Toddling through WDW...updated 8/12 Ohana breakfast & photo session

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Hi everyone and welcome to my first trip report!

I think I read almost 100 different trip reports to prepare for our visit to WDW July 12-18th. So I thought I would give something back to the boards and create my own TR to help others. I am off for the summer, so I will have time to make plenty of updates (during Tigger’s naps of course) and post some of the 2000 pics that we took.

So the title of this TR is Toddling Through Disney World- we had three toddlers that we based this trip around and to all of the naysayers who don’t think it is worth the effort to bring toddlers to Disney- we had a BLAST!!! :woohoo:

First, the main cast of characters:

Me: 30, school librarian who loves all things Disney
DH: 34, never went to Disney until I dragged him there 2 years ago and now he can't wait until we have the money to make yearly trips.
DD:, will refer to as Tigger, just turned 1, she loves to bounce and is starting to walk, especially in the direction of any furry characters

and the supporting cast:

DM: my mom, aka Mimi,
DSF: my stepdad, aka Grandpa
DS: my sis, 30s, lives in Florida, yet rarely goes to Disney????
DBIL: my brother-in-law, 30s, first time to Disney as a Florida resident
DN#1:, my nephew, 2, will refer to as Pooh. He loves all things Pooh and Mickey’s Playhouse
DN#2: my nephew, 9 months, will refer to as Roo. He spent most of the time hanging around in a Baby Bjorn

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so come along and sing a song and join our family! M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!!

[mickeystoontown]

I'm joinin' in! I have just over two weeks before we head back to Disney World. Besides my trip report, I need something to help me count down the days.

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Welcome aboard! I'm a fan of your TR ;)

[GinnyBear's_mom]

The Drive Down- can’t we cast a spell on our daughter to make her sleep the whole way? :wizard:

Before driving to Orlando, my sister somehow convinced us to “drop by her place” a mere 100 miles away from Disney on the west coast of Florida. Heck, what’s an extra 100 miles when you are already driving 1000? Anyway, DH liked this plan because that way we weren’t rushing to Disney and I signed on because it gave me an extra day with my cutie-pie nephews Pooh and Roo. :grouphug:

I was getting antsy and wanted to start my vacation so I started packing the car the day before we left and when I went back inside to grab Tigger’s pack n play I get a knock on the door. A construction worker tells me I have to move my car, they need to begin immediate emergency repaving of my street and since we live in a townhouse and don’t have a driveway, that’s where I am parked. They are ripping up the streets in almost my entire complex, now I have to park about 5 blocks away. My quick packing of the trunk now has me walking almost ¼ mile to my car. In 93 degree heat. This task is no longer getting me excited for Disney. But in order to avoid biting off my fingernails or repacking my suitaceses again, I trudge on. Afterwards I carry my 2 cats on the trek to my car, then Tigger and drop the cats off at Mimi’s house. Even though my mom is joining us on this trip, my grandmother lives with her and agreed to watch them for us.

The next day I wait for DH to get home from work while I clean my entire house top to bottom, again from my excited energy about starting my vacation. DH gets home about 6 and we plop Tigger in the car and we are on our way. Tigger had been a great night traveler in the car before, but she apparently left that behavior behind at home. She was great in the car until about 10pm. She suddenly wakes up crying and won’t go back to sleep. We pull over, change her, feed her, etc. She goes back to sleep and wakes up again every half hour. For some reason, she just can’t stay asleep.

We knew ahead of time that we wouldn’t be able to drive straight through, so we start looking for a hotel at about 1am. No luck. We stop at two exits in South Carolina and everything is booked. Apparently there was a softball tournament in the area and they had booked all of the rooms. After our 8th hotel, we finally find a room. And yes, you should be suspect of any hotel that has rooms available if all of the ones around it are booked. We were too tired to care. By the time we check in it is 1:30 am. We set up DD’s pack n play and conk out.

We woke up at 8:30 and that’s when I really saw the tragedy that was our hotel. I took a shower with the curtain open because I was afraid it would touch me. It was so gross! We quick pack up our stuff and as we walk outside we see the pool isn’t even filled! We couldn’t wait to leave that hotel behind. :scared1:

We stopped for lunch in Jacksonville and while Tigger was playing in a McDonald’s playland we get a call from Mimi. The day before she couldn’t find one of our cats and then accidentally locked the cat in a spare bedroom overnight. Mimi happened to have had all of her clothes laid out on the bed in that room, ready to be packed. The cat peed all over the bed and her clothes. Mimi has expensive taste and some of her clothes were ruined even after washing them several times. We felt horrible! Mimi & Grandpa didn’t feel comfortable leaving the cats in the house, she thought they might pee in the room again since they had already marked it. They offer to pay to board the cats, Petsmat just needs our vet records saying the cats have their shots. Hmmm, the problems is they aren’t up on their shots. It has been a crazy year (as any first time parents know) and we kind of have neglected our cats shots since they are indoor pets. So we have to find someone to watch the cats at our house. A quick phone call to DH’s mom and she’s in- thankfully! Grandpa takes the cats back to our place and crisis averted.

The rest of our car ride to Sarasota was uneventful, thankfully. We arrived around 6 and my sis made us dinner and even let DD sleep in Roo’s crib (he bunked in a pack n play in their room). The next morning DBIL and sis even woke up with Tigger and let us sleep in. Awesome. We have time for a quick swim and then we head to Disney- FINALLY!

:drive: Just an hour and a half drive with darkening skies, but who cares, we’ll be in Disney by dinnertime! But would we need to build an ark to get there?

[GinnyBear's_mom]

So we had less than 50 miles to go on our ride from Sarasota to Disney and the skies opened up and it poured and poured. It rained so heavily that most cars were doing about 30 in a 65 mph zone. Eventually, I just couldn’t see anymore and we had to pull over. This storm will blow right over, we thought. If I had oars I would have paddled the car to Disney. We waited on the side of the road for about a half an hour. UGH!!! Finally the pouring sheets of rain slowed to a small waterfall from the sky and we continued on.

We met up with Mimi, Grandpa, DS, DBIL, Pooh and Roo at our 3 bedroom unit in Westgate. I had heard lots of bad things about the pressure their sales people put on you to buy their timeshares, but we never had anyone approach us.

