in line, got another call from Mark. MJ and our unidentified friend had worked their magic… after Wesley’s nap, he’d learn about his big surprise!! The ride was fun. But the best part is listening to Wesley laugh!

We grabbed FPs for Splash Mountain, and parked the stroller for Wesley’s nap and to stake our parade spot. He fell asleep pretty quickly, Kim browsed in the shops, and I relaxed in the shade and people watched.

I hate to leave you all in suspense… but Wesley has strep throat (just left the dr with Daddy), and I will be home with him tomorrow. Which means that I must get SOME work done today!!

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Ooooooh, special magic for Wesley (and Rhonda and Kim!) Can't wait to hear all about it.

(and hoping that Wesley feels better soon!)

[fizz13]

Oh Wesley, I'll try and send some pixiedust for your throat honey :wizard:
Can't wait to see what the suprise is,
Claire xx

[Grammyof2]

Rhonda - Trying to catch up on the TR's. Lordy girl - you have out done yourself. Maelstromers usually like to take their time but you have 3 installements up in 5 days. Quite impressive. :banana: :banana:

Can't wait to hear what magic you recieved and your mini meet with SNAP.

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Day 2, Part 2: Afternoon Parade, and Wesley’s Surprise!

So Wesley’s sleeping, Kim’s shopping, and I’m sitting. I seldom get to do that at The World. It was actually really nice and relaxing. At 2:30, I called Mark to tell him that there was no one lined up for the afternoon parade. The only thing I could figure was that folks were avoiding the MK like the plague that day, due to it being Grad Night. I don’t know how that would affect anything, since it doesn’t start until AFTER the MK closes… but I was definitely not complaining. For the most part, lines here were comparable to what we’d had in January. At 11:20, when I’d gotten BTMRR FPs, the standby line was only 10 minutes.

As it got closer to parade time, we had a couple of high school bands march through. Magic Music Days, you know. Wesley was so tired that he didn’t even move when the bands came through. By now, a British family had come up behind us: Mom, Dad, teenaged son. Another family was to the right of our stroller. They were foreign, but I’m not certain what nationality. Even this close to parade time, it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded. I finally woke Wesley up, so he wouldn’t miss anything. He stood right by the rope, as he always does, and got ready to greet all of his friends in the parade.

We have changed so much since Wesley came along… that’s natural, life certainly DOES change, once you become a parent. But we never expected our Disney experience to change so much. We used to be Park Commandos. Nikki had nothing on us!! Reading our reports, you may think we are still Commandos. But I assure you, we aren’t. It may seem to you that we cram a LOT into our trips, and make poor Wesley suffer through without sleep… but it is all carefully orchestrated, so that we can do all of Wesley’s favorite things, plus see plenty of characters (which, technically, is a part of his favorite things), and eat at all the best restaurants: OUR favorite things. The parades have also become very important to us. Unthinkable, that the never-slow-down-thrill-riders-thrill-riders-thrill-riders would take over an hour out of their day (two, if you count SpectroMagic) to not only watch the parade, but to save a spot for it… Hey, if you’re a thrill rider, by all means, keep riding. Without a doubt, the lines are shorter during the parades. But we’ve had such magical moments during the parades… we wouldn’t think of skipping them now!

First up is Walt, of course. Walt generally acknowledges Wesley in some way. And well he should, considering how much Wesley (and his family) have added to the Disney family coffers in recent years. This time there was much more interaction with him. Walt has never talked to Wesley that much before. (Apparently his financial statements are looking good.) The parade was off to a great start!

After Walt, many others in the parade waved and spoke to him, including Captain Hook. He seems to think we have information concerning where Peter hid his treasure, or some such thing. He nearly always singles Wesley out. But the real thrill came when the Blue Fairy rode by. Even though she was facing the other side of the parade route, she was turned to our side until after she passed Wesley! The same was true for the Princess Float… all of the princesses and princes were turned OUR way, until after they passed Wesley. (Sorry, to all of you who were sitting opposite us on the parade route!) Coincidence? Maybe! But I prefer to think that Tinker Bell was spreading more pixie dust…

Tink did miss one thing, though… that foreign family to our right? They seemed to think that WE, 6 inches to their left, had a better view of the parade than they did. Therefore, about halfway through the parade, foreign lady climbs OVER both our stroller and ME, to get between me and Kim to take pictures. For five loooong minutes, her uhh...cheeks... were plastered to my (face) cheeks. Am I wearing a sign that says, If you're foreign, please paste your body to mine?? I’ve said it before, I know I’ll say it again: Disney Parades… They just bring out the best in people, don’t they? As close as this woman was to me, I wondered if it might have been the same woman I got to know so well in ToonTown. Never saw her face, either time. I knew I couldn’t identify her.

Aside from that, though, the parade was magical. Really and truly. And I was getting very, very close to having Kim hooked on Disney. I don’t think anyone could go to Disney World with Wesley and not find the magic in it. Well~some people probably could. But why would we want to go with them, anyway?? The British family who had been sitting behind us (and keeping quite a respectable distance between any of their body parts and mine) commented on the attention Wesley got, and offered to take a picture of the three of us. They were very nice, and seemed to have enjoyed watching Wesley and the characters. Plus, they got great views of the Blue Fairy and all the princesses, thanks to Wesley!!

And now it’s time to tell Wesley his big surprise! Which I did. But I can’t tell YOU yet… would ruin the rest of this part of the report! He was very excited, though. :wizard:

It’s off to Splash Mountain! Did I mention that Kim wasn’t too keen on this? Did I also mention that Wesley refuses to ride it without a poncho? Did I further mention that, no matter how hot it is, walking around in wet unmentionables is not my idea of a good time? We wear ponchos. Laugh at me. Scoff. Call me a cheater. I don’t care. I’m dry; you’re wet. That makes it worth it to me. Only, Kim sat too much on her poncho and couldn’t get it pulled over her head all the way. That is a danger. But she only got a little wet. I think she has forgiven me. By now. Besides, she dried pretty fast.

Once done with Splash Mountain, we headed back towards Main Street. We needed a potty break, so we went to the one between Casey’s and the Crystal Palace. And then we watched part of Cinderellabration from way back, so Kim could actually see the show, rather than just the princesses. She’s a theatre geek. She likes that kind of stuff. Makeup, lighting, use of the stage. You know. We didn’t get to see the entire show. Because…

It is finally time for Wesley’s big surprise!! pixiedust: He had been issued an invitation to the castle, courtesy of Tinker Bell (and friends). So we took ourselves to the back of the castle, near the entrance to CRT, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally someone came out and asked our name. And then we waited still more. At last, we were ushered in to find our very gracious hosts waiting for us.

Okay, let’s review. Wesley loves the princesses. :love: princess: Aurora is his favorite. :lovestruc He IS Prince Phillip. Prince Phillip (the REAL one) is almost impossible to find in the parks. You can find him at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, IF you’re lucky. That’s pretty much it. Are you understanding this? Prince Phillip is Wesley’s HERO. The child watches Sleeping Beauty at least twice a week (this week, 14 times in 4 days… what can I say, he’s been ill with strep throat). Every single time he watches it, he acts the movie out. The entire movie. He knows every line. Every action. Every facial expression. He does it in costume. No, not that terribly ugly Prince Phillip costume that Disney Direct sells. A homemade one. He made it up himself. And he has a sword and shield. And a broom (actually, mop) horse~Samson. I am not kidding. We have pictures of this. We have it on video. Even this week, while he’s been sick, he has acted out the movie. Fourteen times. In costume. Although when Phillip wasn’t on the screen, Wesley would take a little rest. He didn’t stand the entire movie, as he usually does. That’s how I could tell when his fever was going up: he’d sit down. So are you with me here? For Wesley, Aurora and Phillip are a Definite FastPass. It’s another reason we love Cinderellabration so much~Phillip is in it. We can take pictures of Phillip, even if Wesley isn’t in them. Alrighty, review over. Back to the present… where we are about to be greeted by our very special hosts…

PRINCESS AURORA AND PRINCE PHILLIP!!!

(A GREAT, BIG, HUGE THANK YOU TO TINK AND HER OTHER PIXIE FRIENDS WHO MADE THIS HAPPEN!!! ESPECIALLY THE QUEEN, WHO WAS OUR LONG DISTANCE COORDINATOR!!!)

After the initial greeting and hugs for both, Wesley did his special hat off/bow/hand kissing thing for Aurora. Without being prompted. In fact, I hadn’t even mentioned it! Both talked with Wesley at length, about what he’d been doing that day, how Samson was, if Maleficent had reformed… during their conversation, Princess Aurora told Prince Phillip that Prince Wesley knew EVERYTHING there was to know about their movie. (She has no idea how right she was!) Wesley had some carrots leftover from his lunch, which he now offered to Prince Phillip, to take to Samson. He and Aurora shared a dance, and she gave him a big princess kiss on the cheek. She also gave him a princess kiss in the book he had with him. (Prince Phillip signed the book, but Aurora *remembered* that she had signed it the day before, at Epcot.)

If you’ve never had the opportunity to have a special one on one time with characters, you don’t know what you’re missing. This is where luck has been so kind to us. We have had numerous “happenstance” situations where Wesley has had characters all to himself. And I'm not talking about Wendell the Country Bear, either. :eek: I'm talking superstar type: we met Cinderella, Prince Charming, Aurora and Prince Phillip in the castle~all alone~during a Christmas party a couple of years ago, and had them all to ourselves for about 10 minutes (see pic in my siggie). The thing is, these situations don’t happen to Commandos. When you’re always rushing to the next ride, you never have time to scope out why a handler is standing outside the castle, all alone…and discover two princesses and two princes inside. You don’t have time to notice that Wendy, Peter, Alice and the Mad Hatter are all alone inside Exposition Hall, and you certainly don’t have time to stop and play with them for 20 minutes. (See other siggie pic!) You probably don’t even have time to talk with a hiccuping Aurora in France for 15 minutes! I will fill you in even more on these types of things later. But for now…

Wesley was flying high. On Cloud Nine. All that kind of stuff. And when we were done, we called Daddy, to tell him all about it. Daddy got an earful. All of it good. We were all flying high. And now, Kim is sold. She’s a Disney convert for life!! (You’re welcome, Walt! Now when do I start getting those dividend checks??)