We fed the kiddies and did what everyone with kids does on their first night in Disney- start off with a date night!! :rotfl2: We had bribed Mimi and Grandpa to babysit (I’ll reveal their bribe later on) and my sis, DBIL, DH and I went to DHS… :cloud9:

Coming up… Date Night #1 (oh yeah, we had more than 1 :hug:) at DHS

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Hmmmm, so our first day at Disney wasn't so much about the kids, but hey, they weren’t the ones who paid for the trip! :rotfl2:

DH, sis, DBIL and I took a cab (Caesar’s Taxi) a little after 6:30 to DHS. We had an 8:20 ADR at Sci Fi and knew we would only be able to go on a ride or two. Before leaving a few of us indulged in some vodka and cranberry. By the time we got in it was 7 and we headed to RnRC (DH and I didn’t get the chance on our last trip in 2007 since we didn’t want to wait 2 hours to ride it). This time the wait was only 40 minutes- not too bad! But before we got in line we found a CM walking around selling Bud and Bud Light, so we each grabbed one to make the wait in line a little more bearable :drinking1. Sis and I started talking about ToT and how sis hates free-fall rides but doesn’t mind ToT since it doesn’t do a straight free-fall, just a few stories at a time. I told her it was random and there was a possibility that it could do a free-fall from the top to the bottom. She disagreed. Anyway the line for RnRC moved pretty fast and I loved the ride. We realized we still had some time for ToT, which now only had a 20 minute wait.

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Afterwards it was time for Sci Fi. I had heard mixed reviews about the place but I knew DH would really dig the theme since he is a horror movie buff.

Disclaimer: Pictures of food really gross me out – ever since I became pregnant almost 2 years ago I can’t stomach pics of food, (Red Lobster commercials cause me to change the channel) so you’ll have to get your fix on the food porn threads.

Anyway, we started with onion rings and spinach artichoke dip. The onion rings rocked!! The spinach dip was just OK, even TGI Friday’s makes a better one. DH and I split the ribs, while sis and DBIL split the Beef and Blue Salad. Both meals were good, but the beans that came with the ribs tasted completely undercooked. You can get the ribs with a side of vegetable something or other but our waiter Kevan strongly recommended that we stay away from it.

inside Sci Fi Dine In
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DH and DBIL each had a few Blue Moons, I had a Lunar Landing (amaretto, peach schnapps and orange juice ) and sis had a Magical Star Cocktail (Organic Mango and Passion Fruit Liqueur, Parrot Bay Coconut Rum and Pineapple Juice). Both were awesome!! The Magical Star beat out the Lunar Landing just a smidge. And best of all DBIL and sis treated us to thank me for all of the planning I did for our Disney vacation- SCORE!!

my second Lunar Landing of the evening
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We got an Oribiting Oreo (Oreo shake mixed with Godiva chocolate liqueur) to go and headed in the direction of Toy Story- the wait was 100 minutes! It was 9:30 and the park was closing at 10 so we headed to ToT again. Fantasmic was just letting out and sis had to take a bathroom break and I watched as the wait for ToT went from 13 minutes to 30 right before my eyes. UGH! We rode ToT knowing the lines would be closed for any more rides by the time we were done. And guess what?! The ride went as it usually does- up, down, up, down, then we went to the bottom the ghosts appear signaling the end of the ride and it waits a few seconds and all of a sudden we go shooting back up to the top again, down to the bottom – it was a great way to end the night. We walked back to the exit and took a few pics by the sorcerer’s hat. We called the cab after the pics and they arrived in the taxi area just as we did.

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Coming up tomorrow- we finally let the toddlers experience Disney!! :woohoo:

[mickeystoontown]

What a great way to start a Disney vacation.....a little adult time without kids. Heck, what am I talking about? I've never had a moment alone at Disney without the kids. I guess I should have said, I envy you.:lmao:

[GinnyBear's_mom]

What a great way to start a Disney vacation.....a little adult time without kids. Heck, what am I talking about? I've never had a moment alone at Disney without the kids. I guess I should have said, I envy you.:lmao:

It was great to experience Disney on adult only time and kid time. DH and I are thinking about another trip with DD, but not the rest of our extended family. I guess we'll be back to the reality fo travelling with children- we were spoiled on this trip with all of our date nights!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Our first full day in Disney was finally here! We were getting things started right with a visit to MK and an ADR at Crystal Palace at 8:00 with a 9:00 rope drop.

We left our hotel at 7:15 (with plenty of time to spare- or so I thought) and we were the first row of cars in the TTC parking lot. We were on the monorail by 7:30 and then began the first of many monorail problems that we would experience during our stay. We sat for 10 minutes randomly on the track after we pulled away from the TTC waiting for clearance. Then when we got to MK the doors of the monorail wouldn’t open! Don’t they understand? -The clock is ticking people!! Then we hear the welcome message to new passengers on the monorail. People were seriously freaking out that we were going to pull away from the station without letting us out! Finally the doors open and we run up the gates- we are missing precious time to take pics of the castle and empty Main Street before our ADR. Mimi’s ticket is giving an error message, 2,3,4 times and they finally let her through. We take a few pictures by the castle and then head over to CP.


me, DH and Tigger
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so peaceful!
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The food was great! Highlights included the vegetable frittata, smoked salmon, French toast and quinoa. Tigger has a few allergies (as do Pooh and Roo), so I asked one of the chefs what was in the quinoa (for those of you who never had it, quinoa is a grain) it was cooked with honey, apples, apple juice, brown sugar and raisins and was very yummy. Tigger had the quinoa (minus the raisins), yogurt, bananas and broken up cheese cubes for breakfast. The bananas were not out on the buffet and we mentioned it to our server and she brought some over immediately and let the kitchen know they needed to put some out. My sister asked the chefs what was in the potato casserole and there wasn’t anything Roo couldn’t have. Well, something must have snuck in there that Roo was allergic too because about 2 minutes after eating he started getting the tell-tale red rash around his mouth and he got super cranky and began spitting up. Roo spent the next 20 minutes on the bathroom with his mommy. Not a good start to the day for him. But we coulnd’t stay worried too long- The characters were on their way! They were all great with the kids. They tickled them and played peek a boo, it was a blast! And best of all DD wasn’t the least bit afraid of them!


DD and Pooh
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At this point, my nephew had emerged from the bathroom and was not in a great mood and the characters put him over the edge. He flipped out when he saw Piglet. Poor Piglet! He covered his eyes and turned away, he felt so bad for making the baby cry.

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Tigger meets Tigger!
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My nephew started another round of spitting up and by this time he looked like he had poison ivy all over his mouth. By this point it was 9:00 and we had missed rope drop, but we were having fun (except for my youngest nephew and my sister of course) and didn’t mind. By the time we made it out of CP it was 9:30.

We had decided that today was going to be all about adventureland and Frontierland. The Magic Carpets of Aladdin was a 5 minute wait, but once we were loaded it was another 5 minute wait because someone had dropped their hat into the pool of water that surrounds the ride. We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean (another walk-on), I wasn't sure how Tigger would handle this ride since it is so dark, but she kept making her happy noises the whole time and I think she likes it more that Aladdin! Afterwards everyone but Grandpa and the kids went on Splash Mountain and BTMRR. They were both walk-ons. We made our way over to Country Bear Jamboree which the kids loved! My nephew Pooh (2 yrs) loved the bison head on the wall that talked. DD (1) clapped her hands whenever she heard the music. My nephew Roo used this time to get a well deserved nap and when the show was over, his rash was also gone.

Pooh, My sister and Mimi on Magic Carpets
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Country Bear Jamboree
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My sister and DBIL and Mimi decided to head back to the hotel, I think my sis was fried after the food allergy issue. It was about 11:15 and we decided to check out the Barbershop on Main Street to see if the wait would be too long for DD’s first haircut. We only had to wait about 25 minutes and we got to listen to the Dapper Dans which was a bonus. Our hairdresser worked her magic on our bouncing Tigger- she barely moved an inch during the haircut and of course she got covered in stickers and received her “First Haircut” Mickey ears and a certificate. We left the MK about 12pm to head back to the hotel for a nap.

Dapper Dans at the Barbershop

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Resting on Grandpa on the monorail after a long day
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[mickeystoontown]

Oh my goodness can it get any sweeter?!?! What beautiful memories and you're just now on your first full day at Disney.

[cmfranklyn]

So cute! Love the 9-18 month age! Can't wait for more!
Carole

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Oh my goodness can it get any sweeter?!?! What beautiful memories and you're just now on your first full day at Disney.

This first full day made all of the months of planning worthwhile :goodvibes. I had a difficult pregnancy and C-section last year and I when it got really bad I would visualize everything we would be doing in Disney to help make me feel better. It was unbelievable to finally get to experience all of the things that I had planned for so long :)

So cute! Love the 9-18 month age! Can't wait for more!


You should definitely get your fill of toddlers in this TR! Thanks for joining!

[that's nice]

Hi,
I just found your TR. You have some really great pics. I can't wait to hear more!:goodvibes

Tim

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Hi,
I just found your TR. You have some really great pics. I can't wait to hear more!:goodvibes

Tim

Thanks for reading along!

[jana616]

I'm in! We go 45 days from today, and your TR is getting me so excited! Can't wait to read more!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

On our second full day (Tuesday) we went to AK (our first of 2 days we would be spending there). We were there for rope drop and the morning crowds definitely seemed heavier than the ones at MK the day before, but not too many people seemed to be headed where we were. AK was a recommended park to visit that day according to touring plans.
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We headed over to Asia and DBIL, DH, my sister and I got in line for EE while Grandpa and Mimi found a shadey spot for the kids.
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We spoke with a CM regarding child swap procedures for the ride (Mimi and Grandpa said they wanted to ride too) and we were told to go through the ride, then go to the cashier in the EE store for a child swap pass. This really didn’t sound right to me, but we went through the line. While in line we were talking about child swap again and the family in front of us said they had received their child swap passes for EE the day before from the CM in front of the ride. We maybe had 10 people in line behind us so my sister decided to go back and clarify the issue with the CM. She said “excuse me” to the people in line behind us and went to see the CM, who apologized to her for the confusion and gave my sister child swap passes. My sister came back about 3 minutes later and said “excuse me” again to those in line and came to meet us in line. The family behind us started flipping out, saying that my sister should be thrown out of the park for cutting in line. My sis explained she was in line and came back and the husband is cursing at my sister (in front of his 2 elementary school children) that she is lying. The man turns to the people behind him (like they wanted to get dragged into this) and asks if my sister was in line and left. They agreed that my sis was there, then left and came back and told the man that he should probably calm down -now the man and his wife are screaming that the people behind them must be our friends. We just turned around and stopped listening to them. Every once in a while they would make a peep about how “line cutting should get you thrown out of the parks” and that we were lucky they weren’t going to tell on us. Fun start to the day. :rolleyes1

The yeti was motionless (no swooping today) but the ride still rocked. After we rode, Grandpa chickened out so Mimi and my sister used the child swap passes. We (Mimi, DH, DBIL and I) then headed over to Kali River Rapids which was a walk-on. We got SOAKED! But we were dry by the time we finished walking through Maharajah Jungle Trek. Instead of pushing Tigger in her stroller all day, we decided to use our Chicco baby backpack so she could be up high and see everything. She loved it!! And when DH (who wore the backpack) was on the rides the backpack could "stand" so she didn't have to be taken in and out.
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Mimi & Pooh walking through the Jungle Trek
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We headed over to Dinoland (which seemed deserted) and waited just a few minutes for Triceratop Spin. My sister wanted to see the Nemo show, but since it is 40 minutes long and we were clsing in on lunchtime and naptime, we decided to forego it. Plus, we knew we were seeing the Festival of the Lion King on Thursday. It was getting pretty hot at this point (it was almost 11:30) so we decided to head back to the hotel. On our way out we were surprised to see DeVine- pictures don't do her justice!!

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The kids spent the rest of the day napping and then in the hotel pool. The adults needed lots of rest since Wednesday was going to be spent drinking around the world in EPCOT!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

The original plan for Wednesday, our only EPCOT day was for DH, DBIL, my sister and I to drink around the world from 11 until dinner while Mimi and Grandpa watched the kids (and yes, the bribe we gave them really was worth the amount of babysitting they did- stay tuned for Thursday to find out what it was!). We chose to drink during the day because we had 8:15am ADRs at Tusker House the next day and didn’t want to be fighting off a hangover . I had made ADRs for the Biergarten at 12:05 and Le Cellier at 4:20. The two meals were scheduled closer together than I would have liked, but I figured with all of the drinking we would be starving. At around 8am my sister tells me she would rather wait until the evening to go to EPCOT which bummed me and DH out since we had really been looking forward to lunch at the Biergarten and I was looking forward to the mouse/moose at Le Cellier.

Mimi and Grandpa then decided to join us in the morning at EPCOT and then we would return after lunch and go back in the evening with DBIL and my sister. I cancelled my Le Cellier ADRs :headache: (it nearly killed me to do it) and we were on our way to Future World. We got there about 9:15 and saw some interesting skywriting…
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We quick got in line for Soarin’ which was posted as a 40 minute wait and we maybe waited about 20 minutes. I love the pics that they project on the screens while you are waiting in line. I’m thinking of taking the trees from the one pic to use in a mural in our next baby’s room (ETA: about 2 years).

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Close-up on the trees for our future baby's room

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A few more scenes from Soarin'
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Grandpa LOVED this ride, and wanted to hop right back in line but we wanted to have enough time to explore the World Showcase before our ADR. Since DH loves aquariums and the ride was a walk-on, we headed over to Nemo- the ride was stopped briefly in a very dark spot and a child in the clamshell next to us was getting very upset at being in the dark for so long. After about 5 minutes we got going again and after the ride we explored the aquarium for a bit.

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Dory and Nemo!
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By this time it was 11 so we headed over to the World Showcase.


EPCOT was absolutely dead that morning, so we had a nice leisurely stroll in and out of the shops. In England’s toy store they had my absolute favorite candy bar- a Crunchie!! :lovestruc For those of you who haven’t had one it is honeycomb wrapped in chocolate. It is very hard to find them where I live- I fell in love with them during my spring break in London my freshman year in college. I never could wake up early enough to make breakfast at our hotel before our tours of the city began, so I would grab a Crunchie candy bar from a vending machine in the hotel lobby. At the toy store it cost about $2.50, but I probably would have paid $5 for it! They also had a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine accessories on clearance – about 30 to 50% off regular price. The only ones I can remember seeing were the water tower and a turntable type gizmo for the tracks.