[tammyandtommy]

Day 2, Part 2: Afternoon Parade, and Wesley’s Surprise!



As it got closer to parade time, we had a couple of high school bands march through. Magic Music Days, you know. ?)


Wooo Hoo my neice was there from Reading Pennsylvania! Glad to know someone saw her

[AshClan]

This may be your best report ever! Lots and lots of magic and humor, and what a great day for Wesley! You know, of course, that he gets all this magic because he is such a cutie. I'm sure the CMs can tell how much he loves the interaction, and what a good kid he is, and that's why he gets so much pixie dust! pixiedust:

Glad to hear your little streppie boy is feeling better, too. Hope Mark's throat is okay.

[Chapter 11]

Rhonda, Great installment, as usual. You really do a great job of painting a picture of what Disney must seem like through a 5-year old's eyes. And I hope Wesley realizes some day what a special Mommy and Daddy he has, who go to so much effort to make his trips magical (even from long distance, when Mommy ditches Daddy for a girls-only trip :teeth: ).

[MOMOFMNM]

great trippie thongmama!!

wtg!!!

that wesley is such a cutie!!!

[FSUMARCHIEF]

Great report babe. Wish i had been there. LOL

Blessings!
MarkYMark

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Wonderful installment Rhonda! I need to get on that costume, eh?

Love to hear the magical things that happen to your sweet Prince Wesley!

[Yzma and Kronk]

Excellent installment Rhonda.

Those magic moments are so great!

[ead79]

Rhonda, what a wonderful report! I think this might be my favorite of yours—each one keeps getting better and better.

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Hey Rhonda, I'm in again.

For the ride.

But I've only read the first part so far. And I'm having trouble believing that Mark gave you a hard time about going to Disney without him. That he tormented you with guilt-inducing comments. Oh, I can believe that he whined a little. And that he possibly even "hrrrmmphhed". But...

Never mind.

Heh, heh.

[tammyandtommy]

I just love your trip reports! Gotta subscribe to this one

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Page 2? Halfway down? Thanks for the love, guys!! Just kidding. I'll try to have a new post later today. If work doesn't get in the way. Oops, is this off topic?

Okay. Up next: Life after meeting your hero and heroine... the LONGEST line of the trip (Mark's fault) and assorted other goodies.

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Day 2, The rest of the day

I have to start with something I forgot. Between riding Splash Mountain and visiting the Main Street restroom… I totally left out a fun thing that happened. We were passing through Adventureland, and we had to stop and see Wendy and Peter. The two of them had quite a discussion about the correct positioning of Wesley’s hat. Wesley thought it was really funny. Uh-larious, as he says. And the old codfish was right across the way, with Mr. Smee. So we thought perhaps we’d go tick tock at him. The handler told us the line was closed, but they would be back in about 5 minutes, if we’d like to be the first family to see them. So we waited. But the handler then let us be the last family to see them… which was nice. Wesley and Hook exchanged a few blows, and I think Hook won. But PLEASE don’t tell Wesley that. He is convinced that HE won. I don’t know why. The weapon was on the ground, and everything. But why ruin his fantasy, right? They called a truce, and had a nice hug and handshake. And then we continued on our way to the restroom beside Casey’s. So now we’re all caught up.

Back to “We just left Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip from our special, awesome, wonderful meeting with them in the castle, courtesy of Tink and friends.”

Magic can’t last forever, even at Disney. At least, not the kind of magic that means you get to meet your hero and his (your?) favorite princess all by yourself in Cindy’s castle. But really, Wesley was on such a high, it didn’t occur to him that it was “over”.

Our time at the Magic Kingdom was quickly drawing to a close, so I tried to accommodate him with his last requests. And he wanted to ride Haunted Mansion again. Haunted Mansion, it is! Kim was soooo excited to ride this one once more. After that, we realize, oh my, we haven’t ridden Buzz yet! We head to Tomorrowland, expecting to get FPs for Buzz while we do something really exciting like TTA. But the wait for Buzz was only 5 minutes. The three of us rode together. Wesley and Kim had almost the same amount of points. I guess the good news is that everyone knows my son is not addicted to video games… although he’s getting quite good at saving Aurora on the Sleeping Beauty bonus features.

After defeating Zurg, what do you think my Disney-lovin’ son wanted to do? Carousel of Progress. He’s a purist. So we did that. Got a bonus, too. At the end, it got “off” somehow, and we got to watch the last scene through twice. Saw old Dad burn the turkey again. Somehow I didn’t exactly feel like it was pixie dust, though. More like a “how-can-we-be-trapped-on-this” sort of feeling. Not that I dislike CoP. I’m a purist, too. But when you only have 30 minutes left in the MK, watching the Christmas tree lights get 30% brighter for the second time in 7 minutes isn’t really what you’re hankering to do. I’m not, anyway. We got out of there, finally. With about 27 minutes to go.

What should be our last MK experience? The PhilharMagic/Wesley side show, what else? We trotted over there just in time to scoot through the AutoMagic doors before they automagically closed. I just love PhilharMagic. More specifically, I love watching PhilharMagic with Wesley. I know in years to come, Mark and I will visit WDW without Wesley. He’ll be off doing the adult thing, and Mark and I will go play. But I know that I will never, ever watch PhilharMagic without seeing (in my mind’s eye) my sweet, innocent, Disney-loving little boy help “save” Donald; getting me jewels from Ariel; cackling at Donald kissing the electric eel; becoming Maestro Mickey; giggling when Donald goes through the wall. How many times do I have to say it? This is why we go. Again and again and again. When he’s 13 and doesn’t want to be seen with us (much less do something as uncool as going to Disney World with his parents~not that my kid will EVER feel that way…), I will have these memories to cherish. Wesley did not disappoint. It was a great way to end our time at the Magic Kingdom.

Now, because our car is at Epcot, we can leisurely walk out of the park, up the monorail ramp, and with no stress whatsoever, board the Epcot bound monorail with our stroller intact in an upright position. With Wesley in it. Life is good.

At some point during the afternoon when we departed some ride/attraction to return to the stroller, Wesley found a leaf in it. The leaf became his “thing” for the afternoon. Who needs a $70 Pal Mickey? Wesley had more fun with his leaf. No kidding. Pal Mickey stayed in the stroller basket for the entire trip. On the monorail, the leaf morphed into Tinker Bell. Wesley put her in his hat. And then he took her out of his hat and began shredding her. On the monorail. I made him stop. I put her (yes, still talking about a leaf) in the little compartment on top of the stroller. Of course, I wasn’t paying attention, so maybe by then it wasn’t Tink anymore, and I’ve been worrying about his psychopathic instincts all this time for nothing. I decided not to delve too far into it then. And he seems as normal as ever, so hopefully he’s not really a psychopath. (Horsegirl? Can you offer any clarification here?)

We entered Epcot with two goals: One, get our EMH wristbands. Two, eat. It was about 7:30, and we were starving. The first one was taken care of right away. There was a wristband-giving-out place right by Spaceship Earth. So now we’re off to get our tummies filled.

You have to ask WHERE we will be eating dinner? Do you, really? So now I have to say a big, fat THANK YOU to Mark, for alerting everyone on the DIS as to how wonderful the food is at Tangierine Café. Thanks. Thanks a bunch. As we walked through France on our way to Morocco, it appeared that we could likely have gotten a table at Les Chefs de France. Evidently the word’s gotten out about that, too. But when we entered Morocco, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I thought the MoRockin’ belly dancer must’ve been inside signing autographs and giving out her phone number. The line to order food at Tangierine Café was out the door. Out the door, people! I will never forgive Mark for this. Well…maybe that’s too harsh. A preacher’s wife should, after all, be willing to forgive. Her husband, especially. But I was thinking really hard that he had definitely gone overboard in his enthusiasm for TC in his trip reports.

In addition to the mass of human bodies inside the building, there were also no available tables outside the building. I gave Kim my order, and she went to stand in line while Wesley and I walked around and glowered at people who were obviously trying to hang on to their table (though there was no food in sight) til the belly dancer reappeared. Which is silly, because with the crowd that surrounds her, you can’t see her if you’re seated at one of the tables. Finally, I saw a table that looked as if it would soon be vacated. I inched closer and closer. I think they were getting a little annoyed. Thought I was creepy dee. I’m not. I just wanted their table. And there were some other vultures hovering, too, and dangit, I was there first!! At last, one of them got up and started packing things into their stroller. But the rest of them remained at the table, looking at me funny. I said to the stroller packer, Excuse me, are you about to vacate your table? Because I would really like to have it, if you are. Yeah, we’re leaving soon… was the response. So I kept hovering. And finally they left. I plopped down quickly, and the other vultures moved on to hover around other tables.

After about 10 minutes of sitting there guarding our table (after 10 minutes of hovering, to get the table in the first place), Wesley tells me he needs to GO. Oh, great. There is another table being guarded, one over from us. I beg the lady to please not let anyone steal our table, as I have a bathroom emergency with a little one. I don’t think she spoke English. But she smiled and nodded and in no way attempted to make any body contact with me. That was good enough. It would have to be. I scattered some napkins and a juice box on the table, and jammed our stroller in beside the chairs, and hoped for the best. I managed to catch Kim’s eye and through a lot of body and sign language tell her that we had a table, were leaving it at the mercy of a non-English speaking stranger who had at least managed to not plaster her body to mine (yet), and were going to the restroom. She understood every word.