It was about 11:30 in this pic and England was deserted
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While in Germany we saw a CM pruning the bushes of the miniature railroad town. He has to clip them all with scissors!!! It looked like back-breaking work, but if course he said (in a thick German accent) that he didn’t mind the work. We went to the Biergarten at 11:45 and checked in and received one of those blinky “your table is ready” alert thingys and we explored the rest of Germany. The blinky worked throughout all of Germany. We saw crazy expensive cuckoo clocks (the large ones in the pic cost $1800!).

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Our blinky thing went off while we were in the German Christmas store and we were introduced to a couple with 2 elementary school children. They were our table mates and we were the first ones seated that day! Before seating they ask if you can climb steps since there is tiered seating so all can see the band. Nils was our waiter and he said he enjoyed the food, he was from Northern Germany and this was mainly food from Southern Germany so it wasn’t what he was used to eating. DH had the beer flight, Grandpa had 16 oz becks which was in a specific type of beer glass that made it looked like WAY more than 16oz. We really enjoyed the pork shank gratin- awesome, and the jaegersauce over the pork veinerschnitzel. The spaetzel was drier than others that I have had in German restaurants. Red cabbage was very good as was potato leek soup. We stayed an extra 15 minutes or so after we had finished eating to see the Oompah Band and they were entertaining. The desserts were OK, not as good as the main course. We all loved our meal.

DH said this was his favorite meal of the trip
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We headed back to the hotel so we could rest up a bit before heading back to EPCOT to drink around the world that evening :drinking1:drinking1:drinking1:drinking1.

[GinnyBear's_mom]

I'm in! We go 45 days from today, and your TR is getting me so excited! Can't wait to read more!

Yay! Thanks for joining me on my TR :yay:

[that's nice]

We spoke with a CM regarding child swap procedures for the ride (Mimi and Grandpa said they wanted to ride too) and we were told to go through the ride, then go to the cashier in the EE store for a child swap pass. This really didn’t sound right to me, but we went through the line. While in line we were talking about child swap again and the family in front of us said they had received their child swap passes for EE the day before from the CM in front of the ride. We maybe had 10 people in line behind us so my sister decided to go back and clarify the issue with the CM. She said “excuse me” to the people in line behind us and went to see the CM, who apologized to her for the confusion and gave my sister child swap passes. My sister came back about 3 minutes later and said “excuse me” again to those in line and came to meet us in line. The family behind us started flipping out, saying that my sister should be thrown out of the park for cutting in line. My sis explained she was in line and came back and the husband is cursing at my sister (in front of his 2 elementary school children) that she is lying. The man turns to the people behind him (like they wanted to get dragged into this) and asks if my sister was in line and left. They agreed that my sis was there, then left and came back and told the man that he should probably calm down -now the man and his wife are screaming that the people behind them must be our friends. We just turned around and stopped listening to them. Every once in a while they would make a peep about how “line cutting should get you thrown out of the parks” and that we were lucky they weren’t going to tell on us. Fun start to the day. :rolleyes1


You gotta love ppl like this. Didn't they see your sister pass them on the way back out? These ppl need to just chill out. Nice example cursing in front of his young kids. Thats where you just have to keep smiling and just ignore them!!!!:goodvibes

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Thats where you just have to keep smiling and just ignore them!!!!:goodvibes

I think sometimes people like this WANT to argue! Maybe they are used to having stress at work and go through withdrawl on vacation :sad2:

[GinnyBear's_mom]

EPCOT part 2…

Mimi and Grandpa stayed behind to watch the grandkids while we (DBIL, sister, DH and I) left for our second helping of EPCOT around 6 and since we knew we’d be drunk as skunks by the time we were finished drinking around the world we took a cab. The other three can hold their liquor, but since I had my daughter a few years ago I am a lightweight and I knew I couldn’t have my own drink from every country (at least not in only 3 hours) so my sister and I agreed to split a few. I should also mention my sister got a leg up on the drinking around the world race by drinking a few vodka and cranberries before we left. I convinced everyone to stop in Club Cool. I love the apple soda from Mexico- when I lived there I drank it all the time and even brought a few liter bottles home in my luggage (thankfully they sell it around me now). No one at this point knew anything about Beverly except for me. I didn’t want to spring the nastiness of Beverly on them right away so we tried all of the other flavors first, then I said, “Oh, I don’t think we’ve tried this one from Italy yet”. :rotfl: My sister was first and thankfully DH and DBIL weren’t nearby at the time. So as each person tried it they were completely unaware of the horrible taste! Although there isn’t a picture I DID try it. That lovely aftershave aftertaste stayed in my mouth until we hit Canada.

My sister, she just loved Beverly :lmao:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/Disney%202009/7-15-09282.jpg

DH of course wanted seconds... :laughing:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/Disney%202009/7-15-09286.jpg


DBIL enjoying Beverly :rotfl2:
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Speaking of Canada, DBIL and DH each had a Moosehead I believe and my sister and I split a Toronotopolitan. It was a little too sticky sweet for me.

DBIL and sis enjoying their Canadian drinks
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In England we sat at the bar at The Rose and Crown. I had a rum and Coke, while the rest of the gang had Irish Car bombs. The bartender set the Guinness down and gave them their shot glasses, he told them to start drinking when he rang the bell. They all chugged and when the first person finished (DBIL) the bartender rang the bell again and everyone at the bar cheered for the winner. We took a few pics in the telephone booth on the way out of England.

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Hey look, a picture of me! How rare :rotfl:(with DH and sis)
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We sauntered on over to France and my sister and I split the Limoncello slushie drink, while DH and DBIL each had a Kronenburg I think. No pics, but the slushie was awesome!! Onto Morocco where we saw Jasmine and Aladdin (their line was loooooong) and my sister and I each had a Sultan’s Colada. The almond liquor they put on the top was really good addition to a pina colada and I think I might try it at home before the summer is over. The guys had Casa beer, which they said tasted like a week lager. Not bad, but not great.

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We wobbled into Japan which is where a lot of people probably get into trouble when drinking around the world. I was drinking mixed drinks only (no mixing with beer for me- Tigger had to have at least one parent without a hangover the next day in AK). Japan presents a problem since they don’t have any mixed drinks so you either have to skip the country or divert from your plan. At Yakitori I decided to split a plum wine with my sister- it was disgusting, but that may be due to the fact that the Sultan’s Colada which I drank before it was really sweet. Another problem with Japan is the sake. Just going into Japan and trying sake is no problem, but when you put it into your drinking around the world beverage choices it can become a problem. DH is a little drunk at this point and decides to get the sake despite my warnings about it not fitting in with all of the beer he’s had. DBIL had an Ichiban. We saw the candy lady who was making a monkey eating a banana and then we watched pick a pearl for a while. We probably spent the most time in Japan because DH was IN LOVE with the store there- He found over $1000 worth of stuff he would have liked to buy.