We managed to avoid a bathroom accident, and made it back to our table (which had been well guarded by the foreign lady; either that, or no one wanted an outside table), and still had to wait another 10 minutes or so for Kim to get out with our food. There ya go: our longest wait for the entire trip. Thanks again, Mark! LY/MI!

We finished our meal (which was terrible, mediocre at best… okay, I’m lying, but in all honesty it was NOT one of the best meals I’ve had there. The lentil salad was watery and full of red and green peppers, everything else was okay. Not fabulous, but okay. Still better than France, though.), and found a spot to sit for Illuminations.

Illuminations…it just doesn’t get much better than that. Unless you’re drinking wine whilst watching. That would have made it better. Wesley went back into Maestro Mickey mode and conducted the whole thing.

So now we begin the trek back around the World (showcase) and see what’s happening in Future World. On the way, we stopped to pin browse in America. They had a cute one I hadn’t seen before, but I decided to take my chances and not buy it then. Checked the Maelstrom line, but it was too long (30 minutes) and of course no FPs for EMH. Hmmph. We did ride El Rio del Tiempo again. But it would be the next day before I made my big discovery on that ride. Stay tuned. And this is something I don’t even think I’ve told Mark about!!

In Future World, we subjected ourselves to Figment again. And not for the last time this trip, either. Then we saw the gang at Character Connection… and then we went to browse in MouseGear for a while. We rode Spaceship Earth on the way out. We were all crashing, and SE almost put me out. Time to go get some shuteye. We called Mark on the way back to the room, and exchanged news about our days… like how the 80s dance went at church. Once in the room, Wesley got his bath and finally settled down, and eventually I did, too.

We had a big day coming up: meeting SNAP!! But we had no idea how big (and magical) the day would actually turn out to be…

Also included in the next segment: How to become a character stalker. You won't want to miss it!

[kpk89]

Hi Rhonda!
I'm glad you're back on page one. :cheer2: You are my kind of mama ... what with the liberal use of the IF card. Love that, and the whine-be-gone mints. I will have to try that. Do they also make "no more knocking your baby sister to the floor" mints? I could use some of those. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I am amazed at the magic that you Whirlwind Trippers gather on every outing! You are magic magnets. It is good to have friends in magical places!

I can't wait to hear the rest.

[LaLa]

What should be our last MK experience? The PhilharMagic/Wesley side show, what else? We trotted over there just in time to scoot through the AutoMagic doors before they automagically closed. I just love PhilharMagic. More specifically, I love watching PhilharMagic with Wesley. I know in years to come, Mark and I will visit WDW without Wesley. He’ll be off doing the adult thing, and Mark and I will go play. But I know that I will never, ever watch PhilharMagic without seeing (in my mind’s eye) my sweet, innocent, Disney-loving little boy help “save” Donald; getting me jewels from Ariel; cackling at Donald kissing the electric eel; becoming Maestro Mickey; giggling when Donald goes through the wall. How many times do I have to say it? This is why we go. Again and again and again. When he’s 13 and doesn’t want to be seen with us (much less do something as uncool as going to Disney World with his parents~not that my kid will EVER feel that way…), I will have these memories to cherish. Wesley did not disappoint. It was a great way to end our time at the Magic Kingdom.





Hey Rhonda. I love this.

Philharmagic is one of our family's all time favorite attractions at DW too. And this is one of those paragraphs that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I think every one of us parents can relate to this feeling. As I sat here and read your words, I could see my little girl reaching out to touch Ariel and grabbing the floating jewels and throwing her head back to laugh at Donald as he flies across the theatre and lands in the wall. Those are priceless memories. So thanks for that Rhonda.

Your little Wesley is a complete doll and yall have such the luck with character sightings.

Looking forward to hearing more. :thumbsup2

[FSUMARCHIEF]

I can't wait to read the part that you forgot to tell me. Comeon babe - Git-R-Done!


Blessings!
MarkyMark

[PKK/MJK]

WOW!!!! Rhonda, I had no idea you were such an amazing writer!!!!!!!!!! You make even the tiny details so interesting--and FUNNY!!! My DH and I have both been absolutely glued to every word in your trip report/s! We especially enjoyed the section about Wesleys wonderful time in the Castle with Aurora and Phillip! It is definitely amazing how much magic and how many beautiful memories those royal couples create, isn't it. We're looking forward to the rest of your report to find out what other adventures you had.

[sheridac]

We have changed so much since Wesley came along… that’s natural, life certainly DOES change, once you become a parent. But we never expected our Disney experience to change so much.

Oh, but a most wondrous change! My very best friend made a conscious decision to forgo having children. And while she is very happy with her choice, and so I, in turn, am happy for her, inside I am also sad for her for never having had the experience.

I believe it was John Bowring who said it better than I ever could ~

A happy family is but an earlier heaven

[nicolemarie]

Love all the good, sappy stuff, Rhonda. I seemed to end my TR with plenty of it. Disney brings out the sap in me. In fact, much of life brings out the sap in me.

Hope we get to meet soon!!

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Love all the good, sappy stuff, Rhonda. I seemed to end my TR with plenty of it. Disney brings out the sap in me. In fact, much of life brings out the sap in me.

Hope we get to meet soon!!

Oh, that's terrific!! We're soul sisters!!! :thumbsup2

Okay, we're working on it, we're working on it... PM me with a good day/time for you...

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Rhonda -
I will sign up for the classes on the character stalking.

My daughter believes that she will DIIIIIEEEEEE if she doesn't get to show Snow White her snow white dress. It is a matter of most critical importance. Really, the future of the world depends upon it. I think I have her covered, but nothing in life is sure, so it wouldn't help to back it up with a little stalking.

Enjoy your trip next week!

[AshClan]

I'm caught up! And posting to do my part to get you the "last page thingie".

Great stuff, as usual.

Geesh, Mark, I was looking forward to trying out the Tangerine Cafe, too. I won't be happy if you've ruined it for us. Speaking of which, maybe you guys should get some commissions on that one, too.

Philharmagic. Love, love, love it. Wish it was around when my guys were littler. I'll have to live vicariously through you (and lala, and amy, and horsey, and poop, and kim, and all the rest of you who have little ones).

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Rhonda -
I will sign up for the classes on the character stalking.

My daughter believes that she will DIIIIIEEEEEE if she doesn't get to show Snow White her snow white dress. It is a matter of most critical importance. Really, the future of the world depends upon it. I think I have her covered, but nothing in life is sure, so it wouldn't help to back it up with a little stalking.

Enjoy your trip next week!

She's in Toon Town. Only time we've ever NOT seen her in the Princess Room was one night right before closing. It was Princess Minnie and Alice, instead. She is also OCCASIONALLY in Germany at Epcot. But not as frequently as Aurora, Belle/Beast and Jasmine/Aladdin are out. Only bad thing is... there is a loooong wait for the Princess Room, almost always. Even in slow times. Still...it'll be worth it! What, you're not doing any princess meals?

[wdwr]

Oh MrsMarkyMark!!!!!!!!!

Do we, your devoted fans, have to wait for your return from WDW this weekend to get the next installment for this trip?

I've been waiting patiently for 3 days now. (ok, not so patient since I posted)

At least this goes towards your "last page" request.


Shelley

[2infinity&B-ond]

Hi Rhonda. Just wanted to pop in and say I love hearing about your trips to the world.

And I hope Wesley feels better soon. (Hope the medicine works this time!)

Now I have to go read more of your great report.

[Shelby5514]

Rhonda~ I know, I know...what's taken so long for me to read your trippie? Well with all the drama around here, it's been hard to try to keep up here, there and in both chats. But YES, I have finally found this report and I am L-O-V-I-N-G it! Loved the last ones (your and Mark's) too!

DH and I ate at both Marrakesh and Tangerine and I have to say they were both very enjoyable. One question tho? What did Mark have to do to get his picture taken with the belly dancer? DH was wanting to, and even told our waiter, but as soon as she was done she was GONE.

Maelstrom my friend...

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Rhonda~ I know, I know...what's taken so long for me to read your trippie? Well with all the drama around here, it's been hard to try to keep up here, there and in both chats. But YES, I have finally found this report and I am L-O-V-I-N-G it! Loved the last ones (your and Mark's) too!

DH and I ate at both Marrakesh and Tangerine and I have to say they were both very enjoyable. One question tho? What did Mark have to do to get his picture taken with the belly dancer? DH was wanting to, and even told our waiter, but as soon as she was done she was GONE.

Maelstrom my friend...

That's the MoRockin' belly dancer Shelby... not the one from Marrakesh. I don't know if she always poses for pictures... but after their set we asked to have one of her with Wesley and Colleen, and then Mark and Keith kinda jumped in there, LOL!

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Saturday

Buckle up for the ride folks, it’s our last park day!

We were tired and worn out. We let ourselves sleep in a bit today. Didn’t get up until 8am (now that’s more like it!!). Wesley was REALLY tired and worn out. I let him sleep til almost 9:30, even though we had planned to be at Epcot at 9. Oh, well. He needed the sleep.

Now, a word (or several) about Commando Mode. As I’ve said, in reading our reports, you probably can’t believe that we aren’t commandos. But it’s true! Yes, we are often at a park (or two parks) from open to close. We seldom, if EVER, go back to our room for a mid-day break. But that just doesn’t work for us. That is partly because most of our trips are…well…whirlwind trips. We don’t have the luxury of time. Going back to our room (especially when not staying deluxe) means a minimum of three hours out of the park, when Wesley will likely only get a one hour nap, if that.

And there’s another issue… naps. You see, our little Wesley is a night owl. Just like his parents. (Thank goodness!) And though he was a very good napper for about 3 ½ years, that was pretty much it. About last September, we noticed that though he did, in fact, take a nap every day… he wouldn’t go to sleep at night until 11pm. Or midnight. So then he would wake up tired the next day, and take an even longer nap, and the cycle kept getting more and more vicious. Eventually, we decided that him sleeping at night was more important than him getting a nap. And, basically, that was the end of his napping. Now we put him to bed around 7:30 (on a good night), and with any luck he is asleep by 8:30. However, he has great stamina (if you don’t believe me, see my last weekend of Feb TR. The child was up from 7am til 2am. With a 45 minute nap.) He will still nap in the car (when I use the IF card…), and he will often nap in his stroller when we are at WDW. But leaving the parks for the PURPOSE of him getting a nap… well, it just doesn’t work.

Another thing many people enjoy doing is taking an afternoon swim break. Another NADA for us. For one thing, our best friends have a pool. Water is not a novelty to us. Why SWIM at Disney? I can SWIM at home! And especially you cold weather types… you will swim in ANY weather, simply because you’re in Florida. Folks, you can lie to your neighbors. If you are in FL in January and the high is 50º, do NOT feel like you still have to get in the pool, just because you told everyone in Minnesota that you were headed for warm weather. You can tell your neighbors back home that it is 83º and sunny if that makes you feel better. But why on earth do you feel the need to get in a pool, simply because you are in another state? Sorry, that was just an aside rant, and don’t give me the spiel about the Disney pools being heated. You’ve gotta get out some time. Anyway. Pools. Water. At Disney. Just not our thing. Wesley is more than a little timid in a familiar pool with a small group of people he knows. A huge pool with lots and lots of loud splashing people is a definite: Uh, NO! When he gets older, who knows. But I have a feeling he’d rather be riding Rock N Roller Coaster than swimming.

Now, Mark and I used to be Commandos. Serious Commandos. We had a list of rides to ride, and the goal was to ride as many as possible, as many TIMES as possible, before we had to leave. And this was pre-FastPasses, folks. We had a SYSTEM. We didn’t ONLY do the thrill rides… we also hit all of Fantasyland, just because it was “classic Disney”. But it was mainly about the thrill rides. We have done MGM, MK and Epcot in a single day. We did not see a single character or a single parade, and we certainly did not have sit down ADRs. In fact, we didn’t even know ADRs (or at the time, PSs) existed. And we would never have dreamed of wasting ride time sitting down paying a lot of money for a meal.

As embarrassing as it is, I have a confession to make. Has Mark told our honeymoon story? I can’t remember, so here it is, briefly. We were going on a cruise. Big Red Boat. Arrived, were told they weren’t ready to board anyone yet. Went to Kennedy Space Center. Went back to terminal. Were told we could get out, but “don’t bring your luggage~yet”. They began making announcements: “We will begin boarding in 15 minutes.” They would make the same announcement 20 minutes later. This went on for a while. And finally, they said we weren’t boarding. At all. Had to do with safety upgrades and a Coast Guard inspection that they never had. So the Coast Guard wouldn’t let them sail. It was a pretty big deal. Made USA Today, even. And made for a pretty rotten start to our honeymoon. So what else do we do? Go to Disney, of course. Decided to stay onsite (for the first time… I KNOW!!), and go to the Contemporary. So Mark called and told them our sad, sad story… and when we arrived at the Contemporary the next day, they told us we’d been upgraded to tower, MK view, CONCIERGE!!! WoooHoooo! Sad thing is, we didn’t even know how awesome this was. We just thought it was cool that we had free water bottles to take into the parks. Our one concierge experience, and we didn’t even know enough to appreciate it. BUT, it did one thing for us: CEMENTED our love and appreciation for Disney, in general. ANYWAY, I guess that is embarrassing enough. But the other part is, even on our honeymoon, we didn’t eat a single table service meal. We’d never even heard of California Grill, and we were *right there*. Cosmic Ray’s, woooohooooo! I suppose you could say that we just didn’t appreciate the finer things in life at the time. Fast forward about 5 years, we have a little one, we’ve become foodies, and we want to make a trip to WDW… start doing a little research… (I found the DIS)… and discovered that you have to PLAN your dining in ADVANCE. Huh. What a concept! So we did. And we’ve never looked back.

Since then, we have become connoisseurs, of sorts, of WDW cuisine. Some of its finest. (We have not yet done V&As. Maybe one day!) Not that we don’t still enjoy Cosmic Ray’s or Pecos Bill’s on occasion. And for heaven’s sake, you ALL know that Mark’s favorite place to eat in (almost) all of WDW is Tangierine Café. Thanks, once more, Mark! But my point in this is that we found other facets of WDW to love… and it has been an evolution for us, from Thrill Ride Park Commandos to a slower paced, eat-our-way-around-the-world, take-time-to-smell-the-roses (sometimes literally), poke-around-and-see-what (or WHO)-we-can-find style of adventure. And it has been a very fulfilling adventure, indeed.

How did we get there? Well, when you have an 18 mo old, there isn’t much you CAN ride, thrill-wise. I mean, you can do baby swap, but we like to ride TOGETHER. What’s the fun of riding Rock N Roller Coaster if you can’t scream in each other’s ears? Or is that just us? We found that, in its own way, Peter Pan’s Flight was just as much fun as Space Mountain. Not as thrilling, certainly…but still fun. And I’ve gotta say: I’d rather be riding Peter Pan’s Flight WITH Wesley than riding Space Mountain WITHOUT him.

The other thing is, we had 5 day park hoppers, but because we couldn’t go for 5 straight days, we were “milking” our tickets, taking these little short…WHIRLWIND… trips. So we’d go for a Thurs-Sat, and go to the park(s) only on Friday. Saturday we’d spend at an out-of-the-parks character meal, and browsing at DTD, or maybe checking out other resorts, before heading home.

And since I mentioned characters, I’ll discuss that here. I thought long and hard before posting this, but I figure that most people are “set” in their Disney ways, and a bunch of rambling from me isn’t going to change their style. And if a few do start doing things differently… well, hopefully they won’t be there the same time as us, so they won’t take up our character interaction time! Basically all of our awesome character experiences have been by accident…or just plain luck. (Magic, if you prefer!)

Our first magical experience (which I wrote about in my first ever trip report) happened at Chef Mickey’s. We had a late seating (I think because it was the only thing available…see, this was just by accident!), and ended up with the characters to ourselves. Us and one other family. This was Wesley’s first encounter with characters, and he wasn’t overly keen on them. The thing about characters is that they are pretty darn good at figuring out who really likes them, and who would rather them go about their merry way. I have seen exceptions to this, but most of them are very perceptive. So on that morning, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale had been skirting our table. Maybe a wave as they went by. Minnie, however, was a different story. She would stand way back, wait til Wesley glanced her way, then wave at him. Then she’d make her rounds. The next time, she would come a little closer, then blow him a kiss. The next time, she would come closer still, and play Peek-A-Boo. It was working. He was getting interested. And by the time it was all said and done, Minnie was holding him, he was kissing her on the nose, and patting Pluto. I truly believe that if Minnie had not taken all that extra time with him, he would not love the characters in the same way that he does today. That day, we all became Minnie fans. For life. Wesley doesn’t even remember that. But he loves Minnie anyway, and we know why. Mark and I do remember it, and likely always will. My only regret is that we didn’t send a letter of appreciation to her.

After that, Wesley got slightly braver around the characters. He sometimes needed a little encouragement, but he never refused to see them, he never cried, or anything like that. One interesting thing we found, however, was that (especially as he began talking) he preferred the fur characters to the face characters. For most children, it’s the other way around. But because he is often shy when talking to people he doesn’t know (which certainly isn’t a BAD trait), he didn’t like the face characters, because they would TALK to him…expect him to TALK to them!

Wesley’s Disney love runs DEEP. He has LOVED Disney since he was about 14 months old. That was about the time we moved to the church we currently serve, and there was a lot of stress in his life (moving is hard on EVERYONE, no matter the age!). He became fixated with Toy Story and Toy Story 2… Before we had a Woody, Buzz or Jessie doll (we have all three now, along with Hamm, Rex, Slinky, and other assorted TS characters…), Wesley would SLEEP with the movie boxes. Hug them tight to his chest. When he was 17 months old, he fell and hit his head on the corner of our coffee table (which now resides in the attic). Had an overnight hospital stay to make sure there was no skull fracture (thankfully, there wasn’t), and for observation. The ONLY thing that kept him calm was watching Toy Story. A friend brought us her copy, and we probably watched it 8 times while we were in the hospital~less than 24 hours. It was right after that incident that we decided it was time for his first trip to The World. (Thankfully, Woody, Buzz and Jessie couldn’t talk!) So for a year or so, we focused primarily on the fur characters, and left all the little girls to the princess room.

After that year, his Toy Story phase kind of… faded out. I must admit, I miss hearing that little baby voice talk in his crib (to the movie boxes) about “Woo-wy” and “Buh”. But now he was REALLY into Peter Pan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any great Peter Pan experiences. And Captain Hook kind of intimidated him. But that year, we took our first trip to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. And we fell in love with our first face character: Alice. (Although…she turned out to be OUR Wendy!) We also had great, fabulous, wonderful interaction with Mary Poppins and Bert. (Also further detailed in a previous trip report.) That was in September. Around that same time, Sleeping Beauty also became a contender in the “favorite movie” category. We did both CRT and PSB that trip, but neither of them really seemed his thing. Didn’t matter. Daddy enjoyed them both!

In December of that year, we were back. Sleeping Beauty had a slight edge over Peter Pan. We were THRILLED to find Prince Phillip and Aurora outside of the castle at the Christmas party, and we stood in a long line to meet them. Not that Wesley cared about the length of the line… he was all about meeting Phillip and Aurora. It was later that night that we walked by the castle and saw the handler (or greeter, as they are called by CMs, I believe) standing outside alone. And that’s how we discovered that Cindy, PC, Aurora and Phillip were inside. All alone. We took pictures with them individually, with both princesses giving him kisses, and with all of them. It was really, really cool.