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Pick a pearl
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DBIL and sis enjoying Ichiban and plum wine
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It started thundering and getting VERY windy as we made our way into the American Pavilion so we took cover at the Liberty Inn. We were starving by this point so DH and I split a bacon cheeseburger which came with about 10 fries. Since we were in a new country it was time to get a new drink, but DH was still nursing his sake and was feeling a bit nauseous from drinking it. DBIL solved the problem by chugging the sake. GROSS!! DH, DBIL and my sister each had a Sam Adams while I just had a few sips of DH’s beer. It started raining a little while we were at the Liberty Inn, but we didn’t want to waste the whole night away in there. So we decided to move on.

Next was Italy where my sister and I each had an Italian margarita which were awesome!! The guys had some sort of beer, but Italy is when my mind started going a little fuzzy, so forgive me for forgetting some details! Onto Germany, where DH and I had already spilt the beer flight in Biergarten during lunch so we figured that counted. Plus, we were going through the countries so quickly in an effort to get through them before they closed that we were starting to pay the price. DBIL and sister had some Beck’s beer (or something). Our equilibrium was now waaaaaay off as we entered China. We took a little break and had some eggrolls at a cart and then had what I thought was the best drink of the evening – a Canta Loopey (not sure of the spelling). My sister had her own and the boys each had a Tsing Tao. We wandered into Norway but we didn’t see any place selling drinks, and the whole time my brain was just shouting “School bread!! School bread!!” so we went into the bakery where DH and I of course shared the school bread and DBIL and sis shared a big candy covered pretzel. We all agreed the school bread was way better than the pretzel. Finally, we crawled into Mexico where my sister and I split a mango margarita (it was HUGE!!) and the boys each had a Dos Equis.

DH, DBIL and sis
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If you wonder why I am not in many pics- this is what happens when you let other people use your camera when they have been drinking- what a lovely tree!
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/Disney%202009/7-15-09338.jpg

In Mexico
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One thing I can say about the mixed drinks in EPCOT- they are strong! I thought they’d be like cruise ship drinks where you can barely taste the alcohol. Not at all!!

We had to sit down to finish off our Mexican drinks (I think there was a fifth of tequila in the margarita) and the lighting and thunder kicked up again. I realized that Illuminations was going to start at 9. Since we originally didn’t plan on being in EPCOT late at night I didn’t know what the schedule would be, so we were happy to “accidentally” catch the show. The storm gave quite a light show as well.

Self-portrait of the 4 of us
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[GinnyBear's_mom]

We didn’t have a great view of Illuminations (especially considering I didn’t even know it was going to happen) but we did get some cool pics.

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And our final pic of EPCOT for the night.
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Coming up…after a night of drinking an 8:15 ADR at Tusker House!! I promise- the kids will actually be in this part of the TR :laughing: and Mimi and Grandpa are finally rewarded for their hours of babysitting!

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I'm soooooo excited to find your TR...I adore reading them when they involve lil ones. Mine are 2 and we're headed to the World around Thanksgiving (HOPEFULLY...if it doesn't work out, then we'll be there in Feb., the original plan) ANYWAYS...adorable kids and GREAT drinks...try the Grey Goose slush next time! AMAZING!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Wow- TWINS! Soldier's*Sweeties I'd love to see a TR from you, I'm always amazed at people who have multiples :worship: since I can barely keep it together with just 1 child! And come to think of it, that drink may have been the Grey Goose Slushie. I know we were debating for awhile what to get and my memory is a little fuzzy from that day :rotfl:

[jessily]

Love your stories from drinking around the world. One of our favorite ways to spend a day in Epcot is wandering through the countries drinking and eating as much as we can. Can't wait to read more!

[that's nice]

I never have drank around the whole world... just part of it. LOL

I might have to set a goal for our March trip.

Car bombs are the ...errrrr.... well... the bomb!!!!!!!!;)

[GinnyBear's_mom]

After drinking on Wednesday night, we had an ADR bright and early at Tusker House at 8:15 in AK. Of course Tigger decided to have one of her worst night’s sleep in months (I think due to a growth spurt). At around 2am I was feeding her a banana and she ate the entire thing! Tigger got up again at 4:30am and 6am so needless to say I barely got any sleep! :headache:

We all headed over to AK in our 2 separate cars and DH, Grandpa, Tigger and I pull into our parking spot, but we don’t see the other car that everyone else in our family is traveling in. We wait and wait, finally we give my sister a call and found out that they were randomly given a special parking pass and were allowed to park by the taxis. AK didn’t open for over an hour, so we all thought it was a waste to give out that parking pass so early :confused3, but it was a nice bit of fairy dust anyway. Our parking spot was maybe a 2 minute walk further than the special parking spot my sister had (they were told to follow a blue line painted on the roadway to their spot by the taxis).

When we went through the entrance at AK they did make sure to cross our names off of a list for Tusker House. We headed for the Tree of Life and took a few pics, then we were off to TH.
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I checked in at TH and gave our name and we were told to stand in line for “the picture”. There must have been about 6 or 7 families in line and we had 3 children who just wanted to eat and as you can see from our photos the three of them rarely are looking at the camera when the picture is taken so I kindly refused the photo. The CM didn’t seem to happy about that, but she led us to another CM that took us to our table.

The food was good but there were very few CMs behind the buffet, whereas there were plenty at Crystal Palace. I had questions about the ingredients in a few dishes, but there wasn’t anyone to ask, so DD had to eat a relatively bland meal: plain oatmeal, a banana and plain yogurt. I would have liked to add one of their fruit chutneys to the yogurt, but even after tasting the chutney myself I couldn’t determine what was in it and I didn’t want an allergy incident like we had at Crystal Palace with my nephew Roo. The adults enjoyed the ham at the carving station (excellent!) and DH really liked the sausage gravy. There was also a good casserole with a cornbread topping, I think it had a hash underneath. Would have loved to give this to Tigger, but I didn’t know if they had used eggs to make it and we never saw our server after we received our juice until we got the check.

Tigger waiting patiently for breakfast
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Tigger, me, Pooh and Donald
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DH, Tigger, Daisy, my sis and Pooh
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Honking Mickey's nose
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The character interactions were short, the only one that took time to “play” with the kids was Daisy. The other ones left right after we gathered for our group photos. The tables at TH are very close together and Daisy kept hitting me with her butt while she was at the next table.

When I made my ADRs the CM asked “What will you be celebrating this trip” and I said we were celebrating Tigger’s first birthday. But I also let the CM know her birthday will have passed by the time we got to Disney. Apparently, the CM arranged for TH to help us celebrate DD’s birthday- they brought over a cupcake and a card signed by all of the characters at TH which was a nice surprise.