That same trip, we had an incredible experience with Aurora at Epcot. We found her in France, again with no one around. And after a few moments of shyness, Wesley, our quiet, shy, reserved little boy, was talking a mile a minute to her, with his head in her lap and his feet stretched out on the wall. Uh-larious. What makes it even better is that Aurora had the hiccups! He had been to see Santa as Downtown Disney, and told him what he wanted for Christmas: a Diesel 10 (the bad guy from Thomas the Tank Engine), a kitchen and a sucker. He told Aurora all about seeing Santa, and what he’d asked for. So Aurora asks him, if he gets his kitchen for Christmas, what will he cook for her? “A hotdog.” (His favorite food at the time.) A hotdog, says Aurora. Oh my prince, it’s all I’ve ever wanted!! All the while trying to royally handle her hiccups. We saw Aurora again this past February, and she remembered Wesley as “the hiccup boy”. She even remembered that he was going to cook her a hotdog. Had she not had the hiccups, she likely wouldn’t have remembered that encounter with Wesley. So call it accident, luck, fate, whatever… We call it a magical memory. (BTW, Wesley did, indeed, get his kitchen. And he still loves to cook. What a prince... handsome AND he cooks. Did your DD see *that*, horsey?? :love: His two favorite cookbooks are, of course, Disney cookbooks. He make a mean ~pretend~ Goofy's Birthday Cake!)

There are many layers to the character experience. First, you have to have contact with them. For Wesley, his shyness has actually been an asset. He wants to see the character initially… but when he actually gets to them, he gets shy. But once his turn is over, he’s gained a little confidence, and wants to go back. Here’s where we’re different from most everyone else: we allow him to see them again. Rather than rushing him off to another ride or another attraction, we let him get back in line. If he wants to see a character, we’ll see the character. Going to see them more than once makes him a little more memorable. Especially since, let’s face it, he’s just darn cute! Another thing is, if you see the “same” character more than once, it helps if you recognize that you’ve seen them before. For instance… I recognized the hiccuping Aurora this past February. Had I not mentioned the episode (which happened over a year before!), I’m certain she wouldn’t have recognized Wesley. So sometimes you have to help the magic along.

Other times, you get incredibly lucky, as we did with OUR Wendy… SHE remembered HIM, without any prompting from us. (That was a first for us. And for the record, the times we saw her in February were, to that point, the ONLY “special” attention we had gotten from any character… in the sense that she knew where we would be sitting for the afternoon parade, and asked some of her friends to be really nice to Wesley. And of course, now she’s gone, so we don’t have that “in” anymore.)

We have asked ourselves over and over why he gets such special attention. Why was HE picked to ride the Barnstormer with Goofy (which was one of his dreams), when there were so many other kids around? Why does Captain Hook always notice him during the parade? Why does Princess Aurora always ask him to dance? The truth is, we don’t know. But we are grateful. You know, Disney rides are great. Disney shows are fabulous. But one on one interaction with characters is unbelievable. Special. Magical. The kind of things that stay with you forever. Commandos have fun. But they rarely find magic. We are there for the magic!

And I realize that I have said nothing about our day, per se. But this is important stuff.

Carpe diem!

[jamal]

Rhonda dear, another terrific chapter! I am 100% with you on the characters and the magic!! My boys still love the characters. This trip, even with his 12 year old buddy with him, DS12 got into it once we got there. He even offered to pose with, well,, I'm no there in my trip report yet...

Anyway, I also loved the honeymoon story! Isn't that MK view fantastic? What is your favorite TS restaurant now?

Wesley is a lucky boy. I hope you have another magical trip. I can;t wait to read about it.
Jami

[lillygator]

Hi!
Loved your character post. We too have lots of magical experiences w/the characters...we could spend the day just floating from one to another....:)

[Yzma and Kronk]

Rhonda - I loved your character chapter!

Unfortunately, our upcoming trip my kids 11 & 8 do not want to see any characters! They used to loved them. We've agreed to get pictures of the ones we haven't seen before or any "private" interaction where you come upon characters alone. This happened with us and Peter Pan a few years ago.

Also, DH and I had the same experience at The Contemporary the first time we were there. No kids, just us. I booked the Contemp and we were upgraded to 14th floor. We only took advantage of the free water and the view of the balcony! Thinking back, I just could {{{{{{{SLAP}}}}}}}} myself, but we were newbies, what did we know of concierge! I'm glad we weren't the only ones ;)

[Grammyof2]

Rhonda - I have been bad, very bad about not keeping up. But I am here now. I will read and then say you are wonderful as always. Cause you are. :Pinkbounc

Are you finishing this before you start your next trippie, cause you are one lucky dog?


Have fun :cheer2:

[wdwr]

Rhoda,

YIPPEE!!!! You posted. I loved all the park/character information you have shared with your fellow Dis-ers. You'll probably never know how many families you've helped on their next trip. (sappy I know, but what can you do about it)

However, I'm still waiting for the appearance of SNAP. Not to mention the part you didn't tell Mark about either.

Still promising not to hold my breath that this will be done before Sunday. :p

Have a Disney-rrific day!

shelley

[ead79]

Rhonda, that was a really great installment. I can just picture a younger Wesley sitting in his crib talking about Woo-wy. Absolutely precious memory. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

[LaLa]

But the other part is, even on our honeymoon, we didn’t eat a single table service meal. We’d never even heard of California Grill, and we were *right there*. Cosmic Ray’s, woooohooooo! I suppose you could say that we just didn’t appreciate the finer things in life at the time. Fast forward about 5 years, we have a little one, we’ve become foodies, and we want to make a trip to WDW… start doing a little research… (I found the DIS)… and discovered that you have to PLAN your dining in ADVANCE. Huh. What a concept! So we did. And we’ve never looked back.

Since then, we have become connoisseurs, of sorts, of WDW cuisine. Some of its finest. (We have not yet done V&As. Maybe one day!) Not that we don’t still enjoy Cosmic Ray’s or Pecos Bill’s on occasion. And for heaven’s sake, you ALL know that Mark’s favorite place to eat in (almost) all of WDW is Tangierine Café. Thanks, once more, Mark! But my point in this is that we found other facets of WDW to love…



DH and I had our honeymoon at Disney as well over ten years ago and we were like that too. The only difference is we didn't get a mad upgrade to CR CONCIERGE. Yeah, we were living it up at CI STANDARD. Comfort Inn, Baby. Offsite. The horror.

But it's funny how things change over the years and it's true that the more trips you take to Disney, the more you find to love about it. We also ate at mostly counter services places that trip and since then, have become full on foodies too. Our goal is to try to eat at as many different TS places as we can.

Loved the latest installment, Rhonda. And thanks for the tips. I think the reason yall have such good luck with the character sightings is plain to see. Just look at the boy in that Peter Pan costume. He's gorgeous!

Keep it coming Girl. You're almost there..... ;)

[GADISNEYGIRL]

DH and I had our honeymoon at Disney as well over ten years ago and we were like that too. The only difference is we didn't get a mad upgrade to CR CONCIERGE. Yeah, we were living it up at CI STANDARD. Comfort Inn, Baby. Offsite. The horror.

But it's funny how things change over the years and it's true that the more trips you take to Disney, the more you find to love about it. We also ate at mostly counter services places that trip and since then, have become full on foodies too. Our goal is to try to eat at as many different TS places as we can.

Loved the latest installment, Rhonda. And thanks for the tips. I think the reason yall have such good luck with the character sightings is plain to see. Just look at the boy in that Peter Pan costume. He's gorgeous!

Keep it coming Girl. You're almost there..... ;)

LaLa...Comfort Inn is definitely NOT a FastPass... nor is it YELLOW! You poor thing!!

The first night of our honeymoon, we were staying at the Hilton in Daytona. Too bad we didn't know before we booked it that there was a BEANIE BABY CONVENTION going on there!! Yeah, that makes for some serious romance!!!

Let's see, who asked about our favorite TS restaurant, was it Shelley? That's a tough one!

I'd say California Grill is still at the very top~their signature pork loin and the goat cheese ravioli are out of this world. But we really like Le Cellier, too. For lunch, I have really gotten to where I enjoy LTT. The sandwiches are very good (better than The Plaza, I think). For breakfast/brunch, we LOVE Park Fare. Bread pudding and cheese blintzes, baby!!! But wait, we also really like Boma... have yet to try Jiko or Artist Point. Spoodles was not as fabulous as we'd hoped, although we loved their "dips" appetizer. And the creme brulee was good. Too bad they quit doing the Ice Cream Social at the Garden Grill. That was a lot of fun (and good ice cream, too)!

[Lovemy3babes]

Great report! :)

[sheridac]

Rhonda~

I really enjoy when people infuse their histories and personal stories into their TR's. And I really enjoy you and your family.

[sheridac]

Did this help?

[sheridac]

Guess not. How 'bout now? :teeth:

[wdwr]

Let's see, who asked about our favorite TS restaurant, was it Shelley? That's a tough one!

Nope, wasn't me but I'll take the credit for asking. (until the real owner shows up)

It was very helpful information for my trip in Oct!

Rhonda's trip reports are not only interesting but INFORMATIVE!



Shell

[nicolemarie]

Will I be the one to help you live the dream?

I'll be right back.

[nicolemarie]

Nope. But I'll give it one more "whirl". For the Whirlwind Trippers.

See ya Sunday. With Krystal. You think I'm kidding.

[pongoperdigirl]

Rhonda....I love your reports.
I feel like I am right there with you, even as you relive past memories.
I can't wait to hear about all your future trips as well.
Should we expect another one from Sunday as well.
Cause we all heard that you were going....once or twice anyway

[GADISNEYGIRL]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU... TO ALL MY VIKING SISTERS! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

And now I have to go start posting on all of your threads. Because I have at least STARTED reading everyone else's reports. Yes, it's true. If only I didn't have work to do at my...you know...job... life would be so much easier!

Okay, who do I pick up with first???

And yes, expect another Whirlwind Tripper report after Sunday-Monday. We're rearranging ADRs. Our whole schedule, really. More later.