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Tigger and Daddy blow out the candle
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a special birthday kiss
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After breakfast, DBIL and my sis went and picked up fastpasses for everyone while the grandparents, DH and I took the kids over to Camp Minnie Mickey to wait for the Festival of the Lion King to begin at 10. We left TH at 9:15 so we knew we had plenty of time. As we were walking to the theater we saw Pocahontas and Miko! There wasn’t any line so we stopped and chatted for a little bit.

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We headed to the theater and waited for about 15 minutes and we got pretty good seats. Since the Festival of the Lion King is a short show it was perfect for the kids. Pooh and Tigger really enjoyed it, but I think Roo slept.

Waiting for the show to begin
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Afterwards we used our fastpasses for the Safari, but we had to wait about 20-30 minutes due to some problem they were having. No trucks were leaving with passengers and we never found out what the problem was. We all enjoyed the Safari, most of the animals were too far away for Tigger to see, so she played peek-a-boo with Grandpa and laughed hysterically for most of the ride :cutie:

Tigger laughing with Grandpa- very fuzzy, but still a funny picture
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After the Safari, we walked through Africa, then headed back to the hotel. But we weren’t staying there for long, my mom, my sister and I were headed out to tea at the Grand Floridian! :woohoo:

[annnewjerz]

Hi! :wave2:

Just wanted to pop in to say that I have really been enjoying your TR so far. Drinking around The World sounds great (in theory), but I know that if I tried that I would spend half the night sleeping on a bench in the World Showcase. :rotfl2:

And I have to say, your DD is so cute. :cutie: The pictures with her and the characters are adorable and the picture of her giggling on the safari in AK, awwwwwww!!

Can't wait to hear more!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Thanks annnewjerz- love to hear from a fellow Jersey girl! :banana:

[annnewjerz]

Where abouts in NJ are you guys from? Didn't even know I was reading the TR of a fellow NJian, didn't see it mentioned in your introduction---otherwise I would have commented much sooner ;)

[GinnyBear's_mom]

I'm in the deep south- near Cherry Hill, how about you?

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Since my mom, sister and I didn’t get to celebrate Mother’s Day together, I planned a mommies only tea at the Grand Floridian for us :dance3:. We had 2:20 ADRs and arrived a bit early so we wandered around the clothing shop that is next to the Tea Room at GF. I’m not much of a Lilly Pulitzer or Tommy Bahama fan, so there wasn’t much there that interested me, but my mom and my sister loved the store! Mimi bought a pair of Mickey fit flops in brown ($50). They looked really comfy, but I broke my right foot straight across two summers in a row and my foot still acts a little funny sometimes, so most flip flops are out of the question for me. The CM at the GF said that the fit flops are their top seller and they usually sell about 1 every hour. My sis thought about buying them, but decided against it and it was finally time for our tea. We each had the Grand Tea. I accidentally forgot my license at the hotel and our server almost didn’t let me have the sparkling wine! She said I could substitute sparkling yk from Mimi, the server finally relented and let me have the wine. Our first course was tea sandwiches- chicken salad, shrimp salad, duck pate with cherries, pear and gorgonzola sandwich and an onion tart. The onion tart was our favorite and I enjoyed eating everything. My sister didn’t even want to touch the duck pate, it did look unappetizing, but it actually was tasty. Next up was Devonshire cream, a little package of jam with a yellow raisin scone and a strawberry tart. I was surprised that you didn’t get a little scoop of jam. The jam packet looked like what you would get at a diner, but it was all super yummy. Lastly, we had a choice of trifle, strawberries and cream or 2 of the following: a large chocolate covered strawberry, éclair, a pastry swan filled with pistachio cream or a lemon tart. I had the lemon tart and pistachio cream swan, my sister had an éclair and the lemon tart and my mom had the strawberries and cream. The whole meal was very good and definitely worth $25. Oh, and I had the lemon verbena tea- also very good!
After the tea, my sister decided she had to go back and get the Mickey fit flops.

We returned to our hotel at about 4 and I had a little nap. At about 5 we all hopped back into the cars and went to Downtown Disney. Mimi and Grandpa finally got their reward for all of the babysitting they did on the trip- tickets to La Nouba! I decided that I wanted to have some alone time with DH and Tigger, so my sister and her family went on their own.

DH fell in love with the LEGO store and I had to pull him out after 30 minutes. Tigger, DH and I then went off to Once Upon a Toy and I got a Mr. Potato Head box for $20. I searched and searched but couldn’t find a Mickey ice-cream bar and that’s the piece I wanted the most. I dug through the area that had a zillion accessories and at the very bottom I found one! I repacked my box 2 times before I was finally happy with all of the pieces that I got. I found the Dumbo ears right before I went up to the register and had a heck of a time getting them to fit!

A dino made of Legos
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We then went over to Earl of Sandwich- in our opinion this is way better than Panera and we wish we had an EoS closer to us! I had the Hawaiian chicken sandwich and DH had an Italian sandwich. We were surprised that we got a seat considering it was dinnertime.

Tigger enjoys Cheerios and a little chicken from mommy's sandwich
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Next we got Tigger’s silhouette done, it looked so good when it was finished! I think that cost $12 and we got three copies. We decided against buying the frame because it looked like one I could get a lot cheaper at home.

Getting her silhouette cut out
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Before we went home, we went to Goofy’s candy company. We got a Mickey head dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in sprinkles and drizzled with more dark chocolate. We met up with everyone and headed back to the hotel. DH and I split our treat from Goofy’s while watching Wishes from our hotel. :cool1:

[annnewjerz]

I'm in the deep south- near Cherry Hill, how about you?

Oh that's not the deep south unless you're one of those dreaded North Jersians! ;) :rotfl2:

We're in Burlington, only about 20 minutes and a few exits on 295 north of you.

Edited to add: How did everyone like La Nouba? We have tickets for our trip in December (a birthday present for my Mom) and it'll be the first Cirque show we've seen. Can't wait!

[Trinity524]

I am here....popcorn::

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Oh that's not the deep south unless you're one of those dreaded North Jersians! ;) :rotfl2:

We're in Burlington, only about 20 minutes and a few exits on 295 north of you.