THANKS AGAIN...SUCCESS IS SWEET!!!

[sheridac]

Hey Rhonda!

Just keeping it easy for you to find sister! :teeth:

[Backstage_Gal]

I used to do Donald Duck's tax returns for about 5 years! How magical is that? :rotfl2:

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Okay, I left you with past character experiences. In case you missed it, I'll catch you up:

Commandos have fun, but don't normally find magic. If you want to have really magical moments, stalk the characters. I don't mean in a white-van-parked-across-the-street kind of way. I mean more like the whenever you see them, GO SEE THEM, kind of way. Talk to them. Ask them questions. Even the fur characters. They can answer you. (Be prepared to play charades, though. Sometimes guessing IS required.) Pay attention to FACE characters. If you've seen them more than once, say, Oh, Princess Aurora, do you remember when we saw you in (name of month) at (name of place)? (Name of kid) told you (so and so). You get the idea. MAKE them remember you. But not in a creepy dee way. And also, make sure you have the right person. Because otherwise, they're gonna smile and nod and have their greeter call security on you. Alright, everyone caught up?

Let's move on! Got lots to get to today, including SNAP and a very, very MAGICAL MOMENT. And by "today", I don't necessarily mean TODAY, May 30. I mean "today", as in "the day that all of this actually happened".

So... Wesley got to sleep in. Til 9:30. Then I had to wake him up. I wasn't being a commando. BUT... We wanted to ride Soarin', and that meant getting to Epcot before FPs were gone. Boys are so easy. We were walking in the gates at 10am.

The plan is: Wesley and Kim go to Character Connection; I go retrieve Soarin' FPs. Which I do. But they are still in line at CC when I get back there. So I get in line with them. Captain Hook and Smee were in CC! But sadly, they had to go fire cannons at Peter and the Lost Boys before we got to see them. That old codfish. Wesley would've loved another duel. (Since he so smashingly LOST the one the day before... even though he refuses to believe that's how it happened.)

Well, finally all the characters have had their snacks and such and are back out to greet their public. Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Chip/Dale, Donald, Baloo and Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins told him it was nice to see him AGAIN. Even though she is not one I'm normally fond of (not Mary Poppins, I love her... I mean this *particular* Mary Poppins...what does that say, when we've been enough to NOT like particular people??), she got extra points for that. Maybe she's not so bad.

By the time we were done there, we had just enough time for Figment, again. Yay. Isn't my enthusiasm underwhelming? Even so, I'll probably be sad when Wesley decides he's "too big" to ride Figment.

Time to head to Mexico, we're eating at San Angel Inn, baby! Trek to WS. It's about 11:15. There is a man standing at the check in desk. I try to check in. He says, No, 11:30, you come back. Okay, great. We go ride El Rio del Tiempo.

Alright. Here we go. El Rio del Tiempo. Pay attention, Mark.

I know most people don't like this ride. Although I still say, make it a FastPass, and see how many people "LOVE" it, then. I'm just kidding. I enjoy a ride with no wait. I guess it is because Wesley likes it so much that we've ridden it so many times. And by so many, I mean... A LOT. Our Feb 2005 trip, I think we rode it 8 times in a row one night (and no, those were not the only times we rode that trip). There was a cute (female) CM working the ride, and he flirted with her (and she with him) every time we came around. The best part is having your own boat..sitting in the front row and propping your feet up, and enjoying the AC. So what if it's cheesy? Name five things at Disney that AREN'T cheesy. (Don't, really, I'm just making a point here.) So what if the intention is to promote tourism in Mexico? Newsflash, folks, that's the intention of ALL the WS pavilions~to promote tourism in their country. The difference between Mexico and Norway is that in Mexico, you have to endure it during the ride. In Norway, you only have to endure it if you can't get through the movie room before they close the doors. In all the other countries, you don't HAVE to endure it at all. Just skip the movie. Or just look at what you want to look at. In Mexico, granted, you are FORCED to watch it, if you go on the ride.

But I don't care. I still like it. Add in the memories we have of the ride... like the aforementioned CM flirting with Wesley... at the end of the ride (i.e. when we finally DRAGGED him off the boat), she presented him with a Magical Moments certificate that proclaimed him "Capitan of the Boat Ride". Yes, she spelled it "Capitan". Or the time that Mark began singing "I've got to pee" to the tune of the song. Which, incidentally, is not as mind-numbing as Small World. Until he began to sing "I've got to pee" to the tune, we never could remember how it went. (We don't forget, now!!) Another time, Mark was really, really looking hard at the footage of the "traditional" ?? dances. He mentioned that he thought the women in the last one on the left, before you hit the Small World-esque sequence, were not wearing underwear. Which I'm sure meant we rode it again, right after, for me to attempt to verify. Which I couldn't. So now every time we ride, we have this discussion about whether or not the women are wearing underwear. Wesley thinks it's funny. Because, when you're a 4 year old boy, underwear IS funny. Very. Just last week for his preschool program, they sang the Peanut Butter song. And none of them sang the verse about liking it on (or is it in?) their underwear, because they were all laughing too hard. So this has been one of our Great Debates, for quite some time: Are they, or are they not, wearing underwear? Most of the time, it is quite simple to have this discussion. Because we are riding along, alone, in our own boat. But occasionally you do have to ride with other people. And then it is always embarrassing when Wesley starts giggling loudly and saying, "They're not wearing any UNDERWEAR!!!" But on this particular ride (11:17ish), we had a boat to ourselves.

And here is the big news, that I didn't even tell Mark. I am almost 100% certain that I confirmed that they are, indeed, NOT wearing underwear.

Great, Rhonda. Way to go. Next time I'm at Epcot, there'll be a line for El Rio del Tiempo. You watch and see.

Well, now it's 11:27, and I think it would be safe to make our way back to the check in desk. Except that I cannot SEE the check in desk, for all the people in line. Well, there goes my hope for a waterview table. We waited about 15 minutes to give them our name, and another 10 minutes or so to be seated. What? Did Mark say in his trip report how much we LOVE San Angel Inn or something?

We were finally seated and got our meal, and that was the important thing. I had the Plato Mexicano, I think, which was not quite as good as the Plato Nacional that I had the first time. Or was it the other way around? Anyway. I would still eat there again.

We were supposed to meet SNAP at 1, but we still had some time to kill, so we rode the ride again. Kim searched desperately for what I had previously seen (or NOT seen), but couldn't tell. So I'm thinking I must've finally seen the exact footage that Mark once saw.

After that, we browsed around in the plaza. I was freezing in there, so we went outside for me to get a little sun and warm up a bit. I saw a girl outside who kept looking at me, and I wondered if maybe it was one of SNAP's party. But then she went inside. Soon after, we did, too. And then someone yelled my name... and it was SNAP's cousin! (Hi, SNAP's cousin!!) So we chatted til her girls and SNAP found us. Turns out, it WAS one of her girls we'd seen outside! We finally all got together and had a nice little meet/visit. We discussed pros/cons of living so close, driving home after a long day in the parks, etc. We discussed pins (Wesley has quite a few), and SNAP gave Wesley her Maleficent pin! (Thanks, SNAP!) Wesley was quite taken with her after that, I think! ;) We discussed lots of other things, and just generally had a grand time. They were all sweet as pie, even if they don't sound as *southern* as we do. They sound like they live in central FL. I sound like I live in south GA. What can I say? One of the girls has a birthday very close to mine, and now I know that SNAP will never forget MY birthday, because it's the same as her sister's. Hey SNAP, I did mention that I like Disney Dollars, right? :rotfl2: They were off to do some other things, and we were off to ride Soarin', so we parted ways. Funny, I found myself humming Christopher Cross tunes as I walked away. And I also found myself feeling smug that I was a participant in both of the first-two-ever-Maelstrom-meets. (Hi GACat!) No other Maelstromer can say THAT!! :smooth:

Stay tuned!

[pongoperdigirl]

I love it Rhonda(RhondaJen).
Nice work with the undies....(never thought I would ever type that sentence)
Seems to be a theme. I think. Underwear that is.

Next time I am there, I am now going to be looking for underwearless dancers. Thank you. For that lovely image. I think. ;)

[MOMOFMNM]

walking in the gates at 10am???? Now your vacationing polymelonmom style baby!!! whoohoo!!!!!

CONGRATS!!


I would love some pics in these reports

I know you have a camera...I know you know how to use it!! :3dglasses

[Perrier]

Subscribing.

I'm a lurker, not much of a poster. I just LOVE reading reports from you & Mark. I go searching for you two on this board! Can't wait to read more!

[GADISNEYGIRL]

The Rest of Saturday

We left SNAP and her family and headed back to Future World for our appointment to Soar over CA. I gotta say, I really like Soarin'. A lot. Not enough to wait in line for 90 minutes. But I do enjoy it very much. Mark likes it okay. And I mean really just "okay". He told me just yesterday, in fact, that he liked El Rio del Tiempo better. :confused3 Must be the underwearless dancers. Wesley, on the other hand, LOVES Soarin'. Loves it, I say. I've already told you why... do you remember? Come on... think, now... Because it has his princess' castle in it, okay?! Sleeping Beauty's castle. Disneyland. Tink and the fireworks... Good stuff.

So we hop in the FP line and wait about 10 minutes. And the whole time we discussed why on EARTH people don't use FPs. Listen, my son is trained. DISNEY trained, I mean (well, potty trained, too, but not sure that is really relevant in this paragraph). HE doesn't want to wait in a line longer than 15 minutes. He'll say one of two things: 1) Let's just get FPs! or 2) We'll just ride that later, okay? I am blessed. Truly. And not just because my 4 year old gets that waiting in line is NOT a FastPass~literally.

We take our aerial tour of CA, and Wesley enjoys it, as always, and Kim is impressed. Which, I think, was the first ride that really did impress her. But maybe I'm wrong.

We got FPs for the Land, which still bothers me. Why THAT is a FP ride... not that I don't like it, because I do. But I don't think it's really FP worthy. Of course, I know SOME people who don't think Maelstrom is FP worthy. Ahem.

Time to get our FREE Disney Visa picture. At Innoventions. And my 4 year old son could give you directions to Innoventions. Yeah, we've ridden the FREE Disney Visa pic train, too. And then we thought we'd go check out Turtle Talk with Crush. Now THAT should be a FP. Poor Wesley. He really, really wants Crush to talk to him. But he doesn't get that he has to ACT like he wants Crush to talk to him. You know, like, raise his hand when Crush says, "Raise your fins up high, dudes!" So Crush didn't talk to him. But that's still a very cute show. Good stuff, Disney Imagineers!

WooHoo, time to go Live With the Land. I said I liked this ride. And I do. But this was weird. They'd just harvested, well, everything. So we're riding through the greenhouses looking at... nothing. And the "boat captain" is telling us how spectacular everything was, had we only been here LAST WEEK. Great. Thanks. So to make up for our disappointment, we got more FPs for Soarin'. The return time was 8:55. Just made it, huh?

Now I know that all of this has been, we did this, we did that... but there was nothing really exciting to this part of the day. But all that's about to change!!

Headed back to World Showcase, by way of Tink's Fairy Garden. Does anyone know what's up with all the new playground areas? While the Viking ship in Norway remains roped off? Makes no sense, I say. But anyway, the Fairy Garden was a neat little area. Wesley enjoyed crawling through the tunnels and playing on the playground. After a few minutes, we told him it was time to move on.

As we departed Tink's Fairy Garden, we ran into SNAP and entourage again. And we have a BIG, HUGE THANK YOU kind of shout out to SNAP for what happened next. We chatted for another moment, and SNAP told Wesley that she had just seen Princess Aurora in France. Well, this changed our plan! Of course Wesley wanted to go find the love of his life immediately.

We went to straight to France, and I again silently said a prayer of thanks that I am not the one who usually has to push Wesley's stroller up that hill between UK and France. We stopped first to see Belle in the library~in her YELLOW dress! But Wesley was in a hurry to get to Aurora.

There were a couple of people in line in front of us, but no one behind us. When it was his turn, he ran to her and gave her a big hug, and then she began checking out his pins. He has several Aurora pins, and she asked if he was her biggest fan? He blushed, and nodded. Too cute! So she gave him a kiss. He reluctantly left her side, and we walked back to the stroller... he looked back at her the whole time. She waved and blew him kisses. Which caused him to blush more. When we arrived at the stroller, we had to take a picture of her kiss. We started that in January, and those are his favorite pics. Him with a lipstick covered face. That's my little prince! Such the ladies man...

Kim decided she wanted to shop for a bit. Wesley was not interested in shopping. And pushing a stroller in and out of tiny aisles not made to accommodate strollers (at Disney! can someone explain THAT to me??) didn't sound all that appealing to me. So I told him we'd go sit in Aurora's garden (just our name for it) and people watch.

This, as it turned out, had tremendous benefits. I'm guessing that SNAP had seen Aurora at the end of a set... and we must've seen her (first) at the beginning of her next set. We were probably out there close to 30 minutes. And each time her admirers went away, she came and talked to Wesley. We've had some fabulous Aurora encounters. But this one is right up there with the best of them. First of all, she wasn't just great with Wesley (though she of course gets MAJOR points for that). She was great with everyone. Such a princess! She showed all the girls how to pose "like a princess"; she treated each boy (the big ones, too!) as a prince. She had sincere compliments for all. She was very, very sweet. Wesley was smitten. He got lots of one on one time with her. They discussed Maleficent's reform (I have my doubts!) and they talked about Soarin... he said his favorite part was seeing her castle. Swooning commenced... (flashbacks to January trip)... She asked him what his favorite part of her movie was, and he told her it was "the dancing". So she asked him to dance. (Now this is not ALL that unusual... he's danced with several Auroras in the last few trips.) I got some awesome pics of this, though! And before it was all said and done, HE was giving HER a kiss! (Another incredible pic!) This was quite unusual, for him to give a kiss. He likes to receive them, as I said... but he is rarely comfortable enough with a face character to kiss them. He even had reservations about kissing OUR Wendy... so this was something very special. Most amazing, SHE realized it! The swooning continued... It was the end of her set, and her greeter had to tell her several times that it was time to go. (Hmmm, maybe Wesley wasn't the only one who was smitten!) She had a hurried conversation with the greeter, and then asked if we could come back in 20 minutes for her next set. Kim came back at the end of all this (so sad that she missed all the magic!), we filled her in on Wesley's upcoming date, and then set off for Morocco.

The plan was to see Jasmine and Aladdin (quickly), then head back to France to wait for Aurora. Unfortunately, it was Genie who was out, and we did see him... but the greeter assured us that Jasmine and Aladdin would be out in 5 minutes. Uh huh. That was a looooong 5 minutes. Assisted greatly by people breaking in line in front of us. They finally came out, but there are, remember, quite a few people ahead of us now. And Wesley decided that he needed to go potty. Right then. I had flashbacks of PoC, last weekend in February. And I immediately began talking him through it. You can do it, Buddy, you're doing great, you can hold it, way to go! And he made it. Even managed to flirt with Jasmine for a minute. Then I grabbed him and ran for the bathroom, and left Kim to get the stroller. (Thanks Kim!) I'm also checking my watch anxiously, because I do not want to stand up Aurora.

So we race back to France, where Aurora's greeter tells us how worried Aurora had been, that we might not get back in time. There was quite a line to see her, so we sat back down in our spot and waited. I found Wesley a scap of paper, and he wrote Aurora a note~all on his own. It read: Princess Aurora I love you Love Prince Phillip Wesley (Okay, so he's not original. He's FOUR! He wrote that ALL BY HIMSELF, PEOPLE, with correct spelling!) Finally Aurora was done with the others, and came back to him, where he very shyly gave her his little love note. She oohed and aahed appropriately. More pictures, more hugs, more kisses, and she remembered having seen us in February. (She remembered us, AND we had an awesome character experience today: Proof that character stalking does, indeed, work.) A few last kisses blown, and Aurora had to leave. We were on a Disney Magical Moment high!

Off to dinner at the Rose and Crown! We had to wait for several minutes, with a faulty pager... it kept beeping, but it wasn't the "right" kind of beep. But it was worth the wait, we got a GREAT table! Too bad we weren't going to be there at Illuminations time (it was about 6pm, and they had the "2 hour limit" sign up... not that we could sit there for 2 hours with a 4 yr old anyway).

Since we'd breezed through UK earlier, in our rush to get to Aurora, we decided to browse a bit. I really like the UK area. Mostly, I suppose, because I've been to England, and I think it really is representative of England. Never been to any other parts of the UK, but being there does make me feel like I'm back in England~in a tourist area, perhaps, but there, nonetheless. We eventually strolled into The Toy Soldier, where we found Alice playing with the Thomas the Tank trains/train table.

Aside here: have we mentioned this before? That Wesley has a train table, and most of the trains that are sold. He has so many track pieces that they do not all fit on his table at the same time. But does he play with it? No. Not unless he is in Epcot. THEN, we have to spend 45 minutes watching him play with Thomas. What gives, with that?

Okay, so he and Alice play with trains for a few, then we hurry him along, ask if he wants to see Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore (of course he does), so we hop in line for them. Alice moves to the area where Mary Poppins normally is, and as we wait in line, Wesley takes the opportunity to go visit with Alice several more times. He has a pin of Tink making a face; he and Alice made the face for me, and I got another great pic! Saw our Hundred Acre Wood friends, and then took Wesley out to the maze. He had a great time "navigating" the maze. In fact, he was sad when we had to leave. But time is running short, we've got to get back to Soarin' before 9, and want to walk all the way back around WS...so we begin the long trek. Took a short stop in America for me to buy the pin I passed up the night before: a Mickey Atlanta Braves pin! Only Wesley thought it was for him. (It wasn't. It was for me.)

One last flight on Soarin', and it was time to say goodbye to the parks. We stopped to pick up our FREE Disney Visa picture (which we presented to Kim, with much fanfare), and headed back to All Star Sports.

What a great day! Magical Memories... and Wesley is still talking about HIS Princess Aurora.

Sunday: Park Fare, DTD, Home

I have no idea what time we got up, and I know you don't really care, anyway. But we got up, ready and packed in pretty good time, and were at the GF with time to spare for our Park Fare brunch. So we browsed around the downstairs shops for a while. Park Fare was crowded! Probably the most crowded I'd ever seen it.

After a couple of trips to the buffet, we'd still not seen any characters... but finally Pooh and Tigger came by. I had seen Alice (the one in the siggy pic)walking around... but I had my doubts that she would remember Wesley. Surprisingly, she did remember him! Even named where she'd seen us. Cool!

Mad Hatter skipped our table. Three times. Finally a greeter came and asked if we'd seen all the characters, and I told her no, that we hadn't seen MH. She went to talk to him, and next thing you know, he's over at our table. But really, he was kind of rude about it. Oh well. Wesley's ready to go buy something, so I don't think he minded.

After dropping some $$ in the upstairs GF shop, we struck out for DTD. We did some browsing around, purchased a few things, picked up some Earls for the way home... and all too soon, it was over. Six hours later (about 10pm) we were home.

Epilogue

First, I have to say thanks to Mark, for letting me go on this little Girls' (and Wesley) weekend. I know it was killing him to not be there, especially given all the magic we had... AND the fact that I did NOT take the video camera!!! I had a great time with Kim, and it was great that she got to see the Magic With Kids side of WDW... but I missed Mark being there. A LOT. Especially because of all the super cool magical stuff. Cause WDW is OUR place. As great as it is to share with friends... I still like it best when it's just us.