That's too funny, we live so close! We're so different from those North Jersians, I'm all for South Jersey seceding into a seperate state :lmao:

How did everyone like La Nouba? We have tickets for our trip in December (a birthday present for my Mom) and it'll be the first Cirque show we've seen. Can't wait

My mom and stepdad really liked it- they've seen a few Cirque shows and they rated this one very highly. My sister has seen a few too and said La Nouba was her favorite. I saw one when I was pregnant way up in North Jersey and I guess my new motherly instincts started to kick in because I was scared for the performers the whole time that they might fall or hurt themselves that I was distracted from enjoying the show! That is so not my personality so I chalked it up to hormones :rotfl:

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Our last full day in Disney was all about the kids :grouphug:. We arrived at MK just after rope-drop and it was dead! DH wanted to go on Haunted Mansion before we got sucked into Fantasyland and HM was a walk on. We got seated in our cart on the ride and that’s when we realize Tigger needed her diaper changed. She added the scent of something rotting to the ride. Ew, not fun! :scared1:

our last full day :sad1:
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one of the ghosts from HM, and before anyone gets mad obviously we didn't use flash
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/7-17-09179.jpg

We went over to Fantasyland and rode Dumbo (only a 5 minute wait). While we were waiting I noticed the wait for Ariel had already risen to 45 minutes! This was only at about 9:30. Next we headed to Cinderella’s Carousel and rode twice since it was a walk on. The rest of the crew wanted to do Mickey’s PhilharMagic, but I didn’t think Tigger would be able to sit through it, so we went to the Tinkerbell store instead where I picked up a cool Tinkerbell keychain that clips onto your purse so you can easily find your keys- great for me since I am ALWAYS losing my keys in my purse and diaperbag. We only saw that keychain at the Tinkerbell store and on the 2nd floor gift shop at the Poly the following day and we had searched all over WDW to find the perfect keychain for me. We met up with the gang few minutes later. My 2 year old nephew Pooh absolutely loved Philharmagic :3dglasses and so did all of the adults, so I was kind of sorry we had missed it. Maybe on our next trip Tigger will be able to enjoy it.

This is Fantasyland at about 10am on a non EMH day
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Waiting for Philharmagic to start
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/Dougscamera088-1.jpg

Tigger and mommy on the Carousel
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Mimi and Pooh
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On Dumbo- love this picture:hug:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/7-17-09194.jpg
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Playing dress up in Tinkerbell's store
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Next we rode Small World and Tigger had a blast. She really loves the water, even the sound of it makes her laugh. My nephews needed a potty visit, but the lines were so short in Fantasyland we wanted to take advantage of it, so we left them and moved on. We rode Pooh next and I have to say, I didn’t like it. I felt it was jerky and rough and thank goodness DD is too young to know what was going on, I think my 2 year old nephew would have been a little scared. I didn’t know it was more like the Many Adventures of Pooh’s Acid Trips! I had read a lot about the rides I had ridden here on DISboards and I never once read how weird this ride was. I told my sister about the ride afterwards and she decided it might not be a great choice for my nephews. We all rode Peter Pan next and when we came out the marching band was playing.

Small World
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It was about 92 degrees, the band must have been roasting!
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We realized it was almost 11 at this point and we wanted to be back at the hotel around noon so the kids could nap, so we left Fantasyland. We headed towards Main Street so my nephew Pooh could get his hair cut. On our way out of the park, DH asked where the Toy Story ride was since he had so much fun on it the last time we were there. So DH, Mimi, Tigger and I headed over to Tomorrowland and saw the line was only 5 minutes for Buzz’s Space Ranger Spin. Buzz was also outside and his line was looooooooong, too bad for DH, he loves Buzz. DD laughed and laughed on the ride, so we were glad we went on it. We met up with the rest of the crew at the Barbershop, there wasn’t any wait at all! We all headed out of MK, when I realized that I still had to mail postcards! I told my sister’s family not to wait up since we wouldn’t be that far behind.

on Buzzhttp://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/tess_scott/7-17-09260-1.jpg
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my nephew enjoyed his haircut!
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I remembered that there are mailboxes on Main Street and I mailed the 2 postcards to DISboard members since I had promised to be their fairy godmothers :wizard:. The mailboxes on Main Street don’t really look like mailboxes at all, so my mom and I were looking at them (I had a really dumb moment and couldn’t figure out how to open the mailbox) and DH was apparently off in his own world and started walking away. Now by this point it is almost noon and there are huge crowds just arriving at MK. I’m still thinking this point that he is right behind us. That’s when I see Chip and Dale come out with their handler onto a little alcove by City Hall and there wasn’t any line:yay:!! I can hear the handler actually saying- who wants their picture with Chip and Dale? ME, ME, ME!!! I mean, for DD of course, so my mom and I run up with DD and we are first in line- woo hoo :banana:. We get there, the handler asks if I want him to take our picture- sure! Just let me get my… oh crap, DH has the camera :eek: and that’s when I realize he isn’t behind us anymore! UGH! So we walk around and finally find DH under the railroad. Grrrrr. DH offered to walk back with us, but by this point the 2,000 people that just came in apparently all love Chip and Dale too and they got in line as well. . Now I definitely have something that has to go on my list of things to do on our next visit. Get a picture with Chip and Dale!!

Coming up next…our last night in WDW, we finally see Wishes and Spectromagic!

[that's nice]

That sounds like a great day at MK. I can't believe how non-existent the crowds were! It seems like you were taking your time and enjoying yourself (breaks for naps). When we went when DD was 2, we stayed in the parks from morning till night.(park commandos) LOLOL This was a kid that always had her naps. She did good though.. passing out a few times in the stroller!:goodvibes

[GinnyBear's_mom]

At the last minute, DH decided to take the rest of his vacation time during my summer vacation :cool1: When I asked him where he wanted to go he said he wanted to go to Florida to spend time with my sister and her family and spend as much time at the beach as possible. Sounds good to me! Of course, since we will only be 1.5 hours from Disney we will stop by there on the way home. We can't afford to visit the parks but we managed to get a last minute ADR at Chef Mickey's and we plan on visiting Downtown Disney- I can't wait :banana:. Two Disney trips in a month- AWESOME!:dance3:So I'll be taking a brief break from my TR until we return from this trip. I'll post again this weekend!

[cjlemoine]

Great TR, I really like the idea of some adult time in the parks. I think for our next trip we may bring a stitter with us.

On our trip for Mardi Gras, I used a Snugli and carried the little one around on my back and thought it was wonderful especially when waiting in some lines.

[jana616]

Still loving your TR! We leave in 33 days, and I can't wait, although now I'm nervous about the Pooh ride!

Can you tell me where in DTD the silhouette lady was? That's the one souvenir on my must do list, and I want to make sure I don't miss her. I heard you get an extra copy there compared to MK. Thanks!

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Great TR, I really like the idea of some adult time in the parks. I think for our next trip we may bring a stitter with us.

On our trip for Mardi Gras, I used a Snugli and carried the little one around on my back and thought it was wonderful especially when waiting in some lines.

The BabyBjorn was great for my youngest nephew and it really saved my sister's arms from having to hold him while waiting in line, especially when we had to wait awhile due to the problem on the Safari. I did read one person on the boards who was warning people against wearing baby carriers (They saw someone fall with one and the mom and the baby were injured), but you can trip and fall while holding your baby in your arms as well! I wish DD could use our Baby Bjorn but she has serious skin issues. I wore her in a baby bjorn for about an hour when she was 5 months old and and she got a rediculous rash (she was even wearing pants) tht didn't go away for weeks. Our doctor advised us not to use it anymore but we were still able to use our sling. I think anyone bringing a non walker should bring either a sling or a front baby carrier, like you said they really help when you have to wait in line :thumbsup2

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Still loving your TR! We leave in 33 days, and I can't wait, although now I'm nervous about the Pooh ride!

Can you tell me where in DTD the silhouette lady was? That's the one souvenir on my must do list, and I want to make sure I don't miss her. I heard you get an extra copy there compared to MK. Thanks!


The silhouette cart was near Once upon a toy and the Pin store. You actually have to pay for the silhouette at the Pin store (I guess she doesn't have credit card access?) and bring the receipt that you paid over to the cart before she will begin.

Since most people on the boards seem to love the Pooh ride, don't worry, maybe we are the weird ones since we didn't like it! It just wasn't what I expected, I thought it would be like a cart ride through the 100 acre woods and it certainly wasn't. Here's a video of the ride I found on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJIpa_ZXug It isn't really Winnie the Pooh "cute" until the last 30 seconds of the ride.

[GinnyBear's_mom]

So we had a great quick day trip to WDW, so back to the TR for our July trip...

After dinner at the hotel, the adults decided to spend one more night at DTD. DBIL volunteered to stay behind with the kids since he hates shopping. We spent most of our times in the Christmas shop and all of us combined bought 15 ornaments! We love Christmas in our family. I had to stop at Goofy’s Candy Co because I am now officially addicted to their rice krispy treats. We picked up one for the ride back home to Jersey (dipped in dark chocolate and pecans and then drizzled with caramel- it was like one of those chocolate turtles.

While we were in Goofy’s we got a call from DBIL that we had to come back to the hotel immediately. My nephew Pooh had taken DBIL’s key card and hid it. In our hotel we had a 2 bedroom unit connected to a 1 bedroom unit. While he was babysitting he had kept all of the kids in the larger 2 bedroom unit since there was a big living room. However, Roo’s formula, Pooh’s dinner and the boys’ diapers were in the other 1 bedroom unit. My DD wears cloth diapers due to a skin allergy so she wasn’t affected, but the boys were hungry and in dirty diapers so when Pooh lost the key card all holy heck broke loose. DBIL had called maintenance an hour before he called us and told them his predicament- apparently the person who answered the phone LAUGHED at DBIL. There were 3 kids screaming in the background (when one kid cries they all cry) and the maintenance staff at the Westgate didn’t feel this was an emergency at all. My sister called Westgate maintenance and gave them a piece of her mind as we were driving back and not surprisingly, they unlocked the door for DBIL about 5 minutes later.

We managed to calm all of the kids down and get them to bed. Mimi and Grandpa stayed behind while the rest of us headed out to see Wishes and the second Spectromagic parade. It would be close, it was 9:15 and Wishes started at 10. We headed to the TTC and got on the monorail- as it pulled into the station the doors didn’t open. Then, the air turned off and the hum of the monorail stopped. We heard someone on the outside PA calling for someone (Ron, John, Tom?) It was muffled since we were inside the monorail car. The person started telling Ron, John or Tom that the monorail lost voltage. It was now 9:50 and people in our car started freaking out that they were going to miss Wishes. I started to feel a bit claustrophobic and a few of us even started looking around for the emergency exit (the window). The CMs in the station were outside of the cars telling the passengers to remain calm. After almost 10 minutes the doors finally opened and we all RAN to Main Street to check out Wishes. It started about 2 seconds after we got our spot.

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I love the heart fireworks!:lovestruc
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After Wishes we went up closer to the castle to see Spectromagic. This is one of the only things (besides the pool at the Poly) that I remember from my first trip when I was in kindergarten. The street was FILLED with trash, but at about 15 minutes before the parade started a few CMs came by to clean up the streets. Spectro was as awesome as I remembered. We snacked on some Mickey ice-cream bars during the parade.

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Prince Charming looks like he wasn't having an enchanted evening
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Afterwards we took a leisurely stroll down Main Street and popped into a few shops, then headed home- without any monorail problems!

Coming up next- our last day in WDW- breakfast at Ohana and a portrait session at the Poly

[that's nice]

Your pictures are awesome!

I love Spectro too.

What kind of camera do you have?

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Thanks, we LOVE our camera. It was a baby shower gift from my step-dad. It is a Canon Digital Rebel XSi- I think it is a 12 MP. It is bulky but nothing compares to the pics it takes. We also have what we call our "diaper bag camera", a digital camera that we received as a wedding present over 6 years ago, we don't mind if that gets wet or if we leave it somewhere.

[GinnyBear's_mom]

We had 7:45am ADRs at Ohana, but we were a tad late since we had to wait at the TTC for 10 minutes due to some sort of monorail issue. As soon as we sat we told the host that the sun was directly in our faces- it was sooo bright! The host said there was nothing he could do (ummm, how about lower the shade??). When our waitress came by to introduce herself we told her about the sun problem and she got some help from a very tall food runner and lowered the shade I had left a note on our ADR that DD has an egg allergy. Shortly after we were seated one of the chefs came over to discuss Tigger’s allergy. She told us she could make an egg-free waffle and we were super happy. The character interaction was great, we were only there an hour and they all came by twice!



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Our waitress was very good, but our food runners were HORRIBLE! We blew through the first family style bowl of food in about 30 minutes, then we asked our waitress for a refill on everything. About 10 minutes later we saw the waitress again and asked where our food was. She said she had asked the kitchen to refill our bowl so she went back to the kitchen to check, then returned and said it would be out shortly and she apologized for the delay. Another 10 minutes goes by and still no food. Finally our waitress sees the food runner and asks him where he has been taking the food that she had requested (now 3 times). Apparently he had gotten his table numbers confused and kept bringing the refills to the table behind us! They had their bowls refilled about 4 times in one hour, so I’m sure they were happy!

We finally got our refill, but it was time to go to our portrait session. I actually left this breakfast hungry and so did DH. We were about 15 minutes late to the photo session and our photographer mentioned several times to us that she shouldn’t really have taken us and the only reason she did keep our appointment was because the family after us cancelled. That was annoying. She also got offended when I asked if we could get a refund if we weren’t happy with the pics. The photographer did very little to get the attention of the children in our family besides making this weird bird noise, they stopped paying attention to that after the first 5 times she did it. She also didn’t pay attention to shadows, or how the picture was composed. We got 1 really good picture, but I could have taken it. I think next time I’ll just bring my tripod and skip Disney’s “professional” photographer. We had plans to go to EPCOT for an hour or so after the photo session, but I didn’t realize it would take close to an hour after the pics were taken to get them on the CD and printed out. It was a good thing we didn’t want to go to EPCOT because once again we sat on the monorail for about 20 minutes while we waited for another monorail to switch off the track.

Our 1 good picture- I think we had about 80 on our CD- that's Mimi, Grandpa and all 3 grandkids
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[that's nice]

Wow, I'm sorry you had a bad start to your day....between the hostess, runners, and pictures. I hope the rest of your day was a bit more magical!pixiedust:

Your DD looks like she was having a great time interacting with the characters at breakfast!