As for the super cool magical stuff... another GREAT, BIG, HUGE THANK YOU TO THE QUEEN! And the same to the others who had a hand in our meet and greet with Aurora and Phillip. A GREAT, BIG, HUGE SHOUT OUT to SNAP! One, because it was really awesome to meet you, D, and the girls. Two, because had you not told us about seeing Aurora, we likely wouldn't have immediately gone to France, and might well have missed out on such a magical, wonderful moment.

We have been so fortunate to have the character experiences that we've had, and we know that... all joking aside about the character stalking. We are lucky enough to have a little guy who truly and earnestly LOVES the characters. And what we've discovered is that WE love the characters, too. We've found another side of The World... and we're very happy there. I know that one day Wesley will not want to wait in line 50 minutes...or even 5 minutes...to see the "hotties" in the princess room. But I'm smart enough to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm intelligent enough to treasure every second of every trip we make, while he still LIKES being with us, and thinks we're the coolest parents ever because we've taken him to WDW thirteen (now fourteen) times. I'm bright enough to know that I have been blessed more than any one has a right to be blessed... I'm thankful enough that it can move me to tears... and I'm bold enough to want more.

In our house, not a single day goes by that Disney is not discussed in some form or fashion. Most of the time, we're "role playing" some Disney movie. How lucky am I, that I get to be Wesley's leading lady? I know that won't last forever, either. But I plan to enjoy it while it does.

Very few days go by that Wesley doesn't ask when we're going back to Disney World. And very few days go by that Mark and I aren't considering when, in fact, it will be.

Are there other things we could spend our money on? Of course. But I've gotta say, I get the best return on my money from Disney.

Til next time... a whirlwind tripper, signing off...

[Shelby5514]

Rhonda~ I have to go to work...I know on a SATURDAY, it's just NOT right!...so I'll have to finish reading your report later, but I have a ? to ask before I forget it. LOL! Where in innoventions is the Visa photo thing? I've been there twice this year and could not find it. We walked through both buildings and I NEVER noticed it. Do tell oh, Charachter Meet Queen. :worship:



Gotta Bolt!

[horsegirl]

Rhonda! You write such great reports! Your enthusiasm and bubbly energy come right through. Thanks for the tip about the unmetionabless girls at el tiempo,,,,even if the ride is now going to need a fast pass installed....

Now I do not know how my Schuyler, whom you know has a crush on your Wesley is going to take hearing that he is a favorite among all the princesses! :teeth: Of course I can understand why. He is the cutest Peter Pan I have ever come across. My daughter has good taste!

Thanks for taking the time, and we will make more of an effort to interact with the characters....great tip.

[jamal]

Rho(n)da! I just got all caught up with you and love your report! We are sisters in our love for the characters. They have always been a major part of our Disney experience. In fact, I think I may have told you this, but my sweet ds12 really thought they were real until he was 9!! That's because we never acted/told him anything different. We always have questions and comments ready for our time with them. Once at Chef Mickey's we returned from the buffet to find Chip sitting with dh. They were engrossed in conversation.

You are a Belle!
Jami

[MommyPoppins]

Another time, Mark was really, really looking hard at the footage of the "traditional" ?? dances. He mentioned that he thought the women in the last one on the left, before you hit the Small World-esque sequence, were not wearing underwear. Which I'm sure meant we rode it again, right after, for me to attempt to verify. Which I couldn't.

Well I havn't gotten to this ride in MY trip report, but yes, I noticed it too. It was a little disturbing and certainly NOT family friendly. :teeth:

Just finished your report. Great! Can't wait for the next one!

[GADISNEYGIRL]

had to take them down!

[horsegirl]

FOR THE LOVE OF CHARISMA AND HEARTTHROB! Those are the most beautiful and gorgeous disney pictures I have seen! I am getting my daughter in here right now, so she doesn't miss this! How adorable.

What camera do you have? The quality is amazing. I am considering a new digital and like your pics so much! Of course the subject is part of the beauty!

[sheridac]

Another time, Mark was really, really looking hard at the footage of the "traditional" ?? dances. He mentioned that he thought the women in the last one on the left, before you hit the Small World-esque sequence, were not wearing underwear.

Why, oh why, does this not surprise me in the least?? :teeth:

(Mary and) Rhoda~

Now that I have finished the rest, I just want to tell you how much I love your family. Truly. The love and joy you live shines brightly through each and every day.

I am grateful to count you as friends.

LYMI

[GADISNEYGIRL]

Horsebabypoodlypoo... and SKY, of course!! Glad you liked them.

I have a Canon PowerShot A70... just a basic, no frills camera. But we have been very pleased with it. The colors on these pics were outstanding, though. And I tend to do more closeups, I can't stand a picture where you can barely see the subject(s)! My dad is a semi-professional photographer, so he's passed on a lot of tips to me. :thumbsup2

[lillygator]

loved it - and that was our "Pan" in our MK adventure tour!! He really fits the part doesn't he?

[HaleyB]

Aside here: have we mentioned this before? That Wesley has a train table, and most of the trains that are sold. He has so many track pieces that they do not all fit on his table at the same time. But does he play with it? No. Not unless he is in Epcot. THEN, we have to spend 45 minutes watching him play with Thomas. What gives, with that?

Lol, I know exactly what you speak of. I think our big mistake was ever adding on to the basic set. We ended up with so many pieces I couldn't figure ut how to work them to gether. Neither could the kids. The only poeople that ever played with our set were other peoples kids... my kids never, not at our house. Out in the world it is the coolest thing ever, at home, not so much.

[Lan]

Love your trip report and pictures. Your son is so cute. I was born in Macon and rasied in Fort Valley. It seems like you get to Disney World in now time when you are in Central GA. I live in Atlanta now, so add about an 1 1/2 to the drive time. :moped:

[jamal]

Rho(n)da! I love these!! They are sooo touching! I can feel Wesley's adoration and Aurora's charm right through the screen.

[SoNotAPrincess]

I've always enjoyed your reports, but now that I've met you and I know firsthand how sweet you are and how utterly charming and adorable Wesley is, I ]REALLY enjoy them.

Thanks for sharing your magical memories so eloquently! :goodvibes

[ZZUB]

Rhonda,

Thanks for the pictures of Pan. My whole family just sat here with me and we looked through all the pics. Amazing! My daughter really enjoyed seeing her friend Peter Pan. Thank you for doing that for us.

I haven't caught up reading on your TR, but I will get to it this week.

Roll Tide!

[alabamagirl]

Well..................dare I say it? YOU HAVE THE CUTEST LITTLE BOY IN THE WORLD!!!! Oh my gosh, I hope my kids are even half as cute as him. Yall seem like such genuine, good, southern, christian folks and I love reading your trip reports. Can't wait for the next whirlwinder!!!!! :banana:

[Minnie]

But I don't care. I still like it. Add in the memories we have of the ride... like the aforementioned CM flirting with Wesley... at the end of the ride (i.e. when we finally DRAGGED him off the boat), she presented him with a Magical Moments certificate that proclaimed him "Capitan of the Boat Ride". Yes, she
Stay tuned!

Rhonda - On our trip a couple of Decembers ago my DS was presented with a Magical Moments certificate by an amazing CM. We were lucky enough to be in the front seat of the tram in the Safari Ride in AK. My DS pointed out tons of animals to us and often the CM would mention that the "young man behind her just spotted X". My DS had an absolutle wonderful time. Animals are his favorite so he was in his element. The CM then asked us to wait while the others departed. She told the CM at the gate that my DS deserved to be an honorary Safari Guide and they presented him with the certificate. I must say that this pixie dust was truly a gift. My DS has ADD and was going through a tough time that year at school and this break was something that he needed as much as the rest of us. I will never forget what the kindness of that special CM did to my son's confidence. Truly magical :wizard:

[AshClan]

Rhonda,

I finally found the time to finish up this wonderful TR. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing the special magic with all of us. And those pictures!!! Wesley is just the most beautiful boy, and his excitement and happiness just shine through on that kissable face!

You guys (yes, you too, Mark), are the sweetest, funniest, and most character-savvy DISers I have ever met, and I am so happy to have gotten to know you. I reeeeaaaaaalllllllyyyy hope that we get to meet all three of you in October. C'mon what's one or two vacation days in the scheme of things? You are the Maelstrom meet experts. We need you there! And all us Maelstrom hotties need to kiss Wesley! I promise to bring my lipstick! :teeth: (Although, he may think we're a bunch of weirdos who don't even have costumes on......don't want to scare him!)

Thank you for this great trip report. And thanks for finishing it so Mark can get started on the next. Has he, btw? I'm going to look for it now!

LY/MI

[2infinity&B-ond]

Rhonda,
Your trip report was great. And the pics are awesome!
Thanks for sharing.

[Grammyof2]

Rhonda - The pics are BEAUTIFUL. You are one lucky lady to have 2 special men in your life. :cloud9:

As always, excellent work. And you always finish :lmao: :rotfl2:
Sometimes it takes so long around here. :rotfl:

[1000thhappyhaunt]

You rode El Rio del Tiempo 8 TIMES on your last trip before these last two trips? Capish? 8 TIMES???????????!!!!
Quick... a Z-bag please.

And...

Then...

You rode it on this one... then ATE? Then, AGAIN?????

Well.

Mad props to you. For that. I think. Heh, heh.

Anywho... I just want to tell you how much I love your trip reports and your wonderful family. You ARE bold. And amazing. I loved the pics and Wesley is absolutely gorgeous!!!! So cute. He's quite the looker. Just like his father.

I'm just having a hard time with the El Rio love. That's all.

So cool you met SNAP. So cool.

Thanks for another great report. Looking forward to Mark's.

Cheers, Mel.

[Master Gracie]

Great report Rhonda. Thanks for posting.

(Obviously I have more to say, but I'll put it on M2 as I wouldn't want to pull you "off topic.")

[Ron from Michigan]

Rhonda, Thanks for another great report. Wesley is one special boy to have such wonderful parents like you both. :